Vhakizla – Chapter 14

"Summer of 67. Second Age. Vhak.
Moving again. Word is, the Tent’s gotta lead on where this bloodsucker might be hiding. That means a march – into the Ghostmire. What I hear, that ain’t a place too friendly to the living. A place even the dead don’t dare tread. That’s whither we’re bound.
Good, says I.
Half the company, feels like, is recruits so raw, they’ve only ever had riverbarges and wagon trains and fat merchant cogs with sixty oars a side to carry them about. Not enough of the rank-and-file know what it’s like to march halfway across a continent, all your gear on your back and the enemy on your heels.
And if every step we take brings us deeper into a territory so hostile, it’d rather kill us than turn us back, so be it. Good for the kids. Builds character."
– Beholder's Log, Gnoson 27 67 2A

As the cavalry saddled up to gallop away north and scout the Ancestor Hills, the rest of the Menagerie prepared to march. Their intelligence pointed to the mist-haunted swamp of the Ghostmire as Caliphar II's likeliest hiding place and, with Griffon potentially still alive, there was no time to waste. Accompanied by a circle of mummified clergy, the mercenaries marched into the Ghostmire, with the Chimera at their head and an orcish war song on their lips.
Once the teeming Heartvein Basin, the Ghostmire was a haunted place, swirled with sinister mists, veined with stagnant water and populated by undead plants. The deeper into the swamps the company ventured, the more menacing those mists grew and, on more than one occasional, they even showed illusory scenes to the mercenaries, nightmares and memories long thought buried. There was a malevolence in those mists, one that inveigled its way into the minds of any who dared breathe it in.
Along the way, the Commander's Tent did what they could to lighten the company's spirits. Mouse took writing lessons from Basilisk and was bullied by Cerberus. Remorhaz chatted with a Willow now separated from Pegasus and managed the Black bloat oubreak that ravaged through the company. Umber drank with his mother and found a new weapon – the stony arm of a crumbled dragon statue. Vulture, the company's handsome sawbones, cooked for his circle of friends and politely declined the Commander's request to share her bed.
After six days of marching through trackless fen, the company arrived at the city of Akiz – once constructed as a summer palace for Vhakizla and since crumbled into an overgrown ruin. To their surprise, however, they discovered the swamp alive – with green vegetation, flowing water and living animals. Some magic was sustaining the city, even centuries after its abandonment. Heavy with mist, they nonetheless proceeded to approach the dilapidated ruin.
On the lakeshore, however, the mercenaries heard a strange droning as, overhead, swarms of stirges descended upon them. With weapon and spell, they managed to ward the creatures away but not before several dozen escaped, full of the blood of mercenaries – including Umber and Vulture's. For what purpose they desired the blood, none could say, but all saw where they retreated – deeper into the city of Akiz.

Campaign: The Menagerie
Game Date: Gnoson 23-33, 67 2A
Starting Point: Vhak 
Player Characters:

• Mouse
• Remorhaz
• Umber
• Vulture