9173/Swamp Magic (Working Title)

Swamp Magic (Working Title)
Date of Scene:	13 September 2019
Location:	Great Swamp, Union County
Synopsis:	The scene concludes.
Cast of Characters:	Doctor Strange, Swamp Thing
Tinyplot:	Asgard's Requiem

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Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen Strange has been out over the course of the night, his lab coat he donned to fight the chill of the New York air has gotten dirty at the fringes since he's stepped outside. The moon has begun to rise and Strange has been fighting the sense of sleep trying to wash over him as he struggles against the fading magic of Earth in order to find those who could help him with the course of the coming conflict.

    This search has lead Stephen here, to New Jersey...

Swamp Thing has posed:
    As it turned out, the American South was not the only home to swamplands, and the 'Great' one in New Jersey happened to be federally protected. Bubbling bogs and bodies of water, mud and treacherous grasslands that gave way to ankle and sometimes knee-deep 'lakes' that were home to frogs and snakes and other treacherous little things. Of course, thankfully for the doctor, there were footpaths, planks of wood put down for humans to step, tightly controlled areas to ensure that tourists wouldn't invade or explore too much of a wild area, and interfere with nature's designs any more than they already have.

    Beyond this area, were dozens of trees with a thick canopy overhead, ensuring that there was plenty of cool shade for the wildlife. And it was here, off in the distance, that a rumbling voice spoke out, a familiar one to what the good doctor had heard earlier, during that whole ordeal with Miles and the teacup.

    "I see 'friend or foe' approaches. This is not a place one expects to find a wizard, far from his designs and magical machinations."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "I take it you do not know many wizards." Stephen replies to the voice that sounds familiar, alien and impossible. The sorcerer has tredged out into the swamp, sometimes on the path and sometimes away from it, and the wizard has a piece of wood held in one hand with a green mandala at the end. Seems he's cast a sort of tracking spell that lead him to this part of the swamps. "I seek the being I met not long ago. I have a need of him and his allegiance if he could be so willing to grant a lowly sorcerer his aid."

Swamp Thing has posed:
    "I have met...few. And have liked even fewer. Though perhaps you will set a better example than he."

    As he spoke, the voice was getting closer, almost as if they were finding each other, or he were just letting himself get tracked. Because, just beyond a tree was stood that familiar hulking mass of vines, that humanoid shape of grass and leaves and compost. He was stood staring at the tree in front of him while holding in his right hand, something that looked like a long walking stick, with a curled swirling shape at the very top, something like a shepherd's staff, though made for his size. The tree in front of him seemed mundane at first, save for the almost billions of red and whitish tan dots swirling around, ants and termites waging bloody war. As it happened, the once-man spoke aside to Strange without meeting his gaze, almost entranced.

    "This war has been waged for three days. When the ants inevitably win...they will start a campaign of slavery and genocide the likes of which has never before been seen on this planet. And it is only through that horror that their home might live to survive a few more winters. Survival has always come at the cost of survival. The ancient Price...has never changed."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "War is not only a human invention, though we do ourselves a disservice by thinking we're special." Stephen says, remarking about the idea of the termite and ant battle before them, and yet Stephen doesn't have time to engage in much pleasantries or small poetic talk.

    Lowering the stick and dispelling the spell he had cast upon it, Strange drops the wood into the swamp at his feet, as it will aid this eco system in some way. "I seek you to aid me in a coming war that will have repercussions for you should you engage or abstain." Stephen says, knowing the Swamp Thing has too felt the waves of magic reacting to some force.

Swamp Thing has posed:
    "Yes. I have felt the...ripples. The sensations of change, along the veins of the earth. A resource, belonging to this world, borrowed and used freely by jugglers and 'wise men' the world over, now leaving out into nothingness, or spilling into the void of beyond. The void where the Super Men and the Man Hunters come from."

    For the first time, the big man turns his attention from the tree, instead turning to face the wizard who is bravely stood in muck and general wetness. Swamp Thing looks down at the sorcerer, those red eyes with yellow pupils trained on the human with great attention.

    "I must find the source of this tampering. And just like the first life upon this planet and just like the last life upon this planet, a Price shall be paid for such a violation."