The evening proved uneventful, with only the night life making any noise. Crickets and frogs from the nearby swamp chirped the whole time, pausing only when the hoot of an owl resonated through the trees. As the sun began to rise above the misty forest, Magra gently shook Feyre.
"Hey, little buddy," the half-orc whispered, "are you awake?" After no response, Magra picked up her friend like a ragdoll in both hands and shook her more vigorously.
"Ayyy!" Feyre shouted, objecting the rough treatment. "I was sleeping! What's your deal?"
"I'm hungry," Magra said simply, an expectant smile on her face.
Feyre raised a brow. "And you needed to wake me up why?"
"Well, I was hoping you could cook up some fish for breakfast." Magra pleaded with her eyes, something rarely seen.
"Oh, fine," Feyre conceded. "But you're cleaning up after. Now go get me some more firewood."
Momentarily forgetting she was holding Feyre, Magra threw her arms up in excitement, sending the gnome rocketing into the sky. "Little buddy!" Magra shouted, her arms still raised and ready to catch her friend.
"Ahhhh!" Feyre's scream lasted the entire time she was in the air, scattering birds that had been roosting at her eye level.
The other three members who had been asleep jolted up in a panic, preparing for a fight. "What's going on?" they all shouted at once. Once they saw it was just Feyre falling into Magra's arms, their bodies relaxed with audible sighs.
Once Magra had gathered more wood for the fire and apologized to Feyre a dozen times, the rogue cooked up the rest of Skamos's catch. It would be a long day of travel, and filling up now would mean not needing to stop long for lunch if at all.
"Thanks, Feyre, that was really good," Ru commented. "It could use a little salt, though."
Magra added her commentary with a loud belch between bites, not pausing to excuse herself.
"Actually, some of my lemongrass would have gone perfectly." Ru's frustration was written on her face. "I guess I'm still tired from third watch," she looked pointedly at Skamos, who was the only one who got a full night's rest, "so I didn't even think about it." Skamos looked a little taken aback but didn't respond.
Out of the corner of her fish-filled mouth, Feyre remarked, "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bedroll this morning."
After an awkward silence, Magra stood up and put out the fire by smashing it with her feet. "Time to go!"
"You know I could have just waved my hand to put that out, right?" Aeldevan joked, always amused by his friend being so quick to act.
"Of course," Magra replied as she made some arm movements. "Just gettin' the blood pumping."
◊◊◊
"Dante! That's quite the gas you've got." Magra patted her camel's side as she walked alongside him. He didn't seem to take offense to her comment, though.
"I don't think that was Dante," Skamos corrected, looking ahead at Ru.
The dwarf's stomach gurgled audibly where Skamos and Aeldevan could hear, just before she broke wind again. "Yeah, it was me, okay?" She turned around to glare at the bard whose smile quickly disappeared. "My stomach hasn't been feeling well, I'm tired, and I wish Magra would just carry me in her strong arms like a baby."
This was a side of the fighter none of them had seen yet, but that didn't stop someone from trying to make light of it. "Give her a little nibble, will ya?" Feyre whispered loud enough into Dilliah's ear for Ru to hear. "Just kidding!" she spoke louder, turning back to smile at Ru. "If you want, you can take a nap on Dilliah for a little bit. I promise she won't actually bite."
Once the dwarf grumbled and made her way onto the donkey, Feyre scrambled up Magra to sit on her shoulders. Ru huffed in annoyance but quickly fell asleep on the Dilliah's back.
With a hand to her mouth, Feyre spoke down to the boys from her perch, "Maybe that'll put her in a better mood." They smiled and held in their laughter for fear of waking Ru.
The late morning rays of the sun worked away at muddy puddles on the road from the day prior's rainfall. Despite there still being a slight morning chill, walking in direct sunlight with no wind started making the travelers sweat. The solid forest on their right began transitioning into a lush swamp, and Magra was too warm to care how dirty the water was.
"Too hot!" the barbarian announced, quickly turning right and running down into the marsh. Feyre grabbed Dante's saddle just in time before she was whisked away with the barbarian.
The others continued walking while keeping an eye on Magra from the road. They watched her squat down and plunge her arms into the mud before slathering it on her face, neck, and arms. Minutes later, she jogged back up to her friends, sighing with relief.
"That should keep me cool for a little while." Magra held her arms out to put Feyre back on her shoulders.
The gnome put her hands out in protest. "I don't think so! You're all muddy. I'm fine staying up here on Dante; it's a better view, anyway."
"Suit yourself!" Magra smiled, satisfied now that her mud coating provided some protection from the heat.
After a couple of hours, there was enough of a break in the trees to the west to reveal mountains in the distance that ran parallel to the road. From her new vantage point, Feyre could see two semi-active volcanoes in the distance. She pointed in that direction, telling her friends what she knew.
"You see that mountain closest to us?" She looked down to find the others following her finger's direction. "That's Rancor Peak. I think a long time ago, smithies used to make weapons from the obsidian they found there."
Magra unsheathed her demon axe, admiring how its smooth black surface reflected the sunlight. "I wonder if that's where this axe came from. Maybe someone in town will know."
Despite the extra hours of sleep she got, Ru woke up to cut the conversation short. "Could you all stop talking?" was all she said, her face still buried in Dilliah's fur.
"Go back to sleep," both Aeldevan and Feyre replied, annoyed that their pleasant talk had been interrupted. They continued on in silence, though, enjoying the scenery as they went.
With the sun now on the other side of the sky, the group snacked on some rations while they pulled the herd into the shade off the west side of the road. They got water from a nearby stream to quench everyone's thirst. Ru was left asleep, for everyone else was fearful of what would happen if she woke up again. Before they continued on their way, Feyre's keen nose sniffed the air, detecting a foul odor.
"Did Ru pass gas again?" Skamos whispered up to Feyre, noticing her new focus.
She slowly shook her head, not being able to place the familiar smell at first. "Oh! I've got it. That's the smell of ant farts."
"Ant farts?" Magra questioned.
Feyre explained, "Yeah. Since my forest was near a swamp, we smelled it all the time." Her friends still had confused looks, so she tried again. "We think the ants release some bad smelling pheromone when their nests are disturbed, so we call them ant farts."
As he got closer to Feyre, it dawned on Aeldevan that he too recognized the smell, having grown up in a forest as well. "So that's what you call it. I never thought to give it a name."
"Wow little one, you sure are full of smarts," Magra admired.
Smiling proudly, Feyre continued, "With the amount I smell, it seems like there was a big disturbance." Still on Dante, she scoped the edge of the road to where it met the trees. "Ah, there!" The gnome nimbly climbed off the camel and headed for a path made in the trampled grass on the other side of the road towards the swamp. Aeldevan and Skamos followed her lead.
"Nick, you watch the others, okay?" Magra's request was met with a confirmation from her dog by way of sneezing. He sat up straight in the cart, scanning the area for threats. Magra left him a few scraps of food for his loyalty before following her friends. "Aweemowap!" she said, repeating herself in different pitches like she was trying to sing, although it sounded more like shouting in orcish.
Skamos pulled out his drum and began tapping a beat and joined in song. Soon, Aeldevan and Feyre were singing along too, following the mysterious trail. Ru's voice even showed up in chorus behind them; she looked to be in quite a better mood despite having been left behind with the herd.
After a few minutes, their song quieted as the path stopped at the edge of the swamp. Aeldevan shifted into a giant constrictor snake in case they decided to go in.
"Well, that was a choice," Feyre remarked under her breath.
"What's that?" Ru pointed to a strange gelatinous blob off the path, causing Feyre to go poke it with a stick.
"That looks like a black ash," Skamos offered.
Everyone turned to him with puzzled looks, then realized he was looking at a tree in the opposite direction. Before anyone could explain, Feyre's dwarven dagger started pulsating with a bluish-purple glow and a low hum, its way of alerting them to nearby danger.
◊◊◊
Having gotten extra sleep, Ru was quick to notice a black snakelike head with red markings rising up out of the dark swamp waters before anyone else. However, she wasn't fast enough to warn them about the blast of lightning that was expelled from its mouth, hitting her, Magra, and Aeldevan. Magra took the brunt of the attack, but her vine tunic rendered the blast ineffective against her as motes of static shimmered around her.
"Ha! Nice try, but it's going to take a little more than that to hurt me!" the half-orc shouted.
On cue, two naga skeletons rose from the murky marsh. Feyre ducked under one's attempt to bite her, but the second was successful in hitting Magra with a curse full of ill effects. Ru took her maul to it, and Skamos summoned daggers above its head, but it was Magra who was able to shake off its curse, swinging her axe in retaliation.
Feyre was preoccupied with the first bone naga, so Aeldevan took the opportunity in his giant form to slither into the water and grapple the spirit naga that blasted him with lightning. It was still able to deliver a poisonous bite into his scales, though, but Aeldevan kept it from moving any closer to his friends.
Out of the shrubbery not too far off the path they had traveled, a green naga unleashed a blinding ray of fire at the women of the party. The naga carelessly hit its skeletal ally, aiding in its demise as Skamos's cloud of daggers plummeted into its bones.
Ru caught site of the remaining skeletal naga sink its teeth into Feyre's arm. Without hesitation, she rushed to defend her ally. Ru smashed the naga's bones with her maul until it let go of the gnome, giving Feyre the opportunity to deal the final blow with her adamantine dagger.
Skamos sent charged blasts from his wand to keep the new naga at a distance. He sent more charges at the naga tangling with Aeldevan, shouting, "Get off my man!"
Aeldevan shifted back into a half-elf, careful to step onto the muddy bank or else fall into the water. In an orange blaze, he slashed the creature with his flame blade as Magra followed up with a hit from her axe. Before anyone could swing again, Aeldevan, Magra, and Feyre blipped out of sight, replaced by a small purple flame that hovered where each one stood. Ru caught a glimpse of the green naga's hand covered in the same wispy magic. Her distraction nearly allowed the other naga in the swamp to bite her, but she quickly dodged and knocked the snake to the ground where Skamos whispered threats into its ear.
The green naga quickly slithered from the trees, hissing while it spat toxic gunk at Ru. Her extra sleep paid off, as she was able to bend backwards just in time. Skamos's mouth hung open as he watched it all seem to happen in slow motion. Ru's hands slowly waved to keep her balance while the black blobs drifted just over her chest and past her head.
The flow of time returned to normal when the first naga sunk its teeth into Ru's shoulder, trying to drag her into the swamp. Luckily her Dwarvish lineage prevented the poison from acting quickly, and she was able to roll over and bludgeon the beast until it stopped moving. Standing up, covered in mud and blood, she was a sight to be feared. Her blood pumping, she charged at the remaining naga and slammed her maul into its body, dealing a devastating blow.
Keeping his distance, Skamos whispered loud enough for the snake to hear, "You dropped your pocket." And hear him it did.
Leering at the bard, the naga released another blast of blinding fire at him. Skamos's Tiefling heritage not only reduced the damage but allowed him to retaliate at his attacker with Hellish flames. While Ru and the naga exchanged blows, Skamos placed another cloud of daggers above its head without it noticing.
As the creature reared to unleash another ranged attack, Skamos interrupted, "Hey, mother fucker. You forgot to move." The snake looked up just as the daggers began to fall.
As the magic pelted its skin, Ru asked her friend, "Should we hit him?" She thumped her maul in the palm of one of her hands, ready for another go.
"No," Skamos replied, crossing his arms with a smile on his face. "Let the cloud do its work." As the two shared a moment of bonding, watching the iridescent knives slash through the naga, Skamos stepped closer to it and sang cheerily. "You thought you could get awayyy, without dying! Not today. Not today..."
As the snake twitched for the last time, the purple flame covering its hand faded away. In an instant, Feyre, Magra, and Aeldevan reappeared where they had been before, the hovering flames now gone as well.
"What the fuck guys!" Magra exclaimed. "Way to kick ass!"
"I bet you didn't think we'd be the ones saving you, huh?" Ru said. "I think you owe us some nice ice-cold wine and beer," she added.
Feyre replied jokingly, "Good thing you took that nap!" She turned to look at Skamos. "By the way, what happened? All of a sudden I was in this weird place, but then I was back here."
As Skamos told them about the curse and Ru's amazing fighting skills, they harvested the naga remains for scales and pieces of spine. Aeldevan had waded into the swamp while he listened, trying to see if he could find anything for himself. His boot hit what felt like a flat tree trunk, almost causing him to fall fully into the water. He reached down and pulled when he felt a handle, dislodging the object from the muck. Hauling it out onto the bank, he realized it was a water-logged chest barely kept together by rusted latches. Bobbing inside was a mud-stained glass of healing potion that seemed to be in excellent condition despite its bottle. Tipping the chest on its side to pour out the water, he also discovered a minotaur horn engraved with a village map.
"Hey, check this out," Aeldevan announced to his friends as he sloshed out of the swamp. "Looks like we have another thing to ask Jorvik about once we reach the city."
