Chapter 1 - The Red Waterfall

The wind whistled and howled through the trees as Ghelin wakes Ewan to take the second watch. A full moon is rising in the dead of the night, its bright light shining off the lake. A faint hue of red is noticeable as Ewan gazes at the still water. Nothing stirs aside from their fire, but the red water is unnerving nonetheless.

When Mac's turn for watch arrives the moon becomes obscured by clouds. The wizard puts another log or two on the fire and is only startled by Kicsi letting out a short scream in her sleep. He snaps to attention to look but quickly realizes its nothing more than a nightmare and lets the young monk slip back into sleep.

Mac keeps thinking about the Fey blood in the water and the clues that will hopefully be gleaned when he can cast his spell in the morning. He stares into the waterfall as if in a trance. And then it happens. The water crashing into the lake at the bottom of the fall takes form. The water rises up into a humanoid form giving off an intense red glow. Mac cowers back. The form doesn't move. It just takes shape. The left arm raises up and points to the south. The glow becomes a radiant beacon and suddenly the water takes flight and crashes into the ground at the southern shore of the lake. The form quickly collapses back into the water.

Pulling out the vial of blood, Mac and the others find it to now be glowing a bright red. This would be amazing on its own if it wasn't followed by the gradual increase in red glow from the entire lake. Over the course of a few minutes the lake glowed more and more, until it peaked with a brightness that was almost too much to look at. The lake then gave off a mind-deafening cracking sound (much like thunder and lightening) and then went black again, blending into the night.

OOC: Mac is unable to find anything in his textbook that explains the water creature.

[A few more hours until the sun will rise]

Dawn of the sixth day of Alturiak comes cold and still. A light breeze blows out of the east as the sun creeps over the top of the waterfall. The water is quite red as you see it in the early morning light. As your fire warms you during breakfast you discuss the events that Mac witnessed with the clarity that a night's rest can provide. Despite everything that Mac describes you are no closer to understanding how Darious could have been killed in such a way.

After packing up your equipment and tending to the fire you set off towards the south end of the lake. Sitting before you is a bridge that you judge to be about 40 feet in length rising to a height of 10 feet at the center. [G9 on the map, which I've updated]. It strikes you all odd for a number of reasons. First, it isn't crossing over water at all. The foot of the bridge sits next to the shore of the lake in a mass of thick bushes and runs tangent to the shore. Secondly, you notice that the bridge leads straight into the wall of the cliff. And finally is the fact that it is covered in what you would guess to be thousands of tiny little frogs.

The frogs are as typical as you would expect for a thousand of the creatures sitting on a bridge and all facing the rising sun. As you approach they don't react to you at all. Their green throats quietly expand outward and then back in. As Mac surveyed the scene, essentially everything in the area gave off the tell tale signs of magical influence.

Kicsi waded through the bushes systematically looking for any sort of clue. A few more frogs are present, all sitting quietly looking towards the rising sun. As she pokes one bush she is quickly and violently sent flying back almost 10 feet. The bush turns out to be a frog. A frog the size of a small pony. It leaps forward from its hiding place and stands in what can only be described as a threatening manner. As the rest of the party hears the commotion, three more of the giant frogs jump into view, looking equally menacing.

[Four giant frogs are stationed blocking the foot of the bridge. Two are directly in front of the path of the bridge while one is to the left of it (the one that knocked Kicsi) and one to the right. You don't get the feeling you can negotiate with them! INIT rolls please.]