"Filthy trespasser! Get out of my house! Watch, where you put your clumsy feet!" Mr. Badger shouts back. In his bad mood he lunges out two more times but then retreats into his den.
Clara leaves the crypt entrance and comes back. Her shoulders slumped downwards the fatigue written in her face. As she arrives at the hissing and snarling, Jewel is involved in, she aks "What's happening? Do we need to do protecting here?" in a tone that lacks any motivation.
Jewel backs away from the angry badger not wanting to cause any more trouble."I'm sorry mister badger. I didn't see your home there. If I caused any damages I'll do whatever you will allow to help you repair. I, or rather, we have just been accepted as Guardians of Erastil for the shrine here and the forest around. We're still young but we're going to try to do things right."
She waves Clara and the others back. "We're fine. I just accidentally stepped in this badger's home. I'm apologizing. We should mark this area so nobody else makes the same mistake."
At the mention of Badger Brina looks up, licks her lips, and then grooms herself
"Badger? They look like they're good eating. But I remember mama told me they can be dangerous"
"Yeah, badgers can be nasty. Best to not disturb them by mistake!!"
"What do you want to mark it with?" Clara asks. She looks around, but sees nothing but sticks and leafs, which wouldn't stand out much.
Jewel looks around for some sticks, a foot or so longer. "We'll just stick a few sticks in the ground around the home for now. I will get something better another day. Mr. Badger should be okay with that until we can do it right."
The kids set up a makeshift barrier to fence the badgers home off. Some more sticks become practice targets with leaves as gobber ears and then they are destroyed with dozens of arrows from the tower.
Jewel takes care, that no one gets shot while the missed arrows are collected again.
When all fun is had for the day the kids go back home. Getrud has a suggestion what kind of workshop they can set up in the shrine. One to make arrows. Looks like they don't grow on trees.
The next day there is some more work with the harvest that needs to be done. But in the afternoon the whole group leaves to start with some renovations in the shrine. They take a long an old table and a box of well used tools.
"We all need to figure out how to make arrows if we are going to be practicing with the bows!"
"Uh oh. There is a patch of grass over there that has died and gone black. That can't be good"
Tobar heads over to the patch and tries to figure out what has hurt the grass
Clara kicks the black bush. "That's strange."
Some of the black leafs fall down and break into small pieces as the brittle things hit the ground.
"Be careful Clara. Plants don't normally die over night and dry up like that. We need to figure out what happened and stop it before it spreads! We're the guardians now!"
"I'm sure it got it's root eaten away by a mole. We need to dig it up or something." Clara tells. "Do we have a shovel in the tool box?"
"No, this isn't natural. If it was natural, it would be brown. And later in the season.
It must be some foul gobbo magic!!! Or maybe badger magic. Do badgers have magic?"
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"Then watering it won't help either? Maybe take all black stuff away and plant a new bush? Or does the Erastil book tell something about that?" Clara wonders.
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"Badgers can't cast spells, dummy!" Tarjun answers Tobar with a laugh. "They ain't got no hands or voice!"
Reading Erastil's book again is not Tarjun's idea of a fun afternoon, but the idea isn't bad and he has to admit that he can think of no other solution.
"Knew it! There ain't nothin' in here," he shakes his head. "Anyway, don't know much 'bout plants, but it looks real dead. Makes me think of neurosis -when your limb goes all black and it means it's dead. Docs were real afraid of that when my leg wouldn't heal."
He wouldn't have learned that extra bit of information without eavesdropping -but he had been curious about the healers telling his parents to regularly check his leg for black spots.
"But what does that neurosis come from? Poison?" Clara asks. She checks on her hand that this blackening didn't rub off on her.
Jewel moves up by the dead plants but doesn't want to touch it. She cuts a stick from a nearby tree that still has a couple of leaves on it and uses it to knock off a couple more of the black leaves, than examines the living leaves on her stick to see if the blight spreads at a visible rate from contact. "All animals talk. Most people just don't know how to listen.... But I don't think any normal badger, or any normal animal for that matter could use magic. Our familiars and Trina of course are not normal animals."
She glances at Tarjun, "You mean Necrosis? I think that's the medical term for when flesh dies. Yeah, this might be so don't touch it!"
She examines the area around the dead patch. "We need to mark the area and watch to see if it is spreading, and run and get Dad, and a shovel. The farmers might know something. Maybe if we dig the area up and burn it? If the blight is in the soil I mean...."
"Its got to be a spell of some kind. The ghostie maybe did it? He is unhappy that we didn't do the champion thing right?
Or maybe its poison? Or salt. Sometimes things die when you pee on them.
Thats it. Its BADGER PEE. Problem solved.
Uh, no, that can't be it. Badgers have peed before.
Maybe we should burn out that area? Make sure it doesn't spread?"
"I'll go and fetch wood." Clara replies as burning is mentioned the second time and runs off to collect dry sticks.
Jewel starts sticking twigs into the ground about an inch away from the black. "Don't do anything yet. We need to observe before we do anything else. Can anyone detect poison? Or disease? I'll cast detect magic.... And don't light any fires, yet!"
"Hmm.... There is magic here. It's likely related!"
"Well yeah, I TOLD you it was magic!! Didn't you believe me? But WHAT magic? That is the question. And how to fight it!!"
You notice a small caterpillar in the branches of the bush hanging on a thread. It also got blackened.
The caterpillar still moves.
Clara takes a look at the magic too. Speaking an unintelligible word and waving her hand at the black patch her gaze phases out. Studying it for a while she finally tells "It is neurosis magic... necrosis magic... that death stuff."
While telling a slight move in the corner of her eye catches her attention.
Jewel moves her stick over by the caterpillar trying to get it to move off of the dead branch. "There's a bug on the branch. It's black but not dead. Maybe if we get it away from the dead magic?"
"It wasn't me. I didn't do anything!" Clara states to Tarjun's inquiry.
Looking at Jewel's caterpillar she suggests "Maybe I can heal it?"
"Don't touch it!!! That necrowhatsit may be cotnag, contug, you may catch it if you touch it!"
Jewel can't get the caterpillar to climb on the stick, but she can get the thread wrapped around the stick and take the caterpillar with it. On closer inspection Jewel notices that it has holes in its skin and doesn't look healthy.
Wrapping the thread around the stick with the sick, but not dead caterpillar on it, she pulls it away from the dead area. She carefully moves over to a rock and sets it down. "It is hurt bad but maybe away from the black it might survive. Tobar is right though. We don't dare touch it, just in case it is contagious."
As Jewel casts the stabilize on the caterpillar, it rears up and then crumbles to dust.
"What did you do to that poor creature?!?" Clara shrieks.
Jewel stares at the caterpillar as it crumples to dust. She is stunned and barely hears Clara's shriek. Her response is barely audible. "That spell should have helped to keep it alive...."
She stands and backs away looking around at each of her friends.
Jewel looks at the sticks and the distance. It's hard to tell. Is it still an inch? Did the distance shrink? With no way to meassure exactly there is no way to tell for sure.
"Stabilize destroyed it? Quick, cast stabilize on the black patch!! Maybe that will kill it too! Or a cure spell maybe?"
"I thought we wanted to bring it back to life, not destroy it?" Clara replies. She looks confused.
Jewel glances up from her study of the black area. Tobar's suggestion had merit, but.... "If we can destroy the black the grass will grow back. But we need to find out what is causing it and be sure that it is stopped and not spreading. If curing magic destroyed the bug that was infected with the black it might be a clue, but not likely the fix. Clara, you're better at the details of magic than I am. When you cast detect magic what auras did you see? Was it just necromancy, or were there any others? I don't want to try positive energy on it without more information."
"The bug may have already been dead and the black stuff might have been moving it, like a zombie bug. The bug is really small and weak so the Stabilize ended whatever the black was doing to it. Casting it on the larger area may just energize the black. It might feed it and make it grow. I still think we need to get shovels and dig some of it up, and maybe try burning some of it...."
"Only necromancy. Nothing else." Clara replies. "Eww. Dead bug moving is awwful." she adds.
"No, its bad and evil. We need to KILL it. NOW!!! Cure it before it can spread!!. Positive energy always helps, right? It only hurts bad things! There is no downside to healing it"
"Okay, if you say so." Clara shrugs. She touches the ground. For a moment she looks like in deep concentration.
As she takes her hand away she tells "It doesn't work. I can't heal ground."
Jewel tries to stop Clara from touching the black area (but apparently was surprised since she didn't think anyone would) "Don't touch it! It might spread to you! And adding curing magic to necromancy might be like pouring oil on flame. Let's go get a shovel!
"Don't we have a shovel with the tools we brought? At least a small one?" Clara calls after Jewel.