Chapter 2

Week 14: Hunting for food in the marsh proved to be a hopeless task. However, Thomas said that he was full after eating only half a day’s rations. While in the marsh, we were set upon by raiders. Fighting them turned into a brutal battle. Both Thomas and I were exhausted and near death before we managed to defeat them. After we secured our narrow victory over the raiders, Thomas was able to located the herbs we sought; he’s becoming a more adept woodsman. Our triumph in the swamp seems hollow because we received word that The Stormwrath Moothome had fallen to the Dead King. Only one city remains standing in the valley.

Week 15: Hunting continues to be poor, but Thomas insists he’s feeling quite fine on half rations. Perhaps fighting the Bandit Prince exposed him to unknown magic which has permanently changed his requirements for food. We recovered from our fight with the raiders in Fain’hil, the city of silver, which was sorely needed. We were also able to turn over the herbs we found. The herb warden who was looking for the herbs informed us that one of the shrines we have visited is searching for the journals of a scholar they honor. We bought a folding boat and some combat gear while we were in the city knowing it must be the next target of the Dead King. Who knows if we when or where we might be able to resupply next.

Week 16: Hunting was good as we moved north along the road in an attempt to find an item to weaken Syv, the Ice Queen. As she is a somewhat powerful alley of the Dead King, this seems like a worthy goal. Our travels were unremarkable, but we did discover a site where we could tell something had been buried. We found a few coins in the hole itself as we unearthed whatever had been hidden. Our hopes rose when we saw it was a chest, but alas, the chest itself was empty!

Week 17: We continued down the river, not quite ready to put our folding boat into operation. Hunting was mixed, and we considered fishing, but Thomas notices signs of zombies, and we chose to battle them instead. We easily dispatched the zombies, but it hardly seems like it will make a dent in the rising tide of the undead. Soon, the Dead King will reach the last standing city.

Week 18: Fearsome monsters surround the shipwreck where we are seeking the item to use against Syv. Once again, we could have fished, but Thomas led us to a cyclops to battle. It was a tiring fight, but not as exhausting as some we’ve had. The Dead King has now sacked all the cities in the valley.

Week 19: Food is becoming more critical, perhaps we will regret not fishing. It does help that Thomas can survive quite comfortably on half rations, but we were unable to forage for anything to extend our supplies. We weren’t the only ones in need of a meal; we were attacked by mangy wolves. They took a few bites out of us, but were dispatched quickly. Our next meal might be wolf meat! We found the item we were looking for and destroyed it. We will have to plan our next moves carefully as we are the Dead King’s next target.

Week 20: We have decided that we must restore a city. Although we have learned much, we simply aren’t ready to face the Dead King in battle yet. The Rakk’t Encampment is the nearest fallen city, so that’s the one we’ll try to restore. Hunting was mixed on our way to the city, but if we fail to restore it starvation will be the least of our worries. We actually found a few gold coins and a peaceful place to camp before entering the city. The fight was surprisingly easy. Sabrina was cursed during the battle, but was able to use a mystic tonic from one of the shrines to break the curse before it became a problem for us. We have a fair amount of coin to spend in the restored city, so we’ll need to use it wisely.

Week 21: We have come to value the lessons learned from besting stronger foes, such as the Bandit Prince and the undead hoards in a fallen city. We have decided to travel to the lair of the vile lizard Chikak-Ishak; only by besting stronger and stronger foes will we become ready to face the Dead King. Sabrina found a few coins and had luck hunting on the way to his lair. The battle against the giant lizard man wasn’t overly difficult, but Sabrina became cursed again and had to use the last of our mystic tonics. We found some lost maps among the treasure in Chikak-Ishak’s hoard which provided us with much needed knowledge of the terrain outside the valley without needing to explore ourselves. They finally gave us the location of some quests we have long heard about but could never pursue. We still can’t pursue them at this time because of the proximity of the Dead King, but perhaps in the future things will be different. More importantly, Bezzelquark’s Black Market appeared after we bested Ckikak! He has a marvelous Staff of Dragons, which we cannot afford now. If we can acquire the coin we need, I feel possession of that item would give us a real chance to defeat the Dead King. For the first time in a long time we have hope! Even though we could not purchase the staff now, the market moves south as we do. Not everything that happened this week was positive though. The Rakk’t Encampment has once again fallen to the Dead King.