POV -> Cody

The uneven terrain had left Cody's feet sore, but climbing up onto Horse had resulted in far too many branches to the face. An hour into Madison's dedicated detour, he wasn't the only one moaning. They had stumbled upon a shambling rotted creature a few meters off sharing similar sentiments for the woods.

Madison readied his sword, but before he could even take a step a ball of fire whizzed past him, colliding with the undead's head and exploding it like a rotted melon. He watched the headless creature fall flat, eyeing Cody with a frown. "You should save your magic."

"I can beat you dry." Cody mused, cracking his knuckles as he passed the man. "Haven't seen a spider in a while."

"One less problem." Madison grumbled, looking between Cody and Hord'anne. "Two left to go."

Cody opened his mouth, his retort cut back by the rustle of a guest. He cocked his head around to the noise, waiting for Madison's count to rise back up to three.

A spindly creature stepped around a withered trunk, more focused on kicking some burrs off his shoes than the small group of adventurers it had stumbled upon. It let out a soft hum as it scratched at some rot on the tree, curiously holding its palm up to the bark to compare its skin tone. From the way its skin spotted and flaked like a moldy stack of papers, its tone was surprisingly close to the dying tree's.

After the comparison, its hum dipped to concern, and it lifted a second set of arms that busily scribbled away at a board clipped with pages.

"Hello sir!" Sariel called, immediately earning a jump from her guest. "Fancying a stroll as well?"

It straightened, clutching its papers close and eyeing Sariel with four pitch black eyes.

Cody immediately grabbed for his tome.

"You're…" It's head twitched as Madison took a step, and two dusty grey antennae rose up in alert. "Humans… Two humans." It fixed its gaze on Cody, six long fingers tapping along the board of papers in its hands as it stared at him. "And a mix. Adventurers?"

"Yes sir!" Sariel said, "My name's-"

"Not something that we give out!" Cody blurted, coaxing Sariel behind him as he stood under the towering creature's thin shadow.

Its antenna twitched, but its face remained neutral as it aimed its attention to the undead on the ground. "Sputtinkle Sput." It spoke, holding out its hand for a few awkward seconds. When no one shook it, it went back to its strange stack of papers. It straightened itself, clearing its throat. "I'm an inspector, with the Endangered Supernaturals Protection Agency. Are you aware that you are standing on a reserve funded and protected by our organization?"

"A reserve? For what?" Cody scoffed.

It clicked its tongue, licking its finger to separate some pages. "Emerald corpse creep, a stunning subspecies of rainbow skullcrackers, whispering willowtrees, and." it motioned to the half burnt corpse, "any form of sustenance that crosses into the reserve. It is very hard for the willowtrees to find food with no children nearby. Undead such as that one will come running to the nearest sound."

"It attacked us." Maddison retorted, "it was already dead anyways."

"Yes, but in that state it's not going to walk itself over to a willowtree, now, is it?" The inspector replied, its voice composed as it stared down Cody and Madison. "Seeing as you've willfully done this on the reserve, there will be a fine."

"Didn't know it was a reserve." Cody bit back.

"It is clearly marked with a thick line of Deathcaps." Sputtinkle replied, turning the board to show a small sketch of thin and ghastly mushrooms that the group had encountered prior. "Adventurers ought to practice proper skepticism for these things."

Cody's hair flared with irritation as he stepped closer to the creature. "Would it kill you to put up a sign?"

Sputtinkle hummed curiously. "It wouldn't. Wood doesn't have any ill effect on me, even as a stake."

Cody blinked, the air growing hot around him. "Do you want to die, smartass?"

"Let's all calm down." Madison cut in, trying to push himself between the warlock and their strange guest. The creature hadn't shown an inkling of registering the fiery threat they were poking at, or it simply didn't care. "This was a misunderstanding. We messed up our route while avoiding some trouble. We'll be on our way."

"Of course." It nodded, flipping through its pages and stopping to check off a fresh sheet. "Let me just issue your fine…"

Madison rested his palm on the hilt of his sword, his voice weighed with irritation. "I'd recommend letting us off with a warning."

"Just doing my job. You can take it up with my supervisor." Sputtinkle replied, dotting some letters on the lengthy note it had written out. The creature was halfway through tearing the page out when Sariel jumped forward, gathering its attention with a wave.

"Question." Sariel called, crouching by the crispy undead. She stared at the half blown up corpse longer than anyone liked. "Where're the willowtrees, sir?"

It tilted its head, one hand tapping along its clipboard while its two lower arms gripped its hips.

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"Still a lot left, could toss im over to one like pig slop."

Maddison sighed, stepping in front of Sariel to get the creature's attention. "What's the fine?"

The creature hummed, gazing past Maddison's arm at Sariel. It eyed the undead corpse, reading over its half torn off 'fine' and nodding to itself. "Follow me!" Sputtinkle announced, two hands clasped behind its back, and the other two holding its clipboard closer to mark a few boxes.

Sariel hoisted the undead by its legs, dragging it after the strange creature while the rest of her company breathed a sigh of exasperation.

Cody and Madison kept their distance from the creature, a sense Sariel still lacked as she kept to its side to drum up a conversation. "We could just light him on fire and leave." Cody mumbled, for once not earning a scowl from Madison.

"Fun fact." The creature spoke, twisting his head the entire way around to stare at Madison and Cody while his body continued forward. "I am fireproof."

"But are you explosion proof?"

It held its chin in thought, "a very good question. I'm not quite sure. I had a young rescue dragon attempt a combustive maneuver on me, and I did not see any ill effects."

Cody grimaced, waiting for it to snap its head back around before elbowing Madison for his attention. "You know what that is?"

"Dust sprite." Madison muttered.

Cody made a tiny flame on his fingertips, eyeing Madison with a prompting stare.

"It's telling the truth. It won't work." Madison replied. "Like lighting a pile of sand on fire."

"What does?"

Madison tapped his flask of water.

Sputtinkle waved the group to slow down, its antenna twitching as it gazed around the thick clearing of half decayed trees and swampy muck that hugged a dark wood tree. The tree drooped like an old man, its feathery leaves cascading over every bony branch to touch the ground like coils of serpents.

"They are hard to spot in areas as dense as this. A wonderful camouflage for catching unsuspecting prey."

Sariel cooed in awe at the creature's explanation.

"One of the smartest subspecies of carnivorous plant." Sputtinkle continued, testing a few roots jutting from the swampy terrain before waving Sariel along to follow. "No less than three hundred years ago, they primarily had a diet of birds. They would sing their songs to catch them in their branches. But - then humans started to settle around them. The Willowtrees listened, and learned their language."

It stopped Sariel a few meters from the thick tree, putting a long finger to its lips.

Everyone stood deathly still, the quiet nearly dragging to a minute before a sharp cry cut through the forest.

"Help!"

The group whipped their attention to the tree, a breeze pushing at it to shift its body. A branch creaked, the noise coming out like a human cry again. "Help!"

"Isn't that remarkable?" Sputtinkle whispered. "Now try to be quiet, this one's ears aren't particularly good, but it can still catch a sneeze."

The group obeyed the creature, Madison coming closer and closer to Sariel with each cautious step they took towards the tree. His hand hadn't left the hilt of his sword. There was a look of determination on his face that he kept between Sputtinkle and the talking tree, and it practically screamed violence if the creature stepped even a hair out of line.

Soon they were close enough to see the stray bones and tattered clothes tangled in the ropes of leaves. Cody was not a fan of the new detail, his tome now spread wide while he tailed the group, eyes fixed to the very flammable tree. Sputtinkle stopped the group again, miming for Sariel to lay down the corpse gently. With some struggle, she complied, following the dust sprite back to a safer distance.

"You are all about to see a very rare sight. There is but a few dozen Whispering Willows left in the Whispering Woods." He proclaimed, his shoulders rising with a mix of excitement and pride as he scooped a rock off the ground and tossed it at the body. The stone caught a root, making a sharp clunk.

And in the blink of an eye, the entire corpse was ripped into the swampy mud.

Madison flinched, looking around for what had dragged the body under so quickly, while Sariel and Sputtinkle clapped in unison at the show.

"Quick as a cat, that one!"

Sputtinkle nodded. "Truly remarkable reflexes for a tree."

"I think our chances were better with the trail." Cody muttered, now eyeing every tree around him with a newfound terror.

"The trail?" Sputtinkle replied, tapping his fingers curiously. "You all left it?"

Sariel eyed Madison, lowering her voice. "Don't suppose the tree that stabbed that other guy was this one's cousin?"

Madison shook his head, still stiff around their guest, but calm enough to have moved his hand off his sword. "Trail was a mess."

"To Lovlos?" It said, its antenna bouncing as it cocked its head to the branches above where Crow quietly perched. Its eyes widened, a smile flaunting blackened teeth. "Ah! The Crow Mother!" It eyed up Madison with a pleased hum. "Your boon, is it her's?"

"I have business with her." Madison curtly replied.

"A contract then." Sputtinkle mused, flaring the mercenary's irritation once more. "I can show you a flatter way back to the trail. I need to relay the deathcap line."

Madison's hand moved back to his sword, the creature's face rising with realisation as it grabbed a canteen at its waist. "Pig's blood. Not yours. It's comparable, the little plants cannot tell the difference."

"I'd believe it." Sariel said, "my old boss called me a pig a lot."

Cody laid a reassuring hand on Sariel's shoulder. "You're not a pig, you're perfectly normal, Sariel."

"Speaking of abnormalities." Sputtinkle announced, bending down to meet Cody's eyes. "Are you registered with us?"

Cody's lips twisted in offense. "Excuse me?"

His head tilted to size up the warlock. "As a supernatural. We have wonderful member perks for endangered species like yourself."

"Listen. The only endangered thing I see here is you." Cody growled. "Show us the way out."

"Of course." Sputtinkle chirped, pulling a small black business card from his pocket to present to Cody. "If you are ever being oppressed or unfairly hunted though, please consider filling out a membership card."

Cody stared at the black card, ESPA penned in bold golden letters on its front. He had missed the humour this creature was trying for in its strange little sales pitch. It couldn't have been serious.

Sariel snatched the card when Cody left it hanging, watching the light catch the letters while they followed the man out of the reserve.

The creature's word had been somewhat true. There were far less bushes to be cut down on its path, but it was made up for in zigzags and a few confused turns. Madison was bearing the company, but his eyes mostly remained on Crow as the creature hopped between the interlocking branches above them to follow Sputtinkle. The bird had subtle signals when something was amiss.

He hadn't attacked the creature on sight because Crow hadn't. Although, Crow was letting a lot of ill matured new guests slide lately.

Madison looked at Cody, the warlock keeping his pace as they walked behind Sariel and the dust sprite - scowling.

His brow furrowed as he caught Madison's side eye, the topic souring his mood spilling out in a growl while he itched his cheek. "I'm not endangered. There's people like me."

"First one I've seen." Madison grunted.

Cody scoffed. "Been all over the world then?"

"Seen enough of it."

"You thought I was a Khalin."

Madison shrugged at the pointed remark. "Never seen a real Khalin, know they like fire."

Cody grumbled at the response, arms folded as he tossed his words at the ground. "I'm not endangered."

Madison let the point hang. There was only one place he had heard of fire sprites living, and it was bound to be a touchy subject with what had become of Parov. With Cody only being half inclined to his fiery heritage, there were also other questions that came with it. Madison was satisfied with not wondering about the anatomy of that.

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