It took a certain amount of convincing for Cantio to relent and let Astrid go off adventuring again. Given the whole arm loss situation, which she argued wasn’t even on a dangerous adventure to begin with, it was a tough case to make, however, after taking down Javian with Leandros and coming home safely after a journey to Arid Mesa, she is free to carefully go on adventures again. Besides, she needs to recruit people into the guild she and Fish opened, and one can’t exactly do that by sitting at home and hoping people discover it.

There’s something much more pressing though: Astrid received some information about a certain one-armed mercenary type. Supposedly, he’s been in the Marsh Flats helping travelers with a particularly tough part of the road where their wagons get stuck and leave them as sitting ducks for bandits. As soon as she gets the information, Astrid packs up and heads out to Darkveil where she wastes no time finding one of her favorite people who is hopefully not doing anything particularly important at the moment.

From the low-angle view into the window from the streets, Astrid can only see the ceiling in Cypress’ room. Gathering up the magic in her cape,^[1] Astrid teleports inside, appearing suspended in the air before crashing to the ground in an ungraceful landing. “Cyp–” Luckily, her armor is stowed,^[2] so nothing crunches particularly badly except the loud crash of her prosthetic smacking the wooden floor. “Oof!”

In no time at all, Astrid is on her feet again. “Cypress!” It takes a second to orient herself and find the satyr, whom she immediately throws her arms around in a tight hug, ignoring any flora that may have sprung up because of her sudden appearance,^[3] and lifts her off of her feet. “Hi! I didn't phase through the wall this time! Also, get ready fer another adventure! This time it’s definitely Everett! But we gotta move fast ta catch up with him!” She then sets her down.

Astrid wastes no time producing a pair of potion bottles, one of which is a lavender potion that Cypress would recognize^[4,5] and the other a bottle of clear liquid^[6,7]. “We’re goin’ ta Lilicors! Pack yer bags! As soon as yer ready, we’ll go!” Of course, she offers any assistance needed, including offering to go tell Andromeda and Oriole that she’s kidnapping Cypress (again).

Once Cypress is ready, Astrid grins over at her. “Alright, watch some fun alchemy stuff in action!" And, instead of offering her the Elsewhere Juice to drink, she pours it into the clear liquid. It immediately starts bubbling and producing a thick smoke the same color as the Elsewhere Juice that fills the area. Stashing the empty bottles, Astrid offers her hand. “Deep breath, think about Lilicors! Let’s go!” With that, Astrid takes a deep gulp of the Elsewhere Gas and feels it take effect on her body, teleporting her to Lilicors where she and Cypress can figure out exactly where the heck Everett is so they can follow his trail.

Hopefully, he hasn’t gotten himself into a sticky situation.

---

1. Displacer Cloak - blink
2. Armor Locket
3. Raider’s Loincloth
4. Elsewhere Juice
5. Transmuter - Alchemical Mastery (1/3 per topic) for +1 use of Elsewhere Juice, saving 2nd use for later
6. Gwen’s Miasmic Catalyst
7. Transmuter - Alchemical Mastery (2/3 per topic) for +1 use of Gwen’s Miasmic Catalyst, saving 2nd use for later

Quest details:

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Muddy Tires
Participants: Two or more
Location: Marshflats
Post Requirements: 5 posts per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown
Description: The swamp has always been a difficult place to navigate, making it harder for large transports, caravans or wagons to get through the marshy terrain due to the deep mud and tangled plant life. Travelers often find themselves getting stuck, spending hours if not days digging themselves out. Recently, members of the Mud Worms, a local gang, have been targeting these stuck travelers, robbing them of their goods and even sometimes their lives. Help out one of these stuck groups, getting their supplies and vehicles free from the mud and back on their way before falling prey to an ambush.
-Additionally, you can choose to instead act as a villain and rob the travelers yourself, leaving them stuck to fend for themselves.

“I think… I’ve done something wrong.” Cypress concludes.

She lowers her book where there’s a pretty clear sketch of what this potion is supposed to look like— hazy, smoky, compact— to gaze instead upon an angry little puff of smoke with hollow eyes pinging around in one of the closed vials from her alchemy kit. It grumbles and complains, little blinks of light not unsimilar to flashes of lightning illuminating parts of it while it makes indecipherable, but decidedly upset, sounds. It scrabbles at the glass with tiny claws, demanding to be released. ⁽¹⁾ “Yeah, this is… how did I even do this? How’m I supposed to fix this?” she sighs, looking at her shoulder where a little skewt has been sitting.

Skelly licks his eyeball and stares beyond the void, gazing deep into the veil.

“… You’re not a very helpful familiar.” Why is she asking a skewt his advice on alchemy, anyways? It’s fine, she can totally fix this. Maybe. Probably not. Cypress glances back into her book and hums, a frown creasing her lips. “Maybe I can take it to— WAH!?” Before the girl’s name ever leaves her mouth, she appears as if she’s been summoned by the mere thought. Astrid manifests in the middle of her room without warning, promptly spooking the Satyr from where she’s sitting on the floor. Beneath her, a stone erupts from the floor, lifting and ultimately knocking Cypress onto her back with its appearance, while Skelly tumbles forwards and plops on the floor with a comical splatting sound. ⁽²⁾ A couple of her vials (thankfully closed) toddle and fall to their sides, and the weird little definitely-not-a-smoke-potion rolls somewhere under her bed and produces a single flat note of displeasure that sounds a whole lot like a distant AAAAAAAA_AA.

It takes her all of a few seconds to process and understand what just happened: the shock bleeds into an understanding that she is not in danger, because it’s just Astrid; which promptly morphs into sheer delight, because it’s Astrid.

“ASTRID.” Her accusing tone is laced in shocked laughs; flowering vines wrap around the stone that’s erupted from where she was sitting, ferns curling around her skirts when she rolls into a sitting position to see Astrid absolutely crumpled on her floor. “Are you okay!?” She asks, clumsily stumbling up to her hooves, alchemy practice be damned, and shaking off vines that nip at her ankles in favor of bounding over to her. She excitedly opens her arms, meeting Astrid in a hug; she squeaks in laughter when she’s lifted up off the ground. “No, you just appeared out of nowhere! What happened to giving me a warning?” she snorts, snuggling against Astrid’s shoulder before she’s placed back onto the ground.

She wants to ask a flurry of questions— how are you, why are you here, seriously what happened to giving me a warning?— but all of those questions blip out of her head when Astrid mentions Everett. Cypress blinks, eyes widening in surprise. “Huh?” She stumbles, watching Astrid produce a couple of potions in her hands that she’s pretty sure she’s seen before, but she’s too dumbfounded to properly ask about them. “Wait— wait, you’re sure it’s him? Is he okay?” A little flicker of hope kicks up in her chest, and she nods enthusiastically when Astrid prompts her. “Okay! Okay, uh— can you go tell Andromeda and Oriole while I clean up? It’ll just be a second, and then we can go!”

---

After retrieving her whatever-it-is from under the bed (it is even less happy than it was before it rolled under the bed), she sets all of her vials up on her nightstand to deal with when she gets home, adding a sheepish, “Uh… I might need your help to fix this,” to Astrid once she returns.

It doesn’t take long afterwards for Cypress to get ready to leave; she pulls a mantle over her shoulders, and tucks her locket beneath the collar of her shirt _{(3, 4)}; she ensures she has all the basics in her leather pouches; and gently sets Skelly back into his enclosure— giving him a pat on the head— before she heads back over to Astrid with a skip in her step. She feels apprehensive; her nerves translate into vines around her hooves that twist and curl. She hasn’t seen Everett in a long time! She really hopes that he’s okay. He didn’t have much when she saw him leave…

She settles down with Astrid, grinning when she prompts her to watch some alchemy— say less— and lowers her gaze to watch the reactions between the Elsewhere Juice and the clear liquid. She follows the motion of the smoke as it rises, lifting a hand to change the direction of a small portion of the gas particles; she watches it whirl around her hand, following the motion of the wind, before dispersing again. She grins, glancing at Astrid, and taking her hand when it’s offered.

She takes a deep breath, thinks about Lilicors, and hopes for the best.

---

_{1. The Joyless}

_{2. Stone Wall, Plant Growth}

_{3. Essence of the North}

_{4. Rime Mantle}

Somewhere along one of the flooded-out trade roads between Lilicors and the border between the Marsh Flats and Moonglade, there's a heavy THUNK sound that reverberates through the forest. A flock of colorful swamp birds fly up from their nest in a tree squawking loudly in protest. Everett opens one eye to see the well-worn blade of a hand axe embedded in the tree's trunk only a few inches from his head. A short breath of relief leaves his lungs as he looks at the one-eyed lizardfolk who threw it at him. 

Another battle-scared lizardfolk with olive green scales snorts from their perch on the gnarled root of another nearby tree. "Your aim sucks. How hard is it to clip those pointy ears off?" 

The one-eyed lizardfolk bares their pointed teeth at the other as they tromp through the mud to retrieve their axe. "We got time, might as well keep this one alive for the practice."

"Do I have to be upside down for your practice? The blood is rushing to my head," Everett complains having been tied upside to the tree trunk after the raiding party got the jump on the wagon he was traveling with. 

"Might've considered it if ya hadn't gone and stabbed Harold in the leg," sneers the one-eyed lizardfolk. 

A rough-looking human peers over the side of the wagon to flick Everett the bird before he returns to looting. 

Everett sighs. Was worth a shot. 

His current situation is less than ideal, but he at least managed to buy the other folks who were with him time to escape when they were first jumped by the small troupe of bandits. Hopefully, they made it back to the safety of town.

So far, the bandits who he assumes are with the local gang going by the Mud Worms haven't done anything too violent. Other than using him as a target, the worst they've done is take his sword away and insult him for not having anything else valuable in his pockets. Since he doesn't have much of anything valuable on him, they figured they'd at least get some kicks out of tormenting him for a bit.

With any luck, they might decide to drag him back to their hideout which would be great information to hand over to the Knight Orders. That's all assuming they don't just kill him or that he can find some way to escape. He hasn't gotten that far in his planning yet. 

"Best keep your trap shut and stay real still unless you want me to make you symmetrical." 

"That's a pretty big word for you isn't it?"

The green-scaled lizardfolk snickers at the dig towards their companion, far more amused than the other. The one-eyed lizardfolk hisses, stepping back a few paces from the tree, and winds up another throw at him.

Cypress’ room explodes into chaos very quickly with Astrid’s appearance, and the half-dwarf’s unceremonious tumble to the floor prevents her from making any attempt to catch Cypress. “Perfectly fine!” she says, giggling while she lifts Cypress in a much-appreciated hug. “I forgot ‘cause I was hurryin’, sorry.” A bigger smile stretches across Astrid’s face when she feels Cypress nuzzling against her shoulder, and she returns the affections by pressing their cheeks together. With one final squeeze, she lets Cypress down and explains the situation.

In no time at all, the adults are notified, bags are packed, and the girls are ready to go. “Don’t worry, I’ll help ya with… whatever that thin’ is.” Looking at the Joyless, Astrid doesn’t know what to make of it, so she simply just doesn’t make anything of it at all. Just like the giant stone wall that’s manifested in the room, it’s a later problem. In a puff of purple smoke, they’re off to Lillicors.

---

It doesn’t take too long for the girls to find information about the particularly nasty part of the road that’s become infamous lately for bandit ambushes. A few folks recognize the one-armed adventurer enough to turn them in the right direction. With a flourish, Astrid summons up her trusty pegasus Arcus^[1] and climbs on without hesitation. She offers a hand to Cypress to help her up with a grin. “Hold on tight!” she says before snapping the reins and taking off through the swamp. Arcus gallops through the air with his wings pumping to lift them just above the road and waters.^[2] Big Frizole might be the safer mount here, but Astrid figures staying closer to the road will make it easier to spot anyone having trouble or at least the caravan Everett left with most recently.

After a few hours, Astrid slows Arcus to a stop when she sees something up ahead. “I think that’s the spot,” she says, observing how the road’s terrain has managed to become worse than the worst of the road. A mixed bag of lizardfolk, humans, and elves are certainly not looking like they’re simple travelers. “Let’s be careful,” Astrid warns, looking over her shoulder at Cypress. “I won’t let nothin’ happen ta ya, an’ these guys look like chumps.”

Reaching into her bag, Astrid pulls out a small pair of carved stone people with locked arms. Runes cover the surface of each person, and when she unhooks the arms, their eyes light up briefly.^[3] She offers one to Cypress. “Keep this with ya. It’s me first attempt ta make somethin’ that’ll let us travel ta each other, but it don’t work over long distances. It’ll work here though. Even if we can’t see each other, it’ll let ya teleport ta me an’ vice versa, but just once each. It’ll get ya out of a sticky situation.” Astrid shifts her jaw while she considers maybe she should leave the other one with Arcus and keep the pegasus far away. No, that’d make it hard to get to Cypress quickly. Instead, she insistently offers Cypress the second Elsewhere Juice. “If thin’s somehow get real bad, go back home. I don’t think they will, but I want ya ta be safe, ‘kay?”

Then Astrid decides on one last step for caution. She hops off Arcus and collects a couple of small rocks out of the mud then charges them both with electricity^[4,5] before stuffing them into her pockets. After climbing back on Arcus, she looks ahead again, snaps the reins, and trots over to the scene unfolding only to hear the THOK of an ax landing in a tree. Following the sound, she looks over to see a one-armed guy tied upside down to a tree.

With an air of innocence in her voice, Astrid says, “Oh golly, what’s goin’ on here?” They're just unarmed and unarmored kids, no way these buffoons will attack them. And if they do, well, they've got something coming for them.

---

1. Summon Mount
2. Flight (reindeer)
3. Blink Buddies (each can be used once per topic to teleport to the other’s location)
4. Thunder Bomb
5. Elementalist - +2 charges

Once in Lilicors, Astrid and Cypress seek out information about— what she understands— has been a dreadful amount of ambushes for caravans and travelers. Each new piece of information— that they’re robbers, that they’re murderers— sinks her heart just a little bit.

How... awful.

When they have enough information to make a general assumption of where he is, Astrid summons her pegasus, and Cypress grins, taking her hand to climb up behind her. She leans forwards, hugging around Astrid’s waist in preparation for the snap of the reins. She’s quick to recover once they reach a steady pace on the back of the pegasus; and Cypress holds loosely onto Astrid, leaning her cheek against her back while she watches the passing of dirt roads, bog water, and root-barren trees off to the side.

Surely… Everett’s okay, right? She doesn’t know much about him, let alone his skill in combat— he doesn’t really seem like the kind of person who would lay a beat-down on a group of robbers and murderers— but she could be wrong. Maybe he’s real strong; he’s an adult, he can take care of himself, after all.

… But also, bad things happen to good people— strong people, too. Like waking up without your memories, or giving your arm to right a wrong for the sake of a friend. Her gaze drifts to Astrid’s prosthetic arm, and she unwittingly tightens her hold around her a little.

She wonders what the healer said about his memory: did he ever visit that old halfling?

Cypress perks her ears, lifting her head when she hears Astrid’s voice rising just slightly over the tangled voices of a much gruffer group. She peeps over Astrid’s shoulder, hoping to get a look, and instantly regretting that because these guys look like a group of hooligans! These guys are exactly what all the nobles in Sol City described her being, except they’re actually that. She grimaces slightly, nodding her nervous agreement with Astrid’s warning. “Oh, yeah…”

Big chumps. Big, scary chumps…

Cypress takes a little breath to start grounding herself before her magic begins catching onto her emotions; and thankfully, Astrid is distracting. She glances at the girl when she begins rummaging through her bag; she’s about to ask what she’s doing, when she pulls out a little pair of statues. Big, scary chumps forgotten, Cypress feels her shoulders relax. “Oh, those are cute…” she remarks, taking one of the statues when it’s offered; she blinks, giving Astrid her attention while she explains how they work.

She nods, preparing to open her bag when Astrid also offers her the Elsewhere Juice from earlier. She slips the statue inside, and purses her lips as she takes the bottle; she looks into the liquid, nodding to Astrid— but she doesn’t want to leave Astrid alone if things get bad… She tries not to think about that possibility, but thanks Astrid nervously while she opens up her bag to—

“—Skelly?”

Oh for the love of— she finds herself looking into a pouch interior slathered in skewt slime, and makes eye contact with her skewt. The very skewt she definitely left behind in his tank. How does he do this?

Skelly licks his eyeball while he stares at her unflinchingly, as if challenging her to complain about the slimy state of his royal palanquin.

She doesn’t even have time to complain! “Ugh, hold this— don’t make it gross!” She whispers, carefully tucking the bottle of Elsewhere Juice near him before she closes her bag and glances to Astrid in a mild panic. Before she knows it, Arcus trots forwards into the line of sight of the local— “Oh my gods!” Cypress squeaks, immediately recognizing Everett tied upside down to a tree. “Mister Everett! What in the world is this? Are you using him as target practice!?”

She’s not even acting, she’s just genuinely horrified.

It's not too shocking someone rode up on this situation. They're in the middle of one of the only roads after all. But he's not expecting to see anyone who can help, let alone anyone he recognizes. So hearing a familiar voice comes as quite a shock, especially when he sees a pair of young girls riding up on a pegasus of all things.

"Cypress???"

If his face wasn't flush from hanging upside down for so long it would have drained of all color at the sight of the young satyr. It's not that he's not happy to see her, it's just this was the worst possible time for a reunion. And, oh gods, she's here with a friend and no other adult in sight? What are their guardians doing??

"What are you doing here???" 

A sinister chuckle from one of the lizardfolk interrupts their catching up. "Well, well, well, look at the pair of whelps out wandering too far from home." 

"Fancy looking horse you got there, girlies." The green-scaled lizardfolk runs their tongue across their sharp teeth. "Bet it tastes great grilled on a spit." 

As the rest of the bandits start creeping forward, Everett grits his teeth. 

Shit.

This changes the stakes drastically. 

"You know this guy, huh? Too bad for you that he decided to pick a fight. Stabbed Harold real good through his leg. Only fair we get some sort of compensation for his injuries."

The bandits start to move to surround Astrid and Cypress, their attention on the new and seemingly helpless prey before them. It gives the prey they already have a chance to make a move. 

Everett whistles sharply which is followed by a surprised yelp from the bandit that stole his sword. Responding to his cue like a well-trained dog, the blade returns to his side.^[1] Old draconic runes along the sword's blade light up as a flurry of little slicing winds turn the ropes holding him into useless shreds.^[2]

Before his head can hit the ground, the wind gathers under him, pushing him back upright and keeping him hovering over the mud.^[3] He then channels that air into a gust that he pulls towards himself, dragging the bandits off their feet or at least back away from Astrid and Cypress before he kicks off the trunk of the tree to float over to them.^[4]

A few of the bandits fall backward in the mud from the sudden rush of air, but some of the hardier ones dig their heels in and manage to keep standing. They're all pissed now though, so there's that. 

Everett hovers near the horse a little awkwardly. He's still not used to a lot of his magic quite yet.

"Cypress, why are you out here? Do your guardians know where you are??" 

---

[1] Always There - Bonded Weapon
[2] Rapier - Wind Rune
[3] Levitate
[4] Push/Pull

Astrid’s face breaks out into a grin when Cypress and Everett recognize each other. “Hey! It’s the right guy this time!” she says triumphantly as if she never doubted the information she had whatsoever. When the Mud Worms start to approach and surround them, she watches them with a single raised eyebrow. “He ain’t a horse, he’s a pegasus,” she says matter-of-factly.

“Doesn’t matter what it is, it’s probably tasty,” the one-eyed lizardfolk says with a smirk.

“He stabbed Harold?” Astrid questions, looking around for whoever Harold is and spotting the human with a bandaged leg ransacking the caravan. “That ain’t nice, but he looks alright ta me. Ya know, robbin’ that cart an’ all.”

Suddenly, the wind whips up and in a flash, Everett is freed from captivity. Astrid’s face breaks out into an impressed smile. “Ya didn’t tell me he was a sky mage,” she says to Cypress, reaching forward to pat Arcus on the neck for staying calm despite everything. This pegasus has Seen Some Shit™, and granted, the kid has too because she glances at the bandits who mostly have their attention on the guy who just attacked them. “If ya could escape all along, why didn’t ya do that before? Now ya got ‘em all angry.”

Despite her relaxed appearance, Astrid is keeping a close eye on the bandits. If any of them make a move toward her, and more importantly Cypress, she’ll go ham on them. Comparatively, the two children look like a non-threat at the moment.

“Obviously, we just need to threaten the whelps,” the green lizardfolk says, whipping out a bow and notching an arrow, aiming it at the girls with a sneer.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were ya,” Astrid says, looking at him with a deadpan expression. “That guy over there were clearly just toyin’ with ya by the look a’ it. Might even take all a’ ya ta take him down.”

Pulling himself out of the mud, the one-eyed lizardfolk snarls. “If these kids have a fancy horse and whatever's on her arm, they might be worth a ransom! Take out the windy dumbass and take ‘em back to the camp!”

“Oh nooo, don’t do that,” Astrid whines, putting her hands against her cheeks dramatically. “We’re just helpless little girls! Don’t hurt us, misters!” She flashes a wink to Everett.

Cypress’ blue eyes alight when Everett blubbers her name, “We—” She starts, but she’s quickly pulled away from trying to explain herself when the lizardfolk interrupts. She winces slightly, ears turning back when one calls them a pair of whelps, and the other wonders how Arcus would taste over a fire, which— first of all— rude. “He’s not food,” she objects, fingers curling into Astrid while she scoots closer, unwilling to look these guys in the face.

“Yeah, well, if Harold’s anything like you, he probably deserved it.” Cypress puffs back at one of the bandits. She feels a wave of nervous apprehension when the lizard folk scowls, and the bandits start moving in closer to them. “Astrid…?” She whispers nervously, but she’s briefly taken by surprise when a sharp gust of wind pulls through the clearing.

She winces, covering her head, before blinking her eyes open to see Everett’s sword cut him free from the tree he’s hanging upside down on. Did the sword move on its own!? She watches him with a small glint of awe as he rushes over to them. “You’re a sky mage!?” She bubbles excitedly, shaking her head when Astrid comments. “I would’ve told you that if I knew!” She whispers back, eyes bright when she looks back at Cypress. “Looking for you!” She finally answers, then puffs a little laugh. “Of course they know, I told them we were going to the Marsh Flats. Er, well, Astrid did for me ‘cause I needed to pack— but they know! You did tell them we were going to Marsh Flats, right?” She adds, a little more quietly to Astrid.

Then she hesitates, looking back at Everett quizzically, “Actually, why didn’t you free yourself sooner? You were just letting them throw axes at your face???”

For the situation they’re in, and for how nervous Cypress generally is, it’s a surprise that she keeps forgetting about these bandits until they say something generally ominous and threatening. The satyr flicks her ears back, lowering her shoulders to make herself smaller when the Lizardfolk notches a bow and arrow in their direction. “H-hey, there’s no need for that.” She chirrups in a tone that’s almost like scolding one of the littler kids at the orphanage, except this one has a deadly projectile notched on a bow and isn't shooting spitballs.

She almost forgets they’re supposed to be acting something frail and innocent until Astrid’s a-list acting comes through. “Oh, right.” She whispers to herself, before adding just in earshot of the bandits, “My parents would be real worried if I’m not home by sundown...”

You’re a sky mage!?

“Apparently,” he huffs a bit.

Honestly, he's not sure that's totally correct either. This magic he has had been coming back to him in bits and pieces, it's more like muscle memory than anything else. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, though he is starting to get a bit more consistent with some of the spells he 'knows'. This wasn't the time or place to explain the whole magic thing.

“It's good to see you but-"

He's cut off by the pair of children criticizing him for playing defenseless.

“I had a plan!” he insists under his breath as to not be overheard by the bandits.

It wasn’t a lie.

Kinda.

Sorta.

All in all, probably not the best plan given he’d have no value being kept alive.

“Look, it doesn’t matter now." He glances back at the bandits who are getting back to their feet and closing in on them. "You two need to run before you get hurt.”

As the lizardfolk points an arrow their way, Everett floats himself into the line of fire. A current of electricity ripples across his body making his hair stand on end.^[1] He's not about to let these bandits snatch the girls away when Astrid goes and runs her mouth. 

“Could you not make things worse? What is with you??” Usually, he’d feel bad saying that to a kid, but in his situation it’s hard to keep his cool.

The green lizardfolk lets fly their arrow which hits the static field protecting Everett. The lizardfolk scowls and nocks another arrow while their companions leap into action. 

Everett brandishes his blade against the bandits rushing him. He had been counting on his lightning magic to give him a severe advantage against the bandits given how water-logged the ground is. That was part of his plan in case things went drastically wrong. But that was before the girls showed up. Now he can't trust his control of his magic enough to know he won't accidentally hurt them too.

The one-eyed lizardfolk hauls up their heavy battle axe and takes a wide swing at Everett. Raising his blade to block the hit works for the most part...but the force of the hit paired with his floaty-ness ends up knocking him tumbling through the air. He drops the spell to stop spinning and manages to land on his feet only to sink knee-deep in the mud. 

"Great," he breathes just before the lizardfolk's shadow looms over him with their axe raised. 

Two more bandits close in on Astrid and Cypress with the intent of dragging them off the back of the pegasus. 

"Come quietly now, no need for any fuss," snickers a gaunt elf with sharp facial features and an equally sharp dagger in their hand. 

---

[1] Static Field

Astrid glances over her shoulder at Cypress and lightly pats her arm wrapped around her. There’s no concern on her face. In fact, she looks like she’s having a good time despite the seemingly obvious danger that they’re in. Now that she knows Everett could probably take these guys, she’s relaxed quite a bit.

“Ah… I told them what they needed ta know,” she admits quietly. All Oriole and Andromeda needed to know is that Cypress and Astrid were going off together. Theoretically, Cyran and Del aren’t that far away if things were to get really sticky somehow. Not that Astrid will let them.

When Everett tells them to run, Astrid looks around with an overdramatic and helpless expression. “Gee, I dunno mister, they’ve really got us surrounded, don’t they?” She struggles to keep a fearful expression when Cypress starts to play along.

The arrow fires off, and Astrid watches it get caught in the field, turning to the lizardfolk who fired and hitting him with a snarky, “Hey! Don’t ya know hurtin’ yer hostages before makin’ yer ransom demands don’t make no sense!” Sheesh, these bandits are really bad at this, aren't they?

Arcus snorts anxiously at the approaching bandits with brandished weapons, pawing at the ground and tossing his head a little. Astrid pulls on the reins, looking around at the bandits. “Wait, wait, wait!” she says loudly. “Hang on, we’ll go with ya without a fuss so long as ya don’t hurt that guy over there! Take us all without hurtin’ us or we’ll fly away! I promise, we’re real worth a ransom, but if ya hurt any a’ us, then I’ll make me Da pay fer some real mercenaries ta come kick yer butts!” Astrid digs into her bag and pulls out a steel signet ring with the icon of lightning striking an anvil to show them that she is indeed a noble child. “Just don’t do nothin’ stupid, an’ we’ll all go nice an’ easy.”

“_Ohhhhhh.” Cypress answers quietly; she grimaces at the realization that Oriole and Andromeda don’t know she’s here, but that’s going to be a problem for future her to take care of if they find out she and Astrid ended up in the Marsh Flats to antagonize a bunch of bandits… It’s fine. Probably. “Really mister Everett, we’ll be fine.” Cypress objects, trying to quietly reassure Everett that it’s under control despite her nervous glances at—

—an arrow pings against the air around Everett, knocked off course by a current of lightning that shudders it to the side. Cypress winces, eyes wide as she pulls back sharply, and holds onto Astrid. “Astrid?” She whispers, her confidence in this plan quickly dissolving as the bandits rush Everett and start to close in on them as well.

She’s not seen him for more than a few minutes, and she’s already causing trouble for him.

Between the Lizardfolk knocking Everett back, and Astrid going off on the bandits, Cypress begins to bristle; her nerves and anxieties all transfer into a single, “Don’t hurt him!” A demand that cuts past the approaching bandits to the wielded axe, and snaps the tethers holding its blade to the body. Before the Lizardfolk can swing, should he, the blade collapses behind them in the muck, rust freckling its once-stainless surface, and rot bleeding into the wooden hilt. ₍₁₎

“Please? Please don’t hurt him, we’ll all go with you.” She agrees with Astrid, fingertips curling into the fabric of her skirts while she nervously eyes the bandits approaching them. She really doesn’t want to get yoinked off of Arcus, but she’s also not exactly sure what the protocol for this situation is, and she doesn’t want to panic and zip away, leaving Astrid alone and the bandits suspicious— gods, adventuring is not easy!

_{(1) Age Item}

There's a collective "Huh?" from the bandits and Everett as Astrid and Cypress insist on being taken captive without putting up a fuss. The declaration is so mind-boggling and nonsensical to all the adults present that the lizardfolk with the battleaxe hardly notices that his weapon is in two pieces even after the heavy blade plops to the ground, splattering the back of his legs in mud.

Everett glances down at the axe and then back at the girls. He's still reallly unsure about all this, not trusting the bandits to honor their word even if they do choose to give it. Even if they do, letting two children be taken hostage is not something that sits right with him. These guys are from the same group that he heard razed Lilicors the previous year, chances of them having a sudden change of morals is asking a lot out of the greedy, bloodthirsty bastards. 

Still, something about how Cypress' friend has been acting is really strange. She's too confident. This isn't just a kid putting on a brave face or playing around not understanding the risks. This is intentional. Knowingly intentional. It's all very suspicious, and given the confusion between the bandits, it seems they don't know exactly what to make of it either. Thankfully for the sake of Astrid's plan, the goons aren't bright enough to pick on her deception. 

"How compliant of you," the gaunt elf comments before pointing their dagger at Everett. "You heard her. No more funny business and no one's going to die today."

Everett frowns, then looks back at Astrid and Cypress. Cypress' final comment, the mention of her parents, clues him in to they must have some sort of plan. Despite his better judgment and unease, he sheathes his sword and holds up a hand in surrender.

In the time this "negotiation" has been going on, the previously axe-wielding lizardfolk has realized his axe is just a stick now. They shrug off the confusion as the situation takes a turn in the bandits' favor. A smug grins spreads across their face as they grab the back of Everett's shirt collar and shoves him forward to rejoin the pegasus and two girls. 

The burly human limps over, throwing a rope over the pegasus' head all the while the green lizardfolk keeps an arrow at the ready should their captives not keep their own promise to come quietly. 

Is this a smart decision? Absolutely not. Should Astrid be endangering Cypress in this way? No, she should not. Is Astrid being a little overconfident? Yes, definitely. In Astrid’s defense, overconfidence hasn’t ever gotten her nearly killed, it’s usually when she hesitates, so if she wants to keep Cypress safe, she’s going to be sure of herself that she will do that without issue. This Everett guy already got himself into a sticky situation that he could literally solve himself so Astrid thinks he has some sort of plan. Surely, he must have some sort of plan. Otherwise, getting captured so easily makes no sense.

So, she goes with that line of thinking.

It’ll be fine. And somehow, it is relatively fine.

Like a very obedient child who is totally afraid for her life, Astrid stays in Arcus’ saddle and looks around with cautious eyes while the bandits lead the majestic beast off the beaten path and into the woods. Heh. These dumb bandits are gonna get beaten up by a couple of children and a one-armed guy. Speaking of one arm, Astrid feels a tug on her prosthetic, and she looks down to see the one-eyed lizardfolk pulling on it.

“Get this weird armor off, kid,” he hisses, giving another tug. “Don't need it doing anything weird. Ugh– Ginma’s fuzzy horse ass, it’s really on there. Unlatch it.”

“Can’t really do that,” Astrid says, trying to pull her hand away, but he holds onto it fast.

“Sure you can. Bet this fancy thing is worth more than you are,” the lizardfolk says. Each word is punctuated by another tug as he says, “Get. It. Off.” With a final jerk, the arm suddenly disconnects from the shoulder in a shower of electric sparks and comes off in his hand. “What the–?!” Stumbling back, he looks at it with a baffled expression before looking back at Astrid who has an annoyed expression because she definitely would have fallen off the horse if she were not a little more practiced in being a stubborn punk.^[1]

“Can I have me arm back?” she asks with a deadpan stare.

---

1. Immovable Bastion?

Cypress finds it difficult to keep her eyes off of the green lizardfolk; the way the arrow notches soundlessly, pointed directly at them, makes her heart flutter. She keeps telling herself that it’s fine, and it’s going to be okay, as the rope is tossed over Arcus’ head, she leans forwards and hugs onto Astrid because she’s not actually sure what to do with herself except take deep breaths to keep herself from becoming a whirlwind of nervous arcana.

Her ears point backwards when she sees some of the bandits manhandling Everett by the collar, and it’s clear she wants to say something to him, but can’t in their current circumstances. Understandable, really.

Her attention is quickly drawn away when she feels something shift Astrid off balance in a sharp tug. Her ears perk and swivel, and she turns to stare at one of the Lizardfolk in shock, “You can’t take that!” She exclaims, her voice pitched in surprise while Astrid struggles to reclaim her arm. She tilts her ears back, slapping the Lizardfolk’s wrist on his last tug, and hissing at him to stop just as the joint of Astrid’s shoulder gives way. ⁽¹⁾

The Lizardfolk’s one eye glazes over in a pink shimmer and his baffled expression switches to one of confusion, then one of mild horror when he looks between the arm in his hand and Astrid. “I am so. Sorry.” He apologizes in an aghast whisper; he offers the arm back to Astrid. It’s weirdly limp when he does so, bending at the wrist while he holds it up from the shoulder. “I don’t know what came over me. Real rude, that was.”

Cypress blinks quizzically; the green Lizardfolk balks from Arcus’ flank. “Didn’t you just say the damn thing was worth more than she is?”

“I didn’t know it was her arm!” The one eyed Lizardfolk answers. He rubs the back of his neck, almost sheepishly. “Don’t feel right to just take her whole arm— we’re already kidnapping ‘em, may as well let ‘em be kidnapped with dignity.”

The green Lizardfolk makes a strange expression; their nose wrinkled, teeth bared slightly; as if they’ve smelled something awful from the words. “You're kidding me.”

"Ain't a joke, it's common decency."

The green Lizardfolk stares at him for a moment longer, exasperated, before rolling his eyes and pinching the thick bridge of his nose in exasperation.

---

(1) Be Jolly

Aaaaaaaaaah, he really doesn't like this plan. Did Cypress' friend even really have a plan? Because the more the situation escalates the more it feels like she doesn't.

Everett glances at Cypress, keeping her in his periphery as the group of Mud Worms finish pillaging the cart before leading their captives off the Flood Road and deep into the swamp. 

The banter between Astrid and the one-eyed lizardfolk puts Everett more on edge. More than anything he wants to tell her to just keep quiet for her and Cypress' safety. Even if these bandits intended to hold them for ransom and promised no harm would befall them, they're still freaking bandits. There's no honor amongst thieves. 

He nearly loses his cool as the lizardfolk seemingly pulls Astrid's arm clean off. He only manages to hold his tongue as the lizardfolk's demeanor suddenly shifts and they end up apologizing and returning what turns out to be a fake arm. While the Mud Worms have a disagreement over the arm, Everett just stares at Astrid. He starts to take note of her equipment, specifically her weaponry. What a peculiar girl...she clearly isn't just some normal kid. He's not sure if that fact is comforting or not, especially when he glances back at Cypress again and sees her expression of confusion over the arguing lizardfolk. 

Regardless of whatever the hell is going on, he still has to be ready to protect the two girls. While they might be in over their heads, that doesn't mean they couldn't at least escape safely if things take a turn for the worse...er. Yeah. Worser, this is already bad. 

It takes well over an hour of slogging slowly through the mud for the group to eventually come to the edge of a marsh. The water is too deep to cross on foot, but that's hardly a problem as the Mud Worms uncover a large raft camouflaged with foliage. The girls' mount and Everett are loaded up onto the raft before the burly human and the largest lizardfolk use two long poles to maneuver the raft through the murky waters. 

Another short amount of time passes as they move through the winding trees and spits of mud poking up through the stagnant waters before a number of vine ladders come into view. Looking up into the middle of the forest canopy above them, there are several suspended bridges, platforms, and huts built between the trees. It's a tiny hamlet of maybe half a dozen treehouses, no doubt only one of many hideouts used by the Mud Worms throughout the Marsh Flats. 

One of the lizard folk turns to the girls once the raft butts up against a tree with a dangling vine ladder. "Alright kiddos, off the pony and up the ladder with you."