Remila stares at the bracelet on her wrist. It felt warm and cool at the same time. It pulsed several times on their way to the swamp, making her think the thing was sentient.

Escorting the Scourge — who would have thought….

She shakes her head. She was the first one to insist on calling him Jeremy — but she had an idea why he earned the nickname.

It wasn’t the clothes — at least a third of wizards she knew wore black. It wasn’t his demeanor either. If you just listen to his words above all else, he’ll likely come out as amicable or friendly. He did seem overeager at times — but that’s every wizard when it came to their research.

If only he didn’t have that strange aura.

Seb told her it was some sort of spell. The wizard didn’t need to keep it up all the time — but he has this strange fear of invisible jerms.

Rem didn’t understand or even care too much about his seemingly aura of death — or perhaps just the fear of death. What bothered her was the wizard clearly registered to her senses as evil. Not the garden variety evil — but the child-eating, cat-kicking, city-massacring kind.

However, Seb assured her his master wouldn’t hurt an innocent — at least, not intentionally. The butler registered like a saint to her senses, and she knew he was not one to lie.

The butler got them to agree to a simple escort mission to the forest. It wasn’t the usual route they were familiar with, for this time they were headed to the swamps.

Jeremy told her party they needed the bracelets to enter the area. He said something about stinging bugs that carried horrible diseases and burrowing ones that laid eggs inside the body. The wizard seemed quite taken by the subject — even bringing out a dark slate of stone and using white ink to draw a few pictures.

She had to admit, the wizard’s imagination of what bugs can do was frightening, though the way he obsessed with them was a bit disturbing.

Gwindin couldn’t wear the bracelets because she had her own set of magical ones, and she was vehemently against wearing a necklace or choker. In the end, she got a brooch that she could pin on her robe.

The bracelets certainly worked. None of them suffered from any bug bites or stings — but they did have to battle some of the larger stirges.

Her bracelet also made Jeremy feel more human. He still registered as pure evil — but at least she couldn’t feel the fear of death in her soul.

“We should stop here,” Jeremy suggests.

Dallarath immediately stops their trek. It might just be a suggestion — but the wizard was their client after all.

She saw Rem stretches her arms and stealing glances at Jeremy as he starts gathering a few plants and mushrooms.

Alchemy was boring. Even Gwindin never took a liking to it. Staying cooped inside a small room for hours or even days on end? She would go insane!

“He doesn’t seem that scary,”

She hears Siege talking to Dallarath. The dwarf had the biggest turnaround in their group — from fearing and mistrusting the so-called scourge, to almost singing songs to the wizard.

Whether the wizard was good or evil was something she swept away from her mind. Today, he was the client — and he paid rather well.

***

Aven’R leaves the makeshift camp the moment they stop. It would have been nice to take a break, but she had to play her role. A few extra minutes — even seconds — can spell the difference between an easy victory and a costly defeat. She was there to buy her party those extra seconds.

She weaves her way through the forest. While her kin left the forest centuries ago, they still had some of the skills of their forest elf cousins. Only the best trackers could discern her trail — but only if she was rushing. No trained elf would leave a trail ordinary trackers could follow — unless it led to a trap.

Secrecy was important when avoiding encounters. She outright screamed at the wizard for even considering bringing his monstrosity of a mount. The giant snail would have announced their presence to every monster in the forest.

He wanted to go to the heart of the swamp, but he was unclear on what was there. She was hesitant to go in blind not knowing what to expect, especially with the wizard being so secretive. However, the escort was partly an appraisal — a way to gauge future dealings with their party.

Still, she was determined to find out what they would be facing.

She spots a kobold half a mile out. It was probably one of their own scouts or sentries. The wizard did say their destination was close to one of their encampments. She just didn’t expect to find one this far out.

The kobold seems to be distraught or angry — as if it was expecting an imminent attack. She considers just killing it — but its absence might give away their presence. She didn’t know the rotation of their patrols — if they even have any — and she wasn’t sticking long enough to find out.

Aven’R turns back to leave but stops. Something about the kobold was bothering her, and a second look gave her the answer. The damned beast carried a shield — and it looked like a scale from a dragon.

***

“It’s not a dragon,” Jeremy denies.

Aven’R’s report outraged Dallarath. He was wary of their journey from the very beginning, but facing a dragon was way beyond his expected risks. A den of kobolds they could handle, given ample time to prepare — but a dragon? He knew the Great Forest was full of hidden dangers, but he wasn’t too eager to meet one so soon.

“I won’t be putting my party on the line, Wizard — especially if you keep us in the dark.”

“It’s not a dragon,” he insists, “and I won’t be risking any of your lives.” The wizard sighs. “If you prefer, your group can stay at the edges of the swamp and just wait for me to come back.”

“That would still leave us exposed,” Dal objects. What was the wizard hiding — why such a need for secrecy?

“Then just stay with me until I’m past the kobold encampment. Your team can stay on dry and just wait for me to come back — I promise I won’t take long.”

Dal stares at the wizard. He looked quite outlandish with his large pack over his shoulder. They heard clanking noises early on, with Siege guessing they were pots and pans or something of the sort.

Just what was this wizard up to?

“Fine,” Dal agrees. “We’ll wait two hours. Any longer and you’ll find yourself without your escort back.”

“I shouldn’t take more than half an hour — and there really is no danger.”

***

A bestial roar in the distance followed by the blasting of horns rouses the group from their short rest. The kobolds were attacking.

Aven’R rushes towards the direction of the horns to scout, while the rest of her party tries to fortify their position.

Gwindin raises boulder-like walls of earth and stone, leaving deep pits from where the earth was moved. She stands on one of these boulders ready to hurl her spells from her elevated vantage point.

Siege adds to his armor — donning pauldrons on his shoulders and vambraces on his arms. He places a shield on the ground and checks the balance of a handful of javelins.

Remila offers a short prayer to her deity before readying her crossbow and bolts.

Dallarath checks his quiver, noting his arrows were probably not enough for what was to come. He notices the wizard, seeming to be unperturbed — as if he was expecting the welcome.

“You don’t seem to be surprised.”

“Tsk, they always do this,” Jeremy answers. “They’ll come out screaming and waving their spears, but kill a few and they’ll turn tail and run.”

“You were expecting this — and you didn’t tell us?” cries an outraged Dallarath.

“They’re only kobolds,” The wizard shrugs. “If I wasn’t in a hurry, I could probably take them on by myself.”

His casual answer left the half-elf unable to respond. There was no trace of agitation or unease in the wizard’s words. It was as if he was mentioning an unavoidable irritant rather than a threatening obstacle.

“What about the dragon?” Dal demands. “We all heard that roar.”

“Eh?!?” the wizard seems confused. “That was most likely a yawn. Lenny is nocturnal — which is why I schedule my visits in the morning.

***

Aven’R arrives after a few minutes.

“It’s kobolds,” she pants. “Around thirty — maybe more.”

“Anything else?” asks Rem.

“The dragon, you mean?” She shakes her head. “I saw no signs of one, aside from the scales the kobolds carry.”

“I would like the scales to remain with me or just discarded,” Jeremy requests. “I don’t want adventurers from Bountiful hunting my precious Lenny — not until I’ve perfected my formula.”

“You took us here for a potion?” snaps Gwindin.

“Not a potion, my dear,” he answers. “Lifesavers™. I need what’s in that swamp to make them.”

“We’ll keep your secret, wizard!” bellows Siege. “As long as you’ll keep those lozenges at a discount, we’ll gladly keep our mouths shut.”

Gwin frowns at the dwarf’s words. They didn’t even know what was in the swamp. The wizard’s demeanor also bothered her — he kept studying his notes, as if unwilling to even consider what was coming.

“You will help, won’t you Jeremy?” Rem hesitantly asks.

“Against kobolds?” the wizard seems baffled by the question. “Do I even need to?”

“I’m pretty sure your party could triumph easily over a bunch of — did she say thirty kobolds?” He smiles reassuringly .“Seb did say to leave the heavy lifting to my capable escorts.”

Rem frowns at his answer. Very few have seen the Scourge the Wizard Jeremy in combat. It was a great opportunity to see him in action and gauge if he was indeed a threat.

“Incoming four — no six,” warns Aven’R. Even with three elves and a half-elf, she still had the keenest vision.

“Let them approach, don’t use your arrows just yet,” Dal commands.

Five orcs charge towards their makeshift fortress, only to fall into the pits with a little help of grease.

Grease *Basic Spell * Alteration * Earth

Effects: Minimizes friction on a 10-foot square patch of ground.

Duration: 1 minute.

Screams and crunching sounds from below were signs that Gwindin’s elementals were taking care of the downed orcs.

The remaining orc drops to its knees before taking something from his back. It raises what seems to be the severed head of a dragon over its head, before throwing it towards the adventurers.

The severed head twitches as it flies. Bones and eventually flesh spurt out from the head, eventually forming a serpentine body.

“Nooooo!!!” Jeremy screams pitifully. “Those kobolds hurt poor Lenny.”

He rushes at the flying serpent, not heeding its open maw.

The creature seemed to crumple as it neared the wizard. It tries to turn to flee, but it couldn’t escape the grasping embrace of the wizard.

“What did they do to you Lenny? What did they do?!?” Jeremy sobs, seemingly forgetting the battle that was at hand.

More kobolds appear from the swamp. They scream and holler as they approach — but the sight of a weeping wizard cradling a serpent seems to give them pause.

“Well, he’s out of it,” Siege nudges Dallarath, signaling towards the sobbing wizard.

Dal nods, gripping his sword. At least they only had to deal with kobolds.