Young Writers Society

This is a story thread; essentially a plot that will be continued by me as parts are added over time. Do not post on this thread, this is for those who'd like to read a Sanctum based tale, I hope to get others to doing something similar to this too!

The Mangrove's Mystery

Victüss was not particularly familiar with the Riverlands outside of the Sanctum walls; very few wandered in its untamed wilderness, even fewer whom he was required to kill. Due to his lack of experience in the torrential marshes he had been shocked, although not enormously, when an anonymous client had set him the task of retrieving some kind of ancient artefact within the area. In fact, the quest was just as mysterious as the terrain he was required to traverse; the commissioner having been masked and robed, completely concealing their identity (although size and stature suggested a kind of elf) and barely spoke of the background belonging to the item, whatever it was.
What Victüss was aware of was that it possessed a certain importance, and had been hidden for a reason, deduced from the fact that it was apparently located in a cove (undoubtedly trapped) and definitely wasn’t natural. Despite this, the Prince of Virulence had accepted the task; the pay was much too considerable to reject, and he much preferred the unpredictable challenge of retrieval as opposed to the simplicity of taking a life. Needless to say, the Tervin believed that it was about time that he navigated the area, just in case it came to a time where he was required to flee.

The journey into the deep marshland forests was far from easy; one may assume that, considering his origin, Victüss would have little trouble with swampy environments. However, such a presumption would be far from correct; although the images of the Glӓdotë Everglades were still fresh in his memory, the human body the Tervin resided in was not so suited to the craggy mires. Regardless, he had coped, and faced very little resistance from the indigenous wildlife, at least until the golden sun, whose radiance was blinkered by the grotesque trees on which russet vines fed, began to recede into the conquering abyss of night.
Visibility became a severe issue for the bounty hunter, which was the central factor that persuaded him to rest for the night. The ground was much too moist for a tent, and if the tides against the mangroves rose, he’d be dragged under for the wide variety of aquatic inhabitants to feast upon. So instead, he took refuge upon a high branch of a thick trunked tree. It may not have been the most comfortable, but it would suffice until morning broke through.

There was many reasons why travellers of all races, calibres and ages had perished in the dreadful unpleasantness of the Riverlands, one was its notorious unpredictability and freak ecological patterns. For on the first night on which Victüss slept in the viscous mangrove, a thick layer of fog descended upon the land, dense enough that one would struggle to recognise their own feet. To add to his misfortune, the swampy tides had risen dramatically, and now the path that the Tervin had followed the previous day had been submerged some few feet below the water’s surface.
All was not entirely against the Prince of Virulence however, no horrific creatures nor agitating pests disturbed him from the deep meditation in which he rested, recollecting his energy and planning the route ahead (despite his misknowledge of the overnight complications).

When he did wake, scratching the yellow sleep from his human eyes, Victüss was quick to realise the impenetrable cloud that had enveloped the marsh had made it near impossible to recognise his surroundings, let alone follow a track. This too made the raised tides invisible to him, however, as a highly experienced explorer as well as assassin, he was aware that it was never a bright idea to act when you didn't know what against.
Victüss plunged the hands under his control into his troll-hide pockets, seizing a gold coin, before dropping it from the tree. It fell heavily with the resistance of the vapour in the air, but made a loud splash when it found the murky water and sunk into its depths.
The Tervin was quite aware of what this meant; his journey from here on out was about to become much slower, but by no means non-continuable. Since the host of his mighty spirit was lean enough to be lightweight, yet muscular enough to pull more than his own weight, Victüss decided that the only plausible, alternate route was through the thick canopy shading the Riverlands. As much as he hated being outside of his comfort zone (he was not a monkey, after all) the Prince was able to endure such obstacles in order to complete this quest and collect his bounty.

Shaking himself awake and fingering the six kunai upon his belt, Victüss jumped from the sturdy branch of the tree that had housed him for the past night, into the top of another tree, then another, then another...