He is less than pleased about their promise to assist Lloyd; they simply do not have the kind of time for this… and Zarius?

While he hasn’t known the tiefling for long, and it could be a blessing in disguise to rid of him, given the sensitive information shared… there’s also the unfilled promise of an alliance lingering between them. Something scratches at the back of his mind, which wants to chase the possibility.

“...so they do bud off one another, then! I had a theory, but I’ve never seen it myself, so it couldn’t be proven…”

Lloyd’s excited voice cracks into his idle, spiteful thoughts; Caedes lifts his eyes to the back of the professor’s head, hoping he can bore a hole into it with simply a look. He’s been rambling like a man possessed, jumping between topics on the ooze and his research, since they began following the Elder Ooze’s trail… but the way they’re going is out of their initial path, taking them further from the Moonglade, and deeper into the swamp to find Lloyd’s massive beast of unusual size.

It’s not Lloyd’s fault that neither man was honest with him about their urgency to get to the Moonglade; but Caedes feels some resentment towards the chipper researcher and his assistants for holding them up nonetheless. He does his best to remain straight-faced, holding a polite smile while he walks calmly beside Zarius; he’s been keeping pace, mostly to ensure the tiefling’s well-being doesn’t take any sudden dips after the level of exertion he put himself through to build the bridge for the researchers.

… Any concern goes unspoken, of course; although, Caedes has been tossing up the possibility of requesting Zarius sit this one out, at risk of offending the tiefling. It’s not that he doesn’t trust his combatant skills, even if he did shove his arm into an ooze, but neither of them can afford to be further injured.

Especially not him.

“Professor?” he requests, interrupting Lloyd mid-ramble.

“Huh?” Lloyd looks back at him with a smile; Caedes holds his polite smile in return.

“May I ask a few questions about your research?”

Lloyd’s eyes brighten, delighted by his presumed interest, and he nods enthusiastically. “Of course!”

“How are we meant to ‘tire out’ this Elder Ooze of yours…? As you can imagine, we would like to leave with our lives intact… and from what I understand, you’d quite like to leave them… mostly unharmed, correct?”

There’s a small hesitation from Lloyd; he purses his lips, holding his chin thoughtfully. “Well, of course! In this case… well, I’m afraid it can’t be helped… I understand your concern, though; ooze are fascinating beasts, capable of digesting organic material in seconds to minutes, depending!” He laughs, clapping his hands together as he turns to face the front. “From what I’ve noticed, the thicker the objects, the longer it takes for them to digest. Plants are the easiest for them to digest, because they are often so thin; think… leaves. Then, wood; but the thicker the wood, the harder to digest. Twigs digest faster, for instance, than a branch… And then stone; the larger the stone, the longer it takes… etcetera! They have the hardest time with metal.”

The sound of their boots squelching through the mud is the only unnatural sound out in the Marsh Flats; they’ve begun traveling farther from the acid trail left by the Elder Ooze… far enough away to not risk exposure to the fumes in the air.

But the destruction left behind is still quite noticeable, even from where they stand.

“Do you have anything that could withstand the ooze?”

Lloyd looks thoughtful. “Er… Well, we have a few things that can hold up for a short time.” he admits, “We’ve used walking sticks and the like to poke a bit at the ooze— gently encourage them to move, you know? They sizzle and start to burn, but… I can’t guarantee how that might work with an ooze of this size, honestly... We have test tubes— ooze can't digest glass at all— isn't that fascinating? And...”

Lloyd starts to rant about objects to catch and contain the oozes.

“And what happens if we get hurt?”

“Oh, we’ll most certainly find a healer, of course!” Lloyd chimes; Caedes tries to hide the look of annoyance on his face.

“You don’t have one with you, then?”

“Er— well, no! We were never planning on tackling any of the beasts, just observing them from a distance! Though, we have first aid kids, acid neutralizers, and...” Lloyd starts rambling off whatever is in their emergency kits they're carrying on them, but none strike Caedes on being particularly helpful... the researchers hadn't even come with horses, or mounts of any kind.

Ugh.

Zarius trudges along next to Caedes, keeping within arms reach in case he feels himself weaken. He was managing to hold himself together for the most part, but the tiredness from rescuing Lloyd and his assistants lingered. He keeps his eyes on the trail ahead of them, though he isn't particularly focusing on anything specific. 

He listens to Lloyd and Caedes as they walk, keeping quiet himself to conserve energy and to focus on coming up with some sort of plan to deal with the Elder Ooze. 

This was just the inn all over again only the ooze this time was large enough to engulf whole houses. They would have to use extreme caution around the creature and ensure that no one came in contact with it or its slime trail. Easier said than done since neither of them were that good at range. Their wits, speed, and stealth would be all they could rely on against the massive forbidden gelatin.

They couldn't risk the researchers getting too close before they had ensured the ooze was docile. Lloyd mentions that the rate of something dissolving depends on the material's size and density. Perhaps they could trap it beneath something large which would give the researchers enough time to gather what they needed and leave. Luring the ooze into some sort of trap may work, but setting up a pit fall or falling trees would take time. 

What's more, they do not yet know the terrain surrounding the ooze. With luck, it would have wandered into some higher ground as not to contaminate more water. But it was just as likely that it found itself a nice keep pond to stew in. The terrain would ultimately determine what was possible to achieve and what was not. 

As he's running through the options in his mind, he doesn't notice as he drifts into Caedes' shoulder. Out of reflex, he puts a hand on the assassin's shoulder to steady himself then steps away. "My apologies, Caedes."

"Mister Zarius, I can't help but notice that you're not quite yourself." LLoyd says with a bit of a concerned look on his face. 

"Ah, I will be fine.^[1] Though I must suggest that you do add a healer to your team for future ventures. Accidents happen in the field when you least expect them after all."

He forces a smile, it's enough to fool the researcher and put him at ease. Caedes on the other hand was likely more perceptive, but also just knew that Zarius' condition was not something he would recover from on his own. 

"Words of wisdom, I will consider it!"

The tiefling's smile falls as the researcher turns away and puts his focus back on the path ahead of them. Zarius glances at Caedes and leans in to whisper to him. "If it ends up being too dangerous, we prioritize ourselves. I would rather neither of us become this things' next meal if it can be helped." 

While it would be unfortunate to have to abandon the researchers to the ooze, this whole thing was not worth losing their lives over. They could flee much easier than Lloyd and his group, and, if necessary, the researchers would make for a fine snack to distract the ooze with. That of course was only if the situation turned dire and there were no other options. Ideally this would be a simple affair, but it never hurt to have a back up plan should the worst case scenario become reality. 

---

[1] Smooth Talking

A bump on his shoulder brings Caedes’ pale gaze sharply to Zarius, eyes narrowing slightly as the tiefling places his hand on his shoulder to steady himself. A question of, ‘Are you okay?’ almost slips from his lips; but they don’t quite make it. “It’s fine,” he assures him beneath his breath; he rests a hand on his shoulder until Zarius has steadied himself.

Then, he withdraws it back to his side.

He’s about to continue speaking, when Lloyd interjects before he has the chance. Caedes takes a breath through his nose, and exhales calmly to keep himself from saying something impulsive; he moves to look ahead of himself again, brows furrowed lightly as Lloyd looks back at them.

“You should probably do more than consider,” Caedes remarks; Lloyd laughs in return, as though he told a joke.

He did not.

It was dumb that he didn’t have a healer of any kind, when his team was studying hyper-acidic ooze monsters in the middle of the wilderness, without a single healer within miles. He shakes his head, defeated, when he feels the air nearby disturb; he looks to his side, listening while the tiefling murmurs close to him. “It’s already too dangerous,” he counters, his voice soft and low in comparison to his usual tone. “Neither of us can afford to be incapacitated.”

‘...if we want to make it to the Witch in time’.

But he doesn’t mention the last part… it goes unspoken.

The assassin takes a breath, looking at him from the corner of his eye as he adds, “But yes, if it gets bad… we prioritize ourselves.” he agrees, reaching back to tuck a loose strand of white hair back behind an ear, he turns to face Lloyd’s back once more. As they continue walking, the professor rambles and prattles until the air starts to get that acidic quality about it once again; it’s not strong at first, but it seems to grow more intense the further they head down their same path… Which is concerning if they’re going to have to breathe this in; and although he’ll be fine, Zarius had seemed affected by it prior.

Caedes breathes out what air’s left in his lungs in a sigh, pulling back his cloak to fumble with one of the many packs hanging from his dual belts. After a moment, he slips a thin, black scarf of some kind from one of them, and offers the piece to Zarius. “It might help. Take it if you want.” he remarks with a slight shrug. He tends to use it for hiding the lower half of his face on jobs, but it could serve a second purpose.

Although, no sooner does the acidic smell in the air thicken further, do the group stumble upon more odd cuts in the clearing… multiple, in fact; staggered, as though unevenly cut; and across the way, a massive gelatinous form writhes and gurgles in its own trail of bubbling ooze. The beast is half-submerged into the cypress trees of the marshflats, and it is both a wonder and a terror, to watch the way its body slowly melts down the organic material; from a full, thick trunk— to a crumbling, deteriorating toothpick.

They're kidding, right?

The damn thing's almost as big as some of the buildings in Gazablaak!

Caedes watches as the cypress breaks at the contact point, sliding into the ooze’s form, where the rest starts to deteriorate as it sloughs inside of the beast. The changeling’s brows furrow, concern washing over him.

Lloyd, meanwhile, looks in awe. “What a beauty!”

Zarius watches Caedes fumble about in his pack and fish out a piece of black cloth. The changeling holds it out to him with a remark that sounds just a bit irate. The tieflings takes it and nods.

“Thank you.” He says then frowns as he realizes he can’t even tie it himself.

He sighs exasperated. Even if he tied it in a loop between his good hand and his teeth, he wouldn’t be able to get it over his horns. He stops walking and just stands in the mud for a moment before looking at Caedes.

“I can not tie knots.” He says simply.

Waiting for Caedes’ assistance, he reflects on the assassin’s mood as they have been traveling with Lloyd and his group. He couldn't blame Caedes for any annoyance directed towards this whole mess. He had been brought onto this mission by Zarius and the tiefling had gone ahead and gotten them both dragged down further into the muck. This probably was the worst first impression the Caedes had with a potential employer in a while if ever.

He really hoped that this didn’t sour their tentative alliance. And he REALLY really hoped that Kamille would be able to help them when they arrived in Moonglade. Not being able to do the simplest things on his own was getting exhausting and he’d be lying if he wasn’t starting to get nervous about how bad his arm was getting.

As they look across the criss-crossing paths filled with steaming acid, Zarius’ feels sick to his stomach. He had a rough idea of how big the thing would be in his head, but seeing it in person was something else entirely. What’s more, it had made the surroundings into a maze of hazardous slime. This wouldn’t work. They had no solid footing and the trees were too far apart to jump between.

No. This was too dangerous for any one of them. They had to turn back. They had to abandon this foolish pursuit. They…

His eyes are drawn past the ooze to where the trees seemed to rise taller than the rest. A hill. There was a hill back there. It could be pretty tall too. Oozes have problems with inclines, they already knew that from the situation in the inn. If they could lure it there the ground would be firmer and there were trees to slow it down further. It could work…it could really work.

He sighs and looks up at the sky and the clouds going lazily by. Briefly he wishes he was a cloud just floating by with no cares but that thought passes quickly. No time for that now.

The tiefling looks back at the ooze and then at Caedes and the group. “We will try this once. If it does not work, we leave. No questions asked. No negotiating.”

“But-”

“No." Zariuse cuts him off firmly. "You are putting your lives and ours in danger with this situation. If you die then all the work that has led up to this point is meaningless. Know when to cut your losses. You can always try again if you are not dead.”

Lloyd frowns a bit, reluctant to agree with the tiefling, but when he glances about at the worried faces of his assistants he seems to resign a bit. “Alright. We’ll follow your instructions.”

“Good. Follow me.” The tiefling trudges through the mud and takes the long way around towards the hill.

As they move past some of the trees, they get a better view of the hill. It was maybe a hundred and fifty feet of elevation with a decently steep angle.

“Alright. You and your team head up that hill and stay well out of danger at the top. Caedes and I will get the ooze’s attention and make it serpentine through the trees so it has to work its way through the bog. Once it shows signs of wearing out, we will lure it to the base of the hill which should slow it down. Grab some sticks on your way up so you have something to throw and distract it if it starts coming your way.”

He turns to Lloyd specifically. “If we say run. Run.”

“I know, I know. You’re in charge.” Lloyd raises his hands in surrender.

Zarius looks at Caedes. “Does this work for you?”

No sooner had Caedes handed him the cloth, the tiefling just stopped in the mud. A few researchers drifted past them, curious eyes watching from their peripherals as Caedes slows to a halt a few steps ahead of Zarius, and looks quizzically back at him.

“I can not tie knots.”

The changeling’s pale eyes fell to the wraps around Zarius’ arm; dirtied, because they had not really had time to change them with Lloyd and his researchers hovering about like a gaggle of ooze-obsessed mosquitos. “... That’s right.” he sighed; his boots squelched in the mud as he approached the tiefling, slipping the cloth from his hand as he circled around him. “Sorry about that.” His apology, albeit too quiet for the researcher’s ears, wasn’t necessarily ungenuine.

With the cloth in one hand, Caedes looped his arms over Zarius’ shoulders from behind him, careful not to snag the fabric over his horns while he looped it once over his nose and mouth, then brought the excess to the back. “Position it where it’s comfortable with your free hand before I tighten it; you should still be able to breathe through the fabric.” he directed, waiting for Zarius to give him some kind of affirmation that he was done, before he went about tightening the fabric for him. He tied a slip knot around the back, checked the tension, and offered the tiefling a pat on his good shoulder when he was done. “Good?” he prompted as he circled around him; awaiting confirmation, before they continued.

---

Truthfully, he does not know exactly how they’re supposed to subdue this damn monstrosity; he is not a monster wrangler, he is an assassin. This is incredibly out of his job description to begin with; and with a clear countdown lingering over Zarius’ head as his symptoms worsen, this isn’t something he wants to even start with.

He has half a mind to end this absurdity right here and now; simply refuse and continue their trek to the Moonglades— he knows a suicide mission when he sees one, and this is about as close as they come. Caedes’ pale gaze watches the ooze undulate with furrowed brows; he takes a breath, and the acidity in the air hits him hard. He archs his back in an attempt to hold back a cough without success, hand flying over his mouth and nose to muffle the sound as he turns from the sight of the ooze.

“Lunala’s sake...”

The acidity of the environment is most certainly worse than the deep pit it had left behind.

He looks towards Zarius as the tiefling starts speaking; and out of interest for his… health, bids himself to cease breathing. He watches him with a note of reluctance, but nods as Zarius pushes the fact that they’re only going to try this once... except it only takes once to kill them all. Still, he can respect the tiefling for putting his foot down on the sheer recklessness of the researchers— no matter how inconsequential, their lives aren’t as replicable as this ooze research.

Also, why can’t Lloyd just take a sample from a smaller damn ooze?

He stifles a sigh as he follows after Zarius through the mud. He can hear the splintering of trees, the hiss of sizzling wood as the massive mucous feeds calmly further away. Eventually, the group of researchers— Caedes and Zarius included— make it closer to the hill. It takes a moment, but he realizes what Zarius is trying to do as he begins to speak.

It’s not a bad idea; wearing the massive beast down through the bog, and forcing it to climb the incline? If Zarius were in good health, he would trust this plan fully; but with his condition up in the air … he can’t help but recall his state earlier, leaned against a tree with a dazed expression.

Zarius turns to him, and Caedes breathes an exhale through his nose as he looks towards the massive creature. “...It works.” he agrees after a moment, his pale gaze turning towards the researchers. Lloyd is still smiling, but he puts on a serious face— or an attempt at one— when Caedes speaks. “Take your researchers and go, then; and be quiet, we don’t need that thing hauling after you before we have the chance to give it a run-around.”

Lloyd nods. “Right-o! Ah, and we’ll prepare the test tubes once we get up there, so—”

“The sooner the better.”

“Hm? Oh! Right, right, yes; I’ll go get us set up. Sticks and branches boys,” he addresses his researchers as he turns, looking quite excited at the prospect of the interaction with the ooze— in contrast to Caedes and Zarius, anyways. “Good luck!” And, after receiving their instructions, the researchers start to creep off into the marsh, careful to keep as quiet as possible, to head to the hill out of range of the ooze— Lloyd is still talking, though— Caedes can hear him babbling quietly from here.

The changeling watches them go, then flicks his gaze back to Zarius; there’s a few things he could ask, all of which sound infantile and in ill taste. “Are you ready?” he asks simply, instead.

It shouldn’t be awkward, but it kind of is. Zarius feels a bit nauseous but he can’t tell if it’s from the dull pain in his arm or the acidic fumes in the air…or maybe it was having full knowledge that the assassin was right behind him with the perfect opportunity to strangle him with the scarf. He closes his eyes tight as he feels Caedes’s arms reach over his shoulders.

He was overthinking things. The assassin has had plenty of chances. Plenty of long nights on the road with no witnesses. If he had any intention of murdering him, he would have done it already. He wouldn’t be going through all the trouble of steadying him when he stumbled, keeping watch while he slept, slowing his pace to match his.

He feels the pulls of the fabric against his face and his body tenses for a moment as Caedes finishes tying it off. The tiefling opens his eyes and glances back as the changeling’s hand lands on his shoulder.

“Good?”

It takes a moment, but then he nods. The nauseous feeling sits heavy in his stomach.

---

Once the researchers start heading up the hill, Zarius glances about the trees between them at the massive ooze. There were some decently sized cyress standing in close proximity to one another, they could waste a lot of the ooze’s energy on moving through those. There also were some fairly deep pockets of bog that would slow it down.

He looks at Caedes. If this plan had any hope of working, it was the assassin's skills at disappearing and reappearing. 

“I am going to be relying on you to lead it on a wild goose chase. We need to be careful about the ruts and the creature itself. Charlotte should probably stay this those fools to keep them from doing anything reckless.” The tiefling nods back up the hill to the researcher.

“You take the left flank, I will circle to the right. If we keep moving and take turns drawing its attention we should be able to keep it going back and forth and limit how much footing we lose.” He gestures with his good arm to between the positions through the trees and what he hopes will be the pattern of the ooze's movement. 

He rolls his shoulders and shakes some of the mud off his boots. “Throw branches at it and keep a safe distance. If it does not look like it is slowing any then we will retreat.”

Zarius pauses for a moment and gives Caedes a serious look. “Be careful, and good luck.”

A shimmer of invisibility obscures the tiefling’s form rendering him invisible.^[1] The effect is betrayed only by the footprints left in the mud as he quietly runs off to the right side of the creature.^[2] Moving quickly, he finds a path through the bog over to a large fallen cypress and he jumps up onto it. Climbing wouldn’t be ideal, but from here he could possibly reach some hanging vines cascading from the branches above. He moves carefully over to get into position and waits a few moments for Caedes to find his own.

The ooze is more intimidating up close. Its form bubbles and shudders as it slorps its way through the bog. It carves a deep groove through the mud and moss, leaving nothing in its wake as the acid dissolved every piece of organic material it comes in contact with.

The acidity in the air is more potent the closer they get to the ooze. Zarius’ eyes start to sting and water and even with the scarf, his lungs burn. They couldn’t linger too long in these conditions, they needed to get this ooze exhausted quickly.

Finding some sturdy footing on the uprooted tree, he breaks off a piece of the exposed roots. He then focuses on the ooze and whispers something in Infernal as he throws the piece of wood with his good arm.^[3] The sound of a crying animal emanates from next to the ooze just as the piece of wood splashes into the soggy soil. The ooze reacts with surprising speed and a pseudopod lashes out at the ‘movement’. It finds nothing of great substance for its efforts and its surface roils with what they can only assume is anger.

Zarius felt doubt in his plan rising in his mind as the ooze starts to scour the marsh in search of something more interesting than plant matter. He holds his ground and repeats the distraction. The ooze surges to where the sound and splash occur, once again finding nothing and rumbling with frustration. It then slides up to a large tree and starts burning through its bark and core. The tree almost groans as its weight bears down on the ooze and then it splinters and cracks, falling with a crash into a few other trees and knocking them down as well. The ooze wraps around the resulting stump and dissolves it quite quickly.

Zarius steps back a bit and throws out another lure for the ooze to pursue, but it is definitely getting closer much faster than he had hoped.

---

[1] Invisibility
[2] Silent Step
[3] Minor Trickery

Caedes nods, resting his hands on his hips as Zarius adds direction to his plan; he looks towards his shoulder with only his eyes, speaking to Charlotte in a sound which seems indecipherable— but Charlotte seems to understand. The spider on his shoulder blinks at him, then crawls down him into the bog; she scurries obediently after the researchers, her thin legs and light weight keeping her above the mud with ease… and then his attention is quietly placed back on the tiefling without interruption while he continues.

It’s not a bad idea, but… the changeling’s eyes fall briefly on his wrapped arm, before rising to his face again.

“You too, Zarius.”

Then, he’s gone.

Caedes turns, brushing threads of concern for the wounded tiefling from his mind as he focuses upon the task at hand: distract the beast, ensure it gets closer to him than it will Zarius, if all things go ideally. If it doesn’t, then they run.

---

His mouth feels dry as he watches the ooze thrash; bark cracks and splinters under the acidity of the creature as it lunges closer and closer to Zarius. It consumes everything in its path, leaving nothing behind but a sizzling, gurgling slime trail. It foams at the edges, bleeding into the mud of the marsh, as it schloffs off its form. His pale eyes narrow as he times his distraction, and as the ooze shlorps up onto another tree closer to Zarius— he decides it’s simply gotten close enough.

From his position just ahead, and on the other side of Zarius, Caedes grips the branch he’s grabbed from the muk. He times his shot, and flings the wood high into the air, before placing his thumb and index fingers at the edges of his lips. From his position, a sharp whistle rings through the air; lilting and chittering in mimicry of a bird. The branch splinters in two against the upper portion of a tree adjacent to the elder beast; and the ooze lashes out the same as before. Its threads and pseudopods snap against the tree, searching for the living creature to no avail, and pulling. The bark cracks and pops, the tree bending with the pressure.

The ooze roils, body undulating as it lunges upwards; the tree snaps as the ooze latches onto it, sinking and groaning as the acid eeks and burns into every crevice between its bark. Caedes holds his position, glancing across the way for evidence of Zarius’ movements before returning his full focus on the ooze.

Another whistle cuts through the air— this one lower in pitch than the last— and is followed by a rattle of a branch on a cypress adjacent to the one currently fizzling out of existence within the ooze. This time, the beast is more aggressive, wasting no time in attacking; it lunges, leaving its previous meal behind and slamming into the cypress. It cracks on full impact, the upper half of the tree tipping into the beast.

Caedes winces slightly, frowning as he takes a step back.

It is faster than he expected; more aggressive, seemingly excited at the prospect of something more satisfying than the cypress that it keeps munching on. The ooze rumbles, trembling and undulating as the cypress sinks further into its opaque form; every moment of the tree’s agonizing end is fully visible inside of the elder, and it schlorps over the stump left behind— it shatters into pieces within it before dissolving.

It’s getting agitated.

Caedes sets his jaw, taking a step back as the ooze begins to search the march for the sources of sound; its pseudopods snap onto nearby sapling and shake it violently before pulling its form onto it. It stands no chance.

He looks across the way, trying to spot Zarius among the marsh, but he can’t see him immediately, and there’s not yet any sign of another lure being thrown out. It's moving too fast, and so... Caedes whistles again, setting up another lure of himself at a risky range from the ooze at its level of agitation. It lunges and smashes against the next nearest Cypress— a few yards away from Caedes’ position.

He takes that as a sign to start moving, and bolts from his position just as the ooze snaps the tree.

It tips, crashing into the tree that Caedes had been hidden by moments before, and tipping it into the bog before it oozes over both.

Caedes had the right idea. They needed to get the ooze up off the ground as climbing seems to be harder for it. Course, climbing for him wasn’t really easy either. Every time he considers taking to the treetops, it seems like the cypress’ grow taller to deny him that option.

Still, they had no time for hesitation as the ooze only grew more agitated the longer it went without a meal of flesh and bone. He decides to take a chance on it. The tiefling rushes to the nearest tree and scrambles up the side of it to the lowest reachable branch.^[1] His feet caked in mud slide a bit against the damp bark, but he manages to make it up and then continue to higher limbs stretching across the bog below.

The ooze was searching fervently for Caedes, grasping hungrily at anything it could reach with its gelatinous form. Zarius breaks off a smaller branch and throws it into the muck to draw its attention back over in his direction and away from the assassin.

“Come this way now.” He mutters under his breath, watching it undulate and scour the ground for the source of the vibration.

At this point the invisibility which had cloaked him has long since dropped. The tiefling was too focused on his balance to maintain the illusion. As he throws a few more branches and the ooze draws closer once more, he jumps across from one branch to another and lands with a huff, the limb bending under his weight.

Moving closer to the trunk of the tree, there’s suddenly a flurry of movement at Zariu's eye level and a series of hissing shrieks as a flock of tiny wyverns gets spooked out of a hollow in the trunk of the tree. He staggers back in surprise, swatting at the bird-sized creatures, and feels his foot meet nothing but air.

Tumbling off the branch, he descends into a free fall.

The ooze rumbles, reacting to the shrieking hisses of the tiny wyverns and moving rapidly in the direction of the tree.

Thinking quickly, the tiefling reaches out and snags a dangling vine after falling a few stories down from the tree tops.^[2] His momentum stops abruptly and he winces as his shoulder takes the brunt of his sudden deceleration.

He dangles from the vine by one arm as it swings back and forth before slowing to a stop. Glancing down at the ooze directly below him, he clenches his teeth to avoid making any sounds and revealing his precarious position. Falling would be deadly, but he couldn’t climb back up without the use of his other arm.

He glances around for another solution as the ooze starts to prod at the base of the tree and clamber its way up the side in pursuit of the source of the noise. The bark hisses and creaks with the branches shuddering from its dense weight leaving the support of the ground. He needed to move quickly before the elder ooze took down this tree crashing down with it.

Swinging his legs back and forth, he manages to build enough momentum to throw himself from the vine over to another one dangling just out of reach. He quickly releases his hold then catches onto the second vine before falling too far. It’s not easy by any stretch of the imagination and he breaks out in a sweat as he makes his way from one vine to the next.

His lungs burn from the acidic fumes hanging in the air. Spots form on the periphery of his vision, and there is a pounding in his head like someone trying to break down a door. The exertion was intense, but he somehow makes it to a point where he can finally drop a ways down and land on the stump of a broken branch.^[3] He catches his breath and glances about for Caedes as the ooze makes it up the side of the previous tree, now up several stories in the air where the wyvern nest was.

---

[1] Surface Scaling
[2] Iron Grip
[3] Cats Grace

The earth shudders as the cypress hits the bog; branches shatter against the muck; splinters erupt from the fractures; and something snags against the back of one of his legs, pulling him into the mud with the momentum. Caedes hits the ground, feeling a sharp sting when something digs into the back of his calf; he jerks in response to get to his feet, only realizing it’s a mistake when the sharp burn of a cut follows, paired with the snap of a branch, and the ripping of fabric.

He winces, stumbling on his feet and tumbling against a nearby cypress while the rest of him processes the remnants of the pain left by his staggered movements. The air is full of hissing; and of snapping, breaking, and crackling; as the ooze glubs forth. Its translucent body oozes over the sides of the broken cypress; its tendrils snap and reach for anything in its grasp.

It pulls closer, tugging a cypress almost clear from its perch in the muck.

He holds his breath as the shadow of the cypress falls across his pale silhouette, slamming into the muck before him. He considers making a run for it, but if he moves too quickly, he has a hunch that it’ll snap at him— and what then? But if he stays here, then… gods, it’s going to find him anyway.

Where the hell is Zarius?

Like an answer to a prayer, something slaps against the mud further away. Alert and listening, the ooze’s gelatinous form halts for long enough for it to pinpoint the sound; and then it redirects itself, slurping between twin cypresses, and leaving behind its hissing mark as it squeezes through just yards away from him.

Caedes feels his tense shoulders relaxing; he watches and waits for the ooze to search further and further from him; it undulates irritably, decimating every organic thing in its path on its search. Cautiously he moves forwards, but winces when he puts weight on his right leg—

...es…

— and a striking pain bolts through his temples upon the movement, so sharp that it makes him stumble. His knee shudders with the near-collapse of his full body weight; something above him scatters, wingbeats far overhead. For just a moment, the shadows lapse at the edges of his vision, and gravity flips on its head.

It’s gone in a blink, but Caedes finds his head tilted back, eyes narrowing sharply when he catches the tail group of small, fleeing wyverns— and Zarius plunging towards the ground.

His breath catches in his throat, the foreign feeling dissipating quickly in its stead.

“You’re kidding me!” he hisses before bolting forwards. Zarius manages to stave shattering every bone in his body by catching a vine, but he does not envy the way the tiefling’s shoulder takes the brunt of the fall against gravity. Caedes grabs a rock from the muck, ignoring the jolt of pain that courses up his leg, and swings around to fling it towards the ooze.

It cracks against the tree trunk below Zarius, and he watches the ooze redirect itself only momentarily to snap at it— tendrils reaching for nothing but bark— but its main target seems to be the movement the tiefling is causing up above… and even though Zarius has managed to clamber onto another vine, it’s only a matter of time before he falls, or the ooze finds him.

Caedes sweeps down to pick up a fairly hefty branch, and angles it while the ooze creeps its way closer to the tiefling. He flings it at a tree across the path, and watches as it snaps against an overhanging branch; like clockwork, the ooze snaps forth with long pseudopods, latching onto the offending branch. The creature goops, reaching out with more tendrils, until it creates a hissing, angry bridge of itself between the two trees.

On Zarius’ side, the cypress begins to crack, hissing and gurgling as acid seeps into its bark. Slowly, the creature tries to switch sides.

Caedes looks at the tiefling, gesturing for him to move towards the hill with a wide arc of his arm; then, he leans down to pick up another rock, and flings it towards the tree while he takes a few steps back. The second the rock clacks against the bark, the ooze drops one side of its hold; the tree where the wyverns had once nested collapses, falling apart from the burns in its hull; the ooze swings into the opposite tree, oozing and consuming around it while its pseudopods search for the source.

Unfortunately, it finds nothing; it wriggles angrily, but something seems to be working because as the ooze slowly begins to descend, it globs and undulates slowly, its movements becoming somewhat lethargic and discouraged.

Zarius catches sight of Caedes and his energetic waving. It was a relief to see both the pale man and the signal to retreat. The timing couldn’t have been better. He glances over his shoulder at the ooze which was sliding its way back down to the swampy ground. It definitely was moving slower and its body was engorged with all the material it had dissolved thus far. They could probably finish tiring it out with the climb up the hill now.

The tiefling hops down into the muck and starts heading over to the base of the hill when a wave of dizziness hits him and he stumbles and drops to one knee. His vision blurs and his mind swims for a moment before it clears. He had pushed his body to its limits and now the exhaustion was catching up with him. He shakes his head and gets back up. His legs feel heavier than before and his arms and shoulders ache.

The ooze gloops down onto the ground and restarts its search for those who have been toying with it. The surface tension on its gelatinous form is stretched and threatens to break from all it had assimilated into its form. It almost rolls now, like a bag filled with beans flopping its form across the various ruts it had carved into the marsh in its mad pursuit of the two men. It had created its own obstacle course which further exhausted the strange globual creature.

As he pushes himself onwards through the mud to the base of the hill, he glances back and sees the ooze gaining…on Caedes. What was he doing?? Time seemed to slow as he realized that Caedes wasn’t putting weight on one of his legs as he limped after the tiefling. When had he gotten injured? How did he hurt his leg? Did he step in the acidic water? Dammit, why hadn’t he noticed sooner?

His heartbeat pounds in his head, loud enough he can barely think as he doubles back to the changeling. He doesn’t ask for permission before ducking under Caedes' arm and putting his good arm around the assassin’s back.

“Come on, neither of us are going down here.” He hisses through his labored breaths and helps Caedes along as the ooze slorps after them.

Up the hill, Lloyd and his researchers watch the pair slog through the mud and start the climb up the steep slope of the hillside.

“It’s coming! Keep up the good work!” Lloyd calls down at them while his researchers make sure they have everything at the ready.

Zarius doesn't acknowledge the researcher's encouragement. He keeps his eyes forward and focused on the ground ahead of them. All that is left of his energy focused on getting up the hill with Caedes. His legs tremble and threaten to buckle from the strain. He curses in under his breath.

Don't stop.

Keep going. 

The ooze comes into clear sight from all the tree debris and Lloyd lets out a whistle. “Spectacular, absolutely spectacular.”

"Uhm, professor. Should we help them?" Asks one of the researchers. 

"Oh! Yes, probably."

The researcher with the good throwing arm picks up some of the sticks and rocks they had collected in the meantime and starts pitching them around the ooze to distract it. The ooze strikes out at the sticks and rocks as they tumble down the slope, rolling back and forth and buying the two men more time to drag themselves to safety. 

"Excellent! It's slowing right down!" Lloyd exclaims. "You're almost in the clear!"

Damn it.

Zarius’ collapse hardly escapes him; the blur of the tiefling dropping to one knee is more than noticeable after he’d gained his attention. Shit, shit, shit— if he has to carry him right now, he’s not sure if he actually can. Gritting his teeth, Caedes lingers where he is and hurls yet another rock with a frustrated amount of force put behind it; it cracks violently against a cypress in the opposite direction of the tiefling and skitters in the opposite direction of the bog.

The ooze gloops down onto the ground, tendrils reaching for the sources of its torment; and as Caedes takes a side-step towards Zarius with expectations to aid him— he realizes that the tiefling is back on his feet and already heading towards the hill. Thank the hells.

Caedes begins to back up, listening to the horrid slurping and gurgling of the creature yards away from him as it follows the vibrations of their retreat.

They’re so close; it looks like it’s about to fall apart; like its body is being forced through a mesh; rolling and scooting awkwardly across the bog. He flings one last branch, cracking it against a nearby cypress; its pseudopods snap to the sound, coiling around the cypress and pulling it towards it.

Caedes uses the distraction to retreat— but the moment his weight lands on his injured leg, he breathes a breathless hiss of pain and feels his knee buckle. “Tsk—” He sways forwards, putting his arms out to balance himself as he risks falling to one knee, but catches himself before he can. He keeps his initial steps light, grimacing while he throws a glance down at his injured leg.

He’s yet to look at the damage— but it can’t be more than a laceration from the collapse of the branch. His blood has long stopped flowing properly since the incident, so bleeding out is an unlikely possibility even if it were; still, the pain of a wound still settles something fierce.

He just needs to ensure he doesn’t fall victim to this awful, jiggling mucous.

So he grits his teeth and bears it, taking off after Zarius— or he would have— when he realizes the tiefling has returned to him. “Go! What are you—” the urgency in his voice dies as Zarius slips beneath one of his arms, and places an arm around his back.

He furrows his brows, uncertainty flickering behind pale eyes as Zarius’ laboured breathing becomes evident; but he can’t say no, arguing would waste time, and Zarius came back on his own accord.

Denying his help, with the effort it has to take in his condition, would be a slap in the face.

“Sorry,” it comes out breathless. “Thanks.” He turns his eyes away, using Zarius’ assistance as a support while they flee from the ooze.

---

By the time they’re almost there, Zarius is pushing his limits; at least, Caedes thinks he is. By now, he’s slipped an arm around Zarius’ back as well, acting as a different type of support while the tiefling takes step after step despite his condition. “Almost there.” he mumbles to him, wincing as he puts a heavier weight to his step; he won’t look back, but he can hear that damn thing gurgling and slopping after the vibrations of their steps.

He ducks his head as rocks and sticks are thrown past and over them, “Took them long enough.” he hisses, shooting Zarius a glance as they drag themselves up the hill with more gain on the ooze— and eventually, they finally make it. Caedes keeps a hold around Zarius to ensure he doesn’t just collapse once they’ve ceased motion.

“Good job, boys! That’s one tired looking elder ooze, right there! Absolutely glorious, they are!” Lloyd’s glasses practically sparkle in his excitement as he picks up a rock and throws it with the least amount of manpower he's ever seen. The rock kind of just tumbles down the hill.

Caedes has just about had it with these researchers, however. “Charlotte!” he calls. Her approach is quiet, but from somewhere behind Lloyd, Charlotte appears— she scurries quickly to where Caedes and Zarius have crested the hill.

The changeling looks over his shoulder towards the ooze, watching the exhausted bag of gluttinous gel chase after sticks and rocks and whatever else they’re throwing.

“You’ve got your tired ooze, you can get your samples, right? Are we done here?”

The tiefling’s legs were shaking terribly as the pair of men crested the hill and arrived safely– for the most part– out of the acidic bog. Despite Caedes best intentions and efforts, Zarius could not keep on his feet.

"Let me down." He wheezes and cringes. 

The tiefling lets go of the assassin after they stop and shakily lowers himself to sit on the ground to catch his breath. He pulls the scarf down off his face to hang around his neck. His throat and lungs burn intensely from the acid hanging in the air. He convulses and doubles over coughing with his injured arm tucked under his ribs.

Even though the bandages are dirty and soaked in stinky bog mud, there is an odor Caedes knows all too well. The scent of blood seeps through the gauze and what little pieces that are visible take on a red tinge. Though the tiefling had done his best to protect his arm throughout the whole ordeal, the climbing, falling, and running had all left him battered. 

He closes his eyes, his heartbeat pounds in his head causing a wicked headache. Unconsciousness threatened to take him a few times as his vision shifts in and out of focus. Shaking his head in a vain attempt to clear the dizziness, he looks at Caedes' leg to try and gauge how badly he had also gotten hurt. If they were both unable to travel...well, their chances of making it to the Witch of Moonglade were not looking good. 

Not that he could really change any of that in his state. He couldn't even muster up the strength to get his medical kit out of his pack for Caedes to treat his own injury. He silently curses his own mishandling of this whole situation and the unnecessary danger he put himself and Caedes in. 

On the hillside, the ooze gurgles and attempts to roll its way up the slope. All its thrashing about and chasing after unsatisfying prey had taken its toll on the creature. It starts to lose momentum before it comes to a stop. It slumps down, seemingly exhausted. Fragments of stones and sticks actually remain suspended in its gelatinous form, dissolving at a much slower rate than before.

Lloyd turns away from being awe-struck by the sheer size of the ooze before him. He looks to Caedes.

"Well, I would be asking you to help collect the samples but…" Lloyd looks at the pair who are both injured and covered in mud. "I'd say you two look absolutely terrible!" He laughs.

Lloyd's assistants offer apologetic glances out of embarrassment by association, though the man seems to notice them standing around.

"Don't just stand there, lads! Go quickly while it's tired!"

The assistants quickly take their collection equipment down to the ooze, approaching slowly as to not agitate it. After a few moments, they have collected all they need from the ooze and move back to just do some observational studies as it rests on the steep slope.

He looks worriedly at Zarius; but he obliges as demanded.

He releases the tiefling, but still keeps one hand on his good arm while the other man lowers himself to the ground, to ensure his descent isn't too quick. Caedes' own chest heaves with the exertion of traversing the bog and the hill— but he's still standing, which is more than he can say for Zarius at the moment. His brows furrow as Zarius yanks the scarf from his face and promptly doubles over— coughing and heaving against the aciditiy in the air.

He's really struggling.

"Take it slow," he mumbles, crouching down beside Zarius for only a moment when he catches the smell of something familiar— copper-like— the sharp scent of blood wafting through the air. He feels his throat tighten, pale eyes narrowing sharply as his gaze snaps to the crimson bleeding through the gauze of Zarius' arm. For a stretch of time that feels too long, he remains silent; distracted; until he pulls himself from it with a slight wince. "God... damn it." he breathes, trying to steady Zarius with a quiet hand on his shoulder when the tiefling looks like he's about to fade.

He didn't need this; he really didn't; this was only a danger to his condition, and it's only going to worsen from this point on. The idea that the Moonglade would be just out of reach enters his mind, but he pushes the thought back; if his only potential ally were to push up daisies now, things would be much harder on him.

"Slow breaths if you can, Zarius. No rush. Charlotte? Watch him."

Charlotte perks up from where she's been shuffling her eight legs nervously off to the side of Zarius; she scuttles obediently to Caedes as he stands to his full height and limps to Zarius' bag in search of the medical kit he'd been using to patch the tiefling up. Charlotte stops in front of Zarius, looking up at him with clicking mandibles; she is, indeed, keeping a watch on him as requested.

Caedes is careful not to peruse through Zarius' things too lackadaisically; he's been using his medical kit to treat him throughout most of their travel, so he's got a good idea where to look for it. His eyes are not kind, however, when Lloyd speaks; he breathes a laugh without humour as he pulls the man's medical kit from his bag. "Aha, yeah... imagine that." he remarks to Lloyd, trying his best to hide the venom in his voice. "I think we've exacerbated ourselves enough for the time being; my associate isn't fairing too well after his illness. My apologies, professor, but he needs to catch his breath, if that's quite alright."

He picks himself up, returning to Zarius while Lloyd encourages his assistants to go forth and collect the samples that they need; he stoops down next to the tiefling, opening the medical kit near him. "I know this isn't the best place for it, but I need your arm, Zarius—" He pulls the bandages from the med-kit, looking up to study the tiefling's state. "—before it has a chance to get any worse than it is."

Zarius cringes in pain. He barely hears the conversations going on around him over the sound of his blood pumping through his ears and his wheezing breaths. Movement out of his periphery does catch his attention as Caedes has managed to find the medical kit and is crouched next to him.

The tiefling shakily holds his arm out to the assassin. It's definitely not ideal to be redressing the wound in either of their current states. There's no real way to properly clean the exposed flesh which has started to take on an unpleasant odor and a sickly discoloration around the hand. The bleeding seems to have been caused by the dressings rubbing against the exposed vessels from all the movement.

It takes a while to get things cleaned up as one possibly could given the situation. Zarius manages to keep upright throughout the whole ordeal. Things were definitely not looking good for the tiefling though. It may be better to cut the losses while they still could. At the very least, his breathing has become more steady as he rests on the ground with Charlotte keeping a keen many eyes.

Lloyd walks over to the pair as Caedes is rewrapping Zarius' arm and his assistants are preoccupied with their observational studies. Leaning over Caedes' shoulder, he peers at what the assassin is doing. He scratches his head under his hat and whistles.

"Boy, that looks like a real nasty wound. You lads need to get out of this swamp quick before some creepy crawlies start munching away at that arm!"

Lloyd either was completely tone deaf or secretly derived some sort of pleasure from the misery of others. He certainly didn't seem to be taking the gravity of the injury seriously. Nor did he recognize that the wound was kind of a result of this whole ooze researching contract he had made with Zarius in the first place. The researcher strokes his beard in thought.

"Tell ya what, I'll flag down a wagon you can hitch a ride on to wherever you need to go. Most of the folks 'round the Marsh Flats know of me and I got some coin to spare."

The offer would be generous...if it were being offered under any other circumstances. Really it was the absolute least he could do considering all the trouble this whole mess had been. Still, this was just the reality of being hired hands for any task. They were expendable for the purposes of this research, probably more so than Lloyd's assistants despite evidence to the contrary.

He does keep his word though, and after the group moves on and leaves the elder ooze to its own devises, they do manage to find someone headed into Moonglade along the road. A quick discussion happens between the researcher and the driver before they agree to give the pair a lift with a quiet exchange of coin. Lloyd wipes his brow and watches the two clamber into the back of the wagon. 

"Well, guess this is goodbye for now! You both were a great help with my research. I deeply appreciate it. Best of luck to you both! Don't die!" Lloyd jokes and laughs but it was a way too real possibility at this point.

Zarius rests back against the inside of the wagon and looks tiredly at Caedes. "No more oozes."