Callie's Heroes

PART III - A PLAN OF ACTION FORMS

“A Bogwump is just a long, amphibious animal and is sometimes called a Giant Carrion Eel, although it’s more of a worm than an eel,” Reynard began. “Really, nothing too awful about them in that state. They are maybe a meter long, or a bit longer, and about fifteen centimeters in diameter and live in the muck at the bottom of bogs and slow-moving swamps, feeding on dead vegetation and animal bodies that may sink to the bottom. They don’t even have teeth. They’re disgusting, but altogether harmless.”

“I’m just going to say ‘eww’ right off,” Callie said, scrunching up her face. “What’s the problem? Why is it killing off everything around it?”

“The problem is when they reproduce,” Reynard continued with a sigh. “When it comes time, it will build a sealed cocoon around itself. The worm’s slime mixes with the muck and mud to make a dome that is as hard as rock to keep the inside protected. It’s big and thick, and extends about a meter above the water. Inside, the creature dies before its eggs hatch, and then the offspring devour their dead parent. Eventually, the water will break down the hard-muck walls, releasing the hatchling Bogwumps.”

“The thing is,” Rowani said, picking up the background briefing, “all those little babies are still really hungry. So, to help give them something tasty to chew on, their slimy parent filled the wall of the cocoon with a nasty parasite that the Eel cultivates over its lifetime. As the walls break down, they leech out and kill all the vegetation in the area, and rapidly accelerate decomposition. The rotting plants and such then feed the hatchlings when they finally emerge, and eventually those that survive will swim off or float downstream and start the cycle over again. Most won’t survive to adulthood though, maybe none of them, so these things are actually pretty rare.”

“So I guess we need to, what, break the cocoon open and maybe burn them out?” Callie asked. “Would that work?”

Reynard nodded. “Back in the day, when I was a much-younger Adventurer, I had to deal with these things twice. Luckily, our Guardian was a Dwarf and he was quite good with a pickaxe from his mining days before he joined our team. He cracked the mounds open from the top, then we poured in a flask of Dragonfire Oil, and stood back to watch it burn. The heat inside the cocoon was enough to kill off everything, including the parasites still in the mud walls, and the overall damage was fairly limited. Things start regrowing really quick in that kind of environment. After a year you couldn’t even tell something had happened.”

“Great, so we get some of this Dragon oil, a pickaxe and go roast ‘em,” Callie said, seeing a plan forming.

Rowani slowly shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Little One. Like Reynard, I cleared one once when I was an Adventurer, and there is just one small problem with your idea. The parasite that kills all the vegetation also makes all the animals in the area absolutely mad before it also kills them! Mammals, birds, reptiles, and even the bigger fish will savagely attack anything approaching the nest. No fear at all. It’s like a feral army of creatures defending the cocoon. At the same time you’re trying to break the thing open? Most every living thing in the area that can sense you, save insects and spiders, will be trying to rip you apart.”

“Well, that just sounds wonderful,” Tasi said sarcastically.

“Oh, and just to make things even worse,” Reynard warned, “that parasite will be trying to infect you, too. It’s waterborne, so if you accidentally swallow any of the water, or get water in a sizable injury, it will begin to take its toll. They can be countered with magic, at least, so it’s not much of a concern, but you’d start to feel its effects after a bit, unless it was cured.”

“Great,’ Callie growled, drawing the word out for a couple seconds, “zombie wildlife.” Then she had a thought. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance we can just ignore this thing.”

“How do you mean?” Xera asked. “It seems dangerous enough to do something about now.”

“Right,” Callie agreed, “but it’s also going to burn itself out, if I understand what they were saying? Once they hatch and eat the dead plants, they’ll just go back to being harmless but disgusting worms. It’d probably take a few weeks, but then things would settle down and start growing again, right.”

Rowani cautiously nodded. “She does make a point. It would be a blight upon the land for a time, but Nature repairs itself quickly, especially in a swamp.”

Juniper had slid slowly into a seat while the lifecycle of a Bogwump was being discussed, Loki crawling into her lap. With Callies’ suggestion of doing essentially nothing, a horrified look came over her face. “No! We must stop them from hatching! It’s dangerous to leave them be!”

“Why’s that?” Callie asked.

“The waters of that swamp? They slowly flow towards the river that passes close to my tree,” she meekly said. “If one of these creatures was to make its home close to me, when next it reproduces, it could kill me!” She shook her head, getting more anxious. “We must destroy it, and quickly, before they hatch and come my way.”

“Damn! I didn’t think about that,” Rowani said, tracing the line of the river from the Juniper’s tree back to the marked swamp area. She’s right, we need to take care of this then, before the hatchlings emerge. As I said, the survival rate of the hatchlings to adulthood is very low, but still possible, so one could follow the river and end up close to her tree. We can’t wait. We need to destroy them all. Today if we can.”

“What about the parasites?” Callie asked. “Won’t the ones already released float downstream? They could threaten Juniper.”

Rowani shook her head. “They don’t live long on their own. They need the swampy, stagnant water to survive, and the ones that infect something will die off when whatever they infect dies. Between that and the slow currents, she should be fine; it won’t spread very far. But there’s still a risk a hatchling could end up close by close to the tree." She emphasized the point by gesturing to a swampy indication not far from the green dot.

Xera looked at Callie. “You’re the Sergeant for this mission, what do you want to do?”

“You’re actually serious?” Callie gasped in disbelief and suspicion. “You really want me to lead this? Trainer Reynard’s right, I’ve only been here two weeks. He’s the one that’s done this before! Or Trainer Rowani!”

“Nevertheless,” Xera said, a quirky smile appearing on their face, "the mission has been given to you. What do you want to do?”

“Besides turn this whole damn mistake over to him?” Callis said, eyes wide as she emphatically gestured towards Reynard.

“Yes, besides that. Don’t panic, you know more than you think you do. What do you need to do next? Talk it out for us, so we see how you think. We’re all here to help. Like everything we do here, this is a training moment.”

Callie reached her hands up, each pulling on one of her pigtails. She blew out her cheeks as she fought her brain that wanted no part in this ridiculous endeavor. “Okay,” she finally said, “tell me more about the feral animals. As soon as we start disturbing this cocoon dome thing, or likely even get close to it, they are just going to all start charging at us trying to eat our faces, right?”

“That’s right,” Reynard confirmed. “We’re likely going to have to fend off a lot of the wildlife. You’ll be able to tell they're infected because they’ll be bleeding from the eyes, mouth, and nose. Most of them will be small enough to not be a significant threat, but claws and teeth on even a small swamp rat are still quite sharp, especially in numbers.”

“That sucks,” Callie mumbled. “Having to probably kill a bunch of them, that is.”

“If they’ve gone feral, then the parasite is too far into them to even magically cure. It’s going to eventually get them, and it’s a terrible, lingering death,” Reynard comforted. “We will be easing their suffering, to be honest.”

“Still sucks,” Callie said, still mumbling.

“I know. It's only a small consolation. It needs to be done, though.”

Callie blew her cheeks out again. “Okay, guys, if you really want me to direct this, I’ll give it a shot. But you need to stop me if I screw up or my thinking is going in the wrong direction. Please.”

“My best advice?” Reynard said, a teasing smile on his face, “Don’t screw up. What are your first orders?”

Callie glared briefly at her completely unhelpful trainer, before looking back over the map. Touching the area where the lines intersected, she started to work the issue out loud. “We should probably confirm what we’re dealing with, and pin down its location, right? That would be first.”

“Probably,” Galin said, a teasing smirk on his face.

Callie turned her glare to the Legate, then slowly turned to Rowani. “Would you be able to fly out and scout the area? I don’t know if that’s too far for you to go out and back quickly.”

“Do you doubt me because I’m old?” the Druid trainer asked, a hint of an angry tone in her voice.

“What? No! I simply don’t know if it’s too far for you to go out and back quickly. If it is, then I need to come up with something else. I don’t think the other Druids have forms that are as fast as you when flying, though.”

“Oh, in that case…” Rowani said as she relaxed slightly, no longer feeling insulted. She looked again at the map. “Eight kilometers? There was a time I could make that in six minutes, maybe even less. I might be a little slower now. Give me thirty minutes to get out, look around, and get back. It should be easy to spot the area of dead vegetation from the air. Do you want me to leave now?”

Callie shook her head. “Not yet, I might need your input on the rest of this,” she casually gestured towards the map with a circular motion, “catastrophe in the making.”

“Of course,” the Trainer responded. “However I may help.”

Returning to look at the map, Callie absently picked up the pencil and began to tap it on her cheek. She glanced up at Reynard, her mind starting to form the vaguest shadow of an actual plan. “Okay, we’ll be dealing with an incoming critter army. We’re going to need people to defend the ones who are breaking open the dome, probably from all directions. That means Ranged and Guardians, right?”

“Does it?” Xera asked, causing Callie to frown.

“Please, as my ‘trusted advisors’ in this craziness, at least tell me if I’m going down the wrong path. Time’s a factor,” Callie asked with a sigh, a little more snippy than she wanted.

“You’re on the right path,” Xera said calmly.

“Okay, thanks.” Then Callie added, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know you’re trying to help me learn.”

“You’re fine,” Xera replied. “Who else do you need?”

“Well, we’ll need a Healer or two for sure. There will be a lot of little things attacking, so if they get through, that means smaller wounds. Healer Tasi, Shaman Totems help really well with small injuries, right? Lhawni mentioned it the other day.”

“That’s right,” Tasi confirmed.

“Good, I want one of those. Does anyone know if there are poisonous creatures in the area?”

“There? Probably the only serious threat around there might be from a Redhatted Viper. It's a snake that lives in the swamps, usually in the trees, although it can swim just fine,” Reynard said, gesturing to the orange area on the map. “Easily recognizable by a red spot on the top of its head. I’m not even sure if they are this far east. The venom is fairly slow-acting, but could eventually kill you. A Shaman or Druid should be able to cleanse the poison if anyone is bitten.”

“Good to know,” Callie replied, her mind now swirling with even more details starting to come together. “How many people can I take?” Callie asked, looking up at Xera.

“As many as you’d like,” Xera answered, frustratingly vague. “But only … say … two trainers.”

“But,” Reynard interrupted, amending the Commandant, “the more people you bring, the more you will attract the ferals. Bring too few or too many and you could get overwhelmed. Find a balance.”

“Only two? Damn.” Callie hopped down from the chair she was standing on and began to pace, tapping the pencil on her cheek. She stopped and pointed at Tasi. “What do you have to help counter the parasite? Can we take something before we go? Or get a spell cast on us?”

Tasi thought to herself. “We have Resist Disease potions. That should keep you safe for a few hours if you take them with food. When you return we will apply a Cure Disease spell as well, just to get anything that may have slipped through. Would that work, Sergeant?”

Callie was about to thank the Fairy, but another use of the new rank broke her train of thought. “Wait, did I get promoted?”