One Does Not Simply Walk Into the Black Marsh

The following is a cautionary tale.
 
Our resident druid Caoimhe had the idea to relocate a nest of baby basilisks into the edge of the black marsh to the south west. I thought to myself that this sounded absolutely crazy, only a fool would enter that place willingly and not only that just to release a swarm of monsters that could turn you to stone with their gaze. Naturally I had to come along.
 
Joining us was the cleric Dwufe and the mighty Smitty so I had high hopes that all would be well. After discussing our plans we took to rest so we could leave Glenhaven first thing in the morning.
 
Unfortunately our sleep would not be restful as we were awoken by the sounds of combat. I left my tent to find a stranger clad in heavy armor and a blazing sword fighting along side the local guardsmen. The foe they faced at first glance looked to be a pair of owlbear, however a prolonged look would reveal the eerie truth. These were not just owlbear but creatures stitched together from various parts of other owlbear. Each limb had different colored fur and feathers from that of the torso, and the way they moved betrayed the fact that their legs were each of different sizes. I think one of them had two left feet.
 
The stranger began calling out for fire, to which Caoimhe quickly answered with her druidic magic, causing a bonfire to come to life at the abomination's feet, the left one.
 
The fire seemed to scare them off as the two of them went running into the night. Now that the commotion was over I came to greet our guest, however he still seemed quite on edge. He busied himself with ordering the guards around, telling them to fetch all the torches they could gather.
 
Eventually he calmed himself enough so my friends and I could speak to him. He introduced himself as Gregorith Sharp, a holy warrior in the service of Teyva the goddess of death. He and our cleric Dwufe had much to talk about as they were members of the same order. Mr Sharp had explained that he and his men were performing a sting operation against a cult who called themselves the Builders. A group of "scientists" who collect corpses, stitch them together and animate them into horrific flesh golems to do their bidding. They were in the middle of destroying one of their labs when the owlbear golems escaped.
 
From the looks of things the golems were headed towards the Black Marsh. When Gregorith learned that we planned to head in that direction he asked us to keep an eye out for his quarry. He agreed to stay at Glenhaven to rest, wait for his men who were still out searching the woods and help the guards should the golems return.
 
The rest of the evening remained uneventful as we managed to get a good night's rest, altho I was rudely awakened by ser Gregorith who was eager for us to be on our way. Can you believe he expected us to leave without breakfast! "Trail rations and water" he says! By Caden!
 
Anyway after I managed to sneak an apple for the road, we took a pit stop to the fair lady of the lake before heading on our journey. I'm not sure what boon Caoimhe and Dwufe received but I was reunited with a friend I failed to mention in a previous journal entry. A platapus that I have come to call Mr Quackers. Meanwhile Smitty had straight up disappeared. We could still hear him and definitely smell him and so the lady must have turned him invisible.
 
And so we set out on our quest to the Black Marsh on our insane mission to release baby basilisks into the wild. Now for those who don't know anything about this place, let me explain why this was such a bad idea. The Black Marsh is a place oozing with death. Nothing lives there and the land is so ripe with necromancy that the dead reanimate on their own. It's not the best place to take a walk in the park during the day much less spend the night.
 
As we made our way south west, we came across the footprints of the golems, and at some point they were joined by a pair of boot prints, likely one of their masters. We continued on four days until we reached the edge of the Black Marsh. We found as good a place as any to release the beasts as far away from the cage as we could.
 
I took our pony drawn wagon away from the swamp so that we could continue to pursue the golems without placing the old girl into harms way. I think Smitty was with me altho he was still invisible so I'm not sure. When I returned to the rest of the group they had come up with the bright idea of setting up camp in the swamp so as not to lose the trail. I knew this was a crazy idea but I had been out voted.
 
That night during Caoimhe's watch the sounds of combat could be heard in the distance. She woke up the rest of us, and when Dwufe used his devine senses, he said he could feel the presence of death all around us. I had to stifle an "I told you so" but luckily the shambling corpses were not interested in is at the moment. Instead they were making their way to the combat ahead. Leaving the comforts of our beads, we went to investigate in case it was someone in need of our help.
 
When we arrived at the scene, we saw the flesh golems and a black robed man facing off against a hord of shambling corpses. The golems were keeping the undead at bay while the man used his magic to channel lightning into them, healing their wounds. Using the confusion to our advantage, we positioned ourselves on the battlefield. As we stood our ground waiting for the right time to strike, the ground beneath us opened up as clawing hands attempted to grip at our ankles. I was too quick for them but Dwufe and Caoimhe were pulled off their feet. I still had no idea where Smitty was!
 
It was clear that we could not stay in one place for too long and at this point we had been spotted by the builder. He switched his focus on us with his spells while his golems continued to maul the zombies and skeletons.
 
Caoimhe proved to be invaluable as she conjured an orb of flame that she directed across the battlefield. As long as she concentrated on it she could cause it to dance about, clearing out some of the undead and dealing massive damage to the golems.
 
I decided to give her some cover by focusing my efforts on the mage. I had recently learned a few magical chords that could cause harm upon my foes.
 
Where in the nine hells was Smitty!
 
Dwufe came in to battle with one of the golems at this point, standing between it and Caoimhe with his shield raised. He called out to his God, and stretched out his hand as it crackled with necrotic energy that melted the flesh of the golem on contact.
 
The battle raged on for what felt like forever. For every zombie we killed another rose to take it's place. We had to keep moving out else the hands from below would take hold of us, but even moving was laborious as the swampy muck clung to our feet. All the while the mage continued slinging spells at is from afar.
 
Suddenly, above the chaos of the battle, a staying slicing sound could be heard. I looked at the mage who seemed to be in shock. And rightly so because standing next to him, bloody axe in hand was the mighty Smitty! The whole time he was making his way ever so slowly towards his target. Thanks to the boon he was granted by the lady of the lake he was able to slip right past the golems to deliver the killing blow to their master.
 
The lifeless body of the builder slumped to the floor but the battle was not yet over. We still had the golems and the undead to deal with. Smitty withdrew a massive club and wrapped it with cloth and pitch. Using his flint and steel he lit it like a torch and went into combat with the second golem, which had just finished killing the undead it was previously engaged with.
 
Between Caoimhe, Dwufe and myself we managed to finish off the first Owlbear as Caoimhe used her fire to burn it to a crisp. Giving the shambling dead a wide berth we turned to assist Smitty who was trading blows with the second golem.
 
Blood splattered and bone crunched as we fought on through the night. Fire burned away the undead that pursued us and even Mr Quackers joined in as he used his magical lightning breath to destroy three of the zombies behind me. It was at this point that he disappeared, but I have a feeling that will not be the last we hear of him.
 
Finally with a mighty thunk and the sizzle of burning hair and flesh, the second golem fell to the ground. The undead were still on us however so we decided to grab the corps of the builder and make our way out of the marsh.
 
The swampy ground was thick with mud but even still we were able to out pace the undead. Once we reached the edge of the swamp they lost interest and gave up their pursuit.
 
With our mission successful and our lives intact, we began our long journey back home.
 
The moral of this cautionary tale. If you ever decide to visit the Black Marsh for any reason,
Don't!