Getting down and dirty - Wind Quest

[Dazi]

This better be worth it. I mean, seriously, this place is worse that the desert and the volcano put together. It was bad enough that her coat was still heavily caked in sweat, new beads darkening the crystals of salt clinging to the matted masses but now she had to trump through...THIS for a piece of useless moss! The thought had crossed my mind about finding a more acceptable place and just take a hunk of moss from around there though if the beast I am doing this manual labor work found out about my slight of hand then I would probably have to go find the real item. That would mean more sweat and exhaustion. I may as well get this task over as quickly as possible.

Dark lips were pulled into a tight scowl as the femme looked over the lands laid out before her. It was plain disgusting! Why would such a place be created anyway? It was a waste of perfectly good space! Chocolate optics turned downwards to her her hooves which were already beginning to be sucked into the muck. If this stained any part of her then that beast was going to get a piece of her mind! A delicate pillar rose from its straight holding and pulled her hoof from the muck with a -pop-. The sound send disturbed shivers through the femmes body. She really wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible though she wasn't daft enough to forget that one wrong step in even the safest looking place within a marsh could end in a disaster worse then getting mud all over her.

Reluctantly she started moving further into the land, footfalls slow and carefully calculated before her lithe weight was placed upon the chosen foothold. Her nares quivered, the horrid stench that wafted the lands grew stronger the deeper in she ventured. Subconsciously she had made her breaths shorter and shallower to prevent the thick air from poisoning her lungs. She'd much prefer dealing with the light headedness that came with deprivation of oxygen then have this filth within her body. With all the concentration that she placed in keeping the land from touching her she had almost forgotten to look out for the object that she had been sent to collect.

Once all four hooves had found a solid foothold that wouldn't shift unstably under her weight she took the chance to raise her optics from the earth and look at her surroundings. Once again she felt like she was on a wild goose chase. There was no moss in sight to the naked eye. All she could see was the muck floating atop the seemingly innocent waters and reeds sticking up from any location that they could root to. There was no place for moss to grow here, nowhere for a plant relying upon stabilization, no- there! Her gaze settled upon the peeking rock that was just visible over a cluster of reeds. Her heart lurched in both relief and excitement as she spied the most likely location of a moss sight though that relief and excitement quickly melted away as the dilemma of getting there became obvious to her. The land circling the reeds was covered in red algae, the clear sign that below it was either water or liquid muck. This wasn't going to be as simple as she had preyed it would be.

Her gaze moved frantically around the reeds, looking for any break in the red carpet that hid another world below it to no luck. Can't go round it, can't go over it, can't go under it, she has to go through it! She was frozen on the spot as the realization hit her and her stomach churned painfully. She felt as though she was going to get colic from just the thought of the toxic waste that she'd have to go through. Was it worth it? She wanted to back away, leave the lands and demand a... cleaner quest from the uniquely colored steed though she had a feeling that wouldn't work to well. Okay, in and out and then it's all done. Easy. She had to swallow a solid lump in her throat, inhaling a deep breath before stepping through the red carpeting. The muck crept up to her knee until her hoof found the bottom. Okay, that's not too bad. Settling that hoof into the muck she shifted her weight to move her second hoof. That there wasn't a very smart move.

The land shifted under her first hoof, sliding away and pulling her with it. The breath she had inhaled left her lungs in a surprised cry as her body fell forth, the water parting before rushing back to cover her body. For a moment her skull was under water, the muck having pulled her knee deep though it was still loose and easily pliable and she was able to struggle into the world above so that the water was only up to her chest. Her whole body was sodden with waste, splotches of red covering her nape and back as the poisonous plants clung to her dirtied cloak. This definitely was testing her and not in a very pleasant way.

Her hooves felt like weights had been attached to them, mud sucking at them hungrily each time she attempted to move. Her harks flicked back to rest flat against her nape in both irritation and determination. She continued to struggle attempted to loosen the mud until in sheer exasperation she leaped forth, the momentum freeing her from the mud and plunging her forward. The water sucked her head under once again though leaping forth she managed to break the surface again and after a few struggling moments making the femme appear like a equine with an identity crisis who thought she was some sort of dolphin, she had managed to struggle through the water and reeds and was next to the rock that had been daunting her. For a moment she felt as though her struggles had been in vein though the dull green alien looking lump stuck out against the dark granite of the rock. She was one step closer to gaining the power she lusted for.

The lump was perfectly at eye height, all she had to do was rip off a chunk then she had what she needed. She opened her mouth, no thought of the dangers presented before her as she dug her teeth into the lump. Instantly the foul flavor flooded her mouth and she felt ill though she pushed the sickening feeling to the back of her mind and dug her teeth in further until she was able to pull a chunk away. Water that the moss had collected seeped out of her mouth and she made a point now to close her lips so that the water could drain out though she could feel stray trickled moving down her throat.

Finding a stable rock floor at the base of the large rock she managed to turn, keeping her hooves high so that the tips only scrapped the muck as she swam back to the path she had left, getting back there easier than getting to the rock. Now all she had to do was find her way out of this hell hole and go back to the volcano. Great... she absolutely loved that place.

Next destination -> Burning Peak