Good morning,
Fraud Shaven led you into the jungle area within the castle, alert for danger, while the Swampspider lingered behind. You skirted the edges and then heard a horrific bellow, which shook the jungle and deafened Bog. Fraud spotted movement in time to fend off a long, thorny tendril with his shadow-shield, and he saw where it came from: a bloated purplish bulb dominated by a huge central slit-like mouth rimmed with thorny teeth and then a circle of saw-toothed fronds. You charged it, fending off its lashing fronds and whipping tendril. It was remarkably durable but soon enough you hewed its central bulb to pieces. However, not long thereafter Fraud felt the weird venom from his old neck-wound take hold, and he was left babbling in confusion, barely able to speak or make sense of things.
Bog then took up leading you, proceeding around the fort to the northwest tower. Along the way, Miguel shouted down that he'd spotted movement in a jungly area to the southwest of the tower and had peppered it with firearrows, leaving a second one of those big plant-monsters dead. At the tower you found that the darkness was impenetrable even to Bog's darksense but it was safe, even comforting, to touch. On stepping through the doorway, Bog came to trod upon some bones of a skeleton lying supine on the debris-strewn floor of the shadowed central tower area. The skeleton wore old remnants of bronze plate armour embossed with Darkness and Magic runes. A fine lead mace lay by his right hand, a shattered remnant of a kite shield by his left, and his bleached bones showed a crushed skull.
Investigating further, you were greeted by a blast of cold air and the shadows by the skeleton produced a spirit of a Second Age soldier. He called himself Captain Sarginn Rivervoice of the guard of the Arkatzar, and pulled back the curtain of shadows on the northern wall of the tower to reveal a vision of a battle-site of the late Second Age-foes including armies of soldiers, siege machines, monstrous spiders, Mostali troops and intense sorcerous energies outside the Arkatzar and pressing inwards. He said, “We were brave to the last, holding the walls and wearing down the foe while the final formulae were recited and those who needed to flee could escape into Hell. See what I saw as an Iron Mostali finally lay me down.” Sarginn pointed out beyond the curtain and you saw loping figures coming from behind the enemy forces- riders on frogs, spearmen and archers, and eerie horrible magics of fire, blood, and monstrousness. The haunt of Sarginn grimly chuckled, “The foe did not reckon on how deep the blood of Arkat runs. Another rose as we fell. As we lost, so they would find victory for their new Age. So the Great Mother Uzuz had told us might be, and the sight comforted me as I felt the cold embrace of death.” The curtain of shadow flowed back and would not respond further.
Sarginn then said “Death's pull on me is strong, despite the strength of my spirit. Soon my service to Arkat and the Cleansed One shall end. I must begin my journey down the black river after three questions within my purview.” Some of you recognized the “Cleansed One” as a heretical (theist/Stygian) herocult of a river-god, and foe of Chaos. Bog didn't understand his odd Raliosian dialect and Fraud was still too befuddled but Boamund got the gist of it; however he was so upset with the Arkati that he barely cared. Sarginn was asked of the saints and explained that he knew of them as once-allies but later traitors. He told of how Jorukzak the Uzuz Mistress Race troll (Adzurana connection w/the Arkati) had called the sea trolls to allly with them and guard Arvonesse (against his counsel)- but they betrayed the allies, led by “Saint” Karkovoch, the later-to-be-undead troll whom you'd met in sunken Arvonesse. Now things came together more crisply: Jorukzak had behaved spitefully toward Boamund at the end of your quest, seeing him (bearing Karkovoch's shield etc.) as a proxy for the traitor Karkovoch who had borne the Vadeli Pamphlet of Promises into her shrine and so ruined the Arkatzar. On the saints, he said in general that their weapons cursed by the Vadeli were their undoing but also key to their rise to heroism and also an aid against the Vadeli at times, ironically, but his tone was of deep disapproval of those four saints. On the Giranois, he knew of them faintly, as Granno had been leading them in his time and Sarginn died seeing Granno's army coming in aid to the Arkatzar (the vision you'd seen; and he explained, the Arkat-blooded people that rose to take dominion here for the Third Age). He'd answered his three questions and then said he'd earned his rest and so he vanished to journey on that dark river at last.
You inspected his skeleton, armour and mace and decided to take the bones and armour to the other tower for safe-keeping and eventual burial. (Note: a proper burial would be in the central pool of Styx water; you'd realize that at some point) Bog took the mace, which he saw was enchanted, and bore Darkness and Water runes plus old Raliosian script that Boamund read: “This be the weapon of Captain Sarginn Rivervoice. May blessed waters be breathed and may accursed foes of iron be crushed.” By now, Fraud had come back to his senses and you finished investigating then left. You deposited the remains of Sarginn at the tower, and as you left two winged things came diving out of the fog and fought you viciously. They were horrible undead arthropod-monsters with centipede-like bodies, nasty almost-humanoid mosquito-like faces with piercing probosci, pincers and long armoured fists, and dainty, tattered membranous wings. Bog paused in fright at beholding them while Fraud and Boamund did their best to fend them off, taking some wounds. But you bested them soon enough, knocking them out of the sky to fight them on the ground.
Next you went to the southeast corner where there was once some statuary (of some Arkati hero?) but that had been destroyed; attended by dappled, shifting shadows. Bog investigated and one of those shadows touched him-he suddenly grew to twice his size, along with his belongings! He was thrilled to be so blessed by Zorak Zoran, he roared. He soon had the chance to prove his new might in battle. There was ominous rumbling that shook the fort. You went back to the tower for healing with Miguel then were alerted by him that enemies were coming: the Swampspiders were engaged in something on the south wall, and something came from the north side near you. You descended in time to take up a position on the stairs outside the tower, and met two giant skeletal undead spiders with bony skull-faces, which wove dusty webs behind them as they ascended the walls. The spiders had nasty fangs bearing necrotic venom and momentarily crippled Bog with it, but you won the day with some brave fighting. The swampspiders soon related to you that they'd fought a small force of undead humans and similar things that crossed the river, but those twisted crocodile-things in the water had inadvertently aided the defense.
Some time later, Miguel shouted a warning-something came from the northwest. You soon heard sounds of tromping feet and clanking metal, and something else too… what was it? You took up a defensive position at the shattered tower.
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