As the group made their way towards Calneer, Donis was stuck inside his mind once again. He was contemplating whether or not he'll turn into them after the years over. The nonsensical bickering, the drunk-ness, and some weird obsession with documents.
Striga for one, was hardcore into fighting and making "food" for the crew out of whatever she deemed edible. Jimmy was just unlucky and would constantly try to prove he isn't by doing dumb things, then immediately getting unlucky somehow. Corrul just loved the idea of paperwork and official documents too much to be normal.
"Look I'm telling you, if you boil a Forrit and then bury it for 3 days, boil it again, press it with some baking soda and THEN cook it, they're perfectly edible," said Striga as she hacked off a branch in her way.
"Striga, cap'n, I respect you with my entire body and soul, but what you just said was the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and I've hear myself speak when drunk," said Jimmy as he stopped to look at Striga with utter disgust.
"If you do die from the captains cooking, please do try to sign a waiver before you attempt eating it Jimmy. It'll give me something to do for the afternoon," said Corrul as he swung his machete nonchalantly at the vines getting in their way.
"Guys, was this way always this overgrown?" asked Donis.
"Nah, the Meckstras just really like vine-y areas, it gives them places to hide their ugly little faces," said Striga as she was getting more disgusted by the second.
"What do they look like? I've never actually seen one," replied Donis.
"They're fucking horrendous. Think of a slimy, shaved rat, that has the weird carapace platings of a centipede. They also shit so much that half the time in their dens you have a hard time differentiating from the walls made of mold and their feces. GAH just thinking about them makes me ill," peeved Striga.
As the group chatted more about the potential ways of killing lots of Meckstras, the four of them had arrived at the location listed in their reports.
"A small clearing in the woods that has been overtaken by.. No you gotta be kidding.. Is that.. is that their.." stuttered Jimmy.
"Yup, all of that is their shit Jimmy, and we're going in there while you hop up nice and high, and don't get your entire body up in that stank. Be happy," said Striga, a forced smile appearing on her face.
Donis was stupefied. How much feces could there be? How can this entire clearing just be that.
The group could see a sky, but the rest of it was a brown substance with blue and green dashes littering the canvas that is the environment. The trees were broken down into makeshift covers, the ground dug up to make what seemed to be caves. Everything else is just a literal nightmare.
"Alright boys and girls, we're going in. Corrul, get some traps ready, Donis, sit back and keep an eye out for any danger. Jimmy don't die up there," said Striga as she proceeded to scout the perimeter.
Corrul ended up pulling out a couple of hundred smaller traps from his dimensional ring. All sorts of shapes and sizes filled the brown-landscape, the traps blending in with the surroundings.
Jimmy sat atop the trees trying to scout out everything with his enhanced eyesight. Donis just played with Etheria while the group was busy doing stuff. He found bringing her out more of a mental reassurance, it helped him ease the burdens on his mind.
Calneer seemed to be like any other place in the swamp, full of water, fungus and slime. Donis didn't quite know what separated each and every section of the swamp, but he figured it was probably the monster types that dictated the sections.
Donis took out the Monster Logger and fiddled with it until an entry on the Meckstras came up. He looked a bit deeper than what was said on the opening entry, and found a log on the queen. She laid eggs by the hundreds, was about 4 times the size of a normal Meckstra, and ate about that much too.
They were mostly carnivores but would eat anything available. They weren't hunters either as they're usually only 50cm tall when they stand on their hind legs. They also mostly just scavenged, unless they had the numbers to make up for the losses.
This was all the case before the queen evolves. It hasn't been logged into the system yet as to what the evolution entails, but the conjectures made by the Monster Logger included an even bigger body, probably higher output of eggs and definitely a need for more food.
This all made sense, since the den for these Meckstras was far too large according to the Monster Logger.
Either way, the group was going to find out soon since Corrul finished setting up his traps.
The plan was simple, and slightly adapted since Donis joined the fray. Corrul sets up the traps, Jimmy shoots an explosive arrow into the den and Striga directs them into the traps to kill them all quickly and efficiently.
Yet the problem with it was that the explosive arrow would cause a lot of noise, attracting more trouble than it's really worth. So they adapted.
Donis was going to cast his Dragonfire inside the den at full power and run back when he believes that the place will be thoroughly smoked out.
Striga gathered some of the dryer looking wood and threw it into the den, only then signaling Donis to come along.
"Lad, just be careful, you don't have to light it much. I'll understand if you're scared of your first mission, but I think this'll be good for you," Striga said as she patted Donis's shoulder.
"Nah don't worry, it's gonna be an easy 1-2. Go in, breathe some fire, leave. Nothing could possibly go wrong here," said Donis with a confident expression.
"Lad, I know you're new, but oh my god am I ready to slap you right now," said Striga.
"Wait, why?" asked Donis utterly confused.
"You're kidding right? Every time someone says that, the one thing that could go wrong, tends to go wrong. You just entirely jinxed us," sighed Striga.
"You're joking right? Those things aren't real, why would saying something change the outcome of a brainless action?" fought back Donis.
"Whatever, just run after you light it, we may need to move our assess as fast as we can," said Striga walking away.
"Yeah whatever, whatever," grumbled Donis.
'There's no way I already fucked this up, look, easy, breathe in, breathe out some fire, shit's gonna be fine,' thought Donis to himself.
As rehearsed, he took a deep breath in and then released Dragonfire.
It was a monstrously sized flame. It reminded Donis of a flamethrower from his past life. Like a straight line emission that grew in a bulbous size near the end, seemingly devouring everything. He tried aiming the Dragonfire towards the dryer wood, but it ended up with him setting the whole cave on fire.
"WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS THE CAVE ON FIRE," screamed Striga.
"It seems the evolution of the Meckstras makes their uh.. mucus, volatile.." said Corrul with an even more disgusted expression donning his face.
Donis immediately ran away from the currently-on-fire cave, a stupid smile plastered all over his face.
"Stop looking so proud and get your ass over here," said Striga as she checked Donis in case he was burned somewhere.
Before Donis could reply properly, the ground shook a little, and a guttural rumble echoed out from deep within the den of the Meckstras. The crew looked around and saw nothing surrounding them, but the swamp had quieted down once again. As if waiting for the new apex predator to make their move.
The surrounding monsters didn't have to wait long as the burnt, disfigured, and grotesque looking giga-Meckstra stumbled out of the den, bleeding. Cries escaping it's horrible looking mouth, the Meckstras behind the queen echoed her in unison. It was a shrill cry, but one everyone there understood even without subtitles.
It was war.