~‌ ‌1.14 ‌-‌ When The Cure Is Worse Than The Problem ~‌

Noto Island

2nd Dreamday of The Full Moon

Niseph and Flea arrived at the first mine entrance just as they heard the day’s end three bells in the distance. Flea informed Niseph they would wait a little bit for his buddy, so they could go down as a group. Going over to a couple of trees, he grabbed some kindling and dead branches to make a campfire. Taking out this cooking kit, Flea started to cook the remaining terrorbear flanks within the pot’s water. The Gnome took out the vegetables he bought at Blink’s store in town, chopping them up and throwing them into the boiling water. The vegetables seemed to resemble potatoes and celery from Earth. A few minutes later, he was rewarded with a notification.

Congratulations!

You have created

[Hearty Terrorbear Stew]

[Hearty Terrorbear Stew]

Keeps you warm

2+ Constitution

“Oh, it gives a pretty good buff.”

“It smells good. Can you make extra?” the Dryad asked.

“Sure.”

Flea drained the water from the pot, dumped the meat and vegetables onto one of his plates, then handed it to Nispeh.

“Let me know how it tastes.”

Flea poured part of his second canteen into the pot and started to make a second batch.

“It’s delicious. What beast did the meat come from?”

“Terrorbear. I also have Spiced Rabbit as well if you’re still hungry.”

“This will be plenty, thank you.”

“What about me? You’re sitting here eating dinner with a half-naked tree and didn’t think to make me anything,” Khorwin said as he was walking up to where they were sitting.

“I am a Dryad, thank you. It’s your kind that’s weird covering up what is natural.”

“Heh, I like her, Flea. So what’s up? We going mining and looking for whatever made the shrieking we heard? You think it's coming from her kind?”

“I’m unsure. Her Majesty sent Niseph with me to check in with the Dryads down in the mountain and to see what they say about it.”

Flea gave his second batch of stew to Khorwin, then made a third for himself. After cleaning up the area and putting out the fire, they walked towards the first cave.

“We should try another cave, don’t you think mate? We've harvested tons from the first cave. Let’s go into the second or third. I doubt it’s going to matter which one we choose, but I'd rather get us some new veins,” Khorwin said.

“That’s fine with me,” Flea responded.

They walked into the first tunnel, grabbing two pickaxes by the entrance, then headed to the third mine entrance. It didn’t take long for them to find their first small iron deposit. In no time at all, the duo wiped out the vein.

“What’s your strength at Khorwin?”

“I’ve capped out at 10. I haven’t the faintest on how to raise it passed 10, but it sure as hell helps with mining.”

It took twice as long for them to find the next vein. But their find was the largest silver vein they’ve seen by far. Mining the silver deposit out took them significantly longer to break the chunks of ore free. Halfway through clearing the vein, Flea knocked out a piece of ore the size of his fist. When it hit the ground, the chunk of silver split apart. A gem the size of two of Flea’s fingers could be seen embedded in the ore.

“BAGSY!!” Shouted Khorwin.

“What in the hell is Bagsy?”

“Um, like calling shotgun, but you call it for first grabs of an item.”

“Well, we should sell it and split it. That gem should be worth a good chunk of coin.”

“You’re being a bit daft there, Flea. Gems are on the rare side to find as they’re used to enchant weapons and armor. This sized gem would definitely fetch us plenty of coins. Might even fetch us a Royal. But I’d like to keep it if possible, please. I can train enchanting with this for a long time. I could cut it into hundreds of smaller gems to have my practice with.”

“Alright, I have no issue with that. But I would like some of the gems once you cut them, so I can use them for my own end or just sell them.”

“Deal!” Khorwin shouted and stuck his hand out for Flea to shake.

Flea shook the Goblin’s hand and went back to mining out the ore.

“Flea can I have some more candy? Watching you two is terribly boring.” Niseph said.

“You have candy?” Khorwin asked.

Flea set his pickaxe down and took out the bag of candy, giving both of them a handful of pieces each, then grabbing a couple of the purple ones he liked, which tasted of rootbeer.

“Swap the pink ones with her, Khorwin. Those are her favorite,” Flea said.

Finishing up the silver vein, they started their trek deeper into the mountain. They finally heard the sounds of shrieking after another two iron veins.

“God, I hate that noise. I really wish it would stop,” Khorwin said.

“What noise?” Niseph asked.

“You didn’t hear that Niseph?” Flea responded.

“I hear nothing. And stranger still, I haven’t felt any of my sisters since we’ve entered the mountain. They should have greeted me soon after we entered.”

“Fiddlesticks!” Khorwin cursed under his breath.

“Yea, I have a terrible feeling about this. Why can’t she hear that? And… Where are her sisters? I know they’re here. They killed me the last time I was here.”

They started walking down the shaft in a single file. Khorwin, with his sword and buckler taking the lead. Niseph, in the middle with a staff made of wood she pulled from thin air. Flea followed up behind with his daggers, continually looking over his shoulders.

What seemed like an eternity to them, but maybe just a few moments the shriek could be heard again. The Gnome and Goblin confirmed they both heard the sound, with Niseph denying hearing anything. By the time the two heard it a third time, they came upon the cavern with multiple entrances.

“There is magic in this room,” Niseph said.

“I figured from the last two times we’ve come across this cavern. Can you break it or help us figure out a way to get around it?”

“How many entrances do you both see?”

“7”

“5”

Both Flea and Khorwin looked at one another, surprised.

“There are eleven other side tunnels in this room besides the one we came through.”

Flea looked around the floor and grabbed a handful of stones. He placed small piles in front of the seven entrances he could see. Passing the remainder of his rocks to the Goblin, he told Khorwin to lay the rocks out in an “X” in front of the two piles in front of the entrances he couldn't see.

“So I take it the other entrances are between the ones I can see?” Flea asked.

Niseph nodded and with a wave of her hand, roots rose from the ground going straight up, curling in an arch, then straight back down into the ground. The roots created door frames against the solid stone and the visible entrances.

“I suggest we try one of the paths we can’t see. That’s got to be where they don’t want us to go right?” said Flea.

“Agreed,” said Khorwin.

Niseph pointed to one of the root doorways across from them.

“This one heads deeper into the mountain. We should try this one first.”

Agreeing with Niseph, Flea picked up more stones and made a line across the entrance they came out of, with an arrow pointing into the room behind the line of rocks. Then Flea made a line in front of the root doorway with an arrow in the room, pointing towards the door. They began walking through the solid stone, passing the illusion and into another shaft. Ten minutes later the giggling started again, stopping them in their tracks.

“They passed our magic, no fun.”

“The one who asked for death is back.”

“Oh, our former princess has come to check up on us, she has.”

They could hear multiple voices speaking to one another, the sounds coming from both directions of the shaft.

“I can’t feel my sister’s presence, something is very wrong here,” Niseph said.

Walking deeper into the mountain, the caves started to reek of decay and rot. Coming around a sharp turn, the three entered into a decent size room and were greeted by the remains of Dryads. The corpses had been dead for some time. They looked to have been eradicated by something large. Body parts were torn from the bodies and laid sprawled across the ground.

“NO!. My sisters, what has happened here?”

Niseph fell to the ground, clutching her arms around her knees, and started rocking back and forth as she cried. Flea and Khorwin walked around the room, searching for anything to help them figure out what happened here.

“Flea, come here. Does this look like a terrorbear’s quill to you?”

“Yes, it does, but it’s huge. If that came off whatever killed the Dryads, it has to be a massive creature. It’s larger than the matriarch’s that attacked the town.”

Khorwin and Flea kept looking around till the Gnome stopped where he found tracks leaving the room and going deeper into the mountain. The track’s shape looked as if they were made by some lizard type creature. Three long toes faced forward, and a fourth faced backward. The imprints looked like a large bird’s talon mixed with that of a lizard.

“You recognize this at all, Khorwin?”

“No, it does remind me of large griffin tracks, maybe.”

“Kobold,” Niseph spoke up.

They both turned to look at her. The Dryad had stopped crying, but tear tracks still showed on her face. The princess bent down to look at the tracks closer.

“This imprint is from a massive kobold not native to this island. With the quills you’ve found, I’m starting to suspect an Abomination. How can that be if no one has gotten into The Tower? My mother is going to be heartbroken. We have failed our duty, and our sisters are dead. We need to leave now and report this back to my Queen and warn the Town’s Elders.”

The group finished looking around the room, then started heading back the way they came.

“Don’t go! Play with us.”

“Join us, it’s so peaceful.”

“Princess, you belong here.”

The group started running as soon as they heard the voices. Then the shrieking hit them full force from behind. This time it didn’t sound like it was coming from every direction. It was coming from behind them and approaching fast. Flea, tripping over his feet, fell face-first into the packed dirt. Niseph turned around when she heard the Gnome’s fall and saw Flea sprawled on the ground. Grabbing Khorwin’s arm and stopping him, they both ran back to Flea, helping him to his feet. The next shriek was so loud; Flea could feel blood trickling down from his ears. The group stopped, turning around and peering down the shaft. Two dim-glowing-red eyes stared back at them close to the ceiling, only thirty or so feet behind them.

“Can you respawn Niseph?” asked Flea.

“No. Dryads may be immortal, but our people had lost the right to respawn centuries before I was born.”

“Then you need to leave us and run as fast as you can to your mother and warn her. Then please go to the town and ask for Lieutenant Brunick at the gate. Tell them Flea sent you, most of the guards should know me and help you, I hope. Please stay safe. We’ll try and kill or slow it down for you.”

Niseph hugged Flea, causing him to turn bright red as his face met her chest.

“Thank you, Flea. I will report to my mother and the Lieutenant.”

The Dryad started running towards the surface. The Gnome turned back and stood side by side with the Goblin, looking into the darkness at the bright red eyes.

“Well mate, I think we are about to have a proper narked day, we are.”

“What the hell does narked mean man, can’t you speak normal English?”

“Bloody Yank, I am speaking normal English. Narked means to have a very bad day.”

A blood-curdling shriek came from the monster in front of them. The force of it knocked them on their asses. Flea could see Khorwin was trying to say something, but the only thing Flea could hear was the ringing. He felt the ground shake and looked up to see the Abomination coming closer.

Jumping up, Flea grabbed Khorwin’s arm, pulling him to his feet. The Goblin and Gnome were holding their weapons at the ready, prepared for the beating they felt coming their way. The monster rushed forward. The two adventurers half dived, half got slammed into the wall as the Abomination ran through and past them.

Turning around, they could see the beast clearly now with their torches lying on the ground where they were knocked on their asses. The thing was almost as tall as the cave. Its body was covered with half reptilian scales and half bear fur. Flea imagined its body was that of a Kobold’s as Niseph spoke of, with Its sides and back covered in quills like a terrorbear. Then there were its heads, the creature had five of them. Four of them being the dead Dryads, and at the center was a large humanoid looking boar head with giant sharp tusks to either side of its mouth.

The four Dryad heads started giggling again.

“Join us and the Masters will join you with us.”

“You’ll never be alone again.”

“Soon the island will be one, and then we can leave this island.”

The boar head let out another ear-piercing shriek as it turned its body to face them once more. Charging at them again, Khorwin dove between its legs while Flea kicked off the sidewall jumping over its shoulder. The Gnome whipped one of his knives out and sliced the neck of the closet Dryad’s head.

Khorwin rolled to his feet, turned around, and slashed his sword against the back of one of the creature's legs, creating a large gash. The monster roared in pain from both the laceration and neck wound. This time when The Abomination turned around, it didn’t dash towards them. Instead, it began walking towards them at a slow pace, looking ready to pounce on one of them.

An arrow flew over the duo and embedded itself into the boar’s left eye. Startled, they looked behind them to find a Mantid nocking their next arrow.

“Hail Flea, been awhile. A half-naked green chick ran past me while I was mining and begged for me to come help you guys kill some Abomination thing. I take it this thing is the Abomination thing?”

“Holy shit Martina, I’m glad to see you. Yes, this thing is an Abomination. We need to kill it or slow it down. The Dryad you met is going to warn her people and the town.”

Before they could continue to converse, the Abomination fell forward and rushed Khorwin on all fours. It crashed into the Goblin’s raised shield, sending him flying down the cave and into a wall. Khorwin did not get back up from where he sat slumped over. Flea, taking the chance, ran past the creature, stabbing a dagger into one of the Dryad’s throat. The blade didn’t come loose and was torn from his hands as he kept running past.

Martina started shooting arrows into the different faces of the Abomination at a steady pace. The monster turned its heads away from the Mantid and focused on Flea. With it’s back covered quills to Martina, the arrows just bounced off.

“It’s lost so much blood, but It doesn’t seem to be slowing down man. I don’t know what we have to do to kill this thing,” Flea shouted.

The Abomination stood back up on its hind legs, facing the Gnome. Flea only had one dagger left, the other being in the throat of the now seemingly dead Dryad head.

I should have bought those damn throwing knives.

Flea started running towards the Abomination as it started swiping one of its massive claws down at the Gnome. Flea dodged the attack with ease as the Gnome height was much shorter than the beast could reach standing up. Diving through the creature’s legs, Flea swiped his dagger across one of its Achilles' tendons, severing it. The Abomination crashing to the ground just as Flea rolled back to his feet. Dashing to Khorwin’s side, he could see his legs and the arm holding the shield were most definitely at wrong angles. Taking out one of his health potions, Flea poured it down the goblin’s throat. Moments later, Khorwin started screaming.

“He should be fine in a few,” Flea said.

“What the hell did you do to him?”

“Lesser Healing Potion. They work, but oh boy, they don’t feel so great as they do their thing.”

“Noted.”

The Abomination roared again. The two alive Dryad heads were now crying.

“Leave us alone!”

“You killed our sisters!”

“We need to finish this thing off man, you ready?” Flea asked.

Martina nodded as he notched an arrow, drew it back, then drilled it into the forehead of one of the Dryads. The Abomination started dragging itself towards them, while Martina kept putting arrows into its heads. With the four Dryad heads now dead, Martina focused his arrows on the boar.

“Let me finish it off. I need to pay back the bastard for breaking my legs. May have to pay you back as well for healing me, Flea. That shit hurt worse than when they broke.” Khorwin eyed Flea as he passed running towards the beast.

The Goblin carefully approached the Abomination, easily dodging a weak swipe from the injured creature. Now inside the monster’s reach, Khorwin drove his sword into the boar’s open mouth and yanked down, opening the boar's head from the mouth down its throat. And causing a bloody mess. The Abomination fell to the ground lifeless.

“Holy shit! That was intense. I fucking love this game, guys. My heart is going 240 right now. Never felt this way raiding in the other games, and this was just some elite mob. Thanks for helping us, Martina. I don’t think we would have made it without ya,” Flea said excitedly.

“I agree with you on that. So far I’ve only killed rabbits and the terrorbears. This was the first fight that really got me going. I wouldn’t mind fighting another, but I’m low on arrows. I don’t want to end up like Khorwin here and need a healing potion of my own.” Martina chimed in.

The Goblin just sat down with his back against the wall and nodded to them.

“Don’t fall asleep! If you pass out, we might have to leave you here Khorwin.” Flea said

Khorwin jumped up, going over to Martina’s side. The Goblin looked like he was ready to doze off at a moment's notice.

Flea started butchering the Abomination. Martina and Khorwin both stayed far away while the Gnome worked. He removed thirty-two-large scales from the body, sixty-two large terrorbear quills, and seven of the large talons. Flea decided not to try and salvage the pelt being it was beyond ruined. Finished, he gave Martina and Khorwin their share of the scales, quills, and talons.

“Any of you have a canteen with water left?” Flea asked.

Khorwin handed him his canteen, and Flea washed his hands with its contents. The group decided to start running back to the surface when they heard several more shrieks from deep within the mountain.

“Oh, bloody hell! We need to get out of here now, fighting more than one of those things and we’ll be proper fucked.” Khorwin yelled as they all started to run.