The Goo Swamp
The ancient trees give off a faint purple glow, providing just enough light to read the hastily scribbled map the harried Shadow Imp had given your clan. Following a path that seems to show up out of nowhere and disappear just as quick, you get turned around and lost a few times, although each time a whisper through the trees tells you which way to go.
Closing your eyes, you pause for a moment, listening for the voices that - so far as you know - have not led you astray as the path once again vanishes into thin air.
‘That way’ ‘Go forward’ ‘Not far now’
The voices urge you along, trying to convince you you aren’t far from wherever they’ve been leading you.
‘Around the tree’ ‘you’ll know it when you see it’ ‘no harm will come while the Shadowbinders Exalted watch over you’ ‘almost there and then you can rest’ ‘you must be weary by now’
The voices... No, the Exalted.... Keep up their whispering, and urge you further, faster, and yet keeping you on a path, whether it’s the right path, you’ll find out soon enough. Until suddenly, they fall silent. You slow down, then stop, to take in your surroundings.
Like most things native to the Tangled Woods, the Swamp is purple, with a faint glow emanating from it. The cattails sway in a nonexistent breeze and insects and shellbugs - both common and blue-tipped - cause ripples on the surface. A couple of bubbles increase in size and pop near the edge, sounding loud in the quiet.
A sibilant, singular voice whispers into your mind;
“Welcome to what we have affectionately dubbed ‘The Goo Swamp.’
This is where random bits and odds and ends are left behind, or dropped and forgotten during travels and training.
This is where you can leave all your materials and trinkets, and random, seemingly useless other odds and ends.
If you are lucky, it might give something back. Valuable or not, it would be rude to refuse a gift not often granted...
As they finish speaking, a Guardian coughs and moves into your field of vision, alerting you to her presence.
“I am Oceansinger, Keeper of the Swamp. Should you choose to give a gift, it will be accepted, whatever the value. Whether you do or do not, The path is that way.”
As she gestures, the multitude of voices that led you here echo the same statement through your mind, and then leave you alone to make the decision.
Do you give something? Or do you move on?