Dear Master Zorthaster,

We finally made it out of the sewers of Tilverton but found ourselves a bit further out of town than we expected.

The way out of the yuanti lair was more unpleasant than crawling back through the reeking sewage. The only exit we could find was a portal that required a vial of troll blood as the gate key. Unfortunately for us, all the vials were empty and the troll burned to ash. We did uncover, in a stash of treasure, a scroll with two resurrection spells. We had to use one to raise the troll, so we could collect his blood. In the end, we burned him again. It was a terrible, gruesome task that I would just as soon forget.

The treasure horde included a large magical shield, a magical composite bow, a circlet of blasting, a very well crafted dwarven war axe, a suit of banded mail, coins, several potions, and a scroll of mirror walking that will take some time to figure out. Have you heard of this spell? It is clearly arcane, but I do not recall ever hearing about it before. In the room where the yuanti abomination had its nest, we found the remains of what I think was a lich. It seemed well and fully dead, so I gathered up some bits of cloth and dust from his lair. I recall you mentioning that these can be useful in potion making.

When we passed through the gate one vial of blood was consumed. I still have 6 others since we collected enough for all of us to have one in case of need. The gate brought us to the vast swamp on our border with Sembia. We did not know where we were for some while. We scouted around a bit and finally chose a course that we thought would both lead us closer to civilization and keep the halfling's nose above water. Oskar seemed even more concerned about the water than Shane. The dwarf led the way, all the while probing ahead with the haft of his urgosh.

Is seemed like a very long time before we heard the sound of a terribly bad singer ahead. We crept up and hid in the bushes, trying to make sense of the scene laid out before us. On a smallish island in the swamp we discovered a tidy house where a scraggly man was bathing in a tub set out in his front yard. All the while he was belting out a discordant song. Singing harmony (such as it was) were a bunch of two foot tall spotted mushrooms. The song degenerated into a chase as some of the mushrooms stole the old man's pants and raced around the yard, just out of reach.

Oskar started singing a dwarven drinking song and began to approach the house. We all followed along in amazement. The old man ran back into his house and we soon saw a crossbow aimed at us from a second story window. He shouted at us to leave him alone and called us assassins from Selgaunt. It took a while, but we were eventually able to convince the old man that we were simply lost and looking for directions. The man's name was Katan and he had lived here in the vast swamp for close to 30 years. We had a nice evening as he fed us stew and a perfectly awful fermented brew made with the roots of some swamp plant. As we ate, we learned that something was not right with the swamp. The larger animals had all disappeared, including the swamp deer and the big fish.

As darkness approached, the big mushrooms crept closer and we heard a faint buzzing from the swamp. From deep in the swamp came hordes of gargantuan mosquitos. Before they had reached the site of Katan's home, he had lit up a home made cigar that put out a thick stinky haze. The smoke hung low over the cottage site and seemed to keep the mosquitos away. Katan was unaware of their presence, but it seemed clear that the mushrooms knew they were about for they stayed close under the smokey haze. We spent the night outside and the mosquitos got no closer. By day break both they and the smoke were gone.

The next morning Katan was up early and getting ready to go fishing. As he stepped out onto his dock, several mushrooms appeared and chased him off. As they did, a huge crocodile erupted out of the water under the rickety dock and tried to eat the old man. It did manage to chomp down on one of the unfortunate mushrooms. As it did, the mushroom released a cloud of yellow spores that seemed to slow the crocodile considerably. It was good that the crocodile slowed as that allowed Katan time to scramble away as we attacked the beast. Both Oriseus and I hit the creature with lightning bolts as the others attacked with arrows and fists. We were unable to save the unfortunate mushroom that gave its life to save Katan's, but we were able to slay the giant crocodile before it could cause more harm. Despite its size, it was emancipated. Its stomach proved to be empty. Clearly it was having no better luck finding food lately than Katan.

We volunteered to look around, investigating what might be wrong with the swamp. Katan's boat had survived the crocodile attack but was clearly too small for all of us to use in our explorations. However, Katan said that the boat had been smaller when he first carved it. It seems that the boat might be able to grow larger at need. We started getting in and loading gear and after all of us (except Oriseus and the fat man) were on board we found the boat cramped but adequate. Kerith talked to the boat, hummed and sang as he boarded and took the oars. The boat seemed to like him and it was remarkably easy to handle. Katan also gave us several of his pungent cigars and tips for avoiding trouble. He warned us away from an area where willow-the-wisps hang out, away from a haunted tree where moans of the dead could be heard, and told us of a bog monster that some say lurks about the swamp. We learned that Katan's cat had disappeared a while ago but when I tried to get a description all I learned is that it was a gray cat.

We spent a couple days boating around through the swamp. Oskar really does not like boats. He kept the swim bladders from Excelsior filled the entire time we were in the boat. We saw few animals in the days we spent exploring. One night we heard a horrific yowl of a cat but did not see it. Xan thought it was Hluapa, Katan's cat so he caught a couple of small fish to try to lure it in to see. He also put an arrow into a poisonous snake that had started heading our way. Other interesting sightings included a yellow musk creeper (I recognized the flower from the time you had some in the shop), a giant sundew, and a huge leech. We had to go near the haunted tree area and it gave us all the creeps. It was a misty island that rose out of the swamp. Oskar could feel a very old, very hungry evil from the island. We heard the moans and whispers of restless dead spirits as we made our way around the island.

On the 8^th of Mirtul we encountered more of the giant mosquitos. Oskar lit up one of Katan's cigars and puffed on it until he was overcome by coughing and hacking. Xan grabbed the foul roll of herbs and continued until he too was hit by the debilitating hacking. Shane then took up the task for the last few moments as great clouds of putrid smoke poured from the cigar. This kept the mosquitos at bay. Hluapa, evidently attracted by the familiar smell of the smoke and a desire to escape the mosquitos showed up and leapt into the boat. The cat was indeed gray but it was more the size of a lynx or a bobcat than a typical tabby cat.

Ciercie spotted something else in the commotion. It was hiding in swamp. A huge figure that we guessed was the swamp monster. I called out to it, hoping that it would be in favor of our mission to discover the source of the problems in the swamp. It was difficult to converse with the creature. First because of the distance and commotion. Then because of the creature's limited vocabulary and communication skills. I think that it was not necessarily lack of intelligence as such, but that other ways of communicating were more familiar to the creature. He called the mosquitos to him and they immediately obeyed though I could see no Art that he used to do so.

When we had been able to convince the creature that we were here to help the swamp we learned that he too wanted to help. We started asking about the mosquitos and he seemed unable to explain anything more than that they we his friends. Finally he simply said that he would show us. He led us to one of the sites of an ancient battle between orcs and humans that had devastated this land. As we entered the old battle site, a mist crept up. The bog monster climbed out of the water onto an island and beckoned for us to follow. We climbed to the top of a hill and where we found a small pond or pool filled with the giant mosquito larvae and eggs. Upon casting a detect magic I was able to pin point something in the pool. I waded in and pulled out a pouch that had been attached to fragments of a skeleton at the bottom. Inside was a steel vial with a tiny hole rusted in it. It may have been leaking a potion.

The others told me that when I cast the orison, blue motes followed me into the pool. I started to be suspicious that this area might be subjected to the effects of wild magic. With trepidation I cast a mage hand and instead ended up teleporting a mushroom creature into my hand. I poured the contents of the leaking vial into one that had recently held troll blood for later examination.

We thought about the situation here and concluded that if this was a wild magic area and that if the potion was causing an enlargement effect on a large number of mosquitos the potential was there for this to cause a big disruption in the swamp's ecosystem. Just a few of these giant mosquitos could likely kill a deer from blood loss and there were thousands.

The Bog Monster was convinced, after a difficult conversation, that the mosquitos were bad for the swamp and that in order for the deer and fish to return, they must be killed and the pool drained. He got the message and began calling mosquitos to him so he could crush them in his huge hands. Meanwhile, I cast a lightning bolt into the pool to fry the larvae and eggs. The spell turned to ball lightning that blasted me and the water into the air. It succeeded in killing most of the immature mosquitos. We searched out and squashed those that had survived. When the bog monster finished killing the adults, he began to dig a trench from the pool to drain the remaining water. He worked quickly and before long water was flowing rapidly down the hill. A few more eggs were found as we watched the flowing water, but it appeared that this pool would no longer produce giant mosquitos.

As we were about to leave the island to return to old man Katan's, the bog monster placed one of his great hands in the water. A moment later a little frog hopped out of the water and started to trill. At that, the mushroom I had teleported peeked out from behind my hood where he had been hiding and began to whistle a cheerful tune. We all picked it up and began to row back to Katan's.

We arrived at the cottage very quickly. Along the way we saw more fish and turtles (some of which appeared to get eaten by the boat!) Birds were singing as well. Oriseus and Artur were waiting for us to return after a pleasant visit with Katan. The old man put us up another night and in the morning escorted us to the Coast Road, speeding us on our way. There is a chance we may be passing through Suzail on our way to Daggerfalls. I hope so, for it is too long since I have been home. Perhaps I will see you soon. Until then I remain

Your faithful student,