From the center of Gronwood the roads extended from the square in the cardinal directions. Perpendicular roads branched from the main roads to form a grid of two columns and four rows, with the town square in the center. Over the next week, Nate and Fuzzball planted small gardens around the town in each of the grid squares.
The rat-moles didn't reach Fuzzball's primary garden that day. Nate ran from square to square, finding the top row gardens had been hit. After a day to fix the damage, Fuzzball took the western grid column. Nate climbed atop some rubble in his square so that he could remain out of sight and within view of the lure garden.
“Need some help!” Fuzzball called over the chat system.
Sounds of combat came from Fuzzball's sector just as Nate had been starting to doze off. He leapt off the rubble, summoned his short bow, and ran to help.
Fuzzball was next to the still ruined well in the center of his sector, writhing within a mound of rat-moles, flinging them away as fast as they were clambering over him, clawing and biting. His fur was thick, though, and few dealt any perceptible damage.
But there were not just a few.
Translucent arrows pierced through two or three at a time as Nate shot into the mass that surrounded Fuzzball. Several of the flung rat-moles landed near enough to Nate to rush at him instead.
He kicked the nearest one when it leapt at him and punched out with his spiked bow grip at the second. Whistling as he moved, Nate tried to grab the attention of as many of them as possible.
Fuzzball downed a red potion as soon as he got some breathing room, kicking and punching his way out of the swarm.
Nate moved backward, shooting arrows into the rat-moles grouped together, hoping to possibly hit multiple at once.
Running out of arrows before the spell's duration ran out, Nate dropped the bow and recast, scrambling up onto the remains of a particularly large building, hoping to get away.
Rat-moles climbed his legs and bit at his feet. A line of text appeared under his slowly dwindling health bar.
You have contracted Rat-mole Fever. Rat-mole Fever slows natural regens until it is removed. Indomitable Spirit has reduced the duration of this effect.
Nate activated the power of the same name.
Power: Indomitable Spirit. Cooldown 1 hour. When activated, gain minor resistance to non-damaging negative effects for the next minute. Passive: Debuffs and negative effects that take effect have a shorter duration than normal.
He moved and shot, jumped back to the open ground and loosed more arrows. Reaching Fuzzball, he loosed his last arrows. His magic regen had been slowed by the rat-moles, so he couldn't summon his bow again. So he drew his steelbeak ax and set to work. His active power resisted most of the new incoming bites, but his fatigue bar was dropping with each kill.
“Little help here, buddy!” Nate called as he wearily struck down another rat-mole.
Fuzzball gripped the head of the steelbeak ax he'd broken sometime earlier, his vines swinging the axe wide as he cut them down. Their numbers were finally beginning to dwindle, and they worked together to clear out the rest of them.
Nate fell onto his back, not caring about the blood soaked grass coating his armor. “Was that a lot more than usual?”
Fuzzball laid next to him, breathing heavily and looking up at slowly drifting clouds, “You noticed that, too? Thanks for jumping in. That was rough.”
“I thought you didn't want to fight?”
“I don't,” Fuzzball said, “I'd rather tend my garden and brew helpful potions. But, I will fight if doing so protects my friends.”
“Do you mean me or your garden?”
“Yes.”
“I'm glad I found you in that chest.”
“Me too.”
The rat-mole fever lasted for half an hour for Nate and fifteen minutes longer for Fuzzball. While Fuzzball continued to rest, Nate stood and looted all the rat-moles.
“I hope you like rat-mole meat,” he said jovially.
“It's alright. Not my favorite. You got anymore steelbeak meat?”
“I do, but I'm saving it for a more celebratory time. Besides, there's a few more ways to cook rat-mole that we haven't tried yet. Can you make vegetable oil?”
“It's sometimes used in alchemical formulae for various purposes, though I don't have any recipes that call for it. I'll work on that.”
“Yes, please!” Nate sat next to Fuzzball, surveying the trampled garden and surrounding area. “Where did they come from?”
Fuzzball pointed to the well and the ruins Nate had temporarily climbed during the fight. “Most came from the well, but several snuck out from under the debris.”
“Then we've found our next target,” Nate checked his notifications while Fuzzball rested.
Indomitable Spirit has increased from Novice 0 to Novice 5. Total Magic has increased by 5. Progression to Level 8 at 100%. Progression to Level 9 at 8%.
Unarmed has increased from Novice 5 to Novice 6. Total Health increased by 1. Progression to Level 9 at 12%.
He chose his level bonus to be added to his Magic, bringing it up to 157, now over three times his starting amount.
He stood and approached the well, casting Mend as he pushed some of the heavier pieces into place. It cost nearly his entire mana pool, but the well now looked like they had constructed it yesterday. The magic depletion headaches were lasting less and less time as his regeneration rate seemed to be percentage based, not numerical, resulting in his bar surpassing the headache threshold faster the more magic he acquired.
Peeking down into the opening, he saw that a hole was set in the side of the well. “Looks like it's twenty or so feet below the ground surface.”
“How big?”
“I could probably fit through, not you. Maybe there's access from this building we can both take.” Nate put on his Gloves of Lifting and began mending the largest building in this sector of Gronwood.
Fuzzball, after feeling better, helped Nate move heavy debris and hold things in place. This was only viable for the lower sections, and soon Fuzzball left to tend his garden while Nate continued the arduous task of magically mending.
When he reached the section outside of his reach, shards of colored glass previously covered by layers of dust drifted up to rebuild stained glass windows.
“Is this a church?” Nate asked as he fixed window after window. There were sixteen total stained glass windows, each showing a different image. What they all shared was the top of the windows, filled with heavy storm clouds the same color as the cloud room he'd found himself in a little over a month ago.
The symbols on the windows appeared to Nate to be concepts more than deities. A sword crossed with an ax, a creature with 7 legs, innumerable eyes and tooth-lined mouths towering over small buildings, a skull missing the jaw, a rotted hand erupting from the ground, a wristwatch that looked higher tech than what he'd seen back on Earth, and a flowering tree were among them.
He'd fixed the largest, central window last, and it stopped him cold. The same telltale clouds floated at the top, but it showed multiple projectiles falling from the clouds. Most resembled jagged stone of vibrant glowing reds, blues, and purples.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The largest projectile shown was a red-haired naked man wearing a parachute being struck by lightning.
“Shit.”
His work on the temple continued into the evening, revealing several rows of pews and an undamaged podium underneath the rubble. The podium was clearly magical, with runic carvings that had the faint glow that matched the falling jagged rocks from the window, but also had what appeared to be panels, under which he could see gears.
Fuzzball came by to check on him, finding Nate seated in a front pew looking at the window.
“Didn't that happen to you?” Fuzzball asked as he stared at the window.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“What do you think it means?”
“That things are going to get a lot more complicated soon enough. Do you remember anything about this place?”
Fuzzball shook his head, but remembered something, “Why don't you use your Lore Dump spell?”
It'd been a while since he'd used it; he nearly forgot he had it. He hesitated, though.
Fuzzball didn't miss it, “Worried about what you'll learn?”
“Of course. This feels like a turning point, or more likely a point of no return.”
“Well, the temple's not going anywhere. You still have time to think about it. And we need to eat dinner anyway.” He handed Nate a vial of thick translucent green liquid.
“I made you some vegetable oil.”
“Is it supposed to be green?”
“Of course,” Fuzzball said, “it's not green in your world?”
“Usually only olive oil is green! I'm excited to try it!”
They sauteed some rat-mole meat with a vegetable that was a cross between onions and garlic. Nate told Fuzzball about ramps from his world, surprised to find that the name was shared.
“I've always wondered why they had that name,” Nate said between bites.
“Same. Alchemists can use the juice from them in making fatigue recovery potions. Maybe it's tied to that somehow.”
Nate nodded, but a errant thought struck him, “What do you think is drawing in these rat-moles?”
“What do you mean?”
“There had only been one rat-mole when I first got here, then once you started your garden more and more came out the larger the garden.”
“And adding the other gardens for tracking them made the biggest group that we've seen,” Fuzzball added.
“Yeah, like the use of growth magic in town increased the spawning.”
Fuzzball looked at his hands, “Do you think this is what happened in the past? Did I chase away the townsfolk with rat-moles?”
“I don't think so,” Nate said, “The only evidence of large-scale gardening is the ruined farm east of the town square. My guess is there's something underground affecting the rate of rat-mole spawning. Maybe there's a rat-mole queen or some such using ambient magic to make more.”
“We need to stop it from going further.”
“Agreed.”
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Quest: The Temple
Objective: Uncover the source of the rat-mole infestation.
Reward: Growth Orb (Novice).
Accept? Yes No.
Nate stood in front of the double doors that lead into the temple.
“Quilly, what's a Growth Orb?” he asked aloud.
Help: Growth Orb data not present. Analyze a growth orb to update this entry.
“That's not very helpful. Okay, fine. Yes.” The quest window closed and he pushed through the doors. He stepped in front of the window with crossed sword and ax. He cast Lore Dump and touched the window.
Stained glass. Made from smelted silica sand or glass-based creatures. Colors are added using powdered dyes or other ingredients. Journal updated.
“Of course it's just the glass,” Nate said, shaking his head. He tried again.
Temple of Fate. Built alongside the rest of Gronwood, the temple was established within which all the known deities are accounted. Constructed using the designs of renowned architect Zifezi Smol.
Nate couldn't help but laugh as he read the final sentence. “But was Smol smol, I wonder?”
He got more of the same info casting on various objects in the temple. Then he reached the pulpit. It stood out from the rest of the temple and seemed both very old and brand new at the same time. The runes etched upon it were a variety of colors, showing the purple of enchantment magic, the orange of conjuration, the blue of alteration, the white of illusion, and the green of divination.
Interface Podium. Type: Artifact. Weight: Varies. Value: Unknown. This podium allows for anyone with an interface ability to access its power.
“Hey, Fuzzball, you got a sec?” Nate said through the chat function.
“Not really, weeding the ramp section.”
“This podium in the temple, which is called the Temple of Fate, by the way, is designed for someone with Interface.”
“So the temple name is fitting for you,” Fuzzball said with a grunt as he stood with a fistful of weeds that he tossed into a box they were using to compost.
“I don't like how coincidental this all feels.”
“Well, you could always not interact with it. After all, we still have much to do to get Gronwood up and running. But you're too curious for that, aren't you?”
“Yep,” Nate said as he paced around the podium.
Fuzzball sighed, “Give me a few minutes.”
Nate was still pacing around the podium when Fuzzball pushed through the entryway chewing on a long stem of a plant Nate didn't know. “I really love the way the light plays with the stained glass.”
“Me too,” Nate said.
“Is this going to trigger more rat-moles?”
“No idea,” Nate maneuvered to the podium to face Fuzzball, who had sat down in the front pew.
The surface at chest level was flat, and Nate gently touched the center. A screen appeared on the surface.
Welcome to an Interface Podium. Would you like a tutorial? Yes No. Nate tapped ‘Yes.’
Welcome to the Interface Podium Tutorial! An Interface Podium can be changed with magic to suit your needs once it is free of external power sources and claimed by you. A conical opening appeared on the surface. You can apply your own magic or use Essence Stones to change the podium. This podium is currently connected to an Astral Collector located in the Gronwood Mine. Essence Stones enchanted via this podium will gain astral-based enchantment until it's disconnected from the Astral Collector.
“What's an Astral Collector?” Fuzzball asked.
“No idea, but if it's in the mine, it's probably the source of our problem.”
“So, we go to the mine.”
Nate nodded, “Yep. But first, let's try this out.” He pulled the Unenchanted Essence Stone from his inventory and set it into the conical space. One of the books on magic they had been reading discussed the process of enchanting, and Nate kept his hand on the gem.
After several moments of focus, he felt a trickle of his raw magic flow into the stone. The clear gemstone began to swirl with darkness and tiny specks of light like a swirling galaxy. He pushed every bit of magic he could into it, his head raging from the drain. He felt exhaustion wash over him and he suddenly felt ravenously hungry and parched. Gripping the edge of the podium to keep from falling, Nate watched as the Essence Stone began to float several inches above the surface.
Essence Stone of Astral Step. Type: Ingredient. Weight: 1 lb. Value: 1000 gold pieces. A worn object enchanted with this stone grants the wearer the Astral Step ability.
Power: Astral Step. Cooldown: None. Cost: 30 magic points per second, 30 fatigue points per second. Effect: Create an astral portal between two points you can see within a number of feet equal to your total Magic. Portal can be set at any angle, but both portals are created at the same angle.
“Ooh, nice! Scaling power with an enchantment ingredient? That's rare, right?”
Fuzzball flipped through one of the books he'd borrowed from Nate. “Scaling power, no. Astral essence stone, yes!”
Tucking away the charged Essence Stone, Nate went through his new messages.
----------------------------------------
Tempeste, the Free City, was nestled in the coastal mountains several hundred miles northwest of Gronwood. The higher up the winding mountainous city, the wealthier its denizens.
Near the top, in a sprawling and opulent suite, a wiry human man with streaks of grey in his hair, a tightly trimmed beard, and heavily enchanted crimson robes sipped a small cup of a glowing yellow substance. As he did so, the wrinkles in his forehead slowly smoothed, age spots fading as he set the cup down and picked up a rectangular translucent tablet, referred to as a ‘slate,’ on which glowed the day's newspaper.
“Four months until the competition,” Zolis muttered. “Grack!”
A small kappan man darted into the chamber, his extended turtle-like head bearing a small blue hat that matched his butler clothing, “Yes, my lord?”
“Any word from Blackwing?”
“No, sir.”
“Damnit! I need to- did you feel that?”
Grack was unflinchingly professional, “Feel what, sir?”
Zolis swiped away his daily reading, tapping an app whose logo was a big purple ‘Z.’ A map of Terra appeared on the slate with a bright blinking light centered on Gronwood.
Without another word Zolis stood and walked brusquely through the door Grack had entered, turning right and walking into the next left-hand door.
His footfalls were sticky as he strode through the crimson covered room. Curved blades hung on the walls, and a Chimeran was suspended from chains in the room's center, completely covered in blood. The Chimeran had the head of a wolf, his left hand a crustacean claw, his right arm was thickly plated like a rhinoceros. The wolf fur spread down to agile, pawed legs, sharp nails adorning each of his toes.
Zolis slapped the creature awake, who instinctively started howling. “Silence.” Though Zolis had not spoken loudly, it pierced through, instantly bringing the blood covered hanger to silence.
“How would you like to be free from this?” The chains rattled with the vigorous nodding. Zolis pulled a wand from a deep pocket of his robe, tapping a sigil on the creature's chest, which glowed with renewed vigor. He cast another spell and a thud accompanied the man falling hard onto the floor.
“I have a task for you.”