Spiteful Healer

Chapter 139: Pakro'Vielle

“State your business, other-worlders.” One of the guards shouted aggressively at Aegis while nudging his spear forward in a threatening manner. Aegis took this time to look over the guards and his surroundings quickly to assess the situation.

All of the guards had [Pakro’Vielle Guard - Level 90] above their heads, with the exception of the one speaking having [Captain Ulaipu(Elite) - Level 100]. They were a mix of female and male Plashrims. The males all resembled Tuugal’s appearance, though they were adults and as tall as Aegis and the others. The patterns of the bark on their heads, as well as the branches and shapes of the leaves, and the color of the leaves growing out of their head-branches varied. It wasn’t too unlike how hair color varied between humans.

In addition, the stubs on their fingers that took the form of mushrooms also varied in shapes and colors. They all wore dark orange leather armor with the symbol of a white mushroom embroidered onto the front of it. The spears they wielded had iron tips, but the wooden components of their weapons were white - clearly made from the stalks of the mushrooms rather than traditional trees from the surface.

The females of the species, of which there were 6 in total amongst the guards, varied wildly in appearance from the males. Rather than having bark on their heads, they instead had normal looking humanoid faces, but right above their ears and eyes their skin transitioned into flower petals that blossomed out of their head, and in one case, a mushroom top.

The colors, and the style of the petals on their heads varied as well. One resembled a red rose, while another a blue tulip. The one with the mushroom top was in the shape of a pointed red mushroom. Some of the flower petals were open, others were closed and pointed upwards, and Aegis could see the petals moving slightly as if the female Plashrim’s had control over whether the blossoms were open or closed.

As Aegis took this in, he also peeked over the shoulders of the guards to spot the source of the blinding bright light that had surprised him upon passing through the wall.

They were standing in a large cavern, but not so large that Aegis couldn’t see the far walls of the place. There was a paved, white tiled road beneath his feet that led forward through a city of houses built into the mushrooms that were scattered about the cavern. The paved roads led right up to the stalks of various mushrooms, where ladders and staircases wound around the stalks up to the base of the mushroom heads.

There was then a landing at the base of the mushroom where it met the stalk, and a door leading into the stalk upwards where a home was built into the undersides of the giant mushrooms. The shapes of the doors, the styles of them, as well as the styles of the crafted stairs and ladders all varied greatly, but it was clear most of it was made out of the tier 2 wood obtained from chopping mushroom stalks.

In addition to the under-side entry points into the mushroom homes, Aegis spotted windows built into the sides of the mushroom heads, so that those residing inside could look out at them. He saw plenty of curious Pakro’Vielle citizens doing exactly that, while the streets were otherwise clear of civilians.

The light was come from the lamp posts that lined the streets, they were packed full with tiny blue orbs like those found on the moss in the Reltrak forest. The Plashrim had somehow harvested the orbs in a way that didn’t dull their light, then packed hundreds of them tightly together into transparent orbs that held them together atop of white wooden posts that lined the streets intermittently.

In between the mushroom homes, Aegis spotted other typical facilities you’d find in a village. There were farm fields with fence posts built around them, pastures, and parked wagons, carts and the like. All of their constructions looked a little bit off i one way or another, but thanks to his high level crafting skills he could still tell what they were and how they functioned.

Aegis wasn’t the only one taking in all of this scenery, his party members all hard their jaws dropped as they looked over the mushroom village of Pakro’Vielle. Pyri had her head tilted up and pointed at the cavern roof to show Aegis that the Snails were present in this cavern as well, hanging from the roof among the stalactites and living in harmony with the Plashrims.

“I asked you a question.” Ulaipu shouted angrily, drawing attention back onto himself as Aegis finished taking in the scenery. He too was speaking with a russian-like accent on his english, similair to Tuugal's.

“Jya’lak giko mondtra alun!” Tuugal shouted as he ran to the front and held his hands out in defense of Aegis and his party.

“What’s he saying?” Darkshot asked, confused as he looked to the others.

“He’s speaking the Ancient language!” Rakkan squealed excitedly.

“Oadtra quen sivalash ketraka.” Ulaipu replied to Tuugal.

“Can you translate it?” Aegis asked Rakkan.

“A bit, kind of. Tuugal said we saved him, and Ulaipu’s asking who he is and why he brought us here.” Rakkan whispered back, making sure not to talk over the Plashrim.

“Ni’an kusak Imriena. Pashru ko lin giko sima halak!” Tuugal shouted insistently.

“He said he’s the son of Imriena. And we are here to help… with... something, I don’t know.” Rakkan replied flustered. Hearing Tuugal’s words, Ulaipu looked carefully over Aegis’ companions.

“You will speak with the Elder, he will decide if you are welcome here.” Ulaipu said commandly.

“Yes sir.” Aegis bowed politely.

“Follow. Do not make any sudden movements. Put your weapons away.” Ulaipu said, giving nods to his fellow guards. They all slowly lowered their spears and returned them to their sides. Aegis motioned to his companions and they did the same, unequipping their weapons to show no hostility. “Is your beast tame?” Ulaipu turned his attention to Snowflake.

“He’s well behaved, right Snowflake?” Aegis asked, and Snowflake gave a squawking nod.

“Very well.” Ulaipu replied before turning and heading down the street of Pakro’Vielle. Aegis was hesitant, but took the first steps forward to follow, and eventually the others followed suit. Once they stepped away from the cavern wall, the guards made sure to form a perimeter around Aegis and his party.

The group made their way along the paved roads of Pakro’Vielle to find it completely silent, seemingly devoid of life. But one only needed to look up into the windows of the houses to see dozens of Plashrim staring down at them curiously from behind the glass.

“They’re scared of us, I guess.” Aegis whispered to his party. The group was being led to a large, beefy looking mushroom on the far side of the village where the road came to an end. It was nearly triple the size of the other mushroom buildings, growing into the roof of the cavern.

The staircase leading up to the base of the mushroom where it met the stalk was wide, large and straight, starting from a few meters away rather than winding up around the stalk like the other staircases did. It gave a greater sense of importance to the structure as they ascended the staircase. When they took the first steps onto the staircase, Aegis noticed an odd echoing clunk sound from their feet hitting the white, mushroom stalk wood, almost as if it was hollow but nonetheless sturdy. There were vines, moss and other plants growing up and around the posts of the railings, with decorative carvings and designs engraved into the wood. The railings themselves were dotted with tiny blue orbs to light it up.

The style was quite different than anything Aegis had ever seen, but still remarkably beautiful. When they got to the top of the large staircase, they found themselves on a small landing before a set of white wooden, intricately carved double doors. On either side of the door stood watch two more Pakro’Vielle guards with spears at their sides, who moved to open the door for Ulaipu and Aegis as they approached, allowing them to step inside the building.

Once inside, the air was cool and damp with an intentionally woven mossy carpet leading down the middle of the entry hall they found themselves in. The hall had multiple doors leading out of it, but Ulaipu seemed interested in only leading them straight ahead to the set of doors directly opposite the ones they’d entered from.

As curious as Aegis was to see what sort of furniture decorated this building, he didn’t want to anger their entourage of guards, so continued obediently behind Ulaipu until they reached the far doors and stepped through them.

The following room was an office of sorts. There was a large white chair opposite them that sat behind a dark wooden desk. There were bookshelves lining the far walls filled with books, a picture frame with a portrait of a male Plashrim, then several chairs rounding around the circular left and right walls.

Much of the furniture, including the chairs and the bookshelves, looked like they were carved out of the mushroom head that the building was built into, rather than created as separate pieces of furniture and placed there. Aegis imagined that it’d be a pain to repair anything that broke if it was really all built like that, and couldn’t help but wonder how they’d pull that off. His mind jumped between thinking it was impossible and just something they did for the sake of game design, and thinking that there must be something to it because everything in the game was rooted in some form of fantasy logic.

As he wondered this, he saw a figure standing up from behind the desk wearing rather majestic looking green and yellow silk robes, with the same white mushroom symbol embroidered on the front. He had all of his branches on his head growing in uniform, upward into a single point, where all of the leaves grew out of the branches backwards, almost looking like a pony-tail of foliage. [Elder Ertonar(Elite) - Level 125] sat above his head.

“This is quite the surprise.” Ertonar spoke with a smile as he looked upon Aegis and his party, ending his stare down on Tuugal. “It’s been 10 years since you left on your journey, yet you have not aged a day. I am overjoyed to see that you are alive and well. We feared the worst. Your mother will be delighted to hear the news.”

Quest Complete!

You gain 100 Favor with Pakro’Vielle.

You gain 100 000 Experience!

Aegis saw the messages pop up and waved them off quickly.

“I got petrified, and these other-worlders found me and saved me.” Tuugal explained.

“How nice of them. Please, Ulaipu, take Tuugal back to his family and allow me to speak with the other-worlders in peace.” Ertonar motioned for him and the guards to leave.

“Are you sure, Elder?” Ulaipu replied hesitantly.

“Yes. This one bears the symbol of one of their peaceful deities. I will be fine.” Ertonar nodded while motioning to Aegis.

“Very well.” Ulaipu replied with a bow. “Come with me, child. I will escort you back to your mother.” Ulaipu held his hand out to Tuugal as the guards began shuffling out of the office.

“Thanks, and good luck!” Tuugal cheered encouragingly at Aegis and his party before leaving with Ulaipu. Once the door shut behind them, all eyes turned to the elder who was busy staring curiously at Snowflake.

“A gryphon, right? It has been quite some time since I’ve seen one.” Ertonar smiled.

“Yes.” Aegis nodded back politely. “Sorry, but, you said ‘their’ deities. Do Plashrim have different deities?” Aegis asked curiously.

“No, quite the opposite. We worship none at all. We prefer to avoid the constant bickering between the light and the dark. It was due to those beings that the world was torn asunder.” Ertonar replied.

“Atheists.” Pyri whispered with a surprised nod to Aegis.

“You must forgive the rude welcome. Our people have never encountered other-worlders before. In fact we’ve seen nothing but our kind and Dark Elf kind for centuries. If not for the passing words of traveling Dark Elves, I’d have believed all other races were extinct.” Ertonar explained as he took a seat. “Please, take a seat.” He said, but rather than motioning to the chairs at the edges of the room that were growing out of the floor, he waved his hands and they began to glow green. Suddenly, several chairs began to grow out of the floor in front of his desk, made of the same material the floor was made of.

“Whoa, that’s pretty neat.” Darkshot said with wide eyes. Lina and Aegis were the first to take a seat in the chairs, finding them to be spongy but rather comfortable. The others joined in shortly after with Snowflake moving to sit on his bottom beside Aegis’ chair.

“Do you know where the Dark Elves are? We’re actually on a quest that relates to them.” Aegis asked.

“Yes, we are aware of their city in the northern caverns. It is quite far from here, so we are safe from their tyrannical reign.” Ertonar replied.

“Do you think you could show us the way?” Aegis asked, hopeful.

“I could indeed. My people have mapped out the majority of the underrealm on this island. Such a map comes at a price, though.” He began tapping his fingers on his desk.

“Right.” Aegis nodded. “Tuugal said he was looking for people to help with something. What does Pakro’Vielle need help with?” Aegis asked curiously.

“I’m glad you asked.” Ertonar leaned forward over the desk with a peaceful smile. “Indeed, as Tuugal said, we have been dealing with a deadly threat for quite some time. We have considered relocating, but this region of the underrealm is the only place still free from the Dark Elf tyrant's grasp, thanks to the Red River.” Ertonar explained.

“Red River?” Darkshot whispered curiously to the others, but Aegis tried not to get distracted.

“What’s the deadly threat to your village?” Aegis asked.

“Mosmir. A Mosmir Queen has made her home somewhere nearby, and her colony has been spreading, tunneling under and around Reltrak forest, stealing our food. Every so often, they tunnel into Pakro’Vielle and their soldiers and drones attack our people. Killing some, stealing our supplies, and causing a great deal of damage before we are able to collapse their tunnel and fend them off.” Ertonar explained.

“Mosmir... Never heard of them. But that behaviour sounds like they're some sort of insect?” Aegis asked curiously.

“Yes, voidling insects. Deadly, otherworldly creatures who quickly grow in numbers and consume anything in their path. It is lucky for you topsiders that the underrealm itself is filled with enough deadly beasts and creatures to keep them naturally contained down here, preventing their spread. Unfortunately for us, though, we have them as our neighbors.” Ertonar answered.

“I see. So you want us to help out with these Mosmir things?” Aegis asked as he leaned back and the others listened intently.

“Precisely. If you can enter the Mosmir Hive and slay the Queen for us, you will save my people and we will be eternally grateful. We will gift you with a perfected map of the Underrealm, so that you never lose your way as you traverse Kalmoore’s depths.” Ertonar bowed.

Quest: Destroy the Mosmir Queen who has taken up residence and established her colony near Pakro’Vielle

Objective: 0/1 Mosmir Queen Defeated

Quest Giver: Elder Ertonar, Pakro’Vielle, Kalmoore

Reward:50,000,000 Experience, 2500 Favor with Pakro’Vielle,[Map of the Kalmoore Underrealm]

Difficulty: Extreme

Restrictions: Pakro’Vielle must not be destroyed

Aegis accepted the quest without hesitation, as did the rest of his party.

“Wonderful. When you are ready, ask Ulaipu for directions to the entrance of the hive. In the meantime, you are welcome to shop and use any facilities within Pakro’Vielle. Please forgive any odd behaviour from our curious citizens.” Ertonar smiled.

“Uh, just curious. I heard Ulaipu and Tuugal speaking the ancient language. How do you guys know it?” Rakkan asked curiously.

“We Plashrim live to be very, very old. You call it Ancient Language, we just call it the old tongue.” Ertonar replied.

“Do you have any runes, or books written in the language?” Rakkan asked excitedly.

“Yes. You are welcome to read them. I’m sure some of the old knowledge would aid you in defeating the Mosmir Queen. Shall I escort you to our library?” Ertonar offered as he stood up from his chair.

“Yes, please.” Rakkan replied excitedly.

“I should come too, maybe there’s some good spell books.” Pyri said. She rubbed her hands together excitedly as she stood up alongside the others. With that, the party left the room together. Rakkan and Pyri were led by Ertonar through a side door in the main hall while Aegis and the others exited out of the building and looked down across the village from atop the staircase outside.

Unlike before, there were now plenty of people moving about the streets, going about their daily life. Aegis spotted them watering their plants in their gardens, while some children ran around playing games with each other, and others were tending to and feeding some snails.

Several of the Plashrim spotted them staring from atop the stairs and pointed up excitedly at Aegis, Darkshot, Lina and Snowflake, but they didn’t stare long and shyly went back to what they were doing.

“I’m going to try and see if I can buy some arrows here. I thought I brought enough, but then we kinda grinded for three weeks straight.” Darkshot said before heading down the stairs.

“I’ll check out the different crafting stations here. They make some weird stuff, maybe I can learn some new techniques or proficiencies.” Aegis shrugged as he followed behind him. Snowflake and Lina followed as well, but as Lina reached the bottom of the stairs, she spotted the shadow of the stair’s railing post begin to flicker and waver in an odd motion, and for a brief moment, swore she saw a pair of eyes in the shadow staring back at her. She stopped following Aegis, Darkshot and Snowflake to stare at it for a moment.

“Everything okay?” Aegis asked, turning once he’d noticed that she had stopped moving with them.

“Yeah… I thought I saw something.” Lina replied hesitantly.

“What?” Darkshot asked as he turned to look as well.

“Mm… nothing.” Lina waved it off after staring at the shadow for a few more seconds. With a shrug, she moved to catch up with the others as they headed into Pakro’Vielle to explore the shops.