The gift was a piece of metal shaped into an oval that had a couple of letters written on it that read “T & R.” Above the letters was an, albeit somewhat amateurly, symbol of blacksmithing tongs etched into the metal. Below the letters was a symbol that looked like a sickle with mushrooms underneath it. While the symbols didn’t exactly look the nicest, what did look nice was the way that they glowed even during the light of day. The letters and symbols glowed with the same light that the slitherglow eggs glowed with.

“It ain’t really anythin’ special,” Tabitha said. “I was thinkin’ of makin’ it into a necklace or somethin’, but it’d be too heavy for that. So… not really sure what there is to do with it other than stick it in your pocket and carry it around. Also, this letter here,” she pointed to the T, “is the first letter for my name back from my world. This letter,” she pointed at the R, “is yours. In hindsight, I probably could’ve made a more interestin’ gift than—”

“I love it!” Runa said. “And it’s so pretty! How’d you—how’d you get it to glow like this?!”

Tabitha’s cheeks took on a light shade of red as she scratched the back of her head. “Pure luck, really. Found some eggs that had a tag named Stable Shine. Apparently, it’s a rare tag that can show up on anythin’ that glows or otherwise emits light. Makes it so it always does that. Thought it’d be perfect for makin’ the present a bit more special, but lookin’ at it again now… I really could’ve done somethin’ better for ya.”

Runa shook her head while her tail wagged behind her at an even faster speed. “It’s perfect! It really is!”

As tempted as Tabitha was to criticize her own creation, she wasn’t about to do that if Runa was that happy about it. She didn’t want to lower the mood or anything. “Oh, right. And here.” She reached back into her pocket to pull out an identical badge. “Made one for myself, too, so that we have matchin’ badges. It’s a symbol of our partnership, I reckoned.”

“Is this… is this why you didn’t want me to be around? So you could work on this?”

“You got it.”

Hearing that, Runa couldn’t hold back the waterworks and ended up crying. She also ended up throwing her arms around Tabitha to squeeze her for a tight hug. “I’m sorry for doubting you! I—I shouldn’t have worried so much!”

“Ya get it now? I ain’t plannin’ on leavin’ ya behind or anythin’ like that. I wouldn’t have done this for ya if I was. So, next time I’m tryin’ to be secret about somethin’, just assume I’m workin’ on a present for ya or somethin’, alright?”

Runa, sniffling and crying against Tabitha, nodded. Thankfully, she didn’t stay crying for too long and ended up pulling back so that she could look at her badge again. “It’s so pretty… thank you. But, now I feel bad. I need to get you a present, too!”

“Nah, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Just keep gatherin’ stuff for me and I’ll be happy.”

“No! You got me a present, so now I have to get you a present!”

Tabitha reached forward to pet Runa’s head again, instantly calming her down and relaxing her. “There, there. Don’t you worry about me. I—”

Something caught Tabitha’s eye.

Considering that Tabitha had an incredibly adorable Runa in front of her, it had to be a really curious sight to steal her attention.

“Hold on,” Tabitha said, pulling her hand away from Runa’s head again which made her pout for a second before following Tabitha’s eyes.

Tabitha scooted closer to the edge of the river and picked something up out of it that got stuck on the side.

When she first saw it floating in the water, all she saw was what looked like part of a pinecone. And the part of it that was above the water still looked like one after picking it up, albeit one that had some sort of black, powdery substance on it.

But then when she saw the rest of the pinecone—the part of the pinecone that was previously underwater which she only caught a glimpse of originally, she dropped it with a concerned expression on her face. Tabitha wasn’t the only one surprised, either. Runa let out a surprised yelp when she saw the disturbing pinecone.

What looked like several tendrils of flesh were growing out of the other side of it. They looked plantlike, like the vines of a plant, but disturbingly fleshy at the same time. As if they were a plant’s vines made of red flesh rather than plant fiber.

That wasn’t all. The entire other side of the pinecone was deformed with twisted shapes and several spots that bulged out farther than the surrounding area.

And now that the pinecone was on the ground, those fleshy tendrils dug their tips into the soil below in an attempt to pull the pinecone underground.

Tabitha, not wanting it to get away from her, picked it up and yanked those tendrils out from the ground. They didn’t offer much resistance. “Not so fast!” She made sure to hold it on the side that didn’t look deformed with writhing tendrils.

And while she had it secured in her hand, she decided to use Analyze on it.

Item Information

Name

Ataxic Pinecone

A pinecone that has undergone ataxic transformation, losing much of its original form.

Rarity

B

Quality

72

Element

Chaos

Source

Corruption

Type

Part

Bonus Tag

[Ataxic]

“Menu,” Tabitha said. That and her focused attention was enough to get the point across.

System Menu

Ataxic

This item has undergone an ataxic mutation caused by a source of corruption. Its physical form is unstable and prone to radical changes.

“Oi, Runa. I think I’ve got a lead on what’s happenin’ to the crops.”

Tabitha looked up the river toward the forest in the distance. There were no trees within their territory upstream of the river. The only trees that could have dropped pinecones into the river were in the fae’s territory.

If Tabitha’s intuition was right, whatever was causing issues with the crops was coming from the fae’s forest, and that forest wasn’t exactly a place where humans were welcome.

But if the lives of the locals were at risk because of something happening up there, either intentionally or unintentionally, it needed to be dealt with. First, though, Tabitha figured it would be a good idea to let the village’s leaders know about it.

“Runa, take anything ya might have out of your bag for me. Please,” Tabitha said.

Runa nodded and emptied a few items out of it before handing it over.

To avoid spreading that powder on the pinecone, Tabitha carefully placed it inside of Runa’s bag and then balled it up to make it extra secure. She wasn’t sure what that powder would do if it got on anything, and she was also worried about potentially inhaling it.

“Thanks, now, do me a favor and go get anybody… uh, important, and bring them over to Hanne’s, alright?” Tabitha asked.

Runa nodded. “I’ll get them right now!”