Richie leapt down from the tree and rushed towards the giant orb of shadows, the Lush Dweller trailed behind him. He could see that the orb was already dissipating , some of the shadows that composed the orb was slowly lost to the wind like smoke. After a while , all the shadow had torn away from the orb , carried with the wind, thanks to the glow of the Lush Dweller , he saw 2 figures laying down in the grass. He rushed towards Bud and Jewel ,helping Bud up but Jewel would not budge , stubbornly laying on the floor. Bud was unscathed except for a few bruises , Jewel , however , was bleeding profusely . There were still crystals embedded into her arm , her armour was slowly peeling away , the crystals evaporated into mist .
As they disappeared , it revealed skin , bruised black and blue as well as a criss cross of scars . She laid on the ground , her breathing was laboured and when Richie touched her , she was burning , he could feel a small pulse . Bud opened his Pocket Inventory , a swirling blue portal appeared , he pulled out a pouch with multiple pockets filled with different types of herbs and jars of medicine , his Herbalism Kit . Richie asked him frantically " What's happening to her ? She's burning up" " She has an infection" Bud replied while rummaging through his Herbalism Kit , pulling out bags and jars of herbs and other medicine. "When the Brute attacked her with its tentacles , I think one of the spikes was buried into her skin ."
Bud pulled out some leaves that bulged with blue and red veins, he passed it to Richie . " Quickly , I need you to chop up these leaves and rub them on her arm . " Richie took out some of his unbroken vials and place them on the ground. The bullets that were scattered as well as the wires and nets began to melt and form into a mass of multicolour metal that slithered slowly towards Richie and separated into its constituents that slithered towards the vials. Bud lay down a mat for them to work .
He took out one of the vials , the metal twisted as it morphed into a knife . Richie began cutting the leaves , as he sliced the leaves , the veins popped , spraying blue liquid everywhere , Bud took out a bottle of thick brown syrup that sloshed slowly , he placed the bottle near the leaves , watching as the blue sap , slowly dripping into the bottle. As the sap dripped , the syrup glowed a myriad of colours before settling down as green .
Bud inched towards Jewel , he popped open the cap and began pouring the liquid drug on her arm , where the Brute grabbed and attacked her. " Painkiller" explained Bud to Richie . He pulled out a pair of goggles from his Herbalism Kit , he put them on . With a furry of clicks , a pair of spider-like legs appeared from the goggles , they slowly place more lenses over the goggles , amplifying them . Bud ushered the Lush Dweller towards him .
With the help of the goggles and the Lush Dweller , Bud spotted a single white spike , curved like a canine , encased in flesh . He pulled out a pair of tweezers and tried to pull the spike out , but it barely budged, refusing to escape from the flesh .Bud then took out a scalpel and drew a line around the spike, then using a pair of hooks , opened the incision, revealing flesh and a network of veins. Using a bigger pair of tweezers, he dislodged the spike and cast " Lively Lichen" .
Richie watched in amazement as pinkish lichen began to grow around the wound , tiny pink tentacles grew from the lichen . The tentacles then expanded into more lichen , eventually covering the wound. As quickly as the lichen grew it disappeared , peeling away like a scab and carried away by the wind, revealing a tiny white scar , weeks of healing completed in a few minutes. Bud placed his paw on Jewel's hand and sighed in relief , he could feel the steady flow of blood and the rhythmic beating of her heart. " So what do we do now ? " asked Richie." We wait for her to wake up , her breathing and pulse are normal. We could use a break too"
Jewel woke up , her eyes snapped open , she took in a deep breath like an addict sucking from a cigar , only for her lungs to be hit by a gush of cold air. wait ... cold air? She remembered when they fought the Brute , it was around noon , how long as she out for ? She looked around and saw that the Sun was sinking below the horizon as the sky turned blood red . Sitting on a mat , playing cards was Bud and Richie, bud seeing that the Jewel was awake , handed her a bottle of purple ooze.
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" What's this?" " Honey"" I thought all your bees died?"" They did but they are more like spirits so they can't really die"" What are they called" " Chaos bees"" Is it safe to drink?"" Stop asking questions and just drink it "
Jewel sighed and reluctantly took the bottle , the purple ooze bubbled viciously and it sloshed slowly, semi-solid. But her mouth was dry , it felt like something some rodent crawled inside and died in her mouth. She brought it to her lips and chugged it down, it tasted like buttered popcorn and cookies mushed into a paste. She immediately felt rejuvenated , she felt as if she just had a full 8 hour sleep ,which she probably had when she was unconscious. She felt as if she glowed with strength until she looked down and realized she was actually glowing , a layer of purple light surrounded her.
" Why didn't you give it to us earlier." Richie replied " Oh I don't know , probably because of the 10 feet tall monster that was about to kill Bud. Almost dying tend to make you forget some things" Jewel scoffed " Alright, alright I get it. So what now , how are we gonna track it?" Bud gestured at the Lush Dweller , it hovered towards him , he whispered something to it. The Lush Dweller shivered , causing leaves and sticks to fall out but it nodded and began flying.
Bud , Jewel and Richie followed the Lush Dweller , night cast her shawl across the forest , but thankfully, the darkness of the forest was lightened by the Lush Dweller. They could see different sorts of Fey that lived around the trees , they could hear their laughter, their howls and their fluttering of wings of trotting of cloven hooves. The wind cackled and the grass reached out towards the sky ,becoming far taller, the trees' barks were so gnarled that they formed wrinkled snarling faces, they poked at them with their branches.
Bud's particles followed even more closely towards him , forming a line , now a band of marching soldiers instead of reluctant children . Richie 's elven ears moved left and right , detecting any sudden sounds. Jewel's hand extended , forming a bloody red crystal sword. Finally the Lush Dweller hovered around a bush , the trio hid behind the bush , drinking water from a nearby river was ... a....a ...deer?
" That's a deer , not the Brute , you sure the Lush Dweller is right?" asked Jewel. Richie pointed at the deer and gestured for her to look again , she squinted through her thick lenses and saw that the deer had a pale body like the Brute , its four legs were wrapped in blue tentacles , eyes were found everywhere on its body , they swirled , looking at all directions. One of the eyes turned their way and they immediately hid behind the bush.
Jewel got back up and saw that sprouting from the deer's head was a pair of bony antlers , hanging from the antlers were roses , red roses with black barbed wires of thorns. " The Brute became the Hunted " explained Richie. Jewel nodded , the Hunted was weaker but faster , it could easily escape them. Bud knew that he had only 2 spell slots left , he had already use 2 to cast " Lively Lichen" and " Chromatic Bot".
The Lush Dweller was summoned through a cantrip , a cantrip was a spell so simple that it would not require a spell slot. He decided to use another cantrip , he brought his palms together into a prayer like gesture and slowly pull them apart. As he pull them apart , grey light appeared changing red and forming a fire extinguisher. What cantrip did Bud cast? "Fire Extinguisher." Duh. Richie and Jewel stared at him in confusion.
" I will use this magical fire extinguisher , Jewel will use her crystals power to control the ice crystals in the fire extinguisher, freezing the Hunted and Richie will kill the Hunted with a bullet to the skull, easy" Jewel and Richie stared at each other , they were skeptical , but the plan could work , they nodded in agreement. Bud heaved the fire extinguisher , sorry "magical" fire extinguisher and pulled the pin , a jet of cold air blasted from the fire extinguisher. Jewel raised her hands to the sky and the cold air began to rise and expand , forming a towering wave of icy mist , the mist glittered in the moonlight as the mist swept around the Hunted.