Fleeing the Trolls
With the hasty preparations cast, the group fled south with their lizardfolk charges. Over land and water they ran, the carts carried over the water along with them, but the trolls gained. They could not outrun these foes, and nor could they fight them, not in those vast numbers, around 30 shamans whipping the hundreds of trolls into a frenzy.
As they ran, they came across a massive statue made of odd black stone. Once it might have stood 50-60 ft. high; a sculpture of a ruling figure in Merdelain, but now it lay prostrate in the swamp. With no time to investigate it further, they continued on. With no other hope in sight, they headed for where the dangerous ruins they'd been told of were.
By the time they reached the ruins, the lizardfolk were starting to flag, unable to keep the pace up and already exhausted by the desperate bid for survival, and all the group having different ideas on what to do. In the end, it was decided that they could not continue on at the same pace, not when the trolls showed no signs of slowing or turning back, and instead they would try to funnel them into the ruins they had found, hoping that whatever tales the lizardfolk had heard of those ruins, they were dangerous enough that the trolls would fall foul of them. It was a long-shot, but especially with the trolls' speed and acute sense of smell, their chances of getting away from them would otherwise be tragically slim.
The lizardfolk continued on a bit, hunkering down to catch their breath while the group prepared in front of the ruins. Arya conjured large swathes of plant growth to funnel the trolls towards the centre of the ruins, while both Siax and Idris positioned themselves to fire on the trolls from a distance, attempting to take out the shamans in the hope it would destabilise the hoard as a whole.
Astoundingly, their plan was wildly successful. Between Siax and Idris, they managed to kill two of the shamans, and the ones around it were unable to maintain control on the trolls the fallen shamans' trolls. The hoard swept forward through the funnel even as the group dashed around the ruins for cover. The trolls streamed into the ruins, and did not emerge through the other side. Screams of terror filled the air, and only Effie, who had hidden herself at the very edge of the ruins, saw them trying to climb the walls to escape, and getting dragged back down. The hoard which had been flowing into the ruins turned tail and ran,,, those that could anyway.
In the aftermath Effie struggled to see anything in the shadows that filled the place. She could make out some of the bodies of the trolls, all colour seemingly having been sapped from them, as well as their life. The bodies were drained, as if all moisture had been taken from them, before they started to crumble to ash, and disappear entirely, leaving nothing behind.
Eventually the unnatural shadows lifted, and the group crept away to the south.
Attack in the dark
They were subdued as they met back up with the lizardfolk, shaken by the scale of what they had survived, and the danger that they had been so close to in the ruins. Once far enough away, they made camp, sheltering and hiding it as best they could with magic and the lizardfolk's knowledge of the terrain.
Arya asks the Quickling about the ruins, and gets told that the Bramble Queen wants to find Merdelain, not the ruins, but the real thing. She has been sending people in, but they didn't come back again, so they were trying to find another way in.
Taking the first watch, Siax hears a noise far too close for comfort, 20ft up. It is a word: "Bial", something in ancient elven that he finds out later to mean 'I hunger'. He doesn't immediately call out to the camp to wake, and then a huge webbed and clawed hand reaches through the tall shrubs, grabbing a lizardfolk by the head and lifts it away never to be seen again.
The camp is roused then, and as lights are lit, the creature comes more into view, seeming to be a huge distorted monstrosity, shrunken limbs and vast gaping mouth. It was swiftly theorised that it was something like those creatures they had fought in Thalivar's tower, the Sorrowsworn; each type seemingly corrupted or twisted based on an emotion or feeling. It came as little surprise that this one, apparently starving, might be one of hunger.
It was a hunger that manifested in the physical, as both Effie and Siax found out to their detriment when the merest of touches glued them to the creature, and no amount of struggling on their own could get them free. Although Pine's command over life and death lessened what would have otherwise been a devastating blow to Siax, he was hurt significantly enough that Arya felt it necessary to heal him. Instantly, the creature focused on Siax, all that hunger intensifying on the elf. It seemed as though regular rations were not what it hungered for, but flesh saturated with healing magic. Seeing things looking so desperate, Pine cast Banishment on the creature, as it had proven to be useful in getting rid of the similar threat in Thalivar's tower in Leilon. It worked here too, the creature disappearing back to its home plane, and while Siax was left a little worse for wear in the aftermath of being torn from the creature as it was banished, everyone else survived.
As the camp settled back down to attempt to rest for the night, Idris looked out towards the ruins in the distance. He could see a figure there, looking very much like the figure on the statue with a long braid. Deciding not to go and investigate further, the camp slept through the rest of the night.
Meeting a dragon
The morning greeted them, and the caravan headed south without issue, the lizardfolk managing to fend off alligators in the river as they crossed. The air was fresher the further they moved, with the breeze from the sea bringing with it a lifting of the malaise of the Mere. Out to see, they saw a large flat barge out in the water, but having no easy way of checking it, decided to move on.
The first trouble came as they neared their destination, where Effie and some of the lizardfolk fell to the ground in uncontrollable laughter caused by nearby flowers that were certainly of fae origin. Thankfully there was nothing nearby to take advantage of their state, and the effect wore off enough that everyone could move on.
A far greater threat emerged though, as they reached the lush vegetation around where the lizardfolk's city was said to be. A huge green dragon sat watching them from within, and all around the lizardfolk bent their knees in reverence. It was to Idris though, that the dragon spoke, not out loud, but to his mind, leaving the others only watching on warily as Idris spoke answers to questions they could not hear. When the illusion of the dragon had disappeared, Idris told the group about the information on dragons he'd found on Emberlost, and how that had been one of those listed: Claugiyliamatar. She had invited Idris to her lair, and Idris seemed keen on proving himself a friend to dragons and do as she bid.
Entering the lizardfolk city
With the dragon gone, the caravan made its way to the lizardfolk's city, which proved to be an ancient elven structure sunk beneath the Mere. Interestingly it did not suffer from water ingress, and through it ran a river that the lizardfolk considered sacred.
In the passageway in, there is a skeleton of an ancient elf laying on the floor, and it is clear the lizardfolk revere it, for despite it being a busy enough entryway, the skeleton remains untouched. The chief tells them that this location was once a part of the heaven of their gods, and so who else but a god must it be to have remained here, as gods have no enemies. They therefore worship it.
The group were invited to speak with a seer of the lizardfolk as a reward for managing to reunite the lizardfolk with them once more. There was a puzzle in getting into the chamber where the river ran, but the lizardfolk chief that had accompanied them opened it, burning his hand in the process. When Pine offered to heal the wound, the chief dismisses the offer, saying that they have learned from their gods that sacrifices are part of life. This seemed to hold true for the seer, when they met him, for the seer had no eyes.
As they moved into the large chamber, Effie trailed her fingers into the water, and swiftly found that her hand became transparent and difficult to see. "You are brave," the seer said to her, "many have touched the waters and died."
Idris was first to ask his question, and stepped forward, intending to wade through the river to get close. However as he put his leg in, it was too deep, and as he took it back out, it started to shift. It changed, both in what he was wearing, but also the form of the leg itself, changing between various possibilities. Eventually though, despite this aberrance, he jumped over and asked his question. The others followed with their own, with Siax notably asking for his to remain secret. It was Pine's though who cause the atmosphere to tense, as the seer named him as the embodiment of death, and the threat that posed to the lizardfolk left uncertainty in its wake.
The group were each given an enchanted feather as a supplimentary reward:
Siax green feather - tree.
Arya blue feather - boat
Effie rey feather - chain on something large
Pine gilded feather - fan and symbol of wind
Idris red feather - whip