A thick, suffocating fog enveloped the world. In the Marsh Flats, things hid in the fog. Hungry things. Things almost as hungry as the marshes themselves.

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Quest Name: Into the Marsh

Participants: Two or more

Location: Marsh Flats

Post Requirements: 4 post per person, 200 words per post

Description: You have been asked by Lloyd to venture into the swamp and study a Bogaboo, however the trip has already started off rough. A thick mist has settled across the region making your trip into the swamp even more difficult than normal. The first part of your task is to simply find your way. After getting lost in the dangerous bog, you need to find an area that resembles some sort of safety, and set up camp. This venture may take you a few days, or even weeks, so you need somewhere safe to set up and stay at for a little while.

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Krazdan was undergoing yet another research mission to quench his thirst for knowledge. A bogaboo was reported to be in the area, granting a rare opportunity for such a monster to be studied. Thankfully for Krazdan, this was an area he was quite familiar with, having spent a considerable amount of time exploring the surrounding ruins. Even with the encroaching fog, Krazdan was confident he could find his way around, though the fog would succeed in slowing him down considerably as he didn’t want to stumble into some unseen danger. Krazdan, knowing that it may take a few days to find and study the bogaboo, had a specific destination in mind, a little hideaway he called home for a few months. It would make for a nice base of operations for this endeavor.

Krazdan was not traveling alone however, for another figure silently stalked beside him. A somewhat familiar companion, though he was rather surprised they had joined him in this mission. The notice board had promised a decent amount of solars for the research. For some people, that was reason enough Krazdan supposed, though curiosity still nagged at his mind.

“Ambika, if I may ask, why did you take this job?"

"Solars." Ambika answered quite immediately, before taking a moment to continue with the rest as she brought herself over a collapsed pillar. "And looking for a son who sees fit to defy common sense for his goals." The old soul absolutely loathed venturing the Marsh Flats, but alas, the idea that Kishan could be anywhere was one she had to take literally quite simply because her eldest son was entirely capable of being that ridiculous.

The mist was chilly and thick, and the surrounding humidity did little to bring comfort to the slog that was following in Krazdan's lead to wherever he intended to go. The region itself was unfamiliar to Ambika, but her ages-old experience would not fail her as she manages to keep up with the admittedly slow-paced madman, though she would be careful not to inch too close to him while letting her sharpened senses[1] do most of the work in detecting any danger that might come their way.

And sure enough, Ambika sensed the presence of a living creature along the trajectory Krazdan was headed towards.
"Halt, Krazdan. There is something ahead." She moved forward to stop his advance, crossbow at the ready. The fog would be too thick for her to discern what it was precisely, however, leaving her little choice but to inquire her companion on what it could be.

"I cannot discern what it is from this distance, but it is hostile. What do you think it could be? It may affect our approach."

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[1]Magician's Secret

SPOILER: Click to show

Nothing can get passed the Hunter's ability to sense their surroundings now. You are able to sense any hidden object, person or living creature, regardless of how they are hidden. You will get a mental ping of the exact location of where something is trying to be hidden from you, and can even sense things that are magically hidden, such as by spells or abilities. You can sense invisible enemies or detect things covered up by magic.

Krazdan tried to focus his senses to see or hear what Ambika was sensing, but all he could see was the suffocating fog.

“Quite impressive Ambika. Let's see... hmm… well we are probably getting close so it might be that…”

Krazdan looked around the ground until he found a rock which he picked up and threw into the direction that Ambika indicated. In the distance, the sound of the rock splashing into water could be heard, then half a heartbeat later, a much larger splash could be heard along with a loud snapping sound.

“That’s what I thought, a giant snapping turtle. Large and strong enough to bite through your femur and swallow your leg whole. Happened to me once, not an experience I’d recommend. But that means two things, one, there are large pools of water ahead and two, we are almost at our destination.”

Krazdan picks up a large stick he found on the ground.

“We should be fine as long as long as we don’t fall in the water, though that might be easier said than done. The pools are so murky and thick that you can’t tell them apart from solid ground by just looking at them and the blasted fog doesn’t help things.”

Krazdan slowly walks forward while stabbing the stick into the ground in front of him.

“Thankfully we have this stick though.”

The watery pools were near-impossible to discern... by sight, anyway. The waters may appear still on the surface, but to her trained ears they might as well be as cacophonous as the inside of a tavern if she decided to pay enough attention to them. Besides, there were more efficient ways about this that did not involve the usage of a stick that might inadvertently cause issues when the end landed somewhere it should not. Putting her hands together, the sands[1] of crumbled ruins would seep out of the surrounding architecture and spread around, stopping whenever it found itself soaked in water. Soon enough, the sounds of shifting grain would end, and light-coloured outlines would be seen forming over wherever water was found.

"Keep away from the sand." Ambika instructed and allowed Krazdan to take the lead once more, moving the sands ahead as they inched forward to wherever their destination was to make sure the area ahead was consistently mapped. Barring any unexpected mishaps or a new set of troubles, they should soon be upon Krazdan's hideout. The fog seemed to only worsen as time passed, however, and she briefly entertained the idea of possibly buckling them both together with carabiners and spidersilk wire before deciding it was too risky and might cause more harm than good in the long run. She trusted herself enough to be able to find him even if something did happen.

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[1]Scarab - Born From The Desert [1/2]

SPOILER: Click to show

Scarabs spent the majority of their lives in the desert, training, working and living. This honed their abilities and gave them unnatural control of the desert itself. A Scarab can Summon forth sand from the ground beneath them, then control this sand as if it had a mind of its own. Using both of their hands, the scarab can move, manipulate and control sand, using it to block physical attacks or strike enemies offensively. The sand does minor amounts of blunt damage and can be used to obscure vision and even hide the Scarab while moving across the desert. When activated, this ability will last for two post and can be used twice per topic. The Scarab can control the sand up to 10 feet from their body but can only summon a medium amount.

“Nifty trick, magic of some sort?”

It definitely didn’t seem like any magic he was used to. It felt like something born from muscle memory, instead of the cold calculations of arcana that he was used to.

Krazdan walked ahead, avoiding straying outside the confines of the pale sand. As they continued forward, the fog grew thicker and thicker. Krazdan held his hand out in front of him an arm’s length. Everything beyond his wrist was completely obscured by the ghostly white veil of the fog. He looked towards Ambika but could no longer see her. He still wasn’t all too worried, Ambika, despite her age, had extremely sharp senses and he knew Ambika was nearby since his psychic link formed through the message spell had yet to break, even still, he called out through the psychic connection, "Still alive Ambika? I certainly hope so. We'll need your heightened senses even more now that the fog sees fit to smother us further. The marshes are quite hungry today."

As Krazdan continued trudging onwards, a tree apparated from the depths of the fog. Emblazoned on the tree with a crimson ink of some kind were the words, "Beware, only death awaits you ahead."

"Nice, it's still here. Needs a little touching up though."

They passed by more signs of a similar nature as they trekked through the swamp.

"We are nearly there now."

Though Krazdan didn't notice, Ambika could sense something not within the pools of water, but on the land, stalking them and slowly closing the distance.

"An old trick. Not the intended use, but it will serve." Ambika replied simply. The ability to manipulate sand was something she did not consider to be of great use when she first learned of it, until she learned that in practice, sand referred to rocks smaller than gravel and that they were everywhere because of their very nature.

"Hungry, huh." The old soul saw no reason to question Krazdan's wisdom, anyone crazy enough to consider these swamps home must operate under whatever eccentricities kept them alive.

The words on the sign reminded the mother of the stories of old designed mainly to scare children away, though sometimes it might well be effective enough for adults as well. Of course, with how horridly dreadful this place was, the words likely felt weightier than it would were it over a seemingly harmless pool of water that would sink everything that entered it.

As Krazdan declared that they were nearing their destination, Ambika would sense the presence of yet another predator, this time skulking along the floors and inching towards them. Slowly but surely shifting the sands toward her seemingly unguarded back, the would-be predator found itself launched into the air when the sand burst upwards by her command^[1], and a swift, powerful shot would zip through the air parting the fog, allowing her enough of a glimpse to see their opponent as the bolt punched a hole through its body^[2].

"A giant centipede. 6 o'clock. About 5 meters away from you." Sight was useless, after all, so Ambika deigned to be as clear as possible to keep Krazdan up to speed.

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[1]Scarab - Born From The Desert [2/2]

[2]Sharpshooter - Piercing Shot

SPOILER: Click to show

With the focus and patience of a true sharpshooter, you have gained the ability to charge a shot, holding back your strike for a short duration and building up tension. You can choose to super charge your next shot, giving it extra punching power. The charged shot will ignore things like armor, structures or walls and can be used to pierce things, ignoring the defensive capability of it. This allows you to shoot through a barrier or even hit an enemy directly, ignoring their armor. You only get two charged shots per topic.