Um, I said as I tried to deal with the question. How was I still alive? Was this place really that dangerous? Sure the ghosts were scary, and there were bears and things, maybe, but nothing I had seen topped the evil ghosts or the monsters in the dungeon. Well, mostly I just fought ghosts, so zombies and that was it, really. Ive been eating berries and honey for the most part. Is that what you ant?
Arianne shook her head. Ghosts arent too common, but zey are easily dispatched by most. Its ze sombrals, ze pixies, and ze dryads zat are ze issues here.
I stared at her, then at the others around the fire. Donat had rejoined the circle, plopping himself down right on the ground without even a log to sit on. Eric was still wearing a smile, but next to him, Leonard the an samurai was glaring suspiciously. Valerie was the only one ignoring as she focused on the stew. The ranger was... gone? I couldnt see him, and I never noticed him leaving. Neat!
Well, I said. I never saw any dryads, and I dont know what sombrals are. I did et a whole lot of pixies though. They were nice.
Nice? Arianne asked. I have seen zem lt the flesh off of creatures an order of magnitude bigger zan zey are wiz zeir magic. Each pixie has a different and mostly unique set of spells zat zey will use to tear you apart.
Uh. I shrugged. I offered them so honey to let stay in their territory. Then I gave their leader a second jar to escort around for a day.
You-- Eric started to croak with laughter. Oh, zats priceless. Hear zat, Leo. No need to scare off ze pixies with your big sword. Just give zem honey!
She could be lying, the samurai said.
I nodded, which set him to blinking at . I could be. But that wouldnt be very nice of . I have so honey left over, if you want to try it for yourself. It would be a real sha if you hurt the pixies just because of a little misunderstanding.
Arianne looked like she wanted to pat , but she didnt which was good. People were always doing that and it was very rude.
Can you tell about the sombrals and the dryads? I asked.
Are you going to offer zem so honey as well? Eric asked.
I might. But I dont know what dryads or sombrals eat. Maybe they dont like honey, or can get so themselves.
Sombrals, Arianne began in a tone that sounded an awful lot like so of my teachers. Are one of the monsters native to the Darkwoods. Dryads, on ze other hand, are common across ze whole world. Zey tend to be wherever zere are large forests. Donat, tell Broccoli about sombrals.
The young grenoil jumped, looked around, then rubbed at his face where his nose would be as a human. Ah, right, sombrals. Second tier monsters. Scary, big, zey like ze taste of fresh grenoil at. Do you know what a wolf is? I nodded and he continued. Right. sombrals are like wolves if wolves were made of shadows and didnt need to sleep. Zey arent as big as so kinds of wolves, but zat only ans zat zey are sneakier.
And how do you fight zem? Arianne asked Donat. She was leading him on, making him recite information that he was probably already supposed to know.
Fire works. Zey dont like it. Light magic is best. But we dont have zat. Hitting zem on the head works too. Zey are not like ghosts who are immune to physical harm. But zey do resist it better.
Cant you just run away? I asked. I didnt want to go around booping any poor wolves on the head for doing what was in their nature.
No, Donat said with a shake of his head. Sombrals are blind. Zey cant see. But zeir sense of sll is incredible and zey will hunt you for days if zey must. You can run to find a better place to fight. Or into a town with lots of people if its close, but zey cant be outrun in zis forest. Zey hunt in packs and will try to encircle you if zey can.
Scary, I said. I guess Im lucky I never ran into them.
Zats the strange part, Eric said. Zey would track you down by your scent. How did you avoid zat?
I thought about it for a few monts, but the answer was pretty obvious. I am very clean, I said. I have the cleaning skill, so I shouldnt have much of a sll at all.
Eric blinked his big froggy eyes at , then tilted back and laughed, his feet thumping on the ground as he croaked and gurgled with mirth.
Tch, Leonard said. I would call what you did clever if it was not so obvious that you rely managed to avoid death through sheer dumb luck.
Now now, Leonard, Arianne said. Its good information to have. We might be able to use it ourselves.
Stews ready! Valerie declared. Hey, tadpole, get ze bowls and such.
Donat grumbled, but he ran off to the tents in a hurry at the sight of Valeries glare and soon returned with a stack of tin bowls and a handful of wooden spoons. He passed them around, then got shoved aside by Valerie when he reached for the ladle. The frog girl started filling everyones bowls, and I got to go first for so reason. Maybe so sort of guest custom.
I sat back down, tummy gurgling as I took in deep breaths of the vapours coming off of the stew. It slled so good my eyes nearly rolled back into my head. Still, I noticed that the others were waiting before digging in.
Pierre the sneaky ranger walked out of the woods as if he had just been standing in plain sight all along and took a bowl of his own. He was the last to sit down.
May our wills be the will of the world, they all intoned at more or less the sa ti. Then they started digging in.
You dont worship the world tree? Valerie asked between two bites.
I shook my head and hoped that wouldnt cause any troubles. I forgot all about that as I put the spoon in my mouth and the savoury taste of aty juices and so sort of potato-like root filled my mouth with an explosion of flavour. This is so good! I said when I swallowed. I might have burnt my tongue and throat but it was worth it.
Valerie made a gesture my way, a sort of thumbs up, but her thumb was webbed and it ca out weird. Still, I understood what she ant and didnt bla her if she didnt want to stop eating for even a mont.
I slurped down a few more bites then started scooping up so of the at and vegetables out of the juice. So were crunchy, which was strange, but not too bad.
Needs more roach, Donat said.
Hard to find out here, Arianne said.
I wondered what they ant. Then I looked into my bowl and saw that thumb-sized and very dead bug in my stew. Another floated up to the surface next to it. Ah, I said. I debated losing my supper all over the campfire, but then held back. It had been really good until then. I picked up another bug on my spoon, then placed it in my mouth and chewed.
It crunched and crunched and I just couldnt do it knowing what it was.
I, Im full, I lied as I pushed the bowl to Valerie. If there were tears in my eyes at losing such a delicious al she didnt comnt.
The girl smiled wide and took my bowl without protest to chug it all down. Erics eyes were turned up as if to say he knew exactly what had happened and thought it was hilarious.
So, um, dryads? I asked.
If you run into a dryad, youll know, Leonard said. They are imnsely dangerous, usually past their second tier, though you might find younger ones around. They can kill an entire squadron of ill-prepared troops. But, for the most part, they will not hurt or hunt you if you make an effort to avoid them and are careful about not cutting down trees in their presence.
So theyre peaceful? I asked.
Arianne shook her head and swallowed. No. Zey are rely not aggressive. Do not confuse ze two.
The pixies werent aggressive at first and they beca friends, I said. Maybe youre just approaching them the wrong way? I wondered.
Oh, please do try to make friends with a dryad, Leonard said. As long as I am there to watch, of course.
I harrumphed and reached into my bandoleer to pull out Orange. The kitty had been sleeping all afternoon, but the motion of taking her out woke her up. She looked around at all the people around us and shook to fluff out her fur.
Whats zat? Donat asked.
This is Orange, I said. Shes a spirit cat.
Did you find it in ze wild? Arianne asked as she stared at Orange with an intense look. Her eyes opened wider after a mont. Ah, a summon.
What a useless summon, Leonard said.
Orange glared at him.
Watch out Leo, it might scratch you, Eric said. Where did you find a spirit cat? Attracted it with so honey?
No, I got her from an item, I said.
Cute, he replied. Not zat useful, but a handy companion. And perhaps it will grow into a large and fearso tabby cat in a decade or two.
Well I like her, I said as I pulled Orange in for a quick snuggle. She, being a proper kitty, objected to the display of love and squird out of my grasp to run away. She didnt go far and was soon distracted by so swaying leaves. So, I asked as I refocused. What are you guys doing out here? Is there a village or sothing nearby?
I was zinking of asking you ze sa. What is a level four Cinnamon Bun, whatever zat may be, doing out in zese woods? Arianne asked. She set her bowl aside then hugged her staff close, fingers running across the well-worn wood.
Im a bit lost, I admitted.
Eric chuckled. A little, yes. You can stay wiz us tonight. Tomorrow we will point you to Rockstack. Its a small outpost run by a few guilds. If youre as clever as you look youll be able to find work. Maybe one day you can join the Exploration Guild.
Is that who you are? I asked. mbers of an exploration guild? That sounded so cool! Like an adventurers guild, but with less killing rats in soones basent and more exploring tombs and looking for cool places.
Zat we are, Eric said. Myself, Arianne, Pierre, and most recently Valerie are all mbers of ze sa exploration team. Leo here is a senior mber who joined our team for zis expedition because well be exploring a more dangerous place, and Donat tagged along because we need soone close to reaching zeir class evolution if we find a dungeon.
So cool, I said. I now had about a million questions to ask! What are you guys looking for?
She isnt part of our group, Leonard said. Dont spill confidential information.
She might have co across what were looking for. At least she might save us so fruitless searching, Eric argued back.
The samurai considered this for a mont, then nodded. Very well.
Eric smiled triumphantly. We are looking for a lost town zat was once occupied by humans. Zere is nearly no human presence left here, and it was a frontier town when it fell, so we dont know where it is. But soone discovered sothing interesting in zat town and we want to see it.
Frowning, I considered what hed said. A human town around here. The only one I had seen so far was... Are you talking about Threewells? I asked.
In a blink there was a hand clasped over each of my shoulders.
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