Nera bounds up to a low-hanging branch and skitters through the trees with grace. Her new armor proves remarkably breathable as she gets further into the swamp; in anything else, her fur would certainly have been matted and damp by now. The armor is also pleasantly flexible, its leather scales sliding off one another in total silence.
Following the path through the reeds, the Catfolk reaches a patch of deeper water with muddy grasses on its banks. Someone has stuck sharpened, wooden stakes into the soil, jabbing the pointy ends through humanoid skulls. It certainly seems like a message: GO AWAY. Nevertheless, Nera knows she needs to see who might be hiding behind the stakes. She slinks over to another tree and sees the person—thing?—responsible. It looks like a green-scaled lizard, all right, but it stands on its hindlimbs and wears dried frog skins for armor. The goggle-eyed creature seems to be checking a fish trap, as water runs through a reed box the thing is pulling from the depths.
The lizard seems to curse in a sibilant tongue, pulling out some sort of fish that seems to be a disappointment. But rather than throw it back into the water, the lizard-thing tosses it to the side, where it is snapped up by two ravenous creatures that look like a cross between a bat and a wolf, maybe? They devour the strange fish, while the lizardman testily yanks the fish head back away from them, throws it into the trap, and sinks it back into the muck. Nera is left by the impression that these two creatures must be the lizard's hunting companions, or maybe even pets.
OOC:
Nera can try to ID the creatures with a Hard (PPP) Knowledge (Adventuring) check with a setback that will become apparent later. Or she can just describe them to her companions and let them try the identification, but that will entail another setback for the telephone-game aspect of it.
Back at the entrance to the swamp—where the land starts to get muddy—Nekurr finds that the ground becomes quite impassable for the horses or the cart. Moving the crate of wine will have to be done the old-fashioned way: With at least two of you carrying it in your arms or on your backs. That is, unless you build a sledge, or a more arcane solution can be found.
OOC:
Wine works for the commodity! I think getting the horses through a swamp is a no-go, unless y'all can think of some sort of magical solution. If not, the crate's going to need to be carried in hand, or someone can try to build a raft/sledge to pull it. There's plenty of driftwood around, plus vines for rope, so let's call that an Easy Survival check (P), but it'll take about an hour to do it right. Up to three of you could participate, adding two boosts to the roll.
