Task: Weird Flowers!

Requester: Lyra, The Alchemist

Quest Rank: E

Rewards: 9 Large Copper Coins

Description: Some weird rumors reached my ears recently... To the south of Doylors, near the coast, an unusually large amount of very colorful flowers started growing... Ain't that like, super weird? I mean, bunch of flowers growing right next to the sea? And out of nowhere like that? It's so weird, so mysterious~

Go there and fetch some of those to me, of as many different colors as you can! I'll give you some extra rewards if you can find out anything else that is unusual about the region~

Once Zinc was approved to take on the quest given by Lyra the Alchemist, he walked up to the map of Ternus and tried to gauge the distance needed to go from the guild straight to the coast south of Doylors. After some proportional measurements, Zinc deduced that there was about 300 kilometers between the two locations. It will take him about 40 hours straight if he walked at a brisk pace. Maybe longer with the mountain range in the way.

After confirming his plan, he quickly left the guild and headed straight for the southern coast. He walked about at a leisure pace and as he crossed the mountains, he stopped here and there to pick up some herbs like mint leaves and wild roots. He had only traveled for 70 km before calling it a day. For dinner, he found a few insects and fruit to stave off hunger. Afterwards, he slept on top of a tree in order to stay clear of any predators that prowl in the night. During the night, he woke up to the sounds of rustling. Looking down, he spotted a pack of wolves walking past his tree. Luckily, they didn’t look up or things would’ve gotten hairy.

The next day was uneventful as he picked up his pace and traveled for 90 km. There were a few travelers along the path as well as some harmless animals on the side, but the young doctor had not come across any hostiles thus far. There were tracks of the wolf pack from last night along the path he had taken, but there was no wolf in sight. Zinc knelt down and examined the prints. Judging from the depth and number of the prints, there seemed to be around five or six wolves in the pack. The wolves seemed to have recently passed through here. However, on the third day, something happened. Halfway through his trek, he encountered a goblin party. Luckily, the goblins were enjoying a meal by the fire and didn’t see Zinc. The dwelf crouched down and hid behind some bushes.

He didn’t have time to personally deal with the goblins, but he wanted to test out something he had recently created. Zinc reached into his utility belt and fished out a small rotect jar. In it was the wolf lure he had produced a couple of days back. Carefully unscrewing the lid, Zinc deftly threw the jar towards the goblin camp. The jar flew towards a small goblin totem, pushing against the banner, and dropped silently into a bag next to one of the goblins. What a lucky throw! The goblin looked up as if he had heard something but after glancing about for a bit, he went back to his meal.

Suddenly, a howl erupted in the distance. The goblins shudder in panic and jumped up. Some grabbed their weapons while others slumped down and covered their heads. The goblin with the bag rose up and slung his bag over his shoulder. With a few incantations, the goblin summoned a ball of fire which floated gently atop of his hand.

“So this bastard is a goblin mage, eh?” Zinc muttered under his breath. “Let’s see how you fare against a pack of wolves.”

Right after the dwelf finished speaking, two wolves pounced out from some tall grass and landed in the middle of the camp. Immediately, chaos ensued as the two wolves started tearing throats. The goblins fought back but three more wolves appeared. It seemed as if the goblins would perish any time soon when a fiery ball smashed into one of the wolves, setting it on fire. In a matter of minutes, the wolf perished and transformed into a burnt crisp. Zinc had forgotten about the goblin mage! The goblin mage continued to launch fireballs at the wolves. And it was killing them off until their leader - the alpha wolf - leaped out and swatted away a fireball.

The alpha wolf charged towards the goblin mage and, before the goblin mage could chant another fireball spell, tackled down the goblin mage and tore off a chunk of flesh. As to what happened afterwards, Zinc was not there to see as he had quietly snuck away. Zinc hastened his pace and rushed towards the southern coast, making sure to put as far a distance as he can between him and the crazy wolves.

After a couple of hours of running, Zinc finally stopped to take a break. He looked up at the darkening sky and decided to set up camp and rest for the day. As usual, he climbed up a tree in order to prevent any unwanted encounters with nocturnal predators. Before he went to sleep, he calculated how many kilometers he had left before he reached his destination. Today, he had traveled for about 120 km. According to his calculations, he still had about 20 km left before he reached the coast. The following day, Zinc got up early and rushed towards the destination. Upon arriving, he saw a blanket of colorful flowers. There were seven different colors…the colors of the rainbow.

“Lyra was right. How can these flowers grow even in the sandy beach? On the grass field next to the beach is understandable but on the beach itself? How?” Zinc muttered as he surveyed the abnormalities.

Zinc tossed the thought to the back of his mind as he began picking the flowers. However, just as he pulled out the first flower, he found something strange about it. There weren’t any roots! Or rather, there was one root…a single, straight root attached to the end of the stem. Suddenly, the root started to move and a sizzling sound could be heard as smoke emitted from the root. This unusual disturbance caused Zinc to yelp out as he dropped the ‘flower’. The weird ‘flower’ wriggled a bit more before it drilled into the ground again. The ‘flower’ was alive! Not ‘alive’ like other plants but ‘alive’ like an animal!

Zinc looked at the rest of the flowers. They colored the coast like a colorful blanket. Could it be that all these tens of thousands of ‘flowers’ aren’t flowers at all but some sort of worm-like creatures? Were they dangerous? He did not want to find out personally. Zinc rubbed his beard a couple of times before wondering…could these worms be used for medicine? Nevertheless, he should grab some more and study them at leisure once he return to the guild. As he thought about picking up another ‘flower’, he remembered that the worm started to smoke soon after it was plucked out from the ground. Zinc looked up and stared at the afternoon sun. Could it be the sun? Were these worms weak against the sun? It can’t be…but he didn’t want to take any chances.

Zinc reached into his bag and pulled out a large rotect jar as well as some bandages. He wrapped the bandages around the rotect jar to prevent any light from seeping through. Quickly, he started stuffing the ‘flowers’ into the jar. By the time he had filled the jar to the brim, there were around ten ‘flowers’ of each color. He, then, proceeded to do the same for another jar. This was for his research. After he finished gathering the ‘flowers’, he immediately rushed back. Along the way, he encountered the goblin camp once more. There were bodies everywhere. After a quick body count, Zinc noticed that the alpha wolf was missing. Searching the vicinity led him to a bloody trail. Judging by the markings and the blood, it seemed that the alpha wolf was heavily wounded and limping.

Stroking his beard, Zinc decided to chase after the alpha wolf. Following the blood trail northeast, he traveled a couple of miles until he saw a large cave. Next to the cave was the lifeless body of the alpha wolf. Another large wolf was tearing at the alpha wolf’s neck while a wolf cub whined by its feet. Suddenly the large wolf howled and lunged at the wolf cub. With a powerful snap of its mouth, the large wolf tore the wolf cub in half. Then, the large wolf ran into the cave and sounds of fighting ensued. Howls, barks, and yips could be heard until silence finally took over once more. When the large wolf walked out again, another wolf cub was dangling in its mouth. The large wolf spat it out and howled again.

Zinc finally realized what was going on…this was a change in leadership in the wolf pack’s social hierarchy. It seemed that when the alpha wolf died, a beta wolf had taken its place. And to ensure its safety, the newly promoted alpha wolf killed the previous alpha wolf’s offspring. Zinc shook his head as he saw the large wolf saunter back into the cave. As he was just about to leave, he heard a small whimper. Turning around, he saw that one of the wolf cubs was still alive. Zinc quickly tip-toed over and cradled the wolf cub in his arms. Without looking back, the doctor hurried back to the goblin camp. Along the way, Zinc deftly applied some first-aid on the wolf cub and fed it a few drops of his health potion.

At the goblin camp, Zinc looted the bodies and found 4 Large Copper Coins. For good measure, Zinc also pulled out some wolf hearts, wolf livers, wolf fat, and wolf teeth. After storing them in separate rotect jars, Zinc lifted the heavy backpack and rushed home. During the day, he would travel and hunt wild animals. During the night, he would feed the wolf cub and heal its wounds. After two days, the wolf cub was back on its feet and as strong as a bull. During that time, the wolf cub had taken a liking to Zinc and regarded him as its father. By the time they arrived back at the guild, the wolf cub had even grown a couple of centimeters.