We found the lagune easily enough now that the island was visible, although we had to circle it for quite some time before we found it, having drifted further to the north side. Lubus brought us in slowly to the crescent-shaped bay, and with white beaches all around us, I finally felt familiar. On these sands, Naga had dived for pearls, various crustaceans, and fish for as long as I could remember. There was no one on the beaches no though, seemingly completely abandoned and quiet. That there were no Naga out wasn’t strange, they should be up by the home cave, but there was also no sign of animal life on the shore. The little crabs that used to chase each other merrily here and there were absent, and the forest seemed unusually quiet, I at least expected to see or hear some birds calling to each other, but there was nothing. My tongue flickered out, letting me taste the air, among the familiar smells of a forest there was something else in the air. Yet another thing that I was unfamiliar with, the scent was powerful, indicating that whatever it was should be close.

Stop the boat here Lubus, I ordered as we neared the shore. Something isn’t right here, I’m going ahead to investigate, and Lubus obliged as I felt the boat slow down to a crawl before stopping completely. My armor went on, and I summoned my bow and the quiver of arrows, I told Lilian to get her bow out too and cover me from the boat.

“What’s wrong, Eshanai? Did you smell something?” She asked, looking at the beach in front of us.

“It was something alright, it might be nothing, but I think it’s better that I check it out just in case,” I said, and she nodded, knocking an arrow to the bowstring. “Listen, only use your magic as a last resort, for now, you have a limited supply, remember?” She nodded again, her bow at the ready, and I smiled at her before I lowered myself down into the shallow water below us. With arrow knocked I slither onto land, I picked up that smell again, stronger now that I was closer. Whatever it was should be right by where the forest ended, and the beach began, my eyes could see nothing but vegetation, but with my heat-sense, I could feel three suspiciously warm lumps standing out from the relatively cool environment around them. The lumps seemed to stand up and creep towards me as I got closer, no animal could completely hide from sight when I had left. It didn’t seem to be camouflage as I would have seen them move, it sent a shiver up my spine, and before they could get any closer, I brought up my bow and pulled the arrow back aiming for the now waste high lump in the middle. They seemed to recognize what I was doing as dangerous to them as they came rushing at me, abandoning all pretense of stealth. They looked like big lizards running on six legs, two pairs in the back and a pair further up its body.

I didn’t take much time to examine them as I loosed my arrow towards the one in the middle I had been aiming at. It buried itself up to the fletching in the creatures neck, the thing fell to the ground, tumbling end over end. I didn’t look to make sure it was dead as I had the other two to deal with. I quickly stored away my bow and arrows to replace them with my spear and shield. The lizards grew cautious as they reached me, circling me before they rose up to use the claws on their forelimbs to swipe at me. They seemed just as comfortable walking like this as they were with every leg to the ground, and they proved it by quickly darting in to claw at my armor and darting back before I could catch them. They kept me between them, one of them attacking me from behind when I jabbed my spear towards the other one. They seemed very coordinated, but if they were intelligent or simply using animal cunning, I didn’t know. Either way, they didn’t seem used to fighting Naga as they were entirely too focused on my upper body, practically ignoring my tail. I used this to my advantage when I halfheartedly poked my spear at one of them the other one attacked my back. I slapped my tail around its throat and quickly wrestled it to the ground, keeping my spear pointed at its companion I squeezed the life from its lungs. They had sharp claws, and my prey used them to claw at my armor and scales before I got my coils around its arms and pinned most of them. It had hurt a bit, but it wasn’t enough to penetrate my scales, all it had left behind was some scratches and nothing more.

As the free one tried to attack me, I kept it at bay using my spear and shield causing minor bleeding wounds in trade for its efforts. It attempted to circle me, but I always oriented myself towards it using my flexible tail. I finally got a good grip around my pray’s throat, and I quickly crushed its windpipe, and it went still, dead. I let it flop to the ground before I advanced on the last lizard, seeing both its companions dead, it turned away, disappearing from sight, trying to flee back into the forest. I brought out my bow again, and following it with my heat-sense, I shot it in the back twice to make sure it was dead. I made sure all of them were taken care of before I made my way to the boat to help Lilian get to shore. As I climbed back on the ship, Lilian came rushing up to me before she stopped before me hesitating.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice, looking away from me. That surprised me, I didn’t know what she had to be sorry for, was she going to cry again. Trying to be gentle I said.

“Why?” And to my surprise, she looked me straight in the eye before answering.

“Because,” she paused. “Because I didn’t help you,” she continued, making fists in her hair, she spoke in frustration. “I tried aiming at those lizard things, but I was afraid of hitting you. I guess you didn’t even need my help, you were amazing.” Her arms fell to her sides, and she looked down at the deck, she looked smaller somehow. What was it Lubus had said? Protect her, Lubus had been right about most things so far, so I followed his advice.

“Not shooting at those things was a wise choice when you don’t know your own skill. Besides, you would have drawn attention to yourself. I intended for you to use your bow more as protection if something were to make it to you,” I tried explaining, lowering myself to her eye level and placing a hand on her shoulder. Lilian’s hands turned to white-knuckled fists at her sides before she looked up at me.

“I don’t want to be a BURDEN!” She burst out suddenly before she covered her mouth with both hands and blushed furiously. “I’m sorry, that was a bit loud,” it was, we risked drawing unwanted attention if we shouted like that. “It’s just that, I want to be helpful, not just someone that tags along and you have to protect, a liability.” She said finally, going against what Lubus had said to me completely. She didn’t want to be a burden, I admired her for that, would I somehow stop her from growing if I didn’t let her contribute. I could at least let her watch my back, she didn’t need to be in the thick of a fight, that was still my responsibility.

“But you have already been useful to me,” I said as I smiled at her confused expression. “Remember the monkey, you’re the one that scared it away with your spider shot.”

“That doesn't count,” she said and crossed her arms over her chest. “You would have dealt with that thing just fine without me,” she said, turning her nose up at the idea.

“Maybe, but it’s still a good way for you to watch my back, I don’t have eyes back there you know,” I said and ruffled her hair, a smile tried to force its way on her face, but she managed to keep up her facade. “Besides, you have helped me in other ways, what about your dream magic? Our dreams are a great place for us to develop both our magic,” I said, and Lilian’s demeanor softened a bit.

“That’s true, I suppose, it seems that you have had to save me from my own magic more often than not though,” she said, still not entirely convinced it seemed.

“Although, training in our sleep might get complicated now. I will probably have to be the one that stays awake to watch out for monster’s in the night, anyway, you just watch my back, and everything will be fine, ok.” I stuck out my hand for her to shake like I had seen humans do, and she reluctantly took it, and we shook up and down.

“Fine, I’ll watch your back so good, you won’t even have to worry about it, trust me,” Lilian said, smiling at me with confidence, and I laughed at that lightly. I made my way out of the boat again and helped Lilian get to shore. As we passed the dead lizard I had the idea of letting Red absorb their corpses, maybe he could tell me something about them, the lizards turned into the now familiar red motes of light and floated towards the core as text appeared in my vision.

Treskle’s absorbed

Displaying known monster data

Type: Treskle Speciese: Dungeon monster Gender: Male/female

Age: 20-30 years

Average attributes

Strength: 15 Endurance: 18 Constitution: 13

Dexterity: 14 Agility: 20 Perception: 12

Intelligence: 6 Willpower: 11 Charisma: 10

Average mana pool: 15

Information

Invisibility: Ability to turn invisible at an extremely low cost of mana

Six legs: Can keep running at an even pace for long periods, able to support itself on four hind legs to bring the claws on its front legs to bear on its prey.

Group hunter: Lives in packs of up to ten to fifteen individuals, numbers may vary, forms hunting groups that patrol their territory to provide for the pack.

Dungeon monster: Were originally spawned from dungeons, some have been known to turn wild, propagating freely in nature.

Are these things dungeon monsters?