12 – The Path Continues

In his mind, the familiar voice of Juliette spoke, “[Adult giant scorpion stinger. Imbued with venom immunity, resistance to fire, and speed]”

“That’ll work!” Ren said.

“What will work? Nothing has changed, what about Jax?” Kaylin’s voice was growing frantic.

Ren was already moving. “Trust me. Grab one of the broken tails, uh, one of the stings.” He reached the maimed now-thawing monsters, quickly bending down to scoop up one of the palm sized, bulbous extremities.

Deciding not to question him for now, Kaylin followed suit, reaching down to grab one that had flown toward her after Ren’s attack.

“Careful not to let it prick you,” Ren said.

“I was just about to stab it into my arm, you know, to see what would happen, but since you said something, I guess I’ll restrain myself.”

Ren paused at the response, before bursting into laughter, “Yeah, I guess I deserved that. Ok, do you remember how to get back to Jax? I’m awful with directions.”

The scorpions had begun to flail in pain, their claws clicking wildly.

“This way, follow me.” Kaylin dashed off through the trees, Ren assumed back the way they had come.

“Ughhh, cursed beasts! Rutting brood spawn.” A minute later they heard Jax’s string of exclamations.

Well, I guess he’s not too far gone, Ren thought.

“Blood and bone, void take you wretched creatures. If I don’t die here, I’ll crush you with my bare hands and dance in your organs. AHH!”

“Jax! We’re here.” Kaylin called out as they approached the large man laying against the trunk where they had left him.

In the several minutes that it had taken to lead the pack of monsters away and maim them, Jax’s thigh had begun to mimic the injuries of the dead wolves. Two stretched, round protrusions stuck out where he had been stabbed, swelling his leg to twice the size of the other.

“Did you enact retribution on my behalf?” he said through gritted teeth.

Kaylin knelt beside her cousin. “Partially. We removed their stings.” She proffered the dripping extremity she was carrying. “But left them alive for you to join the excitement, ok?”

“Didn’t wanna take all the fun you know, big guy?”

Jax took in Ren’s sliced and blood-stained clothing. “It looks like you had quite a bit of it. Ahhh!” He closed his eyes in pain. “Kaylin, I… I don’t think I will make it out of this one, I can feel the poison creeping u–.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course you will make it, you big oaf. Now be quiet. Ren?”

“I have a plan for ya. Kaylin, can you start a small fire?”

“Is cooking really appropriate at a time like this?!” she sounded incredulous.

“Trust me, ok?” Ren moved to the big pack sitting next to Jax, laying down the splintered bokken as he pulled the small hunting knife from his pocket, and proceeded to cut off a large chunk of the tenderloin. Holding it up, he used insight to confirm his suspicions.

“[Juvenile Musttel tenderloin, red meat. Imbued with strength, speed, fire and poison resistance.]

“Alright.” He stole a glance at the swelling on Jax’s leg. “Let’s hope this hunch is right.” He skewered the chunk of meat, sliding it down the blade of the hunting knife before moving over to help Kaylin with the fire.

They spent the next several moments blowing on, prodding, and generally stoking the fire in an attempt to get it ready for cooking. The rustle of the forest leaves overhead was punctuated by the ever increasing frequency of Jax’s grunts of pain.

“OK, that’ll have to do.”

“Ren… We already know regeneration won’t save him. Clearly.”

“I know, I know. But I think… I think this will work.” He held the knife with the speared tenderloin over the crackling flame, turning it slowly like some medieval rotisserie. With the other hand he carefully lifted the bulbous stinger, turning it so that the tip was directly over the cooking meat.

Carefully, he squeezed. At first, nothing happened; the sharp, curved tip of the sting remained infuriatingly dry. He squeezed harder, feeling the energy of the strength boon course through his arm. Slowly, several beads of venom coalesced on the severed extremity, dripping over the top of the hot food with a sizzle and a nauseating waft of noxious fumes. Holding back a gag, he activated his fusion skill.

As before, his hands glowed faintly as a gentle, silent vibration emanated out from near his stomach. The meat flickered a wicked-looking green as the liquid bonded to the tenderloin in a sickly glaze. Juliette spoke, “[Fusion successful.]”

“That smells awful,” Kaylin said, covering her face

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad.” Ren winced as he used Insight. That’s some name for it, he thought.

“[Fused envenomed musttel meat. Putrid. Single dish boon; if consumed within five minutes of preparation, grants poison resistance and healing for one hour. Incredibly effective at healing scorpion wounds. Only one boon may be active at once.]”

“YES! I can’t believe that work. yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Julie!” He danced in place, awkwardly waving the meat-laden hunting knife back and forth.

“You can’t seriously expect him to eat that. It will just kill him faster.”

“Ughh. I have to agree with Kaylin here,” Jax said.

“Look, I know it smells and looks awful, but –trust me– it’s a cooking thing. Both of these ingredients had poison resistance, and I’m almost certain it will heal you. Or at least stop the venom from spreading.” He held out the knife to the large man. “I can’t promise it will taste good, though.”

Jax took it, eying the food suspiciously. “Are you sure about this?”

“No, of course not. But it’s this, or you likely die, so… bon appetit?”

“Bone apples, indeed.” Jax grimaced as he bit down. “Oh, that is foul; how could you call this food?”

“I know, I–” Ren gagged. “I know, not my best work. Eat as much of it as you can, though.”

Jax took several more bites in rapid succession, eyes closed as he concentrated on not vomiting. “It’s.. Oh, it’s working.” Hazy green steam began floating out of the two wounds on his legs; the large, round lumps on his thigh visibly shrinking as it did so.

“Oh, thank goodness. I didn’t know if that would work.” Ren said, relief washing over him.

“You didn’t know if that would work?” Kaylin asked. “But you said–”

“Brand new at this, remember? Like, I thought it would work, but man.” Ren leaned against the rough bark of a nearby trunk and slumped to the ground.

Over the next several minutes, the swelling on Jax’s thigh reduced until all that remained was two small bleeding holes. “Does this mean I lose the effect of the other ones?” Jax asked. “The strength and regeneration, I mean.”

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Ren looked up. “Yeah, I think so, unfortunately. It seems like you can only have one at a time, and, for some reason, this had to be consumed within five minutes rather than an hour.”

“It could be because this,” Jax waved the knife with the small remaining piece of skewered meat barely hanging onto it. “Tastes like the spoiled mating gland of a dead ox.”

“Yeah, could be,” Ren chuckled. “I could be wrong though, you tell me. Do you still feel the strength in your arms and legs?”

“No.” He hung his head.

“Well, don’t look so dejected,” Kaylin said. “We still have a pack of scorpions to kill.”

“I thought you both slew them all?”

“We merely maimed them, they still have giant pincers… and are very angry.”

“Well.” Jax stood up, grabbing his axe. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”

The small group retraced Ren and Kaylin’s path back to the stack of boulders, and spent the next half-hour hunting down the dispersed group of stingerless scorpions. While Ren no longer had a functional weapon, the superhuman strength still flowed through him. Kaylin was able to recast ice fog and bolt freezing the insects, which allowed Jax and Ren to move in; Ren stomping down hard on their frosted carapace and Jax utilizing the battle axe with wild abandon.

Eight cleaved and shattered monsters later, the small band regrouped by the dying embers of their previously made fire.

“Should we go and look for the nest? For that many, it surely must be close by,” Kaylin said.

“What? You can’t be serious?” Ren said. “We need to get out of here. They almost killed Jax; we got lucky. Also.” He picked up his shattered sparring sword. “There is no way I’m fighting anything else with this.”

“He has a point,” Jax said. “But I agree that leaving the nest makes the land unsafe for travelers.” The large man sighed. “However, I think prudence would say we wait until we advance our path and grow stronger before seeking it.”

“We should at least report it to the guild hall in Florn.”

“Ha! I hadn’t thought of that. Let’s gather the stings, maybe we can collect a bounty.”

“Wait, hold on. Guild hall? Bounty?”