Ozzy went from passed out to awake instantly, his eyes and sinuses burning from a horrible smell. The dwarf was back and holding something under his nose. "Ha! Thought that would do it. Shaking you didn't wake you up, had to go get some pungent swamp daisy. Smells horrible, but it will wake you fast. Let’s see how you're doing or if I have to open you up again. Don't mind me at all."

The dwarf proceeded to poke and prod at Ozzy, feeling along his ribs and prodding his bruises, pulling on stitches and once bending to smell at a wound. "Don't smell any rot and you don't have a fever. That's good. We can move on to the fun stuff. I'm going to start taking off the restraints, so try not to take any more swings at me."

As soon as the wooden contraption in his mouth was removed, Ozzy started yelling at the dwarf. "What the fething hell are you doing with me you bastard? Some kind of dwarven torture?"

Makken just laughed. "Ha! You thought that was bad? You pups and your piss-ant pain tolerance. If I was trying to torture you, you think I'd be taking such good care of you? I swear, you're taking advantage of my benevolent nature again. Think I'll leave those restraints on you for a bit."

"Why the hell for?" Ozzy tested the restraints again, but as before he had no stamina and no mana and they defeated his attempts to get free."

The dwarf pointed at his nose with his good hand. "On account of my broken nose and busted wing. Here I am trying to save your darn life and you go all crazy on me. And maybe you hadn't noticed, you nincompoop, but you’re a bit strong - and I'm a bit short and dainty. You also spit out half the potions, which are not cheap! - and nearly bit off my finger. The muzzle makes it easy to feed you potions and keep you from biting your tongue or my fingers."

"But if you don't like my medicines, just crawl on out of here and get used to being called stumpy for the rest of your life."

Ozzy considered things for a bit as the dwarf patiently waited for an answer. "Shit, Makken, should have just let me die. I'm a 'player', we walk back out of death whole and hearty the next day."

Makken lit his pipe, and took his time replying. "Check your status, shit-for-brains. You weren't walking out of death. You were crawling. That mutant radish had a death curse on him."

Current Status: Moderately wounded, restrained, bruised, crippled, mild acid burns, weak, and slow on the uptake. You are under the effects of a death curse.

Health: 730/1460 Regen: 365 per hour (Due to crippling injuries, max health = 730.)

Stamina: 0/4070 Regen: 1020 per hour A magical effect is draining your stamina.

Mana: 0/1260 Regen: 160 per hour A magical effect is draining your mana.

"What the hell is a death curse? Is that why my stamina and mana are being drained?"

Seeing that Ozzy was calmed down, Makken started undoing the restraints on his arms. "I'm going to push you up a bit and stuff a pillow and a crate behind you so you can sit up." Getting Ozzy situated a bit better, he then pulled out a milky white potion bottle. "Now drink this down, it's another regen potion. It will start getting you back on your feet. HA! Soon as it grows you some feet."

"The regen is what's draining all your stamina and mana. You were near death and dying fast. That poison and the caustic juices from that vegetable were pretty potent. What you had in your system kept trying to kill you even after I got you out from under the wheel and started to patch you up. It was a race to get medicine in you. Had to use some potent stuff."

"As to death curses, not many critters have them. But the ones that do have them are a pain in the ass. This curse makes wounds permanent unless regeneration magic is used; normal healing, walking out of death, normal potions won't help. It would have been really tough to fix you up if you'd have died. I only noticed the curse because of how you were shrugging off my healing. Had to get out my magnifier and take a look at you. The curse showed up in your status and I could guess at its effect. Confirmed it later when I saw what was happening."

Ozzy grumbled, "Could have explained that too me. Hell, you were ripping out ribs and pouring all sorts of shit in me. Your bedside manner stinks."

Makken just smiled. "Well, next time I'll run get you an elf who will tell you how pretty you are and give you a lollipop. By the time you woke up I was a bit ticked at you for breaking my beautiful nose. Wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. Had to get those twisted bones and other parts out so the regen worked right. Let me get some food. You need it. Keep sipping on that potion."

Two bowls of 'wimp chili', a plate of cornbread, and a half gallon of beer disappeared when Makken put them in front of Ozzy. After that he felt better and fell back asleep. When he awoke, Makken helped him roll off the bed onto a blanket. The dwarf then dragged him into another room which was a vast improvement. It looked like a normal bedroom with a large wooden bed, dresser, and washstand. The walls were paneled wood, as was the ceiling. A small hearth threw light and heat from the fire burning in it.

For the next two days, Ozzie ate, drank, downed a potion, and slept, repeating the cycle over and over. His legs slowly regrew and itched like hell. At the end of the second day, he got a system notice.

You are no longer affected by the Death Curse of the Mighty Root!

Healing is now normal.

An hour later, he was feeling hale and hearty as his normal health regeneration took over. He also found that his need to go to the bathroom had returned. With the regen potions no longer using any and all things he ate to make new legs, his normal functions started back up. He spent an hour sitting in Makken's outhouse cursing vegetables of all types.

The only thing Makken had for him to wear was a kilt and a pair of work boots his cousin Lem had left. This was a bit breezy, but at least he could get home in it. He and Makken had done a bit of horse trading and come to an agreement. The dwarf said he'd deliver some barrels of peppers and the bagged up jumbo-sized horseradish roots to Sedgewick. Ozzy would trade him a barrel of sausages and a couple of barrels of smoke sedgebeast, like what he made for the legion. The dwarf helped him with some ideas for a horseradish rub and which peppers might be best in the sausage. He also seemed to know quite a bit about the pit Ozzy had somehow come to own.

"Yep, had a few of them back in my Grandpappy's mountain. Pit Master is a well-respected tradition among dwarven folk. Oh, there have been some that went over to the dark and you had to make sure of what went into their cooking, but overall most of them 'stayed well in the smoke', as they said. Not part of either light or dark."

"You've got yourself a smoke golem I take it?"

Ozzy nodded, "Yep, and seems to know his stuff - helping me improve the pit; he's the reason I came looking for peppers to make sausages."

Makken walked over to a large kitchen drawer and pulled out a heavy box of mechanical parts. "I expect you'll need one of these then. This was my uncle's. Lem brought it over to try his hand at sausages but I already had a better one. That and Lem never did get his own pit done - useless sod. I'll toss in the grinder and you can owe me a favor - like coming back over next month and we'll pull the rest of those weeds out there before they get too big."

Shit...that was the last thing Ozzy wanted to do. But he did need a grinder. "Deal, that will give me time to make a couple sets of clothes...just in case." Ozzy finally got on his way with just his pack, filled up with peppers, a crock of chili, some sandwiches, and a large chunk of horseradish.

As he was getting ready to leave, Makken mentioned that a chest had appeared in the millrace. The dwarf shut off the water and went to take a look. Makken got a small paper packet of seeds. "Well, that's not bad, this is a variety of Ghostmaker Peppers I've never seen. Have to give them a try. Ozzy touched the chest, which promptly disappeared, leaving a copper armband in his hand. Something like Celtic knotwork circled the band. Makken took out a magnifying glass for Ozzy to use.

The Giants Ring.

Taken from the corpse of a firbolg king by the hero Angus the Red. The ring was so large that Angus wore it upon his bicep. The ring made him proof against the stings of mosquitos and midges. Also handy when he fought the Great Shadow Drake of Mulcovish pond. The ring provides 20% mitigation against black dragon’s breath, and all other caustic substances.

"A bit of irony in this thing, but that won't keep me from wearing it."

Makken nodded. "Aye, it's like the gods laugh at us. Many a hero has wished he could get the treasure first, then fight the dragon. Might come in handy next month when we go weed pulling. Now get on your way. I have some chili cooking that I need to tend to." Ozzy shook the dwarf’s hand and got on his way.

When he paused to eat on his walk back to the keep, he finally thought to check his system messages. Scrolling back through dozens that dealt with injuries, healing and curses, he finally found the notification.

Congratulations!

You have slain the Mighty Root!!, a level 6 Elite Boss.

(An unorthodox method, but hey, any fight you walk away from is a good one...oh wait...you didn't.)

You have gained the respect of your friend Makken.

You have gained a bonus for essentially fighting a Tier 2 boss solo.

You have gained 1500 EP for your class. You may also assign a total of 1500 EP to the following stats: STR, CON, INT

You have gained 17 Core Skill Points.

You have unlocked the skill: Resist Torture. You may take this skill for 1 CSP

You have earned 500 points in your CON skill.

You have unlocked the skill: Acid Resistance. This is a passive tertiary skill. Cost is 5 CSP

You have reached Level 5 as a Contract Worker: Butcher

Congratulations!

You have completed all requirements for leaving Tier one and entering Tier 2.

You have slain animals, humans, undead, and monsters with no hesitation: The class Contract Worker: Slaughtermaster is open to you.

You have slain a large number of creatures, denied and frustrated the forces of the light, stolen the accomplishments of a demon, let corruption into your soul, and created your own charnel pit. The class of Contract Worker: Pit Boss is open to you.

You have slaughtered tasty critters and cooked them in your pit, created a smoke golem, and learned to resist the flames. The class of Contract Worker: Pit Master is open to you.

You have faced a Demon, earned the title of martyr, destroyed an undead necromancer in its lair, denied and frustrated the forces of darkness, and beautified your soul with radiance. The class of Contract Worker: Butcher of Heaven is open to you.

You have completed the requirements for the class Contract Worker: Butcher (Apprentice)