A Brush with Death in Morbida Swamp!

On the advice of a Kharadim merchant caravan, the party elected to continue its journey south by avoiding the Getha Hills, instead, following the coastline of Labrax Bay. As they set forth, they soon encountered the stench of death carried along by the breeze. Following the smell, they eventually came across the carcass of a black bear. Its pelt maggot-ridden and its flesh putrid, Kegho of the Ashkuz Xhanate and Riven Telstandis could only take a few of its teeth as a prize. Traveling further south through the hills, the party would later come across a freshly killed doe. As it was midday, the party decided to make camp in a clearing to butcher the doe and use its meat to supplement their daily rations. Upon investigating the clearing, a crude hempen noose was discovered hanging from a tree. Already disquieted by encountering 2 large animal carcasses in one day, Novice Theophilus was disturbed at its sight as he mused it was a sign of Wem activity in the area. However, the rest of the day was without incident and the party bivouacked in the hills at dusk.

The party woke to a hot and overcast summer day. After they had broken up camp, the party continued to follow the coast of Labrax Bay southeasterly. A few hours had passed before they, once again, came across a disturbing sight. This time, it was the carcass of a horse that appeared to have died from two large puncture wounds on its side. Alexandru Croitoru, the party's Oameni rogue, attempted to use his appraiser's knowledge to identify the barding on the horse but was unfortunately unable to recognize the owner's marks. Despite their apprehension, the party elected to continue its journey south.

By the late afternoon, the party crested the last group of hills and saw an large expanse of salt marsh reaching all the way to the southern horizon - they knew they had, at last, reached the Morbida Swamp. The party attempted to ford through the marshlands as quickly as possible before making camp for the evening; however, their progress slowed to a near crawl due to the exhausting trial of sloshing through the morass that dominated the terrain.

As Aelos grew lower on the horizon, the party found a patch of solid ground that was deemed suitable for setting up the evening's camp. Perhaps to conserve his energy for what has proven a treacherous journey, Xianese moshi, Zhuge Liang offered to take the first watch of the evening. At midnight, Alexandru stood watch as Zhuge retired for the night. Sometime shortly after, Alexandru was ambushed by a pod of four Aeriscan Giant Frogs who were attracted by the light of the campfire. Raising an alarm, the rest of the party rushed out to assist Alexandru in facing this peril. However, during the melee that followed, the party was taken by surprise at the sheer tenacity of the frogs' attacks and Novice Theophilus collapsed into unconsciousness due to internal bleeding resulting from the crushing force of the giant frogs' bites. After the frogs were dispatched, Zhuge spent the rest of the night tending to Novice Theo's injuries in an attempt to stabilize his bleeding.

With coming of morning's dawn, the grim reality of the situation weighed heavily upon the party as Novice Theo slipped in and out of feverish sleep. They had progressed far enough into the salt marsh that travel back to Fort Merula would be as equally perilous as continuing to follow the coast around to the abandoned Shrine of Naeia, not even taking into account Novice Theo's current state.

Our heroes have an important decision to make.