Gerhart did take a day to rest in a wagon after fighting off the massive worm that tracked them in the desert. As energetic as he was, the heat was starting to really get to him especially after a fight. He does soon recover though and is quickly back to testing the boundaries of Zarius' nerves most likely.

After they start to make their way into the Marsh Flats Gerhart does get a little bit more on edge. The fight with the elder ooze some time ago had him worried it could arise again. "You think that worm was just a random thing? I didn't think big monsters like that would go near cities......we weren't that far into Zeniav were we?"

The more he thought about it, the more that attack did seem a little weird. It was a big caravan too, sure the worm was an animal, but most animals don't attack such a large group.

"Funny that you bring that up. I feel like something else is going on, like maybe it was lured to attack us somehow." He says quietly as the mud sleds are dragged across the swampy landscape by the giant salamanders. "I wonder about the cargo we are hauling, if it might be something more than what we were originally told."

The tiefling had tried to take a peak at the cargo on a few occasions, but he drivers kept a keen eye on it if nothing else. Even at night they had a watchman who seemed more interested in watching them keep watch rather than keeping an eye on their surroundings. 

There was a nagging in the back of his mind that they were hiding something. And that something was attracting the wrong kind of attention. They would have to stay vigilant and maybe even keep up their guard around the drivers as well. 

At least the weather was holding steady. The last time he travelled through the Marsh Flats with Caedes they had been assaulted by hot humid air, frequent rain storms, and swarms of biting insects. So far things were fairly mild and they even had some reprieve from the insects for most of the journey thus far. With any luck, they would not run into any more trouble, natural or otherwise. 

"Not for nothing, but I'm starting to get a bit suspicious of this job." He sighs, clasping his hands behind his head as they walk. Gerhart frowned a bit as he racked his brain trying to think of ways they could at least get some information. "If someone is tracking us, then I'm going to be annoyed....as a hunter I can say I am not a fan of being prey.....If we at least kind of knew what the item was we could, and by we I mean you cause you're smarter, figure out who is tailing us."



They really didn't have enough information to even begin to form a counter attack. "I bet it's not The Mud Worms...I don't know many groups that have wide enough operations to stretch across regions."



There were a few more frustrated grumbles as he thought. "Think I can annoy the guy into talking? Or at the very least distract him long enough for you to get a look at the item?"

"Maybe it is the Mage's Guild again. They summoned a creature once before, so maybe they're using the same strategy."

It's an idea, maybe not particularly far fetched but still he had his doubts the mages would mess with the Fighter's Guild a second time after their failed attempt on the Martial Academy. Then again, they never did pay the bill for the damages either. Petty casters. 

“I think your abilities to annoy people into talking are unparalleled.” He teases. “See what you can find out, I will go invisible and take a closer look at the cargo.”

With that, the tiefling turns invisible and climbs out of the back of the sled while it’s in motion.^[1] His feet sink into the mud which is always a problem with the Marsh Flats, but he could move fairly silently compared the the giant salamanders pulling the sleds.^[2] He circles around the sleds and finds his way to the one with the client's goods in it.

Everything is kept under tarps which are tied down in addition to being locked in a reinforced chest. The lock wouldn't be a problem, but it would be pretty obvious that someone was messing with it thanks to the tarp. 

Zarius gets into position without being seen and waits patiently for Gerhart to distract the drivers. 

---

[1] Invisibility
[2] Silent Step

"Seems a bit too put together a plan for them, but they could also be sore losers."



He grins at Zarius remark before making his way over to the group of merchants sitting in the wagon. With no hesitation he takes his waterskin off to take a drink. "What? I'm on break, I don't always have to guard, you got a lot of us here."



He smiles as he drinks. "Speaking of...this seems like an awful lot of guards for a caravan...even hired some Fighter's Guild folk, must be quite the treasure in here eh?"



"It is...It is very important and that's why you can't get your hands on it. It's too precious to let your dirty hands near it."



Gerhart holds up his hands, "Hey, hey, I'm not looking to touch it.....I just think it might help if we at least know what it is ya know?"



"Oh? And why is that?"



"Well you know, there's a lotta different tricks up our sleeves, but we can't go and use say fire magic if it's a special book you know? Or if it's some fancy glass egg then we wouldn't want to risk aeromancy knocking it over."


The shopkeep seems to still guffaw and protest. There is murmurs of fair points being made by the others in the caravan. Some offer they are carrying spices, silks, other pretty average trade goods. Gerhart keeps an eye on the man who hired Zarius and him specifically.



"Come on, it can't be so secret that even knowing it is a danger."



"You saw we've already been attacked, I'll say no more of it, no more."

Zarius peeks out from behind the sled and sees that Gerhart has the merchants distracted for the time being. He gets to work and slips under the tarp after loosening some of the ropes that secure it down. It doesn't take him long to find the large locked chest and squeeze himself between it and the crates. He fishes out his lockpicks and gets started on the padlock while Gerhart keeps the conversation going.^[1]

A few moments pass of quiet clicks from the tumblers as he eases the metal tips into the lock. Finally, the tumbles fall into place. He carefully lifts the lid and peers inside with his gleaming gold eyes.^[2]

Peering inside, there are a number of items wrapped in cloth. He pokes around the inside of the chest and uncovers one of the items. His eyes narrow before he puts it back and closes the lid of the chest, quick to lock it back up. He slips back out from under the tarp and walks a ways back to where he and Gerhart had first talked about their plan and waits for him to return so he could relay his discovery to the young fighter. 

He glances back along the path they had been traveling along and catches a flash of movement between the trees. Someone or something had caught up with them. 

---

[1] Lock Pick
[2] Dark Vision

Gerhart is happy enough to shift the topic of conversation away from the items to soften suspicions. He shares a few stories of his adventures so far. Retelling the siege of the academy by the mages seems to get some rapt attention as Gerhart makes sure to play up how intense it was. "I think I've spent enough of your time gentleman, sorry to have bothered." He grins as he breaks away having caught the faintest of movement out of the target wagon.

He circles around to take a perimeter check before finally catching back up to Zarius. "Those guys really can talk for awhile about nothing." He sighs as he stretches. "Find out anything?"

While Zarius relays how his half of the mission went, Gerhart will keep an eye to the road ahead. The Marsh Flats were a good place to get stuck and that would make them a prime target for whoever was chasing after them. Or whatever was chasing after them.

"Nothing good, I am afraid." He huffs as he sits down and keeps his voice low. "We appear to be transporting crystals of the arcane focus variety, quite valuable and rare to come by. But the more concerning thing is that they do not appear to be intended for the Fighter's Guild or the Martial Academy. The cloths the crystals are wrapped in bear the mark of the Mage's Guild."

He folds his arms and thinks on what this could all mean. Had their benefactor stolen this shipment from the Mage's Guild? Or were they using the Fighter's Guild to deliver the crystals for the Mage's Guild? Either was possible and both options rubbed Zarius the wrong way.

It was clearly a dishonest abuse of the guild's trust to keep this information from them. And the possibility that this was a set up in order to get the two guilds on even worse footing was all too plausible. Another conflict between the guilds was not ideal.

If they caused to much havoc then they might get the attention of the local authorities and cause an investigation. He would rather not have that happen for his own sake. He was already starting to garner more attention than he was comfortable with just by being a guild member. It was a slippery slope and he was worried about taking one step too far. 

“So we either have a thief or an idiot…maybe both.” He sighs a bit giving a rare frown. Gerhart may not be the smartest, but he can tell when he’s being used and it doesn’t settle well. Flutters of more movement to their west catches his eyes a moment as he looks that direction.

“I’m not exactly excited about killing whatever is trailing us if we are being put into the middle of something…..if we can hold them off from attacking until nightfall I have a plan…..I imagine they don’t want an open fight either, probably got someone like you out there….thankfully watching you has helped me make a few traps for that kind of thing.” He grins and pulls a thin wire from his pouch and a chemical vial.

“I can hide this near the cart in question and pepper the ground with caltrops as well….the explosion should be enough to disorient them and slow them down for you to actually capture them. Our employer won’t spill, but maybe they will. Just gotta hope they take the bait.” For not being the smartest, the man had a lot of plans it seemed.

Zarius nods, another solid plan from the young hunter.

"Alright. Let us go with that for now. I will keep watch near the back to dissuade them from trying any before we stop for the night and you can set up your trap. Make sure that none of the merchants trigger it on accident otherwise that will cause us more issues."

With that said and their plan agreed upon, Zarius hops back out of the sled and moves to keep an eye from the very back of the caravan. The group travels through the mud and muck for a few more hours until they find some high ground to make camp on. A sprawling mangrove three makes the area difficult to walk across with various exposed roots entangled in the mosses and peat. 

Zarius watches the caravan set up their tents and all that while Gerhart has a chance to lay his trap around the sled with the locked chest in it. He catches the slightest bit of movement between the trees to the side. Seems their follower is circling around to get a better position. Now it was just a matter of waiting for them to make their move. 

Gerhart waited until the merchants were tucked away and asleep before moving to set his trap. The wire was tied in front of the wagon and hidden in the leaves, just far enough away their tail couldn’t just lean over it and close enough they couldn’t just jump over it. Once set, Gerhart grabs his mug and pretends to ply himself with plenty of ale. A few cups in and he stumbles to fall supposedly drunk, face first into leaves.

It takes an hour or so, but their tail does take the bait. Slipping into camp, a black robed individual starts to skirt closer. They seem to zero in on the cart in question and head towards it. Their steps are as quiet as Zarius’, clearly this person was not new to sneaking and skulking. It would seem that they underestimated the fighters guild again though. As they step towards the cart, the wire snaps. A quiet “shit” is heard before an explosion sends them back into the dirt. They quickly try to get to their feet and run before they can be caught.

The sound of the trap going off wakes the sleeping salamanders which shift and look around in confusion and alarm.

Zarius is the first to his feet, having feigned dozing off while keeping watch against the base of a tree a safe distance from the sled and Gerhart’s trap. He sprints across the muddied path, closing the gap with a burst of adrenaline.^[1]

As he gets in close he shoulder checks the robed figure and takes them to the ground just as they had regained their footing from the force of the blast. The tiefling pins him face down in the mud and digs his knee into the small of their back while bending their arm back like a chicken wing.

“Wot is going on out ‘ere?” One of the merchants shouts as he exits his tent, pulling his vest over his shoulders.

“We are going to find out.” Zarius replies, keeping a firm hold on his captive who struggles feebly against the ground.^[2]

“Gerhart, get over here and take any weapons they have.” The tiefling says to the young fighter. He didn’t want to risk letting his grip loosen for even a moment should this person have any ability to cast spells.

---

[1] Dashing
[2] Iron Grip

Gerhart was a few steps behind Zarius seeing as he wasn't set up to get the jump on anyone. He jogs over and nods without a word. A few daggers are pulled out from boots and sheaths as well as a spell focus. "Seems like your hunch mighta been right." Gerhart smirks as he shakes the wand before tucking it in his bag with the other weapons.



As Zarius keeps hold, Gerhart takes some spare wire to bind the fugitive's wrists then ankles. "Should hold you and well....if you tried to break out it would explode your hands and feet off and you've already seen how effective those explosions are." Zarius could probably pick out Gerhart was lying, but the hope was this fugitive wouldn't.



"All right, all right fine....I'll talk.....can I at least sit up so I can breathe?" The voice of the fugitive was muffled by the mud and muck he was being held in.

"Oh thank Ginma he wants to talk, would've hated to see my friend here have to.....extract the information outta you. That woulda been rough....lots of screaming." He was certainly laying it on thick but this was his first interrogation.

Zarius rolls his eyes and drags the man out of the mud and forces him back to sit on his knees.

“Choose your words carefully.” He warns, keeping a firm grip on his shoulder.

“Look, it’s not what you think. I’m with a group of freedom fighters in Moonglade. These supplies are going to be used to arm those of the Mage’s Guild who have been tasked with taking our group down.”

Zarius’ eyes narrow. There was only one rebel force in Moonglade he knew of and that was the Lunar Rebels. Taking a closer look at the individual he rubs some mud from the side of his face roughly while also pulling back the hood. The thief is most certainly a moon elf.

“You are with the Lunar Rebels then?”

The man sighs. “So you know of us.”

“I know what people say about your group and about your…distaste for the current political situation.”

“Understand that we won’t stand a chance if the Mage’s Guild is sent to breath down our necks. They will annihilate us at the king’s word.”

“The members of the Mage’s Guild are not stupid for the most part, nor do they kowtow to the monarchy.”

“Ha, that has yet to be seen.”

The tiefling huffs and looks at the merchants. “Is this all true?”

“Hell’s if I know, we’re just the transport. Ain’t none of our business what this is used for.”

Zarius looks at Gerhart. “What do you think?”

Well shit. This was turning out to be much more complicated than it needed to be. He let out a long sigh, putting his hands on his hips. "I hate to say the merchant has a point...this really doesn't seem like any of our business. I may be from Moonglade, but we didn't exactly participate politically in my family...Especially not in the capitol."



Gerhart idly kicks a rock into the marsh as he thinks. "It's not like we can just let this guy go, that'll bite us in the ass....but I don't think just killing him is right either." He ran a hand through his hair to the back of his neck, idly rubbing at it.



"Best I can figure....we take him back to Eclipse City with us, hand him to the guards, and put it in their hands. Anything more than that and we risk setting off some Guild war....and if we do that Shaa might use us as weapons against the mages and I don't want to be a blunt weapon."