Jaruzak's party: Thread 6.3

Fist walked in the middle with her hands behind head. She hummed a song to herself she'd heard in the city that'd been stuck in her head to keep her head occupied as they walked. She wondered to herself if there was some faster way out of here, but for now it seemed like all they could do was walk. "The swamp sure is an... interesting place." She said finally.

As they walked the clouds shifted in the sky alluding to a change in weather soon. Eventually the trio decided to stop and rest for a time and recharge. Jaruzak retrieved food, but opted not to eat any of it himself. As they sat there largely in silence, footsteps could be heard along with a strange crunching sound beyond the darkness. Raising an eyebrow, Fist stood up and silently motioned that she'd check it out.

Kowen clutched her halberd closer, she didn't want to be useless any more but she wasn't so sure of her skills in a fight where she wasn't being controlled by the enemy.

A round figure appeared coming closer to their camp in the darkness. Finally, light cast on the figure revealing a plump and pale man with no shirt with an absent minded look on his face. In his hand was a large sack and as he stared at them, he reached into the bag and put a handfull of whatever was in it into his mouth. "...yo" He said raising his hand in greeting

Jaruzak eyed him with suspicion and grasped his sword as he stood up. "What brings you over here?" He said coolly.

"Oh.. just passing through and enjoying the swamp." The man said as he grabbed another handful from his bag to eat. "Mind if I take a load off? 'Been walking a long while." As he spoke he plopped his butt down on the dirt with his back against a tree.

Fist was skeptical of the man in front of them. He didn't seem armed in any way. "Woodfall's a dangerous place to travel as you are."

"Eh, people don't bother me much." the man said absent mindedly as he took off one of his shoes and wiggled his toes."

Jaruzak sighed, "Whatever." he grumbled out.

Kowen watched the man as he ate. "What are those?" she asked, pointing to the bag.

"Pretty good...." he said as he started dozing off in from of them.

Fist scratched her head. "but what are they?"

them man's head suddenly snapped back up. "ooooh! These are my magic beans. I'm like, a bean merchant." He said with a squinty smile

"And what is so magic about them?" Kowen asked.

The man ate another bean pod. "What's magic about them?" He looked at the beans in his bag. "Well they taste pretty magic... also they do some cool stuff if you plant them in soft soil. They can like, take you places." He rocked back and forth on his rear as he talked.

"Is this some kinda hallucinogen?" Fist asked with narrow eyes. This guy seemed like his head wasn't on quite right.

The merchant was quiet for a moment. "heh... hahllooo-ceee..." then his eyes widened. "Oh but no they do it liiiiiiterallyyyyyy! You just have to plant one in soft soil!"

"Prove it," Kowen demanded.

"Heh, sure..." He said pulling out a bean pod. "Oh, but wait. I'm supposed to be selling these." He counted his fingers. "I need like, 20 rupees for a pod."

Kowen looked to Fist then to Jaruzak, expecting one of them to have the money to pay the man.

"You don't sound like a successful merchant if you eat all of your product." Jaruzak said. He noticed Kowen looking at him expecting something, but he just ignored it.

"Man's gotta eat, right? Besides, they taste greeeeat..." the merchant said as he licked his lips

Fist rolled her eyes. And pulled out the money from her bag. "Alright alright. Gimme a pod."

The merchant pulled out a bean pod and tossed it to Fist. She looked around for a clear patch of dirt and made a hole with her foot. Dropping the pod into the hole, she covered it again with her heel. A tiny sprout quickly came up from the ground, but stopped growing after a few seconds. "Well... how do you get it to take you somewhere?

The merchant had since stopped listening and had started dozing off again before snapping back up at the question. "Wha...OH! Right you need like, fresh spring water to make it grow full sized."

"...great..." Fist said irritated.

Kowen reached into her pack. "I have this, maybe this will do," she said as she pulled out a bottle with a little water in it.

"Try if you want. Already spent the money." Fist said shrugging

Kowen walked over to the sprout, crouched down and tipped the water out of her bottle. Then she stood back up and watched.

water dripped off the plant as it lay still. Nothing seemed to be happening.

"Woah... maybe they're not magic after all." The bean seller said while scratching his head.

Fist sighed. "I mean, plants usually take some time to grow up. We could always get something to carry it i-" Suddenly she was cut off by a cracking sound as the plant began to contort and grow larger. A big thick leaf grew at the very top and lifted off the ground, bobbing up and down from the growth process.

"Nevermind then." Fist continued after the loud growth process was finished.

Kowen looked at the plant, shocked. "Where will it go?" she asked.

"It sure will." The merchant said nodding. His eyes grew large and wide in revalation and his hand shot up pointing towards the sky. "Oh! Okay first you gotta like, concentrate reeeeally hard on the location in your head. This combination of beans has been specifically bred and designed to create a mesh of plants that wrap together in a symbiotic relationship that enables flight via positive energy by greenwraps, leaping sprouts, shell leaves, and hug-me-nots." The merchant was unusually straight faced as he spoke as if he were a scientist.

Fist stared blankly. "Wow... I didn't think you were capable of explaining something so... scientifically."

The bean seller stood there silently with a blank face as his eyes slowly started to narrow into a squint again.  His arm swung down to his side like a limp noodle. "Huh... me neither. Maybe my dad was like, a wizard or somethin' " He said as he tried to count his fingers, seeming to lose count and start over at "4"

Kowen pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She turned to Jaruzak and said "Bring Fist and follow me. Just in case something goes wrong." with that she stepped on the plant and wished for it to fly.

As kowen stood on the plant, Nothing seemed to be happening. "Uh, you're s'posed jump on it silly." The seller said, laughing at the forgetful woman.

Kowen jumped.