FSE

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Gurak woke up first, which wasn't common. The sun was already peaking through the tree line. Gurak looked around and didn't see Rulu, or Zamdor. The pair were missing, he got up out of his undamaged bedroll and looked around. The sounds of the city were loud, he didn't think they were that close.

He heard weird noises, then a clang of metal against metal, his heart skipped a beat, and he took to running in the direction he heard it. When he got there, Zamdor was already on the ground, face down, bleeding out and Rulu was heavily injured, he was bleeding from a wound on his leg, several on his chest, and missing an arm. He couldn't identify the attackers, they were cloaked, like the night he passed out. Rulu looked over and saw Gurak, he smiled big and wide, seconds before a blade sunk into his chest, and the life drained from his eyes and face.

Gurak jumped in Rulu's direction, but he was frozen in place, chill overtook him and seeped into his body from all angles. Before he could do anything, a blinding light caught his face and he was unable to see.

Gurak jerked awake, neither Rulu nor Zamdor seemed to react to the orc's sudden, unexpected movement. Gurak was panting and sweating nervously. His hand sought Rulu and Zamdor, both were lying beside him, just where he'd left them when he'd fallen asleep. Gurak's heart settled down and he sighed in relief. It was a nightmare, a product of his imagination.

Normally Rulu was the first one up, and he'd wake up Gurak the usual way. Gurak carefully got up, doing his best to not disturb the other two. He already heard the city being active just a short distance away much less loud than in his nightmare, at least that part of the dream was fairly accurate. Either few slept in the city, or they woke up even earlier than he had.

Rulu and Zamdor must have been exhausted from taking care of him. He was incredibly grateful for all they had done. While he wanted to fool around with them, he didn't think being so close to the dwarven city and doing something like that was wise. His deep-rooted fear from the nightmare also marred his interest in physical intimacy right now. So he started up breakfast instead.

Since he had some free time, and it had been several days now, he reached into his backpack, concerned immensely, but needing to verify the results of his test days before. He pulls out the raw meat he'd put in some time ago. Surely it would be expired and smell awful by this point. He pulled it from the pack and it was as fresh as the day he put it in. Like no time at all had passed. His backpack was a form of stasis, anything placed inside didn't get older, it's like it just froze in time. This could be incredibly useful for storing food and other perishables.

Zamdor and Rulu woke up from the smell of his cooking meal. Surprisingly, Zamdor was first, making Gurak aware that the quickest way to rouse the bull was a meal. Rulu stirred a few moments later. Both scooted up against him and rested his head on each of them briefly. "Thank you guys for taking care of me while I was down."

Zamdor's hand rubbed the orc's back slowly. "Of course. We're friends now lad, I haven't much experience with it, but, I like the idea of it."

Rulu nods and hugs the orc gently. "What got you up so early?" Gurak uses his utensils to move around the simmering meat.

"Bad dream. I woke up alone and heard the sounds of battle. Found you and Zamdor gravely injured." He sighs softly. "I wasn't falling back asleep after that and I wasn't in the mood for anything else after seeing that." He turns his head and kisses Rulu's face lightly. The lizardman nods, understanding the implication of his words.

Zamdor did too and rubbed the orc's back affectionately. "Don't worry lad. We'll be okay. Rulu's a clever fella and I'm old and wise." He grins, scooting in to kiss the orc's cheek softly. "We'd never go down quite so easily as that. Besides we have the wind barrier to keep us appraised of any interlopers."

Gurak nods his head and sighs. "I know. But it's still something that bothers me. I hope we can find some useful information in the city here."

Zamdor nods as his hand rubs the orcs back and lizardman's arm.

Rulu suddenly perks up and sniffs at the air. "Hey Zamdor, what is today's date?" The lizardman asks.

The bull can't his head. "Uh..." He counts on his fingers, and invisible numbers in his head before he speaks up. "Right around the end of Theuthos, I believe. Why?" Gurak tilted his head. What kind of month name was that?

Rulu almost squealed as he looked at the pair. "WONDERFUL!" The lizardman shouts out at the pair. Both looked completely confused and stunned by the claim. Rulu settles down after a moment and laughs. "Sorry, sorry. It's just. Whetstin has an equinox celebration at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. I can smell the vendors in town, it's today. It's not the winter solstice or spring equinox, so it's not as big of a celebration, but it's still nice!"

Gurak and Zamdor look at one another but shrug. "Oh, is it a big deal?" The orc asks curiously.

The lizardman shakes his head. "Not typically, no. It's just the beginning of the harvest season Dwarves tend to celebrate the equinoxes and solstices. Humans have a lot of made-up holidays. Beastfolk don't really have any. Elves only celebrate achievements through hard work." The lizardman laughs softly.

Gurak piped up after a moment. "Do you have months here?" He asks curiously. Zamdor and Rulu looked at one another, confused.

"Yes, why wouldn't we? How else could we keep track of the seasons?" Rulu replied after a moment.

Gurak nodded his head. "Well uh...we kept track of the seasons but I never knew they had names..." Rulu nods and nods his head, he smiles at the orc. He continues. "Orcs didn't name anything like that. It was just the particular season, no months were ever mentioned.

"No worries, there are only four months, they last about eighty-four days. Their names are a combination of the gods associated with the season. For spring, it is the month of 'Hubayasa'. The gods of water and light. Following spring is the month of summer, named 'Theuthos'. Named after the gods of lightning and fire. Which is just coming to an end. We'll be in autumn soon, named 'Anemephair' after the gods of wind and darkness, then finally, the cold bitter months of winter, named 'Krulanos'. Named after the gods of ice and earth"

The orc nods, he'd probably forget, but he'd do his best to remember them.

Gurak nods and caresses his head, come to think of it. "Orcs don't have any holidays either. Not like, tied to specific days or anything. We'd have a big feast when something big happened. We were supposed to have a big feast the day we went to the dungeon, they'd prepared it for our return, and..." He sighs softly. "Well, that didn't turn out favorably."

The pair nodded, hugging the orc gently as he flipped the meats in the metal pan over and it sizzled softly still. "But, that sounds like a fun way to spend the day." He gently nudges the pair and grins. "A holiday with my two favorite men in the world?" His mind immediately went to Towen, and how he missed the lion, but there wasn't anything they could do about that. He was a knight in the army and stationed at the other city. He leans in, pecking a kiss on Zamdor and then Rulu's cheek. "Though, I fear we'll have to wait on anything intimate till later." The pair nodded, and Gurak went about making and eating breakfast.

The trio had their meal, simmered bacon strips with small cuts of beef. Then set about cleaning up before heading to town. Zamdor crafted a more private bath setup. A dome around it(with a hole up top for the smoke of the fire to escape,(yes, magical fire still made smoke, but no, Gurak didn't know why). The basin, and water. The three got inside and washed each other. A little playful flirting of course happened, some butt squeezing, dick touching, light, playful things, not meant to go much further than that. They had come a long way in terms of trusting one another.

The three cleaned up properly. Making sure to get as clean as possible in their situation. They didn't exactly have soap readily available, Gurak wasn't even sure soap existed here, but they were clean by orcish standards at least.

The three then went about dressing up as nicely as they could. Gurak only had his leather armor. But Rulu and Zamdor had slightly nicer clothing they kept in their pack for special occasions. The trio, finally dressed and ready, packed up the wagon and finally headed into the city.

When asked for their identification, Gurak and Rulu used their adventurer's plates. Zamdor used a bracelet around his wrist.

Once they were inside, Gurak asked. "What was that?" The bull smiled softly.

"My identification. I'm still technically, sort of a teacher as long as I possess it. They didn't ask for it back before I left so, I still have it. It doesn't give me access to anything special. Just proves I'm a teacher at the college." He shrugs softly and smiles at the pair. "Guess I'll have to register as an adventurer though. So I can officially be part of the team, eh?" They took their wagon inside and parked it where directed. The city was bustling, far busier than the city they'd been to before.

Dwarves were all over the place, meandering around and setting up all the various things they celebrated on the equinox. A lot of food was being cooked, and the various scents of all kinds of spices familiar and new to the orc caught his attention. The trio paid the horse's stabling fee before heading into the city proper. Backpacks at the ready as they went inside. Today was going to be a wonderful, fun, memorable experience for them. The dwarves were about a head or two shorter than them. Zamdor was the tallest, with Rulu and Gurak about the same height,

more or less.

Decorations lined the streets and banners between buildings. The banners had writing on them, but Gurak didn't understand it. Likely Dwarven letters. Dwarves seemed pretty happy to celebrate the holiday even if it wasn't one of their bigger ones. But any chance to celebrate was a good thing, the orc surmised. Depictions of the leaves turning from green to other colors, as well as the gods of wind and darkness coming down, seemingly blessing the world, leading to the beginning of autumn. It was the season of plants dying, so naturally darkness would be associated with it.

Most of the stalls were food, so they picked up something to snack on, they had just enjoyed breakfast, but the food smelled so good, that it was nearly impossible to not try at least a few things. It was meat on a kebab, the meat had a sweet and sour taste to it, likely the sauce applied.

Gurak delighted in the taste, it reminded him of a similar sauce from back home at a popular fast food restaurant.

Next, the trio found themselves in a section of the city that had shops. Proper shops, selling various things, incredibly expensive enchanted items, cooking supplies like pots and pans, spices, and the further in they went, the more things they found. Including meats, vegetables, and fruits, even some dairy products like eggs and milk were available, though they were much more expensive than anything prior.

What didn't surprise Gurak was the vast array of fish available, it was a port city and as such, fishing was likely one of its main sources of food. He wasn't sure how easily fish were transported if they were at all, but he'd never had fish here in this world, so he imagined transporting fish was nearly impossible. You'd need incredibly powerful ice magic to do so, and elves weren't too keen on doing much of anything outside of their preferred field, and folks with ice as a secondary element didn't seem too common. Even back home, no orc had ice as a secondary element, Zamdor was the first person he'd met who had ice magic at his command.

Zamdor could probably make a killing transporting fish to other locations, it'd be such a rare commodity. Gurak shook his head softly and laughed. But he'd lose his companion if that happened. He did speak up though. "How about for lunch we try some of the fish here? We never had it back home in the village, so I'd like to try it." The pair nodded.

Rulu spoke up. "I've had fish a few times. When the caravan came through, we'd get fish as a special treat in port cities, it wasn't really common anywhere else." Zamdor nods at that.

"Fish was pretty rare at the college as well. We'd occasionally get some, but it was few and far between when we did." The orc nods then and smiles.

"Then it's decided, fish for lunch." He smiles and hugs the two to his sides, they keep wandering around the city. Gurak stopped to pick up spices that smelled familiar, or like they would complement whatever he liked cooking. Since anything he put into his backpack was frozen in time, as far as he understood it, nothing would expire. He could pick up a ton of fish, spices, and anything else. His wallet was going to be hurting after today, but that was okay. It was for a good cause.

Nothing was quite as important as a good meal. Gurak loved cooking for Rulu and Zamdor, he'd gotten good at it over time, and he'd managed to rank it up to B. He hadn't used his skill points for anything since when he was 13 to just test things out, but it made him happy to practice and learn the way he had.

His bag was filled with all kinds of spices, vegetables, fruits, and meats that were fairly cheap overall. This would last them for over a year if he rationed it out. Probably half that if he made hearty meals every day, which he planned on doing. A full belly made for a happy orc, surely the same was true for a bull and lizardman.

Rulu and Zamdor occasionally picked out things they liked, and Gurak bought them. Zamdor had quite a sweet tooth, which you wouldn't know looking at the man, he was all muscle, but perhaps the sweets helped his brain function better, he vaguely recalled that from a cartoon he watched back on Earth.

Rulu was fond of fish and meats in general. Gurak was too, so he was happy to pick those up for them. Zamdor wasn't as keen on meats, he leaned more towards vegetables. Gurak didn't mind and made sure to get plenty of both. The orc loved potatoes back on Earth and similar root vegetables existed here, he was fairly sure he could make something similar to what he enjoyed back home. Nearly fifty gold later their food stocks were overflowing, to put it gently. They wouldn't want for good meals for months to come.

Gurak still didn't grasp the money thing, so he let Rulu be in charge of bartering. The lizardman had a knack for it innately, so he was happy to let Rulu shine at this moment. He was an important part of the team and his skills were just as valuable as anything in combat. This was Rulu's battlefield, and he was a general conquering any poor dwarven merchant who opposed him. With Rulu leading the negotiations, their food stocks had managed to get as high as they were now.

Once they'd managed to stock up on food and other supplies. He decided it was time for him to get some new clothes. Sure his normal attire was nice, he thought so, at least. But it wasn't really practical for going into towns. Everything was covered, of course, but that didn't mean the outline wasn't....obvious at times. So he'd need something a bit more publicly acceptable for his visits to cities and other such outside of Orc villages.

Luckily, Zamdor and Rulu were there to give him, albeit, slightly biased opinions, he found a shirt and pants that fit him comfortably. Naturally, once he had the clothing, he wore them, but he put his leather armor over top of the nicer clothes. He didn't feel right without his armor on. No orc would, he surmised, it was ingrained in them as children to always be battle-ready, if not in spirit, in gear.

By this time, the sun was overhead and the last vestiges of summer heat were bearing down on them, but it also meant that it was midday, and the orc smiled so wide. His hands raise as he cheers. "FINALLY" He shouts, Zamdor and Rulu looked at him confused, as did more than a few passersby.

Gurak blushed and lowered his arms. "Sorry....sorry...I'm just excited to try fish for the first time." A few walking past started laughing, others gave him a thumbs-up and smiled at him. Zamdor and Rulu were a little embarrassed, but Gurak was too happy, and excited to care.

Fish wasn't his favorite meat, but it was one he enjoyed quite a bit back on Earth, and he'd sorely missed it. He understood then when finally faced with the chance to eat something, even if only vaguely familiar with home, the concept of being homesick. Sure he missed having a smartphone, and other technological amenities, but, the simple peace that he enjoyed, mostly, was worth a few luxuries that didn't improve his life in the long run of things. He certainly didn't miss social media. Or celebrity gossip.

Rulu knew the most about the city, so he was happy to lead them to the best restaurant that he knew of in his experience in the city beforehand. It wasn't overly busy, which was surprising to the orc, if this was the best restaurant in the city why was it essentially dead in the middle of the lunch rush?

The trio were sat by a dwarven woman, her hair made up nice and her clothing quite well made. The product of human craftsmanship. They sat and waited, a dwarf man came out. He smiled at the trio and asked them what they wanted. Rulu and Gurak just looked at Zamdor now. Neither could read, after all, and it wasn't like the restaurants on earth where there were pictures of the food on the menu. Rulu could read common at least, but Dwarven wasn't something he was skilled with.

Zamdor asked the waiter to give them a few more moments to look over it. Zamdor then went over the list of things on the menu, describing what they were and what went into making them.

The trio talked about it till they came to a consensus of what they wanted.

Gurak wanted the pan-fried fish, Rulu wanted the fish stew, and Zamdor picked grilled. Each was cooked a different way and with different spices used to accentuate the cooking style.

The dwarf returned and took their orders, before leaving. He returned with mugs of water, as they hadn't requested anything else. It was too early in the day to be drinking. It took awhile, longer than Gurak thought it would, but the food came out and was placed before them. It wasn't...the best. The appearance was a bit disappointing. They ate it quietly, expecting it to be quite good, but it was lacking in numerous ways.

They finished the meal though and paid for it. Though Gurak got up and excused himself, he went to the restroom first, his bladder had felt heavy since they'd come into the restaurant. The bathrooms were certainly different from what Gurak was used to. There was running water, constantly. So any waste was likely washed down into the sewers. Certainly a marvel by Orc standards.

After that though, he went to check in on the kitchen. He asked the waiter first if he could speak to the chef in the kitchen. The dwarf shook his head gently.

"I'm sorry sir, the chef is out currently." Gurak tilted his head.

"But, then who cooked our meal?" The orc asked, perplexed. The dwarf looked up at the orc and sighed softly.

"I did." He states, trying to sound proud of the fact, the orc nods slowly.

"Ahh." Gurak's reaction affected the dwarf who slumped slightly.

"Was it that bad?" The dwarf asked, Gurak shook his head.

"Truthfully, it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. I was going to ask if they were okay." He puts his hand on the dwarf's shoulder. "So, ARE you okay?" He

asks, looking at the dwarf. The orc knew the food reflected the person, so something was troubling the poor dwarf.

The young man shook his head softly. "I'm not a cook. Our father was, is. But he fell ill days ago and has been struggling. Mother passed when we were young, so it's just been the three of us for so long." Gurak nods his head softly.

He glances at his friends and motions them to come over. "Can I take a look at him? I was training to be a healer back in my home village." The dwarf looks around, they had already paid and tipped rather well. The dwarf nods then, he goes to the hostess telling her he was taking the orc up to check on their father. She nods and locks the front door, both dwarves leading the trio upstairs.

The father, an older man, by Gurak's estimation, is probably in his 50s, but, given how dwarves age, perhaps older. Gurak walked over and before placing his hand on the dwarf's body felt a chill, almost like a danger sense. He hesitated and instead inspected the dwarf without touching him. His fingers were black, and it might have been the right call as he noticed swelling in his neck. He carefully used a cloth to lift the blanket covering the older dwarf and checked him in various places. Swollen lymph nodes, around the chest, elbows, stomach, and armpits.

He turns and looks at his friends. "Wind barrier, around him, immediately. Just him." Zamdor reacted faster than Rulu and erected a wind barrier around the dwarf. Gurak took several steps back and looked thoughtful. "I've seen this once before, back in the village. It's caused by rats." It was more than that. Much more complex, but, he couldn't explain why the fleas on the rats carried the disease. "Orcs called it the creeping black death." He gestures to the dwarf's hand, where his fingers are turning black. "I bet his toes are doing the same."

Gurak sighs softly and rubs the back of his head. "I dunno if I can treat this. Magic wasn't effective against it." He focuses intently, keeping from touching the dwarf, but using his light magic to project his wound detection into the dwarf. When he could touch them, it didn't require much concentration, but in cases like this, he had to be careful. "Blessing of light, the eye of Byasa, please gaze upon this poor soul and determine the wounds he suffers so I may aid in his recovery. Detect Wounds"

The light of his hand enveloped the dwarf-like it was scanning every inch of the man. He focuses intently. Swelling, necrotic tissue. He sighs and nods. "Yeah. Damn..." He sighs softly. "My magic can't help."

He looked at the two dwarves, they didn't look much older than he. "Damnit all." He growls at himself as he looks at the dwarf. "If I had the herbs, he'd have a chance." He looks at the pair again. "Do you know where they sell medical herbs around here? If I can find what I need, it's slim, but it's worth a try."

The lady of the pair nods. "Near the entrance, there is a shop. Red roof, blue markings on the door." Gurak nods.

He looks to the pair. "I need you to go downstairs. Close the door and don't come back up here till I'm back. If you see any rats, you need to kill them and burn them. If any little bugs jump off of them, kill them too, if you can." That was the best he could do. "Okay, everyone out."

All five of them left the room and he nodded to Zamdor who let the spell dissipate. "Sorry, but, I didn't want you to get sick too. I dunno if what infected him was still in the room with him. I'll try to make enough for all three of you if I can find enough."

He led the others outside and focused entirely on the mission at hand now, rather than the celebration going on. "We have to hurry. The Creeping Death is bad. If his infection gets worse, and it spreads, the whole town could be lost."

Zamdor and Rulu looked at Gurak. "Is it that dire?"

The orc nods gently "We had something similar, back home. It was called the black plague. It wiped out almost whole nations. One of the worst epidemics in my world's history. But we managed to create a cure by the time I was born. The orcs had a plant that held the necessary components for the antibiotic."

Both beastkin looked at each other, they didn't know that word, but Gurak hadn't lied to them so far. Gurak sighs. "The right mixture of herbs will help his body fight the disease. But there is a limit to what the herbs can do, it'll be up to his body. I know what they look like, but not what other races call it."

The trio rush through the city, all the merriment and fun lost on them now, if they weren't quick, the disease could spread and cause harm to thousands in the city, if not further.

Gurak found the building easily enough and went inside. He approached the counter and described the plant he needed.

"I need a plant, the leaves swell outward and come to a point. He makes the shape with his hands, and when that fails, he pulls out a piece of paper and draws it the best he can with what he has. The woman, an elf, looks at it and sighs.

"That looks like Fallroot." The elf finally says. He blinks. Fallroot? He continues. "Does it grow in caves, high humidity, uh, it's very wet in the caves."

She nods his head slowly. "Yeah, that sounds right. We're all out though." She walks over to where there is an empty shelf, there is none on it. "This is where we keep it when we have it."

Gurak looks at the elf. "Are there any other herbalist shops around here?"

The elf shook her head slowly. "We're the only shop that sells herbs in Whetstin." The lady elf replied.

Gurak grumbles softly but takes a slow deep breath. "Does it grow around here? Are there any caves nearby?" She looks at him and sighs, slowly walking back to behind the counter. She lifts a map from behind the counter and looks over it. "A little ways northeast, there is a cave, but it's dangerous this time of year. The creatures around there are hunting and eating in large amounts to get ready for their hibernation period during winter." She leaves the map out and he looks over it carefully. He could be there in just a few hours if he was quick. He might even be back before nightfall if nothing interfered.

He comes out of the shop and shakes his head. "They didn't have any. But the elf said there is a cave northward that might have some. We'll have to hurry though. Zamdor, go ready the wagon, we'll be right behind you."

The bull nods and turns rushing on ahead. Gurak sighs and takes a moment to catch his breath. Rulu's hand on his back rubbing it gently. "Sorry, Rulu. If this wasn't dire, I wouldn't be rushing so badly. But I remember the history of my world, and it could get really bad. Not just thousands, but millions."

Rulu nods and smiles. "It's okay. I'm glad that you're looking out for us. For everyone." They move along, though at a slower pace. Gurak was still a little winded from overusing his magic two days prior. He wasn't bad at full strength, despite how hard he was pushing himself.

Once they got to the front gate, Zamdor was ready and waiting. They climbed in and went ahead. It took about an hour at a quick pace to get there. The area was rather nice, lush trees just starting to turn the faintest bit towards yellow, brown and red hues. A small creek snaked its way out of a large maw of a cavern, there were a few animal corpses nearby, picked clean down to the bone. Gurak looked at Zamdor. "Can you raise the wagon and horse? Well above us. Put a fence up around it as well, higher than that so the horse doesn't walk off the edge. I dunno what caused this, but, I don't want our horse to be its next meal. He's practically part of the family."

Zamdor nods and focuses slowly. The fence came up first before the ground rose. Gurak didn't use measurements from Earth, cause he didn't imagine Zamdor or Rulu would know what they meant. But the bull put it about twenty-five feet up and the fence was about five feet in height, so in theory, it was safe. The bull put a domed roof over it as well, in case anything flying overhead saw this as an opportunity for a meal.

The trio cautiously walked into the cavern, Gurak creating a simple globe of light that hovered about ten feet in front of them to light the way and, hopefully, detect any dangers.

Since Zamdor was focusing on keeping the pillar aloft, Rulu was tasked with putting up a wind barrier around them to warn of any dangers incoming. His wind barrier, as far as Gurak could tell only expanded to about fifty feet, but that was plenty and more than he could do. He'd have to ask how they measured things, later when it wasn't as dire a situation as it was right now.

They wandered through the cave, following the flow of water towards its source. Oddly, they didn't encounter anything dangerous, like the elf had warned. Though, once they were in a room with a waterfall. The soft hiss of water hitting water filled the room as did the rush of humidity the room held because of it. This was a perfect place for mushrooms and, fallroot to grow. Perhaps it was a type of fungus and it just grew oddly, or the plant itself used the nutrients OF mushrooms. He wasn't sure.

Besides that. Rulu tugged at Gurak's side gently. "There are creatures in here. Sleeping, it feels like." Rulu points in a direction, and the globe of light moves slowly. Rulu nods when he feels the light in the same area as the creature. But there was nothing there, it was just a mushroom, a bit large maybe, but only a mushroom.

Gurak's eyes widened and he grasped Zamdor and Rulu's arms. "Get ready, I understand what they are." He whispers. "They're Myshroomids. Uh...sort of.... carnivorous mushrooms. They can move walk, fight."

Rulu was about to say something when his gaze instead shifted to where the light was, and the mushroom's cap started to move, climbing and getting taller, spores lightly falling off of it here and there as it moved. It wasn't just big, it was huge. At least ten feet tall.

One by one, several more stood up, varying sizes. Four of them. Gurak lifted the globe and the light showed throughout the cavern. There were bodies of various kids all over. Bears, wolves, and humanoids of varying kinds. They were gathering them up and feeding on them before they went to winter hibernation, just as the elf had warned.

Gurak grunted softly. "Fire will be most effective, but with the water in the air, it'll be weakened I'm sure. I can't use lightning, because it'll travel through the water too, my light magic isn't great at combat and I can't use wind for fighting. I'll do what I can with fire. But it'll be up to you two for the most part." He unclasped his axe. It was big, sure, but he doubted he had the strength needed to cleave them effectively. Magic was going to be the deciding factor today.

Rulu struck first, "Blessing of wind, divine blade of Anemabe, cut a path through the foes before me! Wind Blade!" a blade of wind conjured between his hands, and he launched it at the first myshroomid, doing his best to cut all four in half in one go. The wind blade struck the first but didn't slice through it. Barely a third of the way through the thick stalk of the creature.

Zamdor was ready to make his move next. "Good try lad, but this is how it's done." The older bull grins and focuses his hands together. Gurak had forgotten, that Zamdor wasn't just proficient in wind and earth. "Blessing of Kruos, goddess of frost and chill, seal my enemies in ice, freeze their bones, and leave them forgotten to time. Ice Coffin!" Ice billowed from his hands and encompassed all four of the mushroom creatures. Their legs especially getting frozen in place, all the moisture in their bodies making the spell seemingly more effective, and keeping them held in place. He then grins at the orc.

"Try lightning now lad. All the moisture in the air's frozen." Gurak blinked and was in awe of the older bull. The man was a mage on another level. Far above him and Rulu. He quietly thanked the gods again for the boon that was this man. His knowledge and magical prowess seemingly knew no limits.

With the mushroom creatures frozen in place, they couldn't do much of anything. Leaving Gurak next in line to make his move.

Gurak was focusing and felt the spark of electricity in him, his hands erupted with lightning as he channeled the spell in his mind. "Blessing of Thuellor, god of lightning, charge my hands and unleash your fury on my enemies. Chained Fulmination!" From his hands, lightning sparked outward and connected with the first myshroomid, and then linked to the second, then the third, and finally the fourth one. He pushed mana into it hard, increasing the damage as much as he could and for as long as he could. The creatures howled, as much as one can imagine a mushroom does. Before they each fell over and shook the earth with their heavy bodies. The ice encapsulating them shattered and glinted in the room, as they reflected the light from above.

Gurak slumped back onto his ass and laughs. Panting softly. Rulu and Zamdor came to kneel beside him. "You okay?" The old bull asked the orc nodded and with their help, stood back up.

"Y-yeah. I just put a little more into that than I usually do. I'm okay. Won't pass out again, promise." The trio took a breath and after everything took stock of the room. They laid the people they found to rest, with gravestones, a task made easier with a mage skilled in earth magic, any items they had, that helped identify them, they cataloged and kept in a pack separate from their property. Gurak then went about looking for the plants. He saw one and was horrified to realize a myshroomid had landed on it, crushing it and making it unusable.

The orc punches the ground in anger. "DAMNIT. The plant....they...we destroyed it." Rulu and Zamdor used their wind magic to carefully move the giant mushroom aside before Zamdor came to kneel beside Gurak.

"Hey, it's not over, not yet." He smiles and puts his hand on the ground. Focusing softly, but with a specific intent. "Blessing of Balanos, god of earth and growth. Hear my plea, heal this wounded life, restore its petals, deepen its roots, give life to this small thing." He focuses and exhales softly. "Regrowth" almost immediately the spell starts to take effect, but the bull is focusing on the pillar outside too and isn't able to give it his all. If that was the case, how much more powerful would that ice spell have been!?

He looks at Gurak and smiles. "C'mon lad, light, heal it." Gurak blinks a few times....

H...heal the plant? HEAL THE PLANT. Why hadn't he thought of that, he was so stupid! It was alive too, it was so obvious! His hand rests atop Zamdor's own and he focuses on light magic. "Blessing of Byasa, goddess of light and life. Please, give me the power to heal this small life, help me to save not only it but many more lives today." He was about to call out the spell's name when he felt energy well up inside of him suddenly. His mind suddenly filled with a new phrase, he was going to cast regenerate the strongest healing light spell he knew, but new words came to mind, so he spoke them instead. "Area Mend!"

It wasn't often, but there were times when he'd go to cast a spell and the words to it would come to him, like they had just now, not his own, but as if sent from someone else for him to repeat. He'd taken this to mean his magic had leveled up in the process of using it. The same had happened today, his light magic had ranked up from C to B.

A wave of light pulsated out from Gurak. The light channeled with the earth, intermingling and the plant stood up slowly, swelled lightly, and then the ground around it started to crack with more popping up through the dirt. One after another, stalk after stalk of the plant spread outward, the cave going from a dull blue, because of the light overhead, to a lush green, as the room was filled with dozens, if not hundreds more of the plant, supercharged by the mix of light and earth magic. After several moments, the stalks then bloomed, showing a swath of beautiful orchid-like blooms amidst the humid cave interior.

Gurak slowly tapered off his magic when Zamdor did. The old bull laughed and looked at the orc. "G-good job lad." The older bull breathing a bit harder now. "Sorry. Old age." He laughs softly and smiles. "Congrats lad. You not only healed the plants, but ya used void too." He grins at the orc.

Gurak looked confused. "What are you talking about? I just used light" He stayed knelt beside Zamdor, while Rulu started picking plants. More than they needed but not even a fraction of what was in the cavern now. The place was brimming with plant life now. If they fed on mushrooms, they'd be growing well enough with all the extra available now.

Zamdor shook his head. "Aye, but you fused my earth magic with your light. Only Void can do that, well to the extent you just did. I can weave'm together. It's difficult, takes me weeks to get it just right." He smirks at the orc. "You did it on instinct. You didn't weave them, you fused them. My magic was barely able to make the plant move, and if it'd just been healing, you'd have only healed the one plant. But you mixed my growth with healing. Ya supercharged it and now this place is a treasure trove of fallroot."

Gurak looks around and blinks in surprise. He did all this? He waves his hand and sighs. "Damn." He looked over at Rulu, who waved and was stuffing the herbs into his backpack. Gurak and Zamdor stood up. They made their way out of the cave, following the creek back out.

Once outside they noticed the tower was a little lower, about half the height. Zamdor chuckles. "Ahh, sorry. I can't focus on two spells at once for long. The ice took a little out of me, but the plant stuff took a lot of focus away from this, but it's okay." He smiled and slowly lowered the pillar and fence down around it as well.

The three got back into the wagon and headed back to the city as fast as they felt was safe. They were in town just before dusk started to set. Parking their wagon and stabling their horse once more, before making for the restaurant.

Gurak knocked and they were let back in. Gurak walked past them and into the kitchen. It wasn't too complex. Wood-burning stoves, metal pots, and pans. He went about preparing what he needed. The fallroot leaves were placed into water and boiled to soften them up. They were then carefully removed and mashed up in a mortar and pestle.

He reached into his pack to get the other plants needed, iron leaves, and a bit of dried sweetbloom to make it palatable. He added the water he'd boiled the fallroot in back to the mixture and mashed it up even more. Before boiling it again and scooping the top layer of scum off, putting it aside in a glass container, it had other uses. Then he poured the liquid into about a dozen little glass vials he'd bought earlier that day. He planned to put spices in there, but now they were for potions.

He offers one to each of the younger dwarves. "Drink this when it's cooled down." He then looked to Zamdor and Rulu. "Could you make me a pot of water and put ice in it?" Rulu filled one of the pots with water and Zamdor added ice to it after a moment. Gurak put the tube into the cool water and sighed softly. "Just give it a few. If you try to drink it hot, I mean, it'd still cure you, but it'd also burn, cause it's still pretty hot."

After a few minutes, he took the vial out and went upstairs. Gurak asked everyone else to stay downstairs away from potential exposure. He was the only one who dealt with it before, after all.

He carefully administered it to the dwarf. Helping the older man drink it slowly. After it was imbibed. Gurak focused his hand on the dwarf's chest, no longer concerned with catching it himself. His hand radiated light magic and he focused. "Blessing of Byasa, let this light heal all who need it. Let this light guide them to a brighter future. Area Mend" It wasn't so much the incantation that mattered, but the intent behind it. As both Rulu and Zamdor cast spells slightly different with their incantations he'd started taking after how they did it without realizing.

He recalled back in the first dungeon when he cast the ignition arrow, he'd said it slightly differently. He called out the element, then the god, and then what he wanted, before the spell itself. Rulu and Zamdor called out the god first and then the intent of the spell before calling out its name. He sat back and thought about it for a short time before he noticed the dwarf stirring. He opened his eyes and glanced at the orc. Gurak smiled softly, and the dwarf grimaced, before shutting his eyes again.

"Of all the things to see when I open my eyes, it's one of your ugly faces." He grumbles quietly.

Gurak smiled though. "Yeah. Big stupid tusks, green skin, and a beard that would make my parents weep if they were dwarves."

The man in the bed peeked open an eye and laughed, deep, guttural, full of mirth. "Aye, lad. That you would. Good thing yer an orc then." He takes in a few slow deep breaths. "Am I dying?" He finally asks.

Gurak shakes his head. "No. Your kids were running your restaurant." He winces. "Not great." The dwarf laughs softly. "But, they said you'd taken ill when I asked about the....quality of the food. They let me look you over. I had seen this before. Creeping Black Death." The dwarf's face sours a moment. Gurak continued. "You're fine. We had found a cure, back home where I am from. Fallroot, mixed with iron leaves and sweet bloom. I made about ten doses in case it got worse. I'll give you the recipe and maybe that elven herbalist. I'll leave another dose for you as well. To take in a few days, just in case the first dose wasn't fully effective."

The dwarf's breathing was already easier, he was showing signs of rapid improvement, how much of it was the potion and how much the healing magic, was unsure. The dwarf smiles at the orc though and watches him. "Yer a kind lad. Any other orc'd just left without a word. Damato, most dwarves wouldn't have paid us any mind." He turns his head slowly. "Why?"

Gurak blinks softly a few times. "Why what?" He countered.

The dwarf grunts. "You damn well know why what. Why would you help us, we ain't kin. You don't owe us a debt, and we have no gold to offer you." He coughs once, but catches his breath a few moments later.

Gurak shakes his head. "Because you needed help." He watches the dwarf's face. "I didn't ask for a reward before, and I won't ask for one now." He waves his hand dismissively. "It's not about that. It should never, ever be about that. Someone needed help, so I helped."

The dwarf looked confused but took in a breath and sighed softly. "Fine, fine lad." He smiles though, and a faint glimmer of blue radiates off of him. Gurak smiled gently at him.

"For now, you rest. I'll make sure your kids take their medicine as well, just in case they were infected too, and we'll let you three be." Gurak stood and patted the dwarf's arm before heading out of the room and back downstairs to where the others were waiting.

Gurak smiles as he comes to sit with them at the table. "He's okay." The siblings laughed and hugged each other, crying softly, the male more than the female. The orc smiles at them. "He's awake too, if you wanna go talk to'm."

The pair nodded and hugged the orc gently. He returned the hug lightly. "Just make sure you both take the medicine when it's cooled. I don't want you to get sick like him." Both radiated the familiar blue glow he'd come to know all too well by now before they went upstairs. He smiled to Rulu and Zamdor. "Thank you." He says to them. They shake their heads.

"You made the right call. I wouldn't have known what to do." Rulu says, Zamdor nods in agreement.

"Helping people should be the first instinct, not the last resort." He says softly.

"You keep saying you don't want this destiny thing." The old bull laughs softly. "But you keep answering the call every time it knocks on the door." He makes a hand gesture to upstairs. "You can't help yourself." The orc's face flushes a little with embarrassment. The bull grins at him. "No no, don't do that. I love that about you. You're so kind. None of us would be where we are, maybe not even alive, if it wasn't for you. That list just keeps growing bigger every time you do something amazing." The bull smiles at the orc.

Rulu looked out the window and his eyes got wide. "Oh, c'mon. Let's go to the docks. It's almost time!" The lizardman stood up and grabbed both their arms, pulling at them.

Zamdor and Gurak stood up and left the restaurant, all the bottles of the potion, undrank, still in the kitchen, but they weren't worried about them. They were being pulled towards the docks. They could always come back and get them later.

The lizardman led them carefully through the streets till they got to the waterfront. Thousands of other people were all in the same area. He looked around and sighed. "Damnit. Hey Zamdor, can you get us up on a rooftop?"

The bull blinks but nods. He carefully crafts some steps from one of the buildings up to the rooftop, the three sat there and looked out over the ocean. Rulu smiled at the pair. Sitting on one side of Gurak while Zamdor sat on the other. "It'll start any moment now."

Around them, not just the roof they were one, but others, were dozens of other folks. Just like them, sitting atop a roof and looking out over the bay of Whetstin.

Just as Gurak turned from Rulu to look out over the water he heard a loud hiss, a zii~ip, and then POP, his eyes lighting up, it was fireworks....IT WAS FIREWORKS!!

Gurak's face lit up like a child at Christmas. The bull blinked, surprised. He'd never seen something like it, but clearly, Rulu had. The lizardman smiled happily, watching the reaction of his two closest friends, rather than the fireworks themselves.

Gurak's face was locked over the water. The boats were out in the water, firing fireworks up into the sky and everyone back on land was enjoying the view.

Rulu rumbles out quietly. "They do this every holiday. I dunno what they do to make them. But they let them loose every festival. They call them..." He focuses and thinks for a moment. Must've been a complicated name. "quick burst imitation stars?" He scratches his head. "Or something like that." He shrugs. "They're really pretty."

Gurak nods, a tear or two streaking down his face as he watches. "Fireworks." The orc says softly. "On earth, they were called Fireworks. We only had'm twice a year. But they were always beautiful. I forgot how much I missed it. Especially since it became so common back home I stopped watching them." He sniffles softly and laughs.

The trio watched the 'quick burst imitation stars' for the next hour as they were fired off one after the other. Gurak's face was full of joy, at this small piece of the life he thought he hated, was given purchase in this life as well. Zamdor's big arm around his back and Rulu's arm just beneath the bulls. Both holding the orc, supporting him, something he never realized he needed and had missed out on until meeting these two amazing men.