The Tainted Wood

by Alara Branwen

  All three combatants turned in the direction of the sound. Cleave quickly looked around to see if any of his friends had been struck, but he found they were all fine and looking to where the ice ball struck several feet away.

  From behind the tree stumbled a thin, green-skinned woman with many leafy vines for hair. She clasped her side where a small ice shard was sticking out. She removed it, and a small trail of syrupy amber sap oozed from the wound.

  Pain was etched on her muddied face, but it soon turned to fear when she noticed all three combatants looking at her. The two elves and human stopped fighting and turned to the green-skinned woman.

  The human pointed to her. “You, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “I uh,” the green-skinned woman clasped her hand over her wound as her mouth tried to form words. “I heard fighting, so I hid. I didn’t want to get in the way.”

  “Well you are in the way, and that’s a problem we need to solve. Don’t you agree?” The raven-haired elf asked her compatriot and their foe.

  The other two agreed and rushed the lone woman. Cleave drew his sword. He looked to his companions, but he saw they’d already rushed to action. Tarka and Berryl sprinted toward the elves. Tarka drew her short sword and quickly closed on the elven mage.

  The mage was surprised by the sudden appearance of the small, scaly kobold girl. She prepared to cast a spell, but before a white globe could appear in her hand, Tarka leapt up and jammed her sword into the elf’s stomach. The elf covered her bleeding wound as the kobold pulled her sword out, and she tried to steady herself for another spell. Tarka quickly slashed at her legs, leaving the elf with several more bleeding wounds.

  The elf mage fell to her hands and knees. The kobold held the point of her sword between the woman’s eyes. “Yield,” Tarka growled.

  The woman acquiesced and flattened her palms against the ground in front of her.

  The other elf turned and slashed at Berryl with her daggers. The catgirl danced back and avoided the blows, answering with two of her own. The elven woman was quick and able to bring her dagger up, slashing Berryl’s hand.

  The catgirl retracted her hand and snarled. “Hey, that hurt.”

  Berryl launched another series of attacks as droplets of blood from her wound showered the ground. The elven warrior nicked the catgirl’s hands a few more times. Berryl grew frustrated, and her attacks became fiercer.

  Minute streamers of the catgirl’s blood flew in small arcs as she pressed the attack. At first, the elven woman struck back, but Berryl soon became so fast that the elf was forced to go on the defensive. She attempted to stab Berryl after the catgirl missed her with a swipe, but the felinoid sidestepped her and left her with a vicious scratch across her face.

  The elven woman flew into a rage and swung her daggers erratically at Berryl. The catgirl dodged the woman’s flurry and quickly hooked an ankle with her foot, pulling forward and dropping the elven woman to the ground. The woman’s daggers fell from her hands. She reached for her weapons but soon found two sets of claws pressed against her throat.

  “You’re not thinking of picking up your weapons are you, because if you do, I’m gonna kill you.” Berryl grinned at her.

  Cleave quickly drew his sword and ran toward the bearded human, but he was outpaced by Krug. The half giant hefted his large hammer and gave a mighty yell as he charged the human.

  The bearded human, stout and brave, did what any great warrior would do when being charged by a much larger, angrier opponent. He turned heel and fled. The massive human didn’t get very far however. The green-skinned woman quickly dashed after him. She caught up to him in a few paces and tackled him at the waist. She was much smaller, but the force of the impact dropped him to the ground. The large man rolled on his back to see Krug and Cleave standing over him. The man threw up his hands.

  Krug and Cleave helped the man up and led him over to where the other women sat. Tarka bandaged their captives’ wounds while Cleave and Berryl stood over them, making sure they didn’t make any sudden moves.

  Krug walked over to the green-skinned woman who was leaning against a small, snow-white tree with silver leaves on the branches in the middle of the road. She whispered to it, and held her small yet supple frame against it. After talking to it for a few moments, she looked sad. Two of the leaves shriveled and fell from the branches.

  The woman pressed her hand over her wound and looked up at the giant that approached her. “Hey Krug.”

  “Hey Lurupine, you okay?”

  Cleave looked up at the woman and instantly recognized her. Lurupine was a dryad and Queen Elect of the community of dryads that made their home right beside the Fey Wilder guild house. He and his friends came across her during their first adventure, and they’d been friends ever since. He hadn’t recognized her because her face was dirty, and there were several scratches on her nose and cheeks. Her clothes, made from sewn oak leaves, were torn and bedraggled.

  Lurupine forced a smile, though it looked more like a grimace. “I’ve seen better days, much better days. But, for now, I’m okay. Thank you all so much for rescuing me. I’m sorry I wasn’t much help, I haven’t been much help to anybody recently.”

  The dryad turned her head away. Krug got on his knee and draped a massive arm around the woman’s dainty shoulders. “What happened? Are you talking about all the weird stuff that’s going on in the forest?”

  Lurupine shuddered and sniffed. “Yes it, it happened so suddenly. Then the attack, and the fire, and then everyone was screaming and Gods I...it was so much I...I fought hard, we all did but...too much…”

  Krug drew the woman close to him. “Hey, hey, whatever it was, I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”

  “But I’m their queen, Gods, I’m horrible. I couldn’t stop it. And the trees, they’re dying.” Lurupine looked up at Krug with tears in her eyes. “Can you hear them cry?”

  Lurupine tried to say more, but she only managed a few audible whines before she buried her head into the half giant’s large chest. Krug picked up the woman and carried her over to the rest of the group.

  NINE

  The three hostages looked up disdainfully at their captors. They looked to each other, each waiting for the other to speak. Finally, the large human spoke up. “Wonderful weather we’re having isn’t it?”

  Cleave looked to the sky. Through the black and purple canopy, the sun’s rays danced on the black soil. “I suppose, though I can’t say much for our surroundings.”

  “Yeah, they’re pretty shitty. Can’t say I much care for them either, but I don’t stay here much, so I’m not too worried about it.”

  “Any reason we’re talking about the weather?” Tarka said through her bandages.

  “There must be some reason you guys are keeping me alive, I assume it ain’t for my pretty face, so I figured you must’ve wanted a nice bit of conversation before you killed us.”

  “So are you guys going to kill us or what?” The blond mage said.

  “We will if you piss us off, and let me tell you, you’re this close,” Berryl said, holding her thumb and forefinger an inch apart.

  “Well we’re already pissed. Just kill us, so we can get back to our business. We have a lot to do, and we don’t have time to sit here and get gawked at by a bunch of dumb shits,” The raven-haired elf said.

  Berryl squared her shoulders. “One more crack like that, and I’ll scratch your face off.”

  “Then do it,” the bearded human said, “It’ll be much less painful than having to stare at you all. Why haven’t you killed us already?”

  Berryl scowled and turned to Tarka. “That is a good question. Why haven’t we tried to kill them, they tried to hurt our friend.” The catgirl pointed to the dryad who was drying her eyes and slowly pulling herself together.

  “Because we’re not savages,” Tarka said and removed the bandages from her maw. Her wounds were still fresh and stung when the air hit them, but the bleeding had stopped. “And we’re ho
ping you can provide us with a little information.”

  “We’re not helping you hurt our guild,” the elven women said together.

  “I’m not helping you against mine either,” the bearded man said.

  “I don’t give two shits about your guild,” Tarka said. “I just want to know what the hell is going on around here. When I left this place a couple of days ago, it was really pretty and everything was nice. Now it looks like a shithole. What happened?”

  “Why do you care?” The raven-haired elf said.

  “Because this is our home,” Cleave said, “and our guild is located here. At least it was. From the looks of things, I don’t think it’s faring too well.”

  “If it’s located here then it’s probably gone.” The blond elf smirked. “Everything in this area is blasted.”

  “You don’t say,” Tarka said sarcastically. “Now, how did it get that way?”

  “Don’t know. It was like that when we got here.”

  “Same here. My guild sent me here on a mission. I’m from the far north, beyond the monster Kingdoms,” the bearded man said. “I just got here a few hours ago and found this place wrecked.”

  “What mission did your guild send you on?” Cleave said.

  “I told you I’m not helping you against my guild.”

  “We’re not trying to stop you from doing whatever it is you’re doing; we just want to know why you’re here, so we can find out what’s going on.”

  “Look, I’d tell you if I knew what was going on, but I don’t know anything,” the bearded man said.

  “Are you sure you don’t know anything?” Berryl flexed her blood-flecked claws. “My claws aren’t nearly bloody enough, and our friend over there really doesn’t like it when people don’t answer our questions.”

  Krug looked at the captives as menacingly as he could. He cracked his knuckles and all three jumped at the sound.

  “I was just here to gather some ingredients for our alchemists. I was told that Penfros Bane was a purple plant that grew in this forest. That’s all I know. I swear,” the large man whimpered.

  Tarka pressed the point of her sword close to the blond mage’s throat. “Anything you’d like to add?”

  “Me and my friend,” the blond woman swallowed nervously, “were sent here to collect some herbs from the forest. Penfros Bane was one of them, but there were some others, Death Root and Aptonite mainly. We weren’t told why we were getting them. Our guild never tells us stuff like that.”

  “Do you know how the forest got like this?”

  “I heard it had something to do with magic.”

  “Like the magic you’re using?”

  The blond elf rapidly shook her head. “No, of course not. This was caused by warped magic; the kind of magic used by necromancers. I don’t touch that kind of stuff, too dark.”

  “We ran into a few necromancers that told us the same thing. They tried to play off like they weren’t necromancers and said they helped evacuate our guild after some kind of attack happened. They wanted us to come with them and help ‘heal the taint’ know anything about that?” Cleave said.

  The bearded man focused on the ground for a second. “I heard there was some kind of attack in this area. Some guild was here and all of the other guilds in the area ganged up on them. Don’t know what happened though.”

  “They came and they...they burned the guild house. They set fire to the arboretum and the trees, Gods you should’ve heard the screaming.” Lurupine shook uncontrollably. It took Krug holding her shoulders to keep her together.

  “Do you know anything about people in ugly purple robes, or anything else about this?” Berryl pulled the Scrying Eye out of her inventory and showed it to the captives.

  “There’s all kinds of people in this forest,” the blond mage said, “but I know what that is. It’s a Scrying Eye. Our guild makes them in pairs and our guild master uses them to check in on us.”

  “I got this one and we tried to use it but we can’t. A guy in green robes said there was some uh...magical lock doohickey on it.”

  “Do you know how to break a magical lock on an item?” Cleave said.

  “No. Obfuscation enchantments are tricky. Some are so strong that you can’t even use a counter spell to break them. If you want to activate that eye, you must find the magic word to activate it,” the blond mage said.

  The catgirl looked at the Scrying Eye closely. “Please,” she said, using the only “magic word” she knew. Nothing happened.

  Berryl slumped her shoulders. “Well, I had to try.”

  “No, dumb shit,” the blond mage smirked. “If you want to find a mage lock’s magic word, you’ll have to delve into the magic itself. That’s powerful magecraft that even I don’t know.”

  “Before we let you go, we have two more questions. Why are you guys fighting, and do you know anything about a guild whose members wear green robes?”

  The raven-haired elf laughed. “Why were we fighting? Isn’t that obvious? We’re fighting because the guilds here are getting in each other’s way. Our guild mistress sent us here to find some rare magical herbs, and as it turns out, other guilds are here looking for the same things. That kind of stuff leads to confrontation.”

  “Couldn’t you just share?” Cleave asked.

  The bearded man laughed. “Are you nuts? Our guild masters told us to get as much of this stuff as we can.”

  “Ours said the same,” the raven-haired elf said, “and if anyone got in the way, we were told to kill them.”

  “We got so used to attacking each other that we’ve started killing members of other guilds on sight,” the blond mage said. “As far as guys in green robes, Minnie and I’ve dealt with people like those before. Their camp is somewhere to the east. Now do you assholes want anything else or can we go now?”

  The party looked to each other and nodded.

  “You can go,” Tarka said as she sheathed her sword. “Just don’t try to kill each other while you’re around us. If you three accidentally hurt one of us, the rest of us will kill you dead. Now, go.”

  The three captives rose and carefully walked away from the group. As they walked away, Cleave noticed the two women start to talk with the bearded man. The conversation was guarded, but it seemed like their hatred for each other might thaw given time. Given the nature of Unexplored, they might decide to put aside their differences and share in a romantic encounter or two.

  A vision of those busty elves pressing their nude breasts against the large warrior entered his mind. Cleave’s pants grew tight. He looked to Tarka. From the misty look in her eyes, he could tell she was thinking the same thing.

  Cleave turned to see Krug still comforting the distressed dryad. Seeing his friend in such pain killed all erotic thoughts. The entire party sat around Lurupine, talked, and told her dumb jokes. Eventually she smiled.

  TEN

  “What happened at the guild?” It was a question that Tarka had wanted to ask Lurupine since she and her friends sent those other three characters packing. However, given the dryad’s distressed state, she knew she needed to wait.

  It’d been an hour since the fight. After back-to-back combats, their stamina stat was getting low, and they needed some rest before they got back to their adventure. Tarka wanted to make a campfire, but the warped wood had a dampness about it that made it difficult to burn, so the party contented itself with sitting in a circle on the purple gunk infested ground.

  “It was horrible.” Lurupine hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth. “It happened a few days ago, after you guys came back from dealing with the mess in Clearwater. There was an increase in activity in the Wilderwood. Estelar and everyone else thought it was strange, but since the people coming into the wood weren’t bothering us, other than an occasional fling with one of the dryads, we didn’t pay them any mind.”

  “The first sign of trouble was a man in purple robes. He came to the arboretum and said he wanted to speak to the leader. The dryad
s brought him to me, and he said he was looking for dryad crystals and a few other herbs. He wanted our help in getting them. I offered to help him obtain a few of the ingredients he wanted, but I told him I wasn’t going to let him take dryad crystals, given that they’re the lifeblood of our trees.”

  Lurupine placed a hand on her snowy, white tree planted in the ground beside her. She frowned as she looked over its weakened condition and continued her story. “He didn’t like that very much and offered me a lot of gold for some of our crystals, but I told him no amount of money was worth harming my own people. All of the other dryads told him the same thing, and he left in a huff.”

  “Soon other people came and started asking about our dryad crystals. Several people from different guilds came to us, and each time we turned them away. More started coming. Eventually we stopped seeing new people altogether. Some of the guild representatives went to Estelar to see if he’d help them, but like us, he refused.”

  Then, a couple of nights ago, a large number of people from different guilds marched onto the arboretum. Hundreds of players from different guilds surrounded the guild house and arboretum and demanded dryad crystals. We knew we didn’t stand a chance against so many people, so we gave into their demands. The dryads, me included, gave up as many crystals as we could without killing ourselves, but it wasn’t enough. The people wanted more. We tried to reason with them, offered them gold, and even to sleep with all of them, but that wasn’t what they wanted.”

  “They got really angry, and a few of the mages got together and shot fireballs at the arboretum, setting it on fire. The rest of the people attacked and…” Lurupine sniffed. “It was an absolute slaughter. Some of us got away but, the rest…”

  “Their leaders were two groups of mages; one wore green, the other purple. They burned the arboretum and the guild house to the ground and killed everyone they could.”