Chapter 44 Through the Marshes
We were up before dawn, making ready to leave.
Moki made us breakfast, and I realized that she wasn’t as scary as she seemed; she was just a loner who had seen a lot in her life.
I genuinely regretted saying goodbye. I had the feeling that there were so many things we could learn from her, but I didn’t want to stay in the marshes a day longer than we had to.
Zaran was on our tail, and I doubted that he would have the same problems getting through the marshes as we did.
“Remember your promise,” Moki said to Ray. “If you ever manage to level up to where you can exorcise the spirits here, I would vastly appreciate your help.”
She pointed us in the right direction, looking at our map.
“This patch here?” She tapped a point on the map that looked to be only a few hours away.
“You’ll find deadly quicksand all over the place.
Stay on the trail. It’s there for a reason.
If you wander off, chances are you’ll get caught in either quicksand or a mud trap.
And the mud monsters are not easy to beat. ”
Mud monsters? What the hell was mud monster? Before I could open my mouth, Reggie spoke up.
“What’s a mud monster? They don’t sound friendly.”
“Oh, trust me. Friendship is the least of their worries. They’re like elementals.
They like to drag you down into the mud and suffocate you.
But they aren’t regular elementals, so don’t think magic that works on that level will work against them.
They’re basically sentient booby-traps that were long ago placed throughout the marshes.
They aren’t particularly sentient, not in the way we think of intelligence.
But they do have the capability to make decisions.
It’s hard to explain, but don’t expect any mercy from them. ”
Reggie paled. “Were they formed with the Create Creature spell?”
Moki nodded. “Unfortunately, you’re correct.
There was a witch who lived in the marshes — and no, not me — who decided to have a little fun.
But the fun was on her own terms, and she had no qualms about putting others in danger.
She used that spell and created mud monsters all over the place.
I have no idea what her end goal was, but when we drove her out, it didn’t break her spell.
I’ve tried to make them go back to the mud, but breaking a powerful witch’s spell is only possible if you are more powerful.
And unfortunately, I’m not. I wasn’t then, and I’m not now. And I’m fairly strong with my magic.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Lovely. So this patch of marsh where you indicated, it’s basically one big trap for the travelers passing through?”
“Is the quicksand sentient, too?” Bryn asked..
Moki shook her head. “No, that’s one blessing. It’s just plain old quicksand, but it’s deep. You can suffocate under the surface. Now, do you have all the supplies you need?”
I looked through my pack, and the others did the same. We had food, our coins, all of our supplies, and our walking sticks. I took out a gold coin.
“Here, I’d like you to have this. Thank you for your hospitality and for helping us. You’ve been a gracious hostess.”
Moki shook her head, holding up her hand. “I don’t need that, my dear. There are some whom I might chase away at first sight. But there was something about your party that felt safe, and in need of little comfort.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I know you don’t use money out here, but it might come in handy at some point.
” I finally convinced her to take the coin.
I didn’t like feeling as though I’d intruded or imposed on someone without giving some remuneration in return.
And it might encourage her to be friendly to the next person who came along.
Finally, she accepted the money. We waved at her and headed out, crossing the narrow land bridge over a deep part of the marsh. Once on the other side, I took a deep breath and led my friends into the core of the marsh.
One of the first things we did was to stop and gather trichez.
“This stuff is gold. I wish I could take a picture of it, so that we remember what it looks like in the wild,” Ray said.
“Reggie’s good at drawing. He might be able to sketch it. Does anybody have a notebook?” I sorted through my backpack and finally found a small notebook. I handed it to Reggie with a pencil.
Reggie sat down on a dry piece of ground, doing his best to draw the plant. He noted the colors and the shape of the leaves, and then held the drawing up for Ray to look at.
“Will this work for you?” He asked.
“Yes, that’s perfect,” Ray said. “I really should see if I can find a blank journal somewhere so I can start my own notebook. If we’re stuck here, we're not going to be getting any help via the Internet or anything like that.”
Reggie considered his words. “You know, I should do the same thing with spells and spell components. I guess we’re building a foundation for the rest of our lives here, aren’t we?”
“Someone might want to keep track of our adventures,” Brynn said.
“Okay, gather as much as you can, and then let’s head out.
Zaran is still on our heels and I don’t fancy meeting him, especially here in the marsh.
” I stood, stretching, and glanced at the sky.
The day had blessed us with good weather, but I didn’t know how long it was going to last, and I really didn’t want to get caught here in a bad storm.
We were nearly through the marsh. As long as we were careful, by the end of the day we should reach the edge.
I wanted to be on dry ground by nightfall.
As we headed along, keeping an eye out for quicksand and mud monsters, I realized that I had barely thought of home the past week or so.
Now, I wondered what was going on with my home. We had passed the time that we’d originally scheduled to spend in the game. Was my family holding out hope? And what about my employers? Had they already replaced me? Were they holding my job?
My life — all of our lives — seemed so very far away and so alien to what we were now experiencing.
When I thought about stepping into a warm shower that was ready at a moment’s notice, my muscles began to ache.
And when I thought about sleeping in a soft bed, safe behind locked doors, I wanted to cry.
We had been so busy surviving that I hadn’t let myself think about the little luxuries that I missed.
But now everything came sweeping in, landing on my shoulders as to what all we had lost.
“Are you okay?” Thornhold asked. He was walking beside me, helping to keep an eye out for dangers underfoot.
I shook my head. “Everything suddenly hit me. I think I just registered that we're here for good. Is there a chance we can get out of here? Perhaps. But right now, this is our life. And I’m suddenly angry and missing home.”
“I know,” Thornhold said. “I wish I hadn’t picked a dwarf to play. I really don’t feel like myself. I may be stuck in this body forever.”
Somber, we carried on in silence. The one positive was that we were in this together — all five of us.
But that didn’t make it easier to bear, and I knew everybody had their own inner demons they were fighting.
Brynn had a boyfriend, and now he’d been stripped away from her.
Ray had a girlfriend and his dogs. And Geoff—back with Liesel—had a wife and a baby.
We’d all lost somebody or something, and the thought that we might never see them again was too painful to dwell on.
Finally, we began to see the edges of the marsh up ahead. And in the dim light of evening, the mountains seemed so much closer and so much taller. When I thought about climbing them, searching for a way through the passes, I was scared out of my wits.
As I gazed up at the silhouette of the snow-covered crags, I wanted to give up — to find a place to hide out in hopes that Zaran would never find me.
But I kept those thoughts to myself, even as we stumbled out of the marshes and toward the edge of the forest ahead.
It was time to look for shelter for the night, and at least we had left the Cryptic Marshes behind us. And that was a blessing worth noting.