Why did it always have to start this way? Curse words flowed out of my mouth as I smelled the fetid swamp again. The young man, roped into the line in front of me, fell, dragging down a couple of the men in front of him and almost pulling me down as well.
A tall, pointy-eared warrior appeared as if from nowhere from the foliage making a couple of the men, also pointy-eared and green-tinged like me, men whom I was roped to, jerk fearfully and retreat. Having been through this 'paradise' a couple of times in other avatar experiences, I didn't try to back off. The young warrior just grinned at me. He cut loose the fallen youth, looped another rope through my bonds and linked me to a fearful sweating man, one of those who had been dreagged down.