The new initiates of the Cleansed One swam (or were dragged by Shirk) into the Keelmarsh and found a spooky hillock with an underwater entrance that opened into a small dank grotto. There, a yellow-eyed, fanged, and clawed hunchback figure crouched on a pile of bones and rotting flesh in the shadows of the cave, which was lit by soft blue light from phosphorescent fungi. She only spoke Boatspeech so Greyreed was called in to chat after Harmast investigated. She said she ate ogres, mostly, and welcomed the River Voices. Greyreed seemed seduced by the ugly thing and disrobed, then came up to her and she grabbed him, almost killing him. But Shirk swam in to save the day, healing him while the Humakti talked her down (well, Sorex [or Gulo?] moved toward her too, but the other one criticalled his Chaste and stopped him). Mother Murk, as she called herself, is an evil vough who rules the marsh, but she was willing to help. She granted some questors this spell:
Gaze of Gory Gloom (1pt): acts like a Fear divine spell but only against chaos; +1 level of success against ogres!
She also gave you a bloody wiggling bone that led you (with some mishaps) deep into the swamp after chaos, and you found 4 ogres sitting in a rowboat near Ogre Island, watching the far shore. The Humakti charged and one ogre was freaked out by the Gaze of Gory Gloom, plunging into the water where Shirk and Greyreed dragged him down to drown. Sorex, Gulo, and Harmast took the other three out quite easily. You took their boat back to Mother Murk, who was very pleased and munched on their bodies and sucked their marrow noisily. In return, she offered another spell, symbolized by taking a piece of her algal cloak as a token:
Mother Murk's Mantle (1pt): must be cast in a swamp or algae-covered stagnant water (many places in Puzzle Canal would count, BTW). Caster must be naked. Provides 8AP protection (like the spell, but physical protection that acid etc could eat away potentially) but no ENC, +10% to swim for 1 hour or until the caster leaves the water (dries up fast!).
So you left the quest with some new magics, experience checks, and a keen desire to learn how to swim better! :)
On to Puzzle Canal you went, with Caernak&crew, Ji, Tison, Arcus, Sergio the Grey Company mapmaker, Sorex, and Gulo (Greyreed and Harmast stayed behind).
You met up with Spear Lily, who brought a shambler with him (similar to D&D shambling mound; STR 30 SIZ 20 DEX 5, immune to poison, disease, etc. and blunt or impaling weapons and regenerates from all damage except fire, disrupt, etc.)! It could float along the water's surface like a pile of scummy muck, or form into a denser humanoid shape that could walk on land. In either case it was slow and clumsy, but it is nasty if it hits (holds and throttles; always hits head, I believe!).
The circumnavigation went quietly for a while, until you had to portage the boat on the south end of the canal, and some folks swam thru an underwater passage underneath the portage. A great crocodile was waiting at the other end for bubbles revealing swimmers below, and dove in to get you. It snapped hungrily at Caernak but luckily its aim was not keen. You killed it and the shambler helped haul it onto land at the other end, where you took some pieces of hide to maybe have made into armor.
Further along, you met the sinister water spirit Eeziri'kadee, who was very hostile at first until Caernak explained you were River Voices. She then allowed the true River Voices of the party to swim down to the depths of the canal and learn her dance (see previous e-mail for spell details), then she slinked away.
You then portaged the boat a second time over to a pool in the river elve's domain, where they recharged crystals. You went on your way and came to Ooklaff's pool, but he was not there. Instead, seven hunched things with glinting eyes sat silently around the edges of the pool, and something else was down in the depths casting a few magics (at least one hostile) at Caernak as he spoke peace. Spear Lily said something malevolent was there, so you moved away and went to the next portage (the one close to the river daughter's area). Something called for Caernak in a familiar feminine voice; Tison thought it was Shennin Ashal, but it seemed threatening or scary and only wanted Caernak to come talk. It said that he knew her and she once served the river. You tried to get it to show itself but it said that the daylight burned it, and it was shameful to look upon. Confused, you left it alone and continued the portage work. It was beginning to get dark and you still had quite a ways to go, deciding that you should continue into the night anyway. Caernak sat aside and began a divination to see what the nature of this she-thing was, in case Tison is right that it's Shennin Ashal or something.
Soon enough, things came gliding in swiftly from above and blasted people near the boat with bolts of lightning that came from their mouths. Several people were maimed or near death, and then they dove in to attack. They were big (SIZ 20), evil black-eyed grey scaly humanoid frog-things with glider patagia along their limbs, and they fought well. The bite drained MPs and they used some protective magic, so they were hard foes. Ji nearly lopped one's head off, Tison blew two Heal bodies to keep him and Sergio alive, Spear Lily did the same for Blu (after Blu blew some hero points to save himself from a critical hit), and Arcus speared the one on Sergio, but you dealt enough wounds to them that they withdrew, leaping into the air and gliding off. That's where we finished for the night. Any glorious actions I forgot to mention?