“Uh, forgive me if I don't lead the way. Goblins are notorious ankle biters and my shins have a terribly low tolerance for perforation.”
Alexis gave Nona a clap on the back before drawing her shield and securing it to her arm. Her sword was next unsheathed and at the ready.

"That being said, I'm not keen on trying to make a trail through the marsh myself. Getting stuck in a bog would be more troublesome." Fox decided, leading the way down the New Fish Trail
Alexis quickly grabbed Fox's shoulder before she could get to far ahead. "Fox if there is anything more then goblins out here, hungry for meat especially, let the tin can lead the way." Although it seemed like a joke Alexis gave a thump of her chest and shield her face all serious. "Just direct me where to go or if you are insistent on taking the lead stick close. Anything tries to jump us I'll put myself between it and the rest of you. Can't let any harm come to you lot can I?" She said with a cheerful smile following along beside Fox, ready to take the front if anything tried to jump them.

[Alexis isn't comfortable letting someone else lead the way into potentially hostile territory, but she is willing to let them walk beside her and lead that way. I'd reccomend as well OOC that Zwei slips back a bit so marching order has Nona in the middle, mostly because: Nona isn't going to be up close and personal hopefully.]

Alexis led the way into the swamp. As if stepping across a threshold, the party entered into the thick quiet of the swamp. The canopy blotted out the sunlight giving the swamp a spooky, oppressive atmosphere, and the muffled silence pressed in like a dense fog. Under the adventurers’ feet, the narrow New Fish Trail wound through the undergrowth and between trees.

Six minutes into the swamp, the party came across one of the many branches of the Soggy River that ran throughout Brinestump. The placid river curled slowly across the path on its way out to Sog’s Bay. The bridge that lay across the river was a soggy wooden affair covered in moss with a few missing planks.

Draped across the very middle of the bridge, right in the way of travelers hoping to cross, was a large boa constrictor. It lay motionless in a lazy coil, resting over the river crossing. There was no way to cross the bridge without coming dangerously close to the snake, should it prove hostile.

Alexis 11/11 –
Fox 8/8 – 6 Darts
Nona 8/8 – 20 Bolt
Zwei 9/9 –

Zwei stepped forward slowly, tucking his kama away. Carefully he grasped his short bow as he crept toward the snake careful not to make any sound that would disturb it. He drew an arrow and nocked it on the bow, took aim, and fired at the constrictor’s head.

The snake recoiled from the arrow, dodging as it struck the wooden bridge right where its head laid a moment ago. Unimpressed, the boa rose and coiled back, hissing a warning with open mouth.

Alexis 11/11 –
Fox 8/8 – 6 darts
Nona 8/8 – 20 bolts
Zwei 9/9 – 19 arrows

Boa Constrictor: Aggravated

A snake. A snake on the bridge. Six minutes in, their first challenge in raiding the swamp would be to navigate a sodden old bridge without being consumed by the wildlife. Truly the tale of their goblin slaying adventure would go down in history.

Nona looked to the lazy flowing river. She did not care to get wet going around, even without all the possibilities of small bloodsucking insects or creatures that might be lurking in its depths.

Maybe if the snake was just sleeping they might be able to get past it without provoking it, then punt it into the river and run like lunatics? But no—Nona was pretty sure she could see it watching them. She tried to recall what she'd read about snake sleep habits—snakes do not have eyelids, but instead transparent lenses, and so sleep with their eyes open.

This one looked quite probably possibly awake. Maybe she could scare it away with a loud noise? Something about the atmosphere of the swamp made Nona not particularly keen on making loud noises, and besides it might just ignore an illusory sound anyway.

The mage was wrestling with possibilities when Zwei shot an arrow, landing just short of the now angry snake. It assumed a defensive posture, warning the group to back off and leave it alone.

“Ah, why hadn't I thought of that?” Nona mused aloud. “Simple. Direct. Makes a bold statement. Though perhaps 'please' may be the appropriate incantation for dealing with stray basking reptiles?”

Nona didn't have anything better to do than snark. She held her crossbow pointed up—she didn't want to be the one that inspired the boa to eat them all if there was still a chance of making it leave without confrontation.

“Hey, Alexis, you're good at making friends, right? Have a word with it. Maybe it'll mistake your armour for scales.” She threw a lopsided grin to her 'cousin' the guardswoman.

Nona waited to see what would happen before she decided to start unloading any of her arsenal at the snake that was until quite recently best described as 'not hostile'.

Alexis stared at the snake for a good long while and just as she opened her mouth to speak she saw the arrows thunk into the ground by it, the snake seeming none to pleased that it was attacked without provocation. "Oh for crying out loud. Can we please not attack everything we see if it isn't trying to murder us? The snake was perfectly fine and would have probably pissed off if we had made enough noise or it got bored." She sighed a bit rubbing her forehead with her thumb and pointer finger.

“Hey, Alexis, you're good at making friends, right? Have a word with it. Maybe it'll mistake your armour for scales.” She threw a lopsided grin to her 'cousin' the guardswoman.
Alexis cast a 'not now' stern glance back at Nona before she stepped forward her sword and shield at the ready. "Before any of you get any brilliant plans and start trying to stab it let me at least see if I can't get it's attention first." It wasn't a question, it was an order.

Alexis approached the snake staying out of striking range and held her shield up and banged her sword off it. "Get the hell out of here! You'll live longer if you just piss off!" She shouted, making quite the ruckus. She didn't think the snake would listen, but her goal was to try and get it to focus on her so the others could either get by or finish it off.

[Alexis would like to approach close enough to stay out of striking range and make a crap ton of noise at the snake. If it tries to strike she will strike back.]

Nona waited, prepared for if things escalated to an actual fight. She didn’t want to provoke unnecessary conflict with the swamp flora or fauna. Alexis felt the same about the situation. She hoped to scare the reptile into retreating and unblocking the bridge. She ran up to the foot if the bridge and shouted at the snake, bashing her shield to create a ruckus.

The boa braced itself, holding its ground on the bridge. It wasn’t backing off but wasn’t looking for a fight. She tensed to strike, opening its mouth wider though it didn’t turn hostile. Meanwhile Fox caught up with Alexis, making sure to stay behind her iron clad ally, so not to be in any real danger.

Zwei rested his bow; he wanted to see how the snake would react before taking further action.

Alexis 11/11 –
Fox 8/8 – 6 darts
Nona 8/8 – 20 bolts
Zwei 9/9 – 19 arrows

Boa Constrictor: Aggravated

Zwei's eyed up the snake if this had been any normal outing namely one at night and alone he would have simply snuck around the creature or got close enough to ensure a strike but as it was a not night and b he was with a party he decided the best course of action was to lob an arrow in its general direction his thought of Couse that the arrow would either strike the creature wounding it or causing it to flee or that the arrow hitting near it would frighten it off.

He lifted his bow and lined up the shot and let the arrow fly it would have been a spot on shot had it not been for the snakes reflex's and the arrow hit the bridge with a mighty thunk Zwei let out a soft sigh as the arrow had neither of its intended effect.

“Ah, why hadn't I thought of that?” Nona mused aloud. “Simple. Direct. Makes a bold statement. Though perhaps 'please' may be the appropriate incantation for dealing with stray basking reptiles?”......
"Oh for crying out loud. Can we please not attack everything we see if it isn't trying to murder us? The snake was perfectly fine and would have probably pissed off if we had made enough noise or it got bored." She sighed a bit rubbing her forehead with her thumb and pointer finger.......


Zwei grimaced as the girls seemed to mock him suppressing the temptation to let another arrow fly into the back of Alexis' head as she strode up to the snake making enough noise to wake the dead, he let his bow rest and turned slightly to Nona

"If this is going to be become habit of my action being so patronised then perhaps I should begin wonder why I joined your venture, out here in this light am I somewhat out of my element and at least my way of trying to scare the creature away was quiet. Your friend is making so much noise I hope she doesn't attract anything worse that snake"

(Whether or not Alexis' intimidate attempt proves successful)
Nona sighed. Alexis' attempts to strong-arm the snake with threat displays were being less than effective and Zwei was grumbling. She needed to introduce a predator to the situation. What ate snakes? She knew a hawk that would produce an impressive sounding screech, but this boa was pretty big. She couldn't count on it being swayed by anything but the real-deal.

“If you think she's making a lot of noise out here...” Nona trailed off, concentrating on the magic first, snark second.

She pictured an eagle in her mind, tried to capture as accurately as she could everything she knew about it. Then she gestured to the green, misty swamp canopy. At her command, a loud, high pitched chirping resounded from the trees. Nona chose nothing too fancy—a simple shrieking call, set to grow slowly louder as if approaching over the next few seconds. This should be enough to convince the snake that a predator was inbound.

While her call went off, Nona walked up next to Zwei. “I might conjecture the reason you joined has something to do with the bounty money, or possibly perhaps because you could not resist the invitation of three ravishing beauties—”

“Three?” Sera chirped. “Fox and I and who else?”

“—Nevertheless, if you're having second thoughts, you're free to head back to town.” Nona ignored her familiar with a pointed glance at the offending bird. “That said, I'll let you in on a secret: the more noise Alexis makes, the less likely it is you or I will get mauled by a swamp-bear or something. Anything that isn't scared off when it sees her coming is going to try to bite her first. Say what you want about her, but she's terribly good at that kind of thing.”

“Regardless, I will do my best to comport myself in as minimally condescending a manner as possible while you are engaging in your stealthy endeavours, should you chose to continue to engage in this venture.”

(If necessary parts of this conversation can be transported to after the battle if the snake is still not swayed by our attempts to be non-hostile)

The snake did not respond positively to Alexis’ display of dominance. It refused to retreat, unintimidated by the warrior’s continued assault on its senses. It was beginning to look like they would have to fight through the snake or swim across the river.

Not pleased with the idea of getting wet, Nona took a third option. With her magic, she called forth the sound of a natural predator. Convinced by the illusory sound, the boa immediately changed its behaviour. At the sound of the call, it turned to the edge of the bridge and dove into the river, its long scaly body quickly disappearing into the water.

Alexis 11/11 –
Fox 8/8 – 6 darts
Nona 8/8 – 20 bolts
Zwei 9/9 – 20 arrows

Boa Constrictor: Departed

(We’ll carry on after everyone has said their part. Zwei’s arrow, if he tries to retrieve it comes out unbroken)
(100XP)

From behind Alexis, Fox was poised. She was in position behind Alexis, ready to move if it was needed. Yes, she was ready. Even though she did not appear to have a weapon in hand, she was ready. She stared back at the snake, golden, warm blooded eyes peering at cold blooded motionless eyes.

If a weapon must be drawn, make the draw mortal. At least in the case of a blade.

Well, it was the ideal anyway. Whether or not Fox could actually pull it off was another question entirely. She had never attempted such a thing before.

And it turned out she wouldn't have to try that time. A splash later, and the snake was gone. Fox quickly stepped back, anticipating Alexis potentially turning around.

"All things considered, that went fairly uneventfully." Fox observed, her voice warm and giving a warm smile. "Shall we continue?"

Alexis readied herself to strike the snake if it decided to attack, since the thing seemed it wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. That was until she heard the eagle chirping and saw the snake leave, she nodded satisfied that it had departed. Turning on her heel she sheathed her sword and looked at the group frowning.

“I might conjecture the reason you joined has something to do with the bounty money, or possibly perhaps because you could not resist the invitation of three ravishing beauties—”

“Three?” Sera chirped. “Fox and I and who else?”
Alexis's frown remained as she listened to Nona but she held her tongue for the moment to let her cousin finish speaking.

“—Nevertheless, if you're having second thoughts, you're free to head back to town.” Nona ignored her familiar with a pointed glance at the offending bird. “That said, I'll let you in on a secret: the more noise Alexis makes, the less likely it is you or I will get mauled by a swamp-bear or something. Anything that isn't scared off when it sees her coming is going to try to bite her first. Say what you want about her, but she's terribly good at that kind of thing.”
She was about to pipe in when she heard Fox speaking up, again she held her tongue for the moment.

"All things considered, that went fairly uneventfully." Fox observed, her voice warm and giving a warm smile. "Shall we continue?"
Alexis cleared her throat before anyone else could speak still frowning as she addressed the group. "Nona I applaud your efforts in getting the snake to piss off thank you. I can also appreciate your vocabulary and good nature but need I remind you that it was your invitation you extended first to Zwei?" She folded her arms over her chest a bit looking more like an angry mother now as she took a deep breath through her nose.

"I also doubt Zwei is here for the company of you, Sera and Fox in terms of ravishing beauties I'm sure he is here more for the bounty then the company." Now her attention turned to Zwei without missing a beat she kept speaking after clearing her throat again.

"You acted without consulting us or even asking what we should do. It was just a snake this time and out of your element or not don't be shooting at everything we encounter. I wasn't trying to be an ass but you aren't the one that has to explain to the people who care about you, or about Fox, or about Nona, why they didn't come back from their f**king nature hike." Her voice went up a slight octave before she took another breath and calmed down.

"That would be MY, job and I don't want to have to do that I've had to do it more then enough already with the recent goblin attacks. I don't enjoy the blame from upset kin. I would appreciate a little more team work from your end of things." Her frown had turned into a full fledged motherly glare as she let out a small sigh and shook her head.

"Nona is right though, whatever is stabbing me won't be stabbing you. So if a swamp bear does come flying out of the woods." She glanced at Nona again before looking back at Zweu. "I'd hope you would stab it in the back while it is eating me."

She looks at Fox and shrugs a bit shaking her head again. "Uneventful because of Nona's thinking and magic thankfully." Her face softens as she looks the group over again and her posture relaxes shortly after. "Call me a bitch or an asshole. I don't care, I'm just an orphan who works as a smith and a militia guard. But I'll be damned if I let any of you die while I can still breath. But I can't do that if you are all trying to do your own thing and going in every direction."

She cocks her jaw a bit thinking. "Besides none of us really know any heavy first aid or healing magic. I'd like to not be attacked by the wild life when we still have some fair distance to go. Please if it isn't trying to immediately have at our faces can we discuss what we to do?"

Her face hardened again and she pursed her lips. "I'm not saying for every situation, but for ones like this were whatever obstacle we face isn't proving itself hostile let's not try and stab it or shoot it or fry it or whatever."

Alexis turned her back to the group and headed for the bridge to keep them moving muttering under her breath as she went.

[Had Ian roll Perception checks for you all [[DC 15 - whispered conversation.]] And Nona is the only one to hear this.]

Alexis muttered under her breath hoping it was low enough that the others couldn't hear. "Bloody hell...keep yourself in control Alexis no good comes from being angry right now. Pfff...ravishing beauties my ass, I don't belong in that category. Men don't like a woman who can match them for strength, or work a forge."

[Little insecurities coming to the surface dundundun.]

.... “—Nevertheless, if you're having second thoughts, you're free to head back to town.” Nona ignored her familiar with a pointed glance at the offending bird. “That said, I'll let you in on a secret: the more noise Alexis makes, the less likely it is you or I will get mauled by a swamp-bear or something. Anything that isn't scared off when it sees her coming is going to try to bite her first. Say what you want about her, but she's terribly good at that kind of thing.”

Zwei signed heavily

"In my line of work I don't have time for long lasting relationships, and money has never been an issue for me before I obviously live and sustain myself with my normal work, besides the fact I probably have a good 10 years on most of you three dear Nona, I suppose Ill have to remember in future Im not here alone"


.......Her face hardened again and she pursed her lips. "I'm not saying for every situation, but for ones like this were whatever obstacle we face isn't proving itself hostile let's not try and stab it or shoot it or fry it or whatever."
Zwei let Alexis finish before straightening his shirt and scarf

"Firstly I would like to apologise your right I should have deferred to the wisdom of the group before firing my shot, you'll have to forgive the fact I'm used to working alone and in different circumstances, second I would hope a child raised as you were would have more respect for her elders and I didn't see you asking for my approval either before YOU MADE ENOUGH BLOODY NOISE TO WAKE THE DEAD"

Zwei cleared his throat again taking a deep breath at this point eyes burning yellow with rage

" I understand your armoured and are here to take the brunt of our fight should we face any but I would rather have to stay far away my hope was... no you wont listen to that you know what I think I think your have an inferiority complex and need to prove yourself a hero at every chance you get you build yourself up with armour and take on rolls most would consider male dominated. When and if the time comes that you should be being ravaged by a wild beast bent on taking your life your right I will stab it but not for you sake but because its what has to be done and its what I do best. Were not so unalike you and I abandoned, tortured but your not the one that has had to hide in the shadows most of their life so you'll forgive me that I expect the same respect as you"

With that Zwei took a deep breath clenching and relaxing his fists before motioning to Nona and Fox

"Now that we've had our childish rants let us continue on our merry little adventure yes?"

"Firstly I would like to apologise your right I should have deferred to the wisdom of the group before firing my shot, you'll have to forgive the fact I'm used to working alone and in different circumstances, second I would hope a child raised as you were would have more respect for her elders and I didn't see you asking for my approval either before YOU MADE ENOUGH BLOODY NOISE TO WAKE THE DEAD"
Alexis was about to reply and apologize she had started to turn around before Zwei continued.

" I understand your armoured and are here to take the brunt of our fight should we face any but I would rather have to stay far away my hope was... no you wont listen to that you know what I think I think your have an inferiority complex and need to prove yourself a hero at every chance you get you build yourself up with armour and take on rolls most would consider male dominated-"
Was all Alexis heard from Zwei the rest fell on deaf ears. She let him finish talking and when his voice quieted she looked over her shoulder her face neutral and cold. "When we are done with this excursion should our paths cross it is strictly business nothing more now get a move on the sooner we finish this the sooner I can go back to my work and away from you lot." Her emotions had gotten the better of her. She unsheathed her sword to keep it at the ready as she forged on ahead, going slow enough they could keep up but fast enough she had a little distance between her and this man Nona had dragged along for gods know whatever reason.

After tempers flared and words were had, the voyage deeper into the dense, foggy swamp continued. As soon as the group was back on its way, the heavy atmosphere returned, muting and distorting all noise in the swamp.

A few minutes down the winding trail across the bridge, Zwei and Nona caught sight of something unsettling. A large, soggy three-toed foot print in the mud, about a foot wide and slowly filling with water. Whatever passed this way couldn’t have been far away.

“Look! Over there!” Nona pointed into the fog, somewhere off the trail.

The others followed her finger into the trees. They couldn’t see whatever it was Nona saw.

“It was there a moment ago—a humanoid silhouette about six foot tall standing just behind that bush. It’s probably still close.” Nona squinted, but she couldn’t see it anymore.

Alexis 11/11 –
Fox 8/8 – 6 darts
Nona 8/8 – 20 bolts
Zwei 9/9 – 20 arrows

(What’s this? Plot! Mystery! Intrigue!)

The goblin exterminators did not feel like getting lost chasing the half-seen phenomena of the swamp. They continued down the path for almost half an hour, crossing two more bridges like the first, but unoccupied. No further disturbances delayed their trip to the warden’s shack.

The muddy fish trail wound through the swamp, eventually coming to a swampy lagoon on the coast. Just beyond the shallow lagoon waters lay the open ocean of Sog’s Bay. A terrible wreck of an old, two-story building stood sagging on the east shore, walls soggy with moss and roof drooping with age. The warden’s shack.

The party approached the warden’s humble abode. Alexis knocked sharply on the aged door. After a brief pause there was movement from the shack, and the door opened, revealing a scruffy halfling. His gaze drifted up to Alexis’. “Oh, hullo. How can I help you? I’m afraid I can’t accept visitors today. My house is a bit of a mess, and so in no shape to entertain.”

Walthus Proudstump smiled pleasantly, but looked like he hadn’t slept in at least a day or two

Alexis 11/11 –
Fox 8/8 – 6 darts
Nona 8/8 – 20 bolts
Zwei 9/9 – 20 arrows