One Moo'r Plow

Little was the sleep I had earned once morning came. Instead, dawn found me outside, already carrying back pails of milk from the pasture. My chores finished, I donned Garek’s heavy armor, lumbered past Artyom’s still-asleep form, grabbed several bags, and headed for the fields. I would need spores in great measure for what I had in mind.

It required slow, careful work, but I was finished before Ishila came trudging down the road toward me, lost in her thoughts.

“The stonemongers pose a continued problem,” I grunted in response to her query. “I will force a solution.”

“I’d tell you to stay safe,” She offered, expression both wry and tired. “But I doubt ya’ need the warnin’.”

I didn’t, but to say I left the sentiments unappreciated would be a lie. I spent scarce time laying out her work for the day, directed her to build scarecrows and mount what stonemonger corpses remained, and then moved to set off. For a moment, I glanced between my remaining bag of spores and the mandrake plants, tempted. Done right, they could offer an immediate solution to all that ailed me. Yet the risk involved was frankly insane.

I was not fully equipped for that, and neither was anyone around me, I suspected.

A random train of thought gave me pause once more. If killing things was a guaranteed way to level up in this world, these specific plants were a level-grinder’s wet dream. The image of some maniac strolling into a city with one of these wrung a shudder out of me.

Horrifying.

With a vague thought to do something when I got back on my mind, I shouldered my pack and set off up the slopes that led to Mount Redtip.

A long, grim day awaited me, and I was not about to keep it waiting. Might as well go and get it over with. Scarce as the traffic was, it was still far more occupied than any time before. Riders trotted along on patrol, and a few other farmers recognized the same opportunity I had. Carts laden with goods trundled towards the camp, and I silently nodded my own greetings as I met them.

But that was not my destination today. I turned toward’s Le’rish’s lodge where the path split, and with due haste, I arrived. The huntress awaited me, splayed out peacefully in a hammock. She raised a hand in greeting as I approached, and then sat upright. One bright eye regarded me, the other socket empty and scarred.

“Not too early, not too late.” She grunted in approval. “You have everything?”

“Aye. On my end anyhow. You?”

She gestured at a pack that leaned against the wall of her lodge.

“Healing flasks. Emergency items. Only what we need in the worst situations. Pray it doesn’t come to that. Prepare for it anyway.”

This was her way of thanking me, I knew. She had little personal investment in my problems with the stonemonger swarms, yet had offered to guide me to their nests.

And I was ready to engage in some good ol shotgun diplomacy.

My eagerness to move was not hidden, I suspect. Yet Le’rish wasted little time. She had grabbed her stuff and was moving towards the undergrowth in heartbeats, with me close behind.

I will admit, the huntress was silent as she moved through the overgrown forest. I was not. Branches snapped with every few steps I took, trees were pushed aside to make room and she quickly grew annoyed. I shrugged helplessly as she threw annoyed glances back at me. Nothing as large as my frame was made to be quiet.

“The entire point of ambushing a stonemonger nest is not to be heard half a horizon away.” She hissed as a particularly loud snap cracked through the air. I attempted several more steps, at which point she gave up and stalked back along the trail.

Her clawed fingers touched my form, and everything became muted. I spoke, but heard nothing.

“Mute skill.” She spoke. “Affects the immediate area around you. I’ll drop it when we get to the first nest. Just follow me for now.”

Unable to protest, I did just that, and we quietly moved through the trees. Thick blankets of clouds above blocked any possible sunlight and left the forest dull and muted. The undergrowth stretched in every direction now, with no clear sign as what went where. I shuddered and just kept behind Le’rish as our path wove up and down hills, into crevices and over streams.

Where exactly we were headed, I had no idea. But without the huntress I would be lost, I already knew.

Vague shapes moved through the trees at the edge of vision, yet whatever was out there did not seem keen to bother us. Instead, we moved in relative silence, save for the sounds of animals in the growth and the shrieks of birds overhead.

Minutes blended together, as did the greenery around us. I had never been a proper sort of outback survivor, and a new world hadn’t magically improved those non-existent capabilities. Couldn’t improve talent if there was never any there to begin with.

Le’rish signaled a stop and, my eyes firmly on her, I obeyed. One hand beckoned me forward, and I cautiously approached a break in the trees.

A swarm of stonemongers congregated in a clearing before us. Dozens, perhaps over a hundred of the lanky, rock-scaled creatures moved around. But this was not a primitive, writhing mass. No, something stopped me whole as we silently watched the scene.

Large, carved stones were clearly the focal point here, gathered in a circle of all this. Adorned with rags and symbols painted everywhere, they stood high above gathered creatures. Many lay off to the sides of this nest, others worked on weapons. I could see several trading, more preparing food. But what was happening in the center truly took my attention.

Several forms stood on a slightly elevated slab of stone, opposite to each other. I could not make out their guttural language, yet I could see the ebb and flow that took place there.

“Are they..debating?”

Was what I attempted to hiss. Being muted meant nothing came of it, however.

But yes, to my astonishment, this was not some primitive tribal system where an alpha or something ordered around the rest. The creatures had a large portion of their numbers gathered as several unremarkable members debated each other before the stone idols they had erected.

The perspective in my head of these creatures was shifted from a mindless scavenger swarm to one more refined. But being smarter made them more dangerous, gave an edge to their malice. It elevated them from beasts to deliberate evil.

Le’rish drew her bow and nodded to me.

I had come here for a reason. It took a few moments to harden my heart, but with claymore in hand, I stepped from the trees.

A bag of biter pods flew overhead, slashed open and spilling hungry plants all the while. Lerish’s muting skill faded halfway through my roar as I charged from the trees, head down. Relentless Charge and Head Smash carried my forward at the surprised masses. Scaled figure leaped to its feet, only to to gored upon my horns and hurled away as I straightened and roared again.

Brutal Swing and my wide reach cut through a mass of monsters as I continued forward momentum. Into the crowds of screaming, hissing stonemongers as their fury sang around me. Any blow that managed to reach me was stopped by Garek’s armor.

Arrows filled the air around me as wood and steel whistled from the trees.

Creatures ran from my path as they found attacking futile. Yet I was not here to solely slaughter. My claymore chased down monsters with every swing, and I bathed in the blood of my enemies.

I was not a farmer.

I was a berserker.

A god of blood and fury granted a mortal shell.

Lost in the fury, I nearly forgot myself.

Blood beat through my eyes as my mind demanded death to any that stood before me. The Gods Above had made all on this world, large and small. But it was I that made them equal in death.

Great was the effort that forced me away from the slaughter and towards my real objective. Screeching stonemongers gathered around the stone idols, weapons in hand as one of their kind gestured toward me and screamed guttural words.

They would die here, bleeding for every step I took. Desperate to protect their gods.

Let them.

The earth shook beneath me as I stomped at the last defenders. All hesitation was gone as the sanguine red rush enveloped my being. I was divine, a deity of blood and carnage. Faces I would soon forget died screaming beneath my blade, their attempts to stop me futile. I never ceased momentum, but carried forward until I stood before their Stone Gods.

Brutal Swing tore through the stone as attacks glanced off my back. One stature toppled, followed by another. I rent their idols in twain, then rampaged through the rubble until they were reduced to pieces, killing all the while.

Screams of fury, anguish and rage rang through the nest, but their spirit was broken. Those that still lived fled into the wilderness, chased by arrows all the while.

I stood panting in the center of it all as the red rage cleared from my mind and I beheld the destruction I had wrought, Yet I refused to ignore it all and look away like a coward. I had this to protect me and mine. My face grim, I wiped the blood from my blade and looked to where Le’rish emerged.

If the slaughter bothered her, the huntress was excellent at hiding it.

She nodded on approach and examined the idols.

“Worship their own pantheon.” She explained. “Every nest is built around these carved rocks. Where there are no rocks, there are no stonemongers.”

“And you know all the locations in this area?” I grimaced and watched a plethora of biter pods gnaw at a corpse.

“Most of them. Some small ones are well hidden. Big ones are the ones to focus on. Bigger statues, more stonemongers. Simple.”

I nodded grimly and sheathed my blade.

“Then let us move on. The bloodshed here is done and the nest is cleared.”

A long, bloody day lay ahead of us, and who was I to keep it waiting?

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