The Fens
The following morning after destroying the hound (and a late start thanks to the celebrations stretching deep into the night) the surviving members of the party along with a couple supplemental level 0 characters made their way north-east, to the fens where the lair of the Hound was located according to local legend.
A six hour march along the river brought them to the boggy mess. Navigation in the misty uniform landscape would be difficult, but they forged ahead. Their first sign they were on the right track was when they came across some skull totems pattered like wards. Once determining they posed no threat, they noticed they were being followed by some mangy jackals. A cruel beggar named Clyde stepped forward and made a remarkable sling shot that killed the leading jackal at considerable range through the mist, routing the pack.
The Lair
The group arrived at a huge twenty-foot sinkhole bellowing a column of oily fumes. After a considerable amount of cautious experimentation, they eventually lowered one of the new arrivals, an impressively stupid (and likely developmentally disabled) night watchman who went by "Eggs" down by rope to investigate. He got very dirty and covered in swamp water. The group learned the hole was a bit too deep for their 50 feet of rope, so back they went to town to fetch more.
On their way out of the fens they stumbled upon a spout that spewed forth a noxious cloud of toxic gas which most of the group managed to overcome save the frail wizard Sigismund - reduced to 0 stamina he fell comatose and had to be hauled back to town by the stout warrior Ingrid.
They marched back to Hirot, rested for the night, resupplied, and made their way once again to the fens (even Sigismund, having recovered back to a robust 1 stamina!). Knowing that the swamp drained into the sinkhole, they made their way back fairly easily.
Now they went about deploying about half the group down to the base while the others remained up top so as to prevent them from getting trapped. Below they discovered an oily pool of some accursed otherworldly substance emitting the noxious cloud, and into which swamp water drained. They also discovered a tremendous amount of ancient sacrifices, mostly rusted away to rubbish.
While the zero level characters went sifting through the debris, the cleric Myyrah and the wizard Asher decided to contemplate the pool in order to hopefully learn its secrets. Myyrah found the pool quite revolting, and meditating upon it caused in her a crisis of faith, which she barely overcame. Asher was less fortunate - the pool drove him temporarily mad and he attempted to throw himself into it. Myyrah, after some struggle, managed to haul him out although not before both were partially immersed in the strange burning substance.
Despite this incident, Sigismund decided he ought to give it a go as well, in properly irresponsible fashion for a practitioner of the dark arts. He too was driven to try and drown himself in the pool, but was somewhat more successful and managed to drop himself to 0 hp. He was narrowly saved by Myyrah's lay on hands, but suffered a point of permanent stamina damage, putting him back at 0 and unconscious. Not a great couple days for Sigismund.
The group gave up on the pool, but managed to discover some satisfactory loot amidst the old sacrifices, which they hauled back to the surface along with Sigismund's comatose body.
Before departing, Myyrah attempted to call on her god Ashakhan to collapse the sinkhole and seal the Hound's lair eternally. Ashakhan contemptuously declined, and so the group resigned to merely reporting on their findings to the new Jarl.
The Return Trip and Wrapping Up
The group nearly lost not one but two of their zero levels on the trip back when they became lost in the fens. First, they were attacked by a vine creature that tried to drag the barber Lagr into the filthy waters. Ironically, it wasn't the vine that nearly killed him, but Clyde the beggar, who recklessly fired a sling bullet directly into Lagr's skull via poorly timed critical hit. Lagr only survived due to being impressively durable for a 0 level. Clyde and Lagr were both being run by the same player, which made this extra hilarious.
A short while later Clyde fell in a quicksand-type sinkhole that almost swallowed him whole. Clyde had been a bit of a hindrance up to that point so there was talk of just letting him sink, but of course he was wisely still carrying some of the valuable loot from the Hound's lair. He was promptly hauled up by his fellowed.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. They returned to Hirot and reported the situation to the Jarl, who was disappointed at the possibility of the Hound's eventual return, but thankful for everything the band hand done.
They split the loot, and enjoyed some much needed rest whilst planning their next move.
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