Samathan had been wandering these moors for awhile now but he was not lost, he knew exactly where he was. He was fascinated by these moors, they were unlike anything he had yet encountered. He whistled as he walked along through the murky trees and shrubs, he was strangely contended for being in a place such as this. He wondered if he would meet anyone here, he was getting sick of travelling alone like he had been doing for awhile now. One had no one to talk to when travelling alone and it got extremely tiresome and boring after awhile, but although Samathan had a warm and friendly persona he had yet to make any friends.

Samathan's wish for company was about to come true, though not likely in a manner the warrior wished. Vernon was lazily nibbling on a peice of decayed flesh as he laid with with his stomach against the tree branch letting his legs and tail dangle limply. It was getting around the time of year when Kellen hosted a big celebration of the bountiful they'd been blessed with. Vernon simply loved big events certered around food, but this certainly didn't make them any more likely to be free of Vernon attempting to corrupt them. He'd poison the food and hopefully this year he wouldn't get caught by some stinking goody-two-shoes. Vernon was admist pondering what precautions he could take against getting caught when the familiar scent of elven flesh swept to his sensitive nose. Vernon put away the human flesh he held in his hands, hiding it within his back pack to be snacked on later. Vernon climbed to his feet and readied to track this intruder.

A horridly foul odor closed in on Samathan's as Vernon swiftly followed the elf's scent. Vernon lept from tree to tree preferring that speedy route to the slower trek the muck below offered. Vernon would soon be meeting with his quarry after his nausiating herald of scent. Sure the scent gave off any sense of stealth, but Vernon didn't need stealth. He was master of this marsh and he needed to be aptly introduced as such.

Samathan smelt the odour as it drew nearer "What on Imythess is that horrid stench?" He looked about him trying to find where it was coming from, could it be the marsh itself? No, for he felt something closing on him. His hand slipped to the hilt of his sword purely out of habit as he waited for his unexpected visitor to arrive. It was not on the ground so it had to be in the tree tops, but what manner of creature could be moving that fast through the trees?

Vernon's eyes soon caught his quarry. An elven male dressed causually as an adventurer. He was armed, but only with a mere simple sword. He didn't seemed to have any ranged weapons on him either, just what Vernon liked to see, easy prey. The intruder would be easily bested, if he were foolish enough to try and give any trouble and most were. Vernon stopped when he reached a sturdy branch in front of the warrior. "What buisness do you have in my Marsh, Elf? And why do you weild your blade in the prescence of the master of the Marsh?" Vernon demanded of warrior as he drew his jagged-edged poison blade and pointed it at Samathan. Vernon was great with his balance and his tail only helped him balance himself better. Vernon doubted this was another of the fools who sought to gain the large bounty on his head, he didn't seemed to be well enough equiped. Still, he'd be careful with his games until he was sure.

Samathan heard the creatures voice and looked up as it spoke to him in a voice of presumed power and authority "Master of the Marsh. As far as I know these Marshes belong to any who wish to pass through them," he said without looking up at the creature. He turned to face the creature and saw that it was some kind of human-rat thing, so that is what was making the horrible stench "Ahh I have seen others like you before," he said "read about your kind in books in the Taras Library."

Vernon could not contian his laughter when Samathan mgave his reply. This certainly wasn't any fool who sought to kill the master of the marsh and take the reward, this was an ignorant fool who was oblivious to who stood before him. The warrior's ignorance showed further when the elf proclaimed that he had read up on his kind. Vernon was of no normal race that he knew. Sure, he looked most like a were-rat, but it certainly wasn't a full moon. "You should not show off insolence so freely, elf. You apparently know very little of these Marshes, for I am indeed their master. If you wish to keep your life, you will lay your weapon down now," Vernon snickered as he continued to hold his blade pointed at Samanthan. Vernon readied to cast a spell with his free hand in case the warrior decided to be a little more hard-headed than was good for him.

Samathan studied the creature before him, there was an arm of power about him. He studied the creature for several moments for before deciding that it was in his best interest for him to lay down his weapons for the time being, he would however, not mention the dagger hidden in his boot. As a warrior he knew it was dangerous to completely disarm yourself before an opponent you didn't know much about.

(You'd have to buy a dagger to have one in his boot, seeing as your starting weapon is your broadsword.)
Vernon was about to cast a spell or two to help the warrior make the decision he was pondering on, but the warrior began to lay down his weapons just in time. Good, It was always nice when things whent the easy way. Perhaps he would let the man live for his compliance. The question was what should he do to the man before letting him to flee and weave stories of the horrors that befell him. "You are smarter than I gave you credit for, elf. Now tell me elf, what buisness of yours has you wishing to pass through my marsh?" Vernon said as he returned his blade to the sheath at his back, letting it screech as the jagged edges scraped along the sheath's inside.

Samathan looked up at the rat-creature above him, he was not afraid of it in the least. He recognized that the strange creature had the advantage at the moment, but that could well change later. As he placed his weapons on the ground he heard the creatures questions "Why am I travelling through your Marshes? Because I have never been here before and they seemed intruging." Samathan had always like to explore his surroundings and loved exploring new places, he wrote about it all in his journal. He looked up at the creature before him "And who might you be stranger?" he asked, forgetting if the creature had introduced himself or not.

Vernon could have sworn his reputation was better than that. He had wanted posters all over Taras. "Good, then I should do well to show you more intruging areas of my beloved Marsh," Vernon snickered. He would make sure he gave Samathan enough bad experiences from this encounter that never again would curiosity, or anything else for that matter, lead him back into his marsh.

"Don't worry about your weapon, My pet shall hold it for you," Vernon said before clapping his hands calling out his pet's name. "Rabies!" Behind Samathan the bushes shuddered and a filthy wolf with a foamy mouth emereged. The creature growled, but made no attack against Samathan, instead he obediently moved to get the laid down sword's hilt in it's mouth so that he could carry it for Vernon's new guest.

"You are in no position to ask questions, elf. Least of all questions of me that you have not answered yourself, elf," Vernon replied as he turned about. The human clearly knew nothing of manner. Besides, Hadn't he already introduced himself as Master of the Marsh...several times. Perhaps this human was dumber than most. "This way," Vernon said as he leapt to the tree limb before him. He'd wait to make sure the adventurer was docile enough to follow and would then lead him into the more watery areas of the marsh, where there was no dry land to stand on. Maybe he'd the warrior far enough to visit Munwithurix's abandoned lair.

Samathan followed after Vernon, studing both the grubby wolf that carried his weapons and the rat-like creature himself. Never before had he seen a creature like this one before and it intrigued him, he followed along behind Vernon carefully noting where he was in the Marsh lest he lose his way and get lost. If he got lost in this Marsh he could very well not find his way out again.

Vernon purposely wove a winding route such that it would be difficult if at all possible for Samathan to keep track of where he was. Vernon doubted the man's memory was that good. "Tell me, elf, what do you thing of Marsh so far, without getting into the better parts of the marsh we will reach soon enough?" Vernon asked his captive guest. Dry land was now impossible to make a path on and only appeared in isolated islands. The inavoidable muck would notable slow his guest down so Vernon slowed down his own pace through the trees. He didn't need to lose his new guest just yet. They were getting closer to their destination and would be there shortly with the waters getting deeper the further they traveled.

Kyrus (Samathan) smiled at the creature's back, he thought him a human but he had failed to notice his pointed ears and the elven features of his face which had previously been hidden. But as he spoke the High Elven accent in his voice would become obvious "What do I think of your Marshes? From what I've seen they are quite a murky, gloomy place," he replied as they continued to walk through the boggy Marshes.

(I could have sworn you said earlier that he was liking the marsh.)
The elf's answer was strange considering his reasons for being in the marsh. perhaps the elf had been lying or maybe he just liked murky and gloomy places. "Oh, I see. But just wait until you see one of the important ladmarks of the marsh," Vernon snickered. Rabies was no longer following them and was waiting on a small island of dry land. There wasn't much point in carrying the weapon all over the place and Vernon had enough eyes to keep track of the elf.

"Are you ready for a little swim?" Vernon asked when they came to an area where the depth drastically changed the unmeasurable depth certainly wasn't something a human could walk through in fact it was deep enough for a large black dragon to hide in as Munwithurix had likely done many times.

Kyrus smiled at Vernon "Swim?" then looking before him he saw the murky waters but did not quail "That doesn't look very safe," he said softly. He simply shrugged and began to wade into the water, if Vernon himself was crossing this water then there couldn't be much dangerous in there could there? But suddenly he stopped and looked back to the strange rat-like creature "Oh no, what are you planning?" he asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry, it looks a lot safer than it is. But, You don't realy have an option. We'll that is of course if you value your life. And don't bother worrying about what I am planning. It isn't your place to ask questions of me. Now, Are you going to quit your whining and comply or am I going to have me some high elf for dinner?" Vernon snickered as he considered eating Kyrus. It had been quite some time since he had last eaten the flesh of a high elf. Most all he got was wood elves who foolishly wandered into his domain or came seeking his death but finding their own. Maybe after he got playing around with the elf first.

Kyrus waded into the water and began to swim across, he had his Scimitar concealed beneath his cloak, in a place this creature hadn't checked. As he swam he wondered what the creature was planning, something foul and evil no doubt. But he would not be a toy for this wierd creature to play with, his mind raced as he thought of ways that he could escapre and free himself from this wretched Marsh "Thinking of eating me are we? Well, you won't get the chance," he said.

Before Vernon could move one his eyes caught something unusual on the elf's back. The cloak had been soaked by the water and now showed the form of the weapon it had been previously hiding. The fool wanted to try and be sneaky, Eh? Vernon had something for that. For now he'd pretend not to notice. "If you fail to do as I say then I'm quite sure you will. Now, then follow me and don't mind the leeches. They'll be all over you by the end of this but it's worth the view," Vernon laughed. He always did love to see the look on peoples faces when they heard of the leeches in his waters.

Vernon then dove into the waters that were indeed leech infested. More so now, than when Munwithurix patrolled the marsh. Vernon had made sure they had favorable environment and nourishment. Leeches however, were never found of Vernon. Perhaps the parasites knew that that would be the deadliest host they could pick for themselves. After swimming several feet Vernon stopped before a large mound that poked it's head out of the marsh. "Ready to go under the water? It's the only way in, of course you would know that if you knew anything about the dens of black dragons," Vernon snickered eager to see some shock of horror on the elf's face at the mere mention of the dangerous dragons.

Kyrus' eyes widened with shock and an alarmed look came onto his face as he heard Vernon speak of going into a black dragon's lair "What? A Black dragon's lair? Is there any particular reason that we are going into such a place?" What was this creature planning, leading him into the depths of the swamp to the lair of a black dragon. He did not trust the rat-like creature in the least, he was definitely planning something and what ever it was it couldn't be good.

"You wanted to see intriguing sights, didn't you? " Vernon snickered. "Now pay close attention, because a false move will cost your life. You are going to swim down and into the cave that leads inside the hill. Don't stray, there are a few more of my pets eager to merely imagine you doing so. And I assure you I'm not talking about the leeches. If you are afraid of drowning before you get within the cave grab my tail and I'll get you there quickly, otherwise get moving."

He was not telling the truth about his pets, though with a little magic he could follow through with his words easily. All he had to do was call forth a crocodile or maybe a large water snake. The snake at least would allow him to to have the corpse all together, though he hoped the elf wouldn't be stupid enough to give Vernon a dinner invitation, at least not just yet.

Kyrus dove down under the water and swam along, he was unafraid of the strange creature and was already formulating a plan for his escape. The rat-like creature was obviously forming some sinister plan for him, while he would not find him easy prey when the time came Kyrus would somehow overpower his strange guide and make his way out the Marshes. He was unafraid, he knew that he could take this creature if he had to, he would however have to be cunning about it.