I wish I could say that I had more answers, but all I really have is more questions. And Haroun is at the center of most of them. Trained geomancers are a force to be reckoned with. His ability to see not only into the vastness of the present, but the endless possibilities of the future is impressive. He was able to draw very accurate maps that covered more than a days travel in each direction each morning. This is a trick I need to learn.

He offered to divine what he could about questions we had. Others with us, including Kith and Joe took him up on his offer, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I want to know how he did it, but such knowledge sucks the adventure out of life. He also told us we were all important. This coincides with what I've seen in each person's past. I wonder if he can see the past as well?

Haroun also experienced several prophesies while on our journey. One involved Isaline with a crow on her shoulder. Another involved a black dragonborn's head. Yet another involved a warforged with a hat smoking a cigar surrounded by buildings.

I think we ran into the warforged in the swamp. Haft was his name, and he was sent from Intenpestivus to return Haroun. Haroun didn't want to go, and we weren't about to give him up. Unfortunately, he was blocking our path through the swamp. Any alternate routes would have taken us hours, if not more to get around.

He had left a slew of crappy traps in our way. I had started disarming them, but he had cleverly hidden a really clever trap in their midst. I got snagged and dragged into the waters. Thankfully they get a knife to me and get me free. I'll need to be a little more careful in the future and not underestimate my foes.

The rest of the party managed to take him out, and I took care of the rest of the traps allowing us to continue our journey. Half was a weighed down with a little too much jewelry that we were happy to relieve him of. I swiped 4 rings of protection and 3 amulets of natural armor. And no, I will not be wearing them all at the same time, thank you.

While the best is yet to come, I am getting ahead of myself. Before we ventured into the swamp, we spent the evening in Freeport, a Gnollish settlement near the swamp. I hadn't been there before, but I don't know that I really care to go back. The Innkeeper was nice enough. Morden Brokenhorn he calls himself after slaying the previous minotaur owner. The food and the drinks were good, but something just didn't sit right with me.

On a tip, I went to find an herbalist to get some information about the swamp. They routinely gather herbs from the swamp. A few of them are rare and quite expensive. In exchange for talking to me, I promised to gather any rare herbs that I found. Even if I have to go back, it was worth it. They passed on a few survival tips, directions, and warned us of the hydras.



We rented six rooms, but consolidated down to a couple. Haft was in town looking for Haroun, and, by the looks of them, several members of the crowd looked willing to tip him off. Haroun(?) used a little magic to fix the roof outside our windows. This was as much to thank the innkeeper as it was to give us a possible escape route. Thankfully it wasn't needed. In the morning I had to spend most of my remaining money on a horse.

Back to the end of the swamp. Near the middle of the swamp we came across a dead hydra, another party of six, and an ebony fortress. I really want to see what's in the fortress, but there is a little resistance to that idea. I'm going to go try to resolve it once I get finished writing.

The other party includes Biger, Isaline and Sahrit as well as three people I haven't met. Za'har is a Deva swordsage. Rebin Noroelwa is a swashbuckler of questionable decent. The last member, Gwenvyth Trieleffyn Tal'Arabep is the one that intrigues me. She seems to have some Drow blood in her, and I wonder where she got it. She also has an air of nobility around her. A flicker of recognition graced her face when I was discussing the mutiplying orc. She matches the description of the "person on an errand", though when questions, she presented a fairly convincing denial. I'll have to be careful when talking to that one.

While waiting, Kith and I had discussed turning Biger crank. I'm not sure if we'd end up in the same place, or in range at all, so we decided to wait. I'll unlock it though, just so we have a wild card up our sleeve.

Bartering is an interesting concept.  Bartering for something that is already to your advantage is also an interesting concept.  Today I've had the pleasure of bartering for something that was already in the other parties' best interest, and giving him something in return.  Although such a process is horrendously inefficient, it will hopefully result in ultimately preventing a war.  For that I will gladly pay the price.

Additionally, paying bar tabs is considered favorable currency for information.  Expanding on the bar tab may well result in favorable results, or simply may increase interest where we rather interest remain low.  I'll write more when more data is available.

-Addendum: it seems the desired effect was missed, and we were ambushed by the warforged whom was searching for our companion.  Two sets of traps found, one set expertly laid, the other poorly deployed.  Given how quickly the war-forged was disabled, one can only conclude that the party responsible for the more competently laid traps is still at large.  I suspect a number of gnoll rangers from the town we had just left are the likely responsible party.  Another ambush seems likely in the near future, assuming we survive whatever dwells within the Ebon Fortress.  

On prophecy.  The idea that you can glimpse the nature of certain truths in a world where the past fails to remain constant, strikes me as being intriguing at best, but ultimately frivolous.  Apparently our new companion is capable of such a task.  He also seems to be under the impression that we, as a group, are more important in the grand scheme of things.  I'm not sure how this makes me feel.  Normally claims of importance are self imposed, not thrust upon the unwilling.

-Addendum: Say what I will about prophecy, recent events have suggested that we are being manipulated by some design, rather than us being at the whims of random chance.  Two quakes that have juxtaposed individuals a considerable distance within days of each other (and a third earlier quake that replaced my mistress with an airship of all things).  Both switches seemed to have been related to that sword in some way.  And now we stand in-front of a palace made of Ebon in front of a swamp, joined by a party including the individuals separated from us by quake.  Something want's us here, now and together.  

Of course such insights aren't readily accepted by all in my company.  What seemed like a self evident course of action was rebuffed, and I linger with the group waiting for them to reach a similar conclusion.

Regardless of their indecision, I find myself thinking back to Haroun's words.  We are, all of us, important.