Novels2Search

Chapter 9

Lemmin doesn’t look back to see if I’m following as he starts to make his way back towards the farm. The start of the walk goes in silence as we pick our way up the path that borders what looks to be the complete opposite side that I had originally walked my way down. Thick trees that were pretty much stripped off their leaves lined the right side of the path and worked as a border to what looked like swampland beyond. Glad they were avoiding us, I watched as multiple swoop talons moved across our path darting in and out of the bushes on the swamp side and long grass on the side bordering the field.

Other than the sounds of our feet there was an eerie quiet that filled the air. It was almost as if there was a hush of anticipation for whatever shitshow we might be walking into. More than once I felt my muscles clench before making me jump back from what ended up being a random woodland creature or bird.

Adding to my growing catalog of this world’s creatures was a bright green and yellow bird with legs that were twice as long as its body even when they were tucked in while in flight. It looked like a small kite trailing two thin orange strips of fabric. Sending a question about the bird to Smeed had him replying with their name, Trestle. He had mentioned the name came from the local tall Tressle flowers they were known to pollinate.

Another creature that crossed our path had me yelping before I had a chance to help myself as its dark red body darted across my path. Whatever it was had to have been the size of a corgi and just as wide. This immediately had Lemmin replying from in front of me, “Aye mate, it’s only a wee clot rat. You travelers are a skittery bunch.”

I tried to look to where the thing ran into the bushes on the opposite side of the road before replying to Lemmin, “What the hell was that? It almost got my leg.”

As Lemmin turns, I can feel the weight of his eyes penetrating every fiber of my being and I almost shrink back as he advances on me, “Almost got you? Quit yer whinging, mate. Their mouths can barely open wide enough to fit it on you, let alone do it enough to cause any damage.” He doesn’t reply and just turns back towards the road and starts walking again.

I listen to the underbrush continue to move as the large animal makes its way away from the road. Knowing full well Smeed probably made these critters to kill in some messed up way, I ready my machete for a charged strike.

Smeed seems to reply to my thoughts and sends to me, “He was right Dev, Clot rats are only dangerous to those creatures that are smaller than them. Something as big as you stomping around had them scattering off into the surrounding woodland.”

I grumble under my breath before replying, “I don’t exactly trust your thoughts on what might or might not be dangerous to me. If I remember correctly, you said those same words right before the sloth attacked me.”

“Dev, these are mere,” Smeed began to say as one of the bastards ran out a few feet in front of me.

The machete strikes and connects with a somewhat satisfying crunch that sends the thing flying in an arch into the swampland to our right. I didn’t need to look at my action log to know that I had at least taken a good chunk of that thing’s health away. I didn’t have time to brag as another seemed to come from the field side to avenge his friend. A charged backward slash with my machete created a smooth cross slash that was followed by my right arm smashing down on its head with Smeed.

The motion pulls at my wound and I begin to wince some. I was glad to see that the skin looked to be healing if not all the way there yet. I hear Lemmin begin to laugh from behind me.

“Whatcha mate?” Lemmin stood still laughing at me, “Ya all piss and vinegar for what, a bunch of ashen rodents?”

Feeling slightly embarrassed I shrug looking down at my weapon just as I hear some more noise coming from both the swamp side and the field side. I prepared both my arms for charged hits hoping that it’d work and wait.

The swampside clodrat that I had launched that way slowly made its way to the edge of the path looking at me. It’s then that the one from the field’s movements begins to get closer which gets my attention in that direction just as Lemmin’s laughter starts anew.

“Gettum bruv, you’ve gone and raised their hackles.” Lemmin barely gets out through his extremely deep laughter.

Ignoring his bullshit I look for an overhand swipe on the field side rat and focus on killing it with a few swift back-and-forth slashes just as the swampside clodrat ran up to me rearing onto its hindlegs. I had just enough time to see its mouth open vertically in a way that almost hurt my eyes as I saw its mouth covered with 2 rows of extremely small teeth that worked in a slight spiral towards the back of its throat. As I moved to close the gap and charge attack the thing it was flattened by a large piece of wood. Jumping back I see that it’s a smiling Lemmin with his large club in his hand.

He stands there shaking his head, “For a traveler, ya ain’t bad mate. Ain’t bad at all.”

The slap he gives me makes me take a step to balance and I reply, “Thanks for watching my back.”

“Mama woulda killed me if I told her I sunk another traveler in the swamp.” He looks off at that side of the path before sighing. “Let’s be off.” I can hear him give a slight laugh as he turns to start walking. I hope that means it’s a joke.

I look down at the animals and I’m tempted to take one with me to cook with. Realizing that this might be the equivalent of roadkill I instead start back on the path. Lemmin’s long steps had me taking two quick short steps for each of his strides to keep up. Once back in stride with him, I call over, “So your family, does it make any products with that corn you work with?”

He tosses his large club onto his shoulder and looks down at me, “Whatcha mean, we plant and reap corn. What else we supposed to do?.”

“I don’t know, where I’m from we make things like corn syrup, tortillas, and even a form of gas is made using corn.” I stop talking as I see my words failing to get passed the blank stare now glazing Lemmin’s face.

“Gas? What’s that?” He replies as he stops in his steps staring down at me.

“Sorry, may not be something you guys have,” I quickly change the subject, “Is there anyone else on the farm besides you, Mom and Priss?” I ask as I begin to try to keep pace with his long strides.

He scratches his head before replying, “Aye, there’s also Unc Jemmin and Auntie Maglin but they have their place a wee bit off. Pa ain't no longer with us.” He seems to cut himself off.

Feeling the silence stretch between us I try to console him, “Sorry to hear that.”

“You weren’t the one that gave him the Withers. Just a part of life.” While I could hear the slight strain in his voice and felt my curiosity piqued at the word ‘withers’ I instead continued talking about the farm.

“So, you ever have popcorn?” I awkwardly try to change the subject back.

“Popcorn? I’m guessing that’s some kind of food. Nah, nothing like that. But yea there are other dishes we make if you need an ashen list, skillet cake, corn loaf, corn stew, sweet corn, corn milk, and on special occasions, Ma even makes some of her corn pudding which gets me mouth watering just thinking of it.” He makes a literal sucking at his mouth as if the spit was about to drop out of it.

“Those sound good,” I reply as my stomach starts grumbling despite the gross sound Lemmin had made. “You think Miss Proppa might be able to get us some of that when we get back?” I ask hoping he didn’t hear the distinct sound of my belly.

“She told ya to call her Mama. And yeah, do yer job right and she’ll no doubt have a bit of nosh for ya.” He replies while digging into the bag that was slung over his shoulder. He finally fishes out something wrapped in a white cloth and passes it to me. “I thought you’d be needy. Have a bit of me ma’s trail bar.”

He followed up with something that sounded like, ‘Ruddy Travelers’ under his breath but I chose to ignore it and take the bar. “Thanks Lemmin.” He’s already moving away at a quicker pace so I just take the time to start peeling back the folds of the cloth. I quickly reveal a reddish puck that resembled one of those red-dyed or sprinkled sugar cookies during the holidays. Trying to pinch off a corner, my fingers slip off the puck’s seemingly impervious surface. I give it a couple more tries before bringing it to my lips with an attempt to bite down on the thing. It begins to pull apart slowly with a small piece falling into my mouth. I pull out the puck and see that only the smallest of bits have come off with my struggle.

I once again hear sound coming up from behind us so I work to catch up with Lemmin’s inhuman strides. As I do so I let the corn puck piece dissolve in my mouth and savor the sticky sweet yet slightly spicy taste of the dough. It reminded me of some of the Mexican lollipops that I’d get from the bodegas around my apartment. The cake had an almost numbing sensation hitting my tongue as the spice quickly followed the initial dose of sweetness. Letting the piece move around my mouth I let my tongue continue tasting the layers of flavor.

Wanting to break it apart I bite down and let my teeth begin to sink into the dough hoping that would help. This backfires as I almost get a lock jaw when it clings to both my upper and bottom teeth. I try to pull my teeth apart and I can barely do so. It reminds me of back when I used to press Jolly Ranchers down between my teeth as a kid. I try to use my tongue to pry my teeth apart while attempting not to panic.

“You’re best to not bite down on that and just sort of suck on it. While nutritious, they also have quite a lot of sugar that seeps out when baked like that. Due to the particular flavor it has, not many people partake in its consumption. ” I continue to struggle so he continues. “You can still talk to me, you know. Also, just let your saliva dissolve the hold and you should be fine.”

“Yes, I know I can frickin’ talk to you. I’m too busy working on this damn sugary cement keeping my mouth closed.” I sent it to him, completely forgetting I could do so but not admitting that fact to him.

“Well now that you’ve tried something made from the Peppercorn, what do you think?” Smeed replied.

My teeth and tongue continue to work together to free my jaw replying to Smeed with, “I do like the flavor. But I’d have to taste the corn by itself to know the essence of the flavor but so far it’s reminded me of Mexican tastes overall. If anything, I’d like to try more of her food or even make something myself.”

Smeed’s proper accent suddenly takes on Lemmin’s lilt, “Alright, mate, if ya play things square ya might just get a nibble of me ma’s corn. But if keep with the tongue waggin' I’ll have to give ya a right bollocking.”

“What the hell was that? He doesn’t even sound like that,” I send back. Relaxing my jaw I try to let my mouth naturally pull apart. While it continues to dissolve I savor the sweet and savory snack holding my mouth hostage.

I hear noise begin to come at me from the side of the road and I yelp before I realize it. Lemmin seems to react with me, minus my high-pitched squeal. Before either of us know it a green blur snatches the cake from my hand and begins to make its way back into the crops from the side of the road. The blur stops in its tracks as Lemmin yells, “Prissibel Proppa, what yer doin’ ya field mouse?”

Loosening her grip on the tunic she was holding to free up her leg’s movement she looked up at her brother. “Nothing,” she tries to answer innocently. Realizing he wasn’t taking that she continues, “Well, he ain't likes them none anyways.”

My teeth give an audible crack as they’re pulled apart finally releasing me from the bar’s grip. “What, they’re great?” Letting the cracks continue I close my mouth on the sugared dough. The siblings give me carbon-copied headshakes. “But you can have it.”

“Priss, I’m being serious. Why are you out here? These things ain’t nothin' to shake your nose at. They’ll take it right off,” he makes a motion of snatching at her nose. “It’s hard enough I got this prairie shite to take care of, it'll be twice as hard with you nipping at my heels.”

She looks crestfallen before clenching her fists and looking back up at Lemmin, “I am a Proppa and Proppas don’t stand down.” She holds out her chest in an almost comic book hero pose that gives me a smile. Two small knives are suddenly in her hands being pulled out from who knows where on her person. “I also have my blades at my side.”

They’re adorable and I can’t help but laugh out loud. Her reply is spinning both knives in her hands before brandishing them in my direction, “OK, OK, sorry. Those are just cute.”

“We’ll see if those dogs think they’re cute when I’m slicing them down,” Priss says as a blur of swipes comes from her arms.

“Prissibel, you are not going to be slicing anything but some meat at dinner tonight. I need you to get your arse back to the farm before I put my foot in it.” Lemmin said in a tone of voice that was stern but was nowhere near as scary as I’d heard him get.

“But Lem, how am I supposed to take over the farm if I’m forced to hold onto Mama’s tunic all the time while you’re out here doing the real farm stuff.” It brings me a smile to see her standing there looking a mix of adorable and threatening as she waves her knife about.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Who says you’re supposed to take over the farm?” Lemmin crosses his forearms while looking down at Priss.

“Mom’s a girl and so is me so that’s the way it is. Til then it’s your job to teach me all this,” Priss continues waving her knives around to point toward the crops and general farm space surrounding our group.

“I’m not going to repeat myself Priss. You need to go home,” just as he finished, bushes from a few yards out began to rustle making us all turn in the sound’s direction. Lemmin’s hand immediately reaches towards his sister and ushers her behind where he stands.

Taking his lead I pull out Smeed to hold in my right hand and raise the mostly rusty machete-like weapon in my other hand. While keeping an eye out for the area in front of us I also make sure to keep an eye out for our flanks remembering my earlier encounter.

Lemmin looks back towards Priss and me and shakes his head, “I don’t like how close they are to the farm. It was bad enough that they were even on the outskirts of our land.” Two more of the things pop their heads out from the swamp and field sides all staring at us. “Oh bugger me,” He continues before looking down at Priss. “I’m sorry P.”

“No, you’re right, bugger me right in the arse,” Priss repeats before holding out her knives in her same original stance while giving a death stare at the Sloths. The same death stare is mirrored in her brother’s eyes as he stares down after her initial cursing.

Trying not to laugh I attempt to gather the same fierceness this little bit of fury was exuding. She stood slightly crouched with daggers in each hand. Turning from her I keep scanning using Keen Eye to scan our flanks. “Well Lemmin, any thoughts?”

“Honestly mate, I’m halfway tempted to have you run with Priss while I keep them distracted.” He says calling over his shoulder to me.

“I get what you mean but I doubt I’d be able to keep her safe if a few decide to cut off from the rest of this pack.” Almost to help with my point I hear more than see a fourth form begin to move towards us within the swampier land to our right. Pointing off towards that direction with Smeed I call out to Lemmin to inform him, “I think we might have another out there somewhere.”

“Ain’t that a right bit of dung in my soup.” Lemmin curses as he looks from the three visible Sloths and the fourth hidden to our side. “I hope you have some skills to get us through this as it looks like it’s time for a bit of a brawl.” As an answer, his sister prepares herself with a sneer.

Formulating an idea I send over to Smeed, “Hey, do you think you can find that thing off to our right if I throw you in that direction.”

There’s a pause before Smeed answers which shows me he’s putting thought into it, “Well, I can’t promise but judging from earlier I should be able to use the momentum to guide my way towards them so at least point me in the right direction.”

Sending my answer, “Yeah, something tells me this sick feeling is for a reason.” I begin to look out making sure where I feel the thing coming from. Hoping to hide my movement I position my arm underhanded with Smeed and charge up my shot. Calling out loud to Lemmin I tell him my thoughts, “When you’re ready, I’m going to go for this one out in the swamp. I may be able to at least hit it for a good attack. My hope is that’ll bide our time for the rest of them.

“That sounds like a good first shot if I’ve ever heard one. Think we should rush 'em after?” Lemmin replies in a low growl. As he speaks the wood of his club seems to creak between where his two large hands hold it.

“Maybe us defending like this will make a better route to take. Distance may be our ally in our case right now.” I reply looking over at the other three Sloths. Thinking of my encounter earlier, “It almost seems like they’re trying to pull us out in the open like that. Who knows if there might be more of them? No right here seems best.”

“Mate, I don’t think you’ve noticed but none of us have anything worth a shyte at range,” Lemmin replies looking out at the pack.

Looking at the club then at the daggers I sigh. “Yeah, you’re right, she might be able to toss them. Let’s wing it, I’m going to just start hitting those bastards and you watch my back. Call out anything you see changing.” Looking at Priss’ small form gripping onto her daggers. “Keeping her safe is all that matters.”

“Sounds like a right ashen plan to me.” He turns toward the pack and both he and Priss take a wide stance facing the onslaught.

“I’ve got the ugly one,” Priss says with her version of the Proppa snarl.

There’s a mental confirmation that passes between Smeed and me before I call out to the team around me, “Let’s do this.” I release my underhand charged shot and Smeed flies out into the wilderness to my right, flaming up just as he did so. The flames burnt a neat oval shape as it flew through the outlining trees. Knowing I have only seconds to move again I charge up another throw, this time with my machete, and as the Sloths begin to react I release my charged throw at the Sloth to my right and it flies towards its body.

Unfortunately, the path of the machete is slightly off and flies just past the sloth, making the startled animal veer towards the path and ramming into the lead sloth that was barreled over by the sudden hit.

“Draw me back!” I hear Smeed yell into my head. Summoning him back I look over the battlefield placing where everyone was at. The two on the far left were snapping at each other but still advancing with the visible one coming out of the trees on the right to advance on us. “I ended up giving it a glancing blow that let me fly back up into the air to hit it again. Toss me back out.” Out of instinct I follow Smeed’s instruction and hold him back for a Power Throw.

“Blessed shyte mate, no wonder you didn’t want to sell me that thing.” Lemmin’s eyes almost glimmer as he stares at Smeed with hunger in his eyes.

I can’t help but give Smeed a spin in my hand, “Sorry man, he’s all mine.” I draw my arm back and release Smeed towards the animal he had already hit.

“He?” Lemmin questions before moving a few feet to swipe at the Sloth that had finally reached us on the right. I circled to Lemmin’s left to fully cover Priss as Lemmin worked on defending us on the opposite side.

After finally settling whatever conflict between them, the two Sloths on the road began a quicker lopping walk towards us that had me bracing myself. A loud howl is heard from our right and I use Smeed’s no doubt successful hit to pull back and launch another machete throw using a horizontal toss aimed between where the two sloths lopped towards us. While one can dodge away from the tossed weapon, the other is hit firmly in his chest and howls as the machete gives a solid slice with its tip as it spins past the Sloth’s form. I instinctively pull both the machete and Smeed into my hands one after the other.

Smeed almost sounds breathless as he sends to me, “I was giving it a good burn with my spell. It should be close to death from what I can see. Dev don’t forget your mana consumption.”

Nodding my head I instead choose to use a normal throw with Smeed, before releasing him I answer, “Fine, take him out. This’ll be a regular toss so burn the shit out of him.” I don’t wait for an answer and launch Smeed so I can focus on the two forms heading my way. Looking up I notice that there is now only one of the untouched sloths still making its way towards us. Lemmin is still expertly beating the shit out of the sloth he’s facing while keeping an eye on Priss at the same time.

I will give it to the little gal, she was adding her damage to the fight with frequent and sure swipes made whenever the thing attempted an attack. As each scooped paw got within her reach, one or both of her small daggers moved to meet them before they could hit her brother. In a way, she was almost acting like a deterrent to the sloth who pulled back their attack as it was met with her opposition. Her brother took every advantage of the distractions to rain down his bone-crunching hits that filled the air with their impact.

“Bring me home Dev,” As I’m launching the machete again I pull Smeed back to my hand.

“Good, I may need your help here.” Almost to emphasize this fact the machete doesn’t even get near the untouched sloth. Charging up my throw I release Smeed towards the advancing beast. At the same time, the lead Sloth launches one of its spit attacks at our group. Smeed deftly steers himself towards the incoming projectile and bats it away from our group’s general direction.

A digitized yell fills my head from Smeed’s form just as the projectile hits his form. It takes all my resolve not to cover my ears. Smeed stops his yell to get out, “Sorry, as soon as I hit Dev, summon me back.”

A sickening crunch fills the air as Smeed’s flaming hit connects with the skull of the sloth. The attack’s flames immediately begin to blacken the orange and gold fur surrounding one of the animal’s eyes. As I summon Smeed to my hand I see the flames begin to crawl down the thing’s head as it attempts to paw at the flames to put them out. I think down to him, “You ok buddy?”

“That acid, it was completely covering my surface and burning me the whole time. It had like extra damage somehow.” Smeed says in a worried voice.

As I hear the final cries from a beast to my right I see Lemmin move towards the one in front of us and position Priss behind himself again. “I got this one, I don’t know where that other bastard went to.”

I circle with my back to the both of them scanning the sides of the road. “Sounds good to me. I gotta say that you two make one hell of a team.”

“Ai mate, let’s not go congratulating each other just yet. There’s at least one we don’t know about and,” Lemmin’s words are cut off as the sloth they were facing begins to run at them jaws wide open.

My eyes are drawn their way for a few seconds only for me to instinctively feel the need to jump back from the area of the field on our left. Smeed is in my hand to both block and smash into the thing about to attack me. I’m glad Smeed turns on his flame just as I connect with its head. Drawing my left arm back using my charged-up strike with my machete.

Before I can fully charge I feel the attack cancel. I remember Smeed’s mana comment and instead, just strike down as hard as I can onto the beast’s neck. The horrible feel and look of the impact of both my attacks on the thing doesn’t phase me and part of me worries at how easy it is getting to ignore the mayhem I am surrounded by daily.

I don’t have time to let that sink in as the thing begins to rear its head back, no doubt reading its spit attack. As the sloth rears up I see that it has a white oval bit of fir that went from its lower chest down its belly. Using the oval as my target I summoned my agility to make a quick downward slice across that length and followed it up with another cross swipe to fully open the poor thing's gut. The thing doesn’t finish his spitting motion and instead paws at its belly, worsening the already rough wound. It’s on its side within seconds freeing me to look over at the Proppa Duo.

The fight doesn’t seem to be going well. This larger sloth seemed to be the main one as it was a good bit taller than the ones I had encountered earlier. While Lemmin was doing a great job of hitting the thing. His hits only seemed to be against the thing's strong legs as he was smart enough to keep his head away from the large club. I pull up my action log hoping my mana has regenerated.

_________________________

You attack Prarie Dog II with Rusted Carving Knife for 21 hp.

You attack Prarie Dog II with Rusted Carving Knife for 17 hp.

Prarie Dog II has died.

You have gained 57 XP.

_________________________

I realize I didn’t set it up right at the screen quickly changes to the view I need but shows a big fat zero for mana. As I give another sigh I advance on their fight and have to move several feet to get a good view of the main beast. Sending an impulse to Smeed before throwing him, I watch as the beast anticipates my toss and deftly dodges Smeed’s hit.

Seemingly glad for me joining in on the action, Lemmin moves to the things side attempting to maybe hamstring him. I see the thing focus on Priss’ temporarily exposed form and begin to do the telltale drawback of its head. Knowing the acid attack was on its way I pulled back Smeed to my hand and tried to start to run between where Pris stood. Knowing I couldn’t make it I jumped while tossing Smeed at where the projectile would be coming from hoping my body would at least protect Priss.

As I’m in the air I can hear the splat of Smeed hitting the incoming projectile and the low pop as his flames ignited and moved to connect with the Sloth’s head. I feel some of the liquid hit my forearms and don’t have time to wince before I hit the ground just in front of Priss’ feet. Summoning Smeed to my hands I look over at the sloth.

While Smeed’s attack had started a large fire across the animal’s hide, the thing just didn’t seem fazed as it shook its head to extinguish the flames before they caught too much. I toss Smeed again from where I lay just before trying to get to my feet.

As I’m finally up I hear Lemmin’s deep voice call out from me, “My eye is blighted. It fucking took me eye.”

I looked over to Lemmin to see him holding his eye as whisps of smoke oozed out from his fingers the air was filled with a distinct sizzling that I remembered from earlier. Seeing his injury I gave a guttural yell that deafened my ears as I summoned Smeed back and advanced on the thing with my arms at the ready.

Whether it’s from the yell or the blood now pumping extra fast in my veins, the world goes completely silent. I send Smeed an idea while I get the thing’s attention with a swipe of my carving knife. The irony of my blade carving into the thing’s shoulder isn’t lost on me as I repeat the process by both summoning Smeed back and cutting at the animal’s head as it turned it my way.

Using Smeed to impact the thing's heavy paw I jump back looking over to where Lemmin held his eye. “You ok?”

“I will be, just rip him a new arsehole for me?” Lemmin called from where he gasped. While I could feel her hands gripping at my pants as if wanting to move, Priss thankfully stayed by my side.

When I heard his reply, I was already on my way to repeating my attacks on the thing. This time using Smeed to stun the sloth’s head and followed up with a cross swipe at its front legs. It collapses under its weight as both my attacks seem to be combining to great effect.

Getting an idea I think to Smeed, “When I tell you to, flame on.”

“What am I, Johnny Storm?” Smeed asks from my hand.

Wondering why my brother was feeding Smeed thirdrate Marvel superhero comics I look at the thing’s mouth and try to time my next attack with its movement. When the opportunity opens I give a cross slice on the thing's mouth with my knife with successive slices at its side when its mouth opens wide. I take the opportunity to shove Smeed into the thing’s overly stretched mouth and yell, “NOW.”

Rather than Smeed shooting his flame from one surface, he fired it across his whole form. The instant blaze growled out of the sloth’s mouth, then his nose, and eventually lit the whole head on fire. Smeed cleared his throat from where he was still in the thing’s mouth and I recalled him.

Before I have a chance to reply to Smeed I hear Lemmin’s groans coming from my side and I kneel by his side. Gripping Smeed I ask him to fill it with water, hold Lemmin’s hand, and guide it to the pan before speaking, “Please use this to flush the wound.”

Lemmin looks up at me and I finally see the full extent of the sloth’s attack. A splash-shaped mark of raw white flesh was still crackling as he gave low long breaths. He absently uses his large hands to place water onto the wounds. I check my action log just to make sure we’re in the clear.

_________________________

Party Member: Lemmin attacks Prarie Dog Alpha with Fence Post for 13 hp.

You attack Prarie Dog Alpha with Runic Construct for 19 hp.

You critically attack Prarie Dog Alpha with Runic Construct for 29 hp.

Runic Construct uses Fire on Prarie Dog Alpha for 9 hp.

Prarie Dog Alpha has died.

You have gained 79 xp.

_________________________

Finally feeling like I can relax I sit down on my ass next to where Lemmin continued to flush his eyes off. I can see Priss walk up to her brother’s form and pat his back with her small hand. She continues to do so as her other hand reaches into his bag and pulls out the same salve that they had given me for my arm.

Gliding my hands through my hair I let my shoulders sink before letting out a long and slow sigh of relief. Seeking some peace, I close my eyes for a second to relax. Lemmin’s yells instantly bring me back to attention as Priss starts to yell along with him.