Chương 33: Disturbance at the Cave

Mark woke up looking around his a-frame. He had so much extra room that it made him feel like he needed to build more just to fill it. An end table, a container for his things. Maybe a rug of some type for the floor. It was a good feeling to be less camping and more staying somewhere. Mark walked out and over to the fire pit. His plan for the morning was to rebuild the fire pit. Dig out and level the area and then build it back bigger and better.

Making sure to have places to cook and places for the main fire, then pushing coals under the cooking rocks. He started moving the stones out, and once they were all moved, he dug down a little so that his fire pit, rather than being on top of the ground, was partially underground. This would better hold the heat and coals, making it easier to cook. He only made it about a quarter of the way around the outside of his new pit before he ran out of stones.

So putting down his tools, he went to hunt for more stones in the forest. It took him 3 trips out before he had enough stone for the new firepit. By his second trip back Ava had woken up and was watching his project. She had just finished feeding Bramble when Cora came into camp. She looked to be a little shaken up, not her normal mysterious self when she got there. Walking over to Mark, she said, "Something is happening near the cave."

Mark had almost forgotten about the cave; it was next to the waterfall on the other side of the stream from them at the northwest corner of the zone map he had.

"Something? What does that mean?"

"I found tracks that were like nothing I had seen before. They look like they came from the cave and headed south on the other side of the stream." She paused for a moment, hesitating.

"I think we should go together and check it out." This was the most Cora had said since they met her. And she never before asked for help; this must be something she thinks is serious.

"Ok, let me get my weapons, and we can go investigate." Ave stood up and said.

"I'm coming too."

"Alright, you can come, but you and Bramble will need to stay back till we figure out what it is." The three of them left camp following Cora. She went slow enough that Mark and Ava could keep up. Cora led them up the east side of the stream until they got to the pond at the bottom of the waterfalls. She then led them across the stream and stopped a few hundred feet from the cave.

"Around her is where I saw the tracks. I have a funny feeling about the cave, so I won't go any closer." This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Mark started looking around using the tracking and sensing skills he had; he looked around the ground. It did not take him long to find what Cora had seen. Indeed there were tracks. They did not look like any animal tracks he had seen before. He bent down and touched the ground.

It looked like something had passed through, dragging along the ground—maybe even trying to hide its tracks. He could see some trace of plant matter. Though it gave a strange vibe that Mark could not put his finger on. Bramble went over and started rooting around and sniffing the ground where Mark was looking. He let out a low growl and ran back behind Ava's legs. Mark said, "Looks like Bramble does not like what he can smell. It looks like it headed south. I am going to follow it."

As Mark headed south, Ava and Cora followed along. It had headed south a couple hundred yards and then veered into the woods. They followed the trail for a while, not seeing anything else other than the odd tracks. Mark started to notice that the sounds of the forest were starting to go quiet, like something had spooked the animals. He had just rounded a tree when he finally saw something a ways off in the distance. He tried to identify what it was, and a system message appeared.

[New Creature Type Discovered] Classification: Unknown Mark suddenly stopped and hid behind the tree he had just passed. He was quiet enough that whatever it was did not see him. He was about to whisper to the girls what he had seen when Bramble came around and, seeing the creature, started to growl. Ava said.

"He is feeling scared." Before Ava could get him back behind the tree, the creature stopped and turned toward them. Mark said.

"Well, so much for just investigating. Whatever that is, it is heading toward us." The creature was strange-looking. It came up to about waist height on Mark. It had tentacles or arms—ok, maybe more like vines moving side to side as it dragged toward him. Marks identify finally triggered. [Rootling Level 3] "Ok, definitely not an animal." It was still moving towards them. They started to back up, but it was slowly gaining on them. Mark finally decided he would attack it.

Pulling out his bow, he let 3 arrows fly toward it. It shook each time the arrow hit, but it did not seem to faze it. And it was gaining ground. Mark put his bow away and pulled out his spear. When it got within arm's length, he stabbed at it with the spear. Like the bow, it was not doing much. He finally saw a chunk of the rootling tear away with one of his better stabs. Realizing that his current tactics were not working, he swapped his spear for his axe. This weapon was more effective.

As he hacked at it, the thing started to scream, if that was even the right word for it. It had stopped moving forward now and was trying to move away. At this point Bramble joined the fight and came over and started to pull and rip off some of the roots near the bottom. Seeing Bramble join in, Cora came in to help using her spear. The rootling finally died, and they received a system letting them know it was dead. They all just sat there looking at the dead rootling on the ground.

The thing didn't look like anything that should have been alive. Mark finally spoke.

"Well, that changes things." The system confirmed the kill—forty-five experience—and the loot followed: five tangle roots and a damp core fragment. Ave said.

"Oh, I got exp for that." The body did not vanish until all 3 of them had looted.

"We should get back to camp." Mark said, "It looks like securing our base just got more important. We need to prepare for whatever else might come out of that cave."