Orion, Arika, and Shadow all sprung to their feet at the sound of Honeypot’s yell, heads turning towards the source. The giant fox turned from the camp, casting eyes back towards the wide-eyed Honeypot, who was standing behind it, clearly confused.
“Stun failed!” Honeypot turned and ran for the tree line. “Danger! Retreat!”
The camp sprung into motion. Arika began casting her Explosion on the fox’s location. Orion ran to Shadow, and a moment later they were behind the fox, who was still staring after the retreating Honeypot. Shadow wasted no time, his Vicious Blow screaming down to hack into the back of the creature.
The fox whirled with blinding speed, hitting Orion and Shadow with its tail and knocking them back. The force of the blow was staggering for such a casual movement, and Orion wondered why the fox hadn’t used its teeth or claws. With the speed it possessed, it could have easily latched onto or slashed one of them.
The fox bounded away at incredible speed, stopping and turning once it was at the tree line.
“Stop, don’t attack!” The presumably female fox somehow projected her voice. “I would not hurt you humans, I—you cut my fur, you metal-covered bastard!” The fox was looking at her hind quarters where a sizable chunk of fur was missing. She looked up and glared at Shadow. “Maybe I do want to hurt you…”
“I, uh, what?” Shadow looked to Orion for help, clearly confused. “I’m… sorry?”
“We assumed you were here to attack us,” Orion said. “A pretty safe assumption, considering you’ve been stalking us for at least the last half an hour.”
“Stalking? No.” She cocked her head in a very dog-like manner. “Well, I suppose you could call it stalking, but to do so is in my nature. I wanted to scout you out and make sure you didn’t present a threat.” She looked towards Orion, green eyes lingering on him for an uncomfortable amount of time. “Ahh, I see. Was it you that spotted me, moon-eyes?”
“What do you want, fox?” Orion pointedly ignored the Fox’s question.
“My name is Azeria, not fox, presumptuous little man. What I wanted was to offer you a gift, you ungrateful ape.”
Orion sighed and lifted his hand to his head, wishing the turn of events was surprising.
This world is just too much.
“Alright… Azeria. I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Orion, the one that cut you is Shadow, that over there is Arika, and the one that tried to stun you, and is currently hiding in the forest somewhere, is Honeypot.”
“Hello,” Honeypot said cheerily, dropping his Stealth and waving from behind a nearby tree.
Azeria bowed at Honeypot.
“Your stealth is admirable, human. I did not know you were tracking me.” Azeria slowly spun on the spot, then sat and wrapped her tail in front of her, looking more like an overgrown house-cat than a fox.
Seeing that she wouldn’t continue, Orion spoke.
“You mentioned a gift?”
“Well, it’s more of an… opportunity.”
“Of course it is.” Arika rolled her eyes and glared at Azeria. “You need us to go somewhere, kill something, gather something. To hell with it all.” She stomped back to her chair and sat down by the fire, doing her best to ignore everyone else in the clearing.
Azeria cocked her head in confusion.
“She’s had a long day.” Orion rubbed his eyes. “We all have. If you could get to the point, I’m sure we’d all appreciate it. What’s the opportunity you wanted to give us?”
“Let me be blunt, then. I know you killed Doc. I also know you killed that creep Merv, and the Eight-legged Hive mind. As you can probably tell by the color of my eyes, my advancement is also a result of that slime’s corruption. However, unlike Doc and the rest of his ilk, I am neither egotistical nor stupid enough to assume I can take on humanity and win. You mouth-breathers are simply too prolific, and eventually, I would lose.”
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Honeypot laughed at the term ‘mouth-breathers’, and Azeria shot him a look before continuing.
“Even if you had failed to kill Doc, another hairless ape would have eventually succeeded. Instead of joining Doc’s cause, I left my abode, abandoning the dungeon in hopes of a better life for my kin. I have been able to control the corruption, but the lesser of my family… some of them have lingering psychological effects, the corruption wreaking havoc on their minds. If you can help me cure them, I will give you the loot from my dungeon and the location of the last of the afflicted places.”
Seeing a new quest was added, Orion checked his quest log.
Quest: The Swift Brown Fox
Azeria, the fox boss, has requested that you provide a cure for her kin, who are suffering adverse effects from the corruption afflicting them. Cure them to receive the help of Azeria.
Reward: completion of Azeria’s dungeon and all subsequent rewards
Bonus: directions to the last dungeon for Critical Quest: Cull the Doc.
“Huh. I think we can easily agree to that, Azeria.” Orion looked at his teammates, who all had the glazed-eye look of someone inspecting their interface. “I have one question. Can you guarantee you won’t attack any people in the future? I have no issue working with you, unless of course you plan on hunting humans…”
“But of course. If my goal were to attack humans, I would do it now while the corruption filled my kin with anger and blood-lust. I don’t desire the death of other intelligent beings, and even if I did, killing humans would be a good way to find oneself at the wrong end of a sharp object.”
“Alright. We agree, then. Where can we meet you to heal your kin after we gather the supplies?”
“You can’t come with me right now?” Azeria’s eyes grew intense. “It is rather pressing.”
“Unfortunately, no, but I have a good idea of how we can heal your kin. I’ll have to go get the cure, though.”
She stared at him for a few moments before nodding her acquiescence.
“Very well, little one. You can meet me here. I’ll have the area patrolled and will hear of it if you come to this clearing again. You’ll forgive me if I don’t give you the directions directly to my dwelling…”
“That works for us. Hopefully, we should only be a few days.”
“Please remember that time is of the essence. Twenty-seven foxes remain corrupted. You will find me less… amenable if any of my kin succumb to the corruption while we wait.”
Orion noticed a flash in Azeria’s eyes—it reminded him he was dealing with a beast, not a human. The vertical slit of her pupil and the ominous green-glow of her eyes made something deep within him want to turn and run. She may be intelligent and capable of speech, but the fox also had a primal side that promised violence if anything threatened her or her family.
“We’ll come back with the cure as soon as possible. We can’t return to town until tomorrow night, but when we do, we’ll start searching for the cure immediately.”
“Very well. Until we meet again, then.” Azeria turned and dashed from the clearing, and Orion noticed that the patch of hair missing from her back leg had grown back, removing any evidence of her encounter with Shadow’s blade.
Honeypot stepped up beside Orion.
“So, uh, can I assume you actually know of a potential cure, or were you just bullshitting your way out of that?”
“I do have an idea. If anyone knows, it’s that crotchety old alchemist and his brother.” Orion shrugged. “If they don’t have a cure, we’ll work something out. I don’t want it to come down to killing something intelligent that has no desire for a fight.”
“Ahhh, our glorious leader is at it again with his glorious—er—leading! It feels good to have someone else doing all the thinking.” Honeypot strode back to the camp, entirely too much pep in his stride considering the day they’d experienced.
As the first on watch that night, Orion sat and scanned the tree-line while the rest of his party slept, reflecting on the day and the trials they’d faced.
He’d dropped the ball in the spider dungeon.
He thought he was protecting his team by planning to sacrifice himself, but really, that had just been selfishness. To him, his teammates were more than just resources to be used, and that poor bit of leadership had actually put them in more danger. Still, he felt that seeing his party as friends, not pawns, was an integral part of who he was.
All I can do is try to improve in the future. I have to do a better job of finding the line between using our skills effectively and not putting anyone in unnecessary danger.
He contemplated the lack of healing or dedicated tank his party had, and just how much of a detriment it was. In theory, his team could find a way around it, using their individual strengths in order to achieve victory—which is exactly what they had been doing so far. If Azeria had intended to actually fight tonight, however, Orion thought that not all of them would have survived the encounter, if any did at all. The Fox was fast and cunning, and the only reason Shadow had so easily landed a blow on her fur was the fact that they’d surprised her, and she had no killing intent toward them.
If we had someone to heal us, or someone to draw the attention of Azeria constantly while the rest of our party flanked the target, it would have been a walk in the park.
Regarding a tank, there was nothing he could do, short of finding one, which was an increasingly small possibility. Despite Shadow’s class, he dedicated himself to doing cool-rogue-shit, and he was actually quite good at it—his damage, interrupt, and speed were all pivotal to their successes.
Healing, though… I might be able to do something about that…
He intended to explore that path as far as possible for his team’s sake, but it was still an unknown; he had no idea how effective or limited it may be.
His thoughts were all engulfing, and before he knew it, Shadow had tapped him on the shoulder, ready to take over the watch.
In the morning, Orion woke to a muttered conversation.