Land of the Undying

by Dave Willmarth

  Agility: 12 Luck: 10 Armor: 6 Skill pts avail: 0

  Shari hadn’t put a lot of thought or effort into managing her stats previously. The game was just a place she went to have some fun with Sheila once in a while. Now, she looked at her numbers more seriously. As a druid, with a lean toward healing and protection magic, it made sense for her highest stats to be wisdom and intelligence. She depended mostly on casting, and needed the largest mana pool possible. She’d added a point to stamina to raise her health a bit, and to allow her to run through the woods for reasonable distances. The point in strength was meant to make it easier to climb trees (she was an elf, after all) and to pull a bow, or hit things with her staff. The two points in agility would allow her to dodge attacks and run away, as well as move more easily from tree to tree.

  She was glad to see that she’d nearly reached level 18. That would make it easier to reach level 20 in time to meet Mace.

  Thanking Master Arlon, she left his tree and headed out of the city. If she could complete her herb gathering quest and level up, Arlon might have a new spell for her that might help her complete the rest of her quests. The alternative was to recruit an NPC to accompany her, and she didn’t even know how to go about doing that.

  Stepping quietly through the forest, she searched around the base of trees, near underbrush, and in sunny patches on the forest floor for the herbs she needed. She was looking for hogroot, an ingredient used in healing potions. Shari had picked up basic herbology and alchemy skills from previous quests. At the time, she’d been taking a chemistry course in med school, and the mixing of potions had caught her fancy.

  Hogroot was… well, just what it sounded like. The useful part of the plant was an ugly, twisted root that tasted bitter if one bit into it. The fern-like above-ground portion of the plant resembled that of a carrot, with red-tinged edges to the leaves. For some reason, pigs went hog-wild for the root. Hence the name. And the difficulty in finding it. Wild boars could smell the root from twenty yards distance, and consumed them as quick as they found them. So one had to avoid the areas where boars often roamed.

  Shari moved out of the denser area of the forest, heading for an open meadow. Boars preferred the safety of darker areas with dense undergrowth. Venturing out into the open exposed them to hunters and larger predators. Once she reached the tree line, she slowed her pace. First she moved along the edge of the meadow, hoping to find an uneaten patch of the root. Her strategy paid off when she found several of the plants growing beneath a fallen log. She carefully loosened the dirt around each one, exposing the top of the root. One of the things her herbology skill told her was that gripping the plant by its stems would just break them off, and make the root worthless (except to pigs). Once she had the top of the root exposed, she gripped it tightly with her fingers and worked it back and forth a bit to loosen it in the soil, before gently tugging it free.

  She placed each root in her inventory, where they stacked in a single slot. Her bag only had 25 spaces, so each was valuable. She couldn’t carry any ‘fluff’ items. Getting a bigger bag was one of her priorities before leaving the city.

  The patch under the log gave her seven of the ten roots she needed. So she resumed her search. Gathering quests, were often repeatable. So if she could find twenty of the roots before the sun set and she needed to head back to the city, she could pick up some extra experience points by turning in the ten she needed, completing the quest, then accepting it again.

  About ten minutes later, she spotted another patch of the root a few yards out into the meadow. The red fringes in the light of the lowering sun caught her attention. It was a significant patch. Looking around the meadow for a moment, she neither saw nor heard any predators. Stepping quickly but quietly through the grass of the meadow, she knelt next to the first of the roots. As she cleared the dirt around it, she counted the clusters of stems around her. There had to be at least a dozen of them.

  Shari was maybe halfway through collecting all the roots, when she heard a rustling in the tall grass nearby. She froze with a freshly pulled root in hand, holding her breath as she listened. The rustling grew closer, and she could hear the snuffling sound of a wild boar.

  It must have smelled the roots! Damn. I don’t want to fight this thing.

  Shari knew it was unwise to run from a boar. They took it as a challenge, and were faster than she was. Especially over short distances on open ground. The nearest tree for her to climb was twenty yards away. So she drew her bow and nocked an arrow. She stuck a second arrow in the ground next to her. She remained on her knees, not wanting to stand and alert the wild pig to her presence any sooner than necessary. She was hoping to get a clean shot at it before it spotted her and charged.

  Breathing as slowly and lightly as she could, she waited. Her heart pounded in her chest as she set to her breathing techniques to calm it. Adrenaline flooded her system. Boars have long sharp tusks. They attack by charging at you, slicing at your legs in an attempt to cripple you and knock you down. Once they have you on the ground, they could savage you with those tusks. Shari was already down on her knees. If this boar got within striking distance, she was dead. Her low-level leather armor would provide almost no protection.

  The sounds were nearly on top of her now. Shari raised the bow and drew it. She took a deep breath and held it, then slowly released it, as she fought with her nerves to keep the bow steady. A moment later, the boar stepped out of the grass, and froze. It was a piglet! The little thing was barely two feet long, staring at her with wide, surprised eyes. It’s legs locked tight, its small body shaking, and it looked as if it were about to faint in fear.

  Shari inhaled again, and lowered the bow, easing the tension on the string. “Well hey there lil one.” She said quietly. “What’re you doing out here all by yourself?”

  She was about to reach for the piglet when a horrible thought occurred to her. “Where’s your mama n daddy?” she asked the piglet, looking around frantically and trying to listen for any signs of a larger boar. Elves had excellent hearing. But no other rustling sounds came to her. It was unlikely that the piglet had strayed far from its parents, though. And one loud squeal from the cute little piggy would bring death charging her way.

  Shari quickly reached into her bag, withdrawing one of the roots. She held it out toward the piglet, saying “Here you go, little one. Here’s what you want. A tasty snack from the nice elf lady who wants you to be very, very quiet.”

  The baby boar ceased its shaking, catching the scent of the offered hogroot. Its little mouth opened, and it leaned forward a bit on its still-frozen legs. Shari could see a bit of drool begin to run down onto the piglet’s fuzzy chin. She leaned forward herself a bit more, putting the root within the pig’s reach.

  She smiled as it sniffed at the root, then eyed her suspiciously. “I won’t hurt you, little piggy. It’s okay.” She held the root still. After a moment more, the piglet’s hunger overcame its fear, and took ahold of the root. A short game of tug-of-war ensued, as the piglet tried to take the root and leave, and Shari held firmly to it. The last thing she needed was for this pig to run home with the root and bring back family.

  “This isn’t a drive-thru, little one. If you want the tasty treat, you’re going to have to sit here with me and eat it.” Shari grinned at the pig, who was looking quite irate now. It gave one more tug at the root, then let it go. It sat on its haunches, tilting its head to one side as it considered her. It gave a single questioning oink-snorty noise.

  “So. Stalemate, is it?” Shari spoke to the pig as if it understood her. “I suppose we can compromise.” She broke a small piece off the tip of the root, and held it in her open palm, which she extended to the piglet, who was still eyeing her with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. After a momentary stare-down, the piglet leaned forward and took the bit of root from her hand. It sat back again, happily munching on the root. When it was through, the piglet squealed happily and bounded toward Shari. It leapt into her lap, attention focused o
n the root in her hand.

  Initially caught off guard, Shari tried to retreat. But she was on her knees and off balance, so when the pig impacted her body, she just sort of rolled to one side. The pig walked across her belly, totally focused on the root. She chuckled and lowered her hand, so the hungry little pig could munch on the root. It didn’t seem to mind this time that she held onto her end. It just crunched away at the bite it had taken, sitting on Shari’s belly.

  Shari hesitantly reached out with her other hand and petted the piglet’s back. When it didn’t complain, she began to scratch its back, then its ears. This caused it to pause and close its eyes while it enjoyed the attention.

  “You had me pretty scared for a minute there, little fella.” She whispered as her heartbeat returned to normal. “Here, you eat up. I’ve got work to do.” She set the root down on the ground and left the piglet to crunch away while she resumed harvesting the rest of the roots. By the time it was finished eating, she had gathered her twenty third root. She pulled one more from the ground as the little pig watched with keen interest. She set it down in front of him, whispering “This is a bribe. You sit here and eat quietly, while I sneak back into the woods where it’s safe. No loud noises that might call mommy or daddy. Or both.”

  As the piglet munched away, she quietly rose to her feet and began to walk back toward the tree line. She was nearly there when she heard more rustling approaching her from behind. Fearing the worst, she looked over her shoulder while at the same time picking up the pace.

  Emerging from the grass behind her, the piglet was running with the hogroot in its mouth. It squeak-snorted at her once. Shari stopped and turned toward the little pig. “No, no. You need to go the other way!” she whispered as loudly as she dared. When she stopped, the pig had trotted up to her feet and sat down, once again munching on the root. “Come on little piggy. You have to leave. Go ‘wee wee wee’ all the way home to your momma!” She made shooing motions at the piglet, who ignored her completely.

  Hoping it would stay put now, Shari continued her walk. She entered the tree line and breathed a sigh of relief. All around her now were trees she could escape into if angry boars charged at her. She turned toward the city and made directly for it. She was a good hundred yards closer when she heard a familiar snort behind her. Turning back, she found the piglet once again trotting after her, a significantly reduced root held in its mouth. The little thing looked like a dog returning a fetched stick to its human.

  “Shoo!” she scolded it. “You keep following me, and some hunter’s gonna turn you into bacon.” The piglet just tilted its head inquisitively. Shari took a couple sudden steps toward the pig, growling “Raaargh!” to scare it off. The piglet jumped to one side, then backed up a bit, snorting rapidly around the root in its mouth. Then it squealed and charged toward her, as if playing tag. Shari sighed.

  “Figures. I get the one wild boar baby in the whole world that likes to play with elves.” She grumbled at the little thing as its butt wiggled back and forth in the piggy version of tail-wagging. “Alright, follow me. But if you get shot, it is NOT my fault. Maybe Master Arlon will have a home for you.”

  The sun was beginning to set as Shari walked through the city gate, piglet wobbling along behind her. The guards had given her quizzical looks as she approached, and she’d just shrugged, saying “It followed me home. I’m taking it to Master Arlon.” which earned some chuckles from the guards. She also got several curious and amused stares from passersby as she made her way to the druid’s giant tree, the piglet still following with the remains of the hogroot in its mouth, snorting happily. She knocked on Arlon’s door and waited for him to call down.

  “Is that a baby boar?” Arlon’s voice drifted down to her. She stepped back from the door and looked up. He was once again leaning out the window of his study.

  “Yes. I made the mistake of giving it some hogroot, as you can see. Now it seems to have adopted me. I was hoping you might have a home for it here in the garden?” she asked hopefully.

  “I’ll be down in a moment.” Arlon’s head disappeared. Less than a minute later the door opened and he stepped out. He knelt down and reached out a hand to the piglet, who didn’t hesitate to approach the old druid. Arlon scratched under its chin. The piglet snorted and rolled its eyes in pleasure. “He’s quite the little ham.” Arlon grinned at her. Now it was Shari’s turn to roll her eyes at the pun.

  “Master Arlon, I really need to turn in this quest before we go to speak with the council. Can I leave him here with you?”

  Arlon nodded his head. “He can stay for now. But I fear he would wreak havoc on my garden if left alone. Return here once you’ve completed your quest, and we’ll walk to the council meeting together.”

  Thanking the druid, Shari hurried down the lane to the alchemists shop. She removed ten of the hogroot and handed them over to Lonien, the alchemist.

  Quest Complete: Don’t Hog the Roots.

  Reward: 200xp, 3 common quality health potions.

  Level Up! You have reached level 18!

  You have earned 1 free attribute point.

  Lonien inspected the roots, saying “Well done, child. You’ve been most careful not to damage them. This will increase the potency of the potions I can create from them.”

  “Thank you, Lonien. I enjoyed the walk through the forest. If you have need of more, please let me know.” she hoped the offer would trigger a repeat of the quest.

  “I will be sure to do so. I’m afraid business has been slow of late. The usual crowd of outworlders who buy my health potions have disappeared.” Lonien replied. “So my need for hogroot has lessened.”

  Trying not to show her disappointment, she replied. “I understand. Have a pleasant evening.” She placed the healing potions in her bag and left the shop.

  Returning to Arlon’s, she found him in the garden, flat on his back and wrestling with the piglet. The little pig charged toward the druid and, with a gleeful squeal, leapt upon Arlon’s belly in a mock attack. The druid flipped it over and tickled the piglet’s belly in return, causing all four of its legs to twitch at once.

  Shari cleared her throat, interrupting the old druid’s play time. “Ah, you’ve returned. I’ve just been talking with our young friend here. It seems you’ve saved his life.” Arlon said.

  Shari looked confused. “What do you mean? He wasn’t in any danger when I found him.”

  “Ah, but he was. His mother was killed by wolves. He fled, but the wolves would have tracked him by his scent eventually. If he hadn’t found you, he likely wouldn’t have lasted another day.”

  Shari was surprised at the detailed account. “He told you all of this?”

  “Well, I AM a druid, after all. I learned to communicate with the animals of the forest many eons ago. I’ve had a little time to practice.” He winked at her. “But no, he didn’t so much tell me as he showed me. Most animals communicate with a combination of images, feelings, and scents.”

  “That’s… wonderful! Will I be able to to do that?” Shari asked.

  “Of course, young one. Once you have reached level twenty, you will be able to learn the skill.” Arlon smiled as if he knew something she didn’t. Which he did. Many, many somethings.

  “Let us make our way to the council hall. The elders should be gathering now.” Arlon reminded her. Shari looked up to see the sun dipping below the forest canopy. Arlon scooped up the piglet and began to walk toward the garden gate. Shari followed. “You’re going to bring him to the meeting?”

  “It is either that, or leave him to ransack my garden. I’m quite fond of this garden. It has taken me four thousand years to get it just right.” He grinned. “Or I supposed we could drop him at the butcher’s shop…”

  “No!” Shari blurted out. She blushed when she realized he’d been teasing.

  The three of them made their way the short distance to the center of town, and the council hall. It was a wide circle of inlaid stone surrounded by living columns of trees, whose
canopies mingled to provide a roof for the hall. There was a curved table at the back of the hall, and several dozen rows of stone benches. This evening, the benches were mostly empty, as this was not a planned meeting. Six elders sat at the table, with an empty seat near the center. Arlon handed the pig to Shari and moved to take the empty seat. Shari simply stood where she was, near the center of the floor, facing the elders.

  Arlon began the meeting. “As you all know, there has been much speculation as to the disappearance of the outworlders who, until recently, populated our city. Shari here has come to share news of her fellow outworlders.”

  The elders all turned expectant gazes toward her. Arlon smiled, waving for her to begin. She gave them the same explanation she’d given Arlon earlier. When she was through, they began to ask questions.

  “What was the cause of this tragedy? What could have killed so many so quickly?” one of the elders began.

  “In my world, we have scientists. They are… they are like a combination of alchemists, mages, and tinkers. They invented machines…” she trailed off. How was she going to explain machines? “They invented creations that could perform the work of a crafter, only much faster and on a larger scale. These creations are called machines. One of these machines, one that was designed to help them determine the origins of our universe, created a particle.” She paused again to explain the term. “Particles are very tiny pieces of the stuff that makes up you, me, everything in the world. This machine created a particle that contaminated every living thing. It spread like wildfire to everything it came in contact with. You have all, at some point, come into contact with poison oak?”

  She waited as they all nodded their heads. “And if you scratched at it, the affected area spread.” Again, they nodded. “Well, these particles, once a living thing came into contact with them, spread through the body in a matter of hours. Consuming and converting everything into undead monsters. The contamination spread through our world in a matter of days. People, animals, plants, bugs, even the fish in the sea. Every living thing that was exposed. Very few of us remain. Scattered in remote places around the world. I’m afraid, none of us will live long. Food will become scarce. We will have to venture further and further to find more. And every scavenging trip means risking one’s life.”