Damon’s balance was off, but luckily he was able to orient by the deer trail he’d been walking along. He stumbled past trees, feeling delirious and like every branch was suddenly a fanged viper he needed to be dodging away from.
None actually bit him though, so in all likelihood all his dodging was entirely unnecessary. But once you’d started, it was very difficult to get the thought out of your head that the next one was clearly a real one. A single wrong guess could all too easily prove fatal.
Once he'd made it back to the tree where he left Blåberry, Damon finally stopped, panting with fatigue. The sight that greeted him was one of immense relief, despite the major gore on display. He’d only been gone for ten to fifteen minutes, but it felt like longer and the amount of cadavers indicated as much too—either that or how Blåberry had been keeping very, very busy.
There were more than twenty cracked slime cores lying in wet patches among the tree's branches and roots, though a few were clearly still alive, but trying to lie so still that they appeared as dead as the bark-stripped branches they were draped across.
When he spotted and identified Berry again, she had made some serious headway.
[Redcap Dwarf Goblin - Level 29]
Wow. Did she really manage all this alone?
He didn’t have to wonder for long. As he watched, she pulled on a string and zipped through the leaves, landing on a branch in front of his face, with the dripping fangs of another boomslang lunging straight for her back. She pulled out a red stick and threw it underhand inside its gaping mouth, then dodged to the side by dragging on another line which she’d just hooked onto Damon’s shirt without him noticing.
By the time she’d zipped on over to his shoulder, the slime's core was naught but a cracked, smoking pebble; and Blåberry was standing back where she belonged, hands on hips and looking very pleased with herself.
That’s when Damon vomited at his own feet, making Berry cry out for the first time in disgust.
“Gah, what happened to you? Did you get bit already, you big dolt? Why didn’t you shout?”
It hurt too much to answer, cramping with superstrength was a real bitch.
When he came back up she was holding out what looked like a pair of mottled, brown dice, balanced on top of her two palms, so Damon leaned his head over and fished them up with his lips, ending up looking an awful lot like he was a horse she was feeding with sugar cubes. “There, there. Swallow that up and it should soak up the venom from your bloodstream in no time.”
And it did. Over the course of an hour Damon started feeling much better. He laid there on the forest floor for a while, considering how fortunate he was that the Goblins seemed to know all sorts of remedies to the many ailments that could get you out here. Then again, they wouldn't have survived out here for long otherwise.
He mumbled to Berry, once she . “Thanks again. Was that stuff you threw actually dynamite?”
He hadn't seen any lit fuse, but what other red sticks could be causing such damage?
"Hush now Damon, hush. We’re gonna have to spend the night, what with you managing to get bit and all so soon. How about we keep going in the morning? I saw a wider branch up here that’s been cleared already, so maybe you could get some sleep for now? I’d say you’ve earned it."
He had gained a level, and just survived an attack from regenerating, venomous slimes, so the suggestion certainly sounded reasonable. “Thank you Berry, it’s nice to know I’m in safe hands.”
“You’re welcome Damon. I’ll wake you in the morning.”
He was snoring within minutes, and Berry was looking mighty pleased with herself, whilst looking over her Skillquests, and back over at Damon with a lurid leer.
----------------------------------------
When Damon woke back up, Blåberry was already busily zipping through the tree crowns, marking out valuable pieces of bark, and killing any viper too dumb to have learned their lesson yet. Although she didn’t appear to be doing much more than visiting the branches and inspecting each one for a few seconds, before she moved on to find the next extra glowy piece of bark. Damon couldn’t tell if it was the rising sun or their own inherent properties making them glow, but he decided he’d leave all that business to Blåberry and focus on feeling like himself again for the next few hours, to prepare for the upcoming Pylon challenge.
He ate some Goblin rations, then limbered up and made sure of every inch of his body, inspecting his latest wounds. Meanwhile Blåberry seemed to finish up her work and came ziplining down from the top of the tree crown above. “You feeling rested? I’m just about done with the senior’s task, we’re just gonna have to make sure not to fuck it up once we’re leaving.”
Damon was back to his usual cheery self, so he gave her a thumbs up and tried to match her energy. “Sure thing, let’s do it. I’m ready for a challenge, and these bastard vipers won’t catch me slacking, not again. I put a few of my Free points into Perception to help out my reflexes and make sure of it.”
“Yeah, lovely. Now, if the guardian proves aggressive we can run away and strategize, but let’s not do anything unnecessarily aggressive to provoke the thing, alright? We can probably tease out his weaknesses if we’re smart about this, even should you get refused.”
Damon nodded amicably, feeling like he'd already proven his fully adequate diplomacy skills over at the Goblin village. I doubt this guardian's gonna prove any more grating than Lila cursing you out, with a fully drawn bow aimed in your face.
Hah, memories.
That decided, they headed on out. The path to the main lumber mill appeared to have been cleared of the boomslangs already, and Damon safely assumed that was just another sign of Blåberry having been busy making certain of their preparations.
Damon threw another [Identify] her way and saw that she’d gained another level since last night, so he gave an impressed whistle and had her high five his finger.
When they finally entered the building, Damon looked around for any more signs of bats—expecting them to be even higher level, up here in the big house—but that expectation proved doomed for disappointment.
It was empty.
They walked around the building for a while, looking for clues as to why it was so deserted, but it clearly wasn’t the dwelling of a predator or the like, which might have driven the other animals off.
Something else was going on.
It wasn’t until Damon bumped into a pitchfork hung up by a nail against the wall that the resulting loud crash seemed to wake something in the room.
Out of nowhere, a giant deer skull which had been mounted on the centermost post in the mill tore free, and a voice echoed from the seemingly hollow mask. “Who goes there, who dares intrude on the sanctity of this… well, this lumber mill?”
The effect of a shadowy body materializing behind a skull mask, combined with the booming voice echoing through the room, would have all had a tremendously imposing effect—if it weren’t for how they’d so clearly just woken the thing up.
Damon had been walking past the skull’s hollow eyes for over two minutes by this point, and the thing hadn’t shown any hint of a reaction, only to come alive now that they accidentally knocked something over.
It was… very human, so Damon immediately put his hackles up and felt like he was getting scammed, or at least like he was faced with some sort of amateur.
Blåberry appeared to agree. "Were you sleeping on the job? You absolute buffoon!"
Thankfully she'd kept her voice low, and the creature was too busy monologuing to even notice.
Damon gladly took the opening to begin gathering intel.
[Antlered Venerer Hiisi - Level ??]
Could be manageable.
They decided to stop and listen for now.
"Intruders of your ilk are not welcome. I have guarded this potent treasure for too many long years. Nearly ten. And still I await someone worthy, someone of whom I can be assured would not ever turn around and threaten my cloven brethren in the deep woods. Such is my purpose, my duty. Now, begone before I—"
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Blåberry decided it was time to try their argument. "Oh yeah? Worthy you say. Have you thought of actually asking this guy’s tribe? He might surprise ya."
Her interruption caused the creature to stumble over its words. "—I ma–, Silence, I have eyes, girl. That brute is clearly some two-legged ogre creature, one who’s been malnourished and worked to the bone by you Goblinoids. I can smell the sponge-taint from over here," It snorted.
Sponge-taint? Damon didn't know what that was, but he still felt mildly offended. "Hey, I'm a Human. Are you sure we aren't worthy? My people built this place, didn't you call it… sancti- sanctified? So, what gives," It wasn't going well, but the creature might be strong, so Damon still figured they should give this their best shot, and for the first time their words seemed to give the creature some cause to pause.
"Your tribe did? No. That can't be right. What proof have you, where are your hoofs? Even being two-legged, your entire build is wrong...all wrong."
But then the creature looked stunned, and Damon guessed it had finally doubted enough to try and [Identify] him. Him and Berry exchanged looks, then Damon tried a hail mary. "I can promise you, it was us. Or at least we helped, and yes, I can prove it. I heard about the reward for the challenge being an axe? That is bound to be fitted for a human hand as well, I can show you I was meant to take on the challenge, if you'd be willing to show me where it is?"
The creature was deathly still, and seemed to consider, until a curiosity finally lit in its orb-like eyes. It uttered only one word: "Downstairs."
----------------------------------------
The weapon was a beaut, clearly handcrafted with just as much love as Abi had poured into the design of the dormant dagger's at Damon's hips. But this axe was in a different class in terms of materials.
The haft’s wooden grain was a pleasure to the eyes, and looked like it would mold to your fingers without breaking in a thousand year’s worth of swings, while the edge gleamed in a dull steel color except for the mirror-polished edge. It even had a spike at the top, to bring home the impression of being designed for sheer battlefield brutality, and Damon couldn't wait to get his hands on it to try a few chops when they first walked downstairs.
The creature had let them enter the basement first, leading them to expect it would follow, but instead the Hiisi had appeared from somewhere behind the pulsing stone pylon where the axe appeared to be situated.
When they walked closer Damon could indeed see an impression of a human hand imprinted near the bottom of the haft, and though it was faint as far as proof goes, he felt sure he could convince the creature it belonged in his hand if he just managed to grab a hold of it.
They approached casually, and although the creature was watching, Damon still figured it was better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. His posture remained relaxed, but as soon as he was within reach Damon darted his hand out, only for the Hiisi to realize his intentions and call out in a boom. "HALT!"
But it was too late, Damon was lunging, only for the Hiisi's arm to materialize above his head and sweep an invisible, shadowy limb over Damon's head, causing a desperate duck with its lacerating force. The whip-like tendrils at the end of its shadowy arm struck the ceiling and walls of the basement, causing dirt and wood chips to explode out of the four vicious lines. Then the creature's other arm swung in an equally smooth arc, forcing Damon to jump up and flip to avoid the ambuscade slicing his legs off at the kneecaps.
He prepared to sprint for the stairs, but then the creature stopped and appeared to be heaving in anger. "I knew you were unworthy, fraternizing with the perfidious, green tribe! Treacherous! Thy only reward is death. My body incorporeal, my mask unbreakable, this forest will be your graves, I wi-"
He was walking towards them during his speech, but he'd stopped swinging, so Damon had stopped running, sensing an opening. That's when Blåberry tossed a red boom stick into the creature’s mouth, interrupting the wroth speech.
They all looked at each other in silence for a second, until the Hiisi suddenly hiccuped, then after a moment's delay the creature actually let out a tiny, flaming burp.
Damon didn't waste the distraction, launching into a spinning back kick empowered by his Dao Skill. His enhanced heel landed first, knocking the mask askew and then the ghostly limb followed with twice the speed, turning corporeal only at the very last instant and cracking the mask down the middle, causing it to immediately start leaking a dark energy.
The strike actually hurt his foot, and Damon hobbled when he landed, then had to immediately dive to the side as the creature tried to blindly counter while the mask portion was still reeling.
When Damon came back up from his roll the fight was on, but they never gave the strange, dark creature a chance to recover. The oily energy kept leaking from the ever widening crack, as Damon carefully picked his openings whenever the Hiisi slowed after a wide swing.
“Impossible, my mask is unbreakable by the lowly-leveled likes of yous! Akin to diamond, your weakling attacks should not even scratch me. What are you? How have you hidden your tribe!?”
Damon kept dodging and striking back at only the most opportune moments, but despite the early damage it still took them over an hour to take the creature down. There'd been too many close calls to count by the end, at one point the creature had faked getting stuck when it struck its tendrils into the earthen cellar wall with a particularly deep swing, but it turned out to be faking it and actually managed to slice into Damon's shoulder when it successfully forced him back in that direction later and launched its hidden trap. Berry's shout had warned him at the last second, just barely avoiding a fatal injury.
Despite that setback, it was still largely impossible for the creature to catch Damon unawares, in large part due to his helper. Blåberry's life was equally on the line throughout the fight, and her focus had proven up to the task, calling out and identifying new tactics the creature was trying out multiple times. It even tried to flee back upstairs, near the end, through a vent it had been saving as a hidden escape. Yet all its resistance was futile in the end, Damon remaining dogged and refusing to hesitate, crawling in after the floating mask like a demented badger.
When he finally caught up to it and drove both daggers home to finish it off, Damon had earned a full three levels from the one kill, and felt a lot closer to a fourth.
[Class level collected: +5 Str, +3 Per, +3 Mana - Free Points: +2.]
[Class level collected: +5 Str, +3 Per, +3 Mana - Free Points: +2.]
[Class level collected: +5 Str, +3 Per, +3 Mana - Free Points: +2.]
In combination with Damon's footwork and ability to launch ghostly limbs to parry at need, the weakening creature failed to really touch him more than once. It was a crushing defeat, and when the broken mask finally grew inanimate again, Damon wasted no time gleefully walking up to the awaiting reward.
The axe looked just as impressive up close and when his hand came up to close around the haft, the weapon felt like—
Nothing, it was completely insubstantial. Oh, shit. That's right. The challenge, this was all just some jealous bastard, who didn't have thumbs. I almost forgot.
[1st Pylonquest of Doc Forrest unlocked: Felling ‘Round the Mill.]
When Damon went to his quest tab he found this new addition:
Felling ‘Round the Mill - Free the mill from the oppressive grasp of the forest, so that its workers may return. Symbolic only. Nobody actually wants to work here anymore. People are too busy leveling nowadays. Sigh. Task – Fell a hundred trees in an hour, with no encroaching upon the true treeline. Progress: (0/100)
Awesome, that sounds easy enough. Although it’s pretty typical, getting rewarded with an axe right after a disproportionately large task of felling trees. Like when’s the next time that an axe is likely to be useful to that degree? Why can’t I just have it now, goddamn it.
Damon shared the news with Blåberry and she proposed that he tried to see how long it took him to fell one before starting his attempt; if he was too slow they shouldn't waste any trees before he'd practiced, or they were gonna be stuck here all night, after all.
So Damon started out by using the same spinning back kick he’d employed to crack the Hiisis skull, causing a serious indent and making some bark burst and fly off, but the core of the tree remained solid, and the roots untouched.
Yeah, fuck. Blunt force just isn’t gonna cut it.
He eyed his only available tools. Even if it’s a lot harder with these shorter blades, at least it’s better than my feet. This is a task for some sharp, sharp edges.
That, and some serious momentum.