Chapter 72: 59. Nature Sucks

Jurot had barely managed to leap over the vine as it broke through the bottom of the carriage, the horses whinnying in terror as giant vines wrapped around them and pulled them down into the trembling, cracking ground.

“Oh shi-“ Adam’s voice was cut off as he was swept up by the thick vine, which had emerged from the ground and wrapped around his body. Beside him, he watched as Hades dissipated from being struck by the tip of the vine. “You bastard!”

Battle Order
D20 + 1 = 7 (6)

Adam reached for his blade as the vine wrapped around him, as thick as any man he had ever seen. He barely managed to draw it before the vine closed a loop around him, pinning an arm to his side.

Attack
D20 + 5 = 14 (9)
Miss!

He slashed against the vine, only to find his blow glancing off the side of it. ‘Damn it!’

Jurot roared wildly, aiming a blow with his axe, cutting deep into the side of it. The deep cut still wasn’t enough for Adam to free himself, unfortunately, and it wrapped around him tight.

Health: 26 -> 17

Adam’s bones clicked as the vines slowly crushed him, and the vine slammed against Jurot, causing him to slide back from the heavy blow.

“Adam!” Argot shouted, swinging his blade wildly towards the vine, cutting deep into it.

The other Iyrmen around also cut at the heavy vine, finally freeing the boy as he dropped down, the vine now cut into long strips as though it were a courgette.

“Follow the path!” Okvar exclaimed as the ground continued to rumble. “Go!”

The vine retreated into the earth as Adam and the Iyrmen ran, but from where the vine had sprouted, more greenery emerged. Bushes and trees emerged from the ground, stalking them as they fled.

“What the hell was that?” Adam gasped, glancing over his shoulder. They were quicker than the emerging forest.

“To safety first,” Okvar shouted, leading them away from the forest which was emerging. He turned and cut a projectile which had come from the forest forming from the earth. “Keep going!”

“We will fight!” Jurot shouted, turning around.

“To safety!” Okvar snapped at him. “We will follow.”

Jurot grit his teeth, but did not argue. For a moment, he had lost himself to the blood lust, but he wasn’t here to fight, but to find a herb for his sick mother. He turned and fled, with Adam following beside him.

Athletics Check
D20 + 5 = 18 (13)

As they continued, the earth around them continued to shift and shake, with brush appearing all around them. Adam summoned his fiery blade in his other hand, cutting apart anything which appeared in front of him. ‘God damn trees, coming in my way!’

Jurot, lost in his thoughts about his mother, tripped on a vine as it emerged from the ground. Adam slid to a halt, reaching down with a hand, only to see a tree charge towards him.

Attack (Flanking)
D20 + 5 + 1 = 23 (17)
Hit!
1D6 + 1D6 + 4 = 10 (1)(5)
Vulnerability exploited!
15 damage!

“What the fu-“ Adam swiped at it with his fiery sword, cutting deep into the bark as it crumbled against his blade.

“Come on!” Adam sheathed his icy blade, understanding it probably wouldn’t help him as much as the other blade. He grabbed onto Jurot’s forearm and assisted him up as they rushed away.

Athletics Check
D20 + 5 = 7 (2)

As Adam leapt over a vine, a bush leapt up at him, tackling him to the ground.

Jurot swiped his axe hurriedly at the bush, barely cutting off a handful of twigs. The bush thwacked him with its twigs, barely managing to harm the Iyrman.

Attack (Flanking)
D20 + 5 + 1 = 14 (8)
Hit!
1D6 + 1D6 + 4 = 15 (5)(6)
Vulnerability exploited!
21 damage!

“I’m all for conserving nature, but you’re really beginning to piss me off,” Adam huffed as he tore into the bush, cutting it in half as the flames spread throughout it. He rolled away and scrambled to his feet, noting the brush around them shambling towards them.

“A Forest Awakening,” Jurot panted. “I never thought I’d see it.”

“What’s that?”

“It happens once a century during Duskval,” Jurot said as they continued to flee.

“So we were unlucky?”

“Yes. If we had been caught, we would have become sustenance for the forest.”

“That sounds terrible,” Adam said.

Athletics Check
D20 + 5 = 25 (20)

The floor under them suddenly gave way, and Adam managed to leap off and grab the edge of the floor.

Jurot, on the other hand, had slammed beside Adam, against the wall, and then slid down.

“Jurot!” Adam watched as the young Iyrman slid down away from him into the darkness, seeing Jurot’s face contort to shock as he fell. Without a second thought, Adam dropped down after him.

“Adam!” came Dargon’s voice from afar, but the hole above them shut off the outside world.

“Oof,” Jurot gasped, and he bounced off the mushroom.

“Oof,” Adam gasped, bouncing off the mushroom a moment later, onto the ground beside the Iyrman.

Quest Complete: Survive The Awakening Forest
XP Gained: +300
XP: 2250 -> 2550

The mushroom provided them with a small glow, allowing Adam to see as though it were bright out, and Jurot only the smallest of features around them. Adam, with his half elven eyes, could see that they were in a large room, and no obvious signs of an exit, though there were tiny holes in the walls.

“Jurot, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.”

Jurot threw a glance at the outline of the half elf. “What?”

“Nothing,” Adam replied, smirking slightly. “What is this place?”

“I do not know,” Jurot admitted.

“We need to find our way out of here,” Adam said.

“We should rest first.”

“I don’t know how long the air will last.”

“I can feel a breeze,” Jurot said, sitting down.

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“Alright.” Adam flexed his muscles.

Tough Spirit: 1 -> 0
2D6 + 2 = 14 (6, 6)
Health: 17 -> 26

He dropped down beside Jurot, reaching back to his pack, which had barely survived the encounter with the awakening forest which had suddenly emerged from the ground, and grabbed a set of rations.

“Damn, this world is crazy,” Adam whispered to himself.

“You did not know about Forest Awakening?” Jurot asked. “It is a common tale in these lands.”

“Where I’m from, forests don’t just sprout from the earth.”

“How do forests come to be, if not from the earth.”

“I mean, yes, forests do come from the earth, but not like that. They don’t just awaken out of the blue.”

Jurot nodded his head slowly. “Magic where you are from must be tame.”

“Something like that.” Adam sighed. He thought back to the woods which were near his home. They were a short walk away, along the river not even minutes from his home. For a moment, he missed the bicycle in the murky river.

He ate half his rations, silently, sipping away at his water.

Once they had healed up, with Adam regaining his Tough Spirit, and Jurot having shaken off the fatigue from the fight, they leapt onto their feet.

“So what now?” Adam asked.

Jurot reached towards the wall and pressed his ear to the earth, before knocking against it. Then, seemingly at random, he punched the earth, which crumbled under the might of his blow, and a small tunnel was revealed.

They followed the tunnel out, seeing a gentle glow from afar from tiny mushrooms. Adam’s boots were barely heard as they made their way forward. He decided it was a good time to grab his shield, which had protected his pack, and gripped it tight. It was a precautionary measure.

Jurot stopped, raising a hand. “There’s someone here,” he whispered. Then he slowly tilted his head upwards.

Adam followed his gaze, only to see a large creature, its body as big as him, barely an arms reach away.

“Kya!” Adam screamed like a little girl as he saw the large spider, dark shelled, with spikes as big as his finger emerging from its legs.

Battle Order
D20 + 1 = 18 (17)

The spider opened it’s spiky maw and hissed. Adam gripped the fiery sword tight and leapt into the air, stabbing upwards as terror filled his bones. “Fuck! Jurot! Fuck!” Adrenaline coursed through him as a cold sweat fell across him.

Attack (Flanking)
D20 + 5 + 1 = 14 (8)
Hit!
1D6 + 1D6 + 4 = 9 (4)(1)
Vulnerability exploited!
9 damage!

Jurot roared as his rage consumed him, and he gripped his blade tight with both hands as he leapt up. He brought his axe down on its open maw, where a web was forming, and he through its head and half way into the body, cleaving it into two halves.

The creature dropped on top of him as Adam stumbled aside, panting for air as his heart pounded wildly.

Victory!
Giant Spider
+100XP
XP: 2550 -> 2650

Jurot glanced around quickly, before exhaling. The rage left through his muscles, and he sheathed his axe.

“Good job,” Adam said, thumping his chest with the side of his fist. ‘I almost shat myself.’ He kept gasping for air.

“This axe you enchanted is very good,” he said, smiling.

Adam smiled.

“My ear hurt from your screaming.” Jurot smiled wider.

Adam frowned.

Jurot continued to glance around, before he noted a large webbed mass. He walked towards it, and Adam followed, not wanting to be left alone with the giant spider corpse.

The pair glanced between one another, before Jurot pressed his axe against it, rolling it back and forth to create a cut, and he tore the webs apart.

The form of a little girl began to slip out from the hole, only for Jurot to grab her, pulling her out, and holding her out ahead of him as though he was holding a baby with a soiled diaper.

Adam blinked at her. “A devilkin?”

“No,” Jurot said. “A demon.” He motioned his finger towards her greyish skin and horns, which were slightly wider than the devilkin horns he had become accustomed to seeing within the Iyr. “They are extremely rare.”

“How rare?”

“They were thought to be extinct,” Jurot admitted. He noted her skin, which seemed to be almost rocky in certain places. “They really do have rocky skin,” he said, feeling it against his bare palm.

“Demons and man once fought. They are some of the first stories of the Iyr. Demons brought the Iyr to ruins during the First Culling.”

Adam stared at Jurot for a long moment. “So what are you going to do to her?” He felt the tenseness in his muscles.

“Nothing,” Jurot said, slowly placing the girl down. “That is a tale of old, and she is a little girl.”

Adam let out a soft sigh, nodding his head slowly. “Good,” he said. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Adam looked down at her, noting how she was sleeping peacefully, her breath gentle.

“I think I might be-“

“Hah!” declared the girl, who stared at the ceiling above her. “How dare a mere spider believe it could defeat the great me!”

Adam shook his head and glanced down towards the girl, who sat up, crossing her arms.

“Hello?”

The girl stared at the two men ahead of her. “Who are you?” She glanced around. “Where’s…”

 

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I do love nature, but sometimes a flame thrower is needed.

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