343. Vonda’s Quest I

343. Vonda’s Quest I

They had spent a few days within the village with Strom, buying some food and gear from the villagers before they eventually made their way out. The travel through the forest and towards Red Oak was surprisingly uneventful.

Omen: 15, 17

“We’re not too far out from Red Oak, but we are going to make our way into the Blood Wood,” Adam said.

“The Blood Wood?” Jurot asked.

“That’s the name of the deadly forest, right?”UppTodated from nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)/m

“The Red Wood?”

Adam sighed. “I knew it was something like that.”

“The Red Wood?” Brittany asked. “Isn’t that forest dangerous?”

“Yep.”

“We’re going into it?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Adam said. “That’s our goal.”

Suddenly, Brittany was no longer quite so eager to adventure. “The Red Wood is a dangerous place.”

“Yep.”

Brittany stared at him, wondering if he was going to expand on what he said.

“Any questions?” Adam glanced around the group, before he turned to face Jurot. “We’ll leave our lives in your capable hands, Jurot.”

Jurot nodded.

The party took their places, with Kitool and Jaygak bringing up the rear, while Jurot and Adam led up front. The rest were towards the centre, with Nobby and Brittany flanked by the more experienced members of the party.

Somehow, they hadn’t found anything dangerous on the way. They had come across a bear with blood red fur, and though it eyed up the magical elk which stood nearby, carrying a few of the party’s supplies, it retreated away, not wanting to fight such a large group of adventurers.

That evening they had made camp, with half of the group chopping wood to form a small fence around their encampment, while Adam spent his precious Mana on a particular spell.

“Are you sure you should be wasting your Mana on the tower?” Lucy asked.

“If you don’t want to use the bath then you can stay outside,” Adam stated, already taking off his equipment. The ground floor of the tower was a bath, and the first floor was a bedroom, which one person on watch would use to keep an eye out, since it was a great position to keep an eye out.

“I am in awe of your great wisdom,” Lucy corrected.

The groups morale was high, since Adam had made sure they got to each bathe in the warm water, and they were able to eat something decent thanks to Jurot’s hunting and foraging, allowing them to add fresh food to their rations.

“I’ll take first or last watch, but you guys can figure out the rest of them between yourselves,” Adam said. He threw a mental command to Zeus, the magical elk, to keep an eye out too, as well as to Hades, his owl familiar, who was perched in the window of the first floor of the tower.

“It is quite powerful,” Jurot said. “I would have some trouble facing it.”

“You?” Adam asked.

“Not with Phantom,” he assured. “We are fortunate that it was not able to pierce us with its fangs. It holds both poison and acid.”

“Good job, Kitool,” Adam said, nodding his head to her.

She bowed her head, accepting the gratitude. With her ability to stun an enemy, they would be able to deal with most living things easily.

Brittany stared at the large snake. ‘We killed it?’ She blinked multiple times. She had heard rumours of the great snake. Even her Chief would have had trouble facing it, so to think that she could play a part in slaying it, it filled her with great pride. ‘If I stay with Adam, won’t I become more powerful?’

Victory!

Giant Blood Snake

XP Gained: +150

XP: 9325 -> 9475

‘Wait, what?’ Adam blinked. There were at least ten of them, eleven if Adam’s maths was correct, but it had given them so much XP? “Jurot, just how hard does this bad boy hit?”

“Bad boy?”

“Sorry,” Adam cleared his throat. “I mean, how much damage does it do?”

“It may be able to kill Kitool or Jaygak within moments,” Jurot said, thinking about how powerful he assumed the creature could be.

“I’m good with fire, not poison or acid,” Jaygak said.

Kitool also nodded her head. “It can strike as rapidly as I or you.”

‘Damn, that’s a lot of attacks.’ “Good thing we killed it so quickly then.” Adam looked to Nobby and Brittany, who were probably seconds away from dying if they hadn’t managed to kill it so quickly. ‘I have to be careful.’

Jurot and Kitool began to work on carving the creature. They would feast on its meat that evening, and the various parts of the snake would be useful. The fangs could be used to make weapons, its leather to made armour and shields, and if they were able to find its poison glands it would sell for a pretty penny.

The rest of the group chopped the nearby trees to form a small encampment, as they had been doing so ever since they left the village and would camp outside. Adam wondered if he should get a trick to assist with making camp, but if the group became reliant on his magic it may have been an issue.

“Why are you thinking so hard?” Lucy asked, slamming a post down into the ground. She noted the look on his face, which wasn’t just Adam thinking, it was Adam being an idiot.

“I was thinking about using less magic with camp,” Adam admitted.

“Why?”

“I don’t want you to be reliant on my magic.”

Lucy furrowed her brows in confusion. She looked to the side, where there was one tower, and then to the other side, where there was another. Adam had summoned two towers that evening, spending a third of his Mana, which formed a bathroom and three bedrooms for the group.

Lucy wasn’t sure what she should say, but since she wanted to bathe that evening, she only gave him a look which suggested he was an idiot.

Jurot had told Adam that the blood of the snake would assist in keeping them safe, though it wouldn’t guarantee that they’d be safe.

‘I hope nothing bad happens,’ Adam thought again, surrounded by hot, soapy water, and muscular men.

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