Excited and delighted by her findings, Lora wanted to get the nightshade quest over with as soon as possible, so she could deliver the nightshade and go back for the weapons and armour. The following day, she was passing between the Serpent's Spine mountains, and Dungeon Shame was south. She was far from the entrance, yet could hear deadly echoes from her location.
Eleven days later, Lora had reached Spiritwood, and had got some food from some hunting here and there. She pulled out an old map from her trouser pocket, and saw the location of where nightshade was first found. Consulting her sextant, she could see that she was quite near. As the forest grew denser with her every step, she could see strange glows in the darkness, and thought she had heard some voices.
Spiritwood was darker than the Deep Forest, yet the mysterious light eliminated most of the darkness. Approaching one of the light sources, she soon saw a floating orb that was glowing with a blue light. Upon detecting her, it floated away.
She was nearly there. Her map showed that her destination was just southwest of her location. She headed there. Six headlesses burst out from behind the trees, at what seemed like an ideal ambush. They surrounded her. Lora drew her sword and lifted it on guard. As one lashed at her with its deformed claws, she ducked to avoid it and turned around, slicing it by the waist with her powerful sword.
As three others tried to strike Lora, she cut off their hands easily. In doing that, she did not notice the headless striking her from behind, and was hit on the armour. However she didn't feel anything. She just turned and cut off its legs. The armour's protection was awesome. As she drove her sword into the last healthy headless, the ones she had cut fled. The headlesses had some food and gold, so she took whatever they had and proceeded.
She reached the site. For some reason, there was no nightshade there. She wondered, and consulted her map in case she made some mistake. Her sextant read the exact location she wanted. Perhaps the nightshade stopped growing there. Would she have to look elsewhere, after weeks of travelling? She wondered what was wrong. Then she remembered.
Lora set up camp and slept, although it was afternoon. She remembered that she could only find nightshade in the middle of the night. It was dark and the ideal place to sleep during the day, but glowing orbs came again, and she couldn't sleep. She got up to attack the orbs and drive them away, and they escaped. Sitting by the warm welcoming campfire, she soon fell asleep.
She woke up frequently during the course of the day, though she slept most of the time. When night fel, she made sure to wake up so that she wouldn't sleep through the night. Lora got up and stretched her arms and legs, and walked to the river to the east to wash her face to remain awake. When she walked back to the campfire, she found the nightshade sprouting from the ground. Pulling a bag out from her backpack, she began collecting the precious fungus.
Her quest complete, she started her way back to Yew.
© by Daniel D'Agostino 2002-2025