As we made our way past the fields on the south side of the town I could tell Shara and Grant were getting more and more tense with every step they took. Damn, it’s only a trip into the woods full of man-eating monsters guys no need to be on edge. Finally at the edge of the fields Shara turned around and gave me instructions.
“Alright Nina, stay behind me and Grant. If you hear or see anything that you don’t know with one hundred percent certainty is not a monster it should be treated as such. Got it?” Shara asks
“Yep, so what should we expect going in?” I ask
“At first we will look for the Halix roots, as we get deeper into the forest we'll start killing goblins. We only need five so let’s look for loners then get out. Nina, make sure you double listen to me because this is very important. If you see a group of three or more gobins, do not attack it! The little buggers form hunting parties and a few wait while the rest go off looking for prey. If you attack that group and they call the rest back and you will get surrounded by a dozen plus of the buggers. Lone goblins and pairs are fair game tho, anything larger than that just try to sneak away.” Shara says.
“Good to know. So shall we find some herbs?” I ask.
“Lets go” Grant says.
We step off the road and shuffle into the woods in a line, Grant in the front, Shara in the middle, and myself in the back. The woods are as dark and cluttered as I remember it. Despite the fact that the canopy is only twenty feet above my head, its thickness ensures only minimal light manages to find it’s way to the ground. The light is still plenty to see and fight by after your eyes adjust, but still low enough to give that eerie feeling while walking through. Hopefully as the sun rises more light will penetrate the canopy and it won’t be as spooky. Hmm, I wonder how many goblins we will run into down here, might turn into a horror movie if there is enough of the buggers.
“Hey Shara, how many goblins should I expect to see?” I ask.
“Quite a few, they are most active around dawn and dusk so that’s when the hunting parties are out the most.” Shara says.
Good to know. As we walk we hear quite a few spooky noises here and there, stick snapping, bird cawing, the usual spooky stuff. After a few minutes of walking Grant noticed something and changed course to a bush growing within one of the few streams of light breaking through the canopy.
“Here, this should be what we are looking for.” Grant says.
We approach what might be the most nondescript bush I have ever seen. It’s a short, green bush that only comes up to about my knees. Looking more closely I get a positive identification on the shrubbery.
Halix Bush: A bush found in well lit areas of temperate forests. While the bush itself has no unique properties aside from mana concentration the root ball is high in life magic and promotes healing when consumed.
Wait, why do I know that this is a Halix bush, I’ve never seen one before. Unless maybe I have one on my network back at camp. I haven’t checked the area around my camp very well, which in hindsight was a dumb thing. I’ll have to give the area within my network a once over when I get back to the pod today.
“This is a Halix bush, it looks like the most unassuming plant you could ever find in the forest. That makes it actually easy to find once you know what to look for. The bush itself is useless, it’s the root underneath we want.” Grant says.
With that Grant pulls a primitive metal trowel out of his bag and proceeds to start moving dirt until he finds a root. Then he starts excavating more until a large section of root ball is exposed. Then using the trowel he cuts away most of the roots, leaving only a sliver of the original root ball remaining. He holds up a portion of the root ball for me to see before stuffing it into his sack along with his trowel.
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Halix Root: The root of a Halix Bush found in temperate forests. While the bush itself has no unique properties aside from mana concentration the root ball is high in life magic and promotes healing when consumed.
“Huh, didn’t think we would actually find one today. That’s going to be a nice bit of extra coin to take home. I left some of the roots so we can come back in a few days and harvest it again, assuming some dumbass doesn’t rip it out of the ground.” Grant says.
“What’s that supposed to mean, and won’t the plant die with that many of its roots missing?” I ask.
“Smart people keep tabs on where these bushes are and harvest them every few days for easy coin. Halix Bushes are full of life magic and regrow easily as long as you leave enough of the plant alive for it to regrow from. Unfortunately some people are so greedy they just rip the whole bush up or dig out all the roots, leaving nothing to regrow.” Grant says in an annoyed tone.
“So we are going to leave this one and check it again in a few days then?” I ask.
“That's the plan, unless some one trashes it.” Grant says.
“Cool, so what next?” I ask.
“We go looking for more plants and smack any lone goblins we find.” Grant says.
With that we file off into the forest once again, trudging along between the trees as the canopy and underbrush become thicker and thicker. Strange, shouldn’t the underbrush become lesser as the canopy thickens, because of less light? Just another backwards thing on this strange new plant.
After a few minutes of walking I see a familiar plant off to my left, one with orange berries.
“Hey, you said we want Corso berries too, right?” I ask.
“Yea, do you see some?” Shara asks?
“Over to our left.” I say while pointing at the bush in question.
“Good eye. Let's pick it clean.” Grant says.
Grant changes course and the rest of our little column follows suit over to the bush. Man, some real exciting activities we got going on today. Once we get to the bush Grant starts taking the berries off and putting them in a small bag he got out of a pouch on his hip. I decide to keep watch with Shara because honestly I don’t need a step by step on how to pull berries off a bush.
Once he is done he stands up and we resume our little march through the forest. After about an hour we have collected one more Halix bush and three more Corso bushes, we encounter our first goblins.
“Shhhh, goblins. Nina, come look at them before they spot us.” Grant says in a hushed voice.
I shuffle past Shara and crouch down next to Grant, who is now hiding behind a bush and peering out into a clearing. Looking into the clearing myself I see what I can only describe as the three ugliest little fuckers I have ever seen in my entire two lives. The green little midgets look like deformed children, except somehow their skin is super wrinkly like an old person. Their ears are so long and malformed it looks like someone shoved them into a blender on low then reassembled them from memory. And their faces, oh god their faces are hideous, long noses with god knows how many pimples are attached to faces that look like someone tried to use a polishing wheel without the polish on them but stopped halfway through. I’m insulted that I have to share skin color with those ugly abominations, those are faces not even a mother could love.
Goblin (Level 15 Hunter)
Goblin (Level 21 Tracker)
Goblin (Level 17 Butcher)
“Let’s avoid them. That is going to be the main group, if we attack them they will call the rest back and we will be swarmed.” Grant whispers.
Just as we start to back away we hear a crack from behind us. We turn around just in time to see a goblin carrying what looks like a rabbit over its shoulder. Before I can react Grant lunges forward and attempts to take the ugly bugger’s head off and Shara fires an arrow from her bow. Unfortunately the goblin ducks the swing and only gets nicked in the arm by the arrow. I finally register what is going on and move to smash the ugly thing’s skull in but it shrieks before I can get to it. It falls to the ground screeching in some incoherent language and tries to crawl away. Me and Grant charge the downed creature and finish it off. Grant plants his sword in the back of the monster, pinning it to the ground while I come around the side and club it in the side of the head with my mace. The first hit doesn’t kill it, so I keep swinging, sending blood splattering all over myself and the surrounding area until I get the kill notification.
Defeated: Goblin (Level 16 hunter)
+110 EXP
*Ding* You have leveled up!
Before I can enjoy the fruits of my new level the sound of a loud war horn blares from behind us, further disturbing the tranquility of the forest.
“Shit, run!” Grant screams.
Well, I should have known it was going to be a shit day.