The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (2 page)

You have been offered a Quest: Protect the Forest I. Bugbears and goblins have invaded the Forest
of Nadria and are disrupting nature’s balance. The Hearth Mother is asking your help. You must destroy an enemy camp. Optional: Find out why the invaders are coming into the Forest. Reward: Unknown. Yes or No?

“Ready to take out some more bad guys,” Richter asked smiling.

Sion looked back with that happy bloodthirsty
grin of his, “Oh yes brother! That’s what we do!”

“Yeah man! Now like we practiced.” Richter stuck his palm out, which Sion slapped with his own. Immediately, they slapped the backs of their hands together, then made fists, bumped them, drew their fists back opening them slowly, closed them again, bumped them again, twisted their fists to lock it, then opened their hands quickly and both said, “BOOM!”

Hisako just stared at them with wide eyes and her mouth ajar, “What are you
doing
?”

“That is called giving ‘dap’ mother. You wouldn’t understand,” Sion said with a laugh that was echoed by Richter. Shaking her head, she just turned around and walked to the Hearth Tree. The two of them followed, still chuckling.

They left the golden glade of the wood sprites the next morning. Their armor was left behind as well. Their adventures so far had left holes, gouges and dents in the gear. Unfortunately, the magical armor could not be repaired by a normal smith. The sprite magicians promised they would make it whole, but it would take several days. They decided to use the time to walk to Richter’s concealed
glade
.

Besides wanting to see Hisako, the other reason they had left the village was to collect water from the Pool of Clarity. The magical waters gave a 25% bonus to any experience earned over the course of a day. Richter had taken the waters for granted at first. He had later discovered that a Potion of Clarity normally sold for two to three gold
pieces,
however, or the equivalent of three to four months’ wages for most people in The Land. This wonderful little pond was going to be the cash cow that helped him grow the Mist Village as quickly as possible. Hisako had offered to send guards with them in light of the encroachment of bugbears into the forest, but despite the fact that they were now basically allies, he didn’t feel comfortable disclosing such sensitive information,
i.e., where his glade
was. Having guards come along would have been as good as drawing a map.

The two Companions set out just as the forest was coming alive. The birdsong that Richter had first heard when coming to The Land had grown more complex as the weather got warmer and more birds made the forest their home. The trip was relaxed and easy. Going without armor for the first time in weeks was also a freeing experience. Though invaluable, his Light Armor did decrease his movement speed. According to
Ulinde, a journeyman of Light Armor who had decided to join Richter’s village, the decrease was about 3% per piece at
his current skill rank. That meant when he was wearing the entire suit, he moved about 18% slower than he otherwise would have. Apparently when he became an Initiate, the penalty decreased to 2%, then 1% at Apprentice rank. Journeyman and on, the speed penalty would disappear completely. Richter was really looking forward to that! Medium and heavy armor had even worse penalties to speed. Dodge,
casting, and several other things were affected by
heavier armor as well. These were all reasons that casters, rogues, or fighters specializing in ranged combat, typically wore light armor.

Despite the short distance between the Hearth Tree and the glade, finding their destination would normally not have been easy. It might have been near impossible in fact, but the Traveler’s map Richter had bought let him retrace his steps exactly. Anywhere he had been showed up brightly on the map. While locations he had not visited personally, but the map maker had, were in greyscale. Everything else was pure black. It was interactive so he could track his location, and find his way unerringly to anywhere he had already been. Even so, when the two friends approached the entrance to the small glade, there was nothing to indicate its presence except the rocks Richter had strewn around which would only be significant to him. The entry looked like nothing more than a stand of trees against a cliff face. Richter decided to test what Xuetrix the imp had told him when he had first awoken in the Land. When they were directly in front of the entrance, he turned to his Companion.

“Sion, walk in.”

“Walk in where,” the sprite replied. “There is nothing in front of us except for trees and cliff face.”

“Trust me,” Richter said. “Just start walking forward.”

Sion looked at him in disbelief,
but did as he was asked. He put both hands out in front of him and tried to push past the trees. He didn’t go more than two feet when he stopped. It was clear that he was leaning on some sort of barrier. The sprite moved several feet to his left
and tried again. This time his shoulder’s bunched as he pushed against whatever was in front of him.

“Are you having a laugh at my expense Richter? You are never really funny, but if so, then this is just pathetic!”

“Calm down! I was just testing something! When I first got
here,
an imp told me that no one else should be able to enter the glade. Looks like he was right.”

“An imp? You should not be interacting with those things! They are always causing mischief and problems!”

“He wasn’t so bad,” Richter said. “He gave me some good advice and information when I got here.”

“Trust me when I tell you that you were lucky! EVERYONE knows not to trust them.
At least you don’t owe it a favor!”

Errrrrr, yeahhhh
, Richter thought. He decided not to bring up that the imp
HAD, in fact, tricked him into owing
it a favor. No use talking about it now. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?

“Well, like I said, the imp
was useful. The point is that the entrance is right in front of you, it’s just that an enchantment is keeping you out. So come with me. I’ll walk you in.” Richter held his hand out.

Sion’s face lost all expression, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Well,
you can’t get in by yourself obviously. So come hold my hand.”

Sion’s sword materialized.

Richter held his hands up. “You can always wait out here, but there are a large number of herbs that grow inside. I haven’t seen most of them anywhere else I’ve traveled so far, so they’re probably pretty rare. Like I said, it’s up to
you, though...”

Sion’s
face screwed up in a pained expression. Richter could practically hear the sprite’s teeth grinding. He shoved the sword back into its sheath with his uncannily fast attack speed. The next words were said with deadly intensity, “If you tell N-E-ONE about this. I will make you pay for it!”

Richter nodded innocently. With a look of complete understanding on his
face
he extended his hand again. Muttering under his breath in the wood sprite home tongue, Sion clasped his hand without making eye contact. The two of them walked forward together, and after only a few feet Richter felt the light tingle over his skin that denoted when he entered the boundaries of the glade. Turning to
Sion he said, “Now see there
little buddy, that wasn’t so – Argggh! You bastard!”

Sion apparently did not appreciate Richter’s attempt at gentle ribbing. He had drawn his
sword
and slapped the flat of it across the back of Richter’s thighs. He didn’t even have the good grace to say anything, merely sheathing his sword again and walking forward into the glen. Muttering about angry little Napoleons, Richter massaged the back of his legs and glared at his Companion. Deciding nothing constructive would come from dragging the moment out, he let it go and examined a prompt that had come up.

You have brought a Companion to your hidden enclave. Do you wish to allow this person access in the future? Yes or No?

Selecting ‘Yes,’ he took in his surroundings. The small grassy area looked just as he remembered. Sunlight shone down through a break in the cliff face illuminating a pool of water surrounded by a small meadow. Colorful flowers and herbs were strewn about the grass. The ache in his legs quickly fled his mind. Richter had forgotten the wonderful serenity of this place, and he took a few minutes to just appreciate the beauty around him. Coming back to himself, he walked with the slightest of hobbles over to the Pool of Clarity.

After he had filled first
vial, he held it up to his eye. Richter was able to see motes of light floating through the crystal clear water; a detail he had missed previously. After filling the pinky sized vial, he placed it into the Bag of Holding and withdrew another empty vial with the same motion. While he was collecting the precious liquid, Sion seemed to be fascinated by the varied plant life. Richter heard him mutter, “Dragon’s Tongue, Bloodwort, Star Lily, Amarintha Cap, …” The sprite’s attention was so enthralled by the varied plant life in the glen, that they ended up spending the night there. Their day was spent carefully gathering plants. They finished their herb collection for the night and Sion’s breathing was deep and regular in slumber. Richter was about to follow his Companion’s example when he noticed a faint glow coming from the pool. Moonlight was falling directly upon it, and a blue light was shining up from the bottom, illuminating the water.

Richter quietly got up from his sleep roll. He waded out until he was
knee-deep,
and reached his hand into the pool. The blue gleam was coming from the floor of the pond. He
scraped the mud and muck aside dirtying the water. When it
cleared,
he saw a glowing blue rock. A prompt came up:

Glade of Serenity. This secret glade was the home of Karim the Knowledgeable. He was of a
long-lived species, the Hanketsu, that were typically prone to quick anger and judgement
. He turned from this
path, however
and devoted his life to the study of the natural world. It was his belief that through the proper application of knowledge, one could create a society of just and fair laws. Feeling his death was near, he laid down by this simple pool and breathed his last. His death transformed it into a Pool of Clarity. The bones of the Hanketsu glow blue in the moonlight.

Richter realized then that he wasn’t touching a rock. It was a skull. The skull of Karim the Knowledgeable. Standing in the slightly too cool waters of the Pool, Richter bowed his head and stood silently. He would never know who this man was, but he honored him. He stood silent vigil over the bones of a man who had dedicated his life to a worthy cause, and he quietly thanked him for the help the Pool provided. When he was done, he left the water and laid down for sleep.

The next morning, Sion enlisted Richter’s help again to pick every remaining plant and herb that could be useful, and then place them in his Bag. One wonderful trait of the Bag of Holding that Richter hadn’t been aware of
initially
was that it either stopped or severely slowed decay. Food that was placed in the Bag, and then removed days later, did not lose any of its freshness. The Bag was not a form of cryogenic
freezing,
unfortunately. A simple experiment had proven that. A live fish fresh from the river had been placed inside. It was most definitely
not alive when he pulled it back out even a few seconds later,
though. On the plus side, it was still tasty!

They set out that afternoon, the glade almost stripped bare of herbs. A bonus of the time they spent was that Richter’s Herb Lore skill had increased. They would have been done faster, but Sion spread seeds of the collected plants in the glen and then watered them. He was planning to do the same
at
the Mist Village. The meadow above the village proper had already shown itself to be naturally fertile ground for rare plants. The Bag of Holding would keep everything viable until they got back home.

They walked back to the Hearth Tree enjoying the warm day. Spring was present now in full effect and everywhere Richter looked, small animals were scurrying about. The Hearth Tree was less than a day’s walk from the hidden glade, so they took their time. Richter examined his status. It was remarkable how far he had come in such a short time.