Interlude 4 Something to Report

A few days later, the sound of hammer against stone sounded in the clearing, the previous group of adventurers that had been camping next to the monster, were hitting the base of one of the tentacles, they had chosen one that wasn't covering the opening of the monster, nor aiming to the Watcher

Currently August was hitting his side of the appendage without stopping, since the group recovered from the surprise of seeing their target already dead, he had been using a hammer that belonged to one of the new guys they were supposed to train

The amount of cracks in the stone showed that he was making the greater progress

On the other side, the two new recruits were taking turns using the other hammer, unable to keep up with the ridiculous stamina of the older adventurer, now it was Nathan’s turn while John rested, some distance away from the expected area were it was supposed to fall

“Any idea of what killed it Neil? Laura?” Andrew asked the other two, as he and Esp make sure nothing was trying to ambush them, while the mage and the priest tried to figure out what happened

Neil tried to start his ideas a few times, but he just sighed, pointed to the big tree in the hole near them and shrugged, giving up

Laura, a priest of Aufiea, didn’t respond. The blonde girl held her staff with both hands in front of her, the floating wooden circle on the tip of her tool, was glowing white as she focused with her eyes closed, her short hair reflecting the glow, gave John an attractive distraction as he rested

“I don’t think it was the forest this time…” Esp gave his opinion “None of them are close enough” he nodded towards the trees

The swordsman agreed with him, if it had been the trees they would have ripped it apart by now

“I-i-i-i-i” Neil took a deep breath and pointed to the monster “In-intact! W-w-w-w-wa-w” he managed to squeeze that word, but the rest were unable to decipher what he was trying to say next, Andrew had no idea why he was so nervous this time. Nathan tiredly lowered his hammer and looked at the mage before talking

“The forest is supposed to only use magic… when it really hates something, right?” the other guys nodded and he continued “They tolerate these things, barely… but they don’t attack monsters unless they do something against… the trees. It must have been a person” the mage looked at the Watcher near them, before shrugging again

The glow coming from Laura’s staff stopped and she sighed, making everyone but August to look at her

“The forest is quiet…” she told them, looking around in annoyance

The mage looked at her like she grew another head and his mouth hung open, the others were more subtle about their reactions, but still feel the same way as the mage

“So… a priest did it?” John asked ignoring Nathan poking his shoulder with the hammer, to change turns

She looked at him and rubbed her forehead, the floating circle above her cane fused again with the rest of it, but remained silent

“No one reported it?” Andrew asked looking at the young priest

“As far as I know, I am the first priest to get in the forest in weeks…” she returned her gaze to the trees around them

“Why?” John’s question received a few weird glances, so he explained himself pointing to the north “I came here to avoid the glaciers, I really don’t know why” the archer nodded and spoke

“Change of seasons festivities and rituals, local stuff. But with all those ceremonies and rites coming up, most priest are unable to accompany adventurers for a while…” Esp exchanged a glance with August, still doing his task “Maybe someone from the next city?” the girl shook her head at his question

“High Priest Ro in the next city is… adamant, about the change of seasons ritual” she looked at the staff on her hands “But I have no idea as for why the forest would be quiet…”

“Can’t you ask Her in the temple? Don’t you have a ritual for that?” John asked before taking the hammer back and moving to work in the stone appendage

The girl looked torn for a moment, but sighed and answered

“It feels wasteful to do that for just a simple question… and she is almost as bad as Mordauntless when we talk about sending Whispers”

That comment got a chuckle of the guys, before Esp grinned and spoke again

“That oath of truth is a pain, eh?” Laura just looked away, not answering the question

‘There is no oath… the whole “Can’t lie” is a misinterpretation of her words and a personal choice…’ she and the mage joined the other two in the watch around the monster ‘A personal choice we are encouraged to make…’

“Could have been Diamond Volcano?” John suddenly spoke up

That comment made everyone laugh, even August had to stop to regain composure after it and he was the one to explain the reason, to the confused guy

“Not enough explosions” that caused more laughter in the clearing

After that diversion it took them some time to finally fully crack the stone and making it fall making a loud sound and lifting a lot of dust. Even more time hitting the cleared space, was required to reveal an opening inside the body of the monster proper… and not quite what they expected inside it

“W-w-w-what?”

Everyone had similar reactions again

“Why… is the essence crystal purple?” Andrew was the one to ask what everyone was thinking “I know that you kill one of these, with fire or lightning and the crystals are red or yellow afterwards, what is this? What killed it?” he asked Neil

But he was just staring the crystal inside of the Spawner, lost in thought

The two older men just looked at each other and seeing the confusion in the other, just made them worry about the discovery

Nathan was the first one to truly recover and reclaimed his hammer from the older vanguard

“So, I guess this means back to the city?” his tone made clear that he was annoyed at that “Not a single level… all of this and not a single level” he sighed after his not quite ‘whisper’

Laura focused in her staff again, making the circle detach from it and glow, as she asked the forest what it meant

John looked from Nathan, to the other guys wondering if that was what they were going to do

“Maybe we should…” the swordsman was the one that got closer and using a knife he managed to get the head sized object out “This… is smaller that I thought…” he looked at the others of his group

“W-w-we d-didn’t let it e-eat while we w-were camping here?” the mage was the only one that had some kind of explanation for that

The archer and vanguard just shrugged and pointed that the guild may know, the two hammer users recovered their things, both of them with different levels of disappointment on their faces and all waited for the girl to finish her inquiry

“Damn it!” that reaction told everything to the others, as her staff became whole again and she glared at the trees

Soon after, they went back to the city… hauling back all the wood they had brought with them, in order to kill the Spawner in the first place

BlindfoldMask

Ok, that took less time than expected and yeah: the creep convinced them of spawn camping… disgusting…

I… can see myself coming back to this chapter and editing it one hundred more times… I apologize beforehand

About the chapter 1 of the options in the poll: option 1 is mostly done (and still winning), option 2 is half way done, and apparently I will be making the first chapter of option 3, I… might be able to upload to Patreon the 3 of them this weekend…? No idea, I already know what real life will do to me tomorrow…

But you don’t have to worry about that. Have a good day!