One of the gifts for the Mad Poet, discovered written in the margins of Men and Vultures: Denizens of the Darkened Depths and Dead Skies.
In Chapter 100, the party was able to determine that three of the books from Lowls' footlocker were of particular use in researching this gift: Curses of the Black Lake, Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax, and Shards of Sight.
In Chapter 101, at the Forsaken Caravanserai, the party (aided by the Yellow King) completed the research into this gift and uncovered the following:
- Lowls discovered that the Mad Poet prized trophies from highly dangerous or unusual predators. In the hunt for the rarest predator she could find information on, Thema learned of creatures called Wamps, bizarre aberrations with nine legs ending in webbed feet. Although Wamps are generally a pale gray color, the skin of their feet is a dark red. A peculiarity of their biology is that they can only digest rotting flesh, and tend to aggressively hunt the undead. Clusters of the creatures are whispered to haunt the underground regions near the Dreamlands city of Arventon.
- A medical journal lists corpsepox, ghoul fever, and zombie rot as diseases that carrion-eating Wamps can inflict with their bites. The reader is advised to avoid cemeteries and necropolises, where Wamps often congregate in large numbers.
- Thema’s notes are thin-to-nonexistent about any plan they may have had for this mission. There are some references to finding mercenaries with more underground caving experience, but those are then scratched out with no follow-up. There is no reference to what happened when (and if) the crew went there, and putting pieces together, you might come to the conclusion that this was their last target and whether they succeeded or failed to get a wamp foot, Thema simply moved on afterwards and didn’t come back to this collection of books again.
- The pass phrase that would allow Dora to use the Dreamlands Excursion occult ritual to reach Arventon.
In Chapter 125, the party began their quest for this gift, completing the ritual that would transport them to Arventon.
In Chapter 126, the party arrived in Arventon to discover that the city had been frozen. Everything was completely transformed into crumbling yellow ceramic material, including its people. It was also home to Ghasts, which attacked the party on sight.
In Chapter 127, the party treated with a trio of Ghasts that were not aggressive. From one (despite not sharing a language with them), they learned about what Thema had done to the city a century earlier. They got directions to the cemetery where Wamps could be located, and spent several hours traveling there.
In Chapter 128, the party entered the Dreadfields and managed to secure a single Wamp foot.
First Reference: Chapter 99
Other Notable References: Chapter 100, Chapter 101, Chapter 125, Chapter 126, Chapter 127, Chapter 128