Chapter 27
The next day, the party and several others gathered in the side room. In the front stood Lord Aruran and Miyabi. He announced what Nene and Aloe had been told the day before, cueing excited whispers among them.
"Alright, please settle down for the moment," he said as he gestured with his hands, "Right, the enchantment tickets will be handed out by Miyabi so please be patient."
As the guild clerk stepped forward to hand out the tickets, the nobleman made his way to the party and said, "Well, I am afraid your party does not have a ticket as we do not have enough for every party. However, I do have a little present for Polka for doing quite well in the tournament. Fourth place is no small feat. If you would follow me, please."
He led them out of the side room and produced an oddly-shaped purple needle from his pocket and passed it to the monk. "Here, press this between your palms during meditation and you will receive your reward."
"Hah? Wait, meditation? Aww, you know I can barely sit still, teacher," groaned the fennec fox girl.
Lamy let out a giggle before saying, "I can help you with that. I know about certain scents that help calm a person down for such a thing."
"Hng… I guess that's fine..." she grumbled but still looking a little relieved and thankful for the help.
"Oh, you won't have to meditate too long," assured the guild master as he waved the concerns away with a smile, "An hour or so should be enough for it to be attuned to you."
"Alright, we'll go and pick out a request while you meditate, Polka," said Nene.
They waved each other off as they went to do their own thing. After looking through the pieces of paper pinned to the board, they were interrupted by Risu.
"Botan, Nene, Aloe… where's two more?" the squirrel girl asked anxiously.
"They are busy right now," informed Nene, noticing her fidgeting, "Is something wrong?"
"Umm, remember the cockatrice cave you visited the other time?" she asked.
"Urgh, I do," said Aloe with a frown, "Turning to stone was not the best thing to happen."
"Well… a few trolls have moved in four days ago," she explained worriedly, "The elders are worried about the balance of nature in the area since trolls eat a lot. So they asked me to get some help."
"Sure we can help," started the bard, "Who else is going?"
"Moona and Artia."
"Well, alright then, we have more than enough people to take them down," she continued, "We'll wait for Polka and Lamy first. Then, we can go."
When Polka showed up again, her forearms and hands looked very different, as if a tattoo artist inked her skin. Black, claw-like, lightning shapes stretched across her forearm all the way to her fingertips.
"Wow, this looks really cool," exclaimed Aloe in awe.
"Right? Right?" said the grinning fennec fox girl.
"It was a little creepy to watch, though," stated Lamy calmly, looking no worse for wear, "To see it moving like it was alive. Too creepy."
"Yeah, it's cool, but we have been asked to help Risu's circle," stated Nene, drawing their attention back, "Trolls moved into the monster chicken cave and we need to remove them."
"Yeah! Moona and Artia will be joining us, so we should be able to send them away easy," quipped up the squirrel girl.
"Ah, let's go then. I can test out my new skills," said Polka as she slammed her fists together eagerly.
With that, the party and Risu left the guild house and headed to the south gate. There, Moona and Artia were already waiting for them. After some preparations, the larger party then departed, heading straight into the forest. Risu led them through since she already knew the area quite well. They didn't bump into any trouble. They were even surprised when Risu suddenly sped on ahead and greeted a tree. To their shock, it turned around and moved its branches to wave at her. It had a smiling face in the grooves of its bark as it went back to being motionless.
"What in the world was that?" asked Aloe nervously, looking around at all the other trees questioningly.
"Oh, those are Elder Mila's friends," the dream druid explained with a grin, "They are her eyes and ears, and help to keep guard of the forest."
"Interesting," muttered the ice genasi.
"I know, right?" she exclaimed excitedly, "I want to have my own happy trees too."
"Huh, happy tree friends?" muttered Botan, "I guess it wouldn't be strange to you."
"Nope!"
They continued on their way and soon reached the familiar, grassless area. And they could hear a mix of Common and a strange, harsh language. The party then slowed down as they got nearer. In the clearing in front of the cave, the squirrel girl gasped. A group of eight orcs were standing in front of the cave, talking to three trolls. They were thin and gangly looking with very long arms and legs. But, that wasn't what prompted the gasp. One of the trolls was busy eating something, something red or blue with butterfly-looking wings. Risu then started muttering incoherently and fell to the ground.
"Risu, are you alright?" asked Lamy as she knelt down to the shivering druid.
"They... they… eating faeries..." she muttered as she sent a teary-eyed glance to the cleric, "The small dragons… they… no..."
"The trolls have been eating faerie dragons," stated Moona with a grim tone, piecing together what the distraught girl said.
"That… doesn't sound good," muttered Polka as she peeked out from their hiding spot.
"From what I can understand… they can cast spells… and trolls can adapt to their environments and to their food..." mused Artia worriedly, "I just hope they don't have any surprises for us."
Then, the trolls started sniffing the air. A few seconds later, their eyes looked straight at the larger party.
"...Did they just smell us out?" asked Nene in disbelief as the trolls roared and pointed in their direction. The orcs were also forewarned and looked in their direction as well.
"That's it! Let's get ready to evict all of them," stated Aloe as she held a dagger up and aimed at the advancing orcs.
"Er… where did the trolls go?" asked Botan in shock. True enough, the trolls seemed to have disappeared.
"Risu! Snap out of it!" shouted Moona as she shook her friend.
"Tch, help her quickly. We shall protect you as best we can," declared Lamy as the rest got ready to fight.
As the orcs charged at them, Botan loosed an arrow which slammed into the chest of the center orc. It burst to splinters, showering its neighbours. Nene's dagger found purchase as well, finding the same orc's throat. The orcs weren't deterred and quickly got into melee range, targeting the nearest people. Polka had no problem dodging all their attacks while Aloe and the bard got wailed on.
As they fought back, the aasimar's hurried coaxing got the druid out of her despair. Risu's hushed chanting brought condensed moonbeam to rise over the orcs. Then, she wreathed her hand in a green glow and waved it at the lore bard's direction, that same glow lighting her up for only a second. Meanwhile, Lamy and Artia had finished their own casting. A wave of frost and a deluge of snowballs dropped on the orcs, whose numbers were quickly diminishing due to their efforts. However, it was then the trolls reappeared again and attacked the front liners.
Nene, Polka, and Aloe took the brunt of their bites on their shoulders and claws slashes on their arms, surprised by their sudden appearance in place of the fallen orcs.
"Going up!" shouted the succubus and she shot up, biting back a scream as the troll attacking her raked her back with its claws. She then started throwing her daggers with careful aim as she hovered in the air with her wings.
With worry in her eyes, the dream druid moved the moonbeam over the trolls while doing her best to help with healing. However, the moment the wizard changed up her spells from ice to fire, the trolls started bellowing and charged in after her, throwing all caution to the wind.
"Under pressure..." Nene sang out, the strains of her song being disregarded by the trolls as they were hyper-focussed on the wizard.
The first one that reached her failed to touch a hair on her head. The other two tried to slash Nene out of the way but she refused to budge in spite of her injuries. It was then that Risu produced a small ball of flame and tossed it at the troll in front of Artia, who unleashed another torrent of flame at the same time. The trolls roared, having another threat to attack. The combined efforts of Botan and Polka took down one burning troll while Moona suddenly pulled out her flute and started playing. The troll that wasn't on fire suddenly froze in place. It didn't last long as it broke out of the song's hold as Artia screamed when the other burnt troll bit down on her shoulder. Before it could start clawing her apart, she disappeared from its mouth in a burst of mist and reappeared further away.
"We have to hold them back!" shouted Polka as she got in the way of the burnt troll and landed a flurry of blows in its stomach.
"We're doing our best!" replied Nene loudly. She then shouted at the non-burnt troll, "Hey, we are going to win and evict you!" The troll suddenly just started rolling on the floor and laughing.
Then, several arrows, both copy and real, pierced through the burnt troll's throat. It fell over and the archer roared loudly, bringing everyone's spirit's up. However, it suddenly got up again and tried biting the monk. She dodged that but she got caught by its follow-up claw attacks and got tossed aside a few feet. The others called out to her in horror as it started making its way towards Risu. All was not lost as one of Aloe's daggers punched through the back of its neck, causing it to collapse forward. This made it easy for the dream duid to produce another flame and set it on fire. That left one troll. And since it was the last one, it got bombarded by their attacks. Punches, Kicks. Stabbings. Paralysis. Arrows. Thrown daggers. Flames. Acid arrows. Spiritual weapon attacks. And finally, a ray of frost freezing its head as acid splashed over it.
They let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Well, I think we settled that," stated Botan, "So… let's burn the bodies? We better not leave them like that."
"We probably should," agreed Nene.
"Are you alright?" Moona asked as she gave Risu a side hug from her shoulders.
"It's just… all those faerie dragons… it's so sad," the dream druid said in a forlorn tone.
"Those trolls were odd," stated Artia as she passed a healing potion to the lore bard, "The moment I started using fire, they threw everything out of the window just to kill me and Risu… then again, they are said to really hate fire so, I guess it makes sense."
"Ah, maybe we should have you use fire early on and distract them while we kill them," quipped Polka.
"Denied," refused the genasi.
Eventually, the lion girl got them to gather the bodies in the center of the clearing and the squirrel girl dropped a flame on them, setting them alight. Then, she led the group out of the forest. On the way out, they encountered a wing of faerie dragons. The wing seemed to gather around the dream druid, as if sensing her sadness. She started giggling as the tiny dragons started flitting around her and playing with her ears and hair.
"Thank you, everyone," she said, now very cheered up. This also lifted the group's spirits as well as giving them some form of relief.
Tiny tinkles and cheers were replied as the wing flew off into the forest. The cheered up party then went on their way back to the city. At the edge of the forest, Risu suddenly said she was going back to the circle.
"I need to inform the elders about this. Thanks for helping us," she said with a smile.
"We are your friends. Never hesitate to ask for help," stated Moona as she hugged the squirrel girl.
She waved goodbye before running back into the forest. The party made their way back to the city and the guild house. After Artia said her goodbyes and returned to her dorm, the rest went in.
"Hello, welcome back," greeted Miyabi at the counter.
"Hello… Miyabi, are there any high paying requests that we can take?" asked Botan.
"...let me check," he stated after a thought. Looking through a stack of papers, he pulled one out and said, "Well, here is one. Remember the sewer cleaners guild? They found the location of a sewer shambler and they want someone to destroy it."
"...We have to go in the sewers...urgh," groaned Polka.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, the shambler has been living in the sewers for a long time," the guild clerk informed them, "I think this is the first time the sewer cleaners are trying to remove it. I guess they will explain it to you when you meet them tomorrow morning. I suspect that it might be involved in a few deaths but I'm not too sure about that myself."
"Ah… I guess that is something the guild should help with," mused Nene thoughtfully.
"Hng, I wouldn't want to go in the sewers again but I guess this is the right thing to do?" Botan muttered, still looking a little unsure.
"Why does everyone want to stay away from this 'sewer' place?" asked Aloe.
"...you do not have sewers where you are from?" questioned Lamy in surprise.
"No?" the succubus replied as she shook her head.
"Ah-ha… you'll find out tomorrow," the monk informed, "I guess we can induct you into the sewer team then."
"Huh?"
"Urgh, ew, why? Why!?" wailed Aloe.
That morning, the party descended into the sewers. Apparently, it was less of an extermination request but more of a relocation request. The sewer cleaners guild wanted to move the shambler to a different part of the sewers that was already marked out. As simply baiting it around the sewer was rarely an easy task, they wanted the adventurer's guild to assist them in the endeavor.
"Now you know one reason why I dislike the sewers," muttered Polka, agreeing with the
"I dislike it too, but it is for a good reason," quipped Botan.
"Indeed, the safety of the sewer cleaners are guaranteed this way," added Lamy.
"Plus, it shouldn't be that troubling. The shambler is a slow thing so as long as we just stay out of reach, we're safe," assured Nene.
All well and good, but the part that worried the party was that they had to find the shambler first. That meant combing the entire sector of the sewers they were in just to find a large walking plant. At least the smell wasn't as bad there. Not to mention, they didn't see a single giant cockroach or a rat of any size. So, they moved slowly and carefully, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything odd or out of place.
It was a few hours in when they got a whiff of something that overpowered the muted smell of the sewer sector. Around the corner, they spotted the shambling mound sitting in the sewer water. The large, plant-like thing was covered in rotting vegetation, knotty vines, and dead flowers. The damp sludge that enveloped it was the source of that horrible stench. As they watched, the mound slowly rose up on two stumpy legs and walked towards them.
The lore bard then turned to the party and said, "Alright, time we lure it to its new home."
AN: Hello, readers. Welcome to the next chapter. Time to stray away from long arcs for awhile. First up, rewards time. I decided to give Polka a certain tattoo from Tasha's Cauldron that would be pretty good in her hands. Then, Risu comes to ask for help with evicting a few trolls. Now, sorry that we are putting the squirrel girl through a tough time... but this is for the encounter's sake as the trolls being able to go invisible after eating faerie dragons is a very... deadly adaptation in the right hands. Based on what they might be eating and where they are staying, troll adaptations have a large potential of throwing any adventuring party into disarray. But, I did apologize to Risu by sending some other faerie dragons to comfort her and lift their spirits in general. The next day, Holo5 will be delving into the sewers. Again. We introduce Aloe to the sewers. Let that sink in.
Next chapter, we see their efforts in shambling mound relocation. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.