As we marched along, someone's stomach grumbled and we noted that it was about lunchtime so we paused and ate. Resting together on the edge of a mound that stood up a little above the marsh, we noticed that in the midday, the fog in the marsh seemed to thicken as it warmed. We ate quickly and continued eastward.
As we moved slowly along, Hilja noticed something large that appeared to dive into some water, producing waves that moved toward us. We determined to avoid the water and threaded our way between the mounds as much as possible. Two barrows toward the south appeared to be flooded in, so we moved just north of them instead and noted that another mound just north of us was a little different, with several obscured cavities. Curious, we watched it but continued to move east until Lhoss stopped us, whispering that she could see something over one of the mounds behind us. There was an antenna visible above the mound! I commneted that we were probably going to have to fight whatever it was, so Armaziti cast a blessing and then Lhoss fired a magic missile at the antenna. As soon as it hit, we heard a frantic sound and several creatures came scurrying out toward us.
They were two to three feet long and appeared to be giant ants with nasty-looking pincers. Lhoss pulled out a vial of oil and set it on fire, letting it fly at the creatures. One of them instantly burned up and the oil splashed on the others, which shrieked in pain. Kyro took aim and stabbed at another, killing it. Armaziti and I attacked one, killing it. Hilja cast a spell and rooted one of them and Arnd hit another, killing it as well. Tatania cast a magic missile at a larger ant in the back, hitting it. In retaliation, the large ant ran angrily up to him and attacked, taking him down. Suddenly more ants appeared! It seemed we had stirred up an anthill. Two attacked Armaziti and one of them managed to hit him twice with its angry pincers. Two more attacked me but missed as the others moved to position themselves seemingly in defense of the holes. I swung at them in defense but missed as well. Tatania cast another magic missile at the ant that was attacking Kyro, and Armaziti paused to heal himself. Hilja and Lhoss attacked the rooted ant, finishing it off. The ants attacked again, hitting Armaziti. Hilja then grabbed Arnd and dragged him back away from the mound. I attacked the ant in front of me again, hitting it and damaging it. Lhoss hit the one that was attacking her, taking it out.
Suddenly, Dwerum appeared and yelled for Armaziti to run, taking a hit from the ant that was attacking Armaziti. Armaziti ran back and instantly healed himself again. Tatania pulled out another vial of oil, lit it, and threw it at the group of ants nearest the mound. It flew past them, splashing back on one of them. All of the ants screamed out in anger! Dwerum expressed concern that the group was outnumbered and suggested we retreat. Lhoss then pulled out the spellbook we had previously found, and cast stinking cloud on the area where the ants were. I raced back away from the ants, and Kyro also backed away, and the ants did not pursue us as they dealt with the results of the stinking cloud.
We retreated toward the east and Armaziti healed both himself and Arnd, who was exhausted as he regained consciousness. We then took up our eastward march again. As we approached a mound straight ahead, we noted that it was greener than the rest, and Armaziti cried out that he sensed something holy buried there! We noted that the marshland started again east of it, but this mound was higher up and completely covered in grass and dirt. Arnd and I examined it more closely and estimated that it would take about 8 hours to excavate with the one shovel that I brought.
We set up a perimeter with myself, Dwerum, and Kyro guarding while Lhoss, Armaziti, and Tatania recovered spells. After half an hour, Arnd began digging while Armaziti continued to pray and the others joined us on watch duty. Only a few minutes after Arnd began digging, we could hear a moaning sound to the west, and coffercorpses emerged from the mist. Lhoss immediately threw a vial of oil, hitting one of them, which then let out a chilling moan that frightened us all. I also threw a vial of oil at the other one, burning it to a crisp, as Tatania hit the other with a magic missile, taking it down. Arnd continued to dig and Armaziti continued to pray while we fought.
We next noticed two scorpions moving toward us from the north. Dwerum and Kyro both shot arrows, hitting one of them, and Hilja cast entangled on the other. I moved toward the scorpions, standing between them and Armaziti, who was still praying. The damaged scorpion advanced on me and attacked with its pincers and tail, knocking me out but managed not to poison me. It then attacked the praying Armaziti, hitting him and disturbing his prayer. Angry, Armaziti stood up and swung Melissa at it, crushing it. The rest of the group then turned on the entangled scorpion. Hilja ran forward and engaged it and Lhoss hit it with a magic missile. Hilja hit again, cracking its exoskeleton and killing it. Armaziti then healed me and Arnd, and Arnd paused his digging while everyone memorized and prayed for spells.
Armaziti only had one spell left to recover when we heard a chittering noise coming from the east and saw humanoid creatures moving toward us. They were a host of skeletons! Hilja immediately stood and cast entangled on the group of creatures, entangling all but one of them. Arnd stepped forward to prepare to engage the one that was not entangled, and I prepared to leap over Arnd and attack it from behind. We both did this, but swung too hard and both missed. It also missed its attack against Arnd, and my second hit and destroyed it. We then managed to take out the remaining entangled skeletons, although Hilja did get caught in her own entanglement spell for a few minutes before the grasses retreated. Armaziti finished praying and the rest recovered their spells as well, as we prepared to begin digging again.
