Lizards!
1683 Words
Bloodmire sucked.
It was a cold swamp (or was it a marsh?) that dominated a small valley in northern Gilded Hall. It’d taken them ten days to reach the valley, crossing snowy mountains and crossing deadly ravines. They’d hurried here, never staying in any of the small towns they passed as Skelly declared they didn’t have time.
The valley itself was cold, wet, and filled with bugs. Massive stagnant lakes connected by slow-moving streams pockmarked the land. Gnarled trees, thick with colorful molds and fungal growths, dotted the soggy stretches of land between the bodies of water. Skelly harvested molds and fungus, citing their medicinal qualities with one breath while lambasting the rest of them should they approach the stuff because of how dangerous it was against open skin.
There were only a few birds, great big crows that cawed in the distance being the most common.
Standing on the shore of a stream littered with mold-covered stones, Samuel heaved a sigh. “Do we have to stop every time we see that one particular fungus?”
Skelly, a wrap pulled over his face and thick gloves covering his hands, turned to stare at Samuel. “You want me to help with any wounds you get?”
“Would help…?” Samuel said, shrugging.
“Then let me do my work and stand guard.”
Samuel shook his head and looked out over the rest of his group.
Elena, swaddled in thick furs and cold weather gear, stood across the stream. She was whittling a length of branch, a bored expression on her face. She’d taken to leaving her face wrap off, citing the group’s acceptance of her status as a “mutt”. Her glee at having a group that enjoyed her presence wore off quickly when she found out she only enjoyed having conversations with Samuel, as Skelly was too boring and Wheeze was too crazy.
Needles just wasn’t one for extended conversation.
“What you making?” Samuel asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Elena shrugged. “No clue, to be honest. Thinking a little doll or something, give it to a kid when we pass through a town. Why? Have an idea?”
“Not really… seen where Wheeze and Needles ran off to?” Samuel asked, looking around. “And where the Hell is Posnev?”
Samuel had taken an instant hatred to the two-headed hound the moment they’d left Grimms, at least for one head. He’d dubbed it “Pos”, and the right head would bark and snarl at him when he approached, and had tried biting him several times over the journey.
“Nope!” Elena replied, popping the p of the word. “Why, worried?”
“With that dog sneaking around?” Samuel asked, now nervous. “Always.”
Said hound revealed itself when Wheeze came strolling through a section of underbrush, Posnev following close behind. “Ya’ll still grabbin’ mold?” He asked, waving at them.
“Almost done…” Skelly said from his place by the trunk.
Samuel shrugged. “He’s been saying that for like ten minutes.”
“We’ve given up hope and have settled here while we wait.” Elena said without looking up from her project. “Our new town’s major export will be medicinal fungus and woodcarvings.”
Samuel chuckled. “What are we naming the town, then?”
“Swampington!” She chirped.
“Doesn’t work,” Skelly said absentmindedly. “This is a marsh.”
“You said the other day that this is a swamp, will you freaking decide!” Samuel shouted at him, stamping his foot.
Skelly looked over his shoulder with a dispassionate stare. “No, I’m good. Like to keep you guessing.”
Wheeze snorted. “Yeah, anyway… so Needles is hangin’ back, think we found tha’ keep ya were talkin’ about.”
Skelly hummed in answer, but didn’t expand beyond that. Samuel heaved a sigh and looked to Wheeze. “How far off?”
“Half an hour, mebbe?” Wheeze replied, scratching at his chin. “Place is half-sunk, so be ready to hold yer breath at one point, eh?”
“Lovely…” Samuel rolled his eyes. “Any sign of anything that will be an issue?”
“Nah, though Needles said tha’ there are tracks fer lizard people.”
“Great, just freaking fantastic…” Elena groused, holding up her project for closer examination. “Trog are mean as s**t, they’re gonna try to eat us, just watch.”
“Tha’s jus’ an ol’ wives’ tale, don’t fret.” Wheeze waved off her concern. “Dealt with Trogs before, jus’ sticklers fer ceremony is all.”
“There we go!” Skelly said, packing away the last of his gathered bits of fungus. “Alright, off we go then. The keep it is, then?”
Wheeze motioned for them to follow him. “Come on then, let’s go!”
Posnev barked gleefully as Skelly walked up to him, and Elena dumped her project into the stream. “Alas, Swampington shall never be!” She announced as she followed the druid.
Samuel followed along without comment, instead choosing to keep a lookout for anything dangerous.
They walked for twenty minutes before they caught sight of Needles, huddled behind a cluster of thorny bushes across a massive shallow stretch of marshland, with a tilted section of rotted keep sinking in the middle. He was peering through a primitive spyglass, something Samuel had created with his Scrapper and Tinkerer abilities. Looking back, he thought about the skill, prompting his translucent menu to snap open, showing the skill.
SKILL: TINKERER
PASSIVE: GAIN KNOWLEDGE OF GENERAL MECHANICS
ACTIVE: THE USER MAY CHOOSE TO COUPLE THIS SKILL WITH SCRAPPER, WHICH WILL ALLOW THEM CRAFT NON-MAGICAL ITEMS FOR THEIR, OR OTHERS, USE.
COST: 50 XP (ALREADY OWNED)
Dropping in to sneak up behind Needles with the others, Samuel grunted to get the one-eyed man’s attention. Needles spared him a glance before looking back through the copper scope.
“Bout time ya’ll got here…” Needles grumbled. “Troops have shown up. Trog, big ones.”
Samuel peered over the bushes to study the group standing in front of the entrance to the keep. While most of it was underwater, the walls surrounding the structure were intact, and appeared to have been kept up with wooden palisades. A small village could be spied through the massive gatehouse, all wooden and mud huts with thatch roofs. There were about five Trog relaxing outside.
There were massive, standing easily eight to eight and half feet tall, all of it solid muscle. They had clawed hands and long snouts more akin to the head of a shark than a crocodile. Their thick hide was dark gray and mottled with mossy overgrowth, which didn’t make Samuel feel any better about approaching them. Between them, he counted at least three massive knife made from some animal’s bone, and massive clubs topped with frightening teeth.
“So,” Samuel asked, looking between his new friends as they took in the sight before them, “what’s the plan?”
Skelly asked for the spyglass as Needles spoke. “Draw them out, kill them quick. No clue how many are inside the village itself, but they could be a problem if we alert them.”
“So the ol’ helpless woman trick, eh?” Wheeze asked, looking at Elena. “Get ‘er ta scream and beg fer mercy, they come runnin’, we take there heads!”
“I can do a pretty convincing death scream!” Elena whispered excitedly. “Had to perfect it for when people would try to kill me!”
“Pushes comes ta shove, we slide a dagger in yer leg, make ‘em believe ya!” Wheeze offered, earning a frown from the woman.
“Yeah, no to that.” Elena replied, snatching the spyglass from Skelly.
Skelly frowned. “They’re bigger than the kind I’m used to, but I know a few dialects of Trog. We could try negotiation.”
“That’d mean we’d have to get close to them.” Samuel pointed out, shuddering as he remembered their weapons and teeth. “I don’t feel like being eaten, thanks.”
“Baby…” Elena snorted, peering through the scope. “How bout we go around and shimmy up a wall? Stay out of sight, slink past the village into the keep good and proper, yeah?”
“Good idea as any. How we going to keep them distracted long enough that people like me and Wheeze can sneak past?” Samuel asked, jerking a thumb to the massive warrior. “I’m not specced for stealth, and I doubt Wheeze is either.”
“I got Stealth II thank you very much!” Wheeze coughed, wiping his wipe free of bile. “Me an’ Needles gotta slip in an’ outta places too often not ta have it!”
“So it’s just me that can’t sneak worth s**t?” Samuel asked, looking around at his nodding allies. His face split into a wide grin. “Fine, then I know how to distract the Trogs so I can get in with you guys…”
===
It took Samuel the better part of an hour to assemble the distraction, eating up a good chunk of his saved scrap he’d gathered on the way here. The resulting construct was… a success?
Kind of?
It was small, with four rickety legs heavily laden with wires and rusted joints. The body was the remnants of three swords tied together with twine. Dangling from said twine were dozens of bells and wind chimes, hastily hammered together with his Tinkerer ability a safe distance away from the Trogs standing guard.
When it took its first few steps, timid and weak like a newborn fawn, Samuel smiled. He wiped the grease from his forehead and waved his allies over.
“Meet Leroy!” Samuel said, waving at his new creation. “He’ll be my distraction.”
“What can he do?” Elena asked, poking at one of the legs.
“Run and make noise.” Samuel said with a proud grin. “And that’s about it!”
“A literal distraction… huh. Neat.” Skelly said, walking around Leroy as he studied it. “What’s the plan then?”
“Needles should be back soon enough to find a weak section of wall,” Samuel explained. “I tell Leroy to wait five or ten minutes before making as much noise as possible. We wait to hear it and hold for a minute or two then scale the wall.”
Needles returned and waved for them to follow, saying he found a decent -enough entry point. “Climbed up a small part myself, saw they have no more guards standing about, just a village of women and children. There’s a clear path to the underground sections through the old structure inside, though it looks like it’s had some flooding issues.”
“Let’s roll then!” Samuel said, stopping to speak clearly to Leroy. “Leroy! Wait ten minutes and then make as much noise as possible. Don’t let any Trogs come within thirty feet of you. Do you understand?”
The small quadruped wiggled in agreement. Samuel turned and waved for the group to move on. “Great, let’s go!”
- Writer
