Chapter 12: At Burle, then Return to Saltmarsh

Written by Skarth Diem to Dronaet Klingstone

The walk to the West Loskins Stead only took about half an hour. Once we arrived, we hunted around looking for clues. We quickly noticed that there was an unusual number of dead trees in the area. I sensed that there was something wrong in the area. Perhaps it was something that was killing the trees. But despite looking around carefully, I couldn’t identify what the problem was.

Kelshann agreed with me. She was sniffing the air and saying there was a hint of something nasty but she couldn’t identify it.

Then Jenny pointed out that the dead trees appeared to form a curving line. And there was some form of beaten path that followed the same curving line. The path was heavily worn. Riellian knelt by the path and examined it closely. Then she made the astonishing announcement that the creatures using this trail only travelled in one direction – upriver.

I took another look at the dead trees beside the trail. Based on the height of abrasions on the trunks, the creatures that were using this trail were very large. And either there were very many of them or there were only a few and they had used the trail many, many times.

We decided to follow the trail upriver, in the same direction as the creatures who had made the trail. But we decided to avoid walking on the trail itself and travel to the side of it. We thought that by not walking along the trail, we could avoid any unpleasant surprises that might be waiting for the unwary.

Riellian led us along the trail for about one and a half hours. Then we noticed that the trail swung around towards the river and then headed back down beside the river. We looked around carefully but could not find anything special about the area where the trail turned. Just the well-worn path marked out by the line of dead and dying trees.

At this point, we realised that in all that time, we had not seen any scat, and we had not seen any sign that the creatures had left the trail. The mystery was getting stranger.

We went back to walking along beside the trail. We walked and walked. Gradually the shadows started to lengthen as we continued to follow the trail. Then it curved away from the river and back inland again.

Kelshann sniffed the air and muttered that the smell was getting worse. She said it was a very strong tangy sort of scent but couldn’t identify what the smell was. The trail that we were following seemed to be damp. There were smears of some kind of slime that formed the tracing of footprints – very large footprints with the toes splayed out like that of a toad. But the dampness was evaporating and the smears were fading quickly and would soon be gone. We realised we were getting close to our quarry – whatever it was.

We continued our pursuit, and only a few minutes later I caught sight of something very large moving along the trail up ahead of us. I alerted the others. We readied our weapons and I sang the song of bark to toughen my skin. I heard Jenny muttering something and then a faint shimmering appeared in the air around her.

We tried to move quieter and crept closer. Kelshann’s armour was clanking as she walked despite everything she could do to be quiet. Fortunately, the creature ahead of us did not appear to notice us closing rapidly from behind.

Now I caught glimpses of the creature as we approached it. It was a huge toad-like thing, perhaps the size of an ogre. It made almost no noise as it walked. It seemed to be made of shadows, yet it brushed against the dead branches of the trees as it walked so some part of it must have been flesh.

Wrack whispered that he thought the creature was a thing called a Vanderhop. At least, I think that’s what he said. Then he said that they were inhabitants of the Shadowfell. And that they usually only appeared in this world when they had been summoned by creatures such as hags. The hags would give them instructions that they must follow. And then when their task was done they would disappear back into the Shadowfell.

Finally, we came close enough to attack it. Riellian loosed an arrow at it. From somewhere, twisting vines sprouted up and clutched at it but it easily burst through the vines and moved freely. Kelshann moved up closer to it and took shelter behind the trunk of a tree that still barely clung to life. The Vanderhop snarled and an extraordinarily long tongue snaked out of the creature’s mouth and lashed at Kelshann but she was able to duck behind the tree trunk and the tongue did not touch her.

Then the Vanderhop appeared to slip sideways into the shadows and disappeared. A half-second later it reappeared in front of Riellian, some twenty feet from where it had disappeared. It lashed at Riellian with its claws, but Riellian managed to slide back out of its reach. She ducked down into the undergrowth and disappeared from view.

I called on my star form and the archer on my chest loosed an arrow of starlight at the creature. The arrow struck home and the hit seemed to burn it. Then I sang the song of lightning and sent a bolt of lightning spearing into its body. Little runnels of sparkling light ran across its skin as the aftereffect of my strike.

Wrack stepped forward, his axe glowing with the power of Procan. He stepped in and swung the axe in a single mighty blow, which thudded into the side of the creature and left a huge wound in the side of the Vanderhop. A waft of the smell of the sea air came to me as Wrack swung his axe. At the same time, Jenny called on the power of thunder and rent its flesh. Kelshann dashed in, her eyes glowing red with rage. She had changed into the form of a tailed Dragonkin and she spun on the spot so that her tail lashed at it in her fury.

The Vanderhoppen was now bleeding from multiple wounds. It reached for Kelshann with its giant maw open and tried to remove her head in one mighty bite, but Kelshann’s tail lashed out and knocked the beast away.

The creature slipped into the shadows and reappeared near Jenny, some twenty feet from where it had been. It reached for her, but my archer sent a glowing arrow into its side that burned it fiercely. Its movement exposed a weak area under its arm. I sang the song of lightning and sent a jagged bolt of light spearing directly into the weakness and straight into its heart.

It keened in pain and then slowly slumped to the ground. The shadows that seemed to form much of its bulk peeled away and dissolved into nothingness. The flesh that was left, looking charred and torn, slowly melted into a mound of slime. Then that too drained away and left a pile of objects on the ground, all coated with a thin layer of slime.

We used cloths to wipe away the slime, object by object and found numerous coins and two beautifully made orbs such as wizards might use to focus their power. There was also a small wooden box holding 29 playing cards, each with a different creature on it which we believed to be a magical deck representing illusions that could be called upon by someone with the power to do so.

And there was a javelin inlaid with shining bronze, which Wrack said held within it the power of lightning. He sought our assent to claim the javelin for himself and we gladly gave it.

We decided that the creature had been here for weeks, or even months – circling its track, endlessly circling on some half-understood, half-completed command. It had stopped to consume whatever individuals it had encountered, paying particular attention to those with elvish blood.

We explored the land at the centre of the creatures circling route but the land there seemed no different to any other land in the region. In the end, the mystery of why the Vanderhop was there and what its mission was seemed to have no answer.

The sun started to set and I sat beside one of the trees that had been poisoned by the presence of the creature. I sang the song of farewell to the sun and welcomed the arrival of the stars. Then I sang the song of health and wellbeing and sent my little piece of magic into the depths of the poor old tree, in the hope that I might start its long journey of recovery from the sickening touch of the vile Vanderhop.

We walked back to Burle in the twilight and reported to Kiara Shadowbreaker on the outcome of our mission. Kiara Shadowbreaker looked at the javelin and remembered hearing about a Korvosan warrior, known as The Knight of the Bolt, who had been said to command lightning. She had not heard what had become of him but he had been questing in this part of the world. She also speculated that some of the other things we had found might have been in the possession of bandits who had taken them from their original owners.

Kiara arranged for us to receive the bounty for destroying the creature we had encountered, which was a welcome bag of coins. In addition, we had the coins and other gear we had salvaged from the gut of the creature.

Wrack went to see the blacksmith who had managed to repair the prongs of Wrack’s trident. The prongs were now strong and reliable again but they now had a strange patina on them as a result of their encounter with the corrosive flesh of Black Bob.

In the morning I did my dawn ceremony in Wanderroot’s grove. Then I asked if he would do me the honour of teaching me a part of his name. He twisted and turned as he thought about my request, but then he wished me a good journey without answering my question. I guessed that meant that I had not yet earned such an honour and went on my way. Perhaps there will come a time when I am worthy of such knowledge. Or perhaps, the Treant considers his song to be something kept only for himself and those of his kind.

We met up with Eska, Lyra, Oskur and Prinn as they were preparing their wagons for the return journey. They told us that four soldiers were going with us to Saltmarsh to take some leave from their duties, so they would pick up some of the work of escort duty. The wagons were ready and we set off by mid-morning.