The story of Rr'ipar begins...

[AGM Turnip]

It was just as well that Rr'ipar didn't rely on his sense of smell, for the unpleasant odour filled his nostrils and put him constantly on the edge of a sneeze.  At least the feeling was easy to control and he was in no danger of beginning to sneeze uncontrollably.

After about ten candlemarks, they arrived at a fork in the waterway.  A small tributary fed into the 'main' waterway that they were travelling on.  The ixit spoke to him in strained whispers.    "Ya, thad biggie bada thing be'd here."  They glanced around, eyes darting quickly from place to place.  The boat picked up speed as they began to pole the craft along faster.

Rr'ipar could see some evidence of something large having been in the area as the boat passed the place that the ixit had spoken of.   The marks in the soft ground were very evident but difficult to interpert, especially from the boat, but it seemed like whatever it was had come down that small tributary.  Where it was now, he couldn't say.   Should Rr'ipar want to investigate the area, the green skinned creatures would at first refuse, then, very reluctantly allow for a five minute stop.   It was very obvious that they would rather keep going.  "Jesta bit further up'ther."  They indicated the 'main' waterway."

[Rr'ipar]

OOC:  After a long hiatus I have returned, ready to slice, dice, stab and poison my way to greatness once again!  Sorry to any fans of evil felines that may have gotten bored waiting on me > And thanks for waiting Turnip.

IC:  Rr'ipar spent much of the trip concentrating on taking slow, shallow breaths, doing what he could to reduce the amount of noxious scent he had to deal with.  While glad he was able to avoid a sneezing fit like the one he experienced upon entering the swamp, he dearly missed having his nose fully functional.  Being handicapped, with regards to any of his senses, would be intolerable if he had to deal with it for too long.

  Since his nose was crippled, Rr'ipar took advantage of the Ixit's silence, listening carefully to the swamp around him as they navigated their little water-craft along.  With each sound, he freely allowed his ears to rotate to better sample it, analyzing them as best he could to determine direction, distance, movement, and so forth to attempt to determine any possible threat.

  Of course, he did not neglect his eyes, and when his guides pointed out the tributary where whatever creature had so frightened them supposedly appeared, the black feline focused his eyes on what scant sign was to be had there.  Though difficult to see from the boat, he did his utmost to learn what he could from this as well.  But, he didn't think that information would be enough.

  "C'n we stop t'boat fer a few fellers?  I be wantin' a better look at t'sign this monster y'seen 'round heres," he said, waving his spear at the markings the whatever-it-was had left in its wake.  "I doubt I can tells ya much 'bout it, not without seein' the critter itself ferst, but maybe I can figures out which way it went when it left.  Then you'll know which way be safer to hunt fer yer weeds," he explained, hoping to curb their fears quickly, but readying further arguments in his devious mind just in case.  If he knew anything about Ixit, it was how stubborn the little green buggers could be.

[AGM Turnip]

The Ixit very reluctantly slowed to a stop beside a large tree root which Rr'ipar could climb out onto without a risk of slinking into the oozing muck, as long as he used great caution not to slip on the black slime.  If he chose to do that, he was better able to take a look at the marks in the very soft earth.  From the boat he would be unable to learn much more than he knew now.

OOC:I'm assuming that you want to get out of the boat.  Let me know if you don't

He could see marks along the minor tributary much more clearly from the root where he was poised.  There seemed to be marks on top of marks, so he was almost certain that whatever it was moved up and down this tributary fairly frequently.  The oozyness of the mud made it very difficult to determine specifics about the creature, as the markings were all filled in.  The feet looked large however, perhaps a foot and a half or two feet long.  Some part of the creature was being dragged between the footprints, but whether it was just the tail, or it was the whole body being dragged along was impossible to determine.   There also seemed to be other drag marks, lots of them, as if the creature dragged things along the smaller of the waterways fairly frequently

Equally difficult to determine was whether the creature had been coming or going during its last movements.    As he stared at the large footprints, he had the a vauge impression that it had come down the tributary to the main waterway last, but the footprints disapeared into the black water, making it impossible to determine which way the creature went.

The Ixit were getting restless now, whispering among themselves.  They glanced up at him.  "So where da gatorcroc? It gone back ta it home?"  They were tense and poised for motion.  Rr'ipar got the feeling that the least noise would send them scuttling, leaving him stranded on the root.  "It safe ta go gatherin'?"

[Rr'ipar]

Rr'ipar moved onto the large root without hesitation, but as usual decided to be cautious about it.  He put his faith in his feline sense of balance to move quickly, but didn't attempt anything fancy.  He just moved as close as he safely felt he could, then crouched down for a better look, angling his spear across his knees with the point out toward the water, between himself and any predator that might launch up at him.  Flimsy defense perhaps, but whatever he had was better than nothing.

  Examining the tracks was difficult.  He was not experienced enough to be anything close to an expert at tracking on land, and had no experience at all with water.  Still, there was some information to be had, even to his less-than-fully trained skill level.  As the ixit began their muttering, he felt the need to soothe them somewhat by narrarating his findings.

"Near's I c'n tell, t'critter went draggin' down inter the main water-ways from here.  Tracks be fillin' in wit mud'n water pretty fast here, so's its hard t'tell fer sure.  There's lots'o tracks around here, I be thinkin' t'thing makes 'is home up here in'is tributary.  Might not see'im goin' in, but... it might come back while we's in 'ere."  He paused for a moment, considering. 

  "I t'ink is just a big durned croc, not sumpin worse'n 'at.  Where I's come from, when they talk 'bout it at'all, the old timers say t'Serpent be, well, a serpent.  Serpents a'int usually gots no feets, nor legs fer them feet t'be hooked to.  Whatever t'is is, its got feets t'make tracks wit' so I think its sumpin I c'n kill iffin we needs t'get past it onna'way out. "  Here he paused again, and took a number of shallow sniffs from the air, checking the wind direction and trying both to get a lingering scent of the vegetation nearby that the beast might have touched on its way by, as well as to see if the scent the gobs had given him for garsis weed was possible to detect nearby.  Either way, if his other findings were correct... he'd suggest going up the tributary a short way.  And hope it didn't get him killed. 

[AGM Turnip]

OOC:  I will be going away for vacation for a couple of weeks.  I'll get a post for you as soon as I get home 

[AGM Turnip]

Other than the occasional slipping foot, Rr'ipar had no trouble keeping his balance on the roots, even though they were quite slippery.  Now fighting on the roots... that may be a different story.  Hopefully, should it come to a battle, there would be a more stable place to plant his feet.

Though he was prepared for it, no toothy beast launched itself from the murky water, though he did see a snake moving across the surface not too far away.

He could catch no scent of the weed the gobs were searching for, but he did catch a tangy, musky scent from the vegetation around the  tracks.  It did smell somewhat like a croc, but not quite.  There were some subtle differences.

When he suggested that they go up the tributary to see if the creature went that way, the Ixit looked at him as he'd grown a second head.  "Why'd we be goin' thata way?  Them herbs be 'long this river, not thata one."  However, with a little fast talk, and a reason that seemed like a good one, (at least on the surface,) the Ixit could be convinced to at least go a little ways down the smaller waterway.

They waited briefly for Rr'ipar to reboard the boat, and started slowly along the narrow channel, which grew more narrow as they moved.  The mud on either side of the waterway grew more solid, and the marks grew more easy to read.  It was obvious that the creature moved along this waterway frequently.  There was an occasional, very minor branch to the stream that they were on, which also showed evidence of being traveled on, but by far the tributary they were on was the most traveled.  There were so many tracks here that it was impossible to tell which way the creature had gone, and Rr'ipar was even less sure of his earlier impression.  What he could tell was that the creature traveled this way frequently, perhaps even daily.

The Ixit had been whispering among themselves, then apparently coming to a decision they stopped abruptly enough to rock Rr'ipar where he stood.  "Thada be lotta tracks.  Meebee more than ona them Gatorcrocs.  Too hardta getta round here.  Ken't run iffen we wanna.  Not goin' no further.  You wanna go, go.  We be goin' up t'other way 'n gettin' the garsis, 'cause I think that gatercroc be up that way."  He indicated the direction they'd been going.  "Iffen he be up there, we kin git the garsis just fine.  You wanna come, fine.  You not wanna come, we kin gitya when we go back, iffen yer at the forks."

The Ixit would wait for a few minutes for Rr'ipar to scout the immediate vicinity and make a decision.  (OOC: To move the story along I'm assuming you want to take a quick look around.  Please disregard if you don't)  The ground ahead was firm enough to walk on, if caution was used to avoid soft spots, and one stayed on the upslope, away from the narrowing water.  The smell of the gatorcroc was stronger here, and he was able to smell it over the abient stench of the swamp easily.

When Rr'ipar make a close examination of the tracks, he didn't think that the gob had been right about there being more than one.  He was pretty sure that there was only a single creature making this trek, but it was certainly a good sized one, but the amount that its feet had sunk into the mud.  While examining the tracks, a glint caught his eye.  Upon closer examination, the glint proved to be a gold ring, the remains of it's previous owners finger still attached, pressed into the mud.  If he was careful, he could get the ring without the gobs noticing.

Upon returning to the boat, the Ixit looked up at him.  "So whacha gonna do?"