Alanna had a day to rest up and prepare. Sorcerers would use this time to rest and replenish their mana, Druids would commune with nature and prepare their spells for the day, and Fighters would maintain their gear and exercise to keep their body in shape and their reflexes sharp.

Alanna instead brewed up a few concoctions from Solizzar’s handbook. She had taken as much of his lab equipment as she could reasonably carry, so as long as she had a fire she could create whatever she needed. Her room at the Adventurer’s Guild came with a small fireplace that she managed to get just hot enough for some alchemy. She had a small box seeded with Glowcaps in her backpack as well. Glowcaps didn’t need much other than shade and moisture to grow, so while there weren’t quite that many in there, she’d be able to make about one extract a week if she got the right ingredients. Luckily she had a few vials of Glowcap sap that she extracted before she left, so she wouldn’t have to tap into her colony just yet.

Obviously she prepared three regeneration elixirs. It was slightly overkill considering how slowly these things worked, but she decided running out was not a risk she was willing to take. Birch trees continued to be common throughout the area (Birchhaven did not get its name for no reason after all) so she used a knife to extract some sap from one of the trees as the primary ingredient for those.

In addition, she made a more experimental mixture that Solizzar had dubbed “Alchemist’s Fire,” which was something Alanna couldn’t help but be curious about. This required one vial of glowcap sap and for her to go out into the nearby meadows during sunset to catch some fire beetles. According to Solizzar’s instructions, grinding up their carapace and dissolving it in glowcap sap should create a compound that will combust on contact with the air. Having on-demand fire seemed really useful when fighting monsters, though she made extra sure the cork on that flask was kept tightly in place with some twine. She wasn’t about to let her backpack catch on fire in the midst of the quest.

She had a relatively simple job: Use her new abilities to guide this adventurer group to a monster. She wasn’t even really expected to fight from the sound of it, but there was a tightness in her chest still. She dared not assume this quest was going to be a walk in the park. She wanted to be prepared, and part of her preparation was to act under the assumption that anything could go wrong.

The next morning she arrived early at the proposed meeting spot just outside the Adventurer’s Guild. Prutina arrived first, still munching on her breakfast, which consisted of a handful of small carrots. She greeted Alanna politely, but didn’t engage in conversation. Khilseith was next to meet them, exactly on time as he agreed. He looked around in annoyance.

“Of course the newbie would be here before the Sorceress,” he complained. “If she wasn’t such an asset I would have already replaced her.”

Minutes ticked by until Melisandre finally arrived from a different part of town, having apparently chosen to stay at an inn that had better amenities than the Guild. She yawned loudly as she arrived.

“Must you be late for every quest?” Khilseith asked with a sigh.

“Oh don’t fret so much, that alraune isn’t going anywhere,” Melisandre replied nonchalantly. “I’m ready to go if everyone else is.”

“We are,” Khilseith stated, before leading the party out of town at a brisk pace. Alanna found herself backtracking her way up the road north for a few minutes, before Khilseith flipped open a compass and took them further east into the woods. There was an old dirt path here that had clearly not been used in a while.

“According to the client this part of the woods had been sourced for timber a few years ago, and they wanted to source it again this year, only for his laborers to encounter monsters down the road. Keep an eye out,” Khilseith stated. He unsheathed his weapon from his back, a long halberd clearly designed to slice open monsters before they could ever touch him.

Khilseith continued to lead without turning around to face anyone, so it seemed like he was addressing the group, but it was pretty clear who he was informing. She felt a slight tug on the sleeve of her shirt to see Prutina looking up at her, still chewing on a bulge in one cheek.

“Clients often mistake what monster they encountered. The Guild had this area scouted out, so we know there’s an Alraune here somewhere, but you never know what you may run into. There could be more than just one of the monsters listed, there could be lesser monsters, or there could be a completely different monster,” Prutina explained. Alanna smiled and nodded, thankful for the advice.

“What happens if there’s a different monster than the contract stated?” she asked.

“The Guild always pays,” Khilseith stated, apparently happy to elaborate on this subject, “But if the monster’s stronger than what the client advertised we get paid extra, provided we kill it.”

It took about an hour of hiking through the woods before they reached the location. While Khilseith had been leading, Prutina was the one that had steered the party through any rough terrain they encountered. Alanna figured that was natural, Prutina was a Druid after all, so this was her specialty, though she was greatly confused by Melisandre. Not only did the Sorceress look greatly out of place, but her boots had such high heels she wondered how Melisandre avoided tripping on every root or branch that was in their way.

“We’re here,” Khilseith stated suddenly, stopping the group. The trees here were tall and wild-grown, with maples obscuring the sky with their dense canopies and willow branches drooping down to reduce the party’s line of sight. It felt crowded, like a busy street, despite no visible movement. “Alanna, you’re up. Lead us in.”

Alanna nodded, drew her sword and took position at the lead of the group. She drew a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. Now was the time to prove herself. She focused on her hearing, her keen ears picking up the rustling of the wind through the leaves. It was still daylight, so she was sure no one had trouble seeing, but her darkvision meant that nothing would be able to hide from her in the dancing shadows. Her new tremorsense ability allowed her to pick up on vibrations in the ground as well, though it was less useful here in the forest. The vibrant plant life in the area muted any sensations she felt through the damp soil. Her other senses would have to be enough.

There was also a small tingling at the back of her mind. She wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but she blamed it on her nerves. She felt like her whole body was on high alert, and that was a good thing.

She began moving forward, stepping slowly through the undergrowth. The group followed behind. She could tell from the sound of their breathing that they were all focused, ready to react to any threat.

She had heard fluttering, and the pitter-patter of little feet on wood. “I hear something,” she announced. She looked around the branches above her but saw nothing. Her sword-arm began to shake, phantom pain rushing through her ankle. She could almost imagine goblins preparing an ambush for her, hiding in the trees for them to pass underneath.

The rest of the party became alert at her warning, but after a few moments passed she heard Khilseith sigh. He unceremoniously grabbed her head and tilted it upward towards a big branch with plenty of lichen growing on it, forming a garden suspended above the ground. That’s when she saw it: a flicker of glowing wings, and then a couple of tiny creatures pointing and laughing at her.

“They’re just damn pixies,” Khilseith stated. “No threat at all. Keep moving and focus on anything that may actually be dangerous, new girl.”

Alanna did not appreciate his choice of nickname, but he was right. Pixies are a common nuisance in forests, officially monsters but not genuinely dangerous. She pushed down her frustration and continued to lead the party further into the woods, the nagging sensation that something wasn’t quite right getting worse as they moved further in.

It happened as they passed between two large maples that bent towards each other. An alarm bell rang in her head. It didn’t tell her what was wrong, just that there was danger a few steps ahead.

“Stop, there’s something here,” she said. Her eyes scanned the forest floor, but she couldn’t see anything. Just moss, fallen branches and leaf litter.

“Again?” Melisandre asked impatiently. “I knew we were taking a gamble with you, but you’re already the slowest scout I’ve ever had. Is there actually something here this time?”

She took a small step forward, then another, and the alarm bell increased in intensity. She stomped her right foot twice. Her tremorsense picked up on something. A void, beneath the ground. She picked up a stick and poked into the undergrowth, only for it to go straight through. She lifted up some of the moss and twigs to reveal a hidden hole.

Khilseith walked up suspiciously, using the haft of his halberd to uncover more of the hole. It wasn’t just a deep pit, it was full of crude wooden stakes, all pointed upward.

“Pit trap,” Khilseith said. “Good catch, new girl. Go around and keep at it.”

Past the pit trap the forest became increasingly threatening. The trees here had grown exceptionally tall, true giants of the forest, with branches that stuck and blotted out the sky, casting everything into a perpetual gloom. There were claw marks on the trees as well, as though something had been sharpening them here to mark its territory. There was a merciful lack of undergrowth to block their movement here, save for some green vines that were entwined with the trees, covered in small purple flowers, and there was a scent in the air that became increasingly potent as they moved forward. It smelled like lavender, but sweeter, like honey.

Alanna became aware of a noise. It was like the wind rushing through the branches, the sound of wood bending, but it was persistent and unrelenting. It was so hard to pick apart from the natural forest noise she wasn’t sure she even heard anything at all. She stopped the group.

“There’s something-”

She could not finish her sentence before she felt someone grab her by the shoulder and push her aside. She barely caught herself from falling, only to see Khilseith swing his halberd in a wide arc, striking two figures that had leapt towards the group from above.

One half of such a figure fell in front of her. It looked sort of like a very twisted gnome made out of wood with its face set in a sinister expression. It growled and reached out for her with its claw-hands, then fell still.

“Wood pygmies!” Khilseith called out. Within moments more of the creatures erupted from the nearby forest, leaping at the group from the branches, or rushing at them across the forest floor. The air was full of hisses and snarls.

The rest of the group jumped into formation immediately. Khilseith took the front, using the long reach of his halberd to full advantage. His swings weren’t meant to catch the pygmies, not unless they overstepped and got into range, they were meant to keep the creatures at bay. Meanwhile, Melisandre and Prutina pelted the pygmies with magic as they came into range, Melisandre throwing bolts of fire that burst on impact, searing and shattering the pygmies with every hit, while Prutina threw long javelins that appears to be made of living wood, each one impaling a pygmy before a new one seemed to grow in the palm of her hand, ready for the next throw.

It was a devastatingly powerful combination, and Alanna immediately understood why these three had teamed up. She noticed one pygmy coming up behind the party, rushing towards them, eager to have found a way past the line of fire and rake someone with its claws.

Alanna wasn’t sure if the group actually needed her help, but she was determined not to be dead weight. She got up and assumed her fighting stance, sword held ready to strike by her side and feet wide apart. The pygmy stopped briefly, as though assessing its opponent, then darted forward, stopping just out of her reach.

The familiarity hit her instantly. It was the exact strategy the goblin had used against her: stay out of her reach and wait for her to attack so it could slip past her defenses. She swung broadly, as she did before, and as the goblin did the pygmy jumped over her swing, intent on latching on so she couldn’t use her weapon.

This time, she was prepared. She reversed her grip and punched upward with the pommel of her blade, striking the pygmy as hard as she could. This robbed it of its momentum and it fell to the ground. Alanna pinned it down with her boot and swung, hard and fast. The creature’s head rolled apart from its body.

By the time she turned the stream of pygmies had been reduced to a trickle, only a few stragglers continuing their assault, though there was little point. With most of the horde dead the stragglers served as little more than target practice.

“Wood pygmies enjoy huddling around stronger plant monsters, so we’re getting close,” Khilseith said to the group, cleaning his blade of sap with a cloth. “Take a breather, then get ready to keep moving.”

Prutina looked at the wood pygmy Alanna had managed to catch and gave her a small smile. “You got one, nice work,” she said, though this was met with a derisive snort from Melisandre.

“Nice work would have been if she had caught those first two that tried to ambush us,” she stated.

“Enough,” Khilseith stated. “Keep your complaints to yourself, we’re still in danger. New girl, keep leading.”

Alanna nodded and was about to return to the front of the group when, like the ringing of an immense gong, her head was filled with the sensation of danger. It was like the pit trap from before, but all around her, and much more pressing, growing worse by the second.

“Something’s wrong!” she stated, looking around. The forest looked much the same and she became increasingly panicked that she knew there was a threat but couldn’t identify it. “It’s like… Like we’re in a trap! But it’s all around us, and it’s getting worse!”

Khilseith gave her a suspicious look, then pointed his finger upward and moved it in a circle. “Form up! Be ready for whatever it is.” The group took position around her, everyone alert for whatever this new threat was.

Alanna felt vibrations through the ground, but she couldn’t interpret their meaning. It was like the forest was moving around her, but she could clearly see the trees were as still as before.

She heard a feminine voice in the distance, giggling. Then the forest came alive. The vines Alanna had noticed before burst from the ground and the trees, like a swarm of angry serpents.

The group struck back, though before they had been in control. They knew the enemy was coming and from where, their formation had perfectly blocked any avenue of attack. Now the attack was coming from all sides and each member of the group desperately fought back to keep the vines at bay. Melisandre fired bolts into the green tide, severing vines with every shot, while Prutina had switched to using a sickle, glowing with freshly-applied magic, to cleave the vines as they came too close.

Alanna wanted to help, but her short sword was woefully inadequate for this type of work, lacking the reach to effectively keep the vines at bay. She did her best to keep herself ready to cleave any that made it through the party’s defenses, but so far the group did a good job not allowing anything to get near.

“Prutina, is this the alraune’s work?!” Khilseith asked, struggling with the effort of speaking while relentlessly swinging his halberd.

“This many? While we can’t even see her yet? No way this is a lesser alraune!” Prutina said.

There was a delay. Alanna understood the implication, this was something far above the quest’s contract had stated. While the party was holding off the vines now, there was no end to the amount of vegetation that was being sent to attack them, while the three adventurers would certainly get tired sooner or later.

“Retreat!” Khilseith called out. As one the group began to move back the way they came. Melisandre began to focus her mana into her outheld staff, speaking a command word. Then a large fireball shot out and exploded in the wave of green vines coming towards them. The rush of hot air briefly forced Alanna’s eyes closed, and when she opened them she saw the three adventurers running towards the gap the explosion had created amidst their attackers.

She began to run, but now that the group was in full retreat their defenses had slacked, and a vine had slipped through and wrapped itself around Alanna’s leg. She tripped and fell. She swung with her sword, severing the vine, but three more replaced the one she had just cut.

“Wait, help!” she called out. “They got me!”

“Sorry new girl,” Khilseith called back, even as he swung to keep more vines from approaching him. “Change of plans, you’re on your own. Better luck next time.”

“You really should’ve just stayed on your farm!” Melisandre called back, not bothering to disguise the contempt in her voice.

Prutina said nothing, instead concentrating entirely on getting out of here.

Before the feeling of betrayal even hit her, the tide washed over her and she felt every limb she had constricted by the mass of vines. Everything went dark, the noise of the battle fading into the distance.

There was no pain, just a lurch of motion. She realized she was being carried somewhere, but couldn’t see anything, a vine having wrapped itself around her eyes. She began to wonder if this was the end, her career as an adventurer ended prematurely through a combination of bad luck. She tried to pull using her arms and legs, but the grip of the vines was as solid as iron.

“Well well well, what have we here?” she heard that female voice from before say, much closer this time. The vine covering her eyes moved to reveal a sunlit glade, dominated by an enormous purple orchid with a green-skinned woman in its center where a pistil would otherwise be.

She was magnificently beautiful, with a voluptuous body, thick lips and long eye-lashes, almost as though someone sculpted the definition of feminine charm and brought it to life. Her hair consisted of dark green vines covered in small purple flowers just as she had seen before, and Alanna realized those very vines grew in every direction from the base of her flower, spreading like a web across the ground and trees, and realized that the moment they reached the vine-covered grove they were already within the alraune’s grasp. That’s what had made her Trapfinding go off so strongly, she realized. The alraune’s entire territory was one big trap.

The alraune was also entirely naked, and it took Alanna a moment to look away from the alraune’s massive J-cup breasts. The air here was painfully sweet, almost dizzyingly so, and it made it hard for Alanna to focus on anything but those distracting mounds.

She instead turned her eyes to the alraune’s face and noticed her striking eyes fixated on her, each similar to the inside of a lime cut in half. The alraune giggled, a smile plastered on her face.

“Hey there!” she asked. “Your adventurer friends left you behind, huh?”

The sting of betrayal returned with a vengeance, and Alanna mumbled some expletives through the vine gagging her.

“Oh, right! Let me get that for you,” the alraune said and the vine moved out of her mouth.

Alanna wanted to repeat herself, but realized how futile it was to even express her anger at this point. Her ears drooped and she nodded gently. “Yeah… They did.”

The alraune tilted her head and put her hands on her broad hips. “Now why would they do that? Were you guys having a fight with each other in the middle of a quest?”

“No… I don’t think so,” Alanna responded. She wasn’t quite sure why she wasn’t dead yet, but figured that answering questions was better than potentially angering her captor.

“Then why would they leave you behind? I thought you guys had some kind of code. ‘No adventurer left behind’ and all that.”

Alanna went over her party’s last words. It was pretty evident why they didn’t care to risk themselves to come get her. “I’m… I’m not a real adventurer,” she stated sadly. “They only took me along because they needed someone who could detect traps. They probably thought this quest was easy money as long as they could avoid falling down any holes, but as soon as they realized it was gonna be tougher, they abandoned me. They probably thought I was dead weight on the retreat anyway.”

Admitting that was incredibly painful, but she wasn’t about to lie. She figured this was as much a confession to herself as to why she ended up like this as much as she was indulging the alraune’s curiosity.

“Wait, you’re not an adventurer?” the alraune asked.

“No, I’m… I’m actually just a Peasant with some extras. I can detect traps, but that’s about it.”

The alraune looked at her in confusion, then burst out laughing, her chest jiggling with the intensity. Even the vines trembled as though the alraune’s laughter was being transmitted through them. Alanna was convinced if the alraune wasn’t being propped up by her flower she’d be rolling on the ground.

“Wow! No wonder they left you behind! Do they even understand how dangerous it is to bring a non-adventurer with them on a quest?” The alraune could scarcely contain her own amusement. “And then they call me a monster!”

When she noticed her mockery was starting to make tears well up in Alanna’s eyes, the alraune tutted and put a hand comfortingly on Alanna’s cheek. “Oh, don’t worry sweetie. I’m sure they’ll get their just deserts someday. You’re better off without them.”

Alanna was kind of dumbstruck by the alraune’s words. “Does… Does that mean you’ll let me go?”

The alraune laughed again. “Oh no! Definitely not. But if you’re not an adventurer there’s no real point seeding you either.”

Alanna raised an eyebrow. She knew some basic facts about alraune’s but wasn’t exactly an expert. “Seeding?”

“Yeah! When I capture an adventurer I ‘seed’ them. As in, stuff them full of seeds.” The alraune made a hole-shape with her thumb and index finger on one hand and a fist with the other, then kind of smashed the fist against the hole. Alanna assumed there was an implication the seeds were not small.

“The seeds are full of good stuff that makes you all dumb, so you wander away into the forest until you pop!” the alraune excitedly explained.

“...Pop?” Alanna asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, pop!” The alraune brought her two hands together and then moved them apart suddenly, the fingers splayed out. “The seeds grow real fast when they’re ready, so you pop and a baby alraune grows on that spot!”

That mental image definitely made Alanna’s blood run cold.

“But there’s no point doing that to you. You’d need to be able to take the seeds far away, and a Peasant like you probably wouldn’t even get past the wood pygmies! The ones that remain anyway.”

The alraune kind of squirmed, her chlorophyllic tongue licking her lips. “That being said… I haven’t caught anyone in a while, and I could really use some relief. I’m sure you don’t mind.”

Alanna was about to ask what the alraune meant by that when she noticed two tentacles slithering up from the base of the alraune’s flower. Unlike the other tentacles she had seen, these had no flowers growing on them and did not taper towards the end, instead having a seam splitting them. When they reached her face, the seams split open, revealing what was an unmistakably penis-shape underneath, gleaming with mucus. Alanna had no way of knowing, but was pretty sure they were well above ‘introductory-size’ too.

“Uh,” Alanna said, beginning to sweat profusely, “I’m not sure I’m okay with this.”

“Oh sweetie,” the alraune said, her voice dripping with sweetness as she moved the vines holding Alanna lower until Alanna’s face was pressed into the alraune’s bosom. “You stopped having a choice when you stepped into my grove.”

The tentacles unclapsed Alanna’s belt buckle with surprising dexterity and pulled her pants down, leaving her butt exposed to the air. She was somehow already dripping wet, a long string of mucus connecting her to her panties after the tentacles moved those down as well.

“Yeah, you’re nice and ready. My flowers do that to people, it’s part of why I’m so good at luring them in. They stumble into my vines not knowing if they’re hungry for honey or thirsty for cunny.”

The cock-vines coiled around Alanna’s legs several times, then pulled her legs apart and held them firmly in place. They then looped around, one pressing its fattened tip against her wet folds, the other against her tight pucker.

“They’re big!” Alanna cried out, trying to struggle in vain, but only really managing to jiggle the alraune’s enormous tits. “Too big! You can’t just force them in!”

“Shhh,” the alraune whispered into her ear. “Don’t worry, you’re not my first. However, I promise I’ll be your best.”

The tips of the cock-vines pulsed and a thick glob of hot jelly was pressed up against both of Alanna’s hold. This took away what little friction remained and the two cock-vines began to ease their way in.

Alanna gasped as she felt herself being stretched over something larger than a finger for the first time while simultaneously also having her first backdoor experience. The alraune coo’d in response, her lips forming an ‘o’ shape as she fully entered Alanna, clearly able to experience the full sensation through her vines.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck!” Alanna screamed as she felt the cock-vines gently probing deeper and deeper, a mixture of her own and the alraune’s lube running down her thighs in thick rivulets. She let out a deep, throaty moan when she felt the one in her pussy bottom out. The one in her butt had mercifully stopped pressing in more deeply at around the same time.

“Goood,” the alraune whispered. “Just let me do all the work. You just focus on having a good time.”

If Alanna had the coherency of mind to form a response, it would have been destroyed when the cock-vines began pumping in and out of her. Though they started slowly, they built up speed at a consistent, unforgiving pace. She tried to keep some measure of control of herself, maybe in hopes of conserving her strength in case the alraune dropped its guard at some point, but failed utterly when the cock-vines became unrelenting pistons, forcing her body to feel more pleasure than she ever imagined. She alternated mewling and screaming into the alraune’s bosom as her body betrayed her, spending all its strength bucking and struggling against the non-stop assault on her holes.

“P-please! I can’t! I’m gonna…gonna!” she begged, but the alraune merely smiled in return.

“Already? So sensitive. Go on, I told you to enjoy yourself,” the alraune replied, before leaning in and kissing Alanna. Her tongue danced across Alanna’s, the taste of honeydew overwhelming in its potency.

Alanna’s body betrayed her, the extra stimulation overcoming whatever resistance she was trying to muster. She screamed helplessly into the alraune’s mouth, female juice squirting from her pussy and showering the unrelenting vines. The pistoning neither stopped nor slowed.

The alraune parted lips with Alanna, who was left gasping, desperately trying to refill her lungs to obey her body’s desire to continue moaning. “Sorry sugar, but we’re not stopping until I finish,” the alraune half-heartedly apologized. Alanna could barely register the words.

Alanna found herself being lowered down further, the fucking unceasing even as her position changed, now face-to-face with the alraune’s pussy. Rather than pubic hair it instead had a halo of flower-petals, which she soon found herself nose-deep in, the alraune using her hands to force her in

She decided her best bet of surviving was to indulge the alraune and she began to lick. Immediately she tasted something like honey leaking from the alraune’s folds, though far more flower-y in taste and far more liquid. There was no indication this even distracted the alraune from her control over her cock-vines, though she moaned luridly to Alanna’s touch. Worse, the honey that flowed down her throat caused her insides to burn, especially her pussy. It was like her insides were on fire, a fire it wanted the alraune to extinguish.

Alanna could not keep track of time under this assault, but soon found herself in the midst of another orgasm. Even the fire in her loins continued unabated, making her so wet she felt the cock-vine pushing pressurized feminine fluid out with everything stroke. She squirmed on the cock-vines, her words garbled by the perfect flowerpussy her mouth was pressed on.

Instead, the cock-vines sped up, and the alraune grew louder. “I’m getting close, sweetheart! Oooh, get ready!”

Alanna didn’t know how much more her body could take. The alraune’s moans grew louder and louder, until she squealed, nearly drowning alanna in honey. The alraune’s body convulsed, but more importantly, Alanna felt movement within the cockvines as they slowed down and began to grind against her deepest parts. She felt an explosion of hot liquid inside of her, her vision filling with stars as her body was forced into yet another orgasm as the alraune filled her up with her hot nectar. The sensation of pleasure became overwhelming until her vision went completely dark, all noise and sensation fading into the distance.

Alanna woke up later. Her body ached, like she just ran a marathon without pause, and something warm and sticky leaked out of her insides. She groaned groggily, feeling the vines tighten around her limbs again. Opening her eyes, she was greeted with the sight of the alraune looking through her backpack.

“Oh, you’re awake,” the alraune responded cheerily. “That was great! You clearly had fun back there, but party’s over now. I’m just seeing if there’s anything good in here before I turn you to fertilizer.”

“Fertilizer?!” Alanna asked. The alraune gave a wicked grin, then pointed towards the base of the flower her body terminated in. Amidst the roots and squirming vines, Alanna finally noticed the bones and skulls littering the forest floor.

Ah, now she remembered. The nickname for alraune’s was ‘corpse-flower’, because they killed animals and people to use as fertilizer. Luckily, she was too desorientated to have a panic attack over that right now. Instead, she saw the alraune emptying out all her stuff on one of her flower petals, then raising a flask from the pile.

“Finally!” the alraune said, pulling at the cork with as much force as she could muster.

“No wait, stop!” Alanna called out in a panic.

“What, you think I don’t know what this is?” the alraune asked, almost insulted. Alanna stared at her in complete disbelief. “This is your humanoid booze, isn’t it!? I know what this is because I’ve caught adventurers who had it, and it tasted really good! Besides, what are you even worried about, you’re not gonna need this once we’re done here anyway.”

Confidently, the alraune unpopped the bottle, held it over her open mouth, and received a faceful of igniting alchemist’s fire.

The alraune screamed and the entire grove went ballistic. Vines squirmed and lashed randomly as the alraune clawed at the flames consuming her face. Alanna was thrown a short distance as the vines holding her went wild, landing right next to another adventurer’s sword.

This. This is what she was waiting for, praying for even. A single chance for survival. She forced her abused body into action, ignoring the pain and fatigue. The sword was elven, bigger than her original, but it had weathered the elements well, showing no rust. She ran towards the alraune and jumped, landing dead center on top of the alraune. She held the plant woman by her throat as she began wildly stabbing, yellow plant-sap flying everywhere. With how far the alraune’s vines reached, running was not an option. She had to die for Alanna to live.

The alraune tried to push her off, but her body wasn’t anywhere near as strong as the vines. Fuelled by fear and anger, Alanna gored the alraune like a crazed animal. Notifications saying “You have dealt 1 damage!” kept repeating in Alanna’s head, but she didn’t have time to think why the number was so low.

The alraune motioned with one hand, causing the vines around them to begin swinging in all directions with immense force. Bark shattered under the impacts of blind attacks, until Alanna saw a mass of vines coming towards her. There were too many to cleave, and they covered so much space dodging was not an answer. The alraune didn’t even seem to care if she hit herself or not.

Alanna did the only thing she could do: She raised her sword to block the blow. The force seemed to resonate through her whole body and immense pain radiated from her sword arm. She went flying, rolling several times before coming to a stop against a large tree root.

“You have taken 10 damage!”

“You have taken 7 damage!”

“Condition gained: Broken Bone (right arm)”

The numbers rolled past Alanna’s vision and she became aware she was close to passing out. The alraune was still blind, but the flames lapping at her head were dying. She had to think of something before she got hit again. The elven sword had landed near her, but it was bent from the blow. Unusable. The alraune had dislodged most of her trinket collection and sent it flying with Alanna, and she saw a spear amidst the debris.

She tried to pick it up, but just closing her fingers was sending pain shooting up her arm. She cursed and took it up with her other arm. It would make for an unwieldy weapon with just her left hand, but it was better than nothing. She dug through her memories for something to help her win this battle, any scrap of information she may have missed, but Khilseith and the others hadn’t included her in her battle plan for the alraune. She cursed her own uselessness. No one would have treated an actual Rogue or Ranger like this.

Then she remembered her time with Solizzar. He had so many books, some of which were about monsters. The information was often directed at adventurers, and she brought the article on alraune to the forefront of her mind.

“The body of an alraune isn’t real. It’s a lure, designed to lure foolish wanderers or adventurers to their doom. All their organs, including their brain, are in their flower.”

Alanna gathered what was left of her strength and ran. She fought her own body’s need to rest, the pain coming from the right side of her body and her own fear, dodging vines as they lashed around wildly to protect the alraune. Every step forward was a risk, even just touching one of the vines could alert the alraune to Alanna’s position and her plan would be for naught. When she drew close to the flower, rather than risk walking the last few steps, she instead dove forward and with a roar pushed the spear as deep into the flower’s base as it would go.

“You have dealt 6 damage!”

The alraune let out a glass-shattering scream, reaching volume and pitch no human could physically match. Alanna saw more vines coming towards her and leant her entire weight on the haft of the spear, pushing with every ounce of strength she had. Something gave as she spear dug deeper.

“You have dealt 5 damage!”

The alraune screamed again, then the struggles of both her body and the vines slowed. As though a wave passed through the surrounding vines, they dropped still one by one, until the main body slumped into her flower.

Alanna fell to the ground, breathing hard. She waited a few moments, half-expecting the alraune to come back to life and attack her again. Instead, she received a notification in her mind.

“You have leveled up!”

She yelled wordlessly in defiance, then started crying in relief. She had won.