Lilicors village was not unfamiliar with strange happenings and disappearances. It wasn't out of the ordinary for monsters to attack travelers or for bandits to make raids throughout the Marsh Flats. However, every now and then there was something just a little out of the ordinary, something that required more than just a handful of brave guards or paying a local tribe to handle the problem. Sometimes things got a little too dangerous and a little too close to home.

Such was the case that winter in the Marsh Flats. People were disappearing in the dead of night. At first it was just the occasional drunk, so nobody really worried that much; drunks went and got lost all the time. The swamp wasn't kind to such folks. However, things escalated when one of the town guards went missing, then an old seamstress, a burly half-orc warrior, and finally a young goblin child. It was no longer just a string of unhappy coincidences. It was a threat, and it was taking lives indiscriminately.

Tatalia had volunteered to help take on whatever was kidnapping people in the night immediately. She learned there would be a second person assigned to the task. She considered that a good thing because whatever she was going to face, well... The goblin was a scholar, explorer, and historian first and foremost! Young adventurer that she was, Tatalia certainly wasn't a slouch at fighting, but her skillset was more focused on investigation, detection, study, research... Those were all useful qualities, to be fair, and could prove instrumental to finding whoever or whatever was making people disappear. However, finding the source of the disappearances and actually defeating it were two entirely different tasks.

So, on a moonless night on an abandoned, rickety wooden bridge in the Lilicors Village, Tatalia stood watch at the bridge, uncertain exactly what sort of horrors were going to await her... and uncertain who her ally was going to be.

Honestly, Tatalia had gotten very used to seeing people once or maybe twice and then not seeing them again. It was just the nature of adventuring. She'd go to one town and meet up with someone there, then leave them after reaching the next town; or she'd find a companion while delving some ancient ruin and find an ally there but then immediately part ways after they both accomplished their respective goals. It wasn't exactly a good way to start long lasting friendships.

Honestly, it left Tatalia a little nostalgic. Sure, the swamp was dead silent, as if it knew something terrible was coming that night; and sure, the moon was entirely absent, casting the whole place in pitch black darkness.... but Tatalia missed her old friends. It was too bad none of them were going to show up and help her with her vigil.

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SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Patrol Duty
Participants: Requires exactly two people (you and one other, if the other participant does not qualify, they will not gain the reward)
Location: Anywhere (Can be repeated for a different region)
Post Requirements: 5 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +10 Security for selected Region (+10 more if your home region)
Description: The wilderness is full of wild, dangerous creatures and enemies of the realm constantly lurk in the shadows, waiting for their chance to make a strike. You can assist your region by patrolling the borders, standing guard in a village or town, even venturing into other regions to keep an eye on things. You can detail your patrol however you like, throwing any kind of obstacle your way.

He was late. Admittedly telling time in the perpetual dark and murk f the area made telling time tricky at the best of times. Shaa had come up with several different ways to compensate for the problem. This time, he had gathered several bugs the night before that he knew started chirping loudly at nightfall. It would have worked fantastically however the bugs that he chose were apparently very hungry and chose to eat each other rather than wake him up on time. He wondered how other adventurers worked it out.

His task tonight was to address a spate of disappearances that were happening in the town. Several efforts had been made recently to improve the towns reputation and the disappearances had thrown a damper on an already untenable situation. Shaa had happened to finish a recent fight at the Gazablaak fight pits when a business man had approached him with a proposition. If he came to the town and helped snag whoever or whatever was causing the disappearances, they would use the publicity to help promote the town and make a nice contribution to the guild to boot. In truth, Shaa like the Marsh Flats and the chance of making it a bit safer appealed to him.

He tried to hurry a bit to make up for the lost time. Soon enough, he saw a small worn bridge in the distance. As he got closer, he noticed a smallish figure standing on the bridge. He had been informed that other adventurers were being asked to help solve the problem as well. He was curious who else might have an interest in this particular problem. As he steps on the bridge, he sees a familiar face that he had not seen in a very long time. So long in fact that he had actually been worried that questing might have gotten the better of the little goblin.  He laughs a bit. He should have known better. Well now. I expected to run into some interesting things here tonight but I never thought I would be happy about it. How are you Tatalia?

---

Night Vision

Why was that voice so familiar...?

Tatalia turned to face the speaker. They were large, that much was certain, and clearly very powerfully built. The goblin actually had to crane her neck back to get a better look. Her gaze moved from the person's legs to their kilt, their waist, and all the way up until she saw the face of...

"Shaa?!" the goblin cried, a stupidly huge grin spreading across her countenance. Small though Tatalia was, that grin was big enough to swallow the sun. The smaller adventurer practically bounced over to the other to try and give the big fellow a hug (even if all she could hug was the bullman's leg). "It's you! Oh, goodness me, but I had thought you must've died on some glorious adventure somewhere! One of a particularly dangerous and epic variety, of course, but I've been all about the Marsh Flats and King's Valley since my return and haven't seen you!

"Did you ever finish helping those young women escape the clutches of that scam artist? Have you gotten into any more bar brawls recently? Oh! And I'm very sorry about Kevin! It's so wonderful to see you again, though! Have you gotten taller?"

The poor goblin's thoughts seemed to be racing from one topic to the next. The young woman was so full of energy, in fact, that she started pacing about the bridge, gesticulating wildly with her hands as she pushed one thought out after the other. She might have gone on like that for a while had she not stubbed her toe in her excitement, remembered where she was standing, and glanced back at the perimeter she was supposed to be watching, out towards the silent swamp.

"...oh! You must be my fellow town guard tonight!" Tatalia mused, peering up at Shaa. "Do you have any hypotheses as to what our mystery predator might be? It could be a bogaboo, but I don't think they normally get so close to town..."

Shaa sat down on the bridge to be a bit more eye level with the spunky little goblin. He listened carefully as she peppered him with questions and they reminisced about some of their old adventures.

As it happens, between the fight pits and my work as the interim Fighters Guild captain, I don’t need to make deliveries anymore. Besides, once everyone worked out it was a scam , the boss had some very angry ladies looking for him so he pretty much kept a low profile until….Naareen. The big Minotaur shook his head. You do not play with the feelings of a Nomad lady. Especially one whose nickname is “ Faa Harlan wut cha cha” or Cha Cha for short. It literally means “ Her wrath hotter than the sun till death.” I’m pretty sure they are still picking up pieces of him in the Hills of Braddock.

They keep on happily chatting and he catches her up on his many adventures and trainings. But what about you? Where did you go? And where is my wallet? He says with a joking laugh. At any rate, I’m so glad you are ok kid. But back to business. We have to figure out what’s going on with these disappearances right? Shaa thinks for a moment on Tatalia’s suggestion of a Bogaboo. Funny enough, I recently went Bogaboo hunting for that dude. Crap, what’s his name? Floyd? No, that’s not it. It was something like that. To be honest, I was more there as a body guard than an an actual researcher. Did get this though. Shaa reaches into his bag of the infinite and pulls out a bogaboo bone. Turned that thing into a popsicle and smashed it into itty bitty pieces. It was pretty funny. Anyway, Bogaboos don’t come into towns and come with a very distinctive creepy feeling. It’s a good guess but, I don’t think so.

Shaa stands up again an looks into the darkness. The problem is the swamp is just not a safe place. Could ba creature. Could be a demon thing. Could be something no more spooky than your run of the mill kidnapping ring. The big Minority clutches his fist tightly. I tell you, if we find it’s one more friggen cult that is kidnapping people for sacrificing to some stump or something, I’m going to lose my mind. After the incident of the Sol Stone, Shaa had developed a serious distaste of all things cultish. He relaxes a bit and shakes his large head. It’s fine. It’s probably just an ooze gone rogue or something. We just need. To the side, Shaa catches some movement dogging behind one of the houses. Did you see that?

"Oh, your wallet!? Haha! Goodness, you know I wouldn't try taking that from you!"

Tatalia quietly pulled her hand away from Shaa's wallet.

What? He seemed like he was doing well, and she needed the Solars for the school! She had only planned to take a few coins at most! But, fine, she wouldn't take anything. Fine!

"Anyway, ah, I don't really want to say where I was, exactly," Tatalia replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess you could say I was lost? But that's the wrong word, maybe. That implies I didn't know where I was, which I very much did. It was just..."

But Shaa wanted to focus on business, and thank goodness he did, because Tatalia really didn't want to spill the beans on just what she had been up for a year anyway. Doing the job they were assigned to do seemed like a much better use of their time.

Then something ducked behind a building. Tatalia and Shaa both looked toward it at the same time.

"Did you see that?" Shaa asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Tatalia replied, having gotten a perfect look at what she'd seen thanks to her keen night vision.¹ "And you're not going to like it. It's cultists. Demon cultists, specifically. And they have a creature."

Tatalia really wished she was joking, but she wasn't. She really, really wasn't.

The goblin gestured for her minotaur friend to follow as she started moving away from the bridge in the direction of the movement they'd both seen. She hadn't had much of a chance to make out everything, but she'd caught the glimpse of two men following a big Yaguareté - a twelve foot gorilla-lion monster - that was carrying a squirming sack over its shoulder. Given the bones and the strange amulets they wore, the two men were clearly cultists, probably banished members of the the Car'mingn people. That probably meant they weren't going to be slouches in a fight, probably; the Car'mingn were famously good warriors. And if they were demon cultists, then they probably knew a fair bit of magic. And they probably had an imp or some other demon giving them instructions back at whatever camp they'd erected.

Of course, there wasn't time to tell Shaa all of that, especially when so much of it was purely supposition. So, Tatalia summarized.

"Yep - probably demon cultists with an angry gorilla creature! They've got a head start, but I think we should move quietly after them and ambush them at their camp," she told the mighty bull man. Then she grinned from ear to ear at the big fellow. "What do you say, my friend? Care to make a little mayhem?"

---

_{1. Tracker Extraordinaire + Dark Vision}

Friggen cultists. Shaa mutters to himself. Not sure how you picked all that up but whatever. Let’s go slap some idiots around.

Shaa followed Tatalia from the bridge and the two took to the shadows to see where the suspicious group was heading. It was late so there were not many people around. Soon enough, they eventually found themselves on a trail leading deeper into the swamp. You know what? No matter how many of these trails I take into the swamp, it never leads anywhere nice, ya know. Just once, why can’t these things lead to a picnic lunch or something. As they continued down the trail, they eventually come to one of the many waterways that ran through the area. There was a large boat loading the 2 men and the gorilla like creature along with their mysterious cargo. They were now close enough to hear the conversation on the boat.

Samuel! We are running behind. Have that thing store the package down below while you help me with the rigging. The second man acknowledges the first with a wave of the hand and then turns to the Yaguareté. You heard the man. Get that stowed downstairs, nice and tight. I’ll be down when we are away. The beast grunts and disappears somewhere below deck of the ship. We were lucky tonight. There are more and more guards out every time. Yeah I know. This is probably going to be our last run for awhile. Might have to go back to snagging the random road traveler. These swamp roads are treacherous aren’t they? The first man laughs as he finishes tying off some knots on the boat. Sure are. Especially with us around. Lines are off, let’s get moving, we can make up some time. With that, the boat starts to drift down stream. 

The boat explained how no one had managed to find any trace of the missing people. The waterways were many and extremely twisty. Unless you knew what you were doing, it was easy to get lost or lose people if you didn’t want to be found. Now that he knew what they were doing, they would have to do a lot better than this to shake him. Shaa reaches into his bag again and slips on his ring of water walking. He looks over at Tatalia and kneels down, pointing to his back. Hop on, the chase isn’t over quite yet.

---

Ring of Water Walking

Tatalia didn't like boats of any kind. She hated being on the water. She hated how water moved, she hated the rocking motions, and she hated how every time a boat lurched her entire stomach turned upside down and she upchucked a bellyful of bile. It worked like clockwork every single time.

So, sure, time was of the essence! And yes, actual lives were probably at stake. And of course riding on someone's back was not the same thing as being on a boat. Nevertheless, Tatalia was incredibly apprehensive about jumping on the minotaur's back.

"I... you know, we could just take a more circuitous route!" Tatalia suggested, trying to reason a way out of the whole 'getting into the water' problem. "You know, as an experienced tracker, I can tell you with certainty we could avoid having to get on the water if we just walked... um..."

Tatalia did the math in her head.

"Five miles," she muttered, heaving out a sigh. No, that was too wide a berth and would give the hostiles plenty of time to escape. Begrudgingly but without complaint, she hopped onto Shaa and sat down on his shoulders like she was going for a piggyback ride. Everything about the situation was embarrassing for her.

"Just get us close enough and I'll cut them off with a spell," Tatalia whispered to the minotaur. "You can count on that!"

Shaa cocked his eyebrow a bit, noticing the hesitation. Avoid getting in the water? They are on a boat in the middle of a swamp. Not to mention that if they are, in fact, cultists, they probably have more idiot buddies all around here. Nah. We are sticking together. But don’t worry about the water. I’m an elemental master shorty! I just use the ring to save my spell casting energy for fighting. Walking on the water will feel just like walking on dirt, promise.

As the boat pulled away and made some distance, the two snuck out onto the water without so much as a splash being made. As a guy with hooves, I don’t usually have to deal with wet feet anyway but it’s nice not having to deal with what’s in the water either. I have seen leeches in here that will….well never mind about that…moot point. The two followed silently behind the boat, sometimes staying on the river, sometimes hopping on to shore for cover. If the boat saw them, they made no indication. The game of water bound cat and mouse continued on until the boat came to a stop about an hour later. They stopped near a large group of robed men who were deploying a removable platform for the boat people to disembark.

Shaa crept carefully into the thick of some trees on the side of the river of the crafty kidnappers. He motions to Tatalia that they are good and that she can hop off. The river trek was done and, hopefully, they were about to get some real answers.

Welcome back brothers. I trust your journey was successful? The man speaking from the shifty dock was human from the looks of it. But he was very large and muscular with a more ornate version of the strange amulet the others were wearing. The man had a dark complexion but painted his face and arms with several bright colors, especially around his deep chestnut eyes. His wavy hair was long enough to hold what looked like feathers as well as several other random animal bits. He also was packing several knives and a long sheathed sword, probably a saber. But more than all that, Shaa noticed held himself the way a warrior would hold themselves. He stood strong and on guard, ready for anything. No doubt that this guy could handle himself in a fight if he needed to. This might get tricky.

The first man from the boat was back to tying knot while the second was no where to be seen. Presumably down below with the beast and their victims. Of course, we shall never fail. Fath hule walta. Fath hule walta indeed. Well done. The preparations are made down below. Depending on the quality of your quarry today, we may be ready to begin the ritual. Seriously? I knew we were close but the priestess said… Yes yes I know, but she is just being cautious, she doesn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I, on the other hand, am tired of waiting and the constant delays. I am tired of being an outcast. How about you? Of course, of course. Then cheer up, tonight will be one of note that will cut through the history of our people. Hurry with your tasks so we can be on our way. It will be done.

Much like walking down swamp paths in the dark, Shaa had never run into a ritual that was ever a good thing except for some of the Nomads who asked for rain or a good hunt. He could get behind that because they usually involved dancing and eating. Ones that involved “involuntary participation” were cringy at best. The boat was soon unloaded and the large group started walking into the swamp again. Following them was easy now as they made little to no attempt to conceal themselves. Shaa soon saw why. After a bit of a jaunt, they found themselves at a group of gigantic trees. Large baskets big enough for people  were lowered from the branches and soon the group was being hoisted high up into the tree tops above. Ummm I did not expect that one. 

Tatalia was good at a great many things. Sneaking, stealing, spying, delving, climbing, leaping, casting, learning, digging, lock picking, spouting lore; the list went on and on and on. Fighting an entire warband of cultist kidnappers, however, was not exactly a skillset she'd write down on her resume if applying to Adventurers Incorporated.

Thankfully, fighting was Shaa's specialty. The clever thief just had to make sure the mighty minotaur battlemage had every opportunity to put his amazing skills to good use. She took a moment to use her superior vision to assess the space the cultists had retreated to aboard their pulley platform system, and after a moment she figured she had a good idea of the layout of the treetop cultist base.¹

"Expect the unexpected!" Tatalia cheekily told Shaa, grinning up at him with a brilliant twinkle in her yellow eyes. "It's going to be a tough battle, and we'll need a plan if we're going to get all the prisoners out safely. But don't worry, my magnificent friend," Tatalia urged, winking conspiratorially at her companion. "I always have a plan!"

Tatalia quickly drew her sword from its sheath and started making marks in the dirt in front of them, drawing a rough map of the copse of trees before them. She began adding additional marks and pointing with her sword as she spoke.

"It looks there's some sort of central structure in the center of the trees here," the goblin began, tapping her sword against the ground. "My gut says that's where the ritual they talked about will happen, and it will probably involve lots of blood. Trust me, demon cultists are very predictable," she continued with a lilt to her voice, her grin curling up the right side of her face. "I'll go up there and stir up the hornet's nest, distracting them while you get into position here. And once you are... well, then you will start causing mayhem while I slip away from the battle to free the prisoners. They'll be so busy focusing on me that they'll never see you coming!"

Tatalia set her sword against her shoulder. "What do you say, partner?" she asked cheerily. "Sound like a plan? Also... this will probably help a little."

The goblin slipped a potion off a loop on her sash and held it out to Shaa. It was filled with a curious orange liquid and had the symbol of a white rabbit pasted upon it.

"Haste potion,"² Tatalia explained happily. "Oh, by the way... you can fly, right?"

---

_{1. Dark Vision + Tracker Extraordinaire; 2. Quick Speed Potion}

Shaa looked over the plan and nodded approvingly. Yeah…flyish would probably be more accurate. Shaa waves his hands and manifests a cloud mount in front of them. I can ride on this cloud so close enough. Are you sure you are going to be ok? We will need some sort of a signal so that I know you have gotten out with the prisoners. How are your bird calls?

Shaa takes the haste potion and sniffs it suspiciously. The last potion he tried ended up shrinking him to a mere 6 inches tall for an evening so he had learned to be more cautious around strange positions. He trusted Tatalia however so he tucks the potion in his bag to be used when the time was right. 

Ok I’m going to get into position. Be careful. I will be sure to be very…..noticeable.

With that, Shaa hopped onto his cloud and flew up into the trees to the place away from the center that they had discussed. He was very careful to stay in the leafier parts of the brush to avoid detection. Between the darkness, leaves and his cloud, he is able to make it to a small set of huts. There are a couple of gaurds there but he manages to hide away before they even know he’s there. Now he just needed to wait. As soon as Tatalia made a ruckus, he would be ready. Alll he needed to, was be a little flashy….

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Cloud waltzing