Humble Beginnings [Whim]

[Jounin64]

"Simple isn't how I'd put it...I did this once before, we must journey south-east to find the swamp. Alas the last time I did this was when I first found the settlement."

[Whim]

"Do we need to do this alone?" He thought back to several of the Haven's teenaged residents; on the cusp of adulthood and liable to be evicted soon by their fickle goddess."Some of your older siblings look... strong and capable and wilderness. Is the swamp that bad?"

Ewan paused again, giving himself a pinch on the forum. "We'd ought to be waking up soon too, yes?"

[Jounin64]

Aliki merely laughed at this notion as he head towards the swamp. "You'll be safe, our great mother does not wish us to be harmed...but if anything were to happen, we are both mages of nature, anything that our great mother does not want moved...won't."

The trees started to thicken more as they exited the clearing. "As for when we'll wake up...I cannot answer that. There really isn't a sense of time here, we could've been here for hours , or for minutes...in dreams the time fluxes a lot."

[Whim]

"The swamp is here. I see," Ewan mused. "Otherwise I'm not so familiar with Kishahn's plants and beasts. Would hate to be lost without a guide, even with sorcery."

The mist began to thicken around the trees. He didn't like the silence. On the very edge of his vision he thought he saw waifish, spindly forms watching from the tree-like but he couldn't ever get a clear look. Otherwise there was no fauna. Soon, the tall grass began to grow damp and squishy as they neared the water table.

"What does retrieving the lotus test, exactly, if the swamp itself isn't risky to traverse?"

[Jounin64]

"It is a test of loyalty and patience. If we were to give up on the task then our great mother repeal her blessing, then this dream will become a nightmare."

Aliki's foot suddenly sunk into a pit of mud, causing him to stumble. "Gaaah!" He controls some vines to catch him before falling face first into the swamp. Slowly standing up on the vines he goes into perched lookout position. "Oh! I also forgot to mention, have fun doing this! She likes her children to be responsible, but also fun loving."

[Whim]

Ewan cracked a smile at Aliki's near fall. "I just waded through a steaming jungle. Spirit-world or not I've never been one for getting wet and dirty. Seems more your domain."

The young man carefully crossed a floating log, and offered a hand to Aliki. He was eager to get his powers back, and fun can't exactly be forced, can it? It was hard not to be dubious of the whole affair; close as he'd gotten. "So how do you propose we make this fun? If that's what she's really after. All I see is mist and something tantamount to a needle in a hay-stack..."

[Jounin64]

"Well we make a game out of it." He slowly balances himself on the log. "Lets see...how about we're treasure hunters and we're looking for the flower while wild beasts are chasing up?"

[Whim]

"I haven't played pretend in ages. But its worth a try if you think it'll help," he offered Aliki a hand off the fallen brabcg.

Ewan cleared his throat and summoned his subpar acting skills. He spoke in a deadpan "We have been traveling in this swamp for days and there is no sign of the, uh, the tressure? I do hope the swamp trolls have lost our trail.

He studied the priest for signs of approval.

Suddenly, a deep below echoed across the misty bog.

[Jounin64]

Chuckling on the inside at his attempt, Aliki plays along. "Oh no! They followed us here!" A loud roar echoed through the swamp as two brownish green trolls covering in algae storm through the depths of the swamp, each holding spiked clubs.

"Quickly follow me!" Aliki summoned a vine down and grabbed onto it as if it were a rope. Stepping back to get a running start he swings forwards. In a pendulum like motion Aliki reaches the top and summons another vine to hold onto, he repeated the action whenever his current rope was at max momentum.   

[Whim]

Ewan raised his hands defensively at the sight of the trolls. "Get behind me. I think I can take- wait!" Already Aliki was carried off by swinging vines. Ewan sloshed after him but it was no use; he was mired in the muck and the trolls were coming. The mage murmured a spell and fell to a crouch. His skin turned green and mottled, and his bones re-arranged to something more frog-like.

Soon, the frog-man was hopping along a trail of fallen branches, tree-roots, and lillypads after the priest. The two were neck-to-neck. It seemed like he was hopping for ages, deeper and deeper into the swamp. "I think-" he croaked, a loud and involuntary ribbit, "-we lost them! Just where are we going?!"

[Jounin64]

Aliki continued swinging until he looked back and noticed that Ewan wasn't following the vines. Distracted, his hand slips and he plunges into the swamp. Popping his head out of the murky water, Aliki notices a frog like Ewan.

"I'm not quite sure, from what I heard, the treasure is within a sunken ship. Only a minute afterwards a piece of drift wood floats up ten feet behind Aliki.

[Whim]

"Sunken? I s'pose I shouldn't bother turning back... much as I hate this slime." The frog-man deftly leapt to the floating plank of driftwood. The mage extended a webbed, green hand to Aliki. A smirk crossed his still humanish face, "Don't suppose you'd care to join me?"

"Though what's a boat doing in a swamp anyway?" he muttered. It all had seemed so real. It was easy to forget this was all a product of imagination. The sensible thing to do would be to play along. But Ewan was a skeptic.

The mist was thick, but the trees and undergrowth seemed to be thinning and the water deepening as if on queue. An enormous reptilian shape crested the water in the distance which sent his heart racing. He patiently waited for Aliki to take his hand, but he couldn't help his heart from racing.

[Jounin64]

As Ewan started to question the logic, the driftwood flickers. Concern twists onto Aliki's face as he grabs Ewan's hand and plunges into the murky depths. Feeling the water ripple he turns to face Ewan. "We can't have you question any of this, but it seems your mind isn't only possibly setting us back, but is creating monsters too."

The ripples begin shaking lividly. A massive crocodile emerges smashing through branches and any other possible obstacle in its way. "Hurry! We must head down! And don't question the crocodile either! It won't help us if we take the easy way!" Aliki yells before submerging into the the deep green waters.

[Whim]

"But isn't getting chased by monsters f-" Ewan decided to take the priest's advice and not argue about the dream-world further, hard as that was. The frog-man plunged into the deep. The water was a murky-green brown, but just enough pale sunlight filtered through to illuminate the depths of what had become a lake. At the very bottom, amidst a forest of algae and reeds, he could make out an up-turned wooden wreck.

The shape of the crocodile loomed closer.

Ewan's amphibious form could swim circles around the child. He grabbed Aliki around the shoulder, and kicked toward the sunken ship. He could do something about their lack of gills later.

[Jounin64]

Holding his breath, Aliki imagines growing gills and as soon as he feels the slits in his cheeks he takes a deep breath. Noticing the ship ahead he imagines a hole in the side, due to being hit by a cannonball.

A loud noise rips through the air and the crocodile laid limp. The shadow of another ship looms over them. "That'll keep us safe until we come back up."

[Whim]

Ewan darted from the ship in a flurry of bubbles as cannonball cracked through the hull. All this time in a kid's body had made him fearful and skittish! It was hard to shake off. The dead crocodile was such a relief he didn't need to act "Your pirate friends have better aim than I expected!"

Aliki was the first through the narrow breach. Ewan was surprised he could fit at all. He was an adult in the dreamscape and much taller than Aliki...

The inside of the ship was rife with colorful fish and the beginnings of a reef. Pale phosphorescence lit the way through a maze of refuse and undersea vegetation. It was the ocean now. Ewan paused to admire the fauna and flora. "Pretty, isn't it?"

[Jounin64]

Aliki took a moment himself to embrace the nature. "Yes...It's so...beautiful" Aliki begins to trail off then re focuses on the task at hand.

"Ok the flower should be somewhere within this ship. The only question is where?" A glimmer of pink light pokes through, almost as if leading them deeper into the ship. Aliki follows the light without a second thought, not even checking if Ewan followed.

[Whim]

Ewan watched Aliki swim off in feverish pursuit of the flower. The sorcerer decided to linger, at least a bit, to appreciate it all. He was surprised it wasn't the boy who decided to stay in the maze of colorful plants and playful fish. He reached down and picked up a starfish. Its long tendrils squirmed in his grip, but it didn't sting at least...

He darted through the same door as Aliki. He found the priest floating before a bed of sea anemomies, a brilliant red glow visible through their tendrils. Ewan crept closer with a hint of a smile, ready to drop the wriggling starfish on the boy's head.

(Sorry for the delay!)

[Jounin64]

(I'm so sorry I've been so busy lately)

The starfish plops onto the back of Aliki's head and suctions on. Alilki yelps with surprise while grabbing it. After feeling it a bit, he identifies it's a starfish and peels it off. Giggling while smiling under his mask, Aliki turns around and throws the starfish at Ewan's face.

Before Ewan could react, Aliki dives into the anemones and finds himself surrounded in darkness, only guided by the pink light. 

[Whim]

(No worries. Take your time!)

He batted the starfish away with a laugh, setting the squirming creature down on the algae-coated deck.

"Careful! They can sting!" Ewan's eyes bugged out as the priest dove into the writhing mass of stinging tendrils. Of course, it was all play-aacting and he knew the solution when he imagined the poisonous creatures into existence. Orange and white scales jutted from Ewan's and Aliki's skin, and fins from their arms and back... the pair were turning into clown fish.

With his transformation underway Ewan darted into the forest of tentacles to search for the priest. In the very back of his mind he wondered what dying meant in this dreamscape. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that...