From the journal of Lythande Syldorei
Fireday, 29th Rova
As we stood outside the walls of the lizardfolk village, the two lizardfolk standing guard over the log palisade seemed disinterested in conversing with us. I called out, "May we speak with you?" as the sound of a child's fearful weeping from within the palisade increased in volume. The lizardfolk made no reply to this.
I asked again, this time requesting that someone come out to speak with us as we would have to cross the water to reach the gate and we knew not how deep it was. One of the lizardfolk sentries asked why we wished to speak with them. I explained that we were seeking a lost child and wanted to know if they had seen him, as I didn't desire to accuse them of having taken the child when we had no idea why they had taken him or how many of their kind were within the village.
The sentries then began to talk with each other, their voices too low for me to hear, but Chahana told me that they seemed to be conversing about the boy. One of them appeared to feel they should hand him over to us. They then gestured for us to approach closer to the palisade. This was not an action we were eager to take as a stretch of water perhaps ten times my height stood between us and the lizardfolk village. But there was nothing for it other than we should try to cross. The river bed was thick with mud and within a short stretch we found ourselves unable to touch it with out feet as the water was too deep. I was glad then for having chosen not to wear such heavy armor as Maria does, though it was difficult enough to paddle through the water with my shield and spear on my back.
The palisade itself stood on a hillock that was twice as tall as I, with some tree limbs or roots buried in the earth to form rough steps to the wooden gates. I could now see the sentries more clearly and observe that their armor and weapons were of no great skill in making, but they did have mouths full of fangs and fingers ending in sharp claws that they could no doubt use to do harm.
The child's wailing grew louder still now that we were near to the wall. One of the sentries asked if we had come to take the man-child, to which Chahana responded that we had. The second sentry stated that the child was not theirs to give. The sentries opened the gate for us, and after a brief consultation among ourselves we decided that we should enter to show them trust. We stepped just inside the gate. We asked if we could speak to their chieftain, and one of them began to walk away, saying, "Come take the man-child."
We looked at one another and then fell in behind him. The sentry led us among simple mud huts with geometric designs painted on their walls in red and violet. He took us to one such hut, where the child's weeping was even easier to hear. A glance through the opening let us see a large lizard of a kind known as the Narlmarch mugger within this hut - a poisonous creature, but its venom is not very harmful. This one wore a collar studded with crystals and was held by a long rope of plaited vines so it could not quite reach the human child who was similarly restrained on the opposite side of the hut. The mugger kept lunging to the length of its lead and clawing at the bone-littered floor of the hut, its threatening movements eliciting more cries and tears from the boy.
Zander did not hesitate to enter the hut and begin untying the sobbing child.the lizardfolk who had shown us to the hut grasped the mugger's lead and pulled it away. As Zander released the child, the flap covering the opening of the largest hut at the center of the small village flew aside and an exceptionally tall lizardfolk emerging bearing a trident in one hand. He stood half again as tall as any of us. Though the features of lizardfolk are difficult to read, it seemed likely by their reaction to this tall one that he was their chieftain. This one gruffly demanded to know what we were doing there. Chahana replied that the others had told us to take the child. This clearly displeased him, though he indicated that it was their tribe's shaman who wished to keep the boy. Maria attempted to bargain with him, trying to offer something he might desire more than one small human child, but he would not accept any offer, not even when Chahana joined her words with Maria's. The lizardfolk chieftain declared, "I am King Vesket. You cannot take the man-child."
I tried to convince him by praising his warriors and asking if they could not find better meat than one child, as I remembered that the lizardfolk do not differentiate intelligent creatures from simple beasts when they hunt and would as soon have human flesh as that of fish or fowl. But my words did nothing to persuade Vesket. His demeanor toward us was entirely hostile. When he mentioned their shaman, Stisshak, we asked if we could speak with him but Vesket said Stisshak would speak only to warriors of their tribe. Chahana used Reislin's magic to suggest to me that I say to him they should be able to find something better than a weak child.
Then the sentry who had guided us spoke up, saying that what they had done to the boy was not meat but torture and was wrong. More lizardfolk had emerged from their huts by this point and I sensed that perhaps half of them agreed with the speaker. Maria said to Vesket that the strong shouldn't need to prey on the weak, and offered to trade them meat for the child. This only seemed to enrage Vesket more. He thrust Chahana away from him as he suddenly saw Zander carrying the child toward the gate, and shouted, "They are stealing our meat! Kill them! Kill them!" Then he let out a mighty roar, which he no doubt hoped would cow us. In that he would be disappointed. The Dawnflower lends me her courage, and when my comrades stand near to me they also gain a measure of her strength.
Reislin cast her spell upon us all so that we might move more quickly and we drew our weapons. Chahana stepped back with her bow in hand. Zander ran toward the gate with the boy under his arm. Vesket had brought out two of the local caimans when he emerged, and one of these snapped at Chahana while the other tried to close its jaws on Maria.
I attempted to taunt Vesket, saying to him, "You would die for a man-child? Who leads this tribe, you or the shaman?" But my words did not sway him. He thrust his trident at Maria, piercing through her armor. Though I did not see this at first, Reislin took flight behind me and Zander began to battle a lizardfolk brave who pursued him. Maria swung her sword at Vestek. I slipped between him and one of the caimans to take up a flanking position, which was not the wisest move I could have made as both Vestek and the caiman were able to strike me and sorely injured me. But I thrust my spear into Vestek several times all the same. Maria's sword also dealt him several harsh blows.
Reislin's magic blinded the caiman that was nearest to Maria, while with a few more well-placed arrows the caiman nearest to Chahana died and she turned her bow against the blind one and against Vestek. Zander returned, having left the child outside, and with a mighty two-handed jab he brought Vestek down. The two caiman had also been slain, and this seemed to take the fight out of the other lizardfolk.
But we were not done yet. We had expressed our regret for having slain their chieftain and had just begun trying to convince the lizardfolk that they should not hunt humans when I felt a dark presence behind me and I could see that Maria felt it too. Stisshak had appeared - though he was not a lizardfolk as we expected. It was Maria who realized the creature that floated from behind me was a will-o-wisp, thought it did bear the appearance of a lizardfolk skull wreathed in a strange energy. It hissed at us, "Only I will decide what meat they eat. And I shall feast on your fear."
Of course I was protected by the Dawnflower, but my companions were too far from me to gain her blessing. Despite this none were affected by whatever the creature tried to do, though it did wound Maria with a blast of lightning. It was floating overhead but we approached to strike at it with our weapons while Reislin relayed to us that no magic could harm it other than one of her missiles and it could also become invisible. A moment later she realized that it was draining energy from one of the caimans that was not quite dead, and she used a missile to slay the beast. The will-o-wisp did not become invisible, and it was not a hardy creature and did not withstand our blows for long. But it also struck me with its lightning and by then I was so weak I had to lean against a hut while I healed myself with Sarenrae's light.
Fortune smiled on us that the lizardfolk did not turn on us then. As Autumn comes they are slower in their movements, and they were more concerned with choosing a new chieftain. They did not entirely seem to accept Reislin's words when she explained that Stisshak was not the spirit of their shaman but a monster that fed on fear and death. Still, they asked us if we would cleanse his hut for them with our magic. None of us are priests who can remove the curse of evil, but I did fill the hut with some of the Dawnflower's healing fire, which had the advantage of healing some of my own hurts and those my friends had suffered.
In the center of the hut, which appeared to have been unoccupied for some time, we found a heap of bones, feathers, and other items that seemed to form a kind of shrine though we knew not to what god. There was also a collection of offerings, including a longspear that seemed to be made of cold iron, an assortment of gemstones, a jade ring, and a feather which Reislin said possessed a magical aura. The ring had such an aura as well. She could not determine what magic affected the ring until the following day, but the feather could transform into a tree like the tokens we had previously used to restore the trees at the nixie's grove in the forest. I have asked if I may keep the spear.
Starday, 30th Rova
It took us a day and a half to return to Lorewynd, arriving late in the evening. The boy's parents were naturally joyful to have him safely home.
Sunday, 1st Lamashan
Autumn has come to these lands. The leaves have begun to shed their green for gold and fiery orange.
Though we have been back at Lorewynd for only a day, we have decided to leave again to pursue other explorations while the weather is still favorable. We will seek out Tiressia the dryad and her satyr companion Falchos to find out if they know of the old woman in the swamp, the Old Beldame. Chahana wishes to ask them to act as our go-betweens to mend the trouble between us.
Moonday, 2nd Lamashan
We found Tiressia and Falchos, hearing Falchos' singing first before we saw him. At first it seemed they did not know the Beldame, but with a bit more conversation it became apparent that they had not seen her for many years and knew her only as a much younger woman. In the end Falchos offered to go and speak with her as Tiressia didn't wish to leave her tree. Chahana gave him a magic garment to gift to the Beldame as a token of our apology to her. Tiressia and Falchos say that her name is Elga.
I think that we remained with them longer than we meant to. The fey folk do not follow time as we do, and when in their company it is easy to overlook its passage.
Toilday, 3rd Lamashan
We parted from Falchos and Tiressia after telling Falchos how to find Elga's hut. We have learned from them that the 'mad hermit' we were told of lives somewhere between Tiressia's tree and the Beldame's hut. They also gave us information that makes the rumors of the dragon and the hodag in the south seem more likely.
As we made our way to the south, we came upon a most unusual sight: a very tall, old pine tree that was partly surrounded by a ruined wall. Closer examination demonstrated that it was made long ago by Reislin's and my people, perhaps even before the Earthfall when our kin dwelled in these lands. Zander collected a few bits of tile decorated with trees and stag, intending to take them back to the museum in Lorewynd. Reislin speculated that the ruin might once have been a watchtower.
We went on from there toward the Hooktongue Slough region, which was given into the hands of the Ministers of Restov to claim and is not a part of our granted territory. It was later in the day that we came upon another tower, this one still intact though damaged in places, its walls so overgrown with vines and moss that it was difficult to see among the trees. Though the arched entry was empty of a gate, the circular central structure and its four towers still stood solid. Reislin was very eager to enter and explore it.
