- Despite the plan to leave town and take Keledek with them, the party awoke at the Empty Net the next morning to find that Keledek had left without leaving any messages.
- The party also received a report from the dock workers that the “Reef Hawk”, the ship they had taken from the pirates, had suffered more serious damage on the run to Saltmarsh than had initially been thought, and that it would take a few days to repair.
- Argone agreed to supervise the repairs.
- McBride came to the Empty Net for breakfast and told the party about a retired ranger named Trevor Donor, who had left Saltmarsh trying to track down the orcs who had attacked the city earlier, and whom the party had helped to drive off. He had left a few hours after the party had, but had not returned. McBride asked if the party would consider looking for him while repairs on the ship were being done. Argone said that if the rest of the party was going into the wild, teak wood would make a much better rudder if they could find a teak tree and bring it back.
- Alma picked up her special backpack from Ledwick’s Leathers.
- The party borrowed some horses and a wagon from McBride, and after some interesting animal handling rolls, Jon Marston helped get the party on horseback and the group headed into the marshes.
- The party encountered a centaur who was guarding a sacred site that looked to be a huge stone statue buried in the ground. Bride told Kriick that the statue was actually a builder. The party avoided conflict by honoring the centaur’s instructions.
- The party then made its way to a creek which had a number of rare herbs, plants and mushrooms. As they tried to harvest these, two large assassin vines attacked the party and took down Alma, and nearly Jon as well. The party fought back valiantly and killed the two vines.
- The party pushed on and came to a swamp with large lily pads and some rickety wooden bridges built across it. There were huge snakes visible on the lily pads. There was also a human and a dog stuck in some quicksand across the swamp from the bridges. The party decided to bushwhack towards to the quicksand and managed to sneak past two large snakes. Unfortunately, Jon, who had coated himself with mud, then stepped on a stick, alerting a third snake to the party’s presence.
- Jon, wearing chainmail, tried to leap across a river that was 10 feet wide and landed in 5 feet of water. He continued to wade across the water and slipped to the bottom of an unseen hole that was 14 feet deep. Alma tried to use an Entangle spell to raise him to the surface, and then fell in herself as she tried to jump over. At the same time, the snake went into the water and was trying to constrict Jon and pull him to the bottom.
- On the bank, Kriick and River observed a leopard that was watching the unlucky pair in the quicksand. River tried to scare the cat away while Kriick tried to rescue the man and the dog in the quicksand using a rope.
- Alma and Jon fought off the snake and climbed out of the water.
- River killed the leopard and the party helped Kriick pull Trevor and his dog, Butch, from the quicksand.
- Given that it was nearing dinner time, the party backtracked to the safety of the first creek for a long rest, and made the trip back to Saltmarsh.