The doppelganger's smirk quickly faded when Idris did not fall after her vicious attack. Instead the paladin moved quickly, quicker than a man wearing so much armor should be able to and brought down Eefendruphunka upon her. She was able to dodge out of the way but the blade still buried itself in her leg, almost severing it in one blow. He yelled out to the others to leave this one alive as he wanted to....question her. Weaving and circling Idris she called out to Pine that she knew much about the Dead Hand but it was clear the still present Zone Of Truth was frustrating her plan to manipulate.
The other doppelgangers moved away from the group, blades in hand and firing hand crossbows. One of the bolts hit Pine and the cleric started retching, some sort of poison working itself in his body. However, confident that the Quickling was restrained, Arya ran towards the fray, her flaming spirit hovering above her. Reaching out to the swamp itself Arya brought forward a large creature, akin to a turtle dragon. It lunged forward, it's jaws leaving grievous wounds on the Doppelgangers in range. Effie and Siax fought a Doppelganger each, their close fierce combat taking them some distance away. One of the doppelgangers managed to make it upon a fallen tree, aiming it's crossbow towards the party. However before it could take more shots, Pine rose his hand. Tired and still poisoned he destroyed the doppelganger with a single blast of magic, only a grey patch in the bark revealing that it once stood there.
With the other doppelgangers destroyed Idris grabbed their leader and... did something. Ever since the Illuminator he had a sense that he could do this but a situation where it was needed had not come up. He opened his mind and with an ease of a locksmith opening a door, he opened the doppelgangers mind too and simply walked in. Pressing his will he was able to read her mind, interrogating her in a way that could result in no lies. When he asked, who she was the answer was an image of a figure with red hair. "The bramble queen, we are her soldiers. We are her knife". Not recognizing the name he pressed in a different direction, looking about information about his sister. He saw Azore, his eldest sister. SHe looked different than when he had seen her last, her hair loose and somewhat unkempt, the Doryu armor nowhere to be seen. She was standing on a ship, firing blasts of magic towards the viewpoint of the doppelganger. "She has fought us and destroyed many. She is a thorn and must be removed". sounded from the mind of the Doppelganger.
Finally, prompted by Pine, he tried to find any information about the Dead Hand. He saw a flash of somewhere much deeper swamp filled with various undead creatures. "The dead hand is led by Ularan Mortus, he seeks to find what we seek and kill it all." A specific localtion in the swamp now revealed itself. "If we go deeper, we know where he says, and we could assassinate him." However her mind did not seem to know what this Ularan looked like, instead seeing a silhouette that was emanating a sickly green light. When Idris dived deeper, trying to find what Ularan wanted to kill he saw an image of a grand city, the very same Siax had seen on Idol Islands. "He seeks to find and kill Merdelain. It is my queens property, he should not be allowed." The doppelganger started praying to Selephra as Pine disposed of her in two brutal blows.
With more time on their hands Arya went back to the Quickling and cast powerful magic on it, a Geas to make it serve and obey her. She learned that the Leilon Guards the Doppelgangers had been copying were still alive, deeper in the swamp, kept by other fey creatures that had strange dogs as guards. The quickling was supposed to confirm that the Doppelgangers had successfully entered Leilon and then wait to possibly lead astray any parties sent from there. She asked the creature who the Unknown were, apparently the chosen few who served The Bramble Queen, individuals that could turn the very land against an enemy. Finally she confirmed that the creatures had come through something called a "Henge". Finally she was able to uncover that a fey creature was already in Leilon but not recently, as the quickling seemed to think there was one imprisoned under the tower for millennia. An uncomfortable silence spread through the party, the pain the tower had caused being still quite raw. While she was questioning this creature she confirmed that she had heard the name of Selephra, knowing that she was an Archfey that had left the court for some reason or another. She knew legends said that she lived in the forest of shadows.
The party realizing that this was much bigger than they though it would be, decided to head east at some nearby hills to find a place to rest. Meanwhile Arya flew to the west, attempting to find the camp of fey creatures. She made good time, seeing many Lizardfolk corpses but also some Doppelganger ones. While she confirmed the presence of the fey camp due to a Redcap that wasn't being careful, but she could not see the guards and one of the strange dog like creatures took light and chased her. It did not give up, only stopping when an arrow from Siax took it in the neck and it fell into the swampy waters beneath.
Preparing to rest, Pine informed the party that he wanted to try and spy upon this Ularan Mortus as he knew his name. He quickly broke a curse on Idris then slid into stone and vanished, planning to rest while entombed. Arya reported back what she had found, the Quickling
confirming that the Lizardfolk had likely taken the soldiers from them. However, even this far out of the swamp there were hidden dangers as a massive green hand grabbed Siax as he was keeping watch. It turned him so he was face to face with a head larger than his body attached to a body that must have been around 11feet tall. A troll.
Surprisingly the creature did not attack, even ignoring Siax stabbing it to free himself. Instead it wishes to test the party with a riddle and if they got it wrong it would eat them. The rest of the party arrived but when the troll said the riddle it didn't really make much sense. Realizing that the troll had misunderstood it, they corrected it and managed to keep it calm. Apparently the swamp had become infested with undead and other dangerous creatures so the troll had attempted to go outside in search of food. In a misguided effort to be civilized it asked riddles instead of just attacking. It told the party that it's siblings were still deep in the swamp, pointing out a direction.
Continuing to talk to the creature, Arya even brining it a Lizardfolk corpse to eat, it was convinced to join up with them, even granting it a name. Murderrock joined them in hopes of food. And possibly correct riddles.
Let's attempt to summarize here for our mutual benefit dear reader. An ancient elven empire called Merdelain stood where the Mere Of Dead Men now exists. It vanished suddenly. And now, in the present, we have several groups in the swamp, apparently trying to hurt each other as much as they are trying to do...whatever they want to do.
- We have a murderous cult of maniacs who worship Talos, possibly led by the mysterious Fheralai Stormsworn.
- We have a murderous group of Fey creatures including Doppelgangers lead by the mysterious Selephra.
- And we have another murderous cult called the Dead Hand that sends undead out to attack places led by the also mysterious Ularan Mortus
And all three have dealings with each other or are trying to kill each other but all have attempted to harm Leilon in some way or another.
Well dear reader, I hope this clarified the situation for you as it has only created an unnumbered number of questions in my mind! Despair not however, the keen insight the The Leilon...Some? have shown time and time again will illuminate matters!