Chapter Seventy-Seven - The Best Pack

Barks at Squirrel’s health improved considerably as we trekked along. At first he walked slowly, testing his steps and pausing at times to catch his breath even though he was hardly moving at a pace that anyone would call fast.

As the sun rose and we approached midday though, his pace became more sure and soon he was able to keep up without so much as a hitch in his step.

I still stayed close to him just in case, but he didn’t seem to need the help.

And that was when Amaryllis decided to start questioning him. I was just thankful that she had waited until he was in a shape to actually reply. I think Orange’s presence helped a bit with that--the kitty seemed to dislike Barks at Squirrels on principle. “Broccoli, ask Barks at Squirrels what caused that injury, exactly?”

I repeated the question to the droll and watched as his tongue waggled out of his mouth as he took on what I suspected was his thinking face. “It was a glass golem, but an evil one.”

“A glass golem?” I asked.

“Yes. They are big, and made of glass. They look like people and they smell like fire and light.”

That wasn’t the most helpful description I had ever heard. Still, I repeated it back to the girls so that we’d all be on the same page.

“Where are these golems coming from, exactly?” Amaryllis asked.

“The dungeon,” Barks said. “They have always come from the dungeon. But they are usually just defenders, they protect their territory and nothing else. Now they roam out of their territory and do not mark new ones. They are dangerous now.”

“Do lots of dungeon, um, monsters move out of their dungeons?” I asked after translating.

Amaryllis made a wishy-washy gesture. “It depends. Most dungeons have some sort of guardian by the entrance, some of these will guard from outside the dungeon if the terrain agrees with them.”

“Oh,” I said. “I hope your village isn’t too close to the dungeon, Barks. Especially if the glass golems are becoming mean.”

Barks shook his furry head. “No. We don’t have a village.”

“Your... town?” I tried. I turned to Amaryllis and Awen. “Where do the drolls live?”

Awen came to my rescue with a handy infodump. “The droll live in large communities that they call packs. They range all along the edge of the Ostri desert and into the prairies to the north of Mattergrove. Some even go as far as the Manywoods to the North,” she said. The tone hinted that it was a recital more than something in her own words. I supposed that it made sense that she would know that sort of thing.

“So, you live in a big pack?” I asked. Did they all pile up together at night for warmth? Would they let me play with their tiny little puppies? So many questions!

“Yes,” Barks at Squirrels said. “My pack is the best pack. We have many sheep, and plenty of caravans for moving in.”

“Neat?” I tried.

We continued on our trek westward, and even though we had only been moving for a few hours, I could feel the air growing noticeably warmer. The grass became a bit more scraggly, and there were occasionally patches of sandy dirt on the upwind side of small hills.

“What were you doing so far from your pack?” I asked Barks at Squirrels.

“There was a squirrel,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Ah.” I turned to the girls. “Are there giant squirrels around here? Or... magical ones that you’d want to hunt?”

“I don’t think so,” Amaryllis said.

“Awa, why are you asking?” Awen asked. “Because, um, I never heard of anything like that.”

I eyed Barks at Squirrels and made a note not to point out any passing bunnies or small critters, just in case we lost our guide.

It took another hour of walking before we reached a place that was more desert than plain. There were still the occasional bushes, and patches of grass growing in spots shielded by hills, but most everything was covered by soft grains of white-yellow sand. Even the air had changed, taking on an almost salty tang that left my mouth dry.

The sun finally reached its zenith and I was glad that my hat provided plenty of shade, else I wouldn’t have been able to see anything. Amaryllis paused at some point and poofed two light, silky scarves out of her ring, one of which she gave to Awen and the other she tied around her head and hair.

“Albatrosses aren’t averse to warmer weather, but, well, you have seen my skin, haven’t you?” She gestured with a talon to her very pale skin.

“You sunburn easy?” I asked.

“You wouldn’t believe it,” she said.

“Awa, my family just tan. N-not that I ever really tried that. Um, it’s fashionable for a lady to have paler skin, like Miss Amaryllis,” Awen said as she tied the scarf around her head.

Our conversation petered out as we focused on walking. Fortunately the ground was hard-packed, which made it easy enough to walk, but it was hard on the feet.

Then, as we crested a bit of a hill, Barks at Squirrel’s tail started wagging and he pointed ahead. “It’s the pack,” he said.

The pack, as it turned out, was a loose collection of about twenty or so carriages. All of them rather cobbled-together looking, with wheels that didn’t all look to be the same size and sides made of sticks and branches and planks. There was an air of... makeshiftness about the whole thing.

There were maybe four or five dozen people moving about, a few of which turned our way and raised their snouts to the air to sniff.

“Come!” Barks at Squirrels said as he padded down the hill and kicked up a line of dust behind him.

“Well, let’s go meet the nice doggies,” I said to the girls.

“Truly a fantastic idea,” Amaryllis said.

“Hey, it’s part of the adventure to take little detours,” I said before I hopped off the side of the cliff and locked my legs so that I slid all the way to the base.

Amaryllis leapt off and flapped her wings twice. She didn’t quite fly, but her fall was slowed. Then it was Awen’s turn. She did okay for the first few running steps, but then her one foot tripped up the other and the poor girl rolled down the hill in a tangle of legs and arms.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I rushed over to her.

“Awoww,” Awen complained. She sat up, then inspected herself. “I’m not injured, I don’t think.”

I grinned and helped her to her feet, then brushed some cleaning magic over her outfit to dust it off. “You’ll get the hang of it, no worries.”

“Awa... thank you!”

Once we were all gathered up, we made our way over to the droll pack, only to find that three of them had walked over to join Barks at Squirrels and were listening as the young droll explained his misadventure.

“Hello,” I said as we came within speaking distance and their conversation stopped. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said.

The one I pegged as the leader of the group was a tall (for a droll), muscular droll with near-white fur. He had a shirt under a leather vest, and a pair of shorts that stopped just sort of mid-calf. He locked onto me with a pair of bright blue eyes, then grinned. “Hello human. I, Moon Moon, leader of the Best Pack, thank you for helping Barks at Squirrels.”

My teeth clicked together as I shut my mouth mid-greeting. The moment his name had registered I had the most inappropriate urge to giggle.

“Hi Moon Moon,” I said. “My name is Broccoli Bunch. These are my friends, Amaryllis Albatross and Awen Bristlecone.”

“Your name is Broccoli?” Moon Moon asked. “That’s a funny name. You don’t smell like Broccoli. You smell like a human.” He laughed, a sound that was more like a dog panting for breath than a normal laugh, but it was impossible to mistake as anything else.

“Do you smell like the moon then?” I asked.

He nodded. “I smell like Moon Moon.”

I laughed before remembering that my friends were left out of the loop. “Ah, right, guys, this is Moon Moon.”

“Seriously?” Amaryllis asked.

“Hello, Moon Moon,” Awen said.

“This one smells like chicken, and that one smells like she wishes to mate,” Moon Moon said. “But it is good to meet people who are nice. When we stop, we will make you a grand feast.”

The other drolls all started wagging their tails at the mention of a feast.

“That sounds nice,” I said. I didn’t know what he meant about the mating thing. A cultural difference maybe? It didn’t matter. “We can’t stay for too long, I don’t think.”

Moon Moon’s tail drooped. “That’s sad. Where are you going?”

I considered what to say, but decided to stick with the truth, because that was usually the best option. “We’re heading to a town called Rosenbell, to the North of here. We just came to drop off Barks at Squirrels and to make sure he made it here safe.”

“If you go North, you will be going through the glass valley. That is where Barks at Squirrels was hurt.”

“Oh?” I asked.

Moon Moon nodded quite seriously. “Yes. It was a good place once. Good hunting, and the monsters in the first part of the dungeon gave us good things.” He patted a paw to his waist where I noticed for the first time that a dagger hung in a sheath. He pulled out the top, revealing a blade made of some sort of crystal. “But that was before. Now the monsters are all corrupted.”

Quest Updated!

Pruning the Evil

You have heard of the location of a corrupted dungeon. Explore it, find any signs of great Evil. Eradicate them!

I jumped nearly a foot in the air as Miss Menu popped up before me. I hadn’t seen her in nearly a week, and as I read the prompt before me, I kind of wished that she hadn’t shown up again.

“Ah, well,” I said. “M-maybe we’ll be going that way, but we’ll be careful,” I said. “I’m sorry Moon Moon, but I need to talk to my friends for just a moment, something important has come up.”

Moon Moon tilted his head to the side and it was all I could do not to pat him. “You don’t need to ask me. You are friends of the Best Pack, but you are not of it.”

“Right!”

I pulled back and grabbed both of my friends so that we could talk just a little ways away. I noticed a bunch of drolls looking our way, from other young males to some that looked more lithe, to older ones that had bents backs. And, of course, there were little droll puppies who were ambulatory balls of fluff.

“We, uh, have a situation,” I said.

“Could you make that sound a little more ominous?” Amaryllis asked. “I could add a thunder clap in the background, perhaps?”

I shook my head. “I got a quest from talking to Moon Moon.”

“Awa! A quest?” Awen said. “Truly?”

“Yeah, it’s... more of an update to one I thought was complete?”

Amaryllis sighed. “What do we have to do?”

“Have to do? We can always ignore it,” I said. “It just wants us to look into that dungeon, the glass one, and see if it’s corrupted.”

Amaryllis stared at me. “Broccoli, you never ignore a quest. They’re the literal manifestations of the world’s will. That’s... not something you can set aside.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, okay, I guess? It’s not like I got anything from the last one I did except for a bunch of trouble.”

“You’ve done quests before?” Awen asked. Her eyes practically sparkled. “Incredible.”

I heard a rough cough from behind me and turned to find Moon Moon standing nearby. “If the world tells you to go to the Glass Valley, then Moon Moon will lead you there,” he said.

“Oh, brilliant,” Amaryllis said. “He speaks Basic.”

“Moon Moon is the cleverest member of the Best Pack,” he said. “He’s even cleverer than the drolls in the Greatest Pack and those in the Most Goodest Pack.”

“Ah,” I said. “Well, um. Okay then?”

***