It came as a (literally) huge surprise to see Shaa become a hulking actual giant minotaur, towering over the homes and buildings in Thunderhoof. He lifts the crate with ease, and Astrid wondered why the heck he didn't do that to keep it out of the goblins' reach earlier. She's quite surprised he's going to be their ride across the plains, but Shaa knows the plains well, and honestly this is cool as heck. So she flies up to settle on his shoulder after encouraging Spicy Pawsage and Charles to ride in his hand. They set off across the plains, each of Shaa's heavy hooven steps giving Thunderhoof its namesake. 

Eventually, Melodia returns, her ethereal form manifesting beside Astrid. She takes in the situation, just letting the ridiculousness of Astrid riding a towering minotaur settle in her undead mind. Very interesting. After introducing herself to Shaa as Astrid's spiritual guardian, Melodia recaps what she found. What she found is a meeting between a banged-up pair of goblins and a shady individual who was especially angry at the failure of a dozen goblins and one bulette. She tells them that it seems a message will be sent ahead for additional forces, but she's not sure what that entails. Regardless, she wants the two of them to prioritize their safety over the safety of the package. Or at least to prioritize Astrid's safety over the safety of the package. Astrid is not bothered. She and Shaa will kick anyone's butt who stands in their way. 

After several days of travel, they eventually make it to the village of Gazablaak at the edge of the Marsh Flats and King's Valley. Hundreds of miles of swamp lay before them, and it's not practical to walk through the dense trees and deep water carrying a crate of damageable goods. So they enter the village and begin seeking out someone to take them on a boat through the swamp. 

The trip to Gazablaak was fairly uneventful. As they reached Gazablaak, Shaa was pretty tired from all of the running around and hauling everything and everyone. Before the next leg of the trip, Shaa thought it best to go to a local watering hole to get refreshed and hopefully hire a boat to get through the murkier parts of the swamp. There was only one place that fit both of those criteria, the Safe, Dry, Eat, Sleep, Spot. Run by Tiny two toes, it was the most reputable place around mostly because no one in their right mind would mess with the proprietor.

As they entered, the bar area was full of patrons from all over. Humans, elves, orcs, lizard men, almost every sentient race in Charon could be found here for one reason or another. Shaa spotted a couple open seats at the bar and hurried over before they vanished. As he sat down, he slapped some coins down on the bar and ordered a couple of ales. While they waited for the drinks, Shaa took a closer inventory of the bar. The precious cargo safely under foot.

Ughh I needed this. Nothing like a cool beverage after a long trip. Too bad that’s not here, so we will just have to settle for the ale. Shaa laughed until he snorted, cutting the laugh off awkwardly. Shaa pulled Astrid in closer and spoke in hushed tones. There are a lot of sketchy people in here so let’s do our business quickly. I know for a fact several boat captains hang out here after it gets dark. Which means they should be here any minute. Keep an eye out and we will be on our way. Might cost a bit extra for a night trip but the sooner we hop get this delivered, the better. Shaa tapped the large chest below him gently with his hoof. Whatever it is. 

As he slowly sipped his ale, a group of dirty characters entered the Inn.

Throughout her adventures, Astrid quickly learned that bars and taverns are great places to gather information and find new quests. Shaa ordering a couple of ales surprises her, but she won't them down. They're just weird, fizzy, bitter water. So she doesn't order anything for herself, and when the bartender brings both steins, Shaa takes them both in his meaty hands, and she's left a little confused. It's fine! She's a half-dwarf after all! Nope. Juice for the child. At least it's apple juice, so she feels kind of like she fits in due to the color. Well, if she'd gotten ale, Melodia would have fussed at her. Charles stands beside Astrid but with his back turned her to keep his eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. 

Slowly she sips on her juice, and then decides to order some greasy bar food, which warrants a look from the bartender because she orders no fewer than four plates. Maybe it's for her large friend too? He shrugs and puts in the order, and Shaa leans in close to tell her what to expect. "Alright... s'pose we can sleep in the boat." She's not opposed to it. The sooner they deliver the package, the better.

Eventually, people begin to trickle in while she's eating her various meals, and once dark falls across the town, a larger group of dirty individuals enter. They seem to be groaning about who had the worse day at work. Charles watches them carefully then turns his head mechanically to look at Shaa and Astrid. 

"Mistress Astrid, Conscript Shaa, report: It appears the local captains have made an appearance. Shall we make contact?" he asks. 

"Maybe we should let them get settled in before we go bother 'em?" Astrid asks, looking to Shaa for guidance. He seems to know this place better. 

Shaa sipped on his ale trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. That was thoroughly done in when the multiple plates of food showed up. Oh well, it’s not like he blamed a good appetite. All manner of people and creatures made their way in and out. Soon enough, the smell of swamp water and fish came wafting through the door. The captains were here.

Shaa scanned them as they made their way to the various chairs and tables in the Inn. Shaa knew several of them. Some by experience, other by reputation. Because of the reputation, Shaa would have preferred tossing most of the back in the swamp. If for nothing else, to rinse the dirty mud hoppers off for a change. Then, coming in towards the end, came a small halfling, clad in leather and a green bandana covering his head. He looks over, sees Shaa and smiles with several missing teeth.

Sure enough, the tiny man walks right up to them , stands on top of the crate, and looks Shaa in the eyes.

Oye! If it isn’t being Shaa da wandra eh? Wa chu doeen deese parts eh?

Kenno! I was hoping to run into you.

Ehh brudda, always good be seesn you in de parts back heya, yeah!

Hey, I know you are just getting in. How would you feel about helping us out?

Ohhh dis den, eh?

Dis be …Shaa catches himself This is Astrid. We need to get this package across the swamp. Can you help us out?

You gots the coins eh! For ya, I cans gets you across quick fast eh! 

Shaa looks over at Astrid. I think we have our ride.

In her travels, Astrid has met plenty of people from all across the world, but despite these folks speaking common, their accents are thick and almost hard to make out. Even still, she gets the gist, and she even catches Shaa's slip, but she doesn't mention it, not right now anyway. She's pretty sure he said he's from King's Valley, and he knows this area, so it makes a lot of sense that he'd speak in their accent when around here. Quickly, she finishes her meal and hops off her stool. 

"Mister Kenno, right?" she asks, a friendly gap-toothed grin on her face. Her gauntlet-donned hand extends to the stranger. "Nice ta meet ya. Astrid Stormstone at yer service. Er... I s'pose yer at our service!" The half-dwarf lets out what might be taken as an awkward chuckle, but she's not an awkward person in most circumstances. Spicy Pawsage, who sits under the high top chewing on a bone Astrid dropped down for him, sniffs at the newcomer then boofs. It's not an aggressive boof, just one of acknowledgment. Astrid pats his side. "And this is Spicy Pawsage. And the bot over there's Charles."

Kenno takes off his bandana revealing a shiny bald head. He uses the banana in a vain attempt to wipe his hands clean, eventually holding one out to Astrid. 

Pleasure it be yeah, Miss Astrid. Always a fine pleasure it be with such a fine person as yourself ya. Kenno reaches into a pouch and pulls out a piece of jerky, what kind was anyones guess, and tossed the scrap to Spicy Pawsage. He hops off the box and takes a closer look. Hmmm one bull man, one crate, one lady mam ( free of charge yeah) one doggo and a clinker bot. That’s all yeah? What in da box?

Some extra coins for your…discretion.

Aww Shaa, you know I not be mister jibber jabber. I just needs to knows the special considerations. Is it alive? Can not be wet? 

It’s got to get there all in one piece, no damage. The faster the better.

All in one bit, can do can do. But y’all know de swamp can be a dangerous place. No garuntee out dare.

Yeah man, I know. I just need you to do your best. I’ll handle the rest of it.

With all of the details worked out, the trio left the bar and headed out for Kenno’s boat. The boat itself was a long boat with a high seat put up in the back for Kenno. It didn’t take long to strap everything in and get them seated. Kenno hopped into the boat. With some quick motions with his hands, a column of air shoots out of the back of the boat, propelling them into the swamp.

When Astrid thought about a boat, she genuinely expected something quite large like a ship fit for sailing the seas. This boat is not that kind of boat. It's barely got enough room for the group they have, and there are oars? This is going to be a tiring trip, but she and Shaa can make it work, no problem. He carried them across King's Valley, after all. She gets settled into the boat which rocks with every step. It takes some coaxing to get Spicy Pawsage into the boat, and Charles is... clumsy as ever and requires a couple of hands to help him. Finally, they're all settled in, and then Kenno does some magic rather unexpectedly, and the boat rockets off through the swamp with a huge gust of wind. 

"Whoa!" Astrid shouts, surprised and holding on to the edges and Spicy's neck. Charles falls on his face heavily, and she manages to pull him back up. "I wasn't expectin' anything like this!" She turns and looks in the direction they're headed. The wind against her face feels nice, and she pulls her goggles over her eyes and grins. They'll make great time like this, but if someone comes after them out here, it could be problematic. 

As Shaa and Astrid cruised through the swamp, Shaa was finally  able to relax a little. He wasn’t fighting. He wasn’t carrying anything or anybody. They were making great time and he trusted everyone in the party. If he had a muffin, everything would be perfect. But things were never that easy.

They were entering a particularly dark corridor of the swamp when suddenly, a large geyser of water burst up in front of them. Kenno reverses the air stream to stop the boat and swerve around the geyser. When the water spout subsided, in its place was a hydra towering in the water. Well that’s not good. Shaa said to himself. It was for only a moment, but Shaa thought he caught a glimpse of a slaad behind it.

The hydras heads roared so loud that it caused small waves in the water, shaking the small boat. With no solid ground anywhere near, Shaa knew fighting the hydra here, or in general, would cause them to be at a serious disadvantage. Kenno, we have to protect the box, get us out of here! You no had be telling me two times yeah! Kenno leaned hard to the right and shot an air current on the side of the boat, launching them horizontally. Skipping over several large puddles, Kenno maneuvered into an eddy and switched the current to the back again. The roar of the irate hydra could be heard crashing behind them. Hold on! 

In her adventures, Astrid has seen many things. The hydra is a first. "WHOA!" she shouts, surprised and holding onto everyone and everything for dear life as the boat suddenly veers in another direction. She does not notice the Slaad. Spicy Pawsage barks viciously as the multi-headed beast chases them, its jaws snapping and roaring behind them, but they're much too fast for it. She peeks past Shaa to see it behind them. "Wh-What the heck is that? A dragon with more heads?! A one-headed dragon is hard enough ta take on!" she shouts over the wind. Her muscles and ribs remember the absolute slap a dragon's tail delivered her in Frost Gale. Preferably she doesn't receive death by a thousand bites. 

With a jolt, the boat skips sideways into another part of the swamp and is off again. Once she feels like it's stable enough to stand, she carefully does and summons forth her war hammer, sparking with lightning and doused in frost. Once there's enough clearance in the trees to get a good shot at the hydra, she throws the hammer full force. For the girl, it's like throwing a parchment bird; it weighs nothing and travels a great distance with her strength. For the hydra, the hammer hits it dead center, folds its chest, and it flies backward into the water with flailing screeches. The weight of the hammer keeps it down, struggling against broken bones. Astrid decides to leave it there to slow it down for now and takes her seat again.

Yeeessshhh Shaa said looking back at the wriggling serpent. That was a close one. Something about the encounter bothered Shaa. It was only for a moment, but he could have sworn that he had seen a slaad behind that thing. Finding slaads here in the swamp wouldn’t be weird at all but to have one hanging out with a creature that made them snacks on the regular? It wasn’t something that he could ignore.

Kenno started to slow down. Ohh bruddah. Looks like da boot be takin in some swamp now here? We need take a breatha and patch it up good. No problem, patch it up real quick yeah? Kenno was right. The boat was starting to fill up with water. Apparently all of the fancy maneuvers caused the small vessel to spring a leak. Kenno maneuvered the boat up to a nearby bank. Hopping out of the boat, Shaa drags the boat out of the water while Kenno pulls a patch kit out of a small box in the boat. Now it was just waiting time. He looked out the way they came to see if they were being followed.

After a couple of minutes, Kenno chirps up from the boat. Almos done. Gotta let the glue dry. 5 o 10 minutes, den back in da wata. Shaa nodded gratefully at the news. The sooner they got rid of this dumb box, the better. As Shaa continued to walk around, he started to notice some large holes in the ground. Looking closer, from the bottom of the holes are pairs of yellow eyes.

Water? In the boat? Astrid looks down and notices her shoes are damp. Oh, yeah, that sure is a leak, ain't it? It's something to fix though, and she's happy to help if Kenno needs it. She's got herself a tool pouch for these kinds of things, after all, and boy does she love to fix things. Luckily, it seems like Kenno has his own materials for this (Smart man, she thinks.), and he's able to get things situated pretty easily. To help, Astrid lifts the boat while he works. 

Meanwhile, Spicy Pawsage is more than happy to be on dry land again, as the hellhound doesn't quite like water all that much. The black fur on the back of his neck bristles, and he growls before letting out a vicious bark. Charles looks in that direction, his red eyes glowing in the dark swamp, focusing on the slight glow the hellhound gives off. 

"Mistress Astrid, report: Spicy Pawsage is perturbed by something over there," the Pawn Model Blitxtbot^TM says. Astrid looks in that direction and gently sets the boat down just as Kenno says it just needs to sit. She holds her hand out as she carefully steps across the mucky ground, waiting for her hammer to reach it from the spot she left it resting way back in the swamp. Her other hand draws her battle hammer. 

"Oi, Spicy, c'mere," she says in a sharp whisper. The hellhound continues barking. That's when she notices the eyes in the dark puddle. "Shaaaa, I think we'd better-"

As soon as her head turns even an inkling, a four-foot-tall fish man with skinny legs and arms and rows of sharp teeth bursts from the puddle with a shriek. It holds a thin spear with a jagged tip haphazardly tied to the end which it immediately jabs at Astrid. It misses, her Diplopia Armor giving her whole body a series of afterimages that makes her hard to see. She strikes back with her silvered hammer, startled, and bashes it with enough force to crush its skull immediately. With the ambush sprung, at least a dozen more pop out of their own hidey holes and commence their attack! 

Shaa thought they were just really really ugly (which is saying something) slaad at first, but now that he saw them up close, they were different. Very different. There had been rumors recently of a tribe of creatures known as Kuatoa in the swamp. Nobody quite knew where they came from but they had started raiding local fishing and tour boats. Shaa thought it was all non sense and rumor until now. He had never fought these creatures before so he needed to be careful. Who knows what bag of tricks they had.

The first problem was that there were too many of the smelly twits running around stabbing things. Any one of them was just big enough to be a problem. So, we needed to whittle them down a bit.

Shaa started to focus his breathing, slowing the world around him. The temperature started to drop rapidly as icy axes formed in his hands. 🥶 Folloh cha matreh nech robra te needa. Which was Minotaur for….well I won’t translate that for you here. Suffice it to say if you were a Minotaur mother who heard that being said around a baby Minotaur, she would have covered the babies ears and looked disapprovingly.

As Shaa turns, he throws the axe deep into one of the larger puddles. As it hits the water, the puddle freezes solid, then spreading out freezing other adjacent puddles. Several Kuatoa are now trapped beneath the ice while others are stuck halfway. Shaa chucks the other axe. While it is still airborne, he uses his concentration to make the axe explode in a shower of icy daggers, piercing several more of the Kuatoa above the ice but missing all his allies.

Ohhh buddy, dat a new one! whistles Kenno impressed. Shaa rushes to cover Astrid. Keep on that boat! I’m not getting stuck with these guys! As he runs, Shaa reaches into his magic bag and pulls out a kOI2GW5C

---

Art of the Avalanche
Bag of Gifts
17 - 18: A Woven Basket
A lovely hand-woven basket; the basket casts "Create Food", and fills itself with a very nice meal for at least two separate individuals.

Needless to say, Shaa's abilities are impressive. The way he's manifested axes and mows down the fish men seems completely effortless. Meanwhile, Astrid and Spicy Pawsage take down Kuatoa one by one in bursts of shocking icy smashes and gouts of flame. Then, when she looks over at Shaa again, he's pulled out a bag. A bag? What's that going to do for them?? Then his hand reaches in, much farther than it should go, and he pulls out... 

A basket? A picnic basket?? Astrid only has a little bit of time to be baffled before Spicy Pawsage narrowly saves her from a good stabbening by goring a Kuotoa right before the spear makes contact with her side. That pulls her back to reality, and she finishes the job with her electrified hammer. "SHAA! What are we s'posed ta do with THAT?!" she shouts, just absolutely flabbergasted. Finally, there's an opening, and she bolts over to the minotaur with Spicy Pawsage covering their trail with an angry cone of flames. 

Suddenly, a beam of ice fires off at them from the dark, swampy woods. Two glowing yellow eyes peer out from the darkness, belonging to one of the Slaads. Great. 

Shaa looked at his lunch basket with a bit of disappointment. Well they can’t all be winners. As Astrid was pondering something similar about a battle picnic basket, the tide of battle reared its ugly head bringing him back to reality. A beam of ice pierced through the darkness, smashing directly into the innocent basket of goodies. Shaa watched in what seemed to be slow motion, as bits of sandwich, salad, fruit and other goods turned into detritus in his hand. Of the onslaught, a single blueberry muffin rolled haphazardly across the ground. Noooooooo Shaa cried as a putrid arrow wizzed through the air, piercing the fluffy pastry and turning it to blue brown paste on the ground.

RRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRR! Shaa screamed to the air, casting rumbling tremors in his angst. The ground was so sodden however, the ground did not shake as normal but sent waves of mud across the field. Several combatants were pushed away from the field causing them to panic and flee as wave after muddy wave pushed them into rock and tree. But some combatants were not so easily intimidated.

The greasy slaad who cast the ice beam stepped into the open. It grunts with a deep guttural noise and points at the crate in the boat with a crooked and bones finger. It’s yellow eyes twinkled in the shadow. Shaa gets his meaning and shakes his finger at him defiantly. He didn’t know who kept sending these little snots their way, but he didn’t some all the way here to mess up now. No way. They could send a dragon after them , they were not touching this crate. The slaad whistles loudly and a second wave of kuo toa begin to emerge over the field of melting ice and broken bodies. Shaa cracks his knuckles and waves them to bring it.

---

Rumbling Tremors

With Shaa sending a wave of water out from his position, the fiery hellhound does not like the water and jumps up on Astrid's shoulders to avoid it. This nearly causes Astrid to fall because she wasn't expecting it, but she manages to keep her footing. It's a silly sight to see a hellhound as large as the twelve-year-old taking refuge on her shoulders. She's a strong kid, though, so she readies her hammers as a whistle summons the next onslaught. As much as she hates to think it, they're like roaches. Swamp roaches. Ew. 

Two approach from behind, and Spicy barks then lets out a gout of fire at them. They, understandably, don't like this and back off enough for Spicy to get enough space to jump down and charge after them, his tusks aimed to gore them. In this endeavor, he succeeds. 

With her movement freed up, Astrid grips both hammers and starts wailing on any Kuotoa that dare approach her. Her reach doesn't defeat those with spears, though, so to keep them at bay, she throws her war hammer full force and knocks several of them down. Even as difficult as she is to perceive, she's surrounded, and one spear pokes through her defenses, catching her in the back. That would've been worse without her armor. Deciding that this isn't good, Astrid casts magic on herself and instantly becomes wreathed in lightning. Two more spears get close, and she purposely taps their shafts to electrify them. The spears fall to the ground as the Kuatoa who once held them scream in pain as their arms go numb.

Meanwhile, the Slaad focuses on what he perceives to be the bigger threat: the bigger fighter. Muttering words in an unknown language and moving his hands, the water beside Shaa seems to rise and take shape. It swirls around Shaa's body and starts to take the shape of a bubble, intending to trap him and make him an easy target for the rest of his minions surrounding the minotaur with spears. 

---

Diplopia armor [1 hit prevention]
Lightning Armor [Post 1/3]

Slaad
Water prison - Drawing forth water you cause it to swirl around a target, taking the form of a giant bubble which will attempt to trap the target within it. This bubble will be filled with water and will swirl around at high speeds, trapping its target inside. The current makes it hard to get out without outside help. While stuck inside you are unable to breath, eventually falling unconscious if unable to get out. This spell is easy to dodge if the target is not already restricted or bound in some way.