“Two silvers isn’t much for one vine-pine,” Infamous Biscuit said. “Look around where each of the vine-pines disappeared. There might be other rewards.”

Not entirely sure what he meant, Freya looked down. Hidden under the fading smoke lay two silver coins.

Searching near the other faint wisps of smoke, they found more coins but no other special rewards. Infamous Biscuit gave her half of the money.

One of the dockworkers approached Freya, “Thank you miss, for saving us. You and your partner are quite impressive!”

“Thank you. I’m glad no one was hurt.”

Infamous Biscuit approached them, “Do you know if there are any other vine-pines in this ship’s cargo?”

The dockworker shook his head, “I don’t know anything about the cargo.”

Out of the crowd of workers, a man dressed in business attire came forward. 

[Peolo Guido]

[Lvl 7 Dock Overseer]

“Thank you very much for helping us out,” said the man. “My name is Peolo Guido. I’m the manager of this dock. I was wary about transporting such demons, but my client assured me they would remain dormant. Last week we received one in a shipment, and it didn’t cause any problems, but now I’m worried it might destroy our warehouse.”

Manager Guido took off his hat, “It may be presumptuous of me to ask, but could you please remove it for us?”

Infamous Biscuit and Freya looked at each other. They both nodded.

“Of course,” Infamous Biscuit said. “Please lead us to your warehouse.”

They followed Manager Guido away from the unloading area. Along the way he grabbed a clipboard from a small office overlooking the docks. The warehouse sat on the north end of the docks a little off the water but still a part of the pier. Manager Guido looked through the sheets of paper on his clipboard as they walked.

“The crate with the vine-pine should be in section five in the third row, shelf e.”

“You don’t need to come in. We can find it ourselves,” Infamous Biscuit said. The boards of the pier creaked under his feet as he walked alongside the manager.

“Thank you. Again, I appreciate your help. I don’t want something that dangerous around our goods.”

Once they reached the warehouse, Manager Guido unlocked the door and let them in. Stacks of crates and various other containers on shelves reached up to the ceiling of the warehouse.

Freya’s skin prickled from the cool air. They quickly found the crate and Freya brought over the enchanted platform ladder. She set it to the correct height, and they stood on top of the platform. The magical core powered up the platform to the shelf with the vine-pine.

“Let’s take the crate down before we try to open it,” Freya suggested.

Infamous Biscuit nodded and together they wrestled the crate onto the platform. Several splinters from the wooden crate lodged into Freya’s hands. The crate was light, but the wood was rather poor quality. 

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No wonder the vine-pines earlier were able to break out of their crates, Freya thought irritably as she picked the splinters out of her hands. 

After lowering the platform back to the ground and sliding the crate off the platform, Infamous Biscuit undid the simple metal facet. Using his sleeves, he slid off the crate’s wooden cover, then immediately grabbed his staff.

They cautiously peered inside. Nestled in straw sat an ordinary–albeit large–looking pinecone. No green vines extended out of it. Its scales laid flat and unassuming. But its description box revealed its true identity.

[Baby Vine-Pine]

[Lvl 6] [50/50 HP]

“Good, it’s still dormant,” Freya said.

Infamous Biscuit leaned in closer to the creature.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, quickly putting down his staff and picking up the vine-pine with his bare hands. “I can form a contract with this one!”

Freya backed away from him.

“A contract?”

“Druids can make contracts with plants and animals. I heard some druids can form a contract with the plant monsters during this event dungeon. My measly luck stat actually worked for something.”

Freya wanted to swat the pinecone out of his hands. Seeing what it could do firsthand, she couldn’t believe he was holding it so casually. 

Suddenly it disappeared. Not in a black mist like it had been killed, just gone. 

“Where did it go?!” Freya asked in distress.

“To another dimension I guess? I don’t really know. I made a contract with it. Now I can summon it to fight with me. See,” Infamous Biscuit said and held his palm out in front of him, “Summon vine-pine!”

The pinecone winked back into existence on the floor of the warehouse. It grew six short vine appendages and stood up. 

Freya was ready to charge it, but the vine-pine didn’t make any move to attack. Instead, it ambled away from them, its short vine arms tip-toeing across the warehouse floor. It tilted the front part of its pinecone body up then turned left and right as if scanning the environment. Finding no threats, it turned around in a tight circle and sat down like a dog. 

“Is that really the same creature?” Freya asked.

“Yep. Well, my nature summoning level isn’t very high, so it probably isn’t as powerful as those vine-pines we fought, but I can level it up.”

Leveling. He briefly explained it before they went into the dungeon but it was still an odd concept to Freya. 

“I have another summoning contract with a healing sage—it’s good for slow area healing. But this vine-pine will be useful in fights. Stop summoning.” Infamous Biscuit commanded. The vine-pine once again disappeared. 

Back outside the warehouse Manager Guido thanked them again for their help. 

“I will never be transporting those demons again! We’re extremely lucky the two of you happened to pass by.”

“Why were you transporting them?” Freya asked bluntly. Why would anyone take the risk?

“Ah, well the client who wanted them paid well,” Manager Guido twiddled his thumbs. “Anyway, please take this as a token of my appreciation.”

He forced a slim piece of paper into their hands. 

“Give this to any merchant in the Good Wind Trading Company, and they will give you a good discount on their goods.”

Infamous Biscuit thanked him. Freya frowned, still concerned about his explanation for transporting the vine-pines. Then a quiet chime sounded off in her mind.

[Chaos on the Docks Event Dungeon cleared!]

[Reward: +250 exp]

“Ah man,” Infamous Biscuit said. “No piece of sonder. Well, I should have known but I was still hoping.”

Freya looked at him, “Piece of sonder?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Info Corner~

Class Descriptions:

[Druid]

[Suitability: DPS, Healer]

[Becoming a druid attunes one to the secrets of nature. Druids can be nurturing and life-giving, but they can also summon the wrath of nature!]

[Innate Skills: Nature’s Blessing, Plantaekinesis, Nature Summoning]