The group rest uneventfully and once ready they cross over the rope bridges and head west into a hilly area, but they are able to see that much further to the west is the start of the forest area known as the Narlmarches.
The Narlmarches has an area span of over 350 miles, most of which runs through the western side of their kingdom. It is in the very northern parts of these woods that they encountered the Temple of the Elk, the Giant Frogs, the two mischievous fey and the boar known as Tuskgutter but there was still very much to explore and discover in these ancient woods, but that would be for another day. The group decide that they will reach the edge of the woods and then head north and north-east, skirting past the two interconnecting lakes (Lake Tuskwater and Lake Candlemere) that are south of their capital before they head home - this would result in them having explored the entire eastern half of their kingdom and the northern third of the Narlmarches.
Travelling across the hills near to the forest the party spy a herd of Elk running towards them and in the distance, giving chase, was an lumbering green hulk of teeth, flesh and muscle, which after some time became obvious was a troll - a powerful and evil creature with long arms, enormous teeth and a huge appetite, trolls are capable of regenerating, overcoming almost all injuries, unless they are dealt fire-based damage.
Miro hides in wait and successfully sneaks up on the green giant as it followed after the elk and manages to time his blow perfectly to critically injure the creature. Now that Miro had the troll's attention Otto moves in and launches a flask of oil all over the giant whilst Kyrander fires off a flaming arrow at the oil, setting the troll alight and killing it. The humans, halfling and half-elf stick around to make sure that the creature is completely destroyed before they start to head north-east into an area of plains and hills.
Travelling past the eastern banks of Lake Candlemere they can see a light layer of fog that covers part of the lake and Kyrander's sharp eyes are just able to make out a large island that sits in the center of the lake. There are many legends and rumours regarding the evil things that lurk on that island, but the group refrain from exploring it for the time being.
Not too far from the point where the two lakes interconnect they discover an 200-foot pool of shallow bubbling mud, heated by geothermal activity. The edges also contain large varieties of fungi and mushrooms, some common and some of which are quite rare. But upon getting close to the mushrooms both Kyrander and his companion Spot begin to vomit from inhaling the fungus spores, which incapacitates them. This occurs just moments before a huge fungus covered mound rises out of the mud to attack the remaining party members.
A huge carnivorous plant creature, the Tendriculos feeds on living prey, doing so by using its long-reaching tentacles that are capable of paralysing anything living, before it then eats them alive.
A long drawn-out combat ensues, with Vaneer getting grappled by the Tendriculos which then tries to stuff the cleric into its giant maw on several occasions, but fails to do so as the cleric resists the paralysing agent in the tendrils of the plant creature and struggles enough that the creature can't quite swallow him down. Both Natalia and Otto shoot fire-based spells which are very effective in damaging the overgrown hillock, whilst Miro jumps onto the mossy back of the creature and repeated slashes it with his special-made custom-sized elven blade. After several minutes the creature finally collapses into a mess of mud and plant-matter and Vaneer is freed the stickly vine-like tendrils.
After some respite Vaneer heals up and Kyrander is finally able to function normally again. Other than some delicious mushrooms and a relaxing mud-bath, the group discover nothing of value other than the useful resource that this mud bowl might bring to their kingdom and it's citizens they continue to explore to the east and the north. Though they do not discover any further treasures or valuable resources, they are also able to determine that there are no further dangers in this part of their kingdom and return to Wyvenshore.
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