Jimmy watched in fascination as his flesh knitted together and his bones mended. While he had been travelling with Chloe for a while now, he had never had a chance to witness her druidic healing magic in action. He had been seriously hurt during that incident on the barge, but he was pretty much unconscious the whole time when Chloe healed him. Not only that, but he was encased in a tree or something. Given his companion's capricious nature and the realization he was helpless the whole time, it wasn't something he wanted to dwell on.

Still, despite his reservations about Chloe, he was amazed by her curative magic. He was more accustomed to the 'instant' heal clerical style and didn't think much of the 'slow' natural vigor magic of druids, but after witnessing it work on his body he came away suitably impressed. He had no doubts that a clerics magic was more powerful, but he knew Chloe's relative power as a spellcaster, and was amazed what a druid could do with even low spells. He guessed Chloe could heal as much as a higher level cleric if her motivation was there, the only drawback would be it would take significantly longer.

"What are you looking at?" asked Chloe with an annoyed look as she finished the last of her 'slow' healing druid magic.

"I'm just happy to be alive," smiled Jimmy as he stretched and flexed his freshly mended body.

Chloe scrunched her nose in even more annoyance. "You know, for a guy who just got his ass handed to him by a 'house wife' demon, you're a little too cheerful. I mean, if we can't even get past the gate guards, what chance do we have of getting your precious Baroness back. And don't go on about the fake sword bit, that clearly didn't work."

"I think you aren't seeing the big picture here Chloe."

The druid stopped and glared at Jimmy. He normally considered her hotheaded and impulsive, but he didn't expect her to snap. "Big picture? Big picture! I see the big picture all right. I failed Hoaglie, and I'm going to be regulated back to shakedowns and rumor gathering at the noble district. You on the other hand are going to be banished, maybe even have a hit put out on your head for losing that precious artifact sword. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if the bad guys came at us in force, but this all happened because you took pity on your drunk old master, and let your guard down. Oh and the kicker is that drunkard probably doesn't even know what he has, prolly gonna sell it half price to get a few easy bottles of agave worm juice, or some potato spirits to keep him nice and sauced."

Jimmy Chloe rant. It was good for her to get it out of her system.

"And you know what. I thought you had a plan for this. I thought you knew what you were doing. We could have just laid low, got some help from the guild to track down drunky mcdrunkface, or whatever his name is."

"Martinez," corrected Jimmy.

"…but no, we had to go for the kill the demons and rescue the old woman hero thing. And, what's up with our help anyways. Did Miss Sexgolem get killed already? I thought she was going to be our back up. I didn't see any arrows from the bushes or backstabs, or whatever she does. Did she take off on her swan boat already? Leaving us to get beat up. Which shouldn't surprise me. We meet some girl in a bar, and we immediately trust her and her crazy story about a kidnapped Baroness, and we get our assess handed to us by some demon and her Hoplite buddy on demon island. I mean how much worse is this going to get….."

"Well…we're alive."

"Yeah…but we got the hell kicked out of us. By the gate guard…..the gate guard for gawd's sake. That's like trying to crash a party and getting thrown out by the bouncer."

"I don't think they're the guards."

"Eh?" asked Chloe confused as she took some time and thought about his statement. "What do you mean."

"I mean we're still alive. If they were the guards to this island, then we by all rights should be dead as they pick our faux black blade off my body. But no, they were simply happy to, how did you put it, 'beat our assess', and then proceed deeper into the island."

Chloe cocked her head slightly as if drawing a picture in the sky with her mind. After some more contemplation she shook her head. "If those aren't the guard, then who are they?"

"Hells if I know, but given their nature, it wouldn't surprise me if there are different Asura factions working against each other. They aren't as chaotic as demons, but Abaddon politics can get a bit messy. Speaking of which, the 'house wife' Demon was a Marilith. Technically a demon, but can pass freely in and out of Asura society given their multiple arms and all. Asuras are into the more than one head, half dozen arms, and even the multiple leg thing. Knowing this, it seems likely that there are demons/Asuras working against Ulfie and his ally."

"That Hoplite wasn't a demon you know, not even a tiefling or a halffiend. She was over ten feet tall, but she used some cleric magic. My nose might not be as attuned as yours, but even I can smell out a demon. "

Jimmy sighed and shook his head. "There always will be collaborators. They don't have to have demon blood in them, look at Ulfgar for example. Anyways, after my wounds stich themselves together, let's press forward and see what the other faction is up to and if see if we can't take advantage of it. Nymk might have already gotten in but I doubt it. We haven't been much of a distraction to the real guards I'm afraid."

"Wait….We're the distraction. Nymk was supposed to sneak in while we kick up a ruckus outside?"

Jimmy shrugged. "More or less, but most importantly she's still in play. I doubt we would win a stand up fight knowing we're walking into Ulfgar's trap. Best we try some smoke and mirrors on our foes."

Chloe's mouth dropped. "But..but..we could have died! You would risk our lives us so Nymk and your Baroness could live?"

Jimmy chuckled. "I understand your concern, yet you seem to be fine with attacking them head on. We could have, and should have died if we tried that. At least I only meant to fight a skirmish to draw them out. I would have retreated earlier but the 'house wife' threw me off. I underestimated her, but I won't make that mistake again. Also, you wound me if you don't think I had a back up plan."

Chloe did an eye roll but her enthusiasm quickly returned. "Well, besides some wounds to our pride, I think our wounds have healed enough. Let's find Nymk, the Baroness, and while we're at it let's give ole Ulfie and that Hoplite a kick in the crotch. I don't mind losing a fight, but losing to a cleric in pretty much a straight melee battle is insulting to my druid brethren."

"Druidic brethren? I thought you were self-taught."

"Racial memories, but it's the thought that counts. No more Chloediak bear, next time I'll change into something bigger, like an elephant seal, a treant, or something like that."

"Chloelephant seal, a giant Chloequoia tree, or perhaps something more Chloeossal?" suggested Jimmy.

Chloe ignored the fact she was being mocked as she gave his titles some thought.