Adexios fixed the weapon on his hip, he tightened it around his sash. The weapon was a basic curved blade, with a crescent that ran from its handle up to its pointed tip, curving at around a 120 degree angle. It was serrated, with a row sharpened teeth much like Adexios' own running down the weapon's edge, something that Adexios had specially done as he was told by the elders that sharpening bone until it can cut through the swamp's foliage with relative ease is something that is nigh impossible and will only reduce the overall mass of his weapon.

Adexios gripped the handle, it was something basic; a thick sock of leather where the elongated and blunted protusion of the blade had been inserted and was embedded even deeper using tar. The handle was finished by wrapping a thick line of fibrous cloth around it, making it comfortable to grip and to make sure that his hands wouldn't just slip around the smooth leather should he actually hold it.

the hatchling watched as his broodmates left the nursery with excitement. He knew that his peers had stayed here for an entire year and as he experienced it himself, he can understand why they were all so eager to leave the place.

he gave it one last look, the bony foundation that acted as beams for the building would keep this place intact underwater and thanks to that, this building would still be here even after they had come back. His eyes moved to the leather walls, these, would be eaten by the more hungry of the fishes that would come here as unlike the bones, which were painted with tar, the leather was kept the way it was as some form of respect for the animal that it had come from and perhaps as a sense of art.

Adexios' eyes moved over to his spot, there, several tools and crafted material lay, things such as stripped leather, ropes he couldn't bother to carry, and a whole lot of bone lay there on a pile. He had gathered what he had deemed useful from the heap and all of that is currently on his person.

He pulled on the edge of his jacket. Just like everyone else, Adexios' clothing was made of leather and just like most of the craftsmen within the village, it was hooded and had long sleeves along with multiple pockets to carry the things that he needed. It had a massive gash at the center that enables Adexios to wear the jacket without putting much effort. The gash could easily be closed via the hooks found on the collar of the clothing, and below that, several buttons could be used to seal the gap.

it was currently buttoned to make sure that the materials within the clothing wouldn't get wet by the heavy rain that poured outside the nursery.

outside of his jacket was Adexios' utility belt, - something that almost all of the craftsmen within the village have, - and it is filled with tools. Things such as a sword, his chisel should he want to carve something, a basic knife to flay animals and to cut anything that might ensnare him with, and a sling just in case he finds himself fighting against something that he can't get close to. All of said tools are made out of bone.

of course, there were also other things on his utility belt that barely accounted for a tool. Most of them were clay jars filled with venom and acid for medicine along with a clay flask that's filled with drinking water. They hung loosely from his belt, each one merely kept from the ground by a circular lip of bone that they were inserted into along with a set of hooks attached to another circular handle found on the jars to make sure that they stayed in place should he start to run.

eventually, it was Adexios' turn to go out of the nursery and what greeted him was a lush area filled with plants. Unlike the nursery within, which had a hydra pelt as a floor, the ground outside was overflowing with plants and wherever Adexios looked, he was greeted by greenery. Mounds, filled with plants and by far taller than him and the elders he had seen, could be seen sprawled about, and as far as he's aware, they seemed endless. The scene reminded Adexios of the plains that the elders had told him about and though it seems that said plains were the inspiration for the camp he was on.

he walked forward, pushed by the tide of hide and scales that was his broodmates. Eventually and fortunately, it didn't take long for all of them to reach a clearing that enabled all of them to have breathing room and where Adexios could freely walk around without bumping into another one of his brood.

he stretched, then grinned. This was officially the start of his life as a Lizard folk and he's gonna make the most of it!

the group of hatchlings eventually dispersed, with most of them having decided to watch the brawl that had broken out a few moments ago. Some of them, went around with the adults and interacted with Lizard folk that weren't the elders for the first time of their life and looking at his broodmates, Adexios was able to tell that they were somewhat happy.

as for him though, well, he was curious about the products that his camp is gonna start trading for when they reach their destination and not wanting to waste time, he went over to where he assumed the "production area" of their "wine" was.

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according to the elders, their camp was surrounded by a massive wall of mire that was structured and kept in place by plants though back then, he was told, that it was kept together by twigs way before the roots of the plants that currently grew on said walls took root. Of course, when the plants grew, they only served to make the wall stronger and ever since then, the camp had come back to it intact even after the floods.

and seeing that, they all got inspired to grow the greens around their homes. And though, back then, they already had a well established foundation that kept standing despite the flood in the form of massive rocks kept together by tar, the mud on top of said foundation usually washed away whenever it flood and the ones that came before Adexios and his brood had to work over and over again to place the mire back into place after each flood.

after the plants though, the muds had somewhat stayed and things only got better from there-

He was also told that a few of the Lizard men that hunted outside had noticed that some of the plants kept a sweet fluid within them and so, as all things, they took the plant's seed along with a few of its jar shaped fruit and brought them to the camp where the others tasted the sweet nectar of the plants and it was cultivated from there.

at the start, he was told that the pitcher plants were small but over time, thanks to a group of humans that had passed by, they were able to cultivate the plants thanks to the given method of selective breeding. The result of that is the current production line of wine his camp has. The same one he has been eager to visit after he was told the kind of things that happened there.

Adexios passed by several of the mounds, he gave each and every single one of them an inspecting look before moving on to the next one and after a while of doing this, he found himself in a place that had a bunch of clay vases strewn about. On the walls, he could see were a bunch of the so called pitcher plants that his camp uses to make wine and all of them, currently, were closed.

he mused that it was done on purpose as it was about to flood, the plants are about to be left alone for half a season and they all needed to store food.

true to what was told though, the wine was already done and all of them should be within the clay vases. He went over, the vases themsevles were smooth, remiscent to that of the pitcher plants that grew meters away from them but, a lucky few managed to have been designed artistically and he could see that on it, was the carving of the Marsh. Spikey plants were strewn about and several trees with hanging vines acted as pillars that ran across one side of the vase, on the center of these trees and on top of these spikey foliage was the image of a reptile with wings and should be Calgar, the ruler of the swamp he was living in. Named only after the massive Dragon that was said to have been so large, that he could squish their camp with but a single foot.

Adexios moved a little bit closer and touched a pitcher plant larger than him. It could, in theory, eat him whole if he was crawled up. Though, he had no plan in doing so.

"what are you planning on doing here young one?" a strained yet aged voice said from behind him. Adexios whipped back and frowned, there, he saw one of his kin, much larger than he was with a back that was starting to arch down. It reminded him of the Shaman, though, this one seems to have looked even weaker than her despite being male.

When he didn't answer, the old reptile smiled, then he started moving in a slow yet calculated manner. He weaved through the foliage, then he danced around the vases, he touched each and every single one with a nostalgic eye. "you know," he started, "I have been working on these things ever since I could hunt," that garnered Adexios' attention and he moved a little bit closer, unguarded, to the old saurian. Noticing this, he smiled yet didn't speak and continued, "you know all about that right?"

Adexios nodded, who wouldn't? Every one of his broodmates, including him, were told that when they reach their third cycle, they would go out to hunt for the camp and that is supposedly their right of passage and when they succeed, they would be on their journey into adulthood and they would start helping around the camp.

"well, young one, when I survived my first hunt, did you know what I did?" he turned to Adexios and his bright green head shook back and forth to give forth a negative answer. "well, I went over here and cried, and then I-" the old saurian moved closer to a pitcher plant and grinned, "-cried. I cried young one, because I was told by one of the caretakers here that I would come back from the hunt cryhing."

Adexios frowned, "why?" he spoke, finally. He wondered just why would the elder cry? Why would he go here? and who told him that he would come back crying? A shaman? perhaps? How old was the saurian that told him? Is he still here? Such questions made Adexios tilt his head and the answer his better supplied baffled him even more,

"well, young one, I had been arrogant and said that I would win the hunt." win the hunt? What does that entail? Arrogance sure, he could understand because a lot of his peers have been that way ever since they learned how to talk and walk and fight. What was this all about winning?

"what do you mean win?" he asked, trying to see if he could just gleam more information then maybe, he could build something out of his imagination and-

"you'll see soon enough." the old saurian says and Adexios pursed his almost non-existent lips. What he got from that is that the hunt that would come when he reaches the age of three would be competetive. It wasn't much, nor could he use that information as the thing that directly backs that up would come later down his life but nevertheless, it was information he managed to build and Adexios, left it alone and said goodbye to the old saurian before he left the wine making facilities of his camp.