Merse trudged along, careful to avoid leaving tracks while balancing Drin and a rucksack containing the remainder of her possessions on her back. It was slow going, but Merse continued on her way. While Drin could probably use a healer, it was too risky to head back into town. Instead, Merse had decided to head for the crew's usual meeting point, the nearest of their many boltholes in the local swamp. If any of the crew made it out of the town, that would be their destination, since due to the obvious dangers lurking in the bog's murky waters, it was unlikely anyone would search for them there.
Throughout the long walk, Merse couldn't help but feel like there was something in the shadows, just beyond her sight, almost as though it was toying with her. Although she often turned in an attempt to discover what it was, nothing revealed itself, but every so often she would shudder at the imagined sensation of a spider crawling up her leg or across her arm.
As the sky began to lighten, Merse finally reached the edge of the foggy mire known as Pith Swamp. While daylight would make it easier for anyone to track her, she was grateful for the slight glow which managed to penetrate the thick mist and aid her steps through the treacherous bog. Following the route taught her by the crew, Merse and her load managed to make it to the crew's hideout without incident, much to her relief.
"Oof," Merse grunted, dropping her belongings inside the hidden cave, then carefully lowering Drin to the ground. After checking he was still breathing and carefully laying him out, Merse covered him with a thick cloth and lit a small fire to keep him warm. Grimacing as her stomach growled, she took stock of her possessions. While she had salvaged some extra clothes from the shack, in terms of weapons, all she had was her dagger and the axe she had used to kill the spider. Rummaging around the back of the cave, she found a small cache hidden by the crew, which happened to have a few cloaks and various weapons, of which Merse decided to take a bow and quiver, as well as a short sword. Placing a sword and buckler within reach of Drin in case he woke up, Merse headed out to satisfy her hunger.
During the long trek to the swamp, Merse hadn't had the energy to divide her concentration enough to think about the events of the night before. While the memories disconcerted her, she decided to ignore them for the moment and focus on the task at hand: finding food, which was dangerous enough under the best of circumstances. In the Pith Swamp, the hunter could quickly become the hunted. Walking deeper into the swamp, Merse paused to examine her surroundings for potential prey.
As she concentrated, a strange sensation came over her, and her breathing slowed. In the quiet of the bog, Merse stood perfectly still, an odd wave of memories crashing into her. She remembered that feeling of stillness, every muscle and tendon in her body tensing with a predatory excitement, waiting patiently to detect vibrations which would let her know it was time to pounce and suck her prey dry.
Vibrations? Sucking her prey dry? Merse frowned, shaking off the weird ideas. She had rarely hunted before, as she could easily get food in town, much less focused on a target with such vicious single-mindedness. Whatever those feeings had been, she couldn't help thinking that they were not her own, as much as they seemed like they were.
Still slightly lost in her thoughts, Merse spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. A large fish suddenly broke the surface, leaping through the air. Without thinking, Merse smoothly nocked and fired an arrow, catching the fish just as it hit the water. Wading over to retrieve her prize, she was too distracted to ponder what had disturbed the fish to the degree that it would flee through the air. It was only when she picked up the dead fish with her arrow still embedded that she noticed ripples in the water coming from behind her. Suddenly realizing her mistake, Merse wheeled around to face a new threat.