Remila stared at the bracelet on her wrist. It felt warm and cool at the same time. It pulsed several times on their way to the swamp, making her think the thing was sentient.

Escorting the Scourge — who would have thought….

She shook her head. She was the first one to insist on calling him Jeremy — but she had an idea why he earned the nickname.

It wasn’t the clothes — at least a third of wizards she knew wore black. It wasn’t his demeanor either. If you just listened to his words, above all else, he’ll likely come out as amicable or friendly. He did seem overeager at times — but that was every wizard when it came to their research.

If only he didn’t have that strange aura.

Sebas told her it was some sort of spell. The wizard didn’t need to keep it up all the time — but he had this strange fear of what he called invisible jerms.

Rem didn’t understand or even care too much about his seemingly aura of death — or perhaps just the fear of death. What bothered her was the wizard clearly registered to her senses as evil. Not the garden variety evil — but the child-eating, cat-kicking, city-massacring kind.

However, Sebas assured her his master wouldn’t hurt an innocent — at least, not intentionally. The butler registered like a saint to her senses, and she knew he was not one to lie.

The butler got them to agree to a simple escort mission to the forest. It wasn’t the usual route they were familiar with — for this time, they were headed to the swamps.

Jeremy told her party they needed the bracelets to enter the area. He said something about stinging bugs that carried horrible diseases and burrowing ones that laid eggs inside the body. The wizard seemed quite taken by the subject — even bringing out a dark slate of stone and using white ink to draw a few pictures.

She had to admit, the wizard’s imagination of what bugs could do was frightening, though the way he obsessed with them was a bit disturbing.

Gwindin couldn’t wear the bracelets because she had her own set of magical ones, and she was vehemently against wearing a necklace or choker. In the end, she got a brooch that she could pin on her robe.

The bracelets certainly worked. None of them suffered from any bug bites or stings — but they did have to battle some of the larger stirges.

Her bracelet also made Jeremy feel more human. He still registered as pure evil — but at least she couldn’t feel the fear of death in her soul.

“We should stop here,” Jeremy suggested.

Dallarath immediately stopped their trek. It might just be a suggestion — but the wizard was their client after all.

She saw Gwindin stretching her arms and stealing glances at Jeremy as he started gathering a few plants and mushrooms.

Alchemy was boring. Even Gwindin never took a liking to it. Staying cooped inside a small room for hours or even days on end? She would go insane!

“He doesn’t seem that scary,”

She heard Siege talking to Dallarath. The dwarf had the biggest turnaround in their group — from fearing and mistrusting the so-called Scourge, to almost singing songs about the wizard.

Whether the wizard was good or evil was something she swept away from her mind. Today, he was the client — and he paid rather well.

***

Aven’R left the makeshift camp the moment they stopped. It would have been nice to take a break, but she had to play her role. A few extra minutes — even seconds — could spell the difference between an easy victory and a costly defeat. She was there to buy her party those extra seconds.

She wove her way through the forest. While her kin left the forest centuries ago, they still had some of the skills of their forest elf cousins. Only the best trackers could discern her trail — but only if she was rushing. No trained elf would leave a trail ordinary trackers could follow — unless it led to a trap.

Secrecy was important when avoiding encounters. She outright screamed at the wizard for even considering bringing his monstrosity of a mount. The giant snail would have announced their presence to every monster in the forest.

He wanted to go to the heart of the swamp, but he was unclear on what was there. She was hesitant to go in blind not knowing what to expect, especially with the wizard being so secretive. However, the escort was partly an appraisal — a way to gauge future dealings with their party.

Still, she was determined to find out what they would be facing.

She spotted a kobold half a mile out. It was probably one of their own scouts or sentries. The wizard did say their destination was close to one of their encampments. She just didn’t expect to find one this far out.

The kobold seemed to be distraught or angry — as if it was expecting an imminent attack. She considered just killing it — but its absence might give away their presence. She didn’t know the rotation of their patrols — if they even had any — and she wasn’t sticking long enough to find out.

Aven’R turned back to leave but stops. Something about the kobold was bothering her, and a second look gave her the answer. The damned beast carried a shield — and it looked like a scale from a dragon.

***

“It’s not a dragon,” Jeremy denied.

Aven’R’s report outraged Dallarath. He was wary of their journey from the very beginning, but facing a dragon was way beyond his expected risks. A den of kobolds they could handle, given ample time to prepare — but a dragon? He knew the Great Forest was full of hidden dangers, but he wasn’t too eager to meet one so soon.

“I won’t be putting my party on the line, Wizard — especially if you keep us in the dark.”

“It’s not a dragon,” the wizard insisted, “and I won’t be risking any of your lives.” Jeremy sighed. “If you prefer, your group can stay at the edges of the swamp and just wait for me to come back.”

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“That would still leave us exposed,” Dal objected. What was the wizard hiding? Why such a need for secrecy?

“Then just stay with me until I’m past the kobold encampment. Your team can stay on dry land and just wait for me to come back — I promise I won’t take long.”

Dal stared at the wizard. He looked quite outlandish with his large pack over his shoulder. They heard clanking noises early on, with Siege guessing they were pots and pans or something of the sort.

Just what was this wizard up to?

“Fine,” Dal agreed. “We’ll wait two hours. Any longer and you’ll find yourself without your escort back.”

“I shouldn’t take more than half an hour — and there really is no danger.”

***

A bestial roar in the distance followed by the blasting of horns roused the group from their short rest. The kobolds were attacking.

Aven’R rushed towards the direction of the horns to scout, while the rest of her party tried to fortify their position.

Gwindin raised boulder-like walls of earth and stone, leaving deep pits from where the earth moved. She stood on one of these boulders ready to hurl her spells from her elevated vantage point.

Siege added to his armor — donning pauldrons on his shoulders and vambraces on his arms. He placed a shield on the ground and checked the balance of a handful of javelins.

Remila offered a short prayer to her deity before readying her crossbow and bolts.

Dallarath checked his quiver, noting his arrows were probably not enough for what was to come. He noticed the wizard, seemingly unperturbed — as if he was expecting the welcome.

“You don’t seem to be surprised.”

“Tsk, they always do this,” Jeremy answered. “They’ll come out screaming and waving their spears, but kill a few and they’ll turn tail and run.”

“You were expecting this — and you didn’t tell us?” cried an outraged Dallarath.

“They’re only kobolds,” The wizard shrugged. “If I wasn’t in a hurry, I could probably take them on by myself.”

His casual answer left the half-elf unable to respond. There was no trace of agitation or unease in the wizard’s words. It was as if he was mentioning an unavoidable irritant rather than a threatening obstacle.

“What about the dragon?” Dal demanded. “We all heard that roar.”

“Eh?!?” the wizard seemed confused. “That was most likely a yawn. Lenny is nocturnal — which is why I schedule my visits in the morning.

***

Aven’R arrived after a few minutes.

It’s kobolds,” she panted. “Around thirty — maybe more.”

“Anything else?” asked Rem.

“The dragon, you mean?” She shook her head. “I saw no signs of one, aside from the scales the kobolds carry.”

“I would like the scales to remain with me or just discarded,” Jeremy requested. “I don’t want adventurers from Bountiful hunting my precious Lenny — not until I’ve perfected my formula.”

“You took us here for a potion?” snapped Gwindin.

“Not a potion, my dear,” he answered, “Lifesavers™. I need what’s in that swamp to make them.”

“We’ll keep your secret, wizard!” bellowed Siege. “As long as you’ll keep those lozenges at a discount, we’ll gladly keep our mouths shut.”

Gwin frowned at the dwarf’s words. They didn’t even know what was in the swamp. The wizard’s demeanor also bothered her — he kept studying his notes, as if unwilling to even consider what was coming.

“You will help — won’t you, Jeremy?” Rem hesitantly asked.

“Against kobolds?” the wizard seemed baffled by the question. “Do I even need to?”

“I’m pretty sure your party could triumph easily over a bunch of — did she say thirty kobolds?” He smiled reassuringly. “Sebas did say to leave the heavy lifting to my capable escorts.”

Gwin frowned at his answer. Very few have seen the Scourge the Wizard Jeremy in combat. It was a great opportunity to see him in action and gauge if he was indeed a threat.

“Incoming four — no six,” warned Aven’R. Even with two other elves and a half-elf, she still had the keenest vision.

“Let them approach, don’t use your arrows just yet,” Dal commanded.

Five orcs charged towards their makeshift fortress, only to fall into freshly-dug pits with a little help from grease.

Grease *Basic Spell * Alteration * Earth

Effects: Minimizes friction on a 10-foot square patch of ground.

Duration: 1 minute.

Screams and crunching sounds from below were signs that Gwindin’s elementals were taking care of the downed orcs.

The remaining orc dropped to its knees before taking something from his back. It raises what seemed to be the severed head of a dragon over its head, before throwing it towards the adventurers.

The severed head twitched as it flew. Bones and followed by flesh spurted out from the head, eventually forming a serpentine body.

“Nooooo!!!” Jeremy screamed pitifully. “Those kobolds hurt poor Lenny.”

He rushed to the flying serpent, not heeding its open maw.

The creature seemed to crumple as it neared the wizard. It tried to turn to flee, but it couldn’t escape the grasping embrace of the wizard.

“What did they do to you Lenny? What did they do?!?” Jeremy sobbed, seemingly forgetting the battle that was at hand.

More kobolds appeared from the swamp. They screamed and hollered as they approached — but the sight of a weeping wizard cradling a serpent seemed to give them pause.

“Well, he’s out of it,” Siege nudged Dallarath, signaling towards the sobbing wizard.

Dal nodded, gripping his sword. At least they only had to deal with kobolds.