Our camp was a few hundred meters away from the edge of the swamp. Inside one of the large trees that populated the rocky area. The numerous branches made it easy to construct a sturdy shelter with webs. Since this camp would serve us for a few days, I placed heavier wards to guard it. Away from civilization, I also made the traps much more lethal. If a predator wanted to ambush us, they'd need to work for it.
After a good night's rest, Vel and I reviewed the missions. The first was to gather five small containers worth of mature water-bloom seeds, one for each of the plant's color. Thanks to Breknir, I had memorized the herbology compendium from cover to cover, even before I had acquired the mind enhancing perks. The water-bloom, as its name implied, was an aquatic flower similar to water lilies where each color had different elemental properties.
The second one asked for various alchemical ingredients found in frogs. Vel and I had already fought some lower level specimens but this area was two ranks higher, we needed to remain careful. The last one wanted fresh whole corpses of Swamp Kameleon. It would be fairly easy to preserve them in my storage items.
"Do you think we'll meet another Crocolisk?" Vel asked with a predatory smile.
"Probably," I shrugged, "it's their hunting ground after all. There's also a chance we find a rank six one, not sure we can take it by ourselves."
"You’re right," she nodded.
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I raised a wedge shaped barrier in front of me to deflect the stream of pressurized water headed my way. The magical platforms under my feet strained under the added weight. I felt another burst of mana under me, one of the frogs was trying to create a geyser right below my position. I ruthlessly tore the mana construct apart with Dispel Magic and traced a series of runes in front of me with my second pair of arms. The spell that coalesced into existence let out a burst of cold that froze all the water around me.
The stream, now a solid line of ice, shattered below. The frog casting the spell had stopped casting, likely on instinct but it had saved the monster from being frozen in turn. It was difficult to kill a monster without damaging any important part, most of my favorite spells did not have the required precision or finesse. Instead, I needed to rely on the non-lethal psychic spells in my repertoire. The hard part was to cast them when the target was distracted to minimize the chance of them resisting.
Vel was in a much better situation, she could trap targets by animating the plants around them, and then use soporific spores or other non-lethal means to disable. I wasn't good enough in that branch of magic to imitate her. My knowledge of flora was mostly academic but Vel understood them on a more fundamental level and she was able to blend that knowledge into something terrifyingly effective.
I used the small opening to cast two spells staggered by a second. The first was Dominate, it slammed on the frog's mental defenses and the amphibian tried to resist. I could have likely won with this spell alone but the following Sleep spell slipped right past and the frog went slack. The Taratects of the temple had been much easier to manipulate for some reason, maybe it was a remnant of Lolth's influence, we had been in her place of power after all.
The frog, no longer gripping the trunk it was on, started to fall. I jumped forward and created a small web to catch it. Once it was captured, I pulled my dagger out and expertly pierced through the monster's skull, right into the brain stem, and finished it off. The fresh corpse vanished into my storage item with the dagger.
Your group has defeated [Green Jungle Frog (Level 167, Rank 5)]
Experience gain reduced by …
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Swamp Kameleon were skittish creatures. Their camouflage was their main strength and they used it to great effect to ambush other, less powerful, creatures in the dense canopy that had formed above the water. Only Vel was small enough to fit there so I was relegated to playing spotter. I could have played sniper as well but we needed to bring the lizards back in good condition, not turned to bloody salsa by a hypervelocity arrow.
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I swept my large array of magical sensors through the area in search of the sneaky buggers. Alan, in his spider form, was covering Vel as she approached one of the possible locations. She had never been the best at stealth between us but illusion spells could bridge that gap.
{I've found another one.} I sent through our telepathic link. The small illusion near her eyes shifted slightly to project the approximate location in her vision while a larger one wrapped around her and mimicked her surroundings.
{I can feel its presence but it's faint.} Vel answered back.
She silently crept towards the cluster of branches. Visually, the Kameleon appeared as nothing more than a lump of wood but slight imperfections in the skill it was using gave it away. I had become quite proficient at spotting them after multiple hours.
I moved into position as well.
Magic from Vel discreetly flowed through the trees surrounding the Kameleon. Not enough to have any effect but perfect to determine exactly where the near-invisible lizard was. {Found it.} Vel finally said.
{Go!} The catalysts around me flared to life. Vel sprang into action, a small dagger in her hand. The stasis spell took hold as the Kameleon tried to flee and made its movement slow enough for Vel to catch it with ease.
Your group has defeated [Adult Swamp Kameleon (Level 178, Rank 5)]
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Essence Absorption collected 15 ES (5x3)
Vel stored the body and we continued our search.
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During the evening, once we were back to our small base camp, I busied myself harvesting the ingredients from the dozen frogs we had managed to hunt. With the use of webs, it was much easier to suspend the bodies from the ceiling. The client had provided enchanted glass containers to store the harvested parts. For everything they didn't need, I stored for future use, either as provisions or possible ingredients.
"Frog legs on the menu today?" Vel asked with a chuckle.
"We have enough to last us for a few days if you want," I pulled a few legs from storage for her.
A few minutes later, the pleasant smell of grilling meat reached me. I had designed the wards around the shelter to filter away smells to avoid attracting predators. I was also using wind magic to reduce the unpleasant smells that came with butchering the frogs. There wasn't much risk of ruining my appetite, I was used to it, but the metallic smell of blood gave me slight headaches when it lingered.
Reached Level 177 (Rank 5, +1 level)
Gained: 7 ES
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The next day, we focused our search on the water-blooms. We had most of the ingredients for the other two missions but the small flowers had proved elusive. I had managed to fill only a fifth of the blue seeds container and only a tenth of the green one. The good thing was that we had only explored a small part of the swamp.
"Found some," Vel pointed, "in the tree's roots."
Since she had the ability to not only manipulate plants but sense them, Vel's help was invaluable. As we weren't hunting, she was riding on my back so I could protect her. The use of her magic to precisely detect the plants required more concentration than usual. I suspected she had at least some of the mental enhancement skills but I didn't know which. I didn't want to pry either, it was bad form to backseat someone else's choices unprompted.
I skittered closer, the magical platforms under my feet following my steps precisely, and used Dark Moon to raise the water around the blooms towards us. It was much easier, and safer, than to have Vel swim under the roots. She plucked the mature specimens from their stems and left the others. Once she was done, I gently lowered the plants back into their little hole.
"Nothing more in this area," Vel said.
"Let's move a little further in then," I suggested. "It looks like the water-blooms grow better there."
"The ambient mana near the edges isn't pure enough for water-blooms to flourish," Vel said, "I bet the ones we found were brought there by currents."
"Probably …" I trailed off as something entered my sphere of perception.
Ten meters long from snout to tail, covered in hardened shimmering green scales, and weighing at least two tons, was …
[Adult Swamp Crocolisk (Level 179, Rank 5)]
It barely disturbed the surface of the swamp as it swam towards us, only the slight movement of floating plants gave away the currents it generated as its nimble tail propelled it through the water with the grace and speed of an apex predator.