We decided to wait at the bar until the food was ready… to… you know… let Svampe talk to people that weren’t us. He’s still clearly not used to talking to girls, but he did seem marginally less nervous by the end of the evening. And when I say that… I mean by a very… very narrow margin.
Honestly, I love Kiyui… but he does rather have a tendency to think that sex is the solution to most things. And, don’t get me wrong, sex is great an’ all… but it really is not the solution that he thinks it is. Prostitutes are not the answer here. Svampe just needs to spend more time around girls… well… other people in general. The more he gets used to other people, the more comfortable he will feel around them, and the easier it will be for him to talk to them.
Putting girls aside for now… he does seem to be doing so much better. This is probably the best that I have seen him since we took him in. He’s not only outside of the farm… he’s in a tavern… in a village that he has never been to… and he is talking to people that he doesn’t know.
Admittedly; he is still hiding himself in that big cloak… but still… he’s out and he is talking to people. Clearly nervous, but not upset. I am so happy for him to be heading in a positive direction. After everything that he has been through… for him to find a purpose… a use for these powers… it’s amazing… I’m really proud of him.
By the time morning rolled around, the village elder was awake. He was still weak from being bedridden for so long. Not using your muscles for long periods is really not good for them. I remember when my arms were paralysed for ages so that the bones could heal… honestly, the stiffness when I eventually tried to move them again… I… I would not recommend the situation.
We stuck around the village until Svampe had healed the crops and Agaroth had cured the remaining villagers of the poison. This took a couple of days. The villagers were treating us like gods for what we had done for them. It felt quite exploitative to be honest… not that that fazed Agaroth in any way… he took full advantage of the situation.
I suppose, being so revered by people will be good for Svampe’s reputation. He may be called upon for more things like this in the future… which will no doubt make him feel wanted… which can only be a good thing. Pretty sure that Agaroth is trying to set himself up as Svampe’s business manager or something. He clearly sees the money-making potential of this situation… which is rather different to Svampe’s desire to simply help whoever he can.
The elder wrote a letter for us to return to the guild. Mainly to provide us with proof of quest completion, but also to explain all of the extra things that we did that were not part of the quest… you know… the whole water cleansing and cave troll extermination… which were definitely not part of the quest that we signed up for.
With the letter in hand, we set off for Kataravonia. Quite a few of the villagers came to wave us off. They even told Svampe that, should they ever need any help with crops or healing again, they would send for him straight away. So that was a nice little confidence booster for him… and I’m pretty sure I could see the gold glistening is Agaroth’s eyes when they said that.
Once we got back to Kataravonia, we ended up splitting and going our separate ways once more. Svampe was eager to get back to the farm. So, he and Kiyui set off for home as soon as we got back. All the social interactions of the past few days have probably tired him out.
Phoenix has never been too fussed about the rewards from adventuring… of course, now that I know that she is rich, that makes a lot more sense. She left for home and told us to pass on her share when we next see her.
Dietrich and Farrow have been partying with Damecus for years, so they trusted him to sort out their shares and they both disappeared off to… wherever they go. I don’t know either of them particularly well and don’t like to pry. Which left Damecus, Agaroth and I to swing by the guild and collect the reward.
The reward boost from the extra bits that we did was really quite substantial, way more than I was anticipating. We are sharing it with one extra person this time, but even so… my share alone is more than Kiyui and I normally get between us. For a first quest, Svampe is certainly off to a good financial start. He could probably get some really good gear with this.
Vanessa: “You’re telling me, that you half-wits killed five fuckin’ cave trolls?”
Dwynfel: “Well, not just the three of us…”
Damecus: “You underestimate us, fair maiden.”
Vanessa: “Fair maiden? Fuck off, you big flirt. Then again…”
She took a large drag from her cigar.
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Vanessa: “…I’ve definitely shagged worse… the husband for a start. Hang on… ‘fore I forget. That Chloe’s been lookin’ for you.”
Okay… firstly… she has a husband? Gods… I dread to think what he’s like. Secondly… I wonder what Chloe wants.
Damecus: “Did she state what she requests of me?”
Vanessa: “If I knew that, then I would have said. Now piss off. I’ve got paperwork to do.”
We divided the money into eight. Agaroth took his and loudly announced that he was off to Madame Laurent’s. It would seem that being in a relationship with Cathy has not put him off visiting prostitutes. I rather expected Damecus to object to that… he probably assumes that Agaroth is simply going there to visit his son… which is technically a possibility… I suppose… although, knowing Agaroth, I’m pretty sure Big Bertha will also be a part of it.
Damecus took Phoenix, Farrow, and Dietrich’s shares as he was most likely to see them next and I took mine, Kiyui’s and Svampe’s. Then we went to find Chloe. We asked around and apparently, she had gone to the botanical gardens… probably assumed that Damecus would head straight there upon his return from our quest.
When we arrived at the gardens, Chloe was out the front with a concerned look on her face. She instantly hailed Damecus over. He strode over to her and before I reached them, she said something to him, and he adopted a purely horrified expression. I finally got close enough to hear what was going on and he had gripped Chloe with both of his hands and was shaking her.
Damecus: “Which tree was it? Which tree?”
Chloe: “Fucked if I know. A big one, near the pond.”
Damecus let go on Chloe and stormed off into the gardens at great speed… like, seriously, I mean great speed. He was running on all fours… he doesn’t do that… he never does that.
Dwynfel: “What on earth’s happened?”
Chloe: “Some arsehole’s cut down one of the trees.”
Dwynfel: “What? That it?”
Chloe: “Yeah. Nicked the whole thing.”
Dwynfel: “Umm… should we follow him? He seemed rather unsettled.”
Chloe: “You think?”
She fixed me with a sarcastic glare and we went to find Damecus. He wasn’t where I expected him to be… he wasn’t by the felled tree… it would seem that he had gone straight to his house within the gardens.
When we reached his house, the door was wide open. The house looked as though it had been trashed. Furniture flipped, food strewn across the floor, curtains ripped, etc. Cathy was trying to clean it all up. Verity was wrapped around Damecus and… fucking hell… she’s sinking her teeth into his shoulder… like… really sinking her teeth into his shoulder… her nails are digging into his back… how is he not wincing in agony right now? How has she not broken the scales? Tears are streaming down her face. Damecus is rocking forwards and backwards in an attempt to soothe her… but it certainly doesn’t look like it is working.
Dwynfel: “Umm… is everything alright? Why’d they trash this place?”
Damecus: “They didn’t. That was her favourite tree… she did not react well.”
Fucking hell… she did all of this? Now I get what Damecus was saying about how she will need him when she’s older… if she does this when she’s twice the size she is now, then… by the gods…
Chloe: “She do this often?”
Damecus: “Not for a long time.”
Cathy: “She doesn’t cope well with change.”
Cathy looks incredibly perturbed. I can understand why… seeing your child in a state of distress is horrible.
Cathy: “Please… please don’t think ill of her… she just struggles with things.”
Oh gods… she thinks we are going to blame Verity or something…
Dwynfel: “Oh, gods… no… no, no, no, no… we would never…”
Chloe: “Your shoulder alright there, Damecus?”
Damecus: “My scales are thick, it does not bother me. I can feel her jaw starting to loosen. She will be ready to go down soon.”
I’m surprised he can feel anything other than searing pain right now.
Dwynfel: “Then what?”
Damecus: “She will want to run around and likely flap something. She has a collection of long leaves and similar objects in a drawer in the kitchen.”
Chloe: “Any idea why they took that tree?”
Damecus: “There is a reason that it was a protected tree. It was the last oak in the area. You could make some incredibly valuable furniture with it. It was likely taken to be sold on the black market.”
Dwynfel: “Is there really a demand for wood on the black market?”
Damecus: “There is a market for anything that cannot be obtained legally. I have planted several oaks nearby, but they shall not be fully grown for many years. So, for now, that tree was the only decent source in this kingdom.”
Chloe: “Right. That at least makes some sense.”
Verity had stopped crying and was no longer biting and clawing at Damecus. He put her down and she instantly ran to the drawer in the kitchen that Damecus had mentioned… grabbed a leaf out of it and rushed around the room, flapping it up and down.
Damecus placed three bags of coin on the table.
Damecus: “When Dietrich arrives, give these to her and ask her to pass one to Phoenix and another to Farrow.
Cathy: “Okay.”
Damecus then turned and barged past Chloe and I. He bounded out of the door with a strong sense of purpose. We rushed after him.
Dwynfel: “Damecus! Where are you going?”
Damecus: “To find whoever did this.”
Chloe: “And do what with them?”
Damecus: “I have not decided yet, but it will not be good.”
Dwynfel: “Damecus… you can’t just storm off and kill people over a tree…”
Chloe: “Shorty has a point. We have rules…”
Damecus: “I care not. She loved that tree.”
