We started last night by picking up with the reunion of the River Voices back in Pavis, now without their Storm Bull Pachala, but having gained a new friend, Ji the Watchful of Humakt. Tarranyr won a 10,000L bidding war for the Limewood Bow, an exotic Aldryami magical bow from a far-off woodland called Umathela, on the continent of Pamaltela. Local elves were glad that an elf-friend retained it.
You equipped for Puzzle Canal and headed in, with Caernak at the tiller of the Zola Fel vessel The Grey Eel. In one of the first cave-pools you met the elven Rune Lord Spear Lily of the River Elves, who welcomed you and told you about the Puzzle Canal. He knew nothing of the river daughter but said that a river priest had come thru earlier this year and passed thru elven lands. He also said that the deeper parts of the maze were plagued by insanity and discord, so the elves were avoiding there.
Other elves in the eastern side of the maze told you similar things and were similarly hospitable. Thornbow of Aldrya, a Rune Lord and captain of the Murthdryan elves, met you and let you pass through the heart of the elven canals for a gift of holy water and a pledge of later assistance from Caernak. He told you more about the river priest (a humorous frog) and directed you to where the priest went. Past the elven cavern you were ambushed by cunning sea trolls that swam under the boat and rent deep holes in its hull, but were put down by magicked River Voices engaging them under water. Repair spells left only a slim scar on the hull, but the boat had taken on some water and was not as watertight as before, seeming precariously clinging to the surface.
Elven guards at the next pool, a small garden of land and water plants, said that the river priest had gone down one of 3 canals and not returned. They did not know where the canals led precisely, but figured that at least one of them connected to a pool where the river priest went. They did not think that this region connected to the deeper maze, because few dangers from there had intruded into the elven maze. But they had heard of bad things in that deeper maze.
The first canal did lead to the pool of the river priest, who was Ooklaff the Jolly, a huge intelligent bull frog priest of King Bull Frog. He was pleased to meet you and said that he thought the river daughter was not far beyond here. Rup joined his trickster-esque cult of strange magics, and others gained the useful spell Froglegs at the impromptu High Holy Day ceremony. He said that the way to the deeper maze lay down a passage beyond the pool, so you checked that out but it just looped back on the pool.
On second investigation, some ducks led by the outlaw Evelyn Longneck appeared on the riverbank and engaged you in conversation. They were Sartarite refugees on the run from the Lunars and agreed to help you in return for your later help finding them a better hideout, perhaps downriver near Duke Raus. They said that there was an underwater tunnel out of sight here, and a trail overland that you could take to the deeper maze. Or you could go back around to the maze entrance and they thought that the western route connected down there, too. We left off with you ruminating over the best way to get there, and you thought that taking the long way was easiest because the boat would be impossible to portage.