Morning card was the Queen of Swords reversed – too self critical, too aloof, too direct. Bancroft said he needed to hand the mace off to a priest in some ruin in the north. So much for magic to help us in the barrows. We geared up and headed out for the Black Forest. I was hoping the nature boy ranger would be able to talk to the 8 legged denizens, to see if they'll let us pass. We camped overnight in the rain because nobody wanted to let us sleep in their barns. We made it to the forest the next afternoon. And promptly heard croaking. Why are frogs up here too? How did frogs and crawlies not eat each other already? We tried to sneak around, but Bancroft wasn't stealthy and the 12 frogs came after us. Anister used a ranger trick to distract them to go in the opposite direction, and they ran the other way.

Since we were in the forest, we started searching. Found nothing. I was anxious camping in the middle of the forest, lest the denizens drop on us in our sleep. Anister ate stuff he'd foraged during our search, and got sick. Kept searching in the morning. The next day was storming. Anister didn't sneak well enough and attracted the attention of the denizens. Bancroft and I hid while Anister tried to scare them away. Didn't work. Bancroft made the mace erupt in flames and charged in. I charged in screaming, but it was drowned out by lightning and they weren't intimidated. We evaded webs, and then ran.

We found a cave to camp in. At least the crawlies can only come at us one way, past the fire. I split my last ration with Anister. He found some food, and we walked for the rest of the day. The next day we saw mountains while Anister hunted. Kept hearing people talking, but didn't see anyone.