Samantha wasn’t quite sure what the difference between a swamp, a bog and a bayou was. They all smelled, were surrounding by murky disgusting water and everything living there seemed to want to kill them. Racing along one such murky river she leapt off the rapidly flowing waters to kick a monster in the face and came to a conclusion. It didn’t really matter what the difference was, bayous were above and beyond cooler. Like Bogland, her and Valerie had been contracted to eliminate an infestation plaguing the land to the southwest of the capital. Unlike the swamp however, this infestation was not a pack of slow moving barely functioning tortoise but instead a school of razor-sharp fish that could leap high out of the water and attacked in groups.

The pair had arrived with Joanne to meet an old friend of hers, a reptilian beast man by the name of Roy. He was a lanky green scaled crocodile looking beast man with a lazy eye and several missing teeth. He wore old, frayed overalls that had been split and re-stitched so many times it was debatable if anything of the original outfit remained. He was the requestor and submitted a contract to help reign in an outbreak of Spearahna. The aquatic monster was a small fish that was best described as a living, swimming tooth. Its scales were barbed, its teeth extra pointy, the fin on its back as sharp as a blade and featured an extended snout that gave it an arrow like silhouette, thus the name Spearahna. On their own they were a nuisance to handle but not a real problem, as a large group however they could strip the meat off a herd of cattle in minutes. In the face of any logic, Roy was a Spearahna farmer and bred the living death machines despite how deadly they were. The meat, when prepared by an expert chef like Joanne, was quite the delicacy and sold for a high price on the market. Roy wasn’t a fan of the ‘capitalist regime’ as he put it and sought to flood the market with the fish meat driving the price down and financially bankrupting the few companies who caught Spearahna in the wild. As all good plans go it was undone when the monsters escaped their captivity to run amok in the lakes and rivers surrounding Roy’s home. Luckily, the fish farmer had foreseen such an event and blocked off all entrances and exits yet it was only a matter of time before a down pour came and the Spearahna were able to escape for real.

Thus, the current situation, Roy sailed around the wide-open river in his magically powered air boat while Valerie stood at the bow and Samantha acted as bait at the stern. Sensing any shift in the waters the Spearahna would work themselves into a frenzy, charging at the offender and attempting to tear them to shreds. The magically secured boat resisted such attacks, but the fish were relentless and took to leaping out to nip at the helmsman’s flesh. This is where Valerie came in, any Spearahna that landed in the boat was quickly stabbed, chopped, split in two, gutted or good old fashioned punched into submission. The huntress took to her post with wild abandon and was alive with adrenaline facing a never-ending hoard of monsters as they raced along the water. It didn’t take long for her to become drenched in blood, both her own and the monsters, which nearly caused her dropped her weapon numerous times. She didn’t worry or rather she couldn’t as her mind was overtaken with the insatiable need to never stop tearing the worthless fish to shreds.

“Rip and tear…”

She whispered to herself, her heart beating faster than ever before as she soaked in the carnage while her clothes soaked in fish guts. Samantha meanwhile was having the time of her life as well, skiing along the water’s surface, her only tether a shadowy chain connected to the back of the boat. The Spearahna were fast and kept pace constantly leaping out to chomp at the bait while too hopped on hunger and fury to feel any fear from the shadow user. Without a true weapon of her own, Samantha could only dodge and knock the fish away causing them to redouble their efforts and grow more agitated. It was exhilarating, the wind rushing past forcing her hair and cloak to wave violently in the air. Feeling daring, she angled herself closer to the shoreline and leapt over a tree root rising out of the water to perform a majestic mid-air flip. Had a panel of judges been watching she was sure she would have gotten at least a nine point five for that trick alone.

Roy too enjoyed the display and whooped watching Valerie catch a Spearahna with her bare hand before ripping it in half by gripping its upper and lower jaw. They had only been going at it for about fifteen minutes, but the hoard was quickly thinning out. Rounding a bend, Roy pulled at a handle to his side forcing his boat to make a sudden U-turn flipping them back on the school chasing after them. Samantha whipped by giving a brief wave before disappearing behind the boat again. Valerie cackled like a madman while fish guts pooled at her ankles, she demanded the mass of monsters come at her all at once. Her manic shouts were cut off when a Spearahna was flung backwards after colliding with the boat and ended up smacking her in the face. Sticking out a tongue to lap at the blood slowly trickling from her cut cheek, she beckoned more try their luck. Roy was understandably apprehensive to employ the young girls as he believed his contract was worth either a team of elites or a veteran’s attention. The guild thought otherwise and gave the job the second lowest danger rating as there was no rainfall predicted to occur for weeks, and a team of rookies could take their time slowly whittling away at the monsters. Watching the newbie Adventurers in action he felt silly for disregarding them so quickly and debated giving them a little something extra under the table for their efficient work.

While contemplating a sufficient bonus, the distracted helmsman failed to notice the larger than average Spearahna jumping out of the water intent to skewer him. Just before the tip of the fish’s snout made contact it was struck down with a thrown hunting knife to the gills impaling it. The force of the impact sent the fish flying back to skip along the water where Samantha was still skiing along. Reaching out, she caught on to the knife yanking it and the flailing Spearhaha who continued to crash against the water’s surface. Feeding a shadow chain around the handle she let go of the weapon allowing it to extend out and cause the dying fish to become a second flailing mace colliding with its own kind. Disarmed, Valerie stared at her friend taking in the sight of her using leaping fish as jumping off points before striking with her new mace. She was quickly brought back to reality when another Spearahna landed in the boat and tried to bite at her boot. Stomping on the fish repeatedly and ending the monsters life, she yelled at Roy.

“BRAKE!”

Following orders, the beast man immediately pulled on the handle to his right. The boat suddenly and violently came to a halt, by what means Valerie couldn’t begin to guess. Both occupants were nearly sent tumbling into the river but held on as the boat righted itself sloshing back into the disgusting river. Samantha was still racing ahead carried by her momentum and would have hit the boat head on, but she angled herself to pull up alongside. With a mental command her tether forcibly snapped at the last second to whip around in the air. She and Valerie locked eyes in the brief second both were parallel, and a wordless plan formed. The former tether flew through the air and was caught by the huntress who twisted around. With Valerie as her new anchor point Samantha was yanked around in a shrinking quarter circle. As she reached the edge of the boats bow the shadow user was forcibly yanked up into the air, her accumulated momentum and the force of Valerie’s pull sending her high into the sky. Flying free like a bird, Samantha twisted around trying to face towards the boat and whipped the impaled Spearahna down cutting the shadow tether in the process. Valerie planted both feet against either side of the relatively small air boat and reached out her hand to catch the descending knife. The unintentional pose made her look like a rockstar performing to thousands of screaming fans rather than a blood-soaked hunter surrounded by hundreds of ferocious monsters. Ripping the fish corpse from her weapon, she ordered Roy once again.

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“GO, GO, GO!”

Pushing the same lever down the boats magic reignited and was racing back down the river once again. Samantha quickly shot out a shadow chain from under her cloak missing the back of the boat but was luckily caught by Valerie who wrenched the falling shadow user from her flight. With a violent splash, Samantha fell below the water’s surface only to re-emerge a second layer skating along the river with the furious monsters hot on her tail. Roy couldn’t believe his eyes as the slaughter began in earnest once again and voiced his incredulousness.

“I rightly don’t know what just happened, but that was coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”

His southern twang was drowned out by the roar of the air boat and Valerie could only shout back.

“SHUT UP AND DRIVE!”

Saluting his commanding officer, Roy returned to helming the ship. It took another half hour, but they eventually managed to cut down the majority of the escaped Spearahna’s, those left alive unwilling or unable to fight back. The river was carpeted in dead fish turning the muddy waters pink and chunky. Roy guided the boat slowly along, his mouth open and eyes wide in amazement at how quickly they cleared up the potential outbreak. He decided he was definitely increasing the reward for an outstanding job well done. The MVP of the day stood one foot on the edge of the bow panting as she came down from her battle high, her hands shaking and the desire to continue almost insatiable. She finally noticed all the cuts and scrapes she received that, if left unattended, would turn into scars. While a part of her wouldn’t mind the addition of some battle scars it had to be something worthwhile instead of this fishy adventure. Reaching into her pocket she grasped the potion that bothersome prince gifted to her. She was still wary of drinking the contents but both Joanne and Albert confirmed the concoction was legit. Shrugging, she downed about half the contents and recoiled at the foul taste. What healing potions lacked in flavour they made up for in potency as the many marks along her arms and face closed within seconds. Amazed, she turned back to yell at Samantha.

“Hey! You want some of this?”

A sick part of the huntress really just wanted to see her friend’s reaction upon tasting the disgusting red liquid. Unfortunately, Valerie would be denied the satisfaction today as the shadow user waved off the concern. Samantha was too busy enjoying the relaxing feeling of being dragged down the disgusting bayou lazy river, a tether still connecting her to the boat. She managed to escape the encounter without sustaining any serious injuries. She would need some new shoes and a change of clothes however as hers were shredded and discoloured respectively. When the trio finally docked and both girls safely returned to land, they were able to fully take in the devastation they wrought.

“You sure you don’t want us to slau-take care of the rest of them? Wont they just breed and be right back where you started?”

Valerie asked while Roy anchored and tied up the boat.

“Hmm? Oh, nah it’ll be alright. There’s maybe a dozen or so still swimming about and they’ll take a while to start repopulating. I been meaning to expand, and this gives me a perfect chance. I’ll make sure they can’t get out don’t you worry.”

The fish farmer answered dissuading any concern for his frankly ludicrous business scheme. The trio met back up with Joanne who had spent the afternoon playing cards with Roy’s grandmother, both older women recoiling at the funk almost visibly reeking off them. The reptile man couldn’t help singing the praises of his “saviours” and made good on his promise to increase their reward.

“Not in fish right?”

Joanne asked, clearly used to Roy’s antics.

“You can pay me in fish, but these two would prefer something more easily traded.”

Roy nervously laughed at the idea, evidentially fully intending to offer a bonus of Spearahna meat.

“Uh w-what? Course not, I may hate the capitalist pigs and their cruel regime, but coin is coin and these girls have earned it.”

Extra funds and a selection of expertly negotiated Spearahna meat in hand, the pair waved off Roy the fish farmer and climbed into Joanne’s wagon for another journey home. As they rolled down the road, Samantha beat her gross smelling cloak against the back of the cart trying to get all the barbed fish remains out while Valerie relaxed next to Joanne.

“Did you only pick this job because you knew that guy?”

She accused the beast woman. Joanne faked shock, adopting an exaggerated hurtful expression with her hand on her heart.

“What? Me? No, I would never do such a thing. It was pure coincidence.”

Valerie gave her a flat look and the clearly lying woman quickly dropped the façade laughing heartily.

“Okay you got me. Thing is I needed some new fish options and knew Roy back there was sitting on a goldmine. It was win-win, you get a simple job, and I get some new menu items. I might have even secured a regular supply of the toothy fish.”

The business minded beast woman sniggered evilly to herself. Her accuser wanted to be upset at being used but couldn’t after the stellar afternoon she and Samantha had had. It did bring up another question though.

“Are you sure you can keep coming out here like this? Aren’t you missed at the restaurant?”

Driving them to and from their contracts surely took time out of her busy schedule and the restaurant would suffer as a result. A totally believable if not entirely true reason for the huntress’s concern. Joanne appeared genuinely surprised Valerie was so worried about her, however she immediately sussed out the real motivation behind her words. If her restaurant shut down, then she and Samantha would miss out on the numerous untasted and undoubtedly excellent meals on offer. Joanne could respect pragmatism, or more accurately selfishness, especially when it came to a person’s appetite and thus answered truthfully.

“Not really, I have a whole host of staff who can do, not as great, but still top-notch work. Besides they know I’m out here helping new friends and rustling up some interesting dish options.”

The beast woman patted her passenger on the back.

“But hey quit thinking about me and start thinking about how you two are gonna spend all that moola.”

It wasn’t a lot of money from the two jobs so far, but it was a start and truthfully Valerie hadn’t considered how to spend her earnings. Someone in the cart did, however.

“ooh, ooh, let’s get something to eat! Know what I’m in the mood for?”

Valerie groaned while Joanne burst out laughing, both already knowing what the answer would be. Later that night the trio plus Albert enjoyed a nice meal of smoked Spearahna with a side of Stagnatoise soup.