When everyone reconvened in the morning, they looked over what they had gathered.

“I suppose I should inform you all about what I was able to pick up from the local wizard.” Neil announced as they began their meeting. “I managed to pick up formulae for Magic Missile, Floating Disc, Invisibility, and Explosive Runes.”

“Really?” Sylvester smiled. “That is a relief, since those will make our job a lot easier.”

“What do those do, for those of us less informed folk?” Karrank asked.

“Well,” Neil sighed. “Magic Missile fires off several arcane bolts, floating disc summons a disc of force to carry stuff, invisibility is self-explanatory, and the explosive runes are a trap I can now set up.”

“How much can that floating disc carry? Will it fit the Iron Rose? How long will it last?” Kurt asked.

“It should be strong enough to carry the rose, though it will be significantly smaller than it.” Sylvester explained. “And Neil should be able to support it for a bit over an hour.”

“I haven’t tested it yet, of course, but that is the gist of it.” Neil nodded.

“The invisibility will be helpful for getting the drop on the necromancer.” Karrank pointed out.

“It will, especially when you are paired with this.” Sylvester spoke while handing over an intricate wooden spear to him.

“We got this from those druun ruins, didn’t we?” Karrank looked it over.

“We did. It has been enchanted to attempt to bind targets with magical brambles on command. You just need to hit them first.”

“I see, take out the necromancer before he can do any magic or retreat.” Karrank mused while trying to get a feel for the spear’s weight.

“In that case then, I believe we should head out. Everyone should already be packed, right?”

“Ready to go.”

“Got my stuff.”

“Yep.”

Satisfied with their rough plan, the group grabbed Bask and Val before heading back out into the swamp. This time, however, they started on the causeway and stayed on it as they ventured west into the swamps.

They spent two days walking the causeways without any issues at all. It was a much nicer experience than their earlier trek through the swamp, which had been fraught with danger.

The morning of the third day, however, they encountered something new.

“Hey, look at this!” Karrank called out, pointing to part of the causeway. While the rest of the boards were old and covered in slime, this patch was clear and instead had a picture burned into it. It was a crude rendition of a fat frog perched above a strange rune.

“I can’t read that.” Neil announced. Kurt and Karrank looked puzzled as well.

“It reads east, in troglodyte.” Sylvester announced.

“I didn’t realize you could read troglodyte!” Kurt exclaimed.

“I didn’t realize they were smart enough to write.” Karrank snidely added.

“I don’t, but I do know that the idol of the frog god is about 500 yards east of here. It will be surrounded by troglodytes, but they will not be hostile to us if we don’t attack them first.”

“Well, lets get going then. Not looking forward to this, but I never bothered to get the muck out of my fur last time so it’s no big loss.” Karrank psyched himself up before climbing down off the causeway into the surrounding mud.

The rest of the group followed, with only moderate complaints about the mud. They quickly found themselves climbing onto an island of seemingly solid ground, however. At the top of this small island of solid ground, was a 10-foot-tall stone statue of a fat frog sitting upright on its hind legs.

The rest of the group were nervously eyeing the crowd of troglodytes hiding around the clearing while Sylvester approached. Once he got close enough, the idol’s eyes began to glow, and its head turned to look at him.

“Greetings.” Its croaked out, its voice shaking the ground. “I am the Frog God, and this is the center of my power, placed here so that I could fight against the giants that warred here in times long past. My power wanes but is still strong. I was once wed and wish to retrieve my bridal gifts: a basket of amber and an iron rose. Do this for me, and I will turn my remaining powers to aiding you against the nearby giants once more.”

Everyone, Val included, other than Sylvester were shocked to see this statue animating and talking to them. Personally, gaining the attentions of a god could be good or bad, but it was always a rare and impressive experience.

“I am Sylvester Bayes and I have already retrieved your basket.”

The idol watched as Sylvester dragged over the basket and placed it before itself.

“But”, Sylvester continued. “We do not seek your aid with the giants. We seek information from you.”

“If that is what you wish, I will grant it once you have retrieved all of the gifts.” The idol agreed, its rumbling voice almost physically washing over everyone.

“Thank you, then.” Sylvester bowed his head before heading back to the rest of the group. “Let’s get going.”

“You weren’t kidding about getting information from a god…” Val muttered in shock.

“Actually, I am curious about that. What are you wanting to know from him?” Neil asked as they all began making their way back to the causeway.

“Secrets of the universe. I mentioned it before, but the swamp was made by opening a portal to a different plane, which let several gods come across. The Frog God is one of them, and because of that will hopefully have some information about the nature of the world.” Sylvester explained.

“I don’t suppose you have any specific secrets of the universe you are looking for?” Kurt joined in.

“You all have heard the preaching I have been forced to do. The talk about the world being a construct to contain us all? It is true, at least in parts. This entire swamp is one example of that, but I am hoping the Frog God will have an outside perspective on it all.”

“Oh. I feel like I should have paid more attention to those now.” Karrank admitted.

“Meh. They were mostly fluff anyway, since that core is about the only thing, I am certain about. Otherwise it was just repeating it in different ways or telling people not to be evil.”

“Oh, don’t feel too bad about it. Most preachers don’t have anything true in what they say.” Val responded.

“Somehow, I doubt that…” Neil shook his head, but didn’t continue as he had finally reached the causeway.

Everyone climbed back up and they continued their journey southeast this time. While they were travelling, they came across another group of troglodytes, but they gave them a wide berth. Apparently, their task at the hands of the Frog God was common knowledge to them now.

The next day, their fourth away from town, was entirely uneventful. Despite their obvious age and disrepair, the causeways were still highly effective at protecting the people who walked upon them.

The fifth day, however, started with them at a dead end in the causeway. Somewhere southeast of them lied the undead island with their goal, but to get there they would have to leave the causeway once again.

This time the trek through the swamp was significantly longer, and they finally encountered its natural denizens. They found a large group of crocodiles. They noticed the party as well and began making their way hungrily over. The party, however, managed to pick up their pace and lost the crocodile.

After they successfully evaded the crocodiles, the party finally managed to find the undead island. To call it that, however, was doing it a disservice. It was a massive mound of flesh and bone, covered with rot and mud that somehow managed to float in the swamp’s waters. Sylvester suspected that it was because it was being literally held up by zombies beneath the water. Either way, the stench of rot and decay was horrid.

“Oh gods, you said it was an undead island, but this…” Karrank hurriedly covered his snout.

“I don’t know what’s worse, the smell, the appearance, or the knowledge that the entire thing is animated.” Kurt also looked sick.

“You know, I suddenly feel a lot less bad about the plan to kill the necromancer responsible for this.” Neil stated while carefully keeping his breakfast down.

“Oh, so you are fine with killing someone as long as they smell?” Val teased, though she also was surprised by the appearance of the undead island.

“Wha-! No! But this necromancer is clearly doing something wrong! You don’t just find that many corpses, much less with their flesh intact!” Neil protested.

“So, you can just judge someone to be evil by their appearance?” Val continued teasing him.

“Enough,” Sylvester finally stepped in. “She has something like a point, but I can tell you all now that the Zombie Master is completely insane and will actually be starting to look like his namesake.”

“Oh? So, is he a lich in the making?” Val asked curiously.

“Not that I am aware of, but it is possible.” Sylvester shook his head.

“Are we going to get going soon? I just want to get this over with.” Karrank suddenly cut in.

“Right, stand still so I can turn you invisible.” Neil ordered while beginning to chant. Karrank complied, holding the spear of thorns close, while Neil finished his spell. After a few seconds, there was a wave of magic and Karrank faded from sight.

“Alright, we have limited time now. Karrank, your only target is the Zombie Master. If the spear doesn’t work the first time, keep trying. The rest of us will be kicking up a fuss and destroying the zombies and skeletons on the island in the meantime.”

“Got it.” Karrank’s disembodied voice responded.

As the rest of the group made their way onto the island, they caught the attention of several undead who began shambling their way over.

One approached Bask, which whipped its tail at it and complete tore off its top half. The rest began swarming the group with surprising speed. Neil and Sylvester each managed to pulverize one of them, their fragile, soggy bones breaking like twigs. As they continued to fight, and Neil smashed another, they suddenly heard cackling.

Coming from a different part of the island, was another swarm of undead being directed by a skeletal man with a tall white staff.

“Looks like we have some new friends to make! Strip them of their bones for me!” The Zombie Master cackled while directing the undead to attack.

Bask ended up getting pinned down while Sylvester was forced back by the sudden surplus of enemies. Kurt, however, found himself in his element. With an amazing series of sword strokes, he cut down three different zombies within seconds of each other.

As the Zombie Master began to chant and support his creations, Karrank flickered into view behind him, his spear stabbing forward. The spear pierced through the necromancer’s side, and as Karrank murmured the command word, spectral brambles burst from the wound, drawing more blood and completely entangling him.

Seeing that Karrank had been successful, Sylvester put on and activated his medallion of warding, creating a 10-foot aura of protection that forced the undead back. Bask, freed from the horde, quickly retreated to be right next to him. The remaining undead, unable to reach those within the bubble, made their way to attack Karrank.

He drew his dagger, swiping at them and trying to force them away, but they were relentless. Kurt charged to help him, taking out one skeleton and disarming a different one.

Sylvester, using the range his kusarigama afforded him, swung at the undead to help them. Unfortunately, there were many of them and Karrank ended up having some of his blood spilled by a lucky blow. However, they managed to whittle down their numbers before Kurt handily took out the final three with a few clean blows.

Throughout the second half of the fight, the Zombie Master had stood there, completely still but for his eyes which glared at all of them. Being frozen as he was, it was trivial for Karrank to slit his throat and kill him.

The white staff he had been holding toppled to the ground with his body. Sylvester picked it up and inspected it for a few moments. It was surprisingly well crafted, having been carved out of many bones put together and bound with magic. He handed it over to Neil.

“Here, this is enchanted. It should be better than your current staff at least.”

“I see.” Neil wasn’t very enthusiastic about receiving anything from the dead necromancer, but enchanted weapons were hard to come by, no matter how many of them the group had.

As they rested after the fight, Sylvester handed Karrank one of the group’s healing potions. He could do the healing himself, but it was important that he save his internal energy for a later situation which called for it.