bobbob2 wants something similar to the latest art I made with my fursona but with a little twist with their and  blackadder261 character.

Ari  bobbob2
Der and the story is written by  blackadder261

Enjoy!

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Crystals and Calamities

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Der could already feel an uncomfortable feeling settling into her stomach as the scent of marshland nearby hit her nose, the foliage beginning to give way to the uncomfortably familiar scrubland, the trees around becoming barren of leaves or branches until they reached well above her head.

“Ari, why exactly are we coming back to this godforsaken place again?” she grumbled, pausing for a moment to look out into the scenery beyond. Ahead of them was still another fifty feet or so of relatively firm ground, albeit even here the grassland was becoming soggy under her bare feet, but beyond that she could already see the near-featureless brown of the muddy misery that her lycan companion seemed hellbent on leading them into, broken up only by the handful of deceptive island-like areas of moss and firmer muck, barely enough to keep someone from sinking into the marsh. “Let me guess, you dropped something important when we were here last time and need to go find it?”

Ari blushed as she forged on ahead, using her staff to help find a steady path up toward the edge of the vast expanse of mud-bog that laid before them. Already, further into the distance, she could see the emerald glint of her prize through the murky soup of mist and fog that shrouded parts of the area. The mage she’d spoken with back in Elheim, where they’d spent the night, had revealed something rather intriguing about the crystals. While utterly worthless to most traders in the area, as she had found out to her humiliating cost after Der had helped pry her back out of the mud, it turned out that the shards of emerald did have some uses. If she could retrieve a couple, then she might be able to make the coming discomfort well worth their while.

“Nope… remember those crystals, the ones I tried to collect a few of last time we were here?” she began. Der let out a giggle, knowing she had a good opportunity to push some of her companion’s buttons before she led them straight into the quagmire.

“Yeah, the ones that you found out were worth about one piece of silver per dozen? The ones that you got yourself so stuck trying to retrieve, it took me half an hour to haul you back in? Those crystals?”

The white wolf grumbled and looked back over her shoulder. She didn't need a reminder of how their last trip had gone, though she suspected it wouldn't be the last time today. "Yes, those crystals. Well, not those exact ones… the local mages gave me somewhere we can go to get some more potent ones."

"Potent?" the dragonborn asked, somewhat perplexed. If these crystals were of some magical variety, surely they'd have been more valuable, right?

"Yes, potent," the wolfess uttered with a smirk, realising just how little Der knew of them. "If I get enough of them together, then with some help… I might just be able to form them into a conduit. That should make my spellcasting even stronger than before, all being well."

Oh good, Der thought to herself again, as they approached a boardwalk she swore she'd traversed in the past. I'm sure this won't end with me having to fish her out of yet another boggy patch. "And you're sure going to get them is a sensible idea, rather than finding another way to acquire them?"

The clunk of the duo's feet on the mossy, partially rotten wood under foot disturbed the general tranquility of the swamp, otherwise only punctured by the sporadic cry of birds native to the area. The scalier woman's nose rankled as she looked over the edge, into the disgusting soup of thick mud and stinking water, already dreading what she suspected Ari would ask of her. Her fingers ran along the equally forlorn looking handrail, predominantly as a safety measure in case the boards snapped underneath her. She could picture the ribbing she'd get otherwise, if this time around she was the one to find herself in need of rescue.

As they rounded a few kinks in the path, curving around what was likely a far deeper portion of the mire, Der spied something she recognised, and began to chuckle. The wolven mage ahead of her looked back, a little confused by her companion's sudden shift in emotions. "What? Something amusing you all of a sudden?"

"Oh, nothing much," the dragonborn cooed. "I just noticed exactly where you got stuck fast last time we were out here," she uttered, before breaking into a laugh. Ari stopped dead and went bright red with humiliation.

"Liar. All of this area looks the bloody same," she grumbled back, as they paused to survey the area. Der simply nodded toward her friend's sandaled feet, next to which was an aged, badly degraded coil of hempen rope.

"I'm amazed that it doesn't look familiar to you. It was about… there," Der elaborated, pointing a clawed finger out into the swamp on their right hand side. "Just after you'd grabbed some of those less powerful crystals, you blundered right into a soft patch. Made a damn good job of burying yourself hip-deep in sludge too. Oh, that was so funny."

"For you, perhaps," the red-faced wolfess snarled, mostly to cover for her utter humiliation. She could just about hear in her memory, the howls of laughter from her draconic compatriot, stood high and dry, while she sank into the gurgling mess. "How long did it take for you to stop laughing and go fetch a rope again… twenty minutes?"

"More like half an hour. Besides, I'd left my pack down at the other end of this boardwalk, so I'd have had to go back for it first anyway~"

A scoff and a roll of the eyes was what she got in return, the wolf definitely a little irked by Der's amusement at her misfortune. "Yes, my point exactly, you git. I swear, if you do that to me again…" She took a breath, realising that making such threats right now was perhaps unwise. "We need to take a left turn off the boardwalk. Opposite to where I was last time… we shouldn't have to go far, only a hundred yards or so."

"Oh, only a hundred yards or so! Wonderful. I've heard plenty from the local tavern that this place has hidden deep patches that'll swallow us both whole if we aren't careful. How exactly do you plan to stop us from becoming something that gets dug back up in a few eons, pray tell?"

Ari cackled softly at her companion's worries. More like she doesn't wanna have to scrub the mud from between her scales again. "I have this staff, in case you forgot. A good prod ahead should find us a safe path, you'll just have to follow me unless you want to have to try and scrub that nice white blouse clean again," she instructed, with a devious smirk on her face. Having stepped up to where there was a gap in the handrails, where one length of wood and its support had rotted through completely in the muggy, humid environment, and mentally prepared herself, she took a breath and stepped gently out into the mire, letting out a soft groan as she felt her leg up to the shin be swallowed into the oozing, cold muck.

Der let out a snicker, standing with a hand against the end of the old railing. "Oh, I bet you're looking forward to trying to clean yourself off. How's the temperature, nice and cool for your spa day?"

The magician grumbled, looking back at her compatriot, before a devilish idea came over her. "Why not come in and see for yourself?" she asked, before snagging Der's belt with her slim fingers and yanking her forward. Caught entirely by surprise, the dragonborn threw her weight forward so that she wouldn't land face-first in the swamp, in turn forcing her to more or less jump from the boardwalk. It was only about a foot higher than the surface that Ari was now partially immersed into, but the added force splattered muck up the pair of them, the rogue landing with a gurgling splat as she sank knee-deep. She let out a disgusted squeal, glaring daggers into her partner.

"EEWWWWWW! It's so cold and slimy! Ari, damn you, why would you do that to me!" she cried out, planting her hands on Ari's shoulders and using her as leverage to heave her feet back out of the mud. She didn't need the extra leg-up, as the mud hadn't been thick enough to cause her any problems, plus her legs were fresh, but a little retaliation for that prank was absolutely in order. She grinned devilishly at the displeased yelp she got in return, not bothering to look down at her own legs given she could feel the cold wetness all over her.

In spite of being forced down a little by Der's payback, having to use her staff to help pluck her sandals out of the mushy silt, Ari was still grinning as she saw the draconid lady's unimpressed look as she felt the mud shift around her feet, making loud sucking noises as she made an effort to trudge through it. "As you can see, it's nice and gross as far as temperatures go. Now, let's stop horsing around and go get those crystals."

The pair trudged deeper into the swamp, each making displeased noises in turn at the brackish, vile water and mud that was slowly climbing up their legs, ducking and brushing past the odd vine or drooping branch that got in their way. Der glanced over her shoulder as they advanced at a tediously slow rate, making sure that in spite of the foggy nature of this place, she could still see the boardwalk. It wouldn't do to get themselves lost out here, and wander in circles until they either became trapped or exhausted, if not both. A couple of yards ahead, Ari let out a soft gasp as she spied her prize.

"Excellent," she hissed with delight, seeing the bluish glow ahead of her slightly. Compared to the ones nearer to the safe boardwalk, these seemed to glow far brighter, likely a show of their more powerful nature.

"Great! Let's grab some and get out of here before our luck runs out," the dragonborn muttered, very much glad that this revolting task was going to be over sooner than later. She moved to skirt around the wolfess as she began collecting some crystals, putting the smaller ones in a leg-bag, and managed to briefly forget what Ari had explicitly told her to do. While initially it wasn’t an issue, she made it only a handful of feet before her error became obvious. The soft, squishy, but stable ground under her feet melted away as she got into a position just behind and a few feet to the right of the mage, sinking rapidly as far as her thighs before she could do almost anything.

“Shit!” she yelped softly, face flushing with heat as she felt herself settle, the foul muck bubbling softly around her. So far, fortunately for the mired dragonborn, Ari hadn’t realised what had happened off to her side, sparing her at least some indignity for the time being. Biting her lip, she weighed up her options: calling for Ari’s aid may lead to her being utterly eviscerated by the wolfess’ mockery in retaliation for Der’s own teasing, not fifty yards from where she bogged down last time, something that she would rather avoid today. Huffing through her nose, she tried to force her way out of this deeper patch, perhaps back over toward where Ari was standing now.

A series of gurgles and slurps, and her stomach lurching as she plunged deeper still, rapidly erased any notion of her being able to get out of this mess on her own, letting out a soft whimper as her leggings disappeared from view, her hemline beginning to be swallowed by the muck. She let out a gulp, seeing how the bubbling from beneath her seemed to have worsened, her struggling evidently agitating the muck that had gotten such a firm grip on her, as though she’d stepped into tar- again. Swallowing her pride, she cleared her throat. “Uhm, Ari? A little help here?”

Her heart sank as she observed her companion, seemingly completely engrossed in her collection of the crystals. Ari, for her part, was entirely enthralled by the brilliant blue glow of more crystals, as she slipped them into her leg pouch. She gently plucked her flat-soled sandals from the soft ooze, leaning into her staff for assistance, grunting a little as she started to feel the strain in her thighs. While she’d have loved to pluck more of these crystals- both for her own purposes and to curry favour with the local mage’s guild- she knew fine well that attempting to do so would likely lead to her strength giving out entirely, leaving her at the stronger rogue’s cackling mercies yet again. As yet, she was oblivious that even while she worked, Der was working herself into quite the predicament.

I definitely don’t need to have her teasing me yet again. Sure, I trust her not to leave me behind, and I think she trusts me by this point as well… but yet another embarrassing anecdote that might leak out of her when she fails to hold her drink is something I’d rather do without.

She fastened the top of her leg-pouch, anxious to make sure that the crystals couldn’t fall out into the mud if she hit a deeper patch, and set forward to grab another, much larger gem, easily detaching it from where it had grown out. She smiled, satisfied with her haul. That should keep me and the local casters in crystal for a while yet. Now, time to leave b-

Something soft and wet hit the back of her right thigh, as a shriek pierced her ears.

“ARI! DAMN IT, HELP!”

Der, suffice to say, was growing increasingly panicked by now, her cries for help up to now having gone unheard. Her squirms had steadily worsened her situation, to the point that she’d grabbed at a vine out of desperation, certain that she’d slip under without it. At last, she’d finally gotten the lycan’s attention, and she turned, snorting and bursting into laughter almost immediately at the sight of the draconid, more or less up to her armpits in a bubbling, churning morass that she had almost certainly disturbed to the point of being inescapable without help. At the very least, she’d gotten her attention now, and not a moment too soon: another glance up at the strand of plant that was helping to keep her in place was fraying under the load it was placed under, almost certainly about to snap.

“My my, Der, what happened to staying where I’d proven a safe path to be?” Ari snickered, slowly grunting and trudging her way into a better position to assist her. “Or did you fancy an impromptu spa day?”

“Shut up, Ari, this isn’t funny!” the bronze-scaled woman yelled back, right arm covered in mud most of the way up her shoulder. Her face softened a little at the expression she got in return from the wolf. “Okay, from where you’re standing it’s maybe funny… but I can’t feel a bottom to this bog!”

Ari continued to snicker softly, feeling for an area underfoot that felt solid, before taking her rope from the bag of holding she kept at hand on a near-constant basis. “Right, right, hang on a second. I swear, you do this on purpose sometimes,” she thought aloud, a shower of protests being thrown back at her as she formed one end into a lasso and threw it toward her floundering comrade. Der quickly and clumsily pulled the rope in with her muddied hand, releasing the vine just as it snapped, and got the sturdier twine under her arms, beginning to pull as hard as she could on the rope. To her disdain, she barely moved an inch, having become stuck fast. At the very least, her efforts to pull on the rope weren’t making her sink any deeper than she already was, which was a comfort of sorts; she made an effort not to squirm or kick her legs, as she had finally realised that that was simply causing her to sink deeper. More worryingly, Ari seemed to be sinking into the mud as she took the weight at her end, not that she seemed to have noticed yet.

“Argh, this is hopeless, Ari!” Der groaned, keeping a death-grip on the rope despite its being hooked around her upper body. The sorcerer had come to a similar realisation, keeping tension on the rope while she thought up any other means of rescue. She kneaded her forehead, already beginning to drip with sweat in spite of her extremely light clothing.

“Yes, yes, I can see that. Perhaps if I- nrgh- crap, I think I’m- hngh- oh no,” she uttered, attempting to move closer to a tree, or anything she could perhaps tie the rope off to or use as a pulley of sorts. That plan fell apart quickly, as she found herself firmly rooted to the spot. She twisted her hips, grunting and straining as she tried to haul a foot free, even jamming her staff into the mire in multiple spots to try to find some additional leverage, but it soon became blindingly obvious that she, like Der, was now firmly stuck in this swamp, though unlike her companion- who had blundered into one of the deeper patches of soft, sucking mud- she had been driven down into what had seemed to be firm clay, her exertions earlier coupled with the fact that she’d sank thigh-deep now into the thick gunk had left her unable to move her legs an inch. She saw Der’s face fall a little as she realised the gravity of the situation.

“So, now what do we do?”

Ari pondered for a moment, clicking her fingers. “Given I haven’t tired myself out anything like as badly as I did when we tried taking that shortcut, I should be able to cast fly on the pair of us. Give me a moment, we’ll be out of here in no time.”

Grinning, as she mentally applauded her rapid problem-solving today, she closed her eyes and placed a hand to her chest as she made the incantation needed. Opening her eyes, she was perplexed, the normal sensations that would flow through her body not appearing. “Weird.”

Der cocked her head. “What’s weird?”

Ari made another attempt to cast her spell, her stomach beginning to churn as it once again achieved nothing. “I… I can’t seem to cast spells. It doesn’t make any sense, though, we got a good night’s sleep last night, not to mention a nice meal at the tavern!”

It took Der very little time to surmise what might be the problem. “Those crystals- did the mages mention anything about them suppressing magic if handled?”

The wolf’s blood ran cold, as such a conversation, a warning, echoed back through her mind. She was about to toss the bluish quartz to her side, before it occurred to her that that would do no good. Reaching down, she realised that the leg-bag containing the bulk of what she’d recovered was buried down in the clay. She looked over at Der, a growing look of horror on her face as it dawned on her that they were now in quite the predicament.

“Great,” Der grumbled. “How the hell do we get out of this mess?”

The sun was setting as the pair of adventurers, one plastered in mud almost to the neck, the other to the stomach, staggered back into the tavern, getting a brief look from the patrons before they resumed their own business.

“Just as well my Mage Hand doesn’t take much of a grip on the arcane to use, huh?” Ari mumbled, panting hard and relying on Der to take the bulk of her weight. Her legs felt like they’d give out from under her if not for her companion’s support. It had taken a while, but after trying several incantations in an increasing panic, she found that she could rig up a means of lifting Der free using her spectral limb, enabling the dragonborn to haul herself onto the firm ground beside her stranded companion before her concentration broke.

Der giggled a little, still dripping a little bit of mud occasionally. Ari was evidently skirting around the fact that she too had needed some help after Der had been freed. “I won’t deny that much… though I bet you’re equally as glad I had the strength left to pull your backside out of that clay. I think you could do with some sparing, if only to give you a bit more stamina and might~”

Ari grumbled softly, as Der reminded her that she’d still be stranded if not for her help. Sure enough, especially after the exertion of using her Mage Hand and fighting the damping effects of the crystals, she had absolutely no strength left to use, not least with her flat-soled footwear anchoring her into the ground. Der, by contrast, could still bring a lot of her energy to bear, extricating her with some effort. “Okay, yes, I think we’re about even on rescuing each other from that damned mire now.”

“Even, yes… I’m pretty sure the ribbings aren’t going to stop for either of us any time soon though.”

Ari rolled her eyes and groaned, the pair all but falling against the oaken bar of the tavern.

“Drink, please!” the pair called out, almost in sync. Cleaning up could wait for now, a refreshing drink to try and rejuvenate them was far higher up the priorities. Ari glanced down at her leg pouch as she did so, quietly hoping in the back of her mind that their tribulations had been worthwhile.