The Stone Barrow
A giant, dome-shaped island. The sides are clearly too steep to be natural, although some of the more tenacious swamp flora has managed to overgrow most of it. There is a small wooden dock at what is believed to be the entrance, and lots of debris from excavation attempts forms a narrow shore around half of the island.

The scene is much like something out of a bad comedy. Here we have Olivia, mild mannered weaver minding her own business in the swamp with her trusty sidekick, the otter hermit, Silas. Today fate has deemed that two rats are bound and determined to catch the mouse. Either the rats are up to no good or they have delusions of being Khatta.

As Silas torpedoes towards the log, one of the rats points towards him. "Ey, incoming at … dang, some sort of o'clock. Never did learn to read a clock," the one in front yells back to the other. The other smacks him in the back of his head, chiding, "No need to yell, stupid, I'm right here! Engage plan: politician!" Apparently that plan consists of a lot of mudslinging … literally. Huge blobs of swamp muck rain down on both the otter and Olivia.

Olivia ughs! as she gets a great glob of mud splattered directly onto the chest of her overalls! "Good thing I just came from work and this is my fourth best pair," she grumbles, but looks very displeased, even so. She continues to pole back towards the otters' boat-rental shop, just enough ahead of the two thugs to be out of arm's reach, but close enough so that Silas can climb back aboard without too much trouble.

The dark shape of the sleek Akwavi gets even darker as he dives further down, streamlined body snaking along just above the sediment. Plops of mud cloud the water, but it doesn't seem to be anything Silas hasn't dealt with before, and he closes in on the log from below!

"Dagh take it, where did that swamp rat go?" the lead Skreek growls. He snatches away the pole they were using to push the log along and starts jabbing it randomly in the water. The other Skreek shakes his fist towards Olivia, saying, "Don't you think you're going to get away, missy! We can't have you interfering in our plans, outside of being the proper motivating bait for that rat!"

Olivia turns her head in the direction of the Skreeks for just long enough to blow them a very loud raspberry. Then she starts poling again and calls back, "Sorry to disappoint, fellahs, but I have NO intention of being kidnapped! Especially when I don't even know what I'm gonna be kidnapped FOR!"

( Pole for me? Don't mind if I do. ) Never one to pass an opportunity, Silas waits underneath the Skreeks' makeshift boat, then makes a grab for the pole when it jabs close enough, meaning to give the oar a good hard yank!

If Silas could hear right now, he'd be greeted with a 'Wuargh!' when he successfully grabs the pull and gives it quite the yank. Rat number one starts to go over into the murky water. He tightens his grip on the log, which in turn starts turning the log over. As one can imagine, this annoys rat number two, who starts slapping rat number one like crazy. "Let go you Dagh-blasted fool; you'll tip the log! Be a man and take one for the team!"

"You can suck my tail," rat number one growls, "I'm not about to go into … " bloop! Over he goes into the muck. Apparently rat number two's slapping was enough to get him to loosen to the point the slippery moss on the log overrides the grip. Glaring at Olivia, the Skreek lies down on the log and starts padding with arms and legs towards her!

Silas's smooth head breaks the surface of the now-roiling, muddy water, and he barks a laugh. "Who's a swamp rat now, son?" he says, and he playfully puts his webbed paws on the log to get it to roll some more. "C'mon in, the water's fine!"

Olivia glances back to see Skreek #1 slide right into the swamp water. She yelps out a laugh and cheers Silas, but in the next moment, she notices Skreek #2 doing his best to catch up with her! As she gives the boat a good push with her pole, she notices that there are actually a few fish left in the bottom of it. Grinning, Olivia scoops up the largest one and turns, taking careful aim. Then she launches it right at the Skreek's head!

Unfortunately, Olivia's aim is a bit off. Instead of thumping the Skeek with the fish, she thumps Silas with the fish! This in turn distracts Silas from actually tipping over the log. Skreek #1 surfaces from the muck and latches onto Silas' back! "Yer gonna get it you hillbilly sock!" it growls into the Akwavi's ear, "Imma gonna get me a new pelt fer my shoes!"

"Oopf!" The Akwavi looks briefly startled as the fish rebounds off his head with a wet slap! He gets a gulp of air just before he gets pushed under the water by the other Skreek, a few bubbles trailing after him.

Olivia shrieks in horror at what she's just done! "Oh Silas, I'm so sorry!" she yelps after him, then readies another fish to hit Skreek #1 with, as she has no other ammunition. I hope he's okay out there… she thinks worriedly as she takes aim again and launches the next fish.

And the fish misses by several feet! Thankfully a Skreek padding a log isn't going to win any speed contests. "Hah! Ya throw like a girl!" Skreek #2 taunts. "Just keep dat up and I'll have ya in my hands in no time"

The swamp foams a bit as rat and otter thrash about just below the murk, each one's head occasionally coming up for air and spraying arcs of water.

Olivia grimaces at this and thinks, He is right about that… I need to do a little less missing-things-with-fish and more poling away from him! So back she goes to moving the boat along, although the further she gets from where Silas went under, the more uneasy she becomes.

"Yeah, keep on polling away. Gives me a nice look atcher backside!" the Skreek on the log chortles. "Yer gonna tire soon enough and then you'll be putty in m' hands!"

Though Olivia's further away, she can still see the water being churned white from where she is. Tails, arms, and legs flop and slap over the surface, until finally Silas breaches out up to his chest, and comes back down with his elbow on something that sounds a bit more solid than water! The tussling continues, but the otter seems to be spending more time on the surface.

Olivia sees Silas obviously winning his underwater battle with Skreek #1 and breathes a sigh of relief. Then she gives Skreek #2 a glower before looking back at the fish in the bottom of the boat. If I could only make these fish heavier, then perhaps I might be able to… hmmm. With that in mind, the Skeek scoops up a ball of mud and swamp muck as it floats by the boat's side, pats it around the fish like a mud-pie sandwich, and tests its weight. Heavier, she thinks with a smirk. Better. Then she lets it fly at Skreek #2!

Somehow, that seems to work. In near slow motion, the fish-pie lobs through the air. The Skreek tries to pull back and out of the way … and she can almost hear him saying, "Noooooooooooooooo." But he's just barely too slow. KERSPLAT right in the face. The Skreek scrabbles on the log … which starts spinning. With an unceremonious bloop, Skreek #2 goes into the muck.

Olivia laughs and cheers again as Skreek #2 spills into the water! "Who's the girl now, ya loser?" she taunts as she goes back to poling away from him as fast as she can.

The thrashing and foaming reaches a fever pitch, and at some point Silas breaks the surface and hollers, "Say 'uncle', boy!" It would probably be hard to hear through the water anyway, so the otter gets in a smart slap with his thick tail, propelling his rodent opponent away and leaving him in his wake as he launches off and toward the now riderless log!

Skreek #1 bobs to the surface, groaning. "Hate otters," he grumbles weakly, "… hate otters … "

Silas dives underwater again, and comes back into view by the log, a few kicks of his strong legs towing it toward Olivia and out of the Skreeks' reach. "'Liv! Y'alright over there? Looks t'me like y'gave that city boy a taste o' Stonebarrow hospitality, sho' nuff."

Olivia looks back at Silas and laughs. "Fish mud-pie, specialty of the house!" she calls. "Looks like you did all right for yourself, too. Think that one'll live after the thrashing you gave him?"

"Curse you and your otter too! We'll get you yet!" Skreek #2 calls out when he finally surfaces. The fish Olivia threw is still sitting on the top of his head. "What he said," Skreek #1 mumbles.

The Akwavi lets the log drift off, and hauls his dripping self out of the water, sleek body gleaming with water. His coat dulls to its more usual nearly-black brown as he shakes off right by Olivia, and a webbed paw reaches out, offering to take the boat pole back. "That boy'll be alright, I jus' roughed 'im up a bit. Be a few minutes fo' they can haul themselves out, though, an' we'll be long gone!" His long whiskers perk forward. "What y'reckon they want with ya?"

Olivia gives the pole back to Silas as she yells over her shoulder to the Skreeks, "Oh, put a sock in it, ya sissies!" Then with a shake of her head, she mutters, "I'm not exactly sure, Silas, but I mean to find out. All I can tell you is that these two have been hanging around the gypsies' camp lately, bothering Djivan over something. So that boy is going to tell me what's going on here, or I'm going to give HIM the thrashing!" Then she deflates a bit and adds with a sigh, "Of course, I still have to piece together all of my clues just to find him again."

"Well, no time like the present, so's they tells ya," says Silas, smiling broadly. He jabs the pole into the swamp muck, and shoves off. "Let's getcha back so's y'kin get started!"

---

Just across the bridge from the gypsy camp is a small pier stretching out into the swamp. A dilapidated shack anchors it on the shore, and a few flat-bottomed swamp boats are moored there as well. A sign above the loose door of the shack reads 'Oggton Bote Rentils'.

The trip back is thankfully less eventful that the minor battle while they were there. The pair glide up to the dock, both covered in muck and spots of water here and there. So far, there's still no sign of the Skreeks. They probably had some alternate path out of the swamp.

Emmett leans on a fish barrel and scratches his head at the sight of the returning boat. "Eh… Did 'Livia finally make a man of you, Silas?" he asks, grinning like… like an otter.

The darker otter wags a webbed index claw at Emmett. "If she did, I'd be four times the man you are, Emmett. As it is, I'm still just twice the man you are. D'ja get that fish cooked up? Need a hot meal after dumping a couple city folk into the bogs."

"Oh, roight… the fish," Emmett says. "Funny story, see… I was about to fillet it and such, but got sidetracked by a Kadie asking about fish and fishing… "

Olivia exchanges a look with Silas as she climbs out of the boat once it reaches the dock. "Errrr… what Kadie would that be?" she asks Emmett.

Silas rubs the back of his head. "A Kadie? Wantin' fish?" He shrugs at Olivia as the boat pulls up to the dock, but waits for the answer, just putting his foot on one of the ramshackle pylons to check their movement and hold the boat still so he can tie it off.

Emmett shrugs, "Ah, one of the crazier ones, I reckon." His grin says he knows who specifically, but isn't about to give it up.

Olivia ohs. "Gunther," she says shortly. "Why does he want to know about fish?"

Silas steps himself up onto the dock with a minimum of boat wobbling, and reaches out to give the Skeek a muddy hand up.

"Sooo, I can clean you up if you want to squirm outta those muddy duds, Olivia," Emmett offers with a waggling of his eyebrows.

Olivia gladly accepts Silas' help out of the boat, glowering at Emmett. "Nice try, but nothing doing. I still have another Skreek to find, and he'd better be a little more forthcoming with some information when I do find him!"

Silas slaps his fellow Oggton on the back, leaving a muddy pawprint. "Don' feel bad, Emmett. You kin wash my feet off, if y'like." He points at the Skeek and grins, whiskers arching up. "An' you feel free t'ask again nex' time y'need the Catfish, li'l Livvie. Always glad t'help."

"Can't blame a guy fer trying!" Emmett barks, and goes about setting up the cooker for frying fish.

Olivia grins back and whips off her very muddy, flowered hat to sweep him a bow. When she straightens again, she says, "Thank you, Silas, for all the extra trouble you had to go through on my behalf today! If you ever need a favor, let me know. I need to repay you for this somehow."

Leaving Silas to keep an eye on Emmett, Olivia heads back to the Weavers' compound to change her clothes and have a wash before heading out to the spot where she and Djivan ran into the zombies. She receives a few strange looks and raised eyebrows from the other apprentices as she makes her way back to her room, but all she has to say to them is, "Otters!" and they all nod and seem to understand.

This time she purposely wears old clothing on the off chance something else happens. It does seem to be one of those days, afterall. Now, the next trick seems to be finding the spot where she found the zombies with him. Last time there was a storm and it was nighttime. During the day it isn't as easy to recognize the exact spot.

But with Olivia's amazing sense of … sensing spots, she manages to locate the spot where the battle occurred. Perhaps it was the fragments of Djivan's former pot-helmet that gave it away. Stuck deep into one tree is the hilt of a broken sword. It appears to be holding a scrap of paper.

Olivia hehs as she recognizes the sword stuck into the tree. "I guess that's the weapon I used against the zombies that night," she muses aloud, then steps forward to take the scrap of paper down and read it.

Hmm. Something is wrong, perhaps. The paper is blank.

Olivia's brow furrows as she turns it over, looking to see if there is anything on the other side.

As Olivia turns the paper over and over, her eyes catch the glint of something on the paper. It looks like something is written there, but in 'clear' ink. It's hard to make out exactly what it says.

This time, Olivia holds the paper up to the sunlight, seeing if the light will illuminate the paper and 'light up' the clear ink.

That seems to help. She can just make out the writing: 'T'ings end vhere dey begin. Come to de spot ve first met!'

Olivia ahs and lowers the paper again, then puts it into her pocket along with the two other slips she thought to bring with her. Now she has to go all the way back to the place outside of town where Gunther brought her to see the gypsies for the first time. At least this seems like the end of my quest, she thinks with some relief.

It would figure he'd pick places which are all at opposite ends of town from each other. The walk takes a good hour for her to complete. But sure enough, she reaches the spot. It's hard to forget the place where he was practically draping himself on her. In the middle of the clearing with his back to the direction Olivia comes from stands a Skreek. He's tapping his foot and muttering.

Olivia would like to run right up the the Skreek and surprise him with a sneak-attack-hug, but all that has happened today makes her wary. She can't clearly see who this Skreek is yet, after all. So she creeps closer as softly as she can, trying to get a better look at him.

Well, the Skreek is wearing what looks like Djivan's clothing. His coloration is right, as is his height. But that's all she can make out from the back.

So far, so good. She hasn't made enough noise that whomever it may be has noticed her.

With an inward sigh, Olivia sidles up even closer, but also veers off to the side a bit, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Skreek's face.

Olivia seems to be having a turn of good luck. She's able to scoot a bit to the side and catch a glimpse of his face. While there are definite similarities in structure and shape, it's most definitely not Djivan. The biggest clue is he's got to be twice Djivan's age.

Olivia's eyes go wide and she starts backing away from the strange Skreek. If this guy is here… then where is Djivan? she thinks in alarm. Okay, I've had enough of dealing with this on my own. I've got to get some help… maybe I should go back to the camp and speak to Natasha? She hopes her luck will hold and she tries to sneak back the way she came without being noticed.

Olivia starts slinking off, again without any notice. As she draws away, she can hear him mutter, "Where is dat blasted girl my son is so enamored wit? Gots him, we do, but he still refuse me command he does. He change his tune once ve git ahold o' her."

This gives the Skeek pause, but she fights down her fear for Djivan and keeps slipping away, back towards the camp. Okay, Natasha must be involved now, this concerns the safety of a member of her tribe! Plus… I can't do anything on my own here and… oh please let Djivan be all right… !