((This only covers recent threads...I haven't gone back much further than that so perhaps someone else in that group would like to tell the story up to this point?))The group (Ashleyein, Ral, Tothalas, Cadbury, Dan, and Sterling) seeks Gareth in the heart of the swamp. During their night's rest, after an unpleasant encounter with an evil woman (a deathsinger) named Tuculcha, Tothalas and Ashleyein both have unpleasant dreams. They hope the dreams are not any kind of indicators of the future. They believe they can make it to the heart of the swamp by the following day if they're lucky.
Their day's journey takes them through buggy swamps to the Hag's Blood river, where the bridge is guarded by a tribe of Trolls. Sterling suggests a plan where he will divert their attention, Tothalas will blind them with a flare spell, and the rest of them will just hack and slash their way across as quickly as possible, hoping to outrun them.
Unfortunately they hit a snag when the cheif (and surprisingly articulate) troll nailed Sterling with a crossbow bolt. He shouted the signal as Dan and Ashleyein ran to his aid. Tothalas's ball of light worked, stunning the trolls and allowing the gang to pick up their injured comrade and head across the bridge. Unfortunately, Sterling was also blinded by the light, and is in enough pain that he doesn't realize he's ordering Tothalas to blow up the bridge in the Drow tongue. Luckily Tothalas has an intelligent bunny companion who relays the message in mime (*LOL!*) and indicates the proper spell. The bridge destroyed, Sterling recalls his sword "Evenflow" to his hand with a handy spell that Ashleyein wants to learn. (Sterling's full Drowish name is apparently Captain D'yvar Irzen, Lord of the House of Sylvar, much to his surprise.)
They continued on into a dark woods, where Tothalas (the only one who can still see clearly) directed them. Ral (whose player has just returned from a mysterious absence and is making up for it by having had Ral go insane) suddenly falls over and threatens, either to his companions or the voices in his head, '"SHUT UP, OR I'LL LET LOOSE THE MARMOSETS! YA HEAR? MARMOSETS!" Sterling and the others, befuddled, tend to Sterling's wound and their newly screaming monk friend.
