Hexploring we will go...

The following day we arrived at the lake. As we approached, we saw a Kellid man chest deep in the water. He appeared to be grappling with something below the water and called for help. As we moved forward to help, the man turned into a hideous horse creature with slimy green flesh & attacked. It got hold of Gruk, clearly intending to drag him into the water to drown him. We managed to kill it before it could get away though! Searching around, we found it's lair & some treasure! While we waited for the tribe to catch up we identified some magic we had found. The next 2 days passed uneventfully. On the 3rd day we came across a life-sized stone carving of a mammoth rearing up on it's hind feet. Under one foot we could just see some feathers sticking out. We could tell the feathers appeared to be the remains of a Cockatrice. Looking closer we found a gold and gem studded collar on the body of the Cockatrice. As we waited for the tribe to catch up, we noticed they had set camp further back than normal. We traveled back to see why, finding that a Mammoth had been injured, slowing down the tribe. The elders asked that we follow the river nearby. The following day we found that the river was growing grey and sluggish. While we wanted to leave the river and continue east, the elders insisted that we find what was causing the river to be polluted.
The following morning we followed the river and before long we found some Burning Mammoth Scouts with an odd creature in a wagon. Beyond them the water was clear. They saw us at about the same time & the fight was on! We dropped the enemy tribesman without much difficulty, but not before one of them let the creature out. It joined them in the attack. Once the fight was over it was obvious this strange creature was the source of the pollutants. We determined that the river would clear up sometime over the next weeks or months. We headed back towards the tribe to get them moving east away from the river & the Burning Mammoths. On our way back, we saw a group of people on a barge in the river. When they saw us they waved and brought the barge to shore. We approached to see what they wanted. As we got closer, Tannek thought he heard someone calling for help from the barge, saying "They are slavers, help me"! He attacked and the rest of us followed suit. We soon had them down and opened their hold to find a Halfling Woman tied tightly below. She told us her name was Harbinna Farwander, explaining she had been travelling alone. She was mapping & was able to show us areas she had mapped. She told us of a Spiritualist she was looking for. We explained we had found what was left of him and his belongings. She felt that the items we had found at the lair of the slimy horse creature would be helpful to us at the Red Cat Cave, as the Red Cat is some form of spirit. We looted the barge, put holes in the hull and shoved it back into the river. We invited her to go back to the tribe with us. Once there, we took a well deserved rest.