Cait's Quest - Pg 5 (Patreon)

It looks as though Cait and Me La have so far been fortunate in navigating the swamp while avoiding any tribes or murderous creatures...so far.  They make their way off road, and while Me La assured her new companion that the forest's edge was close, their surroundings  barely seemed to change from from murky swamp.

After the excitement of their previous perils, Cait realized that she had lost her bag containing the possessions she had brought with her: Maps, coin, cooking utensils, spare garments, and the odd pouches of berries and nuts she had managed to store before setting off on her journey.  With the sound of her stomach churning, she really could have used her snacks now.  She would have to find away to make some money when she made it to the city...

She is about to remark this to her friend, who immediately hisses at her to keep quiet; they had stumbled across a new figure in the clearing up ahead.  The form was thinly-framed, and hooded.  It was a lone girl, who was adept at noticing them at once.  The girl lowered her hood to examine her visitors, revealing a bespectacled face of concern.  It did not take long for the two parties to sense no danger from each other, and the girl introduced herself as Arely.  

Arely was a sorceress...or one in training, at least.  She had been tasked by her master in the city to comb the borders of the swamp in search of a rare, striped fungi for potion making.  Arely was of course nervous to make the trip, aware of the dangers of this particular wilderness, but was determined to see the task through.  She had just stumbled upon the fungi she was looking for, although the specimens were scarce.

After a brief introduction, Cait solidified her first impression by immediately snagging one of the shrooms, excited to have a snack at long last!  Arely was quick to snatch it from her; she would NOT lose them!  She was certainly a quick tempered girl, but her tone was not unnecessarily cold towards them, and after some more discourse it was determined that they would exit the swamp together.  Arely was particularly disturbed to hear the news of what Me La's tribe had begun doing to lost travellers.  When Cait asked if Arely could spare anything to eat, the young sorceress rolled her eyes and offered up her sack full of plain, white shrooms that she had collected while in search of rarer ones.

Me La giggled at what was apparently the sound of Cait's stomach giving her grief again, but the rumbling grew louder, and soon was tailed by the crashing of trees, and the snapping of branches.  Loud footfalls elicited urgent looks between each girl, before finally they saw the hideous visage of some sort of swamp beach peering through the branches.  It's massive, bloating fingers seized a couple of trees, and wrenched them apart.  It leered down at the girls, its mouth opening in a delighted, disgusting sneer.  Cait had a vague guess from her studies as to what this could be, but Arely confirmed it with a faint voice:  A swamp troll.

The girl's took in the thing's awful height, fully aware that there would be no slicing THIS guy's head off.  Escape was the only practical option.  But little did they know, the troll was about to snatch up one of the three girls to have for lunch...but which one?

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