I threw poison bottles at everything that glowed to draw the Blighted out, planting my Totems that cast [Enraging Call] in front of big-enough holes to taunt them out. Like angry bees from a poked hive, the monsters crawled out of cracks and gaps between the rocks, a wave of green accented by pops of purple poison, rushing at the only target around—me.

A dozen assorted monsters came, with more on the way, like I opened a bag of candy in middle school, but instead of wanting a piece of candy, they wanted a piece of me. It was natural that anyone would want me—an undeniable law of nature. I usually obliged with boundless kindness. Unfortunately for the Blighted, I wasn’t as selfless when it came to zombies.

The Blighted in this area had levels in the twenties, while pests in previous tunnels were around or lower than my own level eighteen. A final challenge before completing the quest?

“Uh-oh, this doesn’t look good.” And I wasn’t talking about my face. Maybe I shouldn’t have pulled them all at once, though I couldn’t return them to their hiding spots now. I used [Horde Stampede] for the dust and sound effects, roaring, “Generic battle cry!”

My [Ancestral Constitution] was fully stacked just as a bulky [Lvl 22 Blighted Snowy Swine] rammed me with tusks as big as my arms. [Greater Pyro Shell] held strong. Other Blighted joined in, jostling around the massive body of the Snowy Swine to reach me; this big guy helped stem the tide. Green smog from [Gnawing Rot] covered us, shredding the defenses of the Blighted for a few seconds, just in time for the [Greater Pyro Shell] explosion.

I immediately covered myself with my shell, hoping it’d be ready to recast before it got destroyed again. The Blighted surrounded me, packing the cramped tunnel from the floor to the ceiling like an avalanche of rotting flesh and disgusting green slime. A squad of [Lvl 23 Blighted Stone Imps] climbed on top of the other monsters, pyramiding their way to reach my head. Notifications from all sorts of ailments—[Cleansing Flames] couldn’t remove all of them.

BOOM!

“Dammit!” Still a few seconds to go before [Greater Pyro Shell] was up. [Penitent Fortune Healing] boosted [Healing Touch] as my health decreased so fast, like a zipper going down—where am I going with that analogy? I was too focused on warding off attacks with my shields to come up with a good line.

Double-healing procced. My health jumped up. I recast my shell and breathed a sigh of relief. [Morabodry] poison cloud covered us, lowering the monsters’ accuracy. I turned my PvP Settings off, not wanting to get poisoned by my concoction—too many negative statuses on me. Then I targeted the highest-level Blighted with [Withering Brand], assuming they had the highest damage of the bunch. Not an exact science, but hey, whatever helped me survive.

[Cloak of the Plaguespreader] forced these disrespecters of personal space to taste their own medicine, somewhat reducing their damage through the reflected debuffs. The stacks of [Cleansing Flames] from the negative statuses I couldn’t remove—and there were many—increased my tankiness.

Everything was beginning to stabilize. There were moments between my shell’s cooldown when I entered the danger zone and my balls shriveled, but [Healing Touch] and [Commemorative Restorative Potion] always caught the falling knife that was my health. It was like living paycheck to paycheck—the payday being when [Greater Pyro Shell] cooled down—and heals was borrowing.

“That’s actually a great analogy, would you agree?”

A [Lvl 26 Blighted Golden Borpillar] begged to differ, slamming the upper third of its long body at me. I raised both shields to catch it.

Another explosion. The Golden Borpillar raised its body again, flecked with dancing embers and noxious bubbles. But it succumbed to the DoTs before it could do anything else. The remaining Blighted soon followed suit, and this tunnel was finally safe, thanks to the heroism of the Great Herald Stone.

[ Quest Completed: Clearing Operations II ]

“Just in time,” I said. A single [Commemorative Restorative Potion] remained in my inventory. The battle got too intense that I continuously used it every after cooldown, forgetting I was supposed to save some as a reminder of Eclairs’ gift.

Better leave this in my stash.

But before I returned to the village, I had to visit Mad Brewer Bawu.

“This better be important, youngling,” Mad Brewer Bawu snapped, stomping her right foreleg in irritation. “Can’t you see I’m busy here?”

She supervised several Mandrake Borples piling wooden crates filled with bottles on a metal cart that the Carrion Golem would pull to her new hideout. It had been a few days since I last visited, and she still hadn’t finished moving. Could be that her storyline didn’t progress because I hadn’t done anything to affect it. Or maybe she was just in no rush.

“I have four eyes,” I sarcastically replied, reminded of how haughty Evil Grandma Bawu was. “And I can see that your minions are very busy.”

“If you haven’t fulfilled the tasks I gave you”— she shooed me off—“then begone and don’t return until you report completion.”

“Are you going to send me away if I have these?” I took out a box of [Swineling Meat Pie]. “You mentioned Healer Gula brings you meat pie when she visits.” If Pathfinder Gibil grew to like me because of my constant gifts of [Peely Fruit Wine], Brewer Bawu might treat me better if I brought her favorite pastry.

She tapped her hoof and pointed at me. A Mandrake Borple waddled over, raising its hands formed with vines. I gave it the box, and it returned to its master.

Bawu’s expression didn’t change, but she pawed the ground with her hooves in anticipation. She opened the box and speared one of the small circular pies with the long nail of her index finger. Holding it up like an oversized lollipop, she ravenously devoured the pie like she was starved for days—she did look like it with her feeble frame.

“How is it?” I asked. “Thoughtful of me, right?”

“Your thoughtfulness is noted,” she said. “Go about your work while I finish this box.”

“Such a waste of effort,” I muttered. “Anyway, I have cleared the tunnels you told me to and also gathered plenty of Toxic Goop for your experiments.”

“About time!” She waved the meat pie impaled on her fingernail. “Several guards are snooping in the tunnels because of the uncontrolled mess you took so long to clean.”

“That was probably our small party on the way to excavate the tunnel blockage.” I scratched my tusk, pondering the effects of that other quest on this one. “So, what’s the reward for my prompt hard work?”

[ Received: (10) Nam-Go Poison Bottle ]

“A bottle was your previous reward. Now, have ten. You seem to appreciate my fine work.”

“Nice! I did drink the entire bottle you gave me before.” Was the Nam-Go part of the Adifi or the Akhos line of poisons? Likely the former because it leaned more on killing than incapacitating. Would be great if she continued giving me poison from the Ocadule I didn’t choose.

“Here, have a few more Nam-Go bottles that wouldn’t fit in the crates,” Bawu offhandedly said. “I’ll throw in old brewing materials covered in dust. If you bring me more of this meat pie, I might have other things to give you.”

[ Received: (3) Nam-Go Poison Bottle, (30) Poison Bottle ]

I broke into a huge smile. “Freebies!” Well, not that free as it was because of my gift that Bawu felt inclined to be generous. “I’ll certainly deliver more of those in the future.” I had an extra box of meat pie left and a few hundred pieces of Swineling meat in my inventory.

“More work to be done, youngling! No time for rest! Though the end is in sight.”

[ Quest: Clearing Operations III ]

You have shown Mad Brewer Bawu your capabilities and earned her trust—do not waste her faith in you. For your final task, explore the laboratories and find the cause of the Blight outbreak. Eliminate any Blighted in your path, but be warned, for they are more numerous and powerful the closer you are to the source of the problem. Take care of this matter and elevate your position in Bawu’s eyes.

“You’re trusting me?” I grinned. “How sweet of you. And ‘elevate my position’ in your eyes? From low to not-so-low?”

“Enough worthless blabbing! Do you accept this assignment, youngling?”

“Sure, I’ll do it,” I said, thinking of inviting my party to join me—a fun team-building experience. Kezo and the others would agree, no doubt.

If this was going to be even more challenging than the preceding quest, I might have some trouble on my own. I wouldn’t be surprised if a Blighted boss or two was waiting for me. And this quest needed to be completed so no Blighted would bother our party the rest of the way—I would’ve trudged through the quest myself if not for time constraints.

Though if Kezo was party leader, would the others get dragged into my Blighty problem? Yes? Not sure. It might be fun to fight the Blight with them that I half-considered not finishing this specific questline. What would their reactions be if they got mobbed by Blighted monsters?

“What of your other task?” Bawu asked, snapping me out of my musings.

I presented the [Toxic Goop] to her. “Here you go.” It came out as huge glass jars filled with the same liquid leaking from every orifice of Blighted creatures.

“Excellent work, youngling. I’ll need plenty of these and other samples. Something useful to come out of this fiasco. This will progress my research decades!”

“Finding ways to kill the Mountain Guardian? I suppose this substance looks very dangerous. How big is that guy, anyway? We might need several Olympic-sized pools of Toxic Goop to do the job.”

“Here is your reward. A handy potion for an inept youngling.”

[ Received: (5) Minor Antidote ]

Minor Antidote | Item Level: 15

Common | Consumable | No Requirement

An antidote for lesser poisons, hastily brewed from the readily-available herbs with arcane magic techniques. Consumes one (1) charge and cancels the effect of one (1) poison (item level fifteen or lower) on a target.

Cooldown: 40 Seconds

Uses: 10/10

“Can’t go more than five minutes without criticizing me?” Slipping Morabodry in the meat pies wouldn’t probably work on Mad Brewer Bawu. Moving away from thoughts of assassinating my teacher, I examined the [Minor Antidote] reward. [Cleansing Flames], though limited in the number of ailments it could purify, could deal with poisons without a level limitation. “A waste. Oh, well.”

“That might not be enough remuneration for such a dangerous task you completed, dear youngling.” Bawu’s straight form appeared to shrivel as she hunched over, her elbows tucked close to her sides, trembling arms reaching for another meat pie.

Dear youngling? Good Grandma Bawu? Unlike the other Bawu that skewered the pastry, this persona gingerly picked them with the tip of her lengthy fingernails like she was using giant tweezers.

“Definitely not commensurate to the hazards I faced,” I said. And that wasn’t an exaggeration. “I wouldn’t say no to more rewards.”

“Since you’ve begun learning about Akhos poisons, and I’ll be asking for your help to collect more samples, this item might aid you.”

[ Received: Nitrilus Chemical Gloves ]

Nitrilus Chemical Gloves| Item Level: 20

Epic | Light-Armor | Hands

101 Armor

10% Increased Success Rate when crafting poisons

Requires: 30 Might, 30 Spirit

--------------------

+30 Sense

+3% Crafting Success Rate

+10% Poison Resistance