Quote from Bartjeebus >>

***
Brother Siegfried sniffed at and sampled the raw fish.  On a sailing journey long ago, some far travelers had taught him how to slice and eat raw fish from the open sea.  He was long out of practice, but to his recollection it was something that could only be done safely with saltwater fish.  Trusting that the brackish Mere was ‘close enough’ he said a quick prayer to Chauntea and gobbled it down.

***
He spent the evening at the willows in prayer, contemplating the trial ahead and the deathly magic that consumed these foul trolls.  There is a darkness here… perhaps it is the destiny of the Swords to champion the power of life in these sick lands.

 During his prayers Brother Siegfried has a vision:

"Swords...," Sigi says in the darkness, looking and sounding shaken, "the Earthmother has granted me a vision.  Two forces quarrel here in the Mire.  Above us, this is no natural storm... it is the fury of nature itself.  I suspect, connected in some way to Talos and his worshippers we routed in Leilon.  And below, that tower in the darkness... there is a power of undeath here.  They are challenging each other, howling at each other like two rival wolves and wounding all the lands around them."

Vandeyr nods. "That would make sense. This is the Uthtower, by the sounds of it. It was once home to a lich. No telling what is there now, but I would not count a lich dead forever even if I did it with my own two hands. They are notoriously clever in hiding their spirit to return."

"That said... The means by which they create their phylacteries are often researched and recorded. I believe the tower has a library, on the top floor. Vitha claims the tower is bigger on the inside than would appear on the outside, but that may be mere enchantment."

"First steps first... There is a wide berth of water between us and the tower. I might manage some potions that will give us means to swim and breath, but a raft would likely be preferable and less draining on my alchemical reserves."

"Damn Talos. And damn liches!" Tor is wet through, even despite the waxed hood on his cloak, and in a bad mood from it. "If they're rival wolves then let them eat each other! I'd rather go nowhere near this blasted tower, but it seems the trolls are popping up by it, so I don't think we have a choice. But if we can at all avoid it, we're not going inside. We're not on a fact finding mission, and we're not here for heroics. We're just here to kill trolls, and get our people home." 

He glances around the clearing looking for wood. "A raft sounds good. Let's get some kind of shelter built, and in the morning we can reuse the wood, convert it."

Survival: 12; or

Perception: 18

Vandeyr will grant Tor benefits from his Flash of Genius, to add 5 to his roll, as he points out where some wood managed to harden beneath mounds of moss. 

Vitha seems to have an easier time understanding common than speaking it, and seems to be following your conversation.

At mention of a raft safe she says to Vandeyr in draconic, "If you can't swim, most of the water between here and the tower is no deeper than 5 feet, and there is plenty of... islands? Is this the right word? To catch your breath."

For Tor, there are some fallen trees that you could create a makeshift raft from with some effort.

"Good spot Van. Give me a hand here," Tor calls to anyone in the group who will assist.

He would take larger branches from the trees, propping them against a standing tree with dry ground beneath where possible, then lash the branches to the tree, fanned out down to the ground. Smaller branches, leaves and moss will then be added to the large branches, covering the gaps as well as possible to create a makeshift shelter.

"In the morning we can get the raft sorted," he says afterward, sitting down to rest. "For now, let's eat and sleep. Tomorrow brings a tough fight."

(Anyone else doing anything before resting?)

I think we're good. 

Rawlings settles in the makeshift shelter.  "Tough fight yes, but one fight closer to getting out of this damn soggy place."  Rawings grumbles some more and tries to find a comfortable spot to rest until morning.  But she does stare out at the tower a bit longer, she doesn't feel the same animosity towards it, more curiosity then anything.

Brother Siegfried will assist Tor in tying down the branches and securing a dry-ish place to rest.

"If I may, I think I can save us all the time of building a raft.  I can prepare a spell that will allow us to walk across the water itself.  I can include all of us, and it will last for a full hour.  It should get us where we need to go."  He sighs.  "Depending on the battle to come, and how much of my spell reserves I exhaust, I may not be able to cast it again for a return trip.  But first things first, right?"

The night passes uneventfully, aside from the noises of the storm overhead and the sounds of the swamp. In the morning, the storm has lost most of its fury. The sun even seems to be breaking through, enough to shine on the tower, though dark clouds on the horizon promise more rain to come.

(That's a cool picture)

As they rise, Rawlings tries to dry what she can by futilely wringing things out.  Turning to Brother Siegfried, "If you can keep us as dry as possible for as long as possible, I'm all for not wading through all this water on our way to fight the trolls.  At least, that's my vote."

Tor's internal battle between keeping dry and trusting himself to magic rages on his face. Eventually keeping dry wins out. At worst, they would just be in a few feet of water. It's not like they were at sea, thank the gods. 

"My vote too," he agrees with Rawlings. "Let's at least have one hour where we're not having to fight the swamp itself just to make a few yards of distance."

Vandeyr checks his alchemic tools, and notes two new potions, resilient and flight, have appeared. 

As the party prepares to move, Vitha has been squatting motionless, in the way that only lizardfolk seem able to achieve, staring off at the tower. After a moment, she hisses for quiet.

She whispers in common, "Look!" And points worth a claw.

Anyone who looks can see movement near the bottom of the tower. There are two trolls, regular trolls, not the rotten things you encountered earlier, trudging towards the tower. They move stiffly, as though in a trance, before they disappear into the base of the tower.

Rawlings watches silently as the trolls enter the trolls.  Trying to understand why they moved the way they did.  She looks over at Tor, "I'm thinking that we are not going to be able to avoid that tower."

"Aah, damnit!" Tor growls. "That thing would be at the centre of this mess. Fine, let's down some rations and get moving."

When the time comes, Tor will reluctantly allow the magic of Sigi's spell to help him walk on the water, and take lead behind Vitha.

Sigi solemnly nods in agreement with Rawlings.  "That seems to set the matter.  The trolls and that tower are linked... if we are to honor our deal with the lizard tribe, the path lies straight to that tower."

When the party is ready to advance, Sigi casts water walk.  He can target up to 10, so he includes all the Swords and their guide.

Van keeps an eye out for some sign of activity within the tower as they approach