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[Naturegirl1999]

Hi, Zara. Maybe after the expedition you or your dad could teach me how to build things, and I could teach you and your sisters fighting skills to ward off the monsters. I’m going to the apocathary soon to get a potion for the one who asked for the switchblade. He had his armor on for so long and went so long without healing that he had various wounds which according to Lucy he should have died from...thinking about it now, maybe he’s some sort of undead creature who thinks he’s human. Each time he heals, there’s a green light. He calls them the Twin Gods. Have you ever heard of any Twin Gods?

[hector13]

Doctor Doak continues his studies, reading Volume 3, which had to do with drawing on mana wells directly from plant sources.

He also skims over the books, getting an idea of what each one covers:

(i) deals with properties of plants which can be used to both amplify and limit the magical potential of magic practitioners
(ii) influencing the growth, fertility and yield of plants through magical means
(iii) drawing on mana wells directly from plant sources
(iv) shaping and manipulating different plant parts to do your bidding, focus on basics every nature mage should know like entangling roots, advancing fruit development, moving branches/leafs to create cover etc
(v) advanced study, specializing in one family of plants for maximum potency, cites example of wizards who specialized in ferns, vines, orchids, evergreen trees, Phallaceae mushrooms etc
(vi) limitations of nature magic, and dangers associated with it and the potential corruption it can cause.

((Does section vi go some way toward explaining what’s happening with the corruption we saw from the tower?

What about the corrupted forest creatures?))

((Volume Six deals with disastrous application of nature magic. Plants growing too big and disturbing ecology of that environment, plants becoming aggressive, plants dying, trying to force certain unnatural processes like fruiting in winters for summer fruiting plants, that kind of stuff. And how to restrict and undo damage by such actions if they have already occurred.

Lastly, it deals with long lasting damage by particularly negligent or malicious acts of nature magic. These can leave scars in an area for generations or more. However, due to the nature of nature magic, no harm is irreversible or permanent and can be fixed, given enough time. In this case though (up to the information gleaned by village personnel and adventurers) the "corruption" is getting stronger, and is not affecting just plant life but animal as well. There is more than one branch of magic at work here, or is the result of a particularly strong magic practitioner or magical artifact.

This uncertainty is part of the reason the adventurers have been called to investigate, it's safe to say that an instructional book is unable to provide beyond rudimentary details about the corruption in the forest, the likes of which local denizens are unable to deal with.))

((I should read things properly before asking questions, ahaha.))

Doctor Doak stands up and stretches, the tendons in his neck and back popping happily.

It's one thing understanding the theory behind something, another thing entirely being able to apply it practically.

Doctor Doak goes outside and finds some plants from which to practice drawing mana wells.

[MeimieFan88]

Hi, Zara. Maybe after the expedition you or your dad could teach me how to build things, and I could teach you and your sisters fighting skills to ward off the monsters. I’m going to the apocathary soon to get a potion for the one who asked for the switchblade. He had his armor on for so long and went so long without healing that he had various wounds which according to Lucy he should have died from...thinking about it now, maybe he’s some sort of undead creature who thinks he’s human. Each time he heals, there’s a green light. He calls them the Twin Gods. Have you ever heard of any Twin Gods?

"Sure, petals." Zara gives Reeta a playful smile. "I can fight alright, but there's always room to improve. My sisters are chumps though. You can try to teach 'em, if you can get 'em to focus on learning, instead of whining about how hard it is."

Benuto ponders Reeta's question for a moment. "Twin Gods, y'say? ...No, can't say I've heard of 'em. I'm not so much the worshipin' type these days. Priest'd probly know more than me about the local deities. Apothecarist is his wife, so she might know a lil somethin' too. Although if yer companion ain't from around here, these gods might not be common knowledge to us village folk."

[Remuri]

Laemmle came back to the quest giver. Explaining a bad news to him and giving him the tracked left items from his lost cat.

[Naturegirl1999]

Hi, Zara. Maybe after the expedition you or your dad could teach me how to build things, and I could teach you and your sisters fighting skills to ward off the monsters. I’m going to the apocathary soon to get a potion for the one who asked for the switchblade. He had his armor on for so long and went so long without healing that he had various wounds which according to Lucy he should have died from...thinking about it now, maybe he’s some sort of undead creature who thinks he’s human. Each time he heals, there’s a green light. He calls them the Twin Gods. Have you ever heard of any Twin Gods?

"Sure, petals." Zara gives Reeta a playful smile. "I can fight alright, but there's always room to improve. My sisters are chumps though. You can try to teach 'em, if you can get 'em to focus on learning, instead of whining about how hard it is."

Benuto ponders Reeta's question for a moment. "Twin Gods, y'say? ...No, can't say I've heard of 'em. I'm not so much the worshipin' type these days. Priest'd probly know more than me about the local deities. Apothecarist is his wife, so she might know a lil somethin' too. Although if yer companion ain't from around here, these gods might not be common knowledge to us village folk."

Good that you’re able to fight. I will try to teach your sisters at some point. I’m heading to the alchemy shop for a health potion. After delivering the switchblade and health potion to the person they are for, I will head to the apocethsrist to try learning about the twins. Good luck on fixing the weapon. Hopefully we’ll head out soon to get more materials. Bye Zara, bye Ben Reeta then leaves the blacksmith and heads for the alchemy shop. hi. My name’s Reeta. I’m here to get a health potion for one of the party members. Reeta then gives the person working there 1 gold for the potion, hoping the slayer gave enough

[A5G_Reaper]

"Don't rub it in!" Linea's golden eyes glared at the poor bartender as if she wanted to run her knife through his throat. But instead of murdering the person who currently, the only one capable of serving her a coffee, she diverted her anger toward the two CSA agents, who, fortunately, understand the whole situation by refraining themselves from cracking any idle remarks.

"You two, sit down!"

"I just remembered we have guard duty. Good heavens! Just look at the time!" said Barnes, trying to drag Sven out but stopped at the moment Linea pulled her knife out and placed it next to her coffee mug like a damned steak knife.

"Agent Barnes, you will have plenty of time with your assignment once we are done with this... evaluation. And I would say again; please sit down before your coffees turn cold."

Cold sweat ran across Barnes's forehead as they sat on the designated chairs. It was always a nasty business when Linea said the word evaluation. It was, of course, an arbitrary assessment, but still within the authority of a field officer like her.

"Gentlemen. As you already aware, we are we missed one day of a mission that supposed to be accomplished as soon as possible." 

"We barely arrived at this vicinity yesterday, miss Linea," said Sven.

And Barnes chimed in. "Yeah! We can't possibbly-"

"I know Snewden has assigned infiltration duty the moment you arrived here yesterday. What I want now is, both of you to also report to me of any intel you gathered. Is that clear? Now before we wait for Snewden to coming back to us, let's hear what you have so far."

"Uh, yeah, okay. We split up yesterday, Barnes went to the guild while I asked around the village."

Seemingly resigned to their fate, the two agents somewhat donned their mask of professionality and filed their report.

"The cosensus is that everything started taking turn for worse since about six month ago. Started with small animals growing more violent, and attacked people. Some of the villagers still sported scars." Sven paused to recall. "This past week is particularly bad. You were there during the biggest animal attack, but prior to that there were two people that went missing. The eldest child of a couple, and the mayor's son."

"As for the guild, it have been here for several years. The local guildmaster is a sorcerer going by the name Xanios, here to do thesis for his Magisterium. He's said to be locked in his lab all the time, and is greatly disgruntled at the insanity going on in the woods. Makes it hard to retrieve observation posts scattered deeper in. Other notable person are Aven, the operational manager, Rolce, a personal guard of the company of sort, and Lucy, their healer. Others are mostly interns that work for a short while before getting cycled out." Barnes concluded everything within one breath.

"Besides that, there's only several minor matters. The villagers cannot venture out to the woods due to its danger, cutting them off from raw materials and forage. Not few implied that they'll be greatly thankful if someone could clear the animals from the immediate surroundings, or just do the gathering job to trade."

The two looked at each other, exchanging tacit understanding.

"Unfortunately, no news on the missing agents. Aside from what the innkeeper knows, but he said that you've been told about that."

[wierd]

Jack tarried by the door, listening to the supposed "report." Nothing he did not already know about, aside perhaps from the missing kids. 

He led mama upstairs to Doak's room, and rapped politely on the door.

[Slyph]

"This guild, what about their paperwork? Are they registered in the capital? You said something about their member being cycled out, do they have representatives in other cities? If so, where? How many members did they stationed here prior to six months ago?

Linea sighed under her breath. There were not many leads here and it is frustrating.

"You said this Xenios person is unhappy with the state of the forest. But what we have so far implied that he did nothing to support this investigation, prior and post CSA's intervention."

The agent said nothing about that conclusion, so Linea continued.

"Barnes, what about the basic rules of investigation when finding multiple victims?"

The agent looked confused for a moment before answering confidently.

"The pattern?"

"Exactly. Based on your report, there were two villagers went missing. While the number is iffy at best, but let's leave that for now and find the pattern we needed. Their name, age, the time they were abducted, the location, the witnesses. Then we need to find out what they have in common. I assume you already have that information, no?"

Linea's piercing gaze focused on the agent on the right side of the table.



Linea 

[A5G_Reaper]

"This guild, what about their paperwork? Are they registered in the capital? You said something about their member being cycled out, do they have representatives in other cities? If so, where? How many members did they stationed here prior to six months ago?

Linea sighed under her breath. There were not many leads here and it is frustrating.

"You said this Xenios person is unhappy with the state of the forest. But what we have so far implied that he did nothing to support this investigation, prior and post CSA's intervention."

The agent said nothing about that conclusion, so Linea continued.

"Barnes, what about the basic rules of investigation when finding multiple victims?"

The agent looked confused for a moment before answering confidently.

"The pattern?"

"Exactly. Based on your report, there were two villagers went missing. While the number is iffy at best, but let's leave that for now and find the pattern we needed. Their name, age, the time they were abducted, the location, the witnesses. Then we need to find out what they have in common. I assume you already have that information, no?"

Linea's piercing gaze focused on the agent on the right side of the table.



Linea

"From what I've got, the guild did sent some people to investigate the anomaly but they had to turn back due to the intense wildlife assault. Xanios also hired some mercenary, a few month ago, but their performance was severely lacking. The current adventurers are the next batch of helping hand, since the irregulars are 'possibly more suited for forest trawl than soldiers', I quote." Barnes added about the guild's circumstances. "Their paperwork looks legit, but confirming it would be a hassle. It's hard to get information out from here."

"The two victims are both male. There's infuriatingly little information to gleam, nobody really know where they vanished or what took them. They just stopped coming home on different day."  Sven filled in the details from memory.

[Slyph]

"They just stopped coming home on a different day? You mean they, consciously went to the forest due to some circumstances and then not coming back. Or, did they suddenly went to the forest or dragged there out of their own will?"

[The Centipede]

Spoiler: Creepy girl (click to show/hide)

Dixie starts looking around for people needing help, and soon meets with a little girl and her masked bodyguard.



"Salutations adventurer!" The little girl says in a enthusiastic voice, though her expression remains blank. The masked hunk is equally motionless.

"Might you aid a helpless little girl with a challenging task? You see, I require a new toy to play with, and what better than a maddened creature from the forest? If you could bring it to me still alive somehow, that would be most exquisite. I'll have a reward waiting for you."

"That's... sadistic... but sure. Sure. It might take days, though."

[A5G_Reaper]

"They just stopped coming home on a different day? You mean they, consciously went to the forest due to some circumstances and then not coming back. Or, did they suddenly went to the forest or dragged there out of their own will?"

"Ma'am, they're kids. They went around the village all day, running around playing and doing children things. That's what make triangulating the timing difficult, really. Everyone felt like they've seen them 'just a while ago' on the day of disappearance. Could be anything." Sven shook his head, feeling a little helpless. "There's no sign of attack anywhere in the village, at least. Could be a good sign."

[hector13]

Jack tarried by the door, listening to the supposed "report." Nothing he did not already know about, aside perhaps from the missing kids. 

He led mama upstairs to Doak's room, and rapped politely on the door.

((He’s gone out to bother the flora))

[wierd]

Growing impatient with Doak's lack of answering, Jack lets himself in to find an empty room, with a nightstand table littered with papers, open books, an unstoppered inkwell, and scrawled notes strewn about.

Muttering to himself about people not being home when you want to talk them, he instead writes as polite a note as he can on one of the empty leafs of paper.



Doak,

  I don't know if you will find this quite as interesting as I have, or how far along in your studies you are-- I know you are working with the same books as I am, since I recognize the set I got from the librarian as the same ones you grabbed from the tower, and know you are actively studying them.  However, I had some degree of success today in getting some mushrooms to grow in a controlled setting.  Among the produced 'shrooms was a rather unusual one that I suspect may have alchemical applications. 

I only have the one cap available, but you will find the pertinent section for cultivation in the third book in the set.  I have left half of the specimen to make a "print" (again, per the relavent chapter in the third book) on the corner of this note.  With some luck and practice, it should help you cultivate this variety yourself as well, should you have any success with your endeavors.

I intend to try to set up a larger scale attempt at some point tomorrow, assuming we dont all go run off to get ourselves killed instead. Feel free to stop by, and we can compare notes, or work together on that project.  If we can swing it, we can make use of the reagent exchange with the apothecary, using the results of the experiment.  Perhaps we can use that to better equip these damn fool kids that are hell bent on rushing in where angels fear to tread with a small hoard of potions.  If you come across anything similarly useful, please share.

---Jack


After penning the document, he extracted the jar containing the special mushroom, then carefully tore the mushroom cap in half, and placed one half on the corner of the note, and returned the other to his jar, then stoppered the ink well, before leaving the room.


Why were people never around when you wanted to see them?

[Slyph]

"They just stopped coming home on a different day? You mean they, consciously went to the forest due to some circumstances and then not coming back. Or, did they suddenly went to the forest or dragged there out of their own will?"

"Ma'am, they're kids. They went around the village all day, running around playing and doing children things. That's what make triangulating the timing difficult, really. Everyone felt like they've seen them 'just a while ago' on the day of disappearance. Could be anything." Sven shook his head, feeling a little helpless. "There's no sign of attack anywhere in the village, at least. Could be a good sign."

Linea felt like she wanted to flip the table in a fit of rage. "Just like that?!" she blared "Agent Barnes, I am expecting more than just a few uncertain words coming from an experienced agent like you!"

"Can't help it," Barnes defended almost immediately. "We Did our best and-! Wouldn't want us lying on you so everyone can hear what the wanted to hear, would you?"

"Rather than that, I would prefer to question your competency. Both of you!

The two agents, both dumbfounded and terrified said nothing but averting their gaze to avoid eye contact with the elven agent.
While Linea, after pausing for a brief moment to regain her composure, continued.

"Then why our agent?" Began Linea with a raspy voice. "The missing kids sound much like a random occurrence. They are kids, and kids missing in the forest and get eaten by wolves are not an uncommon case in a rural area. So why an adult, armed and trained agent got assaulted in the heart of the village by a monster that not even a single villager ever saw before?"

"We don't know," Barnes answered, leaning on his chair. "I give up."

"Captain Snewden said in our initial briefing that the Dead forest should be our first lead." Sven pointed at the darker area of the map next to the lake.  It's ten klicks to the north and according to the locals, that's where the beast was coming from."

"I have seen the area. The forest is awfully big, what makes you think that particular area would be a good place to start the investigation?"

"We don't know. Do you have a better idea Ma'am?"

"First, stop calling me that before I stab you with a spoon. And no, I don't. Even if I have one, that would be another wild goose chase."

"That's fine by us."