After leaving town, an uneasy silence fell upon the duo. Nywen seemed to be deep in thought looking at the sky, then turned to Alanna.
"So, what do you think?" Nywen asked.
Alanna couldn't answer immediately. "I'm not sure. Illithor seems knowledgeable about the area, but he also seems kind of..."
Nywen let out a long breath. "Ornery?"
"Yes, that! I didn't want to insult him by saying so."
Nywen looked out across the landscape. To the east the landscape slowly descended into a festering swamp, wisps of fog clinging to the canopy above it. To the north the woods stretched out before them, the landscape slowly climbing into the foothills of the eastern peaks.
"You get clients like this sometimes. Can't agree on the where or how. It's dangerous for everyone, especially us."
Alanna nodded hesitantly, having no experience herself. "Wh-what should we do then?"
Nywen pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes shut. "The last place they were known to have gone too was the swamp. We'll start there, where Rumi indicated the chokeberries grow. If that doesn't turn up anything we'll move north-west into the woods."
"Agreed," Alanna said after a short delay. She wasn't sure if it was the right call, but she trusted Nywen's experience.
Traveling through the swamp was tough going, to say the least. There was something of a path, but it was muddy and overgrown. Every so often Nywen would miss a step and sink almost up to her knee into the sucking mud. Alanna could tell where the ground disappeared thanks to her Tremorsense, but only for about one step forward. The wet soil dampened any vibrations she may have otherwise picked up through her boots. The smell of the swamp, however, made her new sensitive nose all but useless. She had honestly never considered a place this far from humanoid habitation could smell so foul.
Both of them kept their eyes peeled for any signs of the missing elves. They could make out boot prints here and there, but some rain must have passed over the area recently, so much of the signs of anyone passing by had been worn away.
Even after several hours they had found little evidence of what had become of the missing elves. Nywen had started swearing in her own tongue in frustration at their lack of any real progress, and Alanna felt her muscles burn from having to fight their way forward. They were deep in the swamp now, surrounded only by the croaking of frogs, bubbling of swamp gas and the buzz of insects.
"Let's rest on that hill," Alanna said. It wasn't much of a hill if she had to be honest, being little more than a shallow mound with a tree growing on it, its roots holding the soil together, but it was the only dry place in sight. She let out a sigh of relief when she sat down on one of the bigger roots and took a swig from her waterskin.
"I don't think the villagers would come out this far," Nywen said. There weren't a lot of landmarks here, so they had to guess where they were relative to town. They had passed some picked bushes of chokeberries, but again, no sign of their quarry. "The villagers likely to do their best to keep monsters away from their town, but we're so far out now we could run into anything... Wait," Nywen stopped, climbing up the side of the tree. She peered into the distance, then pointed.
"Look, over there," she said. Alanna followed Nywen's gaze and saw a piece of fabric hanging from a thorn bush. From this distance neither of them could tell what it was from, a tunic, backpack or sheath, but it was clearly man-made.
"You think we finally found them?" Alanna asked.
"Maybe, maybe not," Nywen replied. "But it's the only clue we've found so far. We'll approach quietly. You remember what I told you, right?"
Alanna nodded. "Strike the ground softly with your toes, then roll your foot. Never touch water, branches or anything else that makes noise."
"Good!" Nywen said, then began closing onto their target. It was especially rough in this area as no path had been worn into the swamp for them to follow, forcing them to zigzag their way forward across the driest dirt they could find. There was no sign there was anything threatening in the area, but Alanna did her best to stay quiet regardless. She had to admit that Nywen's advice had helped immensely, though she was nowhere near as fast or quiet as the Rogue.
They closed the gap with the thorn bush. Up close it became clear it was a soiled scrap of wool, clearly part of some women's clothing. It was wet and muddy, but fresh.
Nywen and Alanna both looked around, but it didn't seem like there was anything waiting in ambush. However, they didn't have a ton of visibility. Trees, grasses and shrubbery grew all around, if something wanted to catch them by surprise there were plenty of hideouts.
Nywen squatted down at the base of the thorns, then frowned.
"Look, Alanna. What do you see?" she asked in a whisper, beckoning her over. Alanna looked and, to her shame, saw very little. Just mud and grass.
"Nothing," she admitted, despite trying quite hard to find the tracks Nywen had clearly noticed.
"Exactly. Someone has been here, no more than a few days ago, then left this scrap in plain view. But no tracks?"
Alanna shook her head. "That makes no sense."
"Nywen stared at her. "How much do you know of the monsters in this area?"
"Some. My... My master had a lot of bestiaries. Why?"
"I am not a native to these lands. I know plenty about monsters, as much as you can expect an adventurer of my skill to know, but there are strange monsters out there. I don't know about every rare monster that exists. I hoped you might know one that would... Well, do this." She gestured at the scrap of fabric.
Alanna looked up at the piece of fabric, then reached out towards it. Nywen grabbed her by her arm, shaking her head. "Do not pull. Use your blade," she said.
Alanna nodded and slowly drew her sword. She gently grabbed hold of the fabric, then gently pried it free.
She looked it over in her hand. She believed it may have come from a sleeve, but there was little more information to be gained from it... At least, through conventional means. She brought it up to her face and smelled the fabric. She could vaguely make out a womanly scent... The coppery smell of blood. And a sweet flowery scent hiding behind everything else. It seemed familiar.
She looked back at Nywen, who looked at her as though she had grown a second head. She gestured "why" and Alanna blushed in embarrassment. Of course that would look weird if nobody knew about her keen nose. Then Nywen's eyes went wide and she pointed behind Alanna.
"Move!" she yelled. Alanna did not think twice this time and ducked to the side, barely dodging something long, black and sharp from stabbing her through the thorns. To Alanna's horror she saw two horse shoe-sized compound eyes looking at her through the brambles. Neither her nor Nywen had noticed the gigantic mosquito that had been laying in wait amidst the brambles, its stick-like body perfectly camouflaged until it attempted to strike.
Soon enough the sound of buzzing erupted from the thorn bush. Not one, but five of the giant insects flew free, no doubt protected from the thorns by their hard chitin. They buzzed angrily towards the two adventurers in a disturbing pattern of moving, then hovering still in mid-air, then approaching further.
Nywen drew both of her daggers as one of the mosquitoes flew towards her, its whole body lurching forward as it attempted to jab her with its mouthparts. She deftly parried the thrust, but the mosquito used its wings to retreat into the air before she could retaliate. The next mosquito made its attempt at Alanna. She was forced to repeat the same parry, and again the mosquito flew out of reach.
The swarm then descended on the two, clearly meaning to overwhelm them with numbers. Nywen yelled loudly, clanging her daggers together. She knew Alanna was the weaker fighter, so she was trying to draw their attention to her. Sure enough three of the mosquitoes decided to target Nywen, but the other two went after Alanna.
Fighting the two insects was like going through an intense combat drill against two deadly fencers. Every time one thrust at her and she parried, the other approached to cover the first's retreat. After trailing through the swamp for hours she was already tired and now her body had to go through another strenuous exercise, one that didn't allow her even one mistake.
She looked over at Nywen, who was holding her own against the three mosquitoes attacking her. She flipped one of her daggers around to grip it by the tip, then threw it with deadly accuracy into one of the mosquitoes eyes. It buzzed erratically but quickly returned to attack. Nywen drew another dagger and returned to her deadly dance.
Alanna gnashed her teeth at the idea that her first instinct was to look for Nywen to come save her. She was determined to not be this incompetent carry-on that Nywen carried around only because she had no other choice. She slashed at the mosquito attacking her, but it's reflexes were much faster than hers and it darted out of reach, her blade striking only air.
She knew she couldn't keep this up, but she entirely lacked the tools to deal with these things. They needed a Ranger or a Wizard, someone who could strike these vermin out of the sky. She shook her head free of that useless thought. There was no point to wishing, she needed a plan. They were just animalistic monsters that wanting nothing but to sting her, all she needed to do was use that against them.
An idea occurred to her. She sheathed her sword, instead bringing her hands up in a grappling stance. Solizzar had taught her the basics of grappling, but he admitted it wasn't his strong suit, nor was it hers with her small stature and lackluster strength... However, that was then. She was stronger now.
She waited for the mosquito to try its luck again, but this time rather than parry the blow or dodging she used both her hands to grab the mosquito's mouthparts. It buzzed angrily, the spear-like proboscis fighting against her grip, but she was grounded, so she had far more leverage than the flying insect. To her surprise, the creature instead latched onto her with all six of its clawed, segmented legs, and began using all of them to drag her towards itself.
Now it was a much more even struggle. She was still stronger, but now the mosquito had far more leverage, the sharp end of its mouth inching closer to her neck.
Grabbing the mosquito was only half her plan, however. She watched the other one from the corner of her eye. It was clearly looking for an opening to gets its fill, and she intentionally did not react as it approached her from her side. As soon as she saw it lurch to try and sting her, she brought the monster she had in her grasp in the way.
Whether by momentum or simple stupidity, the other flying insect could not halt its jab, its proboscis sinking a finger length into its sister's abdomen. The mosquito Alanna was holding buzzed frantically, letting go of Alanna and attempting to lift off, but it remained stuck between Alanna's grip and impaled on the other mosquito.
