Chương 16: An Infestation

Fiona and Elias crashed through the dense jungle. They had left the path in order to follow the sound of the spirit wolf's howl. It was a long, doleful cry that seemed to indicate some urgency. As they made their way, Elias could hear Fiona cursing liberally as she tripped over mushrooms, cut herself on sharp vines, and clumsily went crashing into rotten logs lying in her way. For an elven bard who could sing such lovely tunes, she seemed not to be the most graceful being he'd ever met.

Before long, they stumbled out of the thicket and found themselves at the base of a low stone building. Or rather, the remains of one. This was clearly once some far-flung suburb of the wrecked village they'd been exploring earlier. Apparently, the purlieu of the old town had extended all the way to the bottom of the giant cliff. There was also a massive stone with runes carved into it, standing slanted and silent in one corner of the yard. An obelisk of sorts.

What purpose it served, he couldn't possibly imagine, but Elias found himself wondering if the people who built this place had been more powerful and clever than most of the beings he had so far encountered. They must have had some easy way to move a stone that size. Not to mention navigating between the heights up above on the cliffs they'd fallen from, to these lowlands dense with mushrooms. There had to be a better way than plummeting thousands of feet at the mercy of gravity. Maybe they had been bards.

Or maybe something else with abilities he couldn't even yet comprehend. It gave him a sense of wonder. But that sense of wonder was soon pierced by a fresh howl. There was clearly something here that had upset Merlyn. The great white wolf was nearly spinning in circles, so full of energy was he as the pair of adventurers arrived to find him standing at the front door of the hovel, or whatever it was.

The roof was badly rotted thatch, and it looked like a small boulder or two had plummeted through it from up on high. But otherwise the solid stone construction of the place had kept it mostly intact. Elias noticed that there was something etched into the stone arch that made up the doorway to the place. When it occurred to him what exactly he might be looking at, a wave of excitement ran up his body. Excitement, along with the stirring of strange memories that he thought he'd forgotten.

The emblem above the doorway. Was that? Could it be?

"Looks like a mortar and pestle," Fiona said, cutting through the climactic realization he'd been building to. Merlyn had finished his howling, and was now panting in deep satisfaction. Elias inspected the carving above the doorway carefully. Hard to be sure, but it was likely Fiona was correct. There was what looked like a rather bulbous bowl, round at the bottom. Above was a thick cylinder, aimed down into the bowl.

The shape of it was clear: this was an emblem carved into the arch of the doorway that could only symbolize a mortar pestle. Which meant … this could only have been some kind of an alchemist's shop, once upon a time. He remembered what the voice had said when he had tried to concoct anything besides basic pastes with his low level potion brewing skills. It was one of his few abilities, and he was eager to make some use of it. He tried again using the skill, just so he could hear the familiar voice reprimanding him.

Potion brewing requires an alchemy bench # Elias started to feel quite excited now. Perhaps inside this old, dilapidated building, he would find one of these elusive alchemy benches. Without even thinking about it, he took a step towards the darkened door, eager to see if this was the discovery he hoped it might be. But his eager footsteps were arrested. There was some sort of chittering coming from the dark recesses of the ruined building. Merlyn began to emit a growl.

Low, at first, but it soon became bone-chillingly loud.

"Bad. Bad bugs," the wolf grumbled. The hair on his neck began to stand on end and his muscles tensed, rippling in the light of the green sun.

"What is it, boy?" Fiona asked, not able to hear the simple, primitive speech of Elias' pet. And anyway, the question already had a quite obvious answer. Out from the building, giant cockroach-looking creatures began to scurry forth, rushing towards the party in a frightening swarm. There were at least a dozen, and they were all scurrying as if someone had just turned on the kitchen light. Only, these roaches weren't headed to cower under a refrigerator. They were headed towards Elias and his friends.

Elias raised his staff. The wolf growled louder. Fiona, now missing her sword, could only put her dukes up like she was about to engage in some schoolyard brawl. These bugs were about the size of fat raccoons, only far less cute and endearing. They had shells, creepy limbs with those little claws that ran up the back. Also, they seemed to stink.

As the creatures got closer, Elias realized that their oblong shells all had numbers and letters somehow stamped into them, and little dividing lines that ran horizontally along the back. Their antennae seemed to be jerking this way and that, and they moved about in a frenzy. It was as if they were searching for something, vibrating with energy as they came ever closer to Elias.

"Eviscerate!" one of them shouted.

"Vivisect!" declared another. Elias, taking a step back, decided that he'd rather not have this ability to hear what these animals were saying. At least at this moment, it seemed more of a curse than a perk.

"Masticate and obliterate!" shouted the nearest bug, pretty much the second one of its slimy antenna finally touched Elias' leg. On this occasion, the druid decided he would waste not a second in hesitation. Instead, he immediately inspected one of the largest bugs. # Target Name: Jitterbug Level: Level 4 Roach Resistant to: Sleep or fatigue debuffs. Vulnerable to: Bright lights.

Interruptions Special Passive: Overdose - Jitterbugs have a persistent 20% increase to movement and attack speed that triggers once they come in contact with an enemy. Active Abilities: Hyper skitter - Jitterbugs can boost one another's evasion (stackable). Each stack makes the bug 20% harder to hit with melee or ranged weapons. Ultimate: 2-day Bender - Every two days, each Jitterbug spawns 3 new jitterbugs. #"Bugs Bad. Bite bugs!" Merlyn howled. Fiona and Elias both took a step back.

"What are we going to do?" she said.

"I don't have my sword."

"You don't need your sword, right? Sing one of your songs!" Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Just then, one of the bugs lunged at her, chomping down on her legs with its vicious looking mandibles.

"Ahhh, shit!" she shouted, trying to kick the thing off of her, but not having a whole lot of success.

"Ahhh!" she shouted again, but this time her scream soon turned into one of the loveliest songs Elias had ever heard. The tune was almost intoxicating, and he found himself almost overwhelmed by her fetching voice. # A Jitterbug has been charmed! #"You can charm?" Elias asked. The bard was full of surprises, and he watched the bug slowly release her leg and turn to face off against its swarming brethren. Just like that, the roach from hell had become their ally.

Fiona was clearly wounded, so Elias lobbed a quick regeneration spell at her, watching the bloody bite marks disappear.

"Do you really even have to ask?" she shot back.

"As if I haven't been charming you from the very second we met in the tavern!" He would have said something smart back, but there was no time. A few of the bugs were rushing right at Elias, shouting big words. Others chittered about to-do lists and closet organization. One of them seemed to have a hangup about how dusty the stones were in the building behind them. But Elias tried to tune them out, instead letting the bard's lovely song propel him to action. For Elias now had a new advantage in a fight like this.

Just as one of the bugs was about to get its jaws into his leg, Merlyn lunged at the overgrown beetle. The wolf bit down hard, but apparently the bug was too fast. It zigzagged out of the way at the last moment. Fortunately, the spirit wolf seemed to relish this chase, as if it were only some delightful game of fetch. Merlyn kept chomping until one of its bites finally landed home on the carapace, sending a splattering of bug guts shooting across the jungle like a bitten cherry tomato. # You have gained experience!

#"Merlyn can bite bug! Merlyn good boy!" shouted the wolf, licking his gooey jowls and shaking off the guts, as he turned to face another. This new ally emboldened Elias, and the druid started to go to work with his staff. Unfortunately, it seemed like the bugs were almost impossible for him to hit, so fast and agile was their skittering ability. It recalled to him that time he'd been cut from his childhood baseball team for being unable to hit even the easiest softballs.

That was one of the reasons he'd turned to a life of science to begin with. Perhaps this world was trying to tell him something similar. He watched, out of the corner of his eye, as the bug Fiona had charmed continued to fight for her and do her bidding. Its defense of her was stalwart, as multiple other roaches snapped at it where it stood guarding its master. The only drawback was that it seemed she had to keep singing the lovely song or else the charm would wear off.

And if that happened, he could see she would be completely defenseless without her sword. Elias kept whiffing with his staff, tiring himself out trying to hit the bugs. If he'd learned anything in this world and the last, it was that using your brain a bit was often a better move than continuing to swing and miss. So, he let his new wolf pet take the brunt of the combat and tried to give it some thought. Not that this was the best environment for deep contemplation. But necessity was the mother of invention.

It took him a while to fully understand what the roach's vulnerability meant. Even though the inspection had said, quite clearly, that they were susceptible to interruptions, it wasn't readily apparent how to take advantage of that. And he had no bright light to try to use either. Eventually, he realized that diverting the bug's attention granted enormous advantages. Something so simple and easy. All he had to do was somehow cause the bug's focus to center elsewhere while Merlyn flanked.

As long as the creature was fully focused on its attacker, it seemed almost impossible to hit, able to scurry out of the way at the last moment. Once Elias learned to throw a rock a few feet to a bug's right, or to clap his hands at the perfect moment, or even to just point suddenly, the bugs became much easier to dispatch. Merlyn chewed through them now with ease, guts strewn everywhere about the entrance to the building. # You have gained experience! You have gained experience! You have gained experience! # DING!

Congratulations, you have gained a level and a skill point. Choose wisely. #"Hell yeah! Good boy!" Elias cried, as he watched Merlyn shake the last, charmed jitterbug in his mighty jowls like it was some kind of insectoid chew-toy.

"Did you level up?" Fiona asked. She looked frazzled but no worse for wear. Just to be sure, he regenerated her again.

"I did."

"Nice, me too. What are you going to pick?"

"I'm not really sure, I just need a minute to catch my breath. Say, do you have the same giant trees growing up out of the ground as I do?"

"Mine are more like twin harmonies, blended together. And I have to pick how the next verse goes," she said. Elias was surprised by that. It seemed so many things about this world were custom-tailored to the individual. He was also shocked by how fast the phantom skill trees had sprouted for him this time after his level up. The two trees - druid and alchemist - broke out of the jungle floor without hesitation, looking even more nebulous and overwhelming than they had previously.

He already had some inkling of what he would choose. But first … he had to check and make sure his planned upgrade was something he'd be able to take full advantage of. He had high hopes for this abandoned hovel. But for the moment, that was all they were. Unfortunately, his plan was thwarted. He had intended to step around the trees and go into the old building, in the hopes that he would find one of these elusive alchemy benches inside.

If that turned out to be the case, or so he planned, he would unquestionably choose an alchemy skill as his next one. But the trees seemed almost … aware. Like they were fully conscious of what he was thinking, and viewed it as some kind of dishonesty. As if Elias were attempting to cheat them. Their branches spread and their roots grew wider. As Elias tried to move past them, they moved right along with his field of vision, blocking any attempts he might make to inspect the ruined hovel.

He'd have to take a gamble here. He explained this dilemma to his companion, who he could hear humming a strange tune somewhere behind him.

"You've got to risk it for the biscuit, you know?" she said, by way of answering. And she said it with the sort of reverence with which one might quote Confucius.

"I used to say the same thing, back in my old life. Mostly to my dad. I suppose you are right," he replied, staring again at the choices on the alchemical tree. He focused on the one skill that he had been thinking about ever since he had pocketed the charge lichen, back in the old abandoned granary. He'd been hoping the description matched his particular ambitions. # Explosives I - Allows you to brew and prepare basic grenades, bombs, and other incendiary concoctions using your alchemical ingredients.

That was exactly what Elias had in mind for his next skill. Something to go boom. After all, things were only going to get harder from here. That was the safe assumption, anyway. While he'd managed to outsmart most of the monsters thus far, thoughts of what might be lurking out in this jungle that he'd yet to encounter had put him in mind of collecting more offensive abilities. The other potion subskills intrigued him as well. Elixirs, health tonics, poisons, whatever chaos meant.

All of that sounded very interesting. But interesting would have to wait in favor of something explosive. After all, what the hell was a blightmaw? The questboard had mentioned that such a creature would eventually need to be reckoned with, whatever it was. In any respect, it sounded like something you couldn't simply smack with a wooden staff and expect to walk away with all of your limbs. And those Fireknights weren't going to leave him be unless he gave them a convincing reason to do so.

Also, he needed to be able to craft—maybe going further down the alchemy tree would also help him with a particular quest he recalled from the quest board. # Quest (Rec level 10) Earn a thousand echo coins through your crafting class. # If explosives were as powerful as he assumed them to be, there would probably be a vibrant market for them back in Cinderleaf. There were just too many choices. Elias decided not to let himself succumb to analysis paralysis, and decided to go ahead and follow his gut once again.

"Explosives I it is," he said to the tree. That seemed to make the giant phantom growths very satisfied. They shook in arboreal excitement, maybe even joy. In a flash, Elias' mind filled with possibilities, some of which were pretty insane. He felt that he'd spent the last three weeks studying in a lab, but it happened all in the blink of an eye. # You have discovered the following recipes. Experiment to discover more!

Faintglow Spore + Oil + flask = Illumination Molotov Charge Lichen + Oil + flask = Basic bomb Fleetcap Mushroom + Charge Lichen + flask = Flashboom Puffsphere shroom + Charge Lichen + flask = Smoke Shield Electric Jasmine + Disco Spores + flask = Teleportation Juice # The trees shrank and disappeared. Elias smiled, relishing in his newfound knowledge. Then, he immediately made a beeline for the building, leaving Fiona outside sitting on a rock and recovering from the fight.

She seemed to be deeply considering her own choices, perhaps still contemplating the next verse of her song. Merlyn trailed Elias inside, emitting a protective growl that echoed through the tight space. First of all, the building reeked of the cockroaches, and there was ample sign here that the bugs had been setting up a nice place to multiply in this dusty ruin. Mucus, shed carapaces, and the signs of their … division … were everywhere. Perhaps some of it could be put to use.

But first, he had to answer the burning question. The question of whether this building held the thing he was looking for.