Chapter 244

“So she traps people in pits and then robs them?” the mayor said after M'redith had explained why Veronica was tied up outside on a sled.

“Yup. Pretty much,” Norri said with a crooked smile.

The mayor turned to look at Norri as she spoke, “And you...you turn in to a bear? A giant one?” the mayor asked in disbelief. It was hard to blame the mayor. Norri looked downright adorable at times and it could be difficult to picture her as a multi-ton murder-machine.

Norri nodded and grinned. “I do!”

Aiden smiled at the mayor, “She does.”

“Right then,” the mayor said after a moment of visible disbelief as he leaned back in his chair, “I can send a messenger out if you'd like.”

M'redith nodded and a bit of mud dripped off of her armor and fell to the floor. She made an apologetic face which the mayor waved away.

“Don't worry about that, I'll have someone take care of it. We've got bigger issues to worry about than mud on the floor. Do you want to have one of your group stand watch over the prisoner or would you like us to take custody until other arrangements can be made?” the mayor asked in a tired sounding voice. He looked exhausted as if he hadn't slept in a week.

M'redith nodded in thanks, “That'd be great if you would take custody. We can deal more with her after we work out what we can do for your Raintree.”

The mayor smiled and seemed pleased that M'redith sounded so positive about being able to do something for the tree. The mayor was beginning to feel like he had made the right decision in sending for the Guild.

“Done. Anything else that you need?” the mayor asked. The group had barely asked for anything since their arrival. The mayor had expected that they would have swept in, taken charge, and started issuing orders. Instead the Guild group had arrived, been incredibly polite, and made some rather odd requests. Also, they arrived with a prisoner, which he had not been expecting.

So far the mayor was rather pleased with how the Guild group had behaved and began to allow himself to hope that they might fix the situation after all. It'd take a miracle at this point, the mayor thought to himself.

M'redith shook her head. “We're filthy, hungry, and tired, but all of that can wait until we resolve your situation. Can we see the tree now?”

Aiden almost audibly groaned when she said the word 'hungry' but instead kept quiet as he tried to stay on his best behavior in what was, technically, their first real Guild mission.

His stomach however growled obscenely. There were a lot of echoing gurgles and a few liquid like sounds that were a bit disturbing. Everyone turned to stare at Aiden.

“What? She said we're hungry!” he exclaimed with a crooked smile. It wasn't as if Aiden had any actual conscious control over his gastrointestinal system.

The mayor smiled slightly and nodded, “We can head out to the tree in a moment, right after I send out that messenger. I'll see about having food brought to us as well.”

Aiden looked incredibly relieved and the mayor laughed without meaning to.

“Least we can do is feed you. I'll be right back,” the mayor said as he got up out of his chair and left the room for a moment.

“Bring it in guys,” M'redith said and gathered the group around her for a quick meeting. “Ideas?”

Jay nodded, “Well now I know why they sent us for this.”

M'redith startled and stared at Jay. “You do? Mind sharing it with the group?” she asked with a grin.

Jay shrugged, “The mayor said the dungeon only drops the item if the group doesn't know anything about the dungeon. And you can only run it once. Heck, him telling us that alone might have been enough to disqualify us if we had come here first.”

Norri opened her mouth in an o shape and then shut it, smacking her lips as she did so. “Oh,” she said.

“You tell me what other Guild group is possibly going to be willing to go in to a dungeon blind with no information? I'm guessing plenty of groups passed on this mission before they gave it to us.” Jay pointed out.

Aiden made a grumbling noise in the back of his throat, “But, we did it. We got the item,” he pointed out.

Jay grinned, “Yup, we did, because we are awesome. Now does anyone have any idea what to do next?”

M'redith laughed while the others smiled.

“I do,” M'redith answered. “We're going to head to the tree, hammer in the nail we got from the dungeon we just beat, and then hopefully get clean, dry, and fed. Goddess please let us get clean and dry and fed,” M'redith complained but with a smile.

Jay frowned and M'redith's happy expression faded.

“What? What's wrong?” she asked.

Jay shrugged and adjusted the collar of his armor. He'd have to get that adjusted at some point, it was too tight and chafed, although it had fit fine at first.

“I don't think it will be that easy. That item is incredibly powerful and didn't list any conditions or other side effects. Didn't that seem odd to anyone else?” Jay asked.

Aiden nodded, “And the Guild just let us go get it without even saying to hold on to it. Carly would have already used it if we hadn't fought her off.”

Norri sighed and agreed. “There has to be more to it, right?”

Jay smiled. “Yup. So let's just expect something to happen once M'redith hammers in that nail. Don't let your guard down until this whole thing is finished.”

“You know,” Aiden said as he stared at the floor and picked a bit of mud off of his pants, “the Mayor is probably not going to like you pounding a nail in to his beloved tree.”

M'redith made a sour face and frowned, “Great point. If he becomes a problem can you handle him?” she asked Aiden.

Aiden nodded. He had become a rather large man and could easily physically handle the slender mayor. “No problem,” he said with a smile.

The door opened and the mayor walked a step in to the room before he noticed the group gathered close together in discussion and the man stopped in his tracks.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Oh, uh, if you need time I can come back in a moment?” the mayor asked hesitantly. The mayor was in charge but he didn't want to upset these people who could, possibly, solve this entire situation and Goddess wouldn't that just be wonderful, the mayor thought to himself.

M'redith shook her head and waved him in, “Nonsense, this is your office. We were just discussing next steps.”

The mayor nodded but made no motion to sit back down behind his desk. Instead he handed M'redith a heavy hammer with a confused look and a shake of his head before he spoke up further.

“I'm ready to show you to the tree if you're all ready. We can drop your healer off at the clinic on the way if you'd like to help out,” the mayor half stated and half asked M'redith as he looked directly at her while he spoke.

M'redith shook her head, “We're going to stay together until we have the tree taken care of, then we can split up to assist the town.”

The mayor frowned, those were his people out there, suffering, and in need of healing. It seemed silly to not allow Aiden to go directly there and begin healing. People were dying, didn't M'redith know that?

Ok, maybe not dying, but quite badly injured with wounds that wouldn't heal. Nasty wounds, the mayor thought to himself as he tried to think of how to get that across to the Guild woman who stood in front of him.

M'redith watched a series of expressions cross the mayor's face quickly before she paused in thought and then smiled brightly and Jay was reminded of just how pretty M'redith was, even when covered in mud and filth.

“I understand that you are concerned for your people. We are too, but if something happens while we are fixing your tree and we don't have our healer there then everyone would end up in trouble. I'm not saying you can't use Aiden, I'm just saying not right now, ok?” M'redith explained calmly and reasonably but also, quite decisively.

She wasn't arguing, she was just stating how things were going to be.

The mayor frowned and nodded.

“Wait. Are you expecting there to be trouble?” the mayor said and he became visibly anxious.

M'redith shared a look with Jay who nodded and M'redith turned back to the Mayor with a serious expression on her face.

“Yes. I don't know what will happen but when we start we're expecting there to be some sort of response. Otherwise it'd be too easy, wouldn't it?” M'redith said as her smile reappeared.

The mayor smiled in spite of himself before he shook his head and went back to frowning.

“Don't you need to go get the item from the dungeon?” the mayor said with a suspicious look.

“The Guild can be quite efficient. I believe we already have what we need to fix your tree. We do expect some sort of trouble though,” M'redith stressed.

“I'll have to alert the town watch, they're all resting in preparation for the next wave!” the mayor said worriedly. “Shouldn't we wait until after the next wave?” the mayor asked.

Norri and Aiden both frowned while Jay kept a neutral face but shook his head slowly.

M'redith did none of that but instead smiled and nodded.

“I can understand why you might think that's a good idea, but if we do that then your guards will have to deal with the wave and then right after it deal with whatever happens when we try to fix the tree. That sounds really exhausting for them, doesn't it?” M'redith said in a very reasonable tone.

The mayor thought for a moment and had to admit, why, yes – that did make sense when you put it like that.

M'redith wasn't done though.

“Also – if we fix the tree, then there won't be a next wave, right?” M'redith said, still smiling politely.

Goddess is she a smooth talker, Jay thought to himself and smiled for a brief moment.

“So let's handle the tree now?” M'redith asked but her tone of voice made it clear that was what they would be doing.

The mayor was now nodding. “You know more about this sort of thing than I do, I'm sure. Let's go with your plan.”

M'redith smiled widely as if it had all been the mayor's idea. “Let's.”

The group gathered up and followed the mayor out of the office and then the building itself.

It was odd, stepping outside and in to dry weather, rather than a torrential downpour. It felt like they had been either soaked or practically on fire for the majority of the day so far. Raintree had been a nice respite so far.

The day had worn on and between the journey there, the dungeon run, the journey to their next destination, Pit Time With Veronica, and then their long slog to Raintree, well, the day was already almost gone. At least, the daylight was almost gone.

Although the group couldn't see the sun due to the canopy and the rain storm above it, their stomachs all told them that they had not only missed lunch, but were close to dinner time as well.

They picked up Carly outside, who was just standing up against the wall, alone, and waiting for them.

“I turned Veronica over to the town watch – they said they'll take custody of her until we make other arrangements.” Carly immediately explained as if she was afraid of getting in to trouble when she saw M'redith and the rest of the group. The mayor's presence barely registered for her.

M'redith nodded, “Thanks Carly. Why don't you join us, we're headed over to the tree to see about fixing it.” M'redith said quite confidently.

Carly nodded and the mayor smiled widely at the mention of fixing the tree.

The journey to the tree itself did not take long. The entire town was built at the base of it. The tree however was surrounded by a high fence and the entrance to beyond was guarded by a number of town watch members, all armed and armored.

They remained at their posts save for one watch member who approached the mayor. They held a quiet discussion.

“Adventurers Guild group here to fix the tree,” the mayor said confidently and the watch member's face immediately brightened in hope.

“Really?? Can they really do that?” the watch member asked before he could stop himself while the others behind him began to mutter.

M'redith gave him a wide smile and nodded, once. “We're sure going to try.”

“That reminds me,” the mayor said as he interrupted the watch member's conversation. “Send a runner to notify the rest of the watch that we're going to be working on the tree. The Guild group here are expecting some type of response – they don't know what though. So, tell them to get ready for something to happen. I know, but that's the best we've got to go on,” the mayor finished as he saw the watch member's eyebrows raise in confusion at the vague order.

The watch member nodded with wide eyes and called out to the two guards at the gate.

“Open it up! Six going in!” he yelled and one guard opened the gate for the group while another wrote down something on a ledger.

Jay guessed that they were writing down who was going in, so that they could make sure that they all left later on.

“Send a runner for the Watch! Message: Stand to, prepare for imminent event of unknown origin. Have the reserve mobilize and prepare for combat!” the watchman called out and another, younger looking man, ran away from the group, ostensibly to get everyone up and moving and deliver the message.

The gate closed shut behind them and the noises of town life became muffled. The group stood quietly for a moment before M'redith led the group through the underbrush and towards the tree.

There was maybe an acre between the gate and the tree itself, and it was all covered in greenery. The group picked their way carefully through it as they walked towards the massive tree that rose up to the sky in front of them.

After a few minutes walk they finally reached the tree and Jay marveled at it's trunk. It was almost shiny, and an off white color. It looked as if it had once shined but had become a bit dulled over time. Jay wondered what it must have looked like originally, before its defenses began to fail and it became sick from tick attacks.

“What now?” the mayor asked worriedly as he kept looking back and forth around him. It was plain that he would have been far more comfortable in his office, but he hadn't been about to let the group visit the tree without him. The tree was too important to the town to let just anyone muck about with it.

The mayor's eyes widened and his mouth turned down in a horrified frown as M'redith hefted her hammer and motioned towards Jay.

M'redith grinned as she glanced over at Jay. “Still got that nail?”