Looking at his companions Chronos could see that they were eager to see what the naga's hidden lair contained. There were many stories about items that had been lost within the swamp, if they could own even one of them it could vastly boost their personal power.
"We accept your terms but insist on being paid before going into the tear. Any extra power we have would be helpful in there." He said with a smile.
"Then before we leave, I should inform you about the current condition of the battlelines." Sathrya organized her thoughts as she laid out a map of the swamp.
Looking over the map Chronos saw that the Averest river flowed through the middle of the swamp and acted as a clear divider between the eastern and western sides. About twenty kilometers from the ocean, it became so dispersed that it could no longer be called a river.
Below the twenty-kilometer line the land was more like islands than a swamp; several stones were placed on the map to indicate the merfolk troops with.
On the east of the Averest river they used bark to indicate the troll's monster army. Chronos took note that most of the army seemed to be heading to the south
Finally, shed scales were placed in various locations across the map to show where the lizardfolk and naga troops were and an obsidian crystal was placed a couple of kilometers into the island section of the map to represent the tear.
"Currently the troll army is on the move towards the southwestern direction with minimal forces further north. We believe their goblin scouts found a treasure to the south, and they are going to retrieve it; it is also possible that they are targeting the merfolk or the tear so be ready for heavy combat.
Yesterday the merfolk took the random parts they were making to the edge of the tear and began to set up an unknown building and the foundation for a dam facing the tear. We still don't know what they are planning to do but their actions seem similar to a ritual."
"Great, our target is going to be in the middle of a massive battlefield. Do you think the merfolk will be willing to talk?" Gregory sarcastically said.
"We don't know but if they are trying to deal with the tear in some way we might be able to communicate with them." Vaelith said.
"They might be trying to use the tear as a power source or trying to summon something through it too. We should be ready to fight them, just in case." Lyla added.
Continuing with her report, Sathrya informed them of the tribe's movements. "Over the past few days many of our warriors have been healed and returned to guerilla tactics. We are planting traps for the trolls and trying to lure beasts into their path. There has been some success, but the troll's great chieftain is having the troll warriors march in front of the troops to set off every trap before the weaker monsters reach them.
Once Vessin's curse potion is finished we plan to use bait to separate them into smaller more manageable groups.
The troop count for the merfolk army came in at 5000 two days ago and our scouts haven't seen an increase in numbers yet so we are hoping that the trolls will attack them. Then we can ambush the troll army from the rear to cause heavy damage and slow down their advance."
"And while all of this is going on we have to find some way to sneak inside of the tear and close it. Assuming that the merfolk aren't willing to work with us that is." Chronos sighed at the developments of the battlefield.
Turning to Vaelith he made a request.
"Can you teach me how to speak merfolk? I've never studied languages from the bottom of the ocean as I didn't think I would need them."
"I can but we only have two days before the troll army reaches them."
"That should be enough time to have a basic understanding of their language. It might be useful if some of them can still move inside of the tear. How large is the monster army?"
Vaelith gave him a curious look wondering if he really could learn their basic language in just two days.
"12,000 right now, we expect another 1,000 to join them before they reach the merfolk." Sathrya responded.
Sighing Chronos said, "Let's get going, perhaps if we tell the merfolk that representatives from the Leighla kingdom and the Dragon church are with the tribes they will at least be willing to hear us out."
Nodding Vaelith said, " I'll take you to the hidden lair now, we can prepare today and leave to meet them tomorrow."
Agreeing everyone left for the lair. Vaelith took them several kilometers to the north until they saw a large tree stump as big as a tower.
Climbing the tree stump they found that the inside was hollowed out with a pool of water at the bottom.
"Now you will have to jump in and swim for a short distance to the west to reach an underground cave. That is the entrance of the hidden lair and the safest location we know of within the swamps. Here, drink this water breathing potion you will need it to reach the hidden lair." Vaelith informed them.
Drinking the potion Chronos took off his gear and chose to jump in first, diving for a few seconds his training allowed him to sense the opening in the wall a few meters below the surface. He didn't realize that you couldn't see that tunnel with your eyes unless you knew what you were looking for.
Swimming back up he called out to his friends.
"Come on the waters fine but Lyla may need to guide the way. It's pitch black in the tunnel."
Seeing him safely surface they no longer hesitated to jump down and join him.
Once everyone was inside Vaelith had them hold onto some loops of vines she had tied to her body and swam through the tunnel. With her pulling them they moved much faster than they could on their own.
Lyla's mace was glowing with [Blessed Flame] as it couldn't be extinguished by normal water.
A short distance inside of the tunnel the walls were covered in a river shell mosaic that formed repeating spiral eyes. If they had come without a naga matriarch to guide them the mosaic would have seen them and constricted the tunnel, crushing them to death.
When they surfaced, they were in a small circular chamber with two green glowing torches on either side of a door made of roots and an elderly naga was coiled in a nest off to the side.
"What are you here for, Vaelith?" She slowly asked.
"Eldest Matriarch has promised one magic artifact to each of these people for closing a tear." Vaelith informed her.
"I see."
It didn't look like she was happy with that but hissed a spell to open the roots anyways.
Walking inside they saw a large room shaped like a giant nautilus shell filled with random magic artifacts and potions of great power but had strong side effects. The most dangerous items were floating inside of water balls supported by pedestals that isolated them.
Nearly everything in here was made from wood or bone but it all radiated rank three power at the minimum.
The pedestals rose from the ground at equal intervals and amongst them Chronos saw several water balls with fish that had sharp bladed noses.
Flying blade fish! They could zip between pools of water cutting anything in their path whether it's a tree or a person made little difference to them.
Vaelith cast a spell to put the fish to sleep before guiding them further inside.
Unfortunately, there was nothing of the fifth rank inside. Chronos assumed that southern Dracon Fen didn't have the ability to store such powerful items, they were likely stored somewhere in northern Dracon Fen.
There was no money inside of the lair. The tribes of Dracon Fen didn't value money only items that could be used, so they didn't store wealth inside of the lair.
The magic artifacts that Chronos could see included crowns and necklaces made of shell or bone, pearl-strings graded by size, amber beads with strange objects locked inside of them. Most of the amber beads were locked inside of a floating water ball as extra security.
Further inside were scepters made of blood reeds, which Vaelith informed them were created by shamans and naga matriarchs during their last days to hold their best spells.
Some coins that seemed to hold an unknown power and near those a wall of cloaks that Chronos almost didn't see. They would be excellent camouflage for anyone wearing them.
Along the back wall he found jars sealed with wax that had markings indicating they were filled with venom from particularly dangerous or rare creatures, and a weapons rack made of bone and driftwood that had numerous weapons arranged on it.
Not all of the weapons came from the swamps as some of them clearly had the mark of a noble house on them, some of the heraldry was foreign to Chronos. It must have come from the wasteland and had been taken from the monsters whenever they tried to cross Dracon Fen.