As the party enters into the outskirts of the Fens, Kulin begins to talk in a voice just loud enough for the rest of the party to hear. "We are entering an area that has a powerful but sad history. Sharing the information that I received in Drellin’s might give us insight into what to expect here,” adds Kulin.
“The City of Rhest was once the capitol of the Dukedom of Rhestilior and as such the center of civilization in the area. Approximately 300 years of prosperity reigned upon this area and its residents. Shortly after those 300 years a wave of corruption, treachery and civil strife weakened the dukedom to such an extent that it was unable to recover from the various humanoid raids from the surrounding lands. From what I have gathered about 200 years ago there was a large siege by humanoids on Rhest and ultimately Rhest was sacked,” pauses Kulin, his legs getting tired from the water filling his boots.
“The history as to how or why the humanoids were whipped into a frenzy is not clear, but there was rumor that the leader had a powerful force of nature backing him. It is speculated that their leader had in some way gained favor of the many tribal shamans, resulting in cementing the tribes under one banner. That banner being a skeletal two headed lion its mane wreathed in black flames. In the aftermath of the destruction of Rhest, the survivors abandoned their homes and resettled in Dennovar, Brindol and similar communities in the south. During this time the area was a fertile land. Levies to the north of Rhest held back the Stonewash River and made the area prosperous for agriculture. It seems that shortly after the sacking of the city, the locals running as fast as they could from the city and as the humanoids were enjoying themselves burning and looting that their leader Tear’cul’duli, for unknown reasons had caused the levies to burst, causing the entire area to be flooded. Essentially this caused all within 20 square miles to be drowned, human and humanoid alike, possibly hundreds of thousands of people. It is not clear why their leader had done this. The resulting flood created the Blackfens. According to Glok the Blackfens and Lake Rhestin cover an area of about 20 square miles. Is that right,” looking to Glok.
Glok nodding his head, up to his thigh in murky water holding up a leach in his fingers adding, “don’t forget to pick the leaches off your legs,” as he pops the leach into his mouth smiling.
Kulin, putting the pieces together in his head, “This is where the story of Emery Vraath takes off and his keep in the Witchwood. He had left shortly before the flood and tried to draw refuges to his name and rebuild what was destroyed from the flood.”
Brandar adds, "Most of the construction in this area has been built by dwarfs, save for the Keep, that was built by giants. I noticed that about 20% of the buildings in the towns we have visited were built by dwarfs. I remember that there was at one time a dwarven community south west of my homeland, but the name escapes me. Of the structures that I have seen, they are all over 50 years old."
As several hours roll on, the party trekking through the Blackfens, Glok takes the lead and spots a mossy island of mud and peat protruding from the marsh. Two gnarled trees growing from the mound, and sprawled across the ground over the knobby roots of the trees appears to be the bloody remains of a horse sized owl. The once magnificent birds body has been partially dissolved in places, and swaths of foul, dark green fluid still sizzle and pop, eating away at the exposed flesh and bone.
The party is halted and after a little conversation, brander charges forward with Glok in the flank. Just as the party gets a close look at the body of the bird, the water’s edge is disturbed as a large green draconic shape bursts from the water engaging Brander. Brander quickly searches his memory as to the arcane origins of this beast and remembers yelling, “Aye, the beast is a Harrowblade, an abomination of dragon spawn.” As the battle ensues, the hero’s do the best they can to destroy the beast. The Harrowblade has in place of hands, razorsharp wings with which it strikes its enemies. As brander falls under the last corrosive breath of the Harrowblade, Calyassa rushes to heal the dying dwarf. The dragon spawn is destroyed and the party decides that now is the time to camp.
Disscusion around the campground turns to the creatures that the party has fought as of yet.
Brander stroking his half dissolved bread recounts some facts, “Harrowblades are not a natural product of our world. If I remember right they are created from the eggs of true dragons and transformed under a sacred ritual dedicated to the Dragon Queen, Tiamat. They possess all the traits of a magical beast which include only truly damaged by magical weapons, immunity to sleep, paralysis and the prime element from which it is born, in this case acid. Traditionally Harrowblades use hit and run tactics as well as ambushing from underwater. We also know that they have an acidic breath and where there is one there are more.”
"There is one more thing, the dragon Regarix. From the information we gathered from that scum of a hobgoblin at the blockade we are dealing with a human sized black dragon. I can tell you that he has liquid acid as a breath weapon, not a gas. Why that matters im not sure. By the size we have a juvenile or young dragon. Remember their breath weapon can fire after just about every 12 or more seconds. Blacks like greens are immune to acid and can swim as well as fly. We know that this Sa'arrvith rides the dragon as a mount. so we can expect some type of action from the rider. I am almost positive that this dragon has immunities to magic," grumbles Brander
“We also need to beware the swamp itself. As we move deeper into the swamp I have a feeling that or travel speed is going to be reduced by about a fourth of what were used to. I expect that we might even be swimming at times. A few times I have been up to my waist in water, not my choice battleground. Who is first watch," asking Glok?
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