"That was... far from ideal." Kess mumbled as she dropped to a patch of soft earth in Phelannie's grove, rubbing at where the serpent's bite had earlier pierced her flesh; for first time in hours, she removes her boots, rubbing at her aching feet and allowing them to breathe and dry in the night air. "Ow... That venom in their fangs is a considerable danger, and I have heard rumors and talk of other creatures in the wilderness with a far more virulent and dangerous bite... but just that; rumors... I hope. We're fortunate that we were able to turn around when we did, with daylight to spare. Even with the blessings of the Seldarine, I would not relish a night's march into these woods."

"Oh uh.. I think this is a good spot!" Krackle would reply to Chrys with a grin as he moves to a small area near the tree that is almost entirly clear of much more than leaves, weeds, and tall grass. The small kobold would then move to the clearing and plop on the ground and look up towards the sky. His small chest rising and falling as he tries to relax.

After collapsing and finding save harbor in Phelannie's grove, you gather around the tree and make yourselves comfortable, having made the decision to spend another night here. You tend to your wounds, fill yourself with nourishment and settle down to enjoy the peace and serenity in this small refuge of apparent safety and brightness inside a very dark section of the High Forest, where even your elven companion has trepidation about venturing away from this grove at after dark.

The events of the day certainly leave you a bit shaken, but now that you're back here, you find yourselves able to relax and let your guard down. Save for the few animals scurrying about in the nearby trees, the place is very quiet. Eventually, though Phelannie returns, and you see her emerge from her tree.

In the elvish tongue, she insures about your adventures into the forest and if you were able to slay the ettercaps. 

"We were able to slay the ettercaps. There was a big one. But... we kept going, trying to find out what was causing the gloom. It gets swampy, and dark, and misty, and, well, sad. Lots of snakes. We got bit, bad. Do you have any suggestions? We'd like to go back with some rest, and some preparation. Take care of what's really out there. You know this forest. What should we do?" Lumen says, hoping someone translates.

Kess would graciously translate.

"There was some kinda slime coatin' everythin'.  Wasn't poisonous or flammable, far as I could tell... but it sure was pollutin' everything 'round the swamp," Chrys explains.  "I got no idea what could be causin' it, but we all got the feelin' that whatever is producin' all that slime is probably drawin' all them spiders to this forest somehow.  Definitely got a bug problem goin' on in there," she grunts.

In a gracious voice that's translated by Kess, Phelannie offers her appreciation for dealing with the ettercaps, but she responds with alarm and trepidation when you describe the nature of the festering swamp that lies to the north where you encountered the snakes and slime. She says that this part of the forest has always been more of a wetland, but it wasn't away so dangerous. She feels that something has definitely moved in that has defiled the area. When she reconnoitered the edges of the swamp earlier this morning, before you set out, she too felt that some kind of evil was present, but she was too frightened to go much further. She even spoke with some of the forest creature that she saw, but many of them have moved way from the swamp for fear of their own lives as well. All in all, she is in agreement with you that it's not a very nice place at the moment. 

Phelannie offers you the same hospitality as before as you hunker down to rest for the evening, and even tries to soothe you by singing soften sylvan melodies. When she does so, you can see a few small furry forest creatures emerge and watch her as she sings in her gentle voice. 

"This is actually kinda nice," Chrys says as she's lulled into a sleepy stupor.  Shaking it off, she slaps her cheeks and tries to maintain her vigilant watch.  Try as she might, the soothing sounds of Phelannie's voice and the cute, furry audience listening to it soon has Chrysoberyl's head dropping to her chin.  She snores in place, sitting up propped up against her own battlehammer.

Krackle manages to quickly dig a small burrow and scurry down inside so that all but his snout was hidden under the earth. From there he would sleep inside his little hole. 

Lumen covers himself in his bedroll, almost emulating Krackle's nighttime habits, though with less dirt. He silently hopes the poison leaves his body, he can heal up, and he regains his store of arcane energy. He mostly hopes tomorrow is less of a disaster than today was.

When he wakes up, he'll be eager, restless, ready to go take on whatever evil there is in the swamp. The fear, pain, and anxiety is totally gone from him.

Plenannie continues to sing and hum gentle melodies throughout the evening as you relax and drift towards, trying to push the pain and stress from the day out of your minds. Her sylvan words and inflections sound very similar to elvish, but they have an elusive, magical quality to them that brings a unique flavor to your ears. Eventually, you all succumb to your drowsiness and fall into a long and peaceful slumber that lasts uninterrupted for many hours. You finally wake at an hour that is well past dawn, and you feel rested and revitalized. The dryad is nowhere to be seen, but you do see and hear a handful of small forest creatures that scurry happily about in her grove. 

After waking and packing up her things, Chrys spends a few moments preparing some more "anti-bug" torches and hands them out to any who want to carry them.   "Let's be ready for them nasty buzzin' critters today," she grumbles.

Once the party has gathered their things together, she'll begin the march back into the forest along the same path the group traced the previous day, relying on the others to make sure she's not going in the completely wrong direction.  She keeps a lookout on her surroundings as she goes:

Perception: 15

Krackle would collect his things form his small burrow and follow behind his companions. "There can't be that many more big spiders left in the forest right? I mean I think we got them all already maybe?"

Lumen is revitalized by the long rest and Phelannie's song. He feels a bit guilty at prolonging the trip, but he was really spent from the ettercap and snake fight.

He helps Kess or Krackle or Vesper find the path again, and helps Chrys with the anti-bug torches. He keeps an eye out for snakes, hoping to stay away from any more ahead.

"So what do we think is causing this? Any ideas?" he says, walking into the mist.

"Gone?  Spiders breed like crazy with them egg sacks o' there.  Unless we're sure we got 'em all, I bet they'll be comin' back in no time, e'en the huge ones.   Though," Chrys says thoughtfully,  "I was sure it was just a spider infestation, 'till we saw that guck on the ground.  Now I been turnin' it 'round in my head, an' I'm thinkin'... what if it's some residual slime from somethin' givin' birth ta all the poisonous things 'round these parts?  Whatever it is, can't be any good, and we best not be leavin' it alone."  She smiles faintly.  "Y'know, this is probably more than what Dundragon was expecting when he signed us on ta this lil' task for his girlfriend.  But even though I ain't comfortable in this here forest, I feel for the things here.  Ta have their home taken from 'em, and ruined by all this badness... Phelannie mighta died, if we hadn't come 'round.  That don't sit right with me.  Even if Dundragon hadn't asked, I'd want ta make whatever's causin' all this sufferin' pay for their crimes.  I jus' hope it ain't nothin' ta do with the gods, like them Shar cultists we tangled with."

She looks at the others.  "How're ya holdin' up?  If we make it outta this forest in one piece, drinks are on me when we get back to a town."  Her nose wrinkles.  "Baths too, if needin' be."

"I would so go for a bath right now," Kess let out an exhausted groan, subconsciously stretching her neck. "Concerning the nests, Chrys... as long as Phelannie is copacetic to the idea, we should see to burning out those nests. While even spiders have a purpose in nature, I doubt that anyone is well-served with arachnids the size of dogs or even horses skittering about the woods, and in such unnaturally swollen numbers. As for what is causing all of this, Lumen, I wish I knew... the only thing that is glaringly clear is that none of this is natural. For all we know, it is something of the unholy realms that has decided to make its home here in the forest."

As the party walked along, Kess would occasionally glance behind the group to assure they weren't being shadowed.

Perception: 5

Lumen keeps an eye out as well, having had a dream about the Shar follower still out there, possibly hunting them, and the mask shard. Katsu, or Issio, or Talissan, or The Shadow. Whatever his name was. He glances around as they continue forward, wondering if Shar has anything to do with this mess. It's not rational, or likely, but his mind is making connections that probably aren't there.

Perception: 17

Once they get past the ettercaps' area and to the snakes' area, he helps with the anti-bug torches and tries to quiet his steps. Is the mist still thick? Anything changed from the day before?

A flame would dance in the palm of Krackles hand as he walks alongside his friends. "Oh you guys don't need a bath yet. Remember we got to rinse off in the river not THAT long ago" The kobold says as he gives himself a little sniff. Since he doesn't really sweat and sleeps in the dirt, he mainly just smells like dirt.

"Yer scales might benefit from not bein' scrubbed that often, but our soft skin ain't the same.  Gets itchy an' rashes when we don't bathe regularly," Chrys explains to Krackle.  "'Part from that, there's the social bit.  People from them cities don't like talkin' to folks who don't smell like perfume an' money.  Kinda snobbish, if ya ask me, but sometimes ya gotta blend in with the crowd to get 'em to hear ya."

Retracing your steps from yesterday, you make your way deeper into the forest and soon pass the ettercap nest. Fortunately, none have returned, and the area around the nest is quiet and devoid of all life, although some of the foul odor seems to have dissipated. Continuing even further, you press on and enter the borders of the swamp, where the trees become much more sparse, and the landscape is dotted with puddles and small ponds of smelly, brackish water. 

The mist is indeed still present here, and the further you go, the heavier the fog becomes. You also begin to see the shine from the thick layer of slime that covers every surface. It's such a stark contrast between the relatively save and peaceful place of Phelannie's grove. Here is just feels so much more ominous and full of potential dangers. 

As you proceed even further, the mosquitos and biting flies return, although your torches help keep them at bay. Without them, you could easily imagine the level of annoyance and pain you'd experience from having hundred of them buzzing in your face and latching onto every exposed piece of skin. By now, your feet and lower legs are soaked  and cold from the spongy ground and the numerous puddles and small streams you've had to cross.

You also see scores of snakes, as well as small hordes of spiders and other insets crawling and slithering about, although they are small, normal sized creature and not currently posing any apparent threat to you. You do being to see more spiders webs that hang on some of the small, twisted tree branches that stick up through the swamp. No full sized webs, just revenants and stray strands of silk fluttering in the faint breezes. 

Eventually, you see what appears to be the edge of a large pond or lake up ahead. The fog has obscured everything beyond about 100 feet, but you can tell that it's a considerably larger body of water than the numerous ponds you've passed as you've trudged through the swamp. At the edge of the lake, you just make out the twisted trunks and bizarrely hanging foliage of what appear to be a pair of very large, very old cypress trees.