Momo
New Side Quest
Build A Wall - You will need to protect the residents under your care. Build a wall around the village.
Reward - 100 EXP
Momo clenches her hands at her sides so she doesn’t make rude gestures at the shiny blue screen floating in front of her. After spending a couple of weeks with Allard it has become clear to her that having gaming screens that float in the air and are only visible to the owner is not normal. Not that she asked him in those words. Asking how people track their ability progress and being told a long and enthusiastic explanation involving crystal orbs and prophetic dreams answered the question all the same. Poor guy probably thinks I am a few slices short of a loaf, she thinks to herself with a chuckle.
She looks over at the person in question. As though he can feel her gaze, Allard looks up and waves cheerfully, and Momo can’t stop a smile from forming on her face in return. Although she has longed for a quiet, solitary retirement for years if she has to be stuck with someone she is glad it is Allard. At times he seems afraid of the quiet, but he won’t talk about it. She doesn’t press him. He isn’t afraid of speaking, so Momo figures if he wants to share he will.
The sound of a hammer beating against wood rings out around them. Allard insisted at breakfast that it was time to reinforce the fencing around Momo’s backyard, in case a large group of biters came by. He was very protective of the garden, and Momo approved. Without food, they wouldn’t last long alone in the wasteland. She looks around, eying the vast nothingness that surrounds their home, making sure nothing is coming toward them, then between the buildings toward the other side in case something is approaching from that direction. She doesn’t like being out in the open with so much noise being made.
Allard bends over and grabs another board, angling it across the next section and pulling another nail from his pocket. For someone so skittish he seems pretty sure of himself. The thought gives her pause, and she wanders a few feet to see between the next two houses. It isn’t that he is sure of himself, she corrects herself. He is sure that Momo will protect him. It is both flattering and worrisome to her, especially when combined with the new quest that has just popped up. She can think of no reason to build a wall surrounding the village unless the system knows that something is coming. Without knowing how long she has, she has no idea if she has enough.
As soon as the outside of the fence is reinforced, Momo ushers Allard into her house to rest. He is recovering nicely by her estimations. There isn’t much as far as muscle tone, but he has been able to loosen the belt holding up his pants by a hole. She has no idea what Elves should look like, but he is starting to look less like a walking bag of bones and she considers that an improvement. But the sun wears down even the hardiest of bodies, so she insists that they take frequent breaks if they have to go outside to work in the garden or around the homes.
Momo pours a cup of water for each of them and takes a long drink before setting hers down. As much as she wants to ignore the system, the worry won’t fade that something is coming. “I was thinking about your suggestion that we build fence sections between the houses to keep things from getting to the front doors,” she starts with a lie. “But something is telling me that we should build bigger. A fence that goes around the whole area.”
Allard nods eagerly while she talks, and she can see the moment that he stops nodding and realizes what she has said. She rubs her hand on his back while he coughs out the water that went down the wrong way. “We don’t have enough wood for that, and it would be winter before we were done even if we did,” he says once he can breathe. “Why don’t we just add barriers between the houses and build up some of the backyard fences?”
“I didn’t mean that we should use hammer and nails to build one,” she says. “You know I can grow vegetables without seeds, and the fruits I have tried have been okay.” She ignores the grimace he gives thinking about the Durian Debacle. “I think I’m ready to try something else, something bigger. Would you grab me some paper and a drawing pencil?”
A cool breeze blows in through the open shutters. In the distance, she can see the edge of a thunderhead moving toward them. I think I can do this, but I hope it rains a lot because this will suck to water. She glances at Allard as he approaches, a blank roll of paper and some charcoal sticks clutched in his hands. “Would you be a dear and make a sketch of the village, please? See if you can get the buildings and yards and such all down to the same scale, that will be important for me to know. I’ll be back in a moment.”
He nods and sits down at the table, head bent over and lower lip clenched between his teeth in concentration.
Momo slips into her bedroom and closes the door most of the way. Then, with a thought, she pulls up her stat window and selects Green Finger.
Green Finger - Level 5 Proficiency in Gardening
Current Perks:
Passive - Improved health of all green growing things within 12 feet diameter.
Active - Up You Pop (Grade 3) : Plants with maximum height of 60 inches can grow without seeds
Stem Repair : Heal damage to plants due to weather or incompetency.
Water Water Everywhere : Plants can pull moisture from the air instead of needing watered.
Available at Level 6:
Passive - Shrub Whisperer: Ability to understand and communicate with some plants.
Active - No new active skills at Level 6
“Hmmm,” she murmurs, tapping on Up You Pop (Grade 3) and reading its description closely. “It doesn’t specify...”
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When she explains to Allard her plan, he doesn’t question her like she hopes he will. He nods and gives her a look so full of trust that she has to look away. “I’m sure it will work. What do you need me to do?”
They talk things over while the storm moves in, the breeze coming through the window cool and heavy with the smell of copper. When the rain comes it is heavy, and so thick they can’t make out the well just steps away from the front door. Momo closes the shutters and lights the lamp on her mantle. It isn’t the first time that Allard has had to camp out on her living room floor, and he gets the stack of blankets from the chest against the wall with practiced ease.
There is no way that he will be able to see a biter through the deluge, especially if it is a smaller one like a goblin. He never argued with Momo if she told him to stay put for his safety during the few summer storms that have pounded the homes over the weeks. Although he looks embarrassed at times when she takes on the biters that wander into the village he hasn’t tried to insist he can take care of things or that she should just sit back while he does the work of protecting them. It is a nice change from the men in her life back in her old world, but at times it's unsettling how quickly he came to rely on her.
Once this wall is built, I’ll sit back and relax. Occupy myself with my garden. If I can get both my skills to six I can start leveling all the others. That cooking one sounds fun! I have to find something good to do with those soybeans and lima beans. She lays on her back that night, staring at the ceiling and listening to the rain beating on the roof tiles. We need the protein without a meat source here, but it is so boring eating plain beans. I wish we could check the river that the villagers fished from, and see if I can purify that meat, but Allard says it is a good half-hour walk north of here.
She rolls over, tucking her arm underneath her pillow. Whatever, I’ll think about it in the morning. Going to have to start purifying that soil, and I’ll need plenty of breaks. Maybe it won’t hurt to plan ahead a bit more. Can’t be relaxed all day unless things are set up ahead of time.
The next morning, Momo walks around the village and checks for any undead visitors. Then she gives the all-clear and Allard follows behind to check the houses for damage from the storm. They spend an hour cleaning things up the old-fashioned way, with physical labor, then Allard dashes into his home and fills a leather water canteen from the bucket sitting just inside his door before meeting Momo outside. They walk to the corner of her backyard and Allard walks straight out, away from the village, counts off ten paces then stops.
“Does this look far enough?” He turns and jumps when he sees Momo within arm’s reach. “I didn’t hear you come up,” he says, patting his chest and laughing awkwardly.
Momo looks back toward the village and down at the spot where he is standing. “I think that is far enough. Thirty feet from the farthest parts of the yards all the way around. Something tells me we will need the space.”
He looks at her, his eyes sparkling. “You have the skill of prescience?”
“No, I have the skill of living a long time and learning when things might go wrong,” she says, smiling to soften the blow to his hero-worship. “Now you start walking that way and drag this shovel down hard in the dirt as you go to mark a line for me. The ground is soft from the rain so it should be easy. Just look at my house, and try to keep yourself that far away from every other house as we get farther along.”
As soon as Allard is ten feet away, Momo takes in a deep breath and activates her Big Spot (Grade 2) as she breathes out. To anyone else, the soil will look the same. Dark brown with a hint of red. But as her magic purifies the badness, she can see a faint sparkle in the square around her. It happened a lot as she was clearing her backyard, but it has been a while and the glimmer makes her smile. It will fade from her sight as well soon enough. Hence the tiny trench Allard is tracing into the dirt. For a moment she considers beginning the plant raising as she purifies. Plans are easy to change when needed. But it isn’t needed, so she shrugs off the thought and moves to the next section.
Lunchtime brings a break in their work, and a flatline to Momo’s mana. A visible line arcs around nearly a quarter of the village. Momo slaps Allard on the back and accepts his offered arm to lean on for the short walk back. As they enter the central area around the well, Allard stops and squints between two houses toward the east.
“What’s wrong,” she asks, leaning toward him to see where he is looking. She raises her hand to shield her eyes from the sun overhead, then curses softly. Before he can answer, she pushes him lightly toward his house. “I can’t see how many there are yet, but they are heading this way. Get in your house and put furniture in front of your doors, do you understand?”
“Yes, Momo. Do you want me to get the ladder first?” He points at the roof of his house, which is between them and the approaching group. Momo nods. They have talked about such an event when more than one or two biters would come at once. Going up on the roof with a bow could be all it took to pick off the undead before they got close enough to be a danger, but if there were too many some might reach the village and she could end up stuck on top with no way to get down safely and horrible line of sight between the houses.
She nods and he takes off, and she heads into her house as well. The bow is gripped in one hand and a quiver looped over one shoulder, and then she is outside again and climbing the ladder to Allard’s roof with only one exhausted grunt. “I’m up,” she calls. “Get inside, and don’t come out unless I yell for you to. I mean it, Allard! Can’t be worrying about you and me at the same time.”
He calls out a “Yes ma’am” and she can hear the thunk of his door, followed by the scrape of his heavy dining table being moved in front of it. A moment later the same sound comes from the opposite side as his backdoor is barricaded as well.
“Alright,” she murmurs, lowering herself to her knees and crawling up the slanted roof to the peak. She pulls herself over the highest point and wiggles around to a seated position. The shapes are closer, and she can see much more clearly than before. One shape is ahead of the others, either a human or an elf by their size. Behind them is a gang of goblins, but they are so similar in size and so densely clumped that she can’t see how many. At least six, no more than ten, she thinks, and double checks her quiver. Twelve arrows were all she could fit safely without taking a chance that pulling one out would cause more to tumble out due to being too tightly packed together. She nocks one and holds the bow lightly in front of her body. It is a recurve style, not a long bow, and she knows she has no chance of hitting anything until they are closer.
“Come on,” she whispers to the figure running ahead. They look tired, their steps beginning to falter as they approach. She readies herself, holding the bow upright and sighting the closes of the pack of biters. The man at the front goes down, and Momo considers trying to run and help him, but if he can’t get up on his own then he will be dead before she can get there. So she activates her secret ability—loud, angry old woman.
“Hey! You ugly bastards! Come bite this!”
She waves her arms and shouts as loud as she can, but the man on the ground isn’t moving and the goblins swarm over him, a pointy-eared moving blanket hiding him from view. Momo swears and lowers her arms, readying the bow again. A little voice in her mind berates her for not doing more, but experience keeps her from listening to it. Much. Several of the biters leave the group, heads tilted up, and then toward the village and the roof where Momo sits. They begin to move forward, faces clearly red even from a distance.
When they are ten feet from the edge of Allard’s backyard, she sights along her first arrow and lets it fly. It thuds into the chest of an older goblin female, who continues shambling forward, uptilted face directed at her. That’s creepy, Momo thinks, readying her next arrow, correcting her aim, and letting it fly. It smacks into the creature’s right eye and the dead female is dead again. Can they see me up here?
One after another, the three to arrive at the village first drop to the ground. The rest of the group has begun to move as well, and Momo sits patiently until they are close enough, then picks them off one by one. Soon, nothing is moving but her. She sits still for a minute, just to make sure that she didn’t miss the brain. Then she shimmies to the ladder still leaning against the roof and climbs down.