Th3King0fChaos

Exalted: Fall of Creation - IntCheck

I am interested

Altera: Of the Destitute and the Destined

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Argentum

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Once they got back to the camp, Argen went over to the fire to warm up his cold fingers as he began giving the quick details of what they found, "We found a way to cross through the swamp as the water all but sputters out there, as well as there seemed to be ice tracks indicating this path was taken by a cart before us. It might be the place the others crossed and path used to make it to the fort".

Argen begins to look around it seems nothing really changed, seems Katya was throwing rocks, as she whips a rock across the river, she was good at it as he called out, "Nicely done".

As Argen was watching the river as they Ettamri talked to them, Argen responded to the mispronounced name, "It's Argen" as he stood up and began making last checks to the wagon before they began to head out as he looked towards the river and he found something he thought would not be seeing all day, blood in the water. He made a quick job over to the water to check what was there and to see what was there. A body, he took off his gloves and rolled up his pants as high as they could go and went in to try and fish the body out. In Argen's mind he thought, 'So my bad feeling was not because I was in danger', As he thinks it might be because up stream there was danger.

If he could he would bring it to shore and inspect what it was, it could have been one of their teammates and it would be bad news if it was. He also tried to make sure Katya wasn't looking.

Pokémon: The Pillaging

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Adrian And Carrie

---

A cold night made colder by his companion wasn't anything new to Adrian. Being on the run for around 3 months now left him always looking behind him, however since leaving Yaewong he has found life quieted down. Not quiet enough to bore a man, as survival is always a luming game, yet quiet enough to understand what happened. He knew he did the right thing, saving lies and ready to expose the dirtiness of Leno Koi, yet he felt as if he could have done something else. Maybe he could have kept his mouth shut, if he did he might have been able to become a general himself. Yet right now this wasn't one of those times to think about this. He was hungry and cold, Carrie has been looking around for him and has came back with some great news, there is someone nearby, they were getting close to the fire they saw a few minutes ago. Hopefully they are friendly Adrian is too tired to want to fight, if he had to he would kill them, but he doesn't really want blood on his hands right now. He just wants to get out of the cold.

As Adrian came close to smelling the fire, he knew he was close enough for them to hear him, he called out, "Hello, I don't mean any harm I'm here to just see who made that fire and ask if I can warm up". As Adrian steps out into the open for them to see him, he has his armor on and some basic clothing under it. He still looked like an intimidating force nonetheless with his size and stature, as he look towards them he quickly finds a woman sitting there with a large piece of meat, and light clothing for this weather, and a Syther chewing at some meat. His hands are open to view and he even raises his left hand and places it on the tree next to him so they can see his hand is away from his blade.

Carrie is hiding around 5 yards away, looking at Adrian's back making sure nothing sneaks up on him. She is also there as she doesn't really want to meet anyone as she is afraid they will try and hurt her as she is a Haunter. She does however creeps closer every once in a while because she can smell the meat and is getting more anxious wanting to eat something.

Pokémon: The Pillaging

Adrian

Name: Adrian Corwin
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Orientation: Determination
Place of Birth: Yaewong, Shirooka

Appearance:
Weighing in at 215 pounds and standing at a staggering 6'3, Adrian is a wall of muscle and force. His Face has a hard and stern look with a enlarged nose, from constant breakage, a scar on his left ear from a knife attack, and a black beard that covers his worn and torn tanned skin. His arms and body is that of a strong man as he was built up through work and strife, his hands shows it as his knuckles look like one large scar with some of his fingers beings slightly crooked from the incessant breakage and his hands are heavily callused as combat demands them to be tough. His forearms are covered with many small scars from everyday life. With his legs being as if tree trunks attached to a giant to over all making him look to be a mountain.

Personality:

An abrasive man he believes in everyman and woman should take hold of their life no matter would happen and you own it. He always prides himself in keeping himself in good shape and on top of his combat as he grew up with people around him doing the same. His one thing that branches off from his birth place is the belief of being loyal to yourself and what you believe in before anything else, which gets him into trouble more often than anything.

He has kept himself in high moral as he steals only when necessary and stuck to hunting, but he doesn’t shy away from killing. If someone approaches him and attacks he has 0 mercy and 0 guilt when looting them of everything they have. Yet he does carry regret in him as he can find himself remembering what he used to be and even who he could have been if he just kept his mouth shut about the general's wrong doings.

He will talk to most as if he was a normal soldier, with respect but keep it quick, as he finds it easy to talk like this and makes things simpler as you get what you need. His entire goal is to live with and protect Gastly, who was the thing that has been with him since he was a teen and has stayed by his side since.

Skills:

Combat:
Unarmed martial-arts | D
Sword play | C+
Combat Tactics | C
Archery | D

Interaction:
Speech | E
Athletics | D
Leadership | C-
Intimidation | B

Survival:
Hunting | D
Tracking | D+
Fishing | E
Stealth | D

Utility:
First Aid | E
Cooking | D+
Sewing | E-
Armor maintenance | D-

Inventory:
Father's Longsword
A map of Yaewong
Plate armor: covering the body, shins, and forearms.
Leather armor: Covering the shoulders, thighs where plate armor is not covering.
Leather bag
Sleeping kit: Bedroll and blanket.

Background:

Adrian was born to George and Christina Crowin. George Corwin was a well respected captain who honored many of the beliefs and ideas of his father: to become a well respected warrior, be a man you want to look up to, and, the one thing that seems odd for a man born in Yaewong, be loyal and honorable to yourself before anyone else.

These same ideas were passed down to Adrian and he held them to his heart. Even from a young age he tried everything he could to stay real to these as he held himself with high standards. When he played with others he wanted to be the best so he did everything in his power to do his best, when he was being taught he worked himself to exhaustion everyday to absorb every bit of knowledge as if it was the last thing he will ever be taught. When he was being taught by his father to fight he fought as if he lost he would not eat dinner. Everything he did was with such determination he could be seen as a workaholic, yet he believed to reach where his father did, and where his father's father did, he would need to put in this much work to just get there.

When Adrian became a teenager he found some teens 'playing' with a Gastly as they throw rocks at it and taking large paper fans and blowing it around. Strangely this game would end with people being afraid when the Gastly tried to envelope you, but it just ran. As they found a large clay vase and caught it in it and sealed it as they started shaking it, Adrian had enough and wasn't gonna just watch them torment a Pokémon that showed no intent of hurting people. Adrian came over and started trying to catch the vase as they threw it around him, he tried as he could and didn't any luck when he decided knocking the teeth in of the next person who goes to catch it.

After around a fast brawl where it left Adrian with bloodied knuckles, beaten face, and the vase with the Gastly in it. Adrian let it out and started to talk to it. He slowly began to try and help it cope and even started to befriend it. After sometime and a few berries Gastly began to follow Adrian without him noticing. Staying far enough away so he couldn't feel its presence and watching him. After another week Gastly came out and activley followed Adrian as they began a friendship that lasted even 'till now.

When Adrian came of age he wanted to join the military, and as he was tested through battle and combat he found he was good with a sword because of his father's teachings, and he had good knowledge of the flow of battle and how to act and call actions from his grandfather's books and taking notes form his father on how to lead. He worked his way up to be a captain of a large unit and was working under the warrior General Leno Koi. Adrian saw this man as who he wanted to be as he seemed like a strong leader and an excellent warrior. Yet this was broken after a campaign under his command.

His general is one of the few men Adrian ever knew who had no back bone. He had little in the way of military tactics and was subpar in combat strategy, but he had an excellent physique and perfect sword play second to none. This man was an excellent warrior, but knew nothing on how to fight when they are at disadvantage and brought shame on the idea of war as he is often times cowering when faced with a decision too great for him to handle. This got so bad as other captains and commanders needed to take control of the situation to not just crumble.

Yet the reason Adrian is not in the Yaewong army isn't because he fancied a nice time as a bandit, he found himself in the presence of an enemy force who was about to over whelm them, in his quick decision Adrian ordered, against expressed orders of General Koi, to retreat and bunker down. At night he was charged with treason as what he did could have killed many more. During this time he was taken and was sentenced to be executed at morning. Gastly wasn't having this as she killed those guarding him and broke him out as they escaped with a hot trail they used the darkness of night and Gastly following behind shielding him to escape. And really the rest comes from the need to survive as he is now a wanted criminal in his home country.

---

Pokémon: Haunter

Nickname: Love or Carrie.

Ability: Levitate.

Item: None.

Bond: She is timid and shy.

Adrian found a Gastly being tormented and trapped by many teens when he was younger. He took Gastly away and let it out and began to talk to it, trying to calm it down and have it trust him. As many Gastlys always wants a companion she began to follow the only person who decided to be nice and not run away or attack it. She followed Adrian through his training and even through his rise to captain.

Gastly followed him close staying to the shadow and trying to not get hurt by others as they might be afraid of her. Through these times Adrian trained Gastly to defend herself as they would find themselves in battle and she could get into trouble as he gets caught up as well. During Adrian's training and even in battle he was already large and intimidating, but Gastly increased the presence as he always had a frightening presence follow him making him seem larger then life at times. All thanks to Gastly being a little bitch.

Gastly transformed into a Haunter when they had to run away and disappear from the military camp as they were going to be killed by the General Koi because of what Adrian found. Haunter helped by putting people to sleep and allowing a swift exit and a helped by scouting for Adrian, making sure she could save the man who gave her a chance and gave her friendship.

Moves:
Dream Eater pokemondb.net/move/dream-eater
Shadow Ball pokemondb.net/move/shadow-ball
Will-O-Wisp pokemondb.net/move/will-o-wisp
Hypnosis pokemondb.net/move/hypnosis

Pokémon: The Pillaging

Adrian

Name: Adrian Corwin
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Orientation: Determination
Place of Birth: Yaewong, Shirooka

Appearance:
Weighing in at 215 pounds and standing at a staggering 6'3, Adrian is a wall of muscle and force. His Face has a hard and stern look with a enlarged nose, from constant breakage, a scar on his left ear from a knife attack, and a black beard that covers his worn and torn tanned skin. His arms and body is that of a strong man as he was built up through work and strife, his hands shows it as his knuckles look like one large scar with some of his fingers beings slightly crooked from the incessant breakage and his hands are heavily callused as combat demands them to be tough. His forearms are covered with many small scars from everyday life. With his legs being as if tree trunks attached to a giant to over all making him look to be a mountain.

Personality:

An abrasive man he believes in everyman and woman should take hold of their life no matter would happen and you own it. He always prides himself in keeping himself in good shape and on top of his combat as he grew up with people around him doing the same. His one thing that branches off from his birth place is the belief of being loyal to yourself and what you believe in before anything else, which gets him into trouble more often than anything.

He has kept himself in high moral as he steals only when necessary and stuck to hunting, but he doesn’t shy away from killing. If someone approaches him and attacks he has 0 mercy and 0 guilt when looting them of everything they have. Yet he does carry regret in him as he can find himself remembering what he used to be and even who he could have been if he just kept his mouth shut about the general's wrong doings.

He will talk to most as if he was a normal soldier, with respect but keep it quick, as he finds it easy to talk like this and makes things simpler as you get what you need. His entire goal is to live with and protect Gastly, who was the thing that has been with him since he was a teen and has stayed by his side since.

Skills:

Combat:
Unarmed martial-arts | D
Sword play | C+
Combat Tactics | C
Bowman ship | D

Interaction:
Speech | E
Athletics | D
Leadership | C-
Intimidation | B

Survival:
Hunting | D
Tracking | D+
Fishing | E
Stealth | D

Utility:
First Aid | E
Cooking | D+
Sewing | E-
Armor maintenance | D-

Inventory:
Father's Longsword
A map of Yaewong
Plate armor: covering the body, shins, and forearms.
Leather armor: Covering the shoulders, thighs where plate armor is not covering.
Leather bag
Sleeping kit: Bedroll and blanket.

Background:

Adrian was born to George and Christina Crowin. George Corwin was a well respected captain who honored many of the beliefs and ideas of his father: to become a well respected warrior, be a man you want to look up to, and, the one thing that seems odd for a man born in Yaewong, be loyal and honorable to yourself before anyone else.

These same ideas were passed down to Adrian and he held them to his heart. Even from a young age he tried everything he could to stay real to these as he held himself with high standards. When he played with others he wanted to be the best so he did everything in his power to do his best, when he was being taught he worked himself to exhaustion everyday to absorb every bit of knowledge as if it was the last thing he will ever be taught. When he was being taught by his father to fight he fought as if he lost he would not eat dinner. Everything he did was with such determination he could be seen as a workaholic, yet he believed to reach where his father did, and where his father's father did, he would need to put in this much work to just get there.

When Adrian became a teenager he found some teens 'playing' with a Gastly as they throw rocks at it and taking large paper fans and blowing it around. Strangely this game would end with people being afraid when the Gastly tried to envelope you, but it just ran. As they found a large clay vase and caught it in it and sealed it as they started shaking it, Adrian had enough and wasn't gonna just watch them torment a Pokémon that showed no intent of hurting people. Adrian came over and started trying to catch the vase as they threw it around him, he tried as he could and didn't any luck when he decided knocking the teeth in of the next person who goes to catch it.

After around a fast brawl where it left Adrian with bloodied knuckles, beaten face, and the vase with the Gastly in it. Adrian let it out and started to talk to it. He slowly began to try and help it cope and even started to befriend it. After sometime and a few berries Gastly began to follow Adrian without him noticing. Staying far enough away so he couldn't feel its presence and watching him. After another week Gastly came out and activley followed Adrian as they began a friendship that lasted even 'till now.

When Adrian came of age he wanted to join the military, and as he was tested through battle and combat he found he was good with a sword because of his father's teachings, and he had good knowledge of the flow of battle and how to act and call actions from his grandfather's books and taking notes form his father on how to lead. He worked his way up to be a captain of a large unit and was working under the warrior General Leno Koi. Adrian saw this man as who he wanted to be as he seemed like a strong leader and an excellent warrior. Yet this was broken after a campaign under his command.

His general is one of the few men Adrian ever knew who had no back bone. He had little in the way of military tactics and was subpar in combat strategy, but he had an excellent physique and perfect sword play second to none. This man was an excellent warrior, but knew nothing on how to fight when they are at disadvantage and brought shame on the idea of war as he is often times cowering when faced with a decision too great for him to handle. This got so bad as other captains and commanders needed to take control of the situation to not just crumble.

Yet the reason Adrian is not in the Yaewong army isn't because he fancied a nice time as a bandit, he found himself in the presence of an enemy force who was about to over whelm them, in his quick decision Adrian ordered, against expressed orders of General Koi, to retreat and bunker down. At night he was charged with treason as what he did could have killed many more. During this time he was taken and was sentenced to be executed at morning. Gastly wasn't having this as she killed those guarding him and broke him out as they escaped with a hot trail they used the darkness of night and Gastly following behind shielding him to escape. And really the rest comes from the need to survive as he is now a wanted criminal in his home country.

---

Pokémon: Haunter

Nickname: Love or Carrie.

Ability: Levitate.

Item: None.

Bond: She is timid and shy.

Adrian found a Gastly being tormented and trapped by many teens when he was younger. He took Gastly away and let it out and began to talk to it, trying to calm it down and have it trust him. As many Gastlys always wants a companion she began to follow the only person who decided to be nice and not run away or attack it. She followed Adrian through his training and even through his rise to captain.

Gastly followed him close staying to the shadow and trying to not get hurt by others as they might be afraid of her. Through these times Adrian trained Gastly to defend herself as they would find themselves in battle and she could get into trouble as he gets caught up as well. During Adrian's training and even in battle he was already large and intimidating, but Gastly increased the presence as he always had a frightening presence follow him making him seem larger then life at times. All thanks to Gastly being a little bitch.

Gastly transformed into a Haunter when they had to run away and disappear from the military camp as they were going to be killed by the General Koi because of what Adrian found. Haunter helped by putting people to sleep and allowing a swift exit and a helped by scouting for Adrian, making sure she could save the man who gave her a chance and gave her friendship.

Moves:
Dream Eater pokemondb.net/move/dream-eater
Shadow Ball pokemondb.net/move/shadow-ball
Will-O-Wisp pokemondb.net/move/will-o-wisp
Hypnosis pokemondb.net/move/hypnosis

Eden Entry (KRIM N T3KC)

As Sammual waited he found himself just staring at the pond at one point thinking, 'Hu. this is my life now. To constantly just be in terror of everything around me 'till the day something with my name on it comes for me'. As he was almost day dreaming he almost missed this larger than life elk come out of the forest, nearly 15 feet tall it walked over to the large pond and started drinking from it. It seemed fine as it just kept drinking, until a large ass alligator larch onto the elk and spun taking its head clean off. Sammual just looked and with a straight face got down turned and began to walk away beck to where the ship was. He didn't care if there were giant insects those can be killed, a giant alligator like creature would just kill him without a second of struggle. As he walked for about 15 minutes he made it back to where he can see the ship as he began to look around hoping to find something else, and there was nothing, so he did the most logical thing in his head. Find a place to hide and pray, so he started looking through the trees and trying to find a hidey hole for himself. After an hour of searching he finally found a hole large enough for him to fit into and a rock large enough to set in front of it so he could be safer.

As he sat there he began to wait surely his partner will find him. Besides it's getting late and Sammual has been mentally exhausted by all of this. His body feels fine as his legs feel like, well, nothing. As he turns on his light he began to look around in this hole, just large enough for like 3 adults, as he uses his flash light he begins to etch the walls with the light as he finds it is just a small area he can hide in as he slowly passes out hopefully to find his partner waking him up.

---

'Guy' now has to watch this man sleep. Why did he choose such a shitty person to play this game. Maybe he should have something 'help' him along.

The Festival of Destiny (High Casual Fantasy Romance)

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Ramsas

---

Interacting with: @FailingForward & @EurmalEye

Ramsas sees at the very start the woman wasn't all too cooperative with the idea, but when he heard Birch begin to speak he saw her face slowly fade from that of annoyance to a more normal calmed face. He internally sighed as he saw that the situation calm down as she didn't wish to bring in any guards or create a big scene out of this. He just leaned against the wall as the whole place wasn't gonna become a mess and make his life hard trying to get his friend out of jail. Unlike last year at the Golden Goose, but that fiasco was in part by Ramsas' own doing so he does need to take blame but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that they could still have a good time and not end up in jail.

As the tension all but died when Birch came back Ramsas decided to lean against the wall near him. As Ramsas was spoken to he perk up slightly as she was talking about his music. He was kinda saddened by the fact she called it fine as he said, "Fine? Well it looks like I'll have to try harder next time to impress you!" As he snaps his finger and points at her with a wink. A thing he often does to show he is going to try extra hard to find them and force them to say his music is good, even if it kills him.

As he sees she looks back towards Birch and talk to him again as they talk about where Birch is from and the medicine he gave her. She seemed to be the scholarly type. Hard to get smiling or laughing if not coaxed with alcohol and enough embarrassment on both ends but not impossible. As he looks at her she seems, strange. She doesn't look like the person to come to a festival like this. She looks as if she was here to find a book or the college of magic, but he wasn't one to judge himself. He has literally nothing on him except his clothing and his bracers he'd normally wear, but when he is here it's better to have them off so it is easy to show that he is marked so he can get free drinks, food,and service.

Ramsas waited 'till they finished discussing the difference of those plants to say, "Hey why not we go to a place to eat as we talk it would be a nice place to talk and get to know each other as I am starving after that performance". Just as a thought as it would also be a way to fill everyone's stomach and forget what happened here, so only good memories are left because it is hard to remmember bad things when you are with good company and a full belly. As Ramsas looked at Birch for his confirmation he saw the man and said, "After we get you a wardrobe change real quick. We can't have you in tattered clothing". Ramsas said as he gestured to the torn apart outfit.

The Festival of Destiny (High Casual Fantasy Romance)

discord.gg/YbzSFm

Try that

The Festival of Destiny (High Casual Fantasy Romance)

Ramsas

@FailingForward @EurmalEye

Ramsas laughed at the proclamation of Birch's outfit was fit for royals as he said, I mean if you say so I just never seen an outfit so...uncomfortable". As he gestures to his outfit Ramsas notice something off about Birch now, he almost looks like when he saw him in battle, enlarged, reddened, and animal like. Ramsas didn't know what was going on as his friend yelled out, "ORCS". Being immediately startled all the instruments creaked a nasty noise as each stopped on a bad and almost hissed the last note they were on before disappearing as Ramsas lost all focus. He look baffled and confused as he knew no Orc tribes were in the area and if they were they were either half Orcs or full Orcs who shifted to societal norms. As he began helping people up and calming people down he still looks baffled as all the energy that was once here died immediately. He begins to check on people and assuring them that there was no real trouble it looked like he was startled and ran off.

The entire crowd began to disperse to leave such a scene as it was quite bad vibes on a great day. Ramsas was slightly upset by this as he was having a great time, however he was happy that he can think straight again. His mind was extremely strained from so many instruments playing at once. Even if it was for around 10 minutes it still felt like he was playing for a few hours straight. He did feel like he could have had a lot more fun, but he can't dwell on that now he needs to check on his friend and see if Birch is alright. If there is an Orc who tried to attack him he believes in Birch to handle himself, but most likely in a large city it was probably a thief who snuck up on him and stole from him and got caught and startled Birch.

As Ramsas left he started to apologize to the people there about what happened and that the performance had to end but that they can probably find him doing this again later at around sun set if they wanted to watch him perform again. As he left he mostly followed the now very easy to follow trail of smashed cobblestone as he found Birch cornered by a woman as it seems she is laying into him as Ramsas comes jogging up and begins with a, "Whoa whoa, please ma'am you don't need to lay into him too much. Look at him he looks full of regret for what he did, and besides cut him some slack here I know he hasn't been here for all too long and is in a foreign place with no experience about this. Look how he is dressed". As Ramsas notices Birch's now ripped Tomato outfit and shakes it off as he continues, "His outfit doesn't really scream 'subtle' or 'I'm from here' and he was probably robbed by a thief and was startled so bad he thought there was an enemy here to fight him".

Ramsas says this out of hope that she will take this explanation of him being from a place where people fight more often and has never been to somewhere like here and drop this whole thing. But based on what's been going on he knows there will be more to this than her just leaving this at that. And besides even if she does leave, Birch isn't off the hook as he would need to have a talk about what happened anyways and how they can fix his whole outfit situation and maybe find somewhere to find a drink.

Altera: Of the Destitute and the Destined

---

Down the River

---

Collaboration of: @ERode @Th3King0fChaos @OwO

"I’m an ice mage," he told Argen "so I can make ice."

Repost of what happened

Downstream, the river became even wider, splitting off into individual streams. Some carved deeply into the marshy land, while others spread out, ice forming over them as cold water dispersed further. Each step through the frozen swamps was accompanied with a solid crunch of ice, but observing the network of streams from a distance, it was clear that the landscape there was made of smoother, more slippery ice. A broken ankle wasn’t a job-ending injury, of course, not when they had Katya to offer benedictions of mending onto them, but if the horses slipped? The effect that it’d have on the wagon would be much greater. There was no magical healing that could repair a shattered wheel, and a wet sack of grain was functionally worthless.
Still, the swamplands made for easy travelling otherwise, and the further they went down, the more dispersed the river became. If they truly committed to it, by travelling southwards enough, perhaps they’d reach the point where the river simply died off, leaving easy travels for them all? It was something to dream about.
Argen and Renault, of course, could also dream about the other future where they earn the approval of the giant female knight by dragging the log bridge over to where the wagon was, and flat-out repairing it on the spot. After all, a swift stream could only pull a large log for so long, and once it spread out, there it was: the thirty meter long tree just lying in line with the wider river, clear water flowing around it. Looking at it now, it was only maybe two to three meters wide itself, easy for adventurers to cross but requiring some other method for a wagon laden with grains to traverse.
It was the bridge though. It could be used.

Argen looks off towards the deeper swamps as it might be advantageous to keep going, as the reason they are out here is to find a way to bring the wagon over. He looked back at the log and sighed as well because it would also be great to have a bridge to bring people over. And if they check the depth of the water near where they are it could be possible that it is low enough that the horse could cross with the wagon.
“Hmm, this would be a great idea having a bridge we could use. We would need to bring it back to the camp and that would be quite a bit of work and effort just to get it moving”.

As Argen looked back towards the deeper swamps as he continued, “Yet it would also be smart to check deeper to find if the river just disperses and if it does it would make sense to do that and not waste energy with the log. Besides to me it doesn't look like it’s going anywhere right now”.

Renauld had looked at the displaced bridge. Indeed, the large size of it was obviously too much for the two of them. If Ettamri had been there, they could have possibly moved it. It was much better to leave it there, though. He didn’t want to waste the group’s strength in simply moving a bridge.
"Considering my magic, I could secure the bridge here and we can have a slight detour. I don’t quite feel comfortable in moving a big hunk of wood that far. Going further, we could probably just check a few things out. Might as well, since we’re here already."

As Argen readjusts himself, he sighs out, “Well that settles it, time to head farther and see what is in the swamp”. As he begins to walk at a slower pace in anticipation of his companion catching up before assuming his normal speed. Argen did take note of how the water dispersed. Maybe it would flow out enough where there will be a ton of small areas where they could just go and walk across. Or they could just find a large area covered in ice.

Yet whatever is in front of them they will find it in due time, until then, Argen will take his time making sure they do not run into obvious traps, and hopefully they don’t find resistance here. Most creatures should be in hibernation or areas where warmth is more readily available and wind can be broken. As long as they stray away from the more dangerous areas like caves and stick to clearings there should be no problem with something trying to sneak attack them. All they need to do is keep their head on a swivel and keep their ears open.

Eventually, the river did indeed spread out wide enough that it was merely a trickle, ice crusting over it. By now, the two adventurers were a good one hour walking through the swamp, and it was clear that their vigilance was fairly pointless: no monsters popped up, nor even any wildlife at all. It was certainly peaceful, and this far away from the mountains, there were no caves hiding monstrosities either, leaving Argen and Renault to travel in peace.
No, perhaps there wasn’t nothing down this trail. There were, after all, some quite obvious tracks tracing through the network of streams now. Though snow would have normally covered it, ice froze the deep grooves in the swamp, leaving clear indications of a portion where a wagon must have been driven through.

"Seems like it was a good idea coming all this way. It seems this is the path taken by those before us. May it be good or bad this seems to be our way through". Argen says this after he inspects the tracks and fully erecting himself.

He looks back towards Renauld as he then says, "Well. We should start heading back and tell the others. It will be a walk and we'll be losing daylight if we just sit around".

Before they leave he takes one last look around, even if nothing is here,  Argen doesn't like the feeling he has. It feels like something is constantly gnawing at him, like there should be something but he doesn't know what it is.

"Indeed,." Renauld had replied, ”let’s head back and see if we can’t cross over here.”

Even if it was an hour away, having the ability to easily cross what remained of the river was great. For the cost of only a mild detour, they would be unaffected by the risk of falling into the river. The cart tracks leading further on were proof of safe crossing. Additionally, the tracks also could act as navigation. If the wagon that had made them got to the fort safely, then it would be a great route to follow. The problem was what if the wagon was ambushed or had gotten lost.

Still, it was an easy place to cross.