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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1306429" data-attributes="member: 15470">Dawn breaks on Vanday, the 16th of Charder, and we begin to break camp. It’s another nice day, still fairly hot for early autumn. We’re not looking forward to being in the swamp in this heat. We leave the two good horses, and Jim’s beautiful mount, Star, at the campsite, hitching the two nags to the cart for the trip through the swamp.We get back on the road, with the two horses pulling the cart. Paks and Jim walk ahead, in the role of guards. Delonia drives the cart, with Miriel, Goldpetal, Chuck and Milo disguised as slaves, their weapons hidden near them in the back of the cart. Chuck sits at the back of the cart, watching alertly behind us, his hand resting on his hidden bow. We can smell the swamp before we see it. The land gets damp, and as we enter the swamp, Delonia reminds us that we have to be careful to stay on the path. Jim echoes that sentiment. The road gets muddy, and the cart moves more slowly. The trees themselves look twisted and stunted, and are overgrown with moss, which seems to hang from every branch.We reach a small stand of trees; just in front of it is a stand of marsh grass. To the east, our left, we see a pair of crossed poles with Slytherin pelts tacked to them. “That’s a territory marker for the hag,” Jim tells us, pointing it out, “A warning to the ratmen to stay out.”“Who built this road?” asks Goldpetal, curiously, from the confines of the cart.“No one knows, slave,” Jim answers, “This wasn’t always a swamp, and the road is probably from that time, before the Titan’s War.”“What comes next?” Miriel asks Delonia, her voice low.“The trading post is still a couple hours down the road,” the sorceress answers.The ground gets muddier, and the cart keeps getting stuck. We’re constantly slapping at mosquitoes and bugs. After a time, Jim stops us, moves off to the side of the road, and cuts off a piece of a spiky ferny plant. He says it’s called Hag’s Tongue, and that the sap will repel bugs. We smear it all over ourselves, and it works immediately. He shows everyone how to identify it. Miriel asks about any offensive plants, such as poisonous ones. Jim warns her to keep an eye out for a plant with a blue flower. After about half an hour, the firm road dips through a small puddle, about a foot deep, with a spit of sand off to one side. Paks is about to step onto the dry sand when Jim grabs her, shaking his head. Without a word, he picks up a rock and throws it into the sand. To her surprise, the rock slowly sinks into it.“Quicksand. Let’s stay on the path,” he reminds her. “Chuck, you know how to recognize quicksand now, right?”“What is quicksand?” asks Paks, eyeing it distrustfully as she walks past.“One of the hazards of the swamp,” he says. “It’s basically just ordinary sand, so saturated with water that it no longer supports any weight. If you get stuck in it, lie still, and let me rescue you. Any movement you make will just dig you deeper into it, but if you just lay still, you should float on it.” An hour later, we’re still slogging through the swamp. The poorly marked road isn’t straight, winding around over the few dry spots. As we go around one turn, it winds through a large pond. As we pass between the sections of the pond, a giant frog jumps out of the water. It aims to jump on top of Paks but falls short, landing right next to her. It’s the size of a medium-sized dog, at least. From the other side of the path, another frog shoots its tongue out and grabs Goldpetal with it. He is wrapped up with a sticky tongue, and it starts to pull him in. The frog next to Paks bites her, leaving a nasty wound. The other one pulls Goldpetal partway into its mouth, and begins chewing on him. He screams in pain and terror. Jim swings at Paks’ frog with both swords. He wounds it with the long sword, and Paks adds a solid blow with her sword, but it is still moving. Miriel throws a sling bullet at that frog as well, but the stone bounces harmlessly off its thick hide. On the other side, Milo moves to the edge of the cart, where Goldpetal was, and throws a dart at the other frog. He aims over Goldpetal's head, and his dart sticks into the frog’s side. Chuck pulls out his bow and fires at the frog. The arrow goes right through its head, but it’s still gnawing on Goldpetal. It’s practically swallowed him, although he still has his head and one arm free. Goldpetal manages to pull his dagger out, and tries to slash at the frog. He can’t get a good angle, and his struggles are futile.Delonia has been chanting and gesturing, and she finally casts a magic missile at the frog swallowing Goldpetal. Clearly hurt, it spits Goldpetal out of its mouth, and makes a huge, sixty-foot leap back into the water, disappearing under the surface. The other one follows suit, disappearing into the water on the other side, and the swamp is quiet again. Miriel asks Delonia, “What were those frogs? And why didn’t you warn us about them?”Delonia tells us, “There are monsters in the swamp, but usually, if you can hit them once, they’ll go away. They’re just trying to get a free meal. I’m just happy it wasn’t anything worse!” “I tried to use animal friendship on them,” Jim tells Chuck, “But it didn’t work. I’m sort of surprised at that.” The Vigilant are rumored to have the ability to temporarily befriend wild animals, but this is the first that any of us had had that ability confirmed, save Chuck, of course.Miriel invokes the powers of Madriel to heal Paks and Goldpetal, and we begin to move along the path once more. Delonia estimates that we’re about two hours away from the trading post. Miriel meditates in the cart as it moves down the path. The swamp doesn’t feel at all natural, and we begin to have the feeling that we’re being watched. Chuck looks around to see if he can see anyone, but if there are watchers, they are well hidden. After about half an hour we reach another wooded area, a little drier. We come to an abrupt halt, as a ratman dressed in leather armor and a woolen cloak, steps out onto the path.  He has five amber medallions on his belt, and two long swords, sheathed, one at each hip. His fur is pale grey, and his black, beady eyes regard us implacably.“Halt, Traitor-Spawn!” he demands. “You are trespassing on the sacred lands of the Slytherin, profaning the holy earth with your presence.” Five more rat-men have appeared out of the swamp, surrounding the cart and cutting off any retreat we might make.Paks looks at Delonia expectantly, with the dumb look of a guard to her mistress. Delonia takes her cue, and addresses the ratman. “We’re just traders, bringing slaves to SySy, as usual.”“I’m the Twilight Warden for this sector,” the ratman says. “Why wasn’t I notified? I didn’t hear anything about any humans.”“We come here every month!” Delonia insists. “Didn’t the trader tell you about us?” “This is the land of the Slytherin,” the Twilight Warden intones. “You do not belong.”  He steps forward, and inspects the cart, sniffing around all of us. When he scents Jim, he gives him a long strange look. “You’re no slave trader,” the Twilight Warden says.Jim tries to play innocent. “What do you mean?”“I’ve smelled Vigilants like you before,” the Twilight Warden says. “I smelled your presence as soon as you entered the swamp.”Paks looks back and forth from Jim to the Warden. “What do you mean?” she bluffs. “We’re mercenaries. I’ve hired out with him for years!”Jim and the Twilight Warden ignore this, concentrating on each other. “I’ve heard of you Twilight Wardens,” Jim says. “You’re a shallow mockery of the Vigilants.” They stand very still, measuring each other. Suddenly they both cross their arms and draw all four swords simultaneously. Jim shouts, “Leave this to me!” and begins trading rapid blows with the Twilight Warden. The rest of us are not about to let him fight alone. We draw our weapons, and the five other ratmen rush at us. Two of them are at the front of the cart, with three of them near the rear. Goldpetal gets off the first shot, grazing the one nearest the front of the cart. Paks steps towards that one with her long sword, but he parries her blow with his scimitar, and his counterattack hits her hard. The other one engages her from behind, but she sidesteps his blow. Milo deftly tumbles out of the cart with his short sword, attacking the one closest to the cart, but it dodges his blow, and hits the halfling hard in return. Miriel steps to the side of the cart and stabs down with her spear at it, but she misses.Two of the ratmen rush at Chuck with scimitars drawn, as he is slowest to react to the situation, watching his master’s battle. The first gives him a nasty wound across the chest, while the second misses. Chuck finally gets both swords out, but he is unable to counter effectively. Jim and the Twilight Warden continue to trade blows, almost faster than we can see. Delonia stands up in the front of the cart and casts a magic missile at the Warden. The magical bolt hits him, but he seems unfazed. The Warden whips his tail around, grabs Jim by the leg, and trips him, but Jim rolls back to the side of the cart and pulls the ratman down with him, grappling with him on the ground. At the front of the cart, the horses are panicking, rearing and snorting. Goldpetal attempts to calm them, but they’re too afraid of the ratmen and all the flashing weaponry, and he can feel his control slipping. Delonia casts another magic missile, this time killing the ratman in front of Paks. Paks swings around, stepping away from the horses, and catching the ratman that was behind her with a big swing of her long sword. It crumples to the ground, dying.Chuck, Miriel, and the three ratmen at the back of the cart exchange blows. The largest of the three ratmen hits Chuck again. The two heroes, outnumbered, are unable to penetrate the guard of the ratmen, and fight to hold on until help can arrive.Milo moves toward the Twilight Warden, trying to distract him. Jim stands up, and aims a kick at the Warden, waving Milo away. The ratman rolls away, moving towards the woods. He stands up, and he and Jim start trading furious blows again. Goldpetal continues to try to calm the horses, but they are frightened by the smell of blood, and start pulling the cart down the path towards Paks! She dives off the path, barely out of their way. Miriel falls down in the cart, but Chuck and Delonia roll out of the cart to land near Paks. Delonia stands up and casts a magic missile at one of the ratmen that were behind the cart. It crumples to the ground. Paks charges another, stumbling and missing. The two surviving ratmen try to take advantage of her momentary lapse, but she blocks both blows with her shield. Chuck stands up and pulls out his bow. Milo flanks the Warden and attacks it, hitting, but not doing much damage. Jim hits the Warden as well, and nicks one of the pouches off of his belt. The Twilight Warden steps back and casts a quick spell. Vines grow out of the ground, wrapping Milo up and trapping him tightly. The cart plunges off the road. Miriel helps Goldpetal as they desperately try to calm the horses. The cart is well off the track into the marsh, but they finally succeed, stopping the horse’s panicked flight. Miriel takes the reigns from Goldpetal, as he turns to regard the rest of the scene.Delonia has cast some sort of glowing, electric nimbus onto her right hand, and she runs towards one of the ratman attacking Paks to try to shock it. One of the serpent vines trips her, and she stumbles, falling flat on the ground. The ratman buries his scimitar in her back, and she screams in pain and fury. Chuck fires an arrow at the ratman attacking Paks. It dodges, but takes its eye off of Paks momentarily, and she steps inside its guard and runs it through. At the same instant, Delonia grabs the ankle of the ratman who just hit her. The electrical nimbus on her hand courses through its body. It convulses, eyes open in agony, and falls forward, dead. The Twilight Warden, all of his assistants dead, dashes away past Jim, towards the pond. Jim swings at him as he passes, but cannot connect. The Warden starts walking across the marshy water. Jim touches his medallion, and he is able to run across the water in hot pursuit. Goldpetal and Chuck both fire their bows at the Warden, but miss. Goldpetal is in the back of the cart, while Chuck is moving slowly along the road, keeping the range to the Warden as low as he can. Miriel calls out, “Everyone come over to the cart,” as Milo finally frees himself from the entangling vines. Paks gives Delonia a hand up, saying, “Nicely done, there.” When Delonia is on her feet, Paks goes and picks up the pouch that the Twilight Warden dropped. Jim catches the Twilight Warden, and they start trading blows yet again.  The ratman repeats the trip with his tail, and they are grappling on the surface of a patch quicksand.  Suddenly, Jim’s medallion falls off. Fighting furiously with each other, they both begin to sink rapidly into the quicksand!Chuck howls “No!” in horror, and begins running towards the patch of quicksand. Goldpetal jumps out of the cart, runs to the edge of the marsh, and throws his rope towards Jim. It falls short. Milo, Chuck and Paks reach the edge of the marsh moments later. Paks has drawn her short bow, and she shoots at the Twilight Warden, but her aim is off. As Goldpetal coils his rope back for another throw, Chuck throws a second rope to Jim. This rope reaches the Vigilant, and he grabs it and starts pulling himself out. The Twilight Warden grabs Jim around the neck, pulling out his dagger and cutting the rope just above Jim’s desperate reach. Milo throws a dart at the Twilight Warden and hits it, just grazing him, while Paks misses again with her bow. Chuck recoils his rope to throw again, while Goldpetal rushes back to the cart to get his bow. While we are all focused on Jim, Delonia starts searching the bodies of the ratmen. Miriel can do nothing but watch, holding the horses steady.Jim struggles, but his struggles are just costing him valuable ground, and his head slips under the surface of the quicksand. The Twilight Warden takes a big gulp of air before he is pulled under as well. We lose sight of both of them.  Goldpetal picks his bow out of the cart, but since he doesn’t have a target, he looks around to see if any reinforcements are coming. To the east, in some woods, he sees a black panther watching from one of the trees. It gives him a bad feeling, as if it is somehow unnatural. The elf knocks an arrow, and keeps a watchful eye on the panther, his bow aimed at the ground but ready at a moment’s notice.  Milo grabs the end of Chuck’s rope and begins splashing through the marsh water until he reaches the edge of the quicksand. Without hesitating, he jumps into the quicksand, swimming out and diving down. He grabs someone’s hand. Chuck feels the added pressure, and starts hauling on the rope. Paks comes over to help, and the two of them begin reeling everyone in. Milo realizes that it’s not a human hand that has hold of his arm; it’s a claw. Milo tries to shake the claw off, but it just grips tighter. He feels the rope starts to slip through his fingers. Chuck feels the rope go slack. “Jim!” he screams out, and rushes through the marsh to dive into the quicksand, leaving Paks with the end of the rope. She splashes through the water to reach the edge of the quicksand as well. She sees Milo’s hand poke out of the quicksand for a brief moment, and she grabs hold with her left hand, holding the rope with her right. She tries to pull Milo out, but he slips through her fingers. He tries to take a breath, but he sinks under the surface again. At the cart, Miriel hands the reins to Goldpetal, jumps out of the cart, and runs over to help Paks hold the rope. It goes slack. Clearly nobody is holding on to it, but Paks and Miriel continue to brace themselves to pull, in case anybody grabs hold of it.Under the quicksand, Milo feels the claw sliding off his arm. Below him, Chuck finds the bottom and manages to gain his footing, but he can’t find Jim. The quicksand flows like water, and it is very deep. Milo manages to drag himself to dry land, coughing. Chuck also climbs out.  He says nothing, determinedly stripping off his armor.  He grabs the rope, loops it around his body, and dives in again. Goldpetal joins the group, holding the rope with Paks. Chuck feels around, but he cannot find anything. He keeps searching until he can't hold his breath anymore, but he finds nothing. Paks pulls him back up out of the water. Chuck lies there, gasping for air. Paks says, with deep compassion, “Chuck, I think he’s dead.”</blockquote>

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