Storm Island Expedition

The Eastern Swamps

Three days of trekking, and this may have been the most boring and uneventful trip I had ever gone on.  I had covered a number of miles, traversed bogs and narrow streams, stepped over plenty of rotting plants, and cataloged plenty of flora that I had seen a thousand times over in the swamps around Lumbridge, Morytania, and the Feldip Hills.
I was starting to know how those adventurers felt who trekked from Paterdomus to Burgh de Rott.
It would have been truly uneventful until I stumbled upon one of the abandoned homesteads Han had told me about.  The house was partially rotted away, but still standing.  Clearly large enough for a family of four or five.  They were even brave enough to have a cellar in this damp environment.
Outside you could see the remains of a vegetable and herb garden, the firewood stack, and a tool shed.   All of the wood rotted from the swamp and environment, hardly anything left that could be salvaged for firewood.  The garden you could only barely recognize despite the grass and weeds taking over again.  None of the herbs or vegetables seemed to have taken root or grow wild.  Too bad, I had hoped to pick something up, just in case.
I searched inside, but saw the emptiness that Han had described.  Given how relatively close I still was to the port, this house must have been searched at some point. After all this time, you could still see the kitchen table set, blankets on beds or chairs tousled about as if someone had just gotten up ... but no signs of a rush, struggle, or destruction.  It was as if the people in the home just gotten up and left to go out for the day.
A part of me considered leaving the house as it was, an eerie echo to the memory of whoever lived there.  I was also convinced that an investigation after this long probably wouldn't turn up anything new as to why they disappeared.  But the sun was setting, and this was the first real shelter I'd found.

As I went inside, I tested and kicked the floorboards.  Partly to make sure it was safe to walk on; secondly to scare off any pests or rodents that had made a home under there.   Luckily nothing broke, and nothing crawled out from under.
I poked around the house.  No food left.  Most of the tools were rusted out.  The furniture was too dangerous to sit on, so it seemed I was going to be sleeping on the floor.  Only useful items I found in some drawers were some herb seeds.  When I went to search the cellar, there was even less of interest in there.  A few small spiders scurried about.  Some bundles of firewood and planks that were not rotten, but they were of no use to me out here.  A few other odd and ends, but nothing I would have seriously considered carrying out with me.  I have a feeling that any other home I came across would be in a similar shape.
I had a light dinner then settled in to sleep for the night.  It felt like this was the first real sleep I'd had in a week.
It must have been around midnight when I awoke to ... something.  There shouldn't have been any light outside as a cloud layer blocked out the moon.  But there was an strange glow coming from outside, along with the faintest of noises, almost like a song.
I didn't have enough time to grab any armor, I just grabbed my pair of tessen and peeked outside.  The glow and sound was coming from off in the distance.  I was a little paranoid in how I checked about, almost as if I was expecting to be attacked by wild animals.  After a few short minutes of making sure it was safe, I started to head in the direction of the glow.

I was still a good number of paces off before I could try to see what was causing the glow.   All I could tell was that it was small, and there were a large number of them, but I was too far away to see any details.  When I moved a little closer, the glowing light ended, along with the sound.  I finally caught up to the location where I saw the glow, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, just plants the normal swamp plants and a small clearing.  A few more minutes peering about convinced me there was nothing else of interest.
I cautiously returned to the house, and after an hour of keeping an eye or ear out for whatever it was, I finally fell asleep again.
When I awoke again, it was well past morning.  I gathered my gear, and retraced my steps to the clearing again, hoping that in daylight I might spot something new.  But as last night, there was nothing.  Nothing disturbed, no remains, just nothing.  Not even a ghost or evil spirit lurking about. Just what appeared to be a normal swamp with the normal swamp background noises and smells.
I continued on.  A day later, I came across another house in the exact same condition as the first.  This one though, the herb garden had grown wild.  A closer look showed patches that smelled like Marrentil and Guam.  (I guess wherever you are, Guam is Guam.)
Once again, after searching about, I found little of actual use.  I opted to sleep indoors for the night.
I was awoken in the middle of the night again to the same glow and sound.  Unlike last time, it felt more comfortable and familiar.  On instinct, I still grabbed my armor and weapons and headed out.
I walked briskly this time towards the glow.  Somehow it felt like it was calling me.  As I steadily got closer, with each pace, I felt more and more relaxed.

This time, when I was just a few steps away, I could clearly see what was glowing and humming.   They looked like Will-o-the-wisps.  I'd seen them before, just not this closely.
They danced about a clearing to a constant change of hues of blue and white.
I wanted to walk and dance among them, but something kept tugging at the back of my mind.
Finally the Wisps abruptly stopped their little dance, as if I had gone from invited guest to unwanted spectator.  The feeling in the back of my mind grew stronger.
I now recognized the feeling.  A sense of malevolence, or bad magic.  Years of combat, slaying creatures, and practicing the magical arts had built me up.  Yet here I was, and I walked right into something bad.
Some of the Wisps started to hover around me.  I prepared myself for a fight, but I wasn't certain how to fight these floating balls of light.
After another tense minute, the Wisps collectively gave off a menacing tone and changed their lights to something almost as black as night, then just disappeared.
I waited about, but nothing more happened.
I then stayed at the house for two more nights.  The first night, I went near the clearing waiting for them again, but they didn't show.  I searched about the area around the house, but didn't see any sign of them.  Exhausting myself and sleeping through most of the day, I simply stayed the second night, but went to sleep as normal, but armed and prepared.
By the next morning, I could tell nothing had woken me.  The Wisps seemed to have lost interest.
I had made a note of these Will-o-the-wisps in my journal, what they looked like (as best as I could describe) and anything else I could think of.

I began to wonder if the Wisps had something to do with the families in the homes disappearing.  Han and the other people in the port never mentioned creatures like these.
Not wanting to stay any longer at the house, I continued further north through the swamp.  My next two days were again uneventful.
On the third day, I was surprised to spot a campsite with other westerners in it.