Adventure 3: The Marsh and the Manticore

Our heroes awoke the next morning to find Rajasaru rbeaking fast with a halfling, who called himself Ichirou. Ichirou was interested in traveling, claiming he had useful treasure-hunting skills, and the party accepted him.

The group left Pharat, traveling south to the city of Cairona, which sits at the base of the great Sacanno Mountains and is the gate to the western regions, notably the wood-elf kingdom of Tahirah.
The journey took them south through the dark Gurigashon Marshlands, where Rajasaru told them to avoid the Bkeku, a violent frog race. While sleeping in the wetlands, Elaria, Failn, and Ardeshir heard cries for help, and rushed to investigate
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They encountered what appeared to be a man sinking in a bed of quicksand, but soon discovered that was an illusion created by Tataka, the Bog Witch. Tataka sought to ensnare the well-meaning heroes and throw them down her endless well into the Apsu, feeding their souls to the void.

Eventually Anden, Steiger, and Ichirou arrived on the scene, and the group dispatched their sorcerous foe. They looked through her cave-lair, taking some valuable items, and then collapsed the entrance, blocking access to her wretched well.

After three more days of travel, the group arrived in Cairona, finding a commotion in the town center. There a group of city guards were caging a gryphon, an act that made Steiger mad. While the group held him back, Anden and Ardeshir talked to the captain of the city guard, Nakamoto. Nakamoto had been sent to Cairona from the Empire of Taishan to band its militia together and fend off a group of thugs called the Haritacondra, who had been raiding Cairona for the past three months with the aid of a manticore. They wanted to lure them out with the gryphon as manticore bait, but the group said they would solve the problem without the loss of an innocent beast. Rather than await their foes on the turf of Cairona, the group concocted an elaborate plan to hide amongst the goods the Haritacondra took from the town.

They were taken by the manticore to a mountaintop hideaway, where the group made quick work of their enemies. They found among the Haritacondra thugs more of the strange coins, like those found on the goblins, and took the tail of the manticore along with other goods. They returned to Cairona with the aim to set out to Tahirah.

RECAP:

•  The Bheku are a violent race of frog humanoids.
• Tataka the Bog Witch serves the darkness of the Apsu (the Void), feeding souls to it to gain power. She was dealt with and her lair blocked.
• Cairona is the last stop before heading out to the western frontier or south to the elf kingdom of Tahirah. It is a large trading city of wood elves, Majirahan humans, and dwarves from Garm.
• The western lands have been plagued by a military group called the Haritacandra. They wear green sashes and fight for the freedom of the land from the myopic and selfish greed of civilizations like the Majirahans.
• Captain Nakamoto Genpachi was sent to help quell the threats from the Haritacandra and protect Cairona. He is from the eastern Empire of Taishan.
• After slaying the manticore and its Haritacandra handlers, the party found more strange silver coins among the Haritacandra.