Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Seed

Nom hovered over Vampra’s body. The bizarre bunny creature didn’t look peaceful in death. It was a bloody mess.

“I think we just soured our relations with creatures from The Scar,” Nay said.

“The Scar?” Nom said.

“My interface told me that’s where it came from,” Nay said. “Just like The Steksis.”

Nom seemed pensive for a second, but only for a second. It looked like he was ready to dive into the corpse for the Delicacy.

Nay could see the gold glow of the Delicacy within Vampra. It was the Death’s Head markings on the fur.

“Part of the hide,” Nom said. “I’m thinking some kind of cracklings or seasoning. What do you think?”

Nay looked around the warren. At the bodies of the mandrakes, the strange carnivorous plants. At the green toxic cloud just lingering over an area of the garden. It was slowly spreading and dispersing through the warren. She frowned.

“I’m thinking we can worry about how to cook the Delicacy later,” Nay said. “Let’s take it and the heart and get out of here.”

Nom noticed the noxious cloud as well.

Nay used Thorn to cut through the bunny skin and hide. She traced a circle around the Death’s Head marking with the tip of the blade first, then she started sawing through the circle like she was cutting a hole in a pumpkin.

The strange reflective layer of scales underneath the armpits was actually a separate flap that pressed up against the other side. It was tough, and luckily she was able to shove it aside and keep it retracted so she didn’t have to deal with it.

There was a gold aura flickering around the Death’s Head marking. She finally got it separated from the chest.

---

[Quest Complete!]

[Separate the Delicacy from Vampra Completed!]

[You have been rewarded with Death Head of Vampra]

[You have been rewarded with Vigor Points]

---

Golden vigama emerged out of the root ceiling and flew into Nay’s chest. She enjoyed the quick dopamine hit of vigor.

---

[Delicacy Discovered!]

[Delicacy: Death Head of Vampra]

[Delicacies Unlocked 2/3]

[Would you like to Consume Delicacy Y/N?]

---

Nom reached for it. “I want to carry it.”

“Why don’t I just put it in my inventory?” Nay said. “It’s safer there.”

Nom seemed reluctant. “Alright, I guess you’re right. Frees me up, too.”

“What’s the matter?” Nay said. “I’m not going to hide it from you. It’s your Delicacy as much as mine, if not more. Don’t worry, you can consume it when we get back to the Lodge, alright?”

“Yeah,” Nom said. “Sorry. I’m just anxious to finally get a new skill tree!”

“I know you are. It’s all good.”

Nay stored the Delicacy in her inventory and then focused on the unpleasant butchery of retrieving Vampra’s heart. Cutting into a monster bunny thing was one thing, but this part of the creature was humanoid.

It made her feel like she was performing an autopsy rather than performing a butcher task.

She made an incision underneath one of the porcelain-white breasts.

Were all creatures that came from The Scar some unholy fusion of humans and monsters? Was it supposed to symbolize a mockery of humanity and nature?

She cut in through the side because she figured she would be able to reach the heart without cracking the ribcage open. She pulled down the layers of skin, revealing the meat and bone underneath. The flesh was covered in a blueish membrane.

There was the white of a lung.

She grimaced and reached a hand in, pushing the lung to the side. There was the heart, nestled behind the lung and sternum. It looked like a red artichoke, ready to be plucked from its stalk.

She reached in with Thorn and cut through muscular tissue, tendons and membranes, severing it from the body. She pulled it out. It was about the size of a pomegranate.

---

[Quest Complete!]

[Slay The Vampra and Retrieve Its Heart Completed]

[Congratulations!]

[You have been rewarded Vigor Points]

---

More of the questie vigama appeared and flew into Nay, stimulating a release of serotonin in her brain.

“What do you think Aule is going to do with that?” Nom said. “Eat it?”

Nay stored the Vampra heart in her inventory.

“No clue,” Nay said. “As long as she gives us the moon cake recipe she can do whatever she wants with it.”

She glanced at the Fleet-footed timer.

---

[Fleet-footed]

[55:02]

---

Just under an hour left.

They headed for the exit when they saw the blob of slime waiting for them at the entrance of the tunnel.

“This jellied asshole again,” Nay said.

They navigated their away around the wisps of toxic green cloud dispersing through the warren. Nay covered her mouth and nose with the collar of her tunic just in case. Not that any time was a great time to breathe in poison, but to do it now after they had gotten their loot would be a comedy of errors.

“Let’s freeze it,” Nay said.

“Already on it,” Nom said.

Both of them used their Chef’s Thermometer rings of cold, plunging the temperature down on top of the slime. There was that dry ice effect again and it solidified, turning into a block of ice.

Except there was one problem. There was now a frozen block of slime blocking their exit. The tendrils of toxic plant gas crept towards them.

“I guess we should have waited,” Nom said.

“Nah,” Nay said.

She struck the frozen slime with Thorn’s skullcrusher. It shattered, falling in a cascade of broken pieces, clearing their way. They hurried into the tunnel. Nom turned.

“What are you doing?” Nay said.

Nom froze over the opening as high as he could with his Chef’s Thermometer ability. It was still open at the top, but if the slime thawed, it would take it even more time to ascend and squeeze through. They fleet-footed through the tunnel system, moving twice as fast as they had compared to when they had first entered the earthen dungeon.

“Nom,” Nay said, as they raced towards the surface.

“Eh?”

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“How are your vigor reserves?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you must have expended a lot of energy to freeze that opening over. Trust me, I know. I guess I’m just wondering how you’re not getting Vigor Sickness.”

“I don’t use vigor.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not a cultivator like you.”

“Oh, but you’re still a Marrow Eater.”

“I guess I’m just using a different battery than vigor.”

“Weird.”

Nay side-eyed him for a second, and had the thought that maybe one day someone capable might study him to figure out what resource he was using, if any. Maybe it just had something to with his particular race.

I guess anything is possible.

But then those thoughts were gone as they reached the steps to the surface world.

/////////

They had both fallen asleep in the shelter of a cluster of trees.

Nay awoke to the first rays of sunlight penetrating the mist in the birch tree forest. With it, Aule was there, sitting cross-legged on a stump, smoking a pipe. For a moment, still stuck in that liminal state between dreams and being awake, Nay thought she was in Alice In Wonderland, watching the caterpillar smoke on top of a mushroom.

She groaned and sat up, extricating herself from Nom, who had snuggled up close to her for warmth. She left his cloak on him and then rubbed her eyes.

“The light of the dawn blesses you with its warmth,” Aule said.

Nay realized there was some sunlight shining on her. She could indeed feel its warmth.

“The deed is done,” Nay said. The heart of the Vampra materialized out of her inventory and appeared in her hand.

Aule smiled slyly, her pupils honing in on the heart.

There was a sudden breeze. Nay blinked and the heart was no longer in her hand. Instead, Aule was now holding it in hers, examining the organ. Her two fox tails on each side of the middle one were subtly twitching.

What the hell?

The breeze was gone.

Did she just move so fast, snatch the heart out of my hand, and return to her seat in the blink of an eye?

“This will do just fine,” Aule said. She placed the Vampra heart inside a leather sack and cinched it tight.

“You’re not curious as to what or who that heart belonged to?” Nay said.

“It was a pest that didn’t belong here,” Aule said. “It crawled out of a crack from a place it should have stayed.”

“You mean The Scar?” Nay said.

“It’s more like a festering wound that cuts deep into our world,” Aule said. “Every now and then something foul pours out of it and leaks into our affairs.”

So, she did know.

“There’s no way to bandage this wound?” Nay said. “To heal it or cover it up?”

“Many of my people have died trying,” Aule said. “The best we can do is stanch the flow until the day it erupts.”

“And what happens then?”

“Then, as Friends of Men, we hope man is ready.”

“It seems like more people should be worried about The Scar, then.”

Aule nodded. “You’re a wise girl for acknowledging that. Unfortunately, most of your kind is too busy worrying about each other than what lurks on the other side of that wound.”

There was a rustling and Nom poked his head out of Nay’s cloak and the snow. He sat up, waving his green fins and releasing a yawn. He rubbed sleep from his Cyclopean eye and then became aware of Aule and Nay. He shook himself out of his haze. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing my strange friend,” Aule said. She took a hit of her pipe and blew a series of smoke rings at the tentacle. The smoke smelled like maple and cinnamon. “Perhaps I will visit you in the future and we can chat.”

“Sure,” Nom said. His eye darted away from her. He fidgeted some. “Not sure I’m as interesting as you think.”

“Nonsense!” Aule said. “It’s not every day one gets to converse with an eldritch being! Much less one who is congenial!” She let out that half-bark, half-giggle again, her tails swaying behind her.

“There’s much I’d like to learn of your kind,” Aule said. Then she looked at Nay. “You gave me my gift. Now I believe I owe you yours.”

Suddenly, Aule appeared right in front of them, bringing a breeze with her. The cinnamon-scent of her tobacco smoke now in their faces. As if someone was holding up a plate of cinnamon-sprinkled French toast to them.

But the Friend of Men was holding a round pastry in each hand. The outer layer was brown with a golden glaze, but the filling looked like a mint-colored paste. The elderflower paste. They were moon cakes.

She gestured for them to take them. They both reached out and grabbed their moon cakes.

Nay couldn’t discern if there was anything super special about it other than that it looked super tasty. It reminded her of red bean pastries she had enjoyed before. The pastry was a little moist and sticky, and there were decorations of a moon cycle and leaves on the top and bottom.

Nom bit into his and immediately turned a mint green. “Oh…oh my…” He let out a groan of delight as he chewed and ate some more.

Nay turned her attention back to the cake in her hand. She sniffed it. It smelled like marshmallows and burnt graham crackers. She took a bite, sinking her teeth through the pastry and into the thick inner filling.

She was hit with a plethora of sweet and salty flavors. There was the saltiness crumble of the pastry, and then the cool sweetness of the elderflower paste. There was a hint of floral tones to the flavor, but the main thing she noticed was that it was just the right amount of sweetness.

It wasn’t overpowering like some pastries. And it didn’t need any more sugar. It was at just the right amount to bring total satisfaction.

Nay couldn’t think of anything else to follow this up with. It was the type of dessert you end a multiple course meal with. Perhaps some green tea or matcha tea, or even a cappuccino or shot of espresso. But that’s it.

Somehow she had the knowledge of how to make this. She shook her head, taking another bite. She knew the exact ingredients and the amount and the techniques to use.

She looked for icons and Buffs on her HUD, regarding the moon cake, but there were none. She used True Eye to study the cake, yet didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Nay looked at Aule in wonderment. “The recipe is in my head now.”

“And there it shall stay,” Aule said.

The fox girl handed her a wooden box. There was a moon carved into the white wood. Was it more maurlyn? She opened it.

Inside, there were seeds.

“Elder flower seeds, my friend,” Aule said. “From my own flowers from my garden before they were tainted. Plant them somewhere where they will get plenty of moonlight. Pour them water from the melted snow, and they will yield you a harvest that should be enough for your moon cakes.”

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Nay said.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Aule said. “We exchanged gifts, and that is thanks enough. Now go, return and get to baking!”

Aule stepped away from them, extinguishing her pipe. “Oh, one last thing. Do make Volva Serrilda’s butter cookies for your townsfolk. They really are quite nice!”

The Friend of Men disappeared, leaving the hint of breeze and the smell of cinnamon and maple in her departure.

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