Late part because I’ve been sick and busy all week. [b][u]Day 20[/u][/b] [i]So… there’s supposedly an ancient vampiric spymaster that secretly controls the Nerulian Marshes and protects its independence via blackmail, assassination, and trading secrets. Outside of the Marshes it’s just a rumor whispered in high courts, but since we arrived in the Crossroads, I think I’ve noticed a few red eyes in the crowds… watching us… I didn’t think much of it before but this land has me on edge. Anyway… We met up at the eastern entrance, which also looked like a hole in the wall. The ruins were quite a bit north of the Crossroads. As we travelled, we made introductions with our new partners and discussed tactics. I think it’s important to know who you’re working with and what they can do. -The Half-Orc twins. Egard is the bigger one with the two axes and the toothy grin while his brother, grim-dark Eduard, favors a long bow. They’re just travelling mercenaries. - The Human is an old Imperial soldier, Clement. He claims he retired, but I think he’s a deserter. He’s a kind, honest man and a terrible liar! - The drunken Wood Elfs name is Kenjin. Formerly “Captain” Kenjin, but his ship wrecked off the coast of Atamar. Has a strange curved sword on his hip. He also has a magical flask that never runs out! Might try to nick that later… -The Halfling won’t talk to us because we associate with a Goblin. She has a crossbow and a pet wolf that is almost as mean as her. The swamp was a lot denser in this area and if it wasn’t for the Halfling we would have been lost…again… As the sun began to set, we encountered a human hunter. Probably a scout, but he didn’t give us a chance to ask. As soon as he spotted us, he started shooting arrows. We quickly surrounded him and tried to get him to surrender so we could interrogate him (we didn’t tell him that, of course) …but he spoke something in a language none of us understood and slit his own throat… Clement pointed out that his weapons and armor are Imperial military. This didn’t seem to deter him, though. In fact, he seems very invested now. The Ferneli Empire and the city states of Atamar have a cease fire at the moment. Setting up troops in the Marshes would mean another war… We finally saw torch light through the tree lines not far from our encounter with the scout. The Halfling, Eduard, and I split up to get an idea of what we were dealing with. It looked like a smaller fort built by the same people that built the original walls of the Crossroads. Probably old Imperial from their first war with Atamar. About two dozen humans, mostly in the camp with a few archers patrolling the walls and scaffolding. There were torches camp fires everywhere…guess they’re also not the biggest fans of the crying shadow monsters. The walls were mostly rubble so we could take our pick of holes to charge through. We briefly considered putting out as many torches as we could to see what the crying things would do… but that’s really -blam!-ing stupid. Instead, us sneaky types snuck up to the walls and each picked an archer. I fluttered up to the highest point overlooking the ruins and waited for the signal. Gabby crept as close as she needed to the largest group of soldiers and cast a Sleep spell, knocking three of them out. That was the signal! The Halfling and Eduard struck down two of the archers patrolling the wall and I darted past mine doing a slashing barrel roll that left two deep gashes in his throat! The rest of our group charged into camp as we dealt with our archers. Timmy shot a wave of green flame towards a group of soldiers and Drahg, Egard, Kenjin, and the Halflings wolf were on them before they could even pat the flames off. They ripped them apart…except Kenjin. He drew his apparently broken sword, slashed with it once, and then proceeded to beat the shit out of the poor guy with his fists! At this point the soldiers had pulled themselves together and surrounded the group. Drahg and Egard took a few hits and the wolf did not survive, but Kenjin just swayed around their attacks and even redirected an attack into one of their own men. Clement, Maria, Stubbles, and…I must have a concussion because I swear I saw a second Stubbles… either way they joined the fray. Stubbles One cast a healing spell on Drahg while Stubbles Two stabbed one in the back with his spear and Maria finished them off with one sword swing while stabbing another through the chest. Clement took his mace and smashed a poor guys shield, helmet, and skull in. The Halfling, Eduard, and Timmy took down the remaining archers on the walls (who had terrible aim by the way) and I decided to glide down to the others while they tied up the sleepers. We began the sacred process of looting the bodies when Clement made the observation that there were less bodies than we originally reported to be here… Then we heard footsteps echoing from what sounded like a cave or tunnel and another wave of soldiers charged us from the large tent in the center of the ruins. Last to emerge was a tall woman in Imperial armor and a dark cloak. She held a jagged staff made of black wood in one hand and in the other… a ball of green fire that she threw ahead of her forces. I don’t remember much of what happened next. It was chaos. We fought, and at some point, I was slapped out of the air by a shield and knocked unconscious. Gabby healed me after the fight was over. We lost the Halfling in the scuffle and that spellcaster apparently shouted something in that strange language the scout used and Eduard fell to the ground dead. The spellcaster and a few of her men then retreated through a hidden staircase in the tent and Egard, enraged by his brothers death, charged after them. Alone. The rest of us are in no condition to fight just yet so were resting up a bit before moving forward. Clement has decided that these people can’t be working for Empire. The Ferneli Empire has strict laws on magic. Essentially, anything other than Divine magic from the Goddess Ferneli herself is considered heresy. On top of that, the soldiers made sure to kill their own captured men before retreating. This is some kind of cult… Side note: Something is up with Timmy… he’s not his usual cranky self. He looks a bit pale and keeps staring towards the tent like something horrible is about to emerge any second now…which, to be fair, is a possibility.[/i] Continiued below: