"Did it go in here? Or is this just where the trail ends?" asked Flynn.
Newt had his hand on the door. "If it went in here, we have bigger problems."
"I don't think it went into the jail," said Terran. "When it screamed, did you all think that was odd?"
"Very," said Zara. "Almost womanly."
"I think I know where and who the Hunger is, or is tied to anyway," said Terran, tugging on his own hair. "We have to go to the mayor's house."
After a short jog, they arrived at the three-story residence. The richness of the garden stuck out in the gloom.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Zara.
Newt stared at the garden before turning back to Terran. "It's the garden, isn't it?"
"Yes," said Terran. "It's too rich for this area. No green thumb can work this kind of magic."
Flynn wrinkled his nose. "I thought she was getting hints from the arborist on how to grow?"
"This isn't new growth. You can't make a garden and lawn this lush in that short a time, arborist or no," said Terran. "I bet that if we asked the townsfolk when the attacks started that it was not long after Gloricia arrived."
"What, are we going to march up to the mayor's door and tell him his wife has been eating his townsfolk?" asked Flynn.
"That's a good point," said Terran, looking up at the house, "but do you have another idea?"
Newt rubbed his chin. His brown eyes lit up with thought, and his dark skin almost glowed with purpose. "You said that Grimchar seemed to be stealing life from the Mother Tree essence. What if Gloricia is doing the same? That's how the garden is so lush. We just need to find where the bodies are."
"Or the Hunger," said Zara eagerly.
"We'll search the grounds," said Terran.
They crept into the yard, Zara taking point. Terran could see her straining to control the rage simmering underneath. If she had her way, she'd probably rush into the house, after chopping open the door. When she caught his glance, he nodded to show his support.
As they circled the house, stepping around the manicured bushes, the exquisite fruit trees, and the lush flowers, Terran wondered if he was wrong about his assessment of Gloricia. She seemed so sweet, the antithesis of the Hunger. He had to be wrong.
At the back of the house, near a fence that overlooked the bay, the sounds of waves crashing against the rocks could be heard clearly. Terran was about to call for a retreat when Flynn crouched near the ground, forehead wrinkling. When he pulled a chain from the grass, revealing a trapdoor, everyone crowded around. Upon opening it, an awful stench, like rotting bodies, rose from the earth, making them all lurch backwards.
"I don't want to go down there," said Flynn. "Neither does Skully."
Newt crouched on his heels and let a floating ball of light drift down the ladder into the space beneath the garden, revealing a row of sea dwarves chained to the wall, with black vines covering their bodies, slowly draining away their lives.
Before anyone could suggest entering the space, someone moved onto the porch that wrapped around the house.
"You walked into a trap," said Gloricia from above them. "A trap expertly laid by my lord Grimchar, and now like a corpse in the soil, you will feed our rise."
Chapter Twenty
The Gloricia standing at the back of the house was not the same woman Terran had spoken with in the garden. Her gaunt features, stringy blonde hair, and cavernous robes all projected decay. Even from below, he could smell her rot, which explained the heavy perfume of jasmine and cinnamon she'd worn in the garden.
From the shadows, figures lurched forward. The enormous, but injured, Hunger, along with a dozen sea dwarves, faces covered in yellow fungus, surrounded them.
"Grimchar tricked us into taken the rot shard back to the Mother Tree so we would be in need of an arborist," said Terran.
"My lord Grimchar is quite resourceful," said Gloricia. "He knew you were too strong in Gneiss Glen. There was hope that you might come alone, or with only one of your companions, but we prepared for all. Shame that mangy lynx you let hang around isn't here, I had my eye on her as a tasty meal."
"There was no curse," said Terran. "Just a story you told to your husband."
"Oh, there is a curse," said Gloricia. "I've taken his ability to sire children as an offering, to fuel my power here in Salt Luck."
Terran glanced around to his friends, who faced off against the corrupted sea dwarves and the Hunger. The beast had been a trial for the four of them. Adding the rot witch Gloricia and her minions made their situation precarious. They needed a way out that didn't involve fighting.
He lifted his crystalline staff, inhaled quickly, then bellowed out a call that made everyone alive put their hands to their ears.
"Mayor Arabast Salthammer!"
His shout echoed across the bay, reverberating the windows, forcing even Gloricia to squint from the volume.
Lights from the upper story, followed by the crashing of someone in a rage, emanated from the house, and moments later, Arabast Salthammer stumbled onto the porch in only his underpants, carrying his twin axes. He leered wide-eyed at Gloricia, who took a step back in horror.
"Get her, Mayor," said Flynn.
But then Gloricia broke out in laughter, and the mayor turned towards them, slack-jawed.
"You think I can't control him too?" asked Gloricia. "My mind-control fungus can plant powerful suggestions in the brain that last a long time, even after the fungus has passed. He still sees me as I was today. I am his loving and sometimes foolish wife, and he will protect me with his life if that's what it takes. You might as well give up. I promise I can make it painless as we drain the life from your bodies and fuel our ascent to godhood."
"What are we doing?" muttered Flynn under his breath.
"I... I don't know," said Terran, taking stock of their situation. "This isn't good."
Zara was breathing heavily, her forehead straining. "Terran…"
Terran gestured towards the Hunger and the sea dwarves. "Flynn, can you keep all these occupied for a bit?"
"Chaos is my middle name," he said, cocking a grin.
"If we take her out, maybe we keep the rest of them from fighting," said Terran. "Newt, can you get our girl up to the porch?"
Newt glanced between Zara and Gloricia, a smile spreading on his lips. "Gotcha."
"On the count of…"
Before Terran could finish his count, Gloricia raised her arms, and the sea dwarves and Hunger surged towards them. He barely turned in time to blast the charging minions with a Vocal Slam, which knocked them off their feet. His companions were similarly distracted, as Newt used his gravity powers to sling sea dwarves at the Hunger, while Zara fought off its many tentacles. To make matters worse, Mayor Arabast launched his silvery axes into the mix. They sliced Flynn in the back, before rebounding back into the mayor's hands.
Terran tried not to kill the sea dwarves, since they were being controlled by Gloricia, but there were a dozen of them, and they kept coming in waves. While they battled the creatures in the garden, Mayor Arabast hit them with his flying axes, whittling down their health.
"Oh, you foolish Offworlders," said Gloricia, cupping her hand beneath her chin, then blowing out a cloud of yellow smoke. As soon as it washed over Terran, it formed welts on his skin that bubbled and hissed with painful rot.
There were too many of them. As their life totals drained, Terran realized he had a debuff that would delay their return to the settlement. If they couldn't get out of this, then Gloricia would have their bodies. It probably wouldn't take her long to make that blocking permanent.
"Flynn, give Newt some space," said Terran as he swung his crystalline staff at a sea dwarf that got too close, knocking him in the head and spinning him away.
Flynn nodded, then ran right at the Hunger, throwing himself beneath the creature and the redheaded berserker. His involvement brought a half dozen sea dwarves, who crashed into Flynn, knocking him right into the creature's grasp. The Hun
ger lifted Flynn above its toothy maw, ready to drop him in with a crunch.
"Newt, gravity pull, now!"
In the space that Flynn had earned for them, Newt quivered his hands back and forth, and Zara, who'd reoriented herself towards Gloricia, flew across the space as if launched out of a slingshot. The rot witch's eyes grew as big as trash mounds as the redhead flew at her with axe raised.
The blade split Gloricia's head in two, sending out not a spray of crimson blood, but yellow-black pus, exploding like a popped zit.
Zara has killed Gloricia the Rot Witch!
The Hunger deflated like a balloon, its flesh bursting into spores, which whipped away in the sea breeze. Flynn dropped unceremoniously to the ground, landing face-first in a pile of sea dwarves no longer being controlled.
The after-battle silence remained until Zara, yellow-black pus dripping from her limbs, turned towards them and said, "I think I need a bath."
The mayor's axes, which had been ripping through their health totals, rested in his hands as he stared dumbfounded at the scene, clearly trying to comprehend his return to awareness. As his eyes lay upon his fallen wife, he lifted his arms again, sending the axes into Zara's side, taking a quarter of her life.
"The fungus! It still has him in its grasp," said Newt as Zara used her axe to parry the mayor's attacks as he rushed into close combat.
"What do we do?" asked Flynn. "If we kill him the town will turn on us."
Terran reached into his pouch, pulling out the pink crystal that he'd found in the Crag Troll Fortress. He'd had it attached to a chain and dangled it as he let out a soothing melody, focusing it on Mayor Arabast.
[You have increased the skill Battle Song]
Skill: Battle Song (CHA) 15
Speak softly and carry a big pink jewel
At first it didn't work, and he doubled his attacks, but then the Silky Suggestion spell countered the mind control fungus and the mayor dropped his axes in surprise, suddenly aware of his surroundings.
"What in the Huracan is happening?" asked the mayor as he lurched around, taking in his surroundings with abject horror.
Zara stood in front of the corpse of his wife, holding her axe before her as if she expected him to attack again. The sea dwarves that had been controlled by Gloricia lay on the ground, heaving as they coughed out the fungus in yellow bursts.
"I'm sorry, Mayor Arabast, but your wife was a rot witch. She'd charmed you and was slowly eating the town," said Terran.
His eyes shifted to where Zara was standing. He stepped to the side, examining the corpse with flat lips and gripping the axes with white-knuckled anger.
"You killed her," he said.
"She had us in a trap. It was either her or us. Look at your people," said Zara, nodding to the garden. "Those are some of the sea dwarves she'd taken control of."
Realization smoothed away his knotted forehead, leaving wide-eyed pain. "How can we help them?"
"Hear me out." Terran paused, waiting for his nod. "The arborist should be able to help. She charmed him like she did everyone else. She was using the bodies to feed the garden, feed her power."
For a moment, he thought the mayor wasn't going to believe them. His lips wrinkled with disgust, then pain, until finally he nodded, eyes rounding.
"I will go to the jail," said the mayor, diminished by the events. "Marshal Aminata won't let him out otherwise."
"I'll go with you," said Zara, clearly feeling guilty about the mayor's wife.
While they retrieved the arborist, Terran and his friends checked on the sea dwarves, but there wasn't much they could do except offer water to the few that were capable of taking it. Flecks of yellow fungus flung from their lips whenever they coughed. A couple of the sea dwarves were no longer moving, the exhalation of the mold too much for their wounded bodies, and when Newt climbed into the lair beneath the garden, he pronounced the sea dwarves there were thoroughly dead, as their life forces had been drained enough that they'd died the moment the rot-witch was killed.
The appearance of Ash Cockwillow in his bright purple tunic and feathered hat was a stark contrast to the gory scene of death in the garden. He had the good sense to get right to work, leaving the mayor and marshal to look on. Terran joined them, explaining the connection to Grimchar the Necrochanter.
"Forgive me if it takes a few days to wrap my head around this," said the mayor, "but in my heart I still have feelings for her, even knowing what I know now."
"Maybe it's the fungus." Terran shrugged and considered telling him that Gloricia had stolen his ability to father children, but decided he'd had enough horror for one night.
Ash was able to revive the sea dwarves that hadn't expired, using flowers he'd picked from the garden and a potent magic that flowed from his fingertips in a green glow. The mayor led the injured sea dwarves into his house, letting them rest in the den, while Aminata fetched Jaina from the Great Wheel to bring them food. The rot witch's fungus had made them unable to eat.
While the arborist checked on the injured, the mayor brought Terran to the back of the house, which overlooked the bay. A blue nimbus formed on the horizon while beneath them, waves crashed against the rocks. The cool sea air was soothing on his face after the long night.
"Thank you," said Mayor Arabast, gripping the rail tightly. "Thank you for saving me, and the town."
Terran offered a cautious smile. "I'm sorry it worked out this way."
The mayor's gaze drifted towards the stain on the wood where his wife had once lain. "I should have known she was too good to be true. I'm a hard man, difficult to love, but she was like a... like a sunrise for my heart. I'd never felt more alive than with her." He gripped Terran's shoulder, gave it a squeeze. "Once I put things back to rights, we'll hold a grand feast in your honor, in your friend's honor, too. No expense will be spared. It's the least I can do."
Terran exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry. We have to return to Gneiss Glen right away. There's a rot in the trees, it's why I need the arborist. We have to get back so it doesn't damage the settlement."
"What about trade? Did you not want to set it up between our towns?" asked the mayor.
"I do," said Terran. "If it's alright, I'll send someone here to negotiate."
Arabast quirked a smile. "I'll do you one better. There's an old trade house that was abandoned years ago. It's yours if you want it. A trading post for your Rock Leaf Elves. As for the deal, send your representative, and I'll give you a fair deal."
You have completed the quest "Find a trading partner for Gneiss Glen."
You now have a trading partner in Salt Luck. Available resources will accumulate as time passes. This will also open up special purchasing options. Open up more trading partners to increase the diversity and quality of materials.
"Excellent," said Terran, stifling a yawn. "If our two towns can work together, we'll make this region much safer."
"Aye, lad. A good plan."
Terran wrinkled his nose. "You'll be letting Ash return with us, right? No hard feelings?"
The mayor stared at the glow on the horizon. "Truthfully, even knowing what I know now, I don't particularly care to see him again, so you'll be doing me a favor by giving him a home at Gneiss Glen." The mayor winked. "Remember that you promised me whisperweave."
Terran chuckled. "I remember."
You have completed the quest "Find a way to free the arborist."
The arborist is now a member of Gneiss Glen. New options in the settlement will be available once the arborist is in the settlement and has appropriate lodging.
You have acquired an arborist.
Arbor-Hearted Champion Path unlocked!
The second part of the quest being complete gave him a jolt of surprise, but the mayor was too busy rubbing the calluses on his palm to notice.
"I have one last favor to ask," said Terran, "though I promise you it'll be beneficial to both of our settlements."
"Anything you ask," said the mayor.
"There's a book you h
ave in your den. Newt would like to have it. After we deal with the rot in our trees, we're going after Grimchar, and your book might hold clues on how to find him in the Silent Plains," said Terran.
Mayor Arabast lifted his chin. "The book is yours, but is it wise to go after this Grimchar? I've heard stories about him, and while I'm not one to easily spook, he seems a formidable foe."
You have completed the quest "Find the tome for Newt"
You are now level 15!
"I'm afraid we have no choice but to go after him," said Terran. "He means to destroy Gneiss Glen so he can ascend to godhood. I don't want to wait for him to attack."
The mayor nodded.
"Once Ash says your people are well enough," said Terran, "we'll be headed back to the Glen."
"When things are calmer, come back to Salt Luck. We'll have ourselves a proper party. They say you can't really know a person until you've had a few drinks with them," said Mayor Arabast.
"I'll do that," said Terran.
Around the time the sun broke the horizon, Terran and his friends, with the brightly dressed Ash Cockwillow, headed back to the settlement. While the events in Salt Luck had been precarious, and their limbs were exhausted from the long night of battle and recovery, their hearts were lifted with the thought that they could save the Mother Tree.
Chapter Twenty-One
The journey back to the settlement took a few days, though it could have taken weeks had their new arborist had his way. Traveling with Ash felt like having a distracted toddler along, as every morning it took an hour to rouse him from his bedroll, and another two hours to get him moving along the trail. Zara once threatened to throw him over her shoulder, which only made him slower in hopes of being carried. It was only when Terran threatened to send him back to Salt Luck to be the mayor's body servant that Ash finally cooperated enough to get back to Gneiss Glen.
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