Venturing out the back door the group found the stirges had drained the spider lady's corpse dry and sere sluggish as a result. Unsatisfied the group set the field of drugs on fire only realizing after the fact that fighting in the midst of a burning field of hypoallergenic herbs might be a bad idea. But the party was able to quickly kill off the stirges and then make their way away from the burning field to a lack covered with maggots and larva.
Seldion identified it as an unwholesome pool used to prepare cultist for blasphemous rituals. He then preceded to put on cultist robes and walk into the corn maze. The rest of the group followed but chose a different direction in the maze. While Seldion passed unharmed the mosquitoes in the maze rose up and swarmed the party draining their blood and choking the party as they crawled into nose and mouth Weapons did nothing against the insects so Arcas harnessed the power of fire to burn them and was quickly reduced to using fire pots. Also from behind them in the corn maze emerged the figure of the Mayor's brother but swollen to grotesque size. Insects crawling from his eyes and nose. he was literally bursting at the seams. The figure stumbled just missing crushing Arcas to death. Qimae and Karsa fought the brother who was revealed as a swarm lord. A fell lord of Ghlaunder's host anytime they hit him his skin ruptured and the insects swarmed away into the maze where they would reform using silk sacks from the spider lady cleverly hidden through-out the maze. Ariel was hard pressed to keep people up. The insects were draining everyone of blood and the fell lord hit like a ogre. The battle was long and arduous. So long in fact that Seldion circled the entire maze and arrived back at the party. Sneaking up he stabbed the swarm-lord and then Karsa turned his blade and smashed the swarm-lord like a bug by smashing his entire form to the ground with a mighty swat from the flat of his axe. With that deed he collapse nigh onto death.
It took a while to mend wounds but with the death of the swarm lord all the mosquitoes dispersed. The group was exhausted from the fight but there was no choice but to move on. In the hard of the rotting maze there was a dark ritual taking place to Ghlaunder. Seldion stealthily made his way into the midst of the ritual using his cultist disguise. The cultists were all naked save Mayor Kriegler who still wore a white robe that hung open to display a swollen member that dangled chitinous and dripping venom onto the chained form of the harvest queen whom he was preparing for sacrifice. The center of the maze was thick with hypoallergenic smoke but the group cautiously entered the ritual grounds where they were far outnumbered by cultists.
Kriegler immediately noticed the party (excluding Seldion who was slowly creeping his way to Kriegler's back). He warned "The land here is harsh. Interrupt the ritual and without the power of Ghlaunder the vermin of the blighted swamp will quickly destroy the village. We do not act this way from malice, but from necessity." The group just looked at the helpless form before him (and with quite a few glances at that disturbing member as well) Then Arcas stepped forth and levitated the harvest queen and the alter she was tied too out of the Mayor's grasp and battle was joined.
The mayor used magic to armor and make himself unassailable by all but the strongest minds and clothed himself in chitinous forms as bugs from the entire maze swarmed to him forming living armor for Ghlaunder's priest. The cultists did not join the attack as they had to hold the ritual together. Seeing this the party split up. Qimae focused on dispatching cultists to break the ritual while the others grouped up on the high priest who had summoned several gigantic vermin to defend him. Arcas felt a ancestor offer a gift of knowledge and when he reached out his spirit hand it delivered a killing touch to a nearby cultist.
Ariel used her magics to shield Karsa from the defensive compulsion which also protected him against the insects but she was bitten by one of the giant demonic creatures for her spell. This caused a frenzy among the giant insects who then all turned upon her preferentially - they appeared to really like her blood. Ariel was forced to shield herself from the insects with another spell while the others tried to engage Kriegler and were repulsed, either by his magic, his armor, or his dripping member. Still a few blows managed to connect and Kriegler saw that Karsa was going to be a threat thanks to Ariel's hastily wrought defenses. So while Ariel was occupied by the ants he paralyzed Karsa with a touch then told the ants to rip Karsa head off of his immobilized form. Moments from death, Karsa reached deep within himself, channeling the fury he had felt ever since the effigy had forced him to relive the beating he had suffered when his mother had left home. Using that anger he was able to shake off the fell magic helped in part by his heritage and Ariel's enchantment. By this point Qimae had mostly slain the cultists and so the group was all able to focus on Kriegler just and his defensive magics began to collapse under the combined focus of the group. Cornered he fell quickly to the combined might of the group.
Only a moment had passed since the death and the chitinous member started waving wildly and something massive ripped its way out of Kriglers still warm form. It was some demonic beast that had long lain dormant in Kriegler's bloodline. The harvest queen shrieked as the insect made directly for her, shaking off the group's attacks as if they were nothing to it. but Seldion's magic weapon bit deep and Qimae channeled her weapon into a blow that rent the forms and sent it spiraling out of control. Seeing his chance Arcas waited until the right moment and dismissed the levitate spell and crushed the bug beneath the dark alter spitting out protective magics as the alter fell so that the harvest queen (Shel Lupescu) was protected by a puff of air that protected her from the sudden impact. The victim saved, the cult eradicated (for when the insect form emerged all remaining cultists were drained of life.
The party staggered from the maze the girl safely in Arcas's arms. Staggering back to the manor they mostly collapsed in exhaustion though Qimae and Seldion were able to keep watch throughout the night. During the night Arcas met with the wizened old man who had lent him the fabled quivering palm attack and the ancestor offered to teach him much more. He showed Arcas how to focus his mind for the Thulish mystic arts but as the ancestor was coaching him he began to feel uneasy and tried to pull back a bit but found he couldn't and the coach became more and more insistent and the tugging on his spirit began to feel like being torn torn apart but Arcas gathered his mind and shoved the ancestor out of his dream. The experience of dealing with his grandmother coming in very useful in then locking down his dreams so the ancestor could not get back in. The next day Qimae warned him to avoid that ancestor at all costs he loved nothing more than killing non-Thule and would not think of Arcas as anything more than a tool to be used and discarded once broken.
That morning the Harvest queen told the other villagers what had happened and the bodies of the cultists and the dead demon things lent support to her words. Ori's father Viorec Korzha thanked the group from freeing the village from the curse that had plagued it for a generation. Anyone who spoke out was sure to disappear and there was no way out as no one knew who the cultists were and the mayor, the boatman, and the general store owners were all part of the inner circle and it was impossible to leave without one of them knowing.
Viorec offered to gather up the taxes the party was owed but the party revealed that the back taxes had been in the Mayors hands all along. As the mayor had sacrificed the tax collector in pursuit of power. Several villagers speak up and say they will leave but most seem determined to stay and try to eek out a living. Seldion offers to put in a good word with his father and ask for aid from the village of Kassen. Shel however is adamant that she leave immediately. Her family actually was part of the inner circle and had willingly brought her to be sacrificed. After that she wanted nothing to do with the village ever again and none of the villagers could blame her so she accompanied the party as they went out to meet Captian Walren and ride the Black Mist upriver to Nithalmas. At the river the group saw another boat going south and Seldion took the opportunity to send a message to his father. Either his father or the forestry guild master would be able to help the town recover and set them to rights.