The couple of days spent at the Frostwolf camp getting to know the Orcs helped Rahz put an end to that chapter of his life. The Orc children were no different than the ones from Helgahvall, they all worship the strong and wanted to become great warriors to protect those they love the most.
The death of his father had left a deep scar in Rahz's heart and it almost took him off the path he was meant to walk, the path that required the most courage because it required Rahz to forgive in order to become the pillar that held the realm.
Rahz thought that he had moved on from the incident but the reality was that all the angered that was twisting his soul was a direct byproduct of the War between the Orcs and the Barbarians, It took a long time but Rahz was finally becoming the man his mother saw in her mind years before he was born when the prophecy was foretold.
The visit to the Village of the Frostwolves had unexpected gains and with a lighter soul the team made it due south towards Elune's home. The whole trip took about 6 months and there was a really low risk to get lost as the road she took to get to Naas was very clear in her mind.
The auctioning of the ancient coins and other wares by Riddick and Jazz was a complete success thanks to Rahz calling in a favor with the mayor of the town that agreed to send different people to buy them as long as Rahz was the one providing the money. The money obtained from the auction house had Riddick and Jazz becoming big ballers overnight and they took it to town one evening where they invited everyone at the most expensive tavern in the town to an all you can eat evening that was remembered for years to come.
Jazz quickly found out that easy comes, easy goes and by the time they left on their way to the Swamp of Sorrow they had just a couple of silver coins in their pockets.
On the road south, many bandits felled to Hennessy flames that was becoming more and more deranged. Stories of the flaming ghost spread far and wide and many merchant caravans paid big money to recruit the wandering warriors that travel with the impressive white tiger as it was common knowledge that the the Flaming Demon travel with them.
"HA HA HA burn fuckers burn"
Hennessy's phrase hunted the dreams of many bandits that tried to make a living in the southern roads.
During the migration of the group south, crime was reduce by 80% and business booned on those specific routes, many merchants even bought white tigers to trick the bandits into hiding. The tactic saw great success at the beginning but the bandits eventually caught up to the trick and the roads ran red with blood, if there was a possibility to negotiate some wares with the bandits the white tiger threw that option out the window and it became personal henceforth.
The team arrived at their destination after 5 months of leisure travel and it was nothing like the places they had seen before. The Swamp of Sorrow was a Third Tier zone that had extremely tall trees with very dense branches that limit the amount or solar rays that passed through it giving it a very gloomy feeling.
The Races in the zone lived in small groups and were very devious fighters, they preferred the use of poison and disease to eliminate their foes to the straight confrontation in other areas.
Every single beast inside the swamp either spit poison, had deadly bacteria in their mouths and claws and were extremely adept in camouflage.
"Keep your eyes peel inside the swamp guys, as a general rule in there, the prettier the creature the deadlier it should be. Xiao's aura should help us reduced our encounters but you never know in there"
Getting into the swamp was like going from the light and into the darkness, the team went in under the sounds of owls and some giant ass mosquitos and Jazz was like a broken record every few meters repeating the phrase, "'what was that sound" and grabbing Riddick by the arm.
"Man! The Dark Elves were force to move to this shit hole, this is embarrassing" said Springsocket while activating the light feature on the kinetic cube in Rahz's wrist and illuminating their way.
The team was a well oiled machine, the grove keeper communicate with the trees and found out where the snakes hiding in the trees were located and they were hunted down in seconds.
The levels of the group started to increase little by little and even after the massive amount of energy now required to level up they still saw progress. At the rate they were killing, they could reach the fourth tier in a few years.
A week inside the swamp passed by in a flash and the weather was starting to become unbearable, Rahz and the others had long put away the fur coats and walk with the bare minimum on, which included leather speedos for the man and a 2 piece ensemble for Elune.
The humidity cause not only their sweat to stick to their bodies but the dirt in the trees they brushed by created a nasty film on them.
"No wonder the Ogres smell like ass, this is horrible... I just want to dip my whole body in cold water" said Jazz
"Well there is water right over there, go take a swim" said Elune a little annoyed at the comment, the Swamp of Sorrow was her home when she was a child and Jazz was complaining non stop.
Jazz now moved through the trees like he had live his whole life in the swamp, he slid down trunks and with that momentum flew into the air towards the next tree branch or he bended a thin tree to fall on a lower level one and then move like a leopard jumping between tree trunks.
The trees in the Swamp had their own charm, they were huge and some even had their roots above the ground that expanded outwards and some even twisted together with the roots of other trees forming a big network.
Jazz made it to the top of a branch that was laying over the water and jump from it like he was in the diving olympics and did a reverse 2½ somersault with 2½ twists.
It look so good that Riddicks eyes went as big as saucers and flashes of light came out of Rahz bracelet capturing every action including the moment when a 30 feet long Crokolisk Jump out of the water with his maw wide opened hoping to swallow the slippery Dwarf.
Gulp!
Silence…
The party was over, just as quickly as the creature jumped up, it felt back into the murky water and the swamp became calm like no creature had ever existed inside. Many children had disappeared beneath its waters the same way bringing sorrow to their parents hence the name.
6 sec … 7 sec …
"I hate you guys, you knew that thing was in there didn't you?"
"Serves you right, keep saying shit about my home and see what happens" said Elune
In the other member's faces there was only confusion, they clearly saw him get swallow by the beast but now he was coming out of the shore.
Seeing the faces on his friends made Jazz proud, it was the first time he stomped the group of monsters with his ability.
"I know what happened, I got the still image"
"Still image?"
"Yes! My old new invention"
Images of the scene started appearing like a hologram and even the faces Jazz was doing while he was twisting in the air could be seeing. The moment the images were displayed in rapid succession it looked just like a movie in slow motion.
Jazz appeared in the air and then the giant maws of the Crokolisk broke the surface of the water and opened wide and when Jazz was about to be swallow, Springsocket focus on the mouth of the beast where the Dwarf grabbed a hold of a giant tooth and swung around it like a gymnast on the parallel bars and moved into the back of the the creature before it went under.
"That thing is probably wondering why he still feels hungry" said Jazz while laughing.
Jazz was laughing his ass off when he felt that a giant shadow lure over him and the stench of rotten meat assailed him.
Clink… Chaos Chains
The Crokolisk was stopped in his tracks and Riddick took this opportunity to impale the beast with his polearm through the roof of its mouth and into the brain. "I guess we got dinner guys...That tail looks pretty meaty".
"Son of a bitch!!!" even though the Crokolisk was stop by the chains a giant drop of saliva felt on Jazz head forcing him to get back into the water once more.
The team was so happy about catching their dinner that they missed a very inconspicuous but harmless individual looking at the scene with giant eyes, and uneven Razor teeth.
The creature was still in his low levels and its energy didn't even register as a threat, it was a young ogre that had gone out of his village to hunt and got lost along the way.