In which we journey north

Enessa and I took the first watch, and discussed the origins and complexities of the magic used by the rangers. I was very interested to learn more, but we were rudely interrupted by a pack of giant lizards, which stormed the camp.
 
Shouting to wake the others, we drew our blades to face them. The fight was a messy one, by all accounts, but unfortunately I missed a good chunk of of it. I had tried, for the first time, to use magic in combat, and the results were, it's fair to say, mixed. It started strongly enough, I got in a good hit and then used the power of Bahamut to strengthen my arm, doing far more damage than I could ever have managed on my own. After that, it went much less well - in trying to concentrate on the unfamiliar spellcraft I must have lost focus on my defensive technique and I soon went down heavily, badly injured by a bite from the largest of the lizards. If Wind had not bravely stood her ground, daggers in hand, protecting me until Arin was able to get me back on my feet, then I don't know what might have happened. As it was I was bruised and bloodied, but walking wounded at least.
 
The rest of the fight is a bit of a blur, but eventually we prevailed. The carcasses of the beasts were dragged away from the camp, and, my stint on watch now over, I retired gratefully to my bed.
 
The next day we rose early, and continued to make our way north. En route we continued to seek clues - Enessa conversed again with the birds, Zeni searched for these 'ley lines' and we all kept our eyes peeled for signs of passage through the undergrowth. I even tried to reach out with my divine sense, looking for any taint of evil in the dark forest, but found nothing of interest.
 
After we had travelled north for some hours Orlando held up his hand for silence, evidently listening for a sound on the wind. Once it was quiet, we could all hear it - people in distress, interspersed with the barks and yips of dogs. We made our way towards the sounds, crashing rather clumsily through the mud. Once we were close, Sabali pulled his jesters hat out of his pack and, telling the rest of us to hide, ran forwards and out of sight. I didn't see what happened to him, but I could hear sounds of a commotion breaking out.
 
Stepping forward to try to get a better view of the situation, I still couldn't see where Sabali had gone, but I could see that there were a fairly large number of what looked like gnolls holding several human villagers (by the look of it) captive. Behind me I could hear movement as the other members of the party shifted their positions.
 
It was not at all clear exactly what we were seeing here - in the hope that at least some among them spoke common, I lowered my weapon and called out to the leader (or so he seemed), asking him, calmly and peaceably, what was going on in this place. The leader stepped forward and said something in response in a harsh language which I did not recognise. His archers drew back their bows, but did not loose their arrows, which I took for a positive sign. I hope that I kept my countenance even, but inside I was kicking myself for my unfortunate lack of learning. Without speaking their tongue, it would be nigh on impossible to defuse the situation.
 
It is quite possible that these folk are also victims of the disease which has caused so much harm to the Drynnans, perhaps they are even in a worse situation, given their greater proximity to the polluted water, or instead it could be the case that they are the cause of it.
 
It is looking very much as though we will have to search for clues amongst the bodies, always assuming that we ourselves survive this encounter.