And I definitely should’ve thought things through before agreeing to a bowl of stew. It was thin, watery, and had a colour best described as vomit-green. The ingredients had boiled to a grey mush, the surviving bits reduced to little more than goop. I looked at my bowl dubiously.
“Can I eat this?” I asked Eternity.
“It is not poisonous, if that is your worry,” the dragon said.
“But can I trust to eat it?”
This time it hesitated. “I do not know. Nothing I have seen added is inherently dangerous for your constitution.”
Crystal ate an entire bowl, then spooned in another serving and set it on the ground for Tusk. The molerat ate, belched, then slumped back down next to the fire, out cold. I wasn’t sure it had actually woken up to eat.
Well, it didn’t kill them, so it probably wouldn’t kill me. I was clearly eating out of Tusk’s bowl, but my hunger was more insistent than my repulsion.
And, yes, it didn’t kill me. Obviously.
But by midnight I wished it had. I spent the night wriggling about with the worst cramps I’ve ever had in my life, relieved only barely by the most hideous farts. Crystal and Tusk didn’t fare much better, but they slept like babes.
By dawn, I was surprised the whole place didn’t go up in flames, what with the embers still smouldering under the cauldron and the near fatal concentration of methane in the air.
I woke clutching my backpack and my sword when Crystal opened the door and the chill morning air crept in and shocked me awake. My eyes teared up, partly because of the light, mostly due to the stench.
“Come, come, human. We go. We go now.”
I blinked away sleep and gingerly uncurled from the corner where I’d cringed myself to sleep. My stomach hurt but wasn’t cramping anymore. The back of my throat tasted like a latrine pit stinks. What with the heat of the night, the… unpleasantness, and the sweats, I myself also reeked like old leather left in the sun.
“Once again, Eklil, I owe you my deepest apologies.” I grumbled as I got up to my feet, creaking and popping as if my joints had all rusted. I couldn’t even stretch properly in the low room. “Should have listened.”
I swallowed the last berries without chewing. That lessened the sour shock, at least enough that I didn’t bleed all over myself again. I did end up with thick, sticky snot flowing from both nostrils and spent a good half-hour being berated by Crystal for wasting time.
It was hard to walk when I had to blow my fucking nose every ten seconds.
Never again. Never again.
[CONGRATULATIONS]
[YOU HAVE SURVIVED A PARASITE INFESTATION]
[YOU HAVE TRAINED A SKILL: NATURAL RESISTANCE - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE SURVIVED FOOD POISONING]
[YOU HAVE TRAINED A SKILL: POISON RESISTANCE - INITIATE]
That was nice. At least I hadn’t suffered for nothing. Not only that, but I noticed the first skill was already at its second level, not the usual first. I must’ve had a serious dosage of spores to deal with.
“Come, human, come come,” Crystal called from the edge of the clearing, prancing in place. The sun was barely up and the sky a fiery pink, devoid of any clouds. “If Crystal leave, you get stuck and you no leave. Yes, yes?”
Last in, first out, interesting choice for a ward. I swung my backpack onto my shoulders, sniffled loudly, then crossed back into the forest proper. It was twice as cold in the forest than it had been in the glade and my skin immediately turned to gooseflesh.
Crystal wore the same grubby cloak as on the previous day, with the same backpack, and even the same bangles, bits, bobs, and various ends that adorned her clothes. It was a wonder she didn’t clatter as she walked. But if the noise wouldn’t give her away, the smell would.
I tried to imagine her going into Carmill Hill to trade and just couldn’t. Not even Eklil’s patience wouldn’t have remained intact against her.
My map showed me still in Carmill Hill’s area of influence, but I had somehow drifted close to its far border. Areas of the map were now marked with symbols for the shamblers, for the tree fathers, and even one for Crystal’s little clearing. The village she’d mentioned did not show up yet, but I still had the marker I’d the previous morning.
By all appearance, following the gnark and molerat duo looked like it would get me where I was going.
I ate as I walked, this time from my provisions, not sharing anything. Much as I liked Tusk, I’d seen him scarf down another helping of stew before we left.
“Get away, you big whiner.” He was snuffling about my feet, looking up at me with big, green eyes, making that whining sound dogs do when they want something.
What I thought was a desperate situation for Crystal only proved to be some lean times for the two of them. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn the gnark caught spiders to eat them, not just keep for who knew what alchemy.
“How far to this village?” I asked as we stumbled among the dew-wet trees and through the undergrowth. “Are you sure this is the right way?” We didn’t appear to be following any path but forging our own.
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Crystal snorted, then grinned up at me. “Human have no sense of way. Saw human stumble around. Human no ask stupid questions. Yes?”
“Well, fuck you.” My ears burned. I’d been running from a giant fucking squirrel and from man-eating shrooms. For all that, I did have enough presence of mind to have the map recording our route, so I had a nifty little breadcrumb trail to follow back to Crystal’s home if it tried anything cute.
I hadn’t planned on crossing the Brightleaf quite as quickly as this. Granted, I also hadn’t planned on crossing it by running all the way. According to my map, I was at least halfway to my destination by now, and quickly approaching the border of Carmill Hill.
From here on out there be dragons. Well, here there already was one dragon, napping on my head for some reason. I got that Eternity was doing the whole wing flapping, smoke burping, and general affectation for my benefit, but I felt the nap was taking things a bit far. There’s commitment to the bit, then there’s whatever method acting bullshit this was.
Still, I followed Crystal, if for nothing more than the fact that the forest had thoroughly kicked my ass so far and I was ready to admit I had no idea what I was doing. The gnark at least had a better idea of where we were meant to get and how to get there without being swallowed up by shamblers—I was still thoroughly sore over the whole adventure, not to mention grossed out by the residue on my skin.
“Onward and upward,” I growled.
I added “Take a bath” to my to do. By my luck, if I happened upon a stream or lake, I’d either have my gear stolen when I washed, or get covered in marrow sucking leeches. Oresstria didn’t do things by half measures.
KLAUS: Eklil, I’m free of the spores. About to get out of range of Carmill Hill.
KLAUS: Thank you for your help so far. Give my best to the family. Hope the festival’s going well for everyone.
There was no immediate response this time, which was fair enough. It was still fairly early in the day, and I expected the old iepurran was tired after dealing with the horde of his grandchildren. Not for the first time, I felt a pang of regret for not staying longer with them. I’d definitely head back this way later.
For now, my eyes and ears were open wide. Every tree was suspicious, though for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how the tree fathers would hide themselves. Every tree was solid, limbs resembling nothing more than branches, with not even a hint of danger about them. The verdant heart showing up in my inventory was solid proof that I hadn’t been hallucinating the creatures.
“How do the tree fathers hide?” I asked, though my question wasn’t meant for anyone in particular.
Eternity didn’t even stir atop my head. Its tail hung over the back of my neck, tickling me as it swung about.
“No tree fathers here,” Crystal said. “Tree fathers guard paths. Feed on paths. We no travel path.”
Lovely. The trees were ambush predators. I mean… why not? Right?
“And how do I spot them?”
“Crystal trade information for sword,” the gnark tried. I could tell from her voice that she wasn’t expecting success.
“I gave you your stick back. You could be nicer to me.”
That only got me a baleful glare. Right, then. Crystal was mercantile, not friendly, and I wasn’t ready to part with more of my supplies. I had no idea what this Harriet’s Heap held in store for me, but I wasn’t going to barter anything away if I didn’t need to. I held my hand on my sword’s pommel, keeping the sheath from banging against my leg as I walked, and ready to draw it at the first sign of trouble.
But, up to about midday, we only walked and nothing challenged us. We passed spider webs strewn among trees, more puddles that promised marshland, even some places where the tree trunks were scarred and deeply grooved, as if by uncomfortably large claws. Considering I had managed to stumble from trouble to trouble the previous day so easily, it was heartening to see Crystal wasn’t a terrible guide.
With the sun shining bright above and shafts of light punching down through the canopy, it was easy to forget how dangerous the Brightleaf really was. That’s not to say we didn’t get some sightings.
Tusk stopped us with a loud whine at one point as a family of bristly creatures—part molerat, part warthog—skittered across our path. Three adults, as large as Tusk when Crystal buffed him, led a group of about seven young. They emerged from the brush, and quickly melted back into it without a glance our way.
At another time Crystal diverted us down the muddy bank of a forest stream when she saw a large cat-like creature lounging on a branch. By how fast the gnark had us heading away from that area, I could only guess how dangerous one of those things was.
[[REDACTED], YOU HAVE LEFT YOUR AREA OF INFLUENCE]
[TREAD CAREFULLY]
I startled when the message popped up in my field of vision. At the same time, Eternity took off from my head and spun in a slow circle above me.
“We’re not in Carmill Hill anymore, Toto,” I said to nobody in particular. The feeling was weird, like I’d had a cord attached to me and it had snapped.
This went into the weird shit file because it couldn’t be normal to get these feelings. Walk out of a dungeon’s area, and you feel lost. Walk into a ward, and feel free. Something was clearly attached to me, in some way, and was watching. Or maybe doing more than just watching me.
Before I bundled myself up into a ball of paranoia, Crystal called for a stop. We ate in silence. I had to refuse about a dozen or so offers for trades, from the comical—stick for sandwich—to the downright bizarre—pickled toenails for my t-shirt. I admit I was tempted to at least see the toenails, if only to convince myself I’d heard right.
“Why do you need protection if the people here love you?” We were packing up and readying to move again and the silence was starting to fry my nerves.
Crystal, for once, didn’t reply with an insult. Or at all. Her eyes scanned the forest, darting from ground level to top, then back again. Her big, floppy ears twitched rhythmically, like a prowling cat’s. Tusk was also on edge, snuffling at the ground or the air, spinning in place as if he picked up some scent only to drop it.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose and drew in a deep breath. “Right… this isn’t ominous at all.”
“Human, be quiet.” Crystal’s voice was a low hiss. “Quiet from here. No speaking. Quiet as mouse. Yes, yes?”
When the obnoxious gremlin gets quiet, it’s a safe idea to shut your mouth as well. So I did and just followed, hand never straying from my weapon. It was developing into an interesting instinct that I wouldn’t have expected less than week before. I still sometimes fumbled with getting the blade up quickly, but just having my hand on it eased my nerves as we picked up the pace.
Go into the forest, Klaus. You’ll be fine. You’ve got skills now. What’s the worst that could happen? Fucking idiot.
Too late and too far into the shit to consider turning back, so I straightened my back and walked as quietly as I could while the whole vegetation of the forest tried to undress me. My shirt, just so recently mended, was coming apart at the seams only from how many thorns it had survived. Sooner or later I’d have to get some proper armour. Added that to the To Do, just in time to almost lose my head.
My sword came up lightning quick and impacted against something hard, sharp, and shiny. The shock ran up my arm into my shoulder and back and sent me reeling, stumbling back into the nearest tree.
[CONGRATULATIONS]
[YOU HAVE TRAINED: INSTINCT REACTION - INITIATE]
[WARNING]
[THIS SKILL IS NOT PART OF YOUR CLASS BUILD]
[LEVELLING THIS SKILL WILL NOT COUNT TOWARDS YOUR GROWTH]
I spun, managed to keep my balance, and brought the sword around in a wide arc. It didn’t hit anything, but I saw what attacked me.
What could be worse than a large, mature headcrab?
A lot of things on Oresstria, as I was coming to discover. For the moment, a headcrab with extra-long mechanical legs tipped with shiny chrome blades was pretty much the top of that list.
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