Eiger planned a small expedition to explore the mysterious livestock thefts from the farmsteads closest to the Rattlin’ Bog. Izeo, Zeke and Serena joined him with Freya the Tracker hired to…well…track, and Hurmore to protect the Elven Lady.
After a short journey along the Blackmire river the group spotted two Lizardmen dragging a sheep carcass into the Rattlin’ Bog. A truly remarkable shot from Serena’s Longbow impaled one of the Lizardmen from across the river, causing them to drop the sheep and run for cover in the Swamp. Not wanting to risk a morning swim through the dark waters, the group backtracked to the bridge and returned to the spot of the attack. Freya determined that the Lizardmen had returned to collect the sheep carcass and had then moved into the swamp. We set out after them.
Only a few minutes into the Bog, Eiger and Freya fell afoul of a large quicksand pit. Freya was close enough to the edge to extricate herself without too much trouble. Eiger on the other hand started to sink. Eiger struggled to keep his head above water for nearly a minute, all the while his companions looked on in shock, none had brought a rope. Finally Freya tossed him a rope but it was too late, he was already submerged. Serena then directed Hurmore to lend a hand, but in the end, Eiger was forced to pull himself out of the swamp. In an uncharacteristic stroke of luck (rolled a 1 on a d100!), Eiger accidentally impaled a skull with his polearm in trying to get out of the quicksand. Inside the skull was a magic ring!
After this Freya lost the trail of the Lizardmen as they had apparently jumped into the water and swam away. With no other options the group continued on into the Bog to see if any new trails would present themselves. None did.
The group did find the sunken fort and Glisten, Serena’s Familiar, scouted the area and reported that humans now inhabit the fort. We decided to bypass the fort until we could learn more about who, or what, inhabits it.
A little further along the bank and the group was utterly surprised by a lurking crocodile (oh how we missed Garavon’s 30+ average perception score then…) that quickly grabbed Freya and took her under the river for a death roll. All involved tried to save her, including an ill-fated grappling attempt by Eiger and Izeo actually wading out into the river to try and save her.
Eiger made a command decision to return to Blackmire as this expedition was clearly doomed to failure in whatever it attempted to do…