The Butcher of Gadobhra

As soon as she was done with the daily baking, Suzette volunteered to gather apples and berries to add to the muffins and groat meal so she could try and find the spot where she had gathered the herbs. She needed to find out why they had poisoned Ozzy. Unfortunately, two sedge beasts were grazing in the area where she had found the husk, and the beasts had cropped all the vegetation in the blackened patch close to the ground. One was even tearing up the sod with a large hoof and eating the roots of the plants. The other was working its way around the tree, munching on the vine. They seemed to find something about the vegetation in that spot tasty. She just barely managed to snag a portion of the vine with some of the leaves before the beast ate all of it.

Examining the leaves closely, she could see dark patches and black veins on the undersides of the leaves.

[By carefully examining tainted herbs, you have learned to recognize plants tainted by dark magic. You have also learned the basics of poisoning a wound in a way that only someone familiar with tainted herbs would notice.

You have gained 25 experience in Paradoxical Poisoning.

You have earned 25 experience in Hermetic Alchemy.

You have gained 50 experience in INT.

INT is now at Rank 2. You have gained +1 INT.

Hermetics is at Rank 2.]

Now, if she only knew more about dark magic or any kind of magic. Was there light magic if there was dark magic? Grey Magic? She decided to gather more herbs and pay close attention to any other darkened areas of vegetation.

She had another list of things to get for Granya. Strolling along the river bank turned up wild carrots and asparagus. Blackberries were easy to find, although she had to reach into the bushes to harvest the good ones. Birds had pecked at the easy-to-get berries.

Away from the river a bit, she found a large berry bush of a different type. It had bright green leaves and few thorns. The fruit was larger than blackberries, with a deep purple look to the berries, which grew in large bunches of a dozen berries in banana-shaped groupings. Hardly any had been ruined by birds. Maybe they tasted bad? She gathered a few groups of berries and was wondering about trying one when she heard a sound behind her.

A girl was standing a few feet away. She was familiar - Suzette had seen her walking around the village, and she had come into the tavern once. She was wearing clothes similar to the townsfolk, except for a very good pair of sturdy knee-high boots, light leather gloves, and a large cloth worn around her neck that was pulled up over her mouth. She looked to be about 14.

"Oh boy, you so don't want to be picking those, no you don't. Come away from that bush quick, back up here, right now."

The worry in the girl's voice convinced Suzette to do what she said rather than ask questions. She stepped over by her and nearly fell, suddenly dizzy. "Oh, yeah, you touched them. I can see the stains on your fingers, and you're getting lightheaded already." The girl grabbed the basket and set it down, reached into her apron, and came out with a small vial and a towel.

"I’m going to clean the juice off your fingers, then get an antidote into you. But you’re doing good; you must have some natural resistance to poison." She poured a milky white liquid on Suzette's hand and started cleaning off the berry juice with the cloth. "You’re lucky I was here, or you’d be laying on the ground, stiff as a board in a minute."

Suzette sat down on the ground, unable to feel her hands and legs at all. "Resistunz? Toower whut?" Her tongue also felt odd.

"To Phytolaccaceae Belladonna, a cross breed of two lesser poisonous plants. Who in hell thought of crossing Belladonna with Pokeweed had to be crazy. But Dad uses some of it, and you're damned lucky I came out to pick a berry cluster today. Yes, you are. Now drink this."

A second bottle was produced, this one a green liquid with a minty smell. The girl didn't hand it to Suzette. Instead, she uncorked the bottle, pulled her head back, and jammed the bottle in her mouth. "Swallow all of it." Suzette didn't have much choice and downed the contents of the small bottle before gasping. She had almost blacked out but immediately felt better. The girl had one hand on her forehead and the other on her wrist. "Pulse is coming back up, and you are regaining heat. Should be fine. Boy, were you stupid, though! Give it a minute, and I'll show you why."

It took about five minutes for Suzette to feel normal again, with feelings coming back into her legs, hands, and other parts of her body that had been affected. When she felt she could talk again, she thanked the girl. "Yes, that was stupid. I had no idea. I really owe you one. Was that going to kill me?"

"Nope. Just make you wish you were dead. You'd have been lying on the ground, unable to move for a day or two, and probably become food for a wolf sometime in the middle of the night. Or something worse. A lot of predators will swing by these bushes looking for an easy meal. Come see. Oh, and yeah, you do owe me, or rather my dad. You can settle up with him for a bottle of universal cleaning fluid and minor toxin antidote."

"I'll find a way to pay. I'm Suzette, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Suzette. I'm Zephyr, but everyone just usually calls me Zeph."

The girl walked over to the bushes, bent over, and picked up a bird from the long grass. "See, still alive, but it's not going to be able to move. Easy pickings, just like you would have been. Look around and try not to step on any. We'll see if we can save a few. I hate to leave them. "

The two found a half dozen small birds in the grass, barely able to blink. After a last look around, she pointed to a tree about 20 yards away. "We'll take them over there. There's a big nest in the fork of that tree where I can put the poor things. A Yaird bird built it one year, but they never stay in the same place year to year. I used it before when I found paralyzed birds out here.

The Yaird bird nest was over three feet across and about seven feet up in the tree. Suzette wondered just how big a Yaird bird was. "You're tall. I usually have to climb the tree with a basket. Just take each one and sort of set them on the inside lip of the nest and let them roll in. Suzette did so, but as she set the last bird on the lip of the nest, they heard an awful sound, like the squawk of a bird followed by horrible crunching sounds. Both women stepped back immediately as the sounds continued.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar had gone to sleep after catching and eating three squirrels and a very unlucky groundhog. Looking for a place to curl up, it had found the perfect nest with lots of room. It had almost finished its nap when woke up by the first of several birds - alive ones! - being dropped into its nest. The VHC was so hungry, it didn’t hesitate, chewing and wondering where this tasty lunch had come from. It grabbed the first one and took a bite, causing the bird to give one last sound before it died.

Before it could start on its next snack, it heard noises outside its nest. Slithering over to the edge, it reared up to get a better look.

< Oh my, it's my lucky day. Two-legged meat creatures! Small and large types. How many flavors of two-legged meat creatures are there? Did they bring me this food? So curious. A helpful prey-beast.>

Wasting no time, the VHC spat a large glob of paralyzing webs at them. The webs hit the small one in her legs, causing her to fall over.

Fear seized Suzette as some monstrous thing rose up from the nest, hissed at them, and spat a white glob toward them. Zephyr was hit with what turned out to be sticky webs wrapped around her legs. She turned her back on the monster and started to try and wipe off the webs so they could run, but Zephyr screamed at her: "No, they're toxic! I can feel it through my pants. Some sort of paralyzing agent." She screamed as Suzette heard a 'thud' behind her. Turning her head, she saw a large caterpillar hit the ground and begin moving towards them. A multi-eyed head, with two pinchers on either side of a gaping maw, was mounted on a body over a foot thick.

Suzette simply grabbed Zephyr by the back of her heavy leather shirt and started dragging her away. They weren't moving really fast, but neither was the caterpillar. With her hands free, Zephyr was able to pull a vial out of her belt and splash it on the webs. They smoked and caught fire, but they parted. "Oh god, that burns like a wasp in your bra. Let me go. I can run now."

Quickly, the VHC spat out more webs. Suzette saw the projectiles flying at them, saw the young girl starting to run, and stepped between her and the webs. Her left arm was tangled, and her entwined legs brought her to her knees. She dropped her basket on the ground and yelled at Zephyr, who had stopped to help her. "Run! Get away! Don't stand around and let it get both of us. Run dammit. Find your dad." Zephyr nodded and ran for the safety of the town.

It only took a bit of webbing to touch a meat-beast to paralyze it - and this one was nearly covered. The VHC opened its maw very wide and opened its pinchers.

Suzette could only kneel where she was as the thing moved towards her like some horrible inchworm. Only her right arm was free, and she could barely move it - but that would be enough. She reached into her basket and fumbled to grasp a bunch of the poisoned berries. Slowly bringing her arm out, she squeezed her hand. She could feel the numbness spreading. As the creature opened its mouth wide and moved to bite her, she thrust her arm as deep as she could into its maw and squeezed again. The caterpillar ripped off her arm at the shoulder and began chewing. Suzette didn't feel a thing.

The VHC hadn't experienced this feeling before. Ironic since it was the same feeling its prey experienced. Its vision blurred, and it became harder and harder to move. Its instincts convinced it to skip feeding on the Bad-Food-Meat-Beast and find someplace to curl up. It made it to the river bank, looking for a muddy hole of some sort, but the incline was its undoing, and it rolled down the bank and into the river. The current carried it away, its many legs twitching but not able to move further.

At a spot near the Yaird bird nest, a body faded away and was replaced by a headstone. A basket of herbs and poisoned berries sat nearby.

[You have died. But you get a choice of what we put on your headstone! Choose from:

1) Blood loss from the amputation of your right arm.

2) Suffocation from webbing on your throat and face.

3) Massive overdose of paralytic poisons.

Really, you should get to die three times, but we're being stingy today.

Oh, and some other things happened. Check your summary and get back to us.]