Marr went back into the control room. As he got in the room he saw Dayer and Yllana in a strange dance across the room. Dayer teleported followed by the Elven girl, and then they would fight for a few seconds as she tried to grab the Eladrin.
Stars could be seen coming out of her eyes as if she had found an unbelievable treasure, and pure dread could be seen on Dayer’s eyes as he ran away from her.
Finally, the Eladrin saw Marr and went in his direction as he used a slightly more powerful teleport to get to the deck.
Marr who finally came back to his senses and stopped the girl who was about to go after Dayer again as he said.
“Our first destination will be the Darkplague Swamp, we will deal with your sister’s situation first.”
Yllana turned serious as she nodded at Marr and went to the booth behind the screen. When she sat down the crystal screen lit up and multiple images of the airspace around the ship could be seen. The biggest image that was in the middle showed the airspace in front of the ship.
Suddenly, the ship moved as it slowly turned toward’s south as it rose up higher in the air. After it was done, the ship started flying across the air.
From a far, the ship looked like a giant dragon that was traveling across the sky and the hands of the dragon moved in the air as if it was swimming.
“Yllana, do we have enough energy to reach the Swamps?”
“Yes, but we will need to stop at a city after we are done there. We will need to buy a new magic crystal as this one is almost depleted.”
“What’s the price?”
“Around 2500 gold pieces.”
Marr nodded and went back to the deck. He talked to Dayer and Merrich about their next destination. After all, they had at least 4 days before they reached the Darkplague Swamp, despite having a flying ship to take them around, the Alberta Kingdom was far too extensive and the capital city was actually in the middle of the kingdom.
“When we get there try not to get lost. The Darkplague swamp should not present a major problem for us, and the only thing we must be careful with are Darkplague Corpses and Abyss tears.”
Darkplague swamp was a famous danger zone that could present a very high death risk to heroic level powerhouses. That threat was very low for paragons, being reduced to only two dangers.
One of them was the Abyss tears that were literally distortions on the planar laws that lead directly to the Abyssal Plane. They could be easily avoided if one was careful enough, and even more with the help of a planefinder.
The other danger was pretty much unavoidable once you enter the Darkplague Swamp. That danger was carriers of the Darkplague a disease that came from the Abyssal plane and would infect any living thing. The disease could only be transmitted by direct means which meant drinking contaminated water or getting fluids of any contaminated creature in one’s system.
The plague would corrode the infected creature’s soul and body, making them a slave and a carrier of the disease whose only aim was to infect other people.
The corpse will retain the power level of the powerhouse that it infected, and it was said there was even epic level Darkplague corpse inside the swamp.
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Creatures infected by the plage become undead and are highly resistant if not immune to most types of damages. The only way to effectively deal with these creatures is divine power and fire.
The plague was unable to expand beyond the Swamp because as a disease of the Abyss it would normally be impossible for it to exist outside of that Plane. Because of the chaotic laws inside the swamp it is able to exist there.
Marr was not anxious about this as he could use divine power probably thanks to his mother and having a part of Io inside him.
“Dayer do you have any way to imbue your daggers with Divine of fire elemental powers?”
Marr did not ask Merrich as he knew that despite the Bard main abilities being related to pure arcane power and the soul he had more than a few fire spells under his sleeve.
The Eladrin shook his head as he said with a depressed tone.
“Actually, my dagger’s have the shadow element. So, I don’t have any way of being useful while inside the swamp.”
Marr nodded as he said.
“That’s not a problem as long as I and Merrich are there we can deal with the Darkplague corpses, Paragon Level ones are very rare and Epic level ones have never been seen before. We should be all right.”
The Dragonborn then looked at Dayer as he said.
“If anything out of the ordinary happens your teleport will be our greatest life saver. Be sure no to use it carelessly.”
Dayer nodded, he could only take 2 persons with him when he teleported and it was a very limited teleport since it differed greatly from his “Ethereal Step”.
After they made sure everything they need was ready, Merrich took out two jade slips as he gave them to his two friends and explained.
“This is something I saw long ago on my trips. When I went to the eastern kingdoms they used this Jade slips to record techniques, spells and even magical circles. There was a particular Eastern rune that I got really interested in and it was this one, it allows for direct communication between people who have this jade slips.”
Marr and Dayer revealed an impressed impression when they looked at the jade slips on their hands.
“It’s a very complex rune structure and requires a whole day to recharge after using it once, which means we can each send one message a day. It might seem like it’s not much but it might be a life saver.”
Marr nodded as he kept the jade slip inside the small pouch on his waist.
“Merrich it will take three days till we reach the Darkplague swamp do you think you can make another one?”
“Sure, I will be a little tight on time but I can probably do one more. Why?”
Marr smiled as a sharp glint could be seen on his eyes.
“I have an idea.”
When they finished getting everything ready an amazing smell drifted from the kitchen. The three friends looked at each other as a glint of hunger could be seen on their eyes.
The three quickly went from the deck directly to the dining hall and finally into the kitchen. At they got there what they saw left them completely stunned, a gigantic singing Orc was preparing a whole pig over a low fire as he slowly turned it with a spear he had found.
Ardokk was completely concentrated at the task at hand as he salted the pig and glazed it with some honey. Suddenly he realized the three stunned friend’s at the door.
“Pig be ready in 1 hour! You three wait for pig! Out of kitchen!”
As he said this word’s he kicked the three friends out of the kitchen and closed the door behind them.
The three of them finally came back to their sense and could only smile wryly at each other as they sat down on the table and played dice while waiting for the food.
Finally, Ardokk came out of the kitchen with the pig on a plate and four pitchers of beer and put them down on the table together with the pig. When Dayer extended his hand to get the knife and fork as to cut the pig he got hit by the orc on the back of the hand.
“Elf friend wait! More food to come!”
The Eladrin who didn’t know how to react just nodded at the Orc.
Ardokk got back into the kitchen and soon after came back with Rice, Stir-Fried vegetables and some soup. Finally, he sat down and told the three friends to eat as he helped himself to some pig.
Marr was completely astonished as he asked the orc.
“Ardokk how did you learn to prepare this?”
The Orc looked at Marr as he said.
“Before Ardokk slave, he own restaurant while wife hunt for restaurant!”
The three astonished adventures showed and enlightened expression as they ate.
The food was perfect, the pig was perfectly cooked, and the rice was soft and fragrant, the Vegetables had a nice flavor and a good texture, and the soup had a perfect balance on fragrance and taste.
After the meal, the three friends went back to their rooms.
Dayer trained a bit of his dagger work, and Merrich started producing the Jade slip for communication.
Marr sat down cross-legged in his room as he stimulated his Draconic power. As time went on, a pale pink hue emanated from Marr’s body as blue lighting arks could be seen all over his muscles.
After four days the ship finally stopped. In front of the ship dark could be seen as a completely different world appeared in front of them.
Marr looked down from the ship at the twisted trees and black-colored water as he said.
“So, this is the Darkplague Swamp.”