Umber

After assassins and demons, hostile elves and townsfolk who were squirrels not just in their past life but in this one too, the party returns to the safety and sanity of King Yiss’ swamp, where lizardmen dance around glowing green beacons waiting for their god to descend. (sab)

A slashing sword, a crushing hammer, a hail of glowing missiles, and the battle that seemed to take an eternity is suddenly over. The heavy silence is broken only by the sobbing of a far-off villager. Even the normally hot-tempered, outspoken elves that have come to witness the results of your battle are awed into silence by the incredible carnage that surrounds them. One comrade dead and two lie unconscious; dozens of villagers, basically innocent but twisted by the evil force that was Dyson and Henwen, slaughtered. The disgusting demonic vines that infest Jake and Psydney’s bodies, sent into hibernation by the heroes’ near-death experiences, begin growing again just minutes after the battle’s end, until the champions are covered head to toe by sickly-green ropy growths that beat with a pulse all their own.
A terrible price to pay for victory.

The elves pledge that they will cease their assault and instead assist the dozen or so villagers that remain, feeding them and teaching them the skills that the previous occupants, the true humans, once used to survive. A search through Dyson’s library reveals that he was clearly planning on leaving; burned papers in the fireplace indicate that he destroyed much of his research in preparation. Going through the little that remains, the party pieces together confirmation that Dyson and Henwen had somehow discovered the secret of using the stones to turn wildlife into faux humans, but no information of the actual process is available. In addition, in the bottom of a junk drawer they find a small jewelry box, inside of which is a pin in the form of a dark gray dagger, a known symbol of the Assassin’s Guild of the City of Greyhawk.

While the elves do not have the power to raise the frosty corpse of He Who Hated Undead a Bit Too Much (they don’t speak the names of the dead), they can at least ease his soul’s rest and preserve his physical form for the party’s upcoming journey. Their magic is also powerful enough to slowly choke off the infesting vines until they crumble and turn to dust, though in the places where they pierced flesh, permanent scars remain.

And so the party sets off, healed in body if not in spirit, back to the friendship and hopefully the aid of King Yiss’ lizardman tribe. During the trip, they discuss recent events amongst themselves, but come up with more questions than answers. Clearly, the Horseman was foiling Dyson’s plan in some way, but exactly what that plan is, is hard to tell. And Dyson’s involvement with the guild is even more concerning. Perhaps he was a member. Or worse, an ex-member: what kind of power would be worth risking the wrath of the Guild for?

Returning the way they came, they notice that the weather is beginning to clear. While the northern pass is still covered in snow, the storms have abated. Perhaps the answers they seek lie there. Or perhaps, only more death. They shake the mood and continue on, descending from the mountains into the relative warmth of the great swamp.

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