It was late afternoon when Msaka awoke. He ate, then slipped on his pack and headed out into the main room. Looking down from the balcony, he could see that there were only a few people present. The man he had spoken to that morning was one of them, though he was presently speaking with someone else; possibly a local merchant. Shrugging, Msaka silently descended the stairs and exited the inn, not really in the mood for conversation.

He spent the evening and night out on the savanna near the city, searching for any plants that he might be able to put to magical use. While he found a few specimens that showed some promise, none stood out as tremendously useful. "Perhaps the apothecary back in the city could use some of these," Msaka thought, "But I don't know what he would need, and he can probably collect these himself."

Day was approaching, so he began heading back towards the city, keeping an eye out for anything useful - or dangerous. Stealth on the open savanna was not nearly as easy as in the jungle, where there was plenty of cover; but he still practiced it as much as he was able to, as there was likewise less chance of losing something once it spotted you.

He hadn't gone far before coming across something that was definitely interesting, though whether it was useful remained to be seen. A crescent shaped section of rock surrounded a patch of vines. Bright purple fruit was growing from the center of the vine patch, clearly visible even in the dim light. Equally visible were the sharp thorns covering the vines. There were several small animals sitting on one part of the rock, though Msaka couldn't see them clearly enough to tell what they were.

Then one of them flitted off of the rock, over the vines. It dived down for just an instant, but as it rose, a cluster of the fruit was clearly visible in its grip. "Meerbats." Msaka thought. They weren't often to be spotted in the jungle, but he had heard of them, and their appetite for certain types of fruit.

He observed quietly for a few moments as the meerbats fed themselves on the fruit, then went through the motions of his detection spell, wondering if perhaps the fruit had some special property that attracted the creatures. The fruit itself showed no magic, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimmer of a magical aura, emanating from a short distance inside the vine patch. Msaka peered at the aura, and made out the shape of a bottle. "A potion of some kind?" he thought, "What is it doing in there?"

Magical energy swirled around his hands as he brought them together and extended them towards the bottle hidden amongst the vines. A small globe of magic drifted from his outstretched fingers through the vines, taking only moments to reach the bottle, which it surrounded. Msaka drew his hands towards his body, calling it back. The globe wobbled, but stayed in place, the bottle held within it doing likewise.

The dim light of the magical sphere showed why it wasn't returning. The bottle was attached to a belt, which was in turn attached to what must have been a body. Msaka released his spell, and the globe dissipated silently. It wouldn't be able to drag anything that heavy along with it, and what he had seen had given him pause.

"A body among the vines." he thought. "Something is not right here." Keeping his distance, he peered into the vines, but daylight was only just starting to brighten the sky. He couldn't make anything out within. Still, if there was a body that far in, something must have dragged it there, and it might well still be hidden in that patch.

Msaka raised his hands in front of him, summoning his magic again. "Whatever is in there, perhaps I can force it out." he thought. He incanted a spell, and wisps of smoke began drifting forth from his hands. The wisps quickly mingled and expanded to become a cloud, which grew in size, drifting over the vines, obscuring them. Msaka waited until the Smoke Cloud was complete, then stepped away, waiting to see if anything emerged from the noxious vapors.

A couple of minutes passed, and nothing did. Nor was there any sound of movement from within the vines. Msaka frowned. "Maybe there is nothing in there after all." he thought. He waited a few more minutes for the smoke to dissipate, then approached the vines again, considering how to get at the bottle without having to climb around in the vines and their thorns.

Without realizing it, he stepped a bit closer to the vines than before, and was startled when one of the vines suddenly whipped towards him. He jumped back, but the vine still managed to lash his shoulder, its sharp thorns penetrating his skin. With a snarl, Msaka brought his hands together before him and released a bolt of fire towards the vine. It struck the vine at the base, burning through it. The vine dropped to the ground, twitching. He was further startled at the result this produced. The rest of the vines began to move, sliding into the ground with an eerie rasping noise. Within seconds, the area was clear of growth.

He began to feel a burning in his shoulder. "Poison." he realized, cursing. "And I did not have Venomward active. This is not good."

Taking a chance, he raced into the now open area amidst the rock, and pulled the bottle loose from the corpse's belt. He needed to return to the city and find a healer, but he wasn't going to leave the potion behind, whatever it was. It was what had got him into this mess in the first place.

He jogged out of the rocks, and set off towards the city at as fast a walking pace as he could manage. He was beginning to feel ill, and didn't want to take any longer than he absolutely had to, but running would just speed the poison's effects.

It took a few hours of walking to reach the city, during which time he stopped to heal himself with his magic several times. He couldn't clear the poison from his system, but he could at least repair the damage it was doing to his body. He was far from safe, however, as he was becoming dangerously close to exhausting his power by the time he neared his destination.

"The apothecary had better have a cure for this," he thought as he covered the remaining distance to the gates, "Or I will be in serious trouble."