Closed Parasites by the Pond

[Shadow]

Date: 25th of Winter, 124

Velho clicked on his Luxiite powered pen light, the beam cutting through the darkness of the well's water, and the writhing parasites below. The reaction was immediate. The concentrated light burned the tiny creatures who squirmed in fright. Others tried to slither deeper into the depths, but there was no true darkness anymore, so they started to wither. Their bodies became gelatinous, they slowed their movements, and in moments, the first of them crumbled into nothing more than a faint residue in the water.

Wherever the light fell, the parasites convulsed and burst, leaving only cloudy filaments which drifted into nothing. Luxium was the answer, it seemed. Such a small tool would not be enough to cleanse an entire well or pond, however. Trying was like trying to paint a barn with a squirt bottle. The good news was that they had a solution; They could send for someone to deal with it later. Who cared if a handful more humans died in the few days it would take for aelves to arrive? As for a cure for Efthimios, a concoction infused with luxite would likely be effective.

Meanwhile ~~

The humidity was thick in the air of the burrow, the scent of rotting vegetation mixed with something much worse, a sour, acrid musk that burned the nostrils. The glistening floor was disturbed by the creaking wooden bodies of Galinn's treants as they entered. Every surface was coated in a layer of mucus whose faint bioluminescence shifted with movement.

The more they went in the deeper, the clearer it became. The parasites were not only in the cave. They were thriving here.

The thick slime on the floor was filled with too many of them to count, writhing in masses on the walls and ceiling. The cave itself pulsed in the deeper recesses as if it was alive. When Galinn's thunderous arrow struck the floor, it seemed that the cave shuddered. The parasites quivered, then as one they started moving.

From the depths of the cavern, something stirred. A mass began to rise from the parasitic tide, coalescing from the glowing mucus. A shape, if one could call it that, lurched forward, its form changing and undulating. Before the treants was an amorphous blob, made completely of the parasites themselves. It was never in the same shape twice in two moments. Arms? Tendrils? Faces? It was a churning horror of many things.

But the treants had moved into defensive formation around it when the gelatinous tendrils of the thing lashed out. The first treant was enveloped and pulled into the mass, the writhing parasites eating into the bark like flesh in seconds. This was not something that could be fought with mundane means.

Galinn would need fire, light, or something beyond conventional weapons if she wished to cleanse this place. The good news was that the parasites did not push outside of the cave. It was safe outdoors at least while the sun still shone.

_____________________________________________________________________

OOC:

Continued from death by the pond

 

[Velho]

༺༉❁ 25th of Winter, 125 of the third age ❁༉༻

Of the potential solutions tried by Velho, it appeared that one worked– Luxium. And, while the Absentia of Spectrify couldn't kill the parasites, it also failed to reveal any remnants of Ethos lurking about. In this case, though, that was more of a relief than anything; Ghosts would've been another headache entirely.

"Well…mystery solved," Efthimios said after a moment or two of silence.

"...yes." Velho answered with little emotion in his voice. "Find the village elder and tell them a solution has been arranged…further assistance will arrive within a week," he'd say with a soft sigh before continuing, "...I'll fetch Kage and let him know he's under no obligation to stay."

Efthimios would nod, "...as you wish, Vænir."

With the younger ælf off to do what he was told, Velho would wander away from the well and towards the pond. He wasn't quite sure where Kage had gone, but with the pond being somewhere the infected animals had been said to congregate, it just made sense to check there first. Shuffling along with his cane, the ferrier moved slowly– by the time he made it over there, Kage would likely have had time to either deal with the slime thing in some fashion or have absconded out of the cave. Should they cross paths at this point, Velho would inform him that the simplest solution was Luxium, though it appeared neither the village nor the present Æld'Norai possessed the necessary resources to deal with the issue straight away.

Once that conversation ended, the two ferriers would reunite and then make their way toward Rømskog by way of Apparation, arriving within the day. They'd alert a clerk of the oddviti of their findings, who would then record their testimonies before sending off the report. Efthimios would then leave for treatment of his own whilst Velho left to return to his home.

The bureaucratic process of the paperwork's movement and then the assignment of two Ælven magi– a Paladin and a Fulguri– took about five days, with their subsequent dispatch to the village via Exodus being instant. The potent pair would work their magic to cleanse the village of parasites, including any remaining infected fauna and that horrible gelatinous abomination. For those that were still sick, they would leave behind a supply of a Luxiite-infused concoction, though it would be up to local healers to administer it to the ill. And while their stay was brief, the pair were quite thorough in their cleansing before leaving through the self-same portal from which they'd arrived. Still, if any trace remained, the Luxiite concoction could also be mixed in with the water supply should it become infected again.

: Spells

Velho:
1x Journeyman Scourge - Allay
1x Apprentice Scourge - Spectrify
1x Journeyman Apparation - Frequency
1x Journeyman Apparation - Resonate
2x Journeyman Apparation - Bridging

Arcane Reserves: 2.99
-0.11
-0.04
-0.11
-0.11
-0.22
Remaining: 2.4

•══════════•

Efthimios:
1x Novice Scourge - Bane of Sopor

Arcane Reserves: 1.22
-0.04
Remaing: 1.18

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: Efthimios

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[Luke]

Kage wouldn't really know what to do about this amorphous monster. He would throw a couple more treants at the thing only for it to gobble them up like they were little bite sized snacks. He was relieved that when he retreated, the monster didn't follow to where the daylight touched the ground.

"Interesting," he told himself, "the parasites must prey on things that travel into holes like this. That would explain why the animals I encountered were not of the avian variety." He had to stop himself from thinking too hard about the science behind it all. The last thing he needed was a headache.

Feeling exhausted, Kage pondered a solution. He supposed the best thing to do was to stop the parasites from getting out of the burrow entirely. To that end he had his treants go around and pile up wood and stone to help seal off the burrow's entrance.

The treants worked tirelessly to seal the hole. They would work till the end of time if nothing stopped them, and by Kage's estimation the parasites would probably be happy to be able to proliferate in the darkness. At least until they ran out of food anyways.

Velho came around at some point and would find that Kage was sitting with his back against the tree, slowly sucking out the life energy of the surrounding trees to help replenish his reserves. Partly due to how drained he felt, but also because he needed to make sure he could react if something unexpected happened.

"Excellent," he would tell Velho when he presented his plan. "The parasites have congregated in that burrow over there. I will sit here and keep watch until help arrives. I couldn't damage them, not with arrows or treants… but sealing the entrance seems to have worked so far."

And that he did. He waited two days until help arrived, spending most of his time in a half alert state. Sometimes he let his mind wander to keep an eye on his many treants. Other times he stared intently at the burrow as if it would burst open at any moment. When the aelves came by and torched the burrow with luxium, he finally decided it was safe to head on home.

: math

0.04 + 0.33 syphoning via druidism = 0.37

 

[Shadow]

All in a day's work.

The aelves came in and cleared up with a dazzling display of luxium magic. Those who stayed around to watch were rewarded with a sight that they had probably never seen before.

The sick would not immediately recover. Some trial and error was necessary and during the trials a good number died; this parasite really was potent. The aelf would be cured only once the antidote had been refined.

To help make sure the issue didn't happen again, trees in the area were moved to allow more sunlight to hit the affected area. The parasite would be no more, except for a sample that was sent to Velho. Someone must have known that he would be able to make use of it as a Scourge.

Both Velho and Kage would be sent a package containing 100 grams of luxium which was leftover from the cleansing.

 

[Shadow]

Thread Title: Parasites by the pond

Thread Summary: Velho and Kage call for help; it arrives. continued from this link

Expected Rewards:
Velho ~ 100g luxite and 1 sample of the parasite 5 xp
Kage ~ 100g luxite 4 xp
Shadow / Raya ~ 6xp
Thread Link: https://antarok.net/threads/parasites-by-the-pond.529/#post-2820
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[Vicissitude]

꧁══════════•༺༉ { Canonized } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

❀ Rewards ❀

Requested rewards granted!

❀ Comments ❀

What a fun little investigative quest! Thank you for running it & Velho will surely not use his new parasite for anything nefarious

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