As the crew searches the bodies of the fallen witches, and question H'andrea the druid, they are more than a little disturbed at the sealed vial of bloody tears she carries... even more so, at the apparently cursed effect it had on them, whenever it was held! After some deliberation, they decide to take the terrified witch up on her offer, and travel to their island to trade her own life for their hostage, despite the late hour. When the shores of the island rose up as skeletons, though, H'andrea made a mad dash for the huts. As the team reconsidered their decision to spare the druid's life, they made fairly short of the collected boneyard, even without a Clerical "Turn Undead" being used.
They shortly discovered the bound-and-gagged Katrina, but after the pyromancer gave them some attitude, they elected to keep her bound while they checked the other huts. Fen carefully walked into the bed chambers, then rushed to the man chained to the wall to see if she could help him. After recognizing his status as both deceased, and partially consumed, she left the hut to evacuate the contents of her stomach. While she opened the third hut, finding a bubbling cauldron full of fatty liquid, she couldn't explore more. Upon finding more of the Tidereaver's Tears inside, they debated destroying the unsettling objects (as they have no reliable way to identify them yet), before settling on asking the Lyceum for help in understanding their purpose. Eventually freeing Katrina, she's a bit catty, but ultimately thankful for her rescue. She's at first elated, then crestfallen, as she learns that her brother isn't coming.
Resetting their long rest, the ever-growing group of heroes sets out to complete their journey, shortly after Katrina decides to reduce the witches' huts to nothing more than charcoal. Caught in the fringe of an errant fireball, the dwarf barbarian feels a strange tug from the Living Blade... and discovers its fiery powers. They soon left, rowing through the rain and swamp muck, eventually beginning to run out of liquid to row their boats through. Located and stopped by a Shahalesti guard unit, the Dwarf and Drow do most of the talking, while the Taranesti tries to bite her tongue over her bitter feelings towards the nation, and the Dragonborn recoils at mention of keeping agents of the Ragesian military out of Seaquen. Overall, the party is freed to go about their way, without much fanfare.
A short distance later, they resign themselves to abandoning their all-too-expensive ships, when they meet a salesman very eager to purchase them - at a sharp discount. Fully admitting to his entrepreneurial plan, the party strikes a bargain... since the boats weren't going to be selling ANYWAY, they'd pay the man to store a set for them, that they could use should they need to return to the swamp. A deal was struck, and the salesman even allowed them to hitch a ride on his crew's cart, as they descend into the heart of Seaquen...