Glittering white sparkles stumbled down the road. It was a woman who had never heard of subtlety. Her knee high boots and sparkled jacket were hard to ignore. The fight had been over for a few minutes now, Arthur just sat on a wooden patio outside a shop. The woman approached him, she smelled of fresh plums, "You that Starfinder?" Arthur nodded in retort. "Good. Because Gerhand had a mission for the town but now he's out of action I'll need you to do it."
Samara thought quickly, "And how much will you offer?"
She put her hand over her heart, "My dear, you just knocked out our only defence force in the town and you expect me to pay you for that?"
"He challenged Arthur?" Lurisa stepped in.
"And he could have put him out in submission rather than knocking him out completely."
"Fair," Arthur answered, "so what is it?"
She smiled, "Well, one of the women went missing. Her husband won't even leave the shack. Said she was hearing voices for a few days, then poof."
"She vanished?" Bill asked.
She raised an eyebrow, "Well, not literally. But she left. And we want to find her remains, put her at peace."
Lurisa wasn't impressed, "She could still be alive."
"Maybe. But doubtful. Night around here is dangerous."
"I'll find her. Just show me where her home is," Lurisa asked.
A rotting shack close to a foul-smelling swamp. How did anyone live here? It was on the edge of the town, on the way a lot of people were making strange comments, saying how they were cursed. Shallow green waters bounced against the rafters holding the house up. Spindly dead trees covered most natural light that could enter. Timber that was decaying, woodworms infested them. The shack was hardly big enough for two people and the windows were just nets to keep bugs out. Samara noticed a patron symbol hanging on the side of the door, it had a hand laid out open and then a fist. Curious. Lurisa knocked on the door. A sniff occurred from behind, a deep one as if they were trying to inhale her. The door didn't open but a voice called out, "A mage. A sage. A knight and…a slobbering beast?"
"Hey, I'm the blacksmith," Bill answered.
The voice was groggy, it almost felt as if it was an effort to get vocals out of the voicebox, "She's gone. She's been gone for days now. My Diane isn't coming back. Just like her mother."
Lurisa asked, "If you can let us in, I can use one of the elements to help track her down?"
"No mages in here!" The voice uttered in panic. "That's why we're here in the first place. The other three can enter."
Lurisa shrugged. Samara winked at her and Lurisa backed up a bit from the shack.
The door opened, a watery skinny arm appeared. As the light shined in, it revealed a creature with two holes instead of a nose, closed eyes that couldn't open, ears too small for its sphere shaped head, and luscious hair that fell down to his shoulders. His skin was like a green goo, sludge like in appearance and it seemed to be traversing around his body.
"My name is Raas. Forgive my–"
"Ah, you're hideous!" Bill covered his eyes, "It's so ugly!"
"Appearance," he finished.
Samara turned to Bill, "Bill! Just because someone is revolting doesn't mean you should point it out. Don't you think he's insecure enough looking like that. Don't mention the awful smell, you hear me?"
Raas stood still, oh, he forgot how much words could hurt. If his eyes weren't closed he would have cried, Why must an ugly hard beast like me feel such soft emotions. His soul had little left to care about beauty and yet it still struck.
Samara tapped the goo forearm slightly recognising it from stories she had heard long ago from Yoriah, "You're cursed."
"Indeed. I am. Damn mages." He waved his fist up toward Lurisa.
"I didn't curse you!" She said.
"You're all the same," Raas said. "She left me. I roared until that sparkling Sheriff came down, although I didn't open the door. Some people don't have the best reactions to this," he gestured to his body.
"Some people have no manners," Arthur answered.
"How long has she been gone," Samara asked.
"She left me nearly a week ago now. Oh, I miss her so. Those damn voices. She's lost her mind. Keeps saying her name is Lily. The voices have made her start to believe she was another person altogether. Please. I miss her. It's lonely out here."
Lurisa shouted from afar, "Throw me a possession of hers and I can track her down."
Raas handed a wet ring, Arthur gagged when it was handed to him, the slime dribbled down his hand, he tossed it as fast as he could. Lurisa raised it up with wind, no way was she going to put her hands on it. Magic had its limits, but Lurisa was rather talented. And Lurisa was an expert on ice magic, adept in wind and decent at most others. They all had subclasses to which she could use them. Using wind, she could try and follow the scent left behind by Diane, it wouldn't be entirely accurate if Diane had changed clothes, washed and removed all jewellery. However, it'd take them a step closer. Lurisa whirled her finger around and a gust blew across the swamp to the other side.
"Must be a mistake," Lurisa's eyes widened. She whirled again and this time the gust went around the swamp to the other side, "There we go."
"But what if she's left clues in the swamp? Please. She's all I have," Raas pleaded, both hands clasped together.
Lurisa rubbed her eyes with her index finger and thumb, she could use ice for the top of the swamp for a path but it would expend all her energy for the day. Magic worked like stamina, but with lenses, it would allow more powerful spells or just simply more energy to cast more. Lurisa had a few, she wasn't going to waste them on a damn swamp. "We'll have to walk through then."
Lurisa was on the back of Arthur and Samara was on Bill's like a backpack. It'd be rude to let the ladies ruin their tunics in this distorted grimey green gunk. Not that they offered, Lurisa simply jumped on the back of Arthur and said if he let her down she'd freeze off particular body parts important to him. It was enough to make him comply. The water was clumped with dirt, moss and other unknowns the group would rather not know of. Little frogs with webbed wings flew across the swamp. Eating some of the annoying insects that were patting against the group. They had grown accustomed to the damp dewy smell, Lurisa suspected it would only take another twenty minutes of walking. Arthur had to keep the ring out so the wind could keep pushing the scent and following it. Crackling to the right, they turned. From a little hole in a tree, a pale creature crawled out on all fours. Much like a man but small and hideous.
"Gives me the precious," its frail limb fingers reached out. All someone could do was pity this wretched thing.
"You lost little guy?" Arthur asked.
"Looking for the precious."
Lurisa whispered into Arthur's ear, "Awh, he must have lost his owners."
"He stinks of fish," Bill said.
Samara smacked him, "What did I say about not mentioning smells? What's your name?"
"Collum."
"Sorry buddy but we don't have space for another," Arthur said. "Maybe look for your parents?"
"That's alright. I can follows you," Collum's raspy voice scraped out his throat.
"If you want," Arthur said as his eyes darted back to Lurisa behind him. She laughed at the glance.
Collum crawled on all fours even though the swamp was knee-deep, his head was just barely escaping the water. He prowled in between Arthur and Bill like a distraught parasite.
Lurisa asked for the group to stop because the natural wind was disrupting her artificial gust. Collum could only see under Bill's boot–
The worst thing would be getting lost within the swamp Lurisa thought, so it'd be wise to wait out the strong winds. A minute or two went by and Arthur asked, "Collum, what species are you?" He looked around and couldn't see him anywhere, "Collum?"
Bill turned his grisly beard around, "Collum? Must have left. Shame, he seemed cool."
As they continued Bill stepped away, he felt a tough rock under his foot making him wobble slightly. He hoofed his foot off of it and began to follow the trail again. From behind the group, a bald pale shine resurfaced with scraggly thin noodles pretending to be called hair sticking out like reeds. Collum floated up with his face steeped in the water. They didn't even notice.