Chapter Twenty-One - Tiny Fish Huge Pond

Chapter Twenty-One - Tiny Fish Huge Pond

Um, I said as I tried to deal with the question. How was I still alive? Was this place really that dangerous? Sure the ghosts were scary, and there were bears and things, maybe, but nothing I had seen topped the evil ghosts or the monsters in the dungeon. Well, mostly I just fought ghosts, some zombies and that was it, really. Ive been eating berries and honey for the most part. Is that what you meant?

Arianne shook her head. Ghosts arent too common, but zey are easily dispatched by most. Its ze sombrals, ze pixies, and ze dryads zat are ze issues here.

I stared at her, then at the others around the fire. Donat had rejoined the circle, plopping himself down right on the ground without even a log to sit on. Emeric was still wearing a smile, but next to him, Leonard the mean samurai was glaring suspiciously. Valerie was the only one ignoring me as she focused on the stew. The ranger was... gone? I couldnt see him, and I never noticed him leaving. Neat!

Well, I said. I never saw any dryads, and I dont know what sombrals are. I did meet a whole lot of pixies though. They were nice.

Nice? Arianne asked. I have seen zem melt the flesh off of creatures an order of magnitude bigger zan zey are wiz zeir magic. Each pixie has a different and mostly unique set of spells zat zey will use to tear you apart.

Uh. I shrugged. I offered them some honey to let me stay in their territory. Then I gave their leader a second jar to escort me around for a day.

You-- Emeric started to croak with laughter. Oh, zats priceless. Hear zat, Leo. No need to scare off ze pixies with your big sword. Just give zem honey!

She could be lying, the samurai said.

I nodded, which set him to blinking at me. I could be. But that wouldnt be very nice of me. I have some honey left over, if you want to try it for yourself. It would be a real shame if you hurt the pixies just because of a little misunderstanding.

Arianne looked like she wanted to pat me, but she didnt which was good. People were always doing that and it was very rude.

Can you tell me about the sombrals and the dryads? I asked.

Are you going to offer zem some honey as well? Emeric asked.

I might. But I dont know what dryads or sombrals eat. Maybe they dont like honey, or can get some themselves.

Sombrals, Arianne began in a tone that sounded an awful lot like some of my teachers. Are one of the monsters native to the Darkwoods. Dryads, on ze other hand, are common across ze whole world. Zey tend to be wherever zere are large forests. Donat, tell Broccoli about sombrals.

The young grenoil jumped, looked around, then rubbed at his face where his nose would be as a human. Ah, right, sombrals. Second tier monsters. Scary, big, zey like ze taste of fresh grenoil meat. Do you know what a wolf is? I nodded and he continued. Right. sombrals are like wolves if wolves were made of shadows and didnt need to sleep. Zey arent as big as some kinds of wolves, but zat only means zat zey are sneakier.

And how do you fight zem? Arianne asked Donat. She was leading him on, making him recite information that he was probably already supposed to know.

Fire works. Zey dont like it. Light magic is best. But we dont have zat. Hitting zem on the head works too. Zey are not like ghosts who are immune to physical harm. But zey do resist it better.

Cant you just run away? I asked. I didnt want to go around booping any poor wolves on the head for doing what was in their nature.

No, Donat said with a shake of his head. Sombrals are blind. Zey cant see. But zeir sense of smell is incredible and zey will hunt you for days if zey must. You can run to find a better place to fight. Or into a town with lots of people if its close, but zey cant be outrun in zis forest. Zey hunt in packs and will try to encircle you if zey can.

Scary, I said. I guess Im lucky I never ran into them.

Zats the strange part, Emeric said. Zey would track you down by your scent. How did you avoid zat?

I thought about it for a few moments, but the answer was pretty obvious. I am very clean, I said. I have the cleaning skill, so I shouldnt have much of a smell at all.

Oh, please do try to make friends with a dryad, Leonard said. As long as I am there to watch, of course.

I harrumphed and reached into my bandoleer to pull out Orange. The kitty had been sleeping all afternoon, but the motion of taking her out woke her up. She looked around at all the people around us and shook to fluff out her fur.

Whats zat? Donat asked.

This is Orange, I said. Shes a spirit cat.

Did you find it in ze wild? Arianne asked as she stared at Orange with an intense look. Her eyes opened wider after a moment. Ah, a summon.

What a useless summon, Leonard said.

Orange glared at him.

Watch out Leo, it might scratch you, Emeric said. Where did you find a spirit cat? Attracted it with some honey?

No, I got her from an item, I said.

Cute, he replied. Not zat useful, but a handy companion. And perhaps it will grow into a large and fearsome tabby cat in a decade or two.

Well I like her, I said as I pulled Orange in for a quick snuggle. She, being a proper kitty, objected to the display of love and squirmed out of my grasp to run away. She didnt go far and was soon distracted by some swaying leaves. So, I asked as I refocused. What are you guys doing out here? Is there a village or something nearby?

I was zinking of asking you ze same. What is a level four Cinnamon Bun, whatever zat may be, doing out in zese woods? Arianne asked. She set her bowl aside then hugged her staff close, fingers running across the well-worn wood.

Im a bit lost, I admitted.

Emeric chuckled. A little, yes. You can stay wiz us tonight. Tomorrow we will point you to Rockstack. Its a small outpost run by a few guilds. If youre as clever as you look youll be able to find work. Maybe one day you can join the Exploration Guild.

Is that who you are? I asked. Members of an exploration guild? That sounded so cool! Like an adventurers guild, but with less killing rats in someones basement and more exploring tombs and looking for cool places.

Zat we are, Emeric said. Myself, Arianne, Pierre, and most recently Valerie are all members of ze same exploration team. Leo here is a senior member who joined our team for zis expedition because well be exploring a more dangerous place, and Donat tagged along because we need someone close to reaching zeir class evolution if we find a dungeon.

So cool, I said. I now had about a million questions to ask! What are you guys looking for?

She isnt part of our group, Leonard said. Dont spill confidential information.

She might have come across what were looking for. At least she might save us some fruitless searching, Emeric argued back.

The samurai considered this for a moment, then nodded. Very well.

Emeric smiled triumphantly. We are looking for a lost town zat was once occupied by humans. Zere is nearly no human presence left here, and it was a frontier town when it fell, so we dont know where it is. But someone discovered something interesting in zat town and we want to see it.

Frowning, I considered what hed said. A human town around here. The only one I had seen so far was... Are you talking about Threewells? I asked.

In a blink there was a hand clasped over each of my shoulders.