Part F: The Great Marsh
Morning had been humid but dry. They pulled on mostly dry armour and clothing and began to walk. And walk. And walk. They crossed the river that cut through the jungle and kept on walking until they reached a rather familiar looking place.
"Wow, this place looks exactly like the place we found the Spider Cavern," Duo commented as they wiped out the last of the Flayers and Cloud Stalkers guarding the area.
"Except no cavern," Heero pointed out. And looking around, they could see no cavern at all. In fact, except for a rather ugly statue that was actually a poison trap, there was absolutely nothing of interest.
"Wonderful. High ho, high ho, it's back to the jungle we go," Duo commented.
They walked for what seemed like hours. There was a persistent humm of bugs that made them a tad paranoid, because many of their enemies were insects.
They found an entrance to yet another area identical to the spider cavern, complete with cavern. It even looked like the spider cavern. The only difference being the fact there was a way point there.
"Of all the stupid, inconvenient places to put a way point..." Duo muttered as they returned to the dockside. The others couldn't disagree. They went to see Deckard Cain who seemed to be glad to see them. Heero drew out the eye, which out of all of them, remained wholly dry.
"Ah, Khalim's eye! Only it can see the true path to Mephisto. Place it in the Horadric Cube with Khalim's other relics, the heart, the brain and the flail. The brain is in the Flayer Dungeon."
"Think that's anywhere near the Flayer Jungle?" Duo asked as they walked back to the way point. Heero shrugged rather eloquently.
They kept walking and fighting, and eventually, the scenery began to change.
"I don't think we're in the Spider Forest any more," Duo commented quietly. The area had changed, and now the ground was soggy and wet, the trees sinking into the water.
"It looks like a marsh," Trowa agreed. At that moment, what appeared to be an overly large, mutated jungle frog leapt out of the water and attacked them. Trowa's great maul fell to crush it, and it collapsed wetly, leaking green ooze onto the ground.
"Yuck," Duo said.
"Quite," Wufei said dryly. As they continued, they fought more of the bog creatures, which really did seem to enjoy popping up out of the dark water and scaring them before attacking. One area they wandered into had a large amount of Flayers, including two 'Shamans' and three bog creatures. After making quick work of them, they spotted a glowing treasure chest. Eagerly Duo opened it.
"The hell?" Duo noted. "It's just... stuff. Not that gold and potions aren't really nice and everything..."
"More decoys, probably," Wufei noted. Trowa finished sketching in the area. The map was getting big.
"Look, there's another path here," Trowa noted. He pointed to the corresponding place on the map. Duo looked.
"Ugh, that is so much walking..." Duo muttered. "Let us pound some ground, then." His golem hit the ground to emphasize this point.
"They are getting really odd..." Wufei muttered as they moved on.
Walking into one area, huge bolts of lightning began to fly. Ducking and searching for cover, Duo caught sight of strange, ghostly beasts that seemed to suck the warmth out of the air. He tossed a bone spear at one and it paused, letting the others see what he was doing. They charged the two other gloams in the area.
After the gloams came thorned hulks, one of which seemed to take a massive beating before it decided to lay down and just die already. Pausing a moment, they chose to turn left, which led them to another chest filled with sparkly, shiny items but no real treasure of any kind.
"Note to self, left path bad," Duo commented. Heero, Trowa and Wufei all chuckled. Duo smiled at them all.
Keep spirits high, keep 'em happy, all the while raising and commanding the undead. Geez Quatre, I wish you were here, Duo thought. He followed the others to the next corner. They took a moment to reorientate when several bolts of lightning stabbed through the air, three hitting Duo.
"Fucking gloams!" Duo yelled. His mages were quick to launch bolts of fire at them. Once they died, they moved up to fight more bog creatures. More traveling found more gloams. Lots more. It was beginning to get really, really annoying.
More battles followed. It seemed as if there was no end to the creatures in this place. It made for a long, tiring day. It seemed as if this great jungle was a maze of trees and dark water, with all manner of creatures waiting for someone to misstep.
More fetishes awaited them around every corner, bringing with them more Shamans. Just to make things interesting, groups of two and three bramble hulks prowled, delivering hard blows before finally being felled. Occasionally, a large snake would pop it's tan and red head out of the dark, murky jungle river and spout poison at them.
By the time they reached a pair of stone pillars, they were tired. They took a moment to catch their breath as Heero cast a soothing aura or two. Looking on, they saw a hoarde of flayers rushing towards them.
"Gentlemen, welcome to the Flayer Jungle," Duo muttered.
To Be Continued... *insert demonic laughter here*
Back to Act IIIe
On to Act IIIg (not available)