We decided to travel to Brokilon forest to talk to the dryads about the windberry fruit on the way to Ebbing. Scathe took the wind sword and it melded into the shape of a staff. He heard voices which said 'We are silf. Open your mind and we will teach you a new spell mage.'

We camped overnight at the edge of the forest which appeared to be extremely dense. Bulgar was woken in the middle of the night to the scream of a young girl. He ran into the darkness and found her being dragged by her heels by something invisible. He attacked and killed the invisible creature, and the form of a wolf appeared. He thought it was a cursed creature called an amarok.

She came from a refugee camp and the refugees had come from Tymeria. She was hysterical but I calmed her down. We had no way of finding the camp in the dark so went back to sleep while Bulgar kept guard. I woke up to find Bulgar walking into the arms of a beautiful female green skinned creature, a dryad. She was rather cold but said we could come and see the mother if we went unarmed. We should be quick as the servants of Dark Mantle were out tonight.

She waved at the forest and the vegetation parted into a gateway with light shining out. We were lead to what looked like an altar at the base of an oak tree. The dryad was given two windberry fruit as a gift in exchange for some knowledge, and they also said they would look after the girl. The dryad let her drink from the stream as it would allow her to forget her worries. They also wanted the sexual pleasures of Bulgar and Scathe. Scathe was gone for an hour, Bulgar much more. She gave me the recipe for a shimmer potion which would make 10 doses from one fruit which would provide protection in a fight, though would be somewhat toxic to anyone other than a witcher. She also gave me a dryad bow.

In the morning we returned to where we left our cart but the girl stayed with the dryads and headed into the plains. After a few hours we came across a group of tents flying the flag of Tymeria. They were the refugees and wanted our help as they were being attacked by something at night. The alderman's wife was ill with swamp fever so I treated her. The villagers who had disappeared were carried away in the direction of a swamp. The others were happy to help so I made some potions and oils for the witcher then we headed in that direction.

We were following a path into the swamp when Bulgar spotted some paw prints. They went in both directions at a fork but Bulgar thought the deeper prints went to the left and that might mean something/someone was being carried. We went left and after a while the path stopped and the tracks went into a pool. We could see the path continuing the far side of the pool.

Bulgar waded across. Scathe followed but two grey skinned figures (drowners) erupted from the water and tried to grab him. I swam across quickly while Scathe kept then distracted, then drew my bow. Scathe was dragged under the water but Bulgar waded in and dragged him back up. Scathe then cast teleport and disappeared, reappearing and landing with a splash at the far side of the pool.

I saw two more drowners swimming towards me, as another two joined in the fight with Bulgar. Bulgar fought back as I put two arrows into one of the drowners coming towards me and Scathe teleported out of the pool next to me then created illusions of himself. As we fought, we saw another 6 drowners approaching from all directions. Suddenly one of the drowners was attacked and killed by something large and serpentine in the water, and immediately all the drowners started squealing and fled.

As Bulgar swam for the bank, the creature in the water grabbed him. He struggled free and quickly climbed out of the water, then the creature swam off. We continued through the swamp but Bulgar got us lost and I had to point out a structure in the distance as something we could head towards. We approached and found a small shack with a small boat tied up at the edge of the water. There was a light in the shack and the smell of cooking stew. We then started hearing the sounds of a woman singing.

Bulgar crept up to the shack and looked through the window. Inside he saw a young woman singing and cooking a broth in a pan. His pendant was vibrating. He sensed it was an illusion created by a hideous hag, likely a water hag. Scathe crept forward and prepared to cast a spell, but she heard him approach and charged out. Bulgar was waiting by the door to the shack and beheaded her with a single blow as she emerged.

We found a runestone and a crudely drawn map of the swamp in the shack. "Raven Darkmantle. Avoid!" Was indicated in the map not far away from the shack. Obviously we headed there and found a gloomy mansion which looked like it had been deserted for years. Bulgar's amulet started vibrating.

We approached the mansion and were suddenly attacked by something invisible. Bulgar took a Cat potion to be able to see them, then quickly killed two of them before a third ran off. Outside the mansion was a statue next to a well which had wings and looked vampiric. We continued to the front door of the mansion. The door opened as we approached it by an old man dressed in a servants uniform. He said the master of the house was indisposed. He was evasive when questioned about the amaroks. He offered us wine and disappeared off to get some when Scathe accepted.

There were a number of portraits on the walls of the hallway, all dressed in red. There was a resemblance between them and the statue outside. The servant returned and gave Scathe a glass. He drank and then spat out what he found was blood. The servant then tried to hypnotise Bulgar, and when that failed, said he should show us his true form. He then transformed into the figure depicted by the statue outside and said he was Raven Darkmantle.

He said the amaroks were an unfortunate side effect of his predicament. He did what he did out of desperation and not by choice. He said his phylactery had been stolen, and until it was returned he would slowly deteriorate into a more animalistic form. The phylactery held his soul and was his only vulnerability. Scathe was feeling unwell, and Darkmantle gave him some drops of his blood which healed him immediately.

We agreed to search for his phylactery in exchange for stopping the attacks by the amaroks. It had been taken by foglets into the nearby swamp. He thought they would try to use its power to try to summon something. I made some potions to help us with the foglets and Bulgar said the foglets could cast illusions and would know everything that was going on in the swamp so we should just wait for them to find us.

We went into the swamp and waited. After a while we heard a voice in the swamp crying out "Help, I am in quicksand". We expected it to be an illusion but went to investigate as we wanted to find the foglets. We tied ourselves together so we could not be separated and get lost in the fog. We followed the voice and came across 3 figures, two were face down and the third was a woman, waist deep in the swamp. Nearby was a horse and cart. She said she had been lured there by the glowing things. Bulgar threw her a rope but she said she was too weak. Scathe jumped in and landed next to her. He then teleported back out with her.

In the distance we saw two blue lights. She pointed them out as being what she had been lured in by. She claimed they were fairies and if she caught one, would be granted a wish. We went to investigate the lights and I helped the old lady. Suddenly she grabbed me with a vice like grip. When I pulled away she just vanished.

We followed the lights and the mist thickened considerably. We stopped, huddled together and waited. Suddenly something appeared in the mist and attacked Bulgar. Bulgar put his sword through its heart and killed it. Then three silhouettes of fog emerged from the fog and attacked. Nearby two blue lights danced.

Scathe summoned illusionary images of himself. He also threw a ball of fire at the lights but they seemed unaffected. As the silhouettes were hit, they dissipated. When all the silhouettes were destroyed, the two lights disappeared. Two more creatures attacked Bulgar from the fog, one getting a very good hit, severing his right leg, but Bulgar got a good hit back, killing one of them, and Scathe hit the other with a ball of fire, killing it. I worked for some while stabilising Bulgar and keeping him from dying though I could not save his leg. Scathe lent him his spare staff for him to use as a crutch.

While we searched for the phylactery, Scathe tripped and fell into the bog. As we were still tied together he dragged me in with him, but Scathe teleported us both out. We continued until we found a small hillock rising out of the bog. Bulgar's medallion started vibrating and we saw there was a narrow tunnel leading into the hillock. Scathe slid down the tunnel into a chamber where he found a table with a silver box on top. There was a foglet sleeping under the table.

He quickly grabbed the box and teleported back out as the creature stirred. There were numbers written on the side of the box but also different numbers scratched faintly on the bottom. Suspecting the prominent numbers were probably a trap, Scathe entered the numbers that were scratched on the bottom of the box which unlocked it. Inside were eleven pieces of parchment with runes. Scathe decided the best way to save the refugees would be to destroy the vampire, and incinerated the parchment with a ball of fire, then teleported us back to the Darkmantle mansion. We explored the mansion and found twelve bodies hanging on meat hooks in the attic. In the basement were many bottles of blood which we smashed. We also found a set of red relic armour which Bulgar put on.

Scathe then teleported me near the refugee camp where we found Redanian soldiers attacking. There was too many so we just watched until they finished the attack and rode off. Our cart had been burned and the horse and bronze armour taken. Scathe then teleported me to Novagrad and went back for Bulgar. Bulgar had a run in with a guard captain while going to get a prosthetic leg but the captain grovelled after being presented with Bulgars lordship paperwork. It took five days to make the leg which gave me time to tend his other wounds. We then caught a boat southwards towards Ebbing.

The journey to Salm took three weeks. On the boat Scathe performed a ritual to release one of the wind elementals from the wind sword under his control and allowed it to take a look round. When we arrived at Salm there were guards on the dock but they recognised me and escorted us to a decent inn. In the morning we procured some horses and set off to Unicorn, the capital of Ebbing.

We rode for two days. Outside Dun Dare we avoided a large column of troops. When we were a couple of hours from Unicorn, Bulgar saw several wounded Nilfgaardian soldiers in the foothills. They said whey were pursuing the witcher, Letho of Gullet, and had orders to kill him from the emperor. I patched up their wounds and bid them well.

In Unicorn was an arena, outside which was a sign saying "Aardvark fighting, sign up today". Unicorn was run by Viscount Dominic, the one who arrested father, so I quickly sold stone spear and old coins we had got from the harpy cave then we continued towards Jealousy as the fishing spot by sister referred to was a lake outside Jealousy.

On the way we saw Letho rowing down the river. Bulgar called him over. Letho said the emperor had betrayed him. He said there was a serious problem, a terrible truth. He had overheard the emperors plans to invade the north. His men had discovered documents of magical items concerning the creation of witchers. He planned on creating his own witchers and wanted to destroy all the existing witchers. Letho thought the emperor would look into Alzer the sorcerer who had originally created the trials to make witchers and believed he would send operatives to Kair Morhen where Bulgar was originally trained. Bulgar wanted to help him when we were finished in Ebbing. Letho said he would meet us in Vespaden. Scathe teleported him there to start scouting about.

We continued to the lake outside Jealousy where we met my sister and brother, Cari and Garth. Count Droben Aep Rurd was with them. Cari had a plan to rescue our father who was being imprisoned by Viscount Dominic. Dominic had a cousin Leo Bonhart, known to have killed 3 witchers which gave more incentive to Bulgar. Cari said my youngest sister Lily was due to marry Leo. Fathers land was now being run by my brother Elis who must have made a deal with Dominic, and is now being used to grow Vistech. Dominic has uncle my uncle, Count Bryn, imprisoned with my father. Count Droben had a plan to rescue them from Dominic's prison in Unicorn. He had employed Vodra, a bandit leader I had some unpleasant dealings with in the past, who claimed to have a map of the sewers in Unicorn. I warned Bulgar and Scathe he could not be trusted as he only cared for himself.

Vodra provided us with disguises then we took a small barge back down the river to Unicorn. On the dock we were approached by a patrol of three Nilfgaard soldiers. Scathe said we were here for the Aardvark fights and I said I had come to watch. Bulgar told him he was employed as a bodyguard. The patrol captain took an interest in Bulgars eyes so Bulgar cast a spell which confused the captain and convinced him to take the patrol away.

We took the opportunity to clamber down the bank to the sewer outlet. It was 8ft in diameter and quite disgusting. Lucky I had my high boots on. We followed the sewer and passed two face down corpses slowly floating down the sewer. Bulgar turned one over and something on the corpses side burst open and enveloped me in a poisonous cloud. Thanks a lot… Vodra had something which he gave me which neutralised the poison.

We continued until Bulgar saw some bubbles in the water ahead. Scathe cast a spell and created mirror images of himself near the bubbles. A shoal of white toothy fish leapt from the water at the images. Scathe cast a spell and threw a lightning bolt at them but missed. As the bubbles approached our group he summoned another lightning bolt, hitting the aera with bubbles on the second attempt and killed all the fish.

We continued through the sewers until we got to a point where a chasm had formed in the floor of the sewer, dropping into darkness. We tied ourselves together with rope then Vodra jumped across the chasm. He secured the rope on the far side allowing the rest of us to cross. We found another corpse on the far side. It was fresher and had been tattooed with the number 126 on its forearm.

Finally we came to a ladder and were able to climb out of the sewer. There was an iron cover at the top and Bulgar could hear footsteps and voices. "Are the brutes under control?" "Don't worry, Colisan has them under control". Bulgar tried using a spell to lift the heavy cover. It took him three attempts to lift it, and when he did he found it came out in a store room. The door to the storeroom opened as a guard said "did you hear that". Bulgar quickly cast a spell on him, charming him and sending him to a corner, as a second guard entered the room. Scathe summoned fire snakes which ensnared the second guard before Bulgar decapitated him.

The first guard was still under the influence of Bulgars spell and told us my father was being held in the Magic Gnoll cells where the walls were lined with Deuterium to stop magic. Bulgar got him to remove his helmet then knocked him unconscious. Bulgar then searched and found a set of keys on him. Scathe then cast an illusion of four guards over us as a disguise and we left the storeroom and headed towards the cells.

As I was unlocking the door to where the cells were, another door on the far side of the corridor opened and Viscount Dominic came through with four guards and asked what we were up to. I said we were just inspecting the cells, but when he looked suspicious, Scathe dropped the illusion and summoned a bolt of lightning which killed Dominic and two guards instantly. Bulgar hit the two remaining guards with his sword, killing both of them.

I went to free my father and uncle from their cells while the others prepared for more guards to attack. I freed my uncle from one cell and as I was unlocking my father, I was attacked from behind by Vodra. He struck me in the face, knocking me unconscious and ruining my left eye. I regained conscious to find Scathe had cast a healing spell on me. I warned him about Vodra and performed some first aid on myself.

Meanwhile Bulgar was fighting several more guards and two ogres who had appeared. Scathe teleported my uncle back to the lake. I started helping my father towards the sewers when Scathe came back and took my father away. Bulgar had charmed an ogre and got it to block the corridor while we retreated to the storeroom. Bulgar barricaded the door to the store room as I climbed down the ladder. Vodra had left a trap which exploded as I descended, hurting me further.

The storeroom door was burst open by an ogre as Bulgar descended the ladder. He killed the ogre when it followed. We found out afterwards that Scathe teleported back to the storeroom and was captured, but was able to escape by teleporting away again when he was being lead away, though they did manacle him and the effort left him stunned when he appeared back at the lake.

I retreated with Bulgar to the chasm where we found Vodra had removed the rope. I quickly used my rope to tie myself to Bulgar then leapt across. I then wrapped the rope round the remaining pitons and Bulgar jumped across as the pursuing guards caught up. The chasm slowed them though they fired crossbow bolts at us until we were able to retreat round a corner. We continued to flee, avoiding a trip wire Vodra had left. When we got out of the sewers we found the barge was gone so Bulgar attacked a guard on the wharf between us and another barge. I jumped onto the barge and intimidated the bargeman into jumping out of the barge. Bulgar followed and quickly raised the sail.

More guards were running towards us and firing crossbows. As we sailed away, Bulgar was hit in his prosthetic leg by a crossbow bolt, which caused the leg to fall off and he collapsed into the bottom of the boat. I was hit by a bolt which caused me to lose consciousness again.

We headed to the mountains to hide out while I recovered. While we were there Bulgar spotted a Basilisk flying overhead. He scouted the area and found where they were nesting. Bulgar wanted to kill it so after I had recovered, he caught a deer and I created a trap to try to snare the basilisk when it went for the deer. We waited but when the basilisk attacked it had clearly spotted me. Bulgar attacked it as it flew at us, slightly wounding it, and Scathe created serpents of fire which grappled it. However we heard sounds of a second basilisk answering the screeches of the first.

The basilisk breathed a mist over Bulgar, but whatever it was, he shrugged off its effects. As the second basilisk approached, Scathe created illusionary images of himself to try to distract me. Bulgar hit the first basilisk a few times with his sword, killing it. However the second basilisk attacked Scathe, poisoning him which required me to perform some emergency first aid. Finally the second basilisk was killed.

I patched up the others then Scathe teleported up to the nest where he found 5 eggs and a patch of human skin with a symbol of the Nilfgaard religion. He summoned the spirit of the former owner of the skin. His name was Rupert Ade Regard. He asked that his family in Unicorn be told of his fate. We had a lovely meal of omelette and venison that evening.

We then travelled to my father's estates. On the way Scathe arranged for a message to be sent to Rupert's family. The estate had been heavily fortified since my childhood and there was a high wall completely surrounding the estate. We saw a wagon leave the estate and waited further down the road to ambush it on its return. We cut down a small tree to block the road and when the wagon approached, Bulgar charged. He climbed onto the wagon to attack them but one of them hit his prosthetic leg and knocked it off. They were wearing chain armour and my arrow just bounced off the drivers armour.

Bulgar killed the two guards and the driver panicked. He sped the wagon forwards. The horses managed to jump the tree, dragging the wagon over with them. Scathe created an illusion of another tree falling ahead of the wagon. The horses reared, causing the cart to roll over and the driver was thrown out and started running down the road. Bulgar could not chase on one leg so we fired arrows at him until I got a good shot and skewered him.

We righted the cart and reattached the horses. We then put on the guards hoods and took the wagon to the estate. Bulgar cast a charm spell on the gate guards and we were directed in towards a warehouse. We were also told the Count was visiting Elis. I recognised the livery on the carriage parked outside the house as belonging to Count Droban Ape Rurd. We would need to find out what game he was playing! As we walked towards the house the guard on the door challenged us. Bulgar tried to charm him but made a mess of his spell, covering himself with magic sparks.

The guard started screaming 'INTRUDERS!' and ran towards the house. Bulgar chased after him and killed him. Scathe spoke to someone on the other side of the door who thought 'he' had been drinking and told 'him' to get back on duty. I lead the others to the cellar entrance and into the house. Inside we heard Elis and Droban talking. They were discussing sharing the estate between themselves and how the Count had fed me a pack of lies which I had believed.

Bulgar stepped out and confronted them. There were six guards with the Count and Elis. Elis attacked with the guards as the Count fled up the stairs. I fired an arrow at the count, killing him outright and Scathe killed two guards with a bolt of lightning. One of the guards hit me in the head and knocked me unconscious. I regained consciousness when Scathe cast a healing spell on me. When I was able to stand up I found Scathe had hit two guards with balls of fire and set fire to them and Bulgar had decapitated another. I stood up and ran through one of the guards.

Scathe created more balls of fire, hitting Elis in the face and killing him and the last guard surrendered. Caleb, leader of the rats arrived. He offered a deal where they continued running the estate and paid 10% of the profits. We discussed this with Cari and she agreed to the deal with my father moving back into the estate.