Duncan quickly let the power dissipate from his hand and turned on his side to Kraithee, "I'm fine, I just had a very....interesting dream." Interesting couldn't begin to describe it, yet that was something that he would have to focus on later. While Kraithee was helping Namura with the fish, Duncan got up and began his customary job of getting a a low fire started. He felt renewed, like he could do anything. Not just because of the sleep but also he had dubbed himself the Keeper of Fires and Tea Maker Extraordinar! 

Lero wakes up to the smell of fish over a fresh fire. He rubs his eyes as the light hits them and stands to pack up his things.

"We had a Consulate patrol go by on a boat last night. This illusion was a good idea. They didn't suspect a thing," Lero says as he begins rolling up his bedroll.

He stops a moment and watches Namura. When she notices, he mentions, "You're looking better." He gives her a warm smile and says, "We need to plan our next steps."

Buama was excited they were so close, but appalled there would be Consulate to deal with. At least the illusion had kept them safe for the night. She had no idea what to do next. She would know what to do once within the darksite. Of course, she did know what to blast with her thunder cannon and what not to. It had a little extra punch now that should help take things out faster as long she managed to hit them. She chuckled to herself as she packed up her belongings.

Namura took a break as someone else took it upon themselves to roast the fish. She rested her head against the tree, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "You're looking better," Lero's voice caused her to open her eyes abruptly. "We need to plan our next steps."

"Yes. I am better," Namura replied. "I guess our plan largely revolves around what Quill found. I suppose I can look for fiends..." The ranger's voice trailed off as she sunk to the floor, not bothering to finish her sentence before she began to focus on her primeval awareness. The forest, the smell of fish, and her friends fell away from her as hundreds of red dots filled her vision. The pings on her mental radar amassed into a practically solid wave of fiends.

After a minute passed by, she opened her eyes with a gasp. "There are a lot of them," the elf said, not wanting to put into words just how many. No need to terrify everyone else. "The deeper underground we go, the more we run into. There are only about 28 fiends above ground, but as you go deeper... If we're going into that much of a hell-hole, we'll need a jukketin' good plan."

Quill sat in the corner, silent until Lero complimented his illusion. "It will remain for a few more hours," he said, standing. Back at full power, Quill felt ready to either commandeer a consulate flagship, free three hundred slaves, or even fight his way through twelve fiends, making it back to the Darksite. Hearing Namura's statement, he said, "I am open to all suggestions, personally. Any plan is better than no plan."

With preparations nearly complete, Lero sits next to the fire with Duncan and enjoys a cup of tea. 

"If there's that many Demons, maybe we should find a way to save the town. At the very least, having allies at our back will help when we try to re-take the dark site." He says, sipping his tea. "I don't expect we can just walk up and take over, but there has to be a sort of resistance that has formed. And I suppose that Blackflight is probably leading it up..."

Undecided, the party continued to debate, increasingly uncertain of their next course of action. Quill's revelation of the villagers being corralled by the Consulate was disturbing, but was it as disturbing as knowing the demons were just beneath them? Hundreds... possibly thousands even?

The question was so haunting that no even noticed the bizarre figure standing at the entrance to their hideout. A deep voice filled the minds of each of them, resonating and echoing within their minds. It asks, "Ummm... Excusssse me. Hasss anyone here seen a... oh, how would I desssscribe it... A... crocodile frog?" The question so perplexing, the group turns to come face to face with an equally perplexing individual.

A brilliantly colored snake, standing at about seven feet tall and at least ten feet long, "leans" against the tree root to its side, its tail trailing off into the water. Its brilliant scales reflect the morning sun rays, causing a spectacle of flashing colors, as the reflected light dance along its surroundings as the snake move ever so slightly. It puts forward the best smile it can, though reveals two long fangs in the process. What makes the sight even odder are the two arms which protrude from the snake's serpentine body, about two feet beneath the snake's head. The arms likewise are covered in shimmering scales, though they rest relaxed at the creature's side.

Namura glanced at the entryway, her eyes taking in the strange creature that had invaded their encampment. It had interrupted her, so her voice trailed off as she took a deep, shaky breath. The ranger blinked several times, trying to clear what must be a hallucination from them. 

"So... back to... anyway," the elf stuttered, trying to regain her train of thought. "I'm sorry, I just lost my thought. I think maybe I need... Maybe I'm still not fully recovered after yesterday." Namura made it a point to pretend that her hallucination did not exist, trying to cover up the fact that she had been staring at what must look like empty space to everyone else.

"It's rude to ignore a guest, N. Hello sir. Given you've chosen to use telepathy to communicate with us, I don't know if you can understand us or not, so I'll say what I have to say, and if you do not understand us, I will ask our telepathic friend to pass the message on. Crocodile frogs? I can't think of such a creature off the top of my head, but given some time and resources, I could certainly find the name of the beast you seek. What is more immediately interesting to me is your appearance - I don't believe I've ever seen someone like you before."

While their first few words are directed at Namura, Flux directs the rest of their words at the snake-man.

Buama arches her brow at the armed snake. "I'm not familiar with crocodile frogs nor with your race either for that matter."

At this point Buama is not surprised by anything that appeared in this swamp though she wishes the decisive people who had acted like the leaders would do so again because she didn't have a clue. She feels like she has to do something or prod someone...anything! However, it was not in her nature to even do that and she had no idea if they needed to free the village first or not. It seems like the village had some key to the area, but alerting the Consulate to their presence too soon could cause dire consequences.

She snaps out of her thoughts. "Seems they could be in a great deal of places in this marsh. I'm not a hundred percent sure of my own location for that matter though it is better than a few days ago." She smiles back noting the snake is trying to do the same despite fangs and she can see the forked tongue.

"I have never heard of such a thing as crocodile frogs. Perhaps there is a proper name for it that one of us may have come across? I know that I myself am prone to great bouts research every so often, as are some of the others here," Quill suggested, despite the fact he had never heard of anything that fit the description.

Hearing of the group's unfamiliarity with both him and his pet, he laughs audibly, though it sounds more forced, and you note the absence of a forked tongue. Recomposing himself, his voice enters your minds once again. "The proper term is a crocanura, though it'sss one I... made up myssself. They certainly aren't native to thisss.... uhh.... place." He seems to either have ignored or not heard mentioning of the group's unfamiliarity with his race.

A mental image comes into your minds, as he shows you the crocanura, surrounded by strange terrain and architecture, consuming a bird. "They grow quite fasssst, which issss why I am partially concerned. She wassss already about eight feet tall when I lost sssight of her. She got sssso excited when we came to thisss sssswamp, that she leapt through the air and dissssappeared! I... followed her trackssss to thisss location, but they've gone cold."

"Well, I'm sorry to say that we haven't seen a Crocanura. I suppose we should avoid killing it if we do though, yes?"

Flux is quite intrigued by the beast, and somewhat hopes that they are able to encounter it, though worry that their teammates might accidentally kill the beast.

Lero was silent up to this point. His hand was ready on the hilt of his rapier and he didn't trust the creature enough to move it away.

"It sounds like it may have found something interesting. Namura, can you find sign of its tracks?" Lero says this as he takes a closer look at the terrain around him. He watches as the calm swampy water moves, looking for errant currents. After awhile he checks the root structure around him as well for any inconsistencies that would indicate secret openings into the earth below. The crocanura may have stumbled upon a secret entrance that might come in handy. (Investigation 13)

"Yes!!!" he almost screams in your minds as his lidless eyes go wide. "Don't kill her. She'ssss the only one of her kind... if she doessssn't lay any eggsss." His eyes narrow as he thinks for a moment.

"Oh. Thissss can't be good. I modified the ssspeciesss for parthenogenessssisss before I brought her...." he waves his arms around him. "... here. If she'ss looking to lay her eggsss, then my guessssss isss she'sssss underwater... which would explain the lack of tracksss." His vocal thoughts seem to slowly fade away from your minds as he goes off into his own thoughts. After a minute, he comes back to.

"Yesss. I'm almosst certain she is underwater. Probably naturally drawn to the masssssess of green and blue mana this tree both harborssss and channelsss. And if the rootssss are anything like the energy conduitsss back at home we usssed for biogenesssiss, then she could be ussssing them to speed up the processss... Clever little girl." His eyes become misty as he thinks on it. "She'sss ssso beautiful and intelligent. A true work of art..."

Duncan was not to pleased about the idea of having a frog with razor sharp teeth swimming somewhere in the water. "Is there anyways that we can.....draw her out of the water? Like bait or something?" Duncan was thinking about the different possiblities of how to at least find the frog.

"She certainly sounds like it. If we had the time, I'd love to help you, if only to talk to another scientist for a while. Alas, we are also on a time-sensitive mission, so I'm thinking, that unless the group would prefer to try and help you, we must part ways here. I personally will vote to help you, unless doing so puts us at a tie."

Flux, upon hearing about the marvel of bio-engineering that is the Crocanura, starts taking mental notes, including one to look into the species of the snake man.

He tilts his head to the side, his eyes gazing at the veiled Duncan. "Do you not like your face? In my experience, evolution is alwayssss changing. I could ssssswap it out with sssomething more pleassssing. A shark? That would draw intimidation. Perhapsss ssssomething more ssubtle, ssssuch asss a sssmaller nossse, or pointed earssss. Thossse might be posssssible too. But to anssswer your quesssstion, I did not give her the ssscent capabilitiessss of a shark, nor the electric-sssensssationsss of an eel, sso bait probably wouldn't work." The "snake man" continues to eye Duncan up and down, as if envisioning him becoming something more.

"A time ssssensssitive mission, you sssay?" he asks telepathically. "Mossst exciting! What sssssort of misssssion iss that? Perhapssss we can come to a mutual agreement. I shine your ssscalessss, you shine mine? I've held many namesss, and ssseveral formssss. For now, you may call me Szayez, massster biomancer of the Ssimic Guild... not that you've heard of them."

"Master biomancer," Lero says, "I'm sure you've seen or heard tell of the fiends that run rampant around Peema? Our mission is very much their eradication from these swamps." He leaves out the bit that they themselves are rebels and that they're hiding from the huge consulate ship and that it's only an assumption that the demons are in the swamp for the refinery and aether stored there... but those are inconsequential details. He adds, "How can you help us?"

Namura had backed away from the snake creature, allowing Flux and Lero and everyone else to talk it. She was visibly shaken, having not expected anyone to be able to find their hiding spot. To have the being to find them be something so bizarre only added to her feelings of being lost and overwhelmed. Her brain latched onto the word tracks and an instruction with her name attached to it, so she left the group and began to look around the edges of the tree. Of course, she didn't see anything.

She returned to the discussion, sinking to the ground and closing her eyes. The ranger tried to take stock of their current situation, and the being everyone was currently focused on. Everyone else's voices seemed tinny and far away, except for Lero. When he finally spoke up again, his voice was loud and clear, causing Namura to open her eyes again. "I'm sure you've seen or heard tell of the fiends that run rampant around Peema? Our mission is very much their eradication from these swamps. How can you help us?"

"The roots," Namura murmured to herself, there was something important she felt like she was missing.

"I'm a hunter, and I like to think I know these woods better than most," she said to the whole group, standing up and walking over to the creature. "I can help you find the beast you seek, but you have to help us first. Like Lero said, we are working to remove the fiends that plague this forest. If you can get us into the center of this tree quietly, it would be a great service to us."