The leading expert flipped through the pages of a copy of ‘Eileen’s Notes’ but couldn’t find anything about the increased range of motion.
The notes never specified its range of motion, but the name ‘Moorland Menace’ had given everyone the impression that this spirit was bound to the moorlands.
The leading expert became excited as he had discovered something new.
A safe distance got kept as they followed the Moorland Menace who clawed his way through the jungle.
Incoming abominations got mowed down with little to no effort.
Behavior described in ‘Eileen’s Notes’ got exhibited as the Moorland Menace sat down.
“Hey, Lohr, what is it doing?”
The leading expert asked at his colleague.
Lohr had been brought specifically because while not a spirit mage, he could perceive spirits.
He pushed up his glasses and took a closer look at the scene unfolding in front of him.
“Hmm, I see. I assume none of you can see those blue flames coming out of his hand?”
Lohr pointed at the Moorland Menace, who was sharing spectral flames with some jungle spirits.
The research party shook their heads.
“It seems to be sharing those ‘invisible flames’ with the lesser spirits here. It might be their nourishment.
The research party gasped and got startled as the Moorland Menace got up and walked back, hunched over as if it was rolling something.
“Lohr, explanation?!”
Lohr adjusted his glasses as he followed the Moorland Menace with his eyes. “It is rolling a ball of blue fire, and the spirits are following the trail it’s leaving behind.”
The research team started to chatter and followed the Moorland Menace from a safe distance while noting down their findings.
Abominations flocked and got fought off, but there was a clear difference between the moorlands and the jungle; there were way less in the jungle than on the moorlands.
Nothing could disturb the Moorland Menace too long from its task as it continued following the path it had created earlier, while rolling an invisible ball.
“Lohr, are the spirits still following it?”
“Yes, it’s as if they’re following a breadcrumb trail, they keep feeding off the strange fire while following. It might also be a trail for them.”
The lead researcher frowned. “Ugh, maybe I should have invited a spirit mage after all, as I don’t know if this behavior is normal.”
Lohr adjusted his glasses after noting down what type of spirits were following the Moorland Menace. “But spirit mages are rare and if you find one, they’re expensive…”
“Yes, Lohr, that’s why we’re happy that you volunteered, unfortunately we also need their knowledge on spirits.”
The research team got into action as they noticed some abominations approaching. The more abominations they could prevent from harassing the Moorland Menace, the faster they would get results. It wasn’t much, but 3 members of their research team were adequately skilled in combat and offensive magic.
“We’re counting on you guys, come Lohr, make sure you catch every detail!”
3 research members started combat while the other 5 ran after the Moorland Menace as its steady pace was still too fast for those who weren’t used to travel through lush jungles.
“Lohr, what is it doing?!”
“It’s still rolling the ball of fire… I will give you a heads-up when it alters its behavior.”
The moorlands came in sight and the Moorland Menace kept rolling.
A deer was fleeing from some abominations which tot saved by the Moorland Menace.
The first stop was near a large mossy boulder which got populated by the earth and nature spirits populated the location.
‘Thud, thud, thud.’
Abominations were eying the newcomer spirits as if they accepted a delivery.
Screeches and shrieks escaped from the hungry abominations who got punished for targeting the new spirits.
Lohr did his best to describe the scenario as accurate as possible. “The spirits took residence near that boulder.”
It wasn’t very successful as the rest of the research group wasn’t content with this brief observation.
“Lohr, please be more specific…”
“Specific how? How specific can I make ‘the spirits live here now?’ I’m a folklore specialist, not a wordsmith…”
“Can you please try…”
Lohr observed the scene and did his best to take in the environment and racked his brain to come up with a depiction as specific as possible.
“The blue fire, mixed with the black flames, are being used offensively by the Moorland Menace. It relies on its physical strength but appears to use the black and blue flame. The activation doesn’t appear to show magic circles, suggesting that they’re racial skills, however, they seem to be linked to several gestures it makes. The Moorland Menace has just vanquished its 42nd abomination with something that looks like an [Explosion], the…”
“Lohr! The spirits, not the Moorland Menace!”
Lohr pointed at the Moorland Menace, who tore another abomination apart. “Huh? But we came here to study the Moorland menace…”
The lead researcher walked toward Lohr, grabbed his head and turned it toward the mossy boulder. “Tell me what is going on there. And be specific!”
“They’re dancing…”
“Danc….ing? What type of dance?”
“How should I know? They act like children. They’re playing and pranking each other.”
“....”
Lohr was struggling in concocting a specific description because it was unclear what type of dance the spirits were doing, what games they were playing and what pranks they were pulling.
“One of the spirits…is trying to take a nap, and another one keeps poking it awake… another one is forming pebbles out of spirit energy and harassing that rabbit over there.” Lohr pointed at a rabbit which was exhibiting strange behavior.
“As for their game and dance. I don’t know, sorry…”
The lead researcher scribbled in his notebook. ‘Spirits are children… thank you Lohr!”
“That’s not what… you know what? Never mind…”
The Moorland Menace continued rolling the ball of fire and stopped at various locations where it fought off abominations.
The research party had all its members group up and discuss. They were concerned that the spirits would just get preyed upon in their new home. Every spirit hotspot did have one or two spirits that seemed stronger than the rest but they were unsure if it was enough.
A screech disturbed them as bizarre bubbling sounds filled the area and their attention fell on a large flying fish.
“What is that?!”
Lohr adjusted his glasses. “It appears to be a large fish with wings where it’s eyes would normally be, it does have an eye on every scale to compensate, its horns are quite disturbing. Are those deer horns made out of ice?”
“Lohr, we have eyes! We can see it too!”
The combat researches got ready for a fight while the others cowered behind them. Only the lead researcher and Lohr showed brave or… stupid behavior.
The notebooks came out, and they started writing as the Moorland Menace had noticed this large and strange abomination and was ready for a fight.
Spectral fire shot at the fish abomination which took no damage.
‘Thud, thud, thud.’
A fishtail slammed into the Moorland Menace but didn’t send him flying as it grabbed on and was gouging out the many eyes on it’s body.
The fish tried to fly up and shake off the Moorland Menace.
Claw, blast fire, claw, blast fire.
The Moorland Menace used the strategy it had used against the jungle dragon. It made its way to the head and instead of gouging out the eyes, he clipped the wings of the abominable flying fish, turning it into an abominable fish.
A ‘crash’ marked their landing and the Moorland Menace kept clawing at it;s face, mercilessly.
Shrieks and ‘glub’ and ‘blub’ sounds escaped from the beast as if it was choking on water or another liquid.
Red liquid spread over the floor where all the violence happened. The fish stopped moving and the strange bubbling sounds ceased.
“Did you get that, Lohr?!”
“Yes! You don’t mid it that I summarized this encounter in bullet points, right?”
The lead researcher rolled his eyes before gluing them to the Moorland Menace, who abandoned the corpse and resumed its task.
“That must have been the aquatic type abomination!” The lead researcher said with pride.
“That was quite obvious though…”
A pen pointed at Lohr. “Oho, so then tell me, what is an aquatic abomination doing outside the water?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Lohr adjusted his glasses. “Well, it was a flying fish so…”
The pen wagged. “You’re not funny, try again!”
“How should I know?! I’m a folklore specialist…”
Lohr and the lead researcher got urged to pay attention and hurry up, as the Moorland Menace had already put quite the distance between them.
The Aquini river was the next destination. It was quite far, and most surveys and reports had informed the lead researcher that this part of the moorlands was the least visited by the Moorland Menace.
“How odd, what is it doing here?”
Someone adjusted his glasses. “This is part of the moorlands too.”
“I don’t pay you to be a smart ass…”
“You don’t pay me at all…”
“Our budget is tight.”
“Alright! I guess that means it’s time for me to go home!” Lohr turned around to leave but got grabbed by the back of his collar and got pulled back.
“Your contribution is crucial!”
“My paycheck is crucial too.” Lohr said, as he held out his hand, palm up.
The lead researcher sighed. “Fine… Bernie, your pay is getting cut!”
A researcher complained, and the lead researcher gave Lohr a thumbs up, who sighed. “Fine… The Moorland Menace finished rolling the ball of fire and is sharing the blue fire with the spirits over there.”
“That’s more like it!”
The research team got alarmed an hour later as the Moorland Menace got up and looked downstream.
Water splashed and something was approaching, accompanied by the sound of countless buzzing insects.
“What… what is that?!”
Lohr adjusted his glasses. “That is… a horned beetle with eyes on its antlers and strange spikes covering its carapace, with eyes on the tips…. These things can swim? Are you sure that these abominations haven't been created by a wacky scientist?”
Lohr gave the lead researcher an accusing stare.
“What? You think I unleashed all these abominations on the continent?”
“I didn’t say anything…”
The Moorland menace picked up a large rock and flung it at the beetle, taking out one of it’s many eyes.
It kept throwing and throwing until the beetle emerged from the water and tried to ram into the Moorland menace.
Armored abomination against an armored menace. The armored menace stepped to the side, allowing the armored abomination to rush past it, into the mud not far behind.
The Moorland Menace, approached and put its foot on the armored abomination that was slowly sinking into the mud and pressed down, accelerating the sinking of the armored abomination.
It was careful and deliberate.
“So it has intelligence!”
The lead researcher said as he started writing furiously.
Lohr adjusted his glasses. “Well Eileen’s Notes stated that there is a high likelihood that someone is trapped inside right?”
A pen dropped, forcing the cessation of the previous furious writing. “That’s right! Eileen’s notes! We need to find out how to save that poor soul!”
“Uhm… may I ask what you were doing all this time then? I was under the impression that we were trying to do just that…”
“Nobody likes smart ass, Lohr…”
“Alright! Time to go hom…”
Lohr got pulled back and promised a 0.27% raise. Lohr was tight on money so while it was basically nothing, it was better than not getting paid.
“How much am I getting paid anyway?”
The lead researcher held up 1 finger, quite proudly. ‘1!”
Lohr cocked his head. “1, what? 1 gold?”
The finger wagged. “1 bronze!”
“Alright, I’m out of here!”
Lohr got stopped from leaving again and got promised a decent wage.
“Ugh, I will have to negotiate with Tania for that… she is so exploitative…”
Lohr picked up a water bottle and opened it. “Isn’t that because you never return with results?” He gulped down the whole bottle as the lead researcher turned toward him.
“H…how do you know that?!”
Lohr wiped his mouth with his sleeve and smirked. “Heh, who do you think asked me to help you out. Anyway, the Moorland Menace is moving again.”
‘Thud, thud, thud.’
“Ugh, it’s running again… let’s go Lohr!”
The research party got into action and followed the Moorland Menace which ran off at full speed.
No progress had been made for the rest of the week as the Moorland menace had fallen into a repetitive pattern. It went to the jungle, located spirits, fed them first and then led them toward the moorlands while fighting any abomination that thought the Moorland Menace was a delivery man, bringing snacks to their doorstep.
A breakthrough came when Lohr noticed the deterioration of the armor after a malicious spirit had followed them from the jungle.
“I got it! Eileen was right! We need a spirit mage! We crack the armor open and free who is inside!”
The lead researcher shook his head. “Eileen wrote that it was a cruse. I’m quite sure that more is needed than just destroying the armor. It’s possible the one inside might die if we don’t deal with the curse first.”
Lohr hung his head. “So we need a witch and a spirit mage… the witches have their hands full, and they certainly don’t want to send another one to get near the Moorland menace as he has already killed 2…”
The lead researcher picked up a document and went through a list of adventurers that could aid in lifting curses.
“How about the Inquiring Anesthetist?”
Lohr sighed. “You can’t even pay me, and you want to bring over the best Golden Angel of the continent?”
“What about his pupil? What was her name? I think she goes by the adventurer’s name Ayla Aurelia.”
Lohr sighed as he cleaned his glasses. “And what makes you think she’s less expensive? She might even be more expensive as she’s also an idol…”
“Hmm, how about spirit mages…” The lead researcher looked at a list of 3 members. “Right, they were rare…”
The research had no luck in finding those that could deal with curses, nor spirit mages as their budget wouldn't allow any.
The lead researcher slammed on the small portable table. “I got it! We just ask an elf!”
“You are a lunatic, you know that elves aren't fond of humans right? You can’t tell me you want to go into that jungle and convince one to beat up a murderous spirit armor?”
“Hey come on, it sounds like a stupid idea if you lay it out like that…”
Both sighed and stared at the moorland menace who was again feeding spectral flames to the nearby spirits.
The moorlands had seen some improvements over the past week. It was slow, but the moorlands were recovering. The abominations were getting less frequent.
Spirits were still getting eaten, but enough spirits survived to populate the moorlands.
Time passed and relying on evil and vengeful spirits to defeat the Moorland Menace became an unviable strategy as they were too few and too weak to pose a threat.
The team had created an accurate model of the Moorland Menace’s exterior and pinpointed the weak spots. Either a weak spirit mage would have to constantly attack those or a strong spirit mage could do whatever and just defeat the Moorland Menace.
Nothing had been resolved on the curse aspect, however, and it was the stumbling block of the research party as most experts in curses were witches.
Lohr had encountered another problem. “Say team… what if this curse isn’t based off the usual dark magic and instead is based off spirit magic. How will a witch or a normal person solve this…”
The lead researcher snapped his fingers and pointed at Lohr. “That’s where you come iin! Describe the curse as detailed as possible!”
“This again… I will have to see the curse for that and I…don’t…”
“Hmm, well we finally got a spirit mage it’s just….” The lead designer sighed. “He wants all the credit and fame to himself for defeating the Moorland Menace. I’m not sure what to do. He would otherwise be extremely expensive…”
Lohr adjusted his glasses and raised an eyebrow. “He? Not a whole party?”
The lead researcher shook his head. “He wants to do it alone and get the fame. It might make him eligible to become an S-rank adventurer, is what he said.”
“These adventurers and their egos! Why can’t they just do things because it’s the right thing to do?!”
A smile appeared on the face of the lead researcher. “So you will work for free? It’s the right thing to do!”
“Dream on! I need to live and eat too! I’m sure that guy has more than enough gold! But… do you think its possible to save the person within?”
“You tell me, you are the folklore expert.”
Lohr, picked up a book, took off his glasses and started to flip through some pages and stopped.
“Not many cases like these have appeared since history had been recorded. This is the second appearance of a spirit based cursed entity. It isn't known if that one had trapped in a curse. It might even still be around, but nobody has seen it for over 2000 years.”
The lead researcher petted his goatee. “That’s concerning, any chance the Moorland Menace and that one are one and the same?”
Lohr took out a map and pointed at a forest in the former Igrini kingdom.
“The sightings had been seen in the Cnidaria forest, closely the Aurelia river. It’s plausible that they’re one and the same.”
Lohr placed his finger on the river going through the Cnidaria forest and followed it south to a confluence where the Aurelia river split up. One of the rivers that split off went east and through the Aquini kingdom, which was why it was called the Aquini river.
The lead researcher followed Lohr’s finger with his eyes as it followed the river and stopped at where the Aquini river bordered the moorlands.“You think it got caught in the river and washed down south?”
“I don’t know, it is possible, but the bigger question is where it came from. Is it possible that this has happened before?”
Lohr’s finger returned to the Cnidaria forest and followed the river upstream. It went north, met another confluence and then went west, all the way to the penumbra mountain range in the middle of the continent where the river originated.
“That place… I’ve heard that a lot of strange things happen in that area. Didn't the town there disappear?”
Lohr nodded. “Strange things do happen there yes, it’s possible that it always have been like that as it would be the best candidate for producing something strange like the Moorland Menace. We are still clueless on what happened to Boshi town. There is reason to believe that the Sarian goddess Biian had been responsible for it.”
The researchers stared at the map to the location of where the largest river of the continent originated.
“Nobody had been able to solve mysteries from that region. I’m not optimistic about our success if this is correct and this strange armor has been created there millennia ago...”
The researchers stared at the enigmatic Moorland Menace and sighed.
The lead designer picked up a strange appliance and started to tap furiously. “Aah! I don’t care! I will pester Tania for more funds and attempt to get a skilled Golden Angel here to find out about this curse! Aand send!”
The appliance beeped, and the lead designer stared at it wide-eyed. “What? It got approved! That was fast. Wait… was she awaiting my request?! This woman…”
Lohr closed the book, put away the map and put on his glasses. “I’m sure there are some strings attached to that, but that’s not my problem. So who did you get?”
The lead designer’s face went from joy to despair. “She…she will get the Inquiring Anesthetist and I will have to work my ass off to pay her back for the costs…. My life… is over…”
Lohr smirked. “Must be hard to be good friends with the vice president of the AA.”
“We’re not friends… it feels more like I’m her lackey… We need to set up how we will confront the Moorland Menace. Our spirit mage, the Spirit Triad, will arrive tomorrow. The Inquiring Anesthetist needs more time. Then there is also the problem of the Spirit Triad’s ego…. I’m sure this is one of Tania’s plan to see me suffer!” The lead researcher said with conviction.
“But you brought this upon yourself, she’s just trying to help out…”
“Shush! Or I will dock your pay!”
“But you’re not paying me… Maybe I should put in a complaint with the vice president of the…”
“Wait! Nono! Haha I misspoke! You will be rewarded handsomely! Haha!”
Heads got put together on how to deal with the spirit mage. They would have to either persuade the spirit mage to wait or stall him until the Inquiring Anesthetist and the party he would bring, would arrive.
Hiding the Moorland Menace was out of the question. Nobody knew illusion magic so that was out too. Stalling him by combat was out of the question as well. Persuasion got deemed as a last resort as everyone acknowledged that this would have the lowest succes rate.
“Lohr, how fast can you run?”
“That’s not funny, that plan is rejected! But… maybe if we can get him to the jungle, it could buy us time.”
The research party started to chatter. Manipulating their subject would create bias and greatly influence their data. Counterarguments came in that the appearance of the Spirit Triad would do the same as it’s not a natural occurrence.
A heated debate started as clashes between spirits and spirit mages was normal and this too could be seen as natural.
All agreed that the Spirit Triad needed to wait, but nobody could agree on the reason why.
‘Thud, thud, thud’
As if to solve their dilemma, the moorland menace started to run south, toward the jungle.
The research party got their belongings and followed.
Abominations got mowed down on the way south, and it was clear that the number of abominations had increased and thus the number of spirits had dwindled as a result.
‘Thud, thud, thud, thud’
The back of the moorland Menace became smaller and smaller until it disappeared into the jungle and the researches lost sight of it.
“Calm down colleagues! It will mow a path, losing sight of it isn't a great deal!”
The lead researcher’s confident statement got countered by ‘what if we miss deviant behavior?’, ‘what if it encounters a new and unique adversary and defeats it before we catch up?’ and other comments of that same nature.
[Wind Walking got cast, and the research party followed the Moorland Menace into the jungle.
16 hours before the spirit mage would arrive and 3 days and 14 hours until the supporting party would arrive. Everything would be decided in this timeframe. Who will succeed their goal?, the researchers? The spirit mage? Or the Moorland Menace?
Who will fail? Will a catastrophe be unleashed or will everything work out fine? Or will a completely different outcome rear it’s head?