Lowlife, Scoundrel, Bandit Queen

I suck in a deep breath, as I keep stirring the mix in the pan, before taking it off the fire. It's not grand cuisine, but it really smells great. It's downright mouthwatering even. I'm already about to give it a taste, when a notification distracts me.

[*Ding!* Your skill Cooking has leveled up to level 4!]

This one counts towards the progress of my scoundrel class, which is nice too. Indirectly it improves my agility as well, but that's just about it this time around. No further increase in attack power this time around. Not that I need it right now anyway.

I won't deny that the additional reward might just make the dish, basic as it may be, taste even better though. The mix of finely sliced mushroom and smokey sausage with molten creamy cheese really is something else. After a day spent on the road, or rather on barely noticeable dirt paths and game trails for the better part, to get here, this hits just right.

As I swallow the next bite an idea strikes me and I focus on the remaining food in the pan. The tiniest fraction of my Mana drains away as I activate my [Identify] skill. And just as the skill improves a little the results come in too.

[Campfire Pan (Food, Common) – A common campfire recipe. Edible mushrooms and pieces of smoked sausage, both finely sliced and roasted in a pan together with some cheese over an open fire. A simple yet enjoyable dish. Thanks to the sausage and cheese used it doesn't even need any additional seasonings. Category: Consumable]

It's pretty much as expected. Now I really want to get my hands on some more fresh ingredients even more though. Maybe I could find some herbs out here in the wild? It would be easier of course if I knew what I have to be looking for. I can't exactly go around and use my identification skill on every grass and other plant I come across.

Or could I? No, that would be a little too much. I shake my head and resume eating, to enjoy the rest while it's still hot. One or two promising candidates maybe, but not everything. Yes, that is a more sensible approach. Pondering the idea some more I keep eating and before long the pan is empty. I let out a satisfied sigh and set it down. I'll have to clean it tomorrow. Down at the creek with some sand. Yes, that sounds sensible. That's what I'll do.

For now though, it's time to turn in for the night. I check the barricade blocking the doorway one last time, just in case, then I retreat to my blanket by the fireside. I can still feel the hard stone ground of course, but it's much better anyway. Resting my head on my arms I soon fall asleep, as the magical light overhead eventually fades too.

When I wake again, it's to the sound of birds and other small animals of the woodlands instead of the more familiar sounds of the city for a change. It's not a bad a change either. Quite the opposite actually.

[*Ding!* You slept pretty well! Health increased by 0! Mana increased by 3!]

I sit up, stretch and yawn, while my still slightly sleep addled mind processes the notification. I'm pretty sure there is some kind of dice roll involved there and considering that I actually slept well, it has to have been terrible this time around. Ha! With a snort I rub the last vestiges of sleep from my eyes. It's time to start into the new day! I have a drink from my water bottle and quickly resolve to refill it from the well at the bottom of the stairs before I head out. The rest of the water I use to freshen up a little.

Once that is done I do indeed head downstairs to refill my brass water bottle. Right after I head up to the rooftop. I check the sky above first, for any flying predators, just in case. Afterwards I look around to take in the much changed landscape. It's indeed very different from the first time I had a good look from up here. If anything though, it's much easier now to spot landmarks that stand out.

At the same time I do my best to match the map from the quest papers up with what I see. There is the creek and the spot where we brought the fungal titan down. It had been marked on the crude map too. If I'm not mistaken I'll have to follow the creek upstream another bit to reach that abandoned quarry. It shouldn't be too far though. Not if that map is any good anyway. I guess there is only one way to find out.

First things first though. I head back down and grab the pan that needs cleaning. Trying to stay unnoticed best I can, in the now mostly open terrain after I descend the cliff again, I head to the creek, aiming for a spot slightly upstream of the one where the fungal monarch fell, just to be safe. It doesn't take me to long to find the desired sand either and using it and some fresh grass, of which there is plenty, I scrub the pan clean in no time at all.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I have to admit, that I'm slightly surprised that the chore earns me some progress for my [Housekeeping] skill. Well, gift horses and all that. I'm not going to complain for sure. I don't waste any time afterwards and return to the tower. Climbing the cliff again advances my [Climbing] skill some more, but maybe I should look for a faster and easier way up and down anyway. Climbing every time is a little bothersome. Just like with the tower which I still have to enter through the rooftop access. It's all somewhat inconvenient. Never mind that I risk a fall with every climb, no matter how good my skill may already be.

I'm very tempted to bring my pack along while leaving some of my gear behind. It would make gathering things much easier. In the end though I decide against it. The pack stays here, together with all other non essential gear. Only my weapons and my cloak come along.

As I leave the tower I don't climb back down the cliff face though. I follow the top of the cliff first. I have a suspicion that I might just be able to find an easier descent if I just keep going upstream up here. My intuition doesn't betray me. The cliff becomes lower, or rather, the ground below rises up, until the cliff is barely any higher than I'm tall. The cliff isn't very sheer here either. It's jagged face allows me to descend almost as if I were using stairs instead. Yes, this is much better than climbing every time, even if it means a little detour.

I climb back up though, as I want to follow the creek using the high ground. For one I have a better view from up there, even if it isn't by much and, of course, the mostly untouched vegetation up there provides much better cover too. As trivial as it may seem, I suspect if I were to come across any serious predator, the difference may matter.

I have so far not spotted any large predators. The forest lynx hardly counts after all, since it's not that much larger than a well fed house cat. I have not seen any large prey animals either and that gives me pause. Sure, it might still be an aftereffect of the fungal plague, but I can't exactly take that for granted either.

The fights against the infected and partially transformed stag and the boar are still vivid in my mind, but even if Ediva's spell and the following fire got more of those, that can't exactly have been all the bigger creatures making a living in the woods around here.

There really should be more. Especially now with the fungal infestation gone various animals should have returned and not just the smaller ones I can spot without much trouble. All the fresh green shoots and sprouts should lure in some deer at the very least. Elks and wild cattle too. Or wild pigs like that giant dire boar for that matter. Something seems to scaring those off. Something I haven't spotted so far.

That thought is mildly troubling. The prospect of the creature finding me before I can find it sends shivers down my spine. I grimace even as I redouble my efforts to stay unnoticed.

Sneaking along the forest's edge atop of the now much lower cliff I finally spot the quarry. Well, I'm pretty certain it's the quarry anyway. It's cut into the hill right across the creek's valley and the sheer rock faces, where stone blocks have been broken free, are easily visible.

At a glance the place has at least three levels connected by wide ramps. The bottom level is actually a little below the rest of the surrounding terrain, which probably is the reason why it's been partially flooded with the rest being turned into a surprisingly lush morass with plants usually only found in actual bogs. This part is utterly untouched by the fire too. And while that might be nice for animals and plants adapted to this particular habitat, the quarry won't be usable as long as the water isn't drained.

That certainly is a first important observation, something I should note in my debriefing at the guildhall once I'm back. It's far from the most important detail to be observable from my vantage point though. The second level is littered with bones of all kinds. It's not just a few of them either. There are a lot. I'd dare say it's heaps of bones and probably the reason why I have not spotted any large animals elsewhere nearby. This does not bode well.

It's the top level of the quarry though that really gives me pause. Sitting there, surrounded by the sheer cliff faces where rocks were broken from the hillside and the last blocks of rock that were never shipped off sits something that has to be a nest. A damn huge nest built or charred branches and tree trunks as well as numerous fresh, thorny bushes of all kinds. The size of that nest alone! It has to be at least ten paces across from one inner edge to the other.

It's only, as I take a second much closer look, which advances my [Perception] skill once again, that I come to realize the really important part of what I'm seeing. The nest, unlike what I thought at first, isn't empty! Not at all! It's not just the three big eggs at the center either, each easily as big as me, that have me spooked.

No, the real terror lies there curled protectively around the eggs, it's head resting on it's own rear legs, wings folded closely, as to not obstruct the sun shining down on the nest. The scales of the magnificent beast, each crowned by mean curved thorns in their own right, match the rest of the nest in a weird way that gives me a headache at first. It's only as I realize that there has some kind of skill ta work, that makes them blend in with the thorny bushes that it gets a little better.

The great predator's eyes are tightly closed, it's breathing even. The long sinuous tail tipped by a mean barb that probably could rival any lance quietly drips some kind of poison just outside the nest. I'm pretty sure that it isn't yet aware of my presence, yet my [Danger Sense] is working overtime.

I quietly retreat deeper into the woods, away from the cliff face on my side of the valley until I'm pretty certain that I'm out of view even of the sharpest pair of eyes. There I sit down, with my back to the trunk of an old tree, until my limbs stop shaking.

I was tempted to call it a dragon at first, but it really isn't like Beldragor at all. So, unless Beldragor is untypical for dragons in general, that isn't a dragon. At the very least it's not the same kind of dragon at least.

No, it's more like a wyvern! Powerful hind legs and equally powerful wings, but no second pair of legs. Long sinuous neck and tail. Those could match Beldragor's, except, the little dragon from Riverrun doesn't sport a poison stinger. His scales are nice, smooth and shiny too. Not thorny and barbed and colored to blend in with the environment.

Alright, as far as I'm concerned, my investigation is already concluded. This is exactly the kind of information the adventurers' guild and their patrons want. Except, maybe I should try to gather a little evidence? It's not like I can gather stones from the quarry with that thing napping there after all. If its scales are anything like those of Beldragor though, even if they don't look alike, I should still be able to find some that have come loose around here. Even if it's sleeping now, it must have been hunting more than a little judging by the piles of bones. I just need to find out where. If there was any kind of struggle, I might get lucky there.