"The Yggdrasil Labyrinth, which is what the forest has now been named, isn't just a source of exciting adventure for the brave. It's also a source of valuable resources for the industrious. The first adventurers to go deep into the forest came back with a wealth of strange but valuable resources. New metals were mined, rare herbs gathered, and unique timbers chopped. Radha Hall, the center of Etria's government, was quick to commission the Explorers Guild to organize parties with the simple goal of collecting these resources. Tales of finding riches and wealth is not all that comes from the Labyrinth, however. The adventurers who go deep into the labyrinth and survive to come back bring tales of great heroism, camaraderie, and self-sacrifice. These make for the best of stories."
--Eulixes, retired Captain of the Etrian Town Guard
***
"Etria used to be a small lumber and timber town. Now that all of the attention is on the inside of the forest, however, the most common tool in Etria -- the axe -- is also being used to cut down monsters in addition to trees. The lumberjacks have become Landsknechts: warriors who depend on brute strength to defeat their foes. There is this one Landsknecht who looks awkward holding an axe. A young man by the name of Heraklyz. Considering how tender and caring he is towards his poor sister, it's hard to imagine him using an axe as a weapon, a deliverer of death."
--Eulixes
Yesterday's trip into the labyrinth was tough; I lost count of the number of moles I had killed. But my party did find the hardwood we were assigned to gather and it was worth a lot amount of money. I used the money to buy more medicine for my sister, Taerha. Doctor Hoffman at the Ceft Apothecary says the medicine he sold me will only slow down Taerha's illness though. To cure my sister, I would need much stronger medicine. And that means much stronger and rarer herbs from within the Labyrinth.Hoffman offered to let one of his best students, Nataleen, come with me the next time I go into the labyrinth. She'll be able to help me find and gather the herbs needed for medicine making. I'm happy for the help, but it might not be of much use. Radha Hall and the Explorers Guild are desperate for valuable metals and lumber. Right now it's pretty much the only thing organized parties are sent into the labyrinth to look for.
Because I used to be a lumberjack, I could easily join a lumber party to be sent into the Labyrinth. I could go into the Labyrinth for a single day and come out with enough hardwood to get me a weeks worth of money. But it's not wood or money that's on my mind. It's my sister and the medicine I need to get to cure her.
I have thought about going into the labyrinth alone. But that would just be a fast way to get myself killed. Taerha doesn't need that. Even if Nataleen came with me, we would need at least one more person to last long in the forest. It seems my only choice is to go down in a Guild organized party. I just hope whoever else is sent down with me won't mind that we also spend some time looking for the herbs and other things I need.
***
"The first to arrive in Etria were the true adventurers. Then came the... opportunistic fortune hunters. Money from the valuable resources is all they cared about, not exploration or knowledge or even the glory of combat. Instead of mapping out the labyrinth in great detail, they merely draw half-hearted lines that lead to caches of metals and lumber. They are content with going back and forth to the same areas of the forest to harvest the same resources instead of going as deep as they can to test themselves. Vaahl is like that. He is a talented Dark Hunter, proficient in the use of the whip to bind and disable his opponents. His skills as an adventurer are worth noting, but he never puts them to the test."
--Eulixes
This Heraklyz guy is really starting to get on my nerves! All he ever cares about are herbs or whatever it is he wants to find. The guy is the perfect lumberjack: he's built like a bull, his axe is sharper than anybody's wits, but all he does is look for flowers and leafs and vines and roots! If he didn't waste so much time looking through shrubbery and foliage, we could've cut down enough hardwood and made tons of money. I could have enough to bribe the highest bureaucrat in the Explorers Guild to put me in a party with that hot babe, Lyzz!At least this Nataleen chick that's coming along is kind of cute. It's too bad that, of all things, she's a Medic. That leads to some really interesting discussions between her and Herakylz:
"Nataleen, is this plant the rosa palustris that we're looking for?"
"Very close, Heraklyz, but not quite. That is actually a rosa pendulina which you can identify by its slight tapered leaves which have a distinguishing brownish purple coloring in the centers. Also note its musky fragrance which has just the slightest trace of peanut and, if you run your finger along the stem, its smooth but firm texture."
I swear, if I have to listen to another botany lecture I'm going to tie my whip around my neck and hang myself off the nearest tree!
Anyway... every time I come down here I always forget how little time it takes to become hungry. Pretty much none of the "animals" are edible. Some of the trees grow fruit but it's tough figuring out which ones are safe to eat. Once, Heraklyz ate this shriveled looking fruit that I thought was rotten, but apparently it turned out to be really tasty and refreshing.
All this thinking about food is really killing my stomach. Hey... that's a pretty good looking fruit. Bright red, plump, smells delicious. If a shriveled fruit can taste good to that dumb brute Heraklyz, this has got be really tasty.
***
"The labyrinth is dangerous; the beasts that inhabit it even more so. Thus, Medics have become heroes in their own right for keeping their fellow adventurers alive and healthy. The Ceft Apothecary used to be a small hospital of sorts that was headed by Doctor Hoffman who mentored those interested in the art of medicine. However, since many people have started to venture into the Labyrinth, the number of students under Hoffman's tutelage have tripled. Nataleen is one of these students. She's truly a kind hearted soul, too. There have been many stories of her exploring the Labyrinth to gather medicinal ingredients for ill townsfolk, including myself."
--Eulixes
Vaahl's been vomiting for the past half hour or so now. Better out than in, Doctor Hoffman always says. Well, not really. What he really says is "in case of ingested poison, induce vomiting" but I figure that's close enough.When Vaahl picked the red fruit from a tree, I instantly recognized it as the final ingredient we needed to concoct a cure for the illness that has stricken Heraklyz's sister. I quickly pointed the fruit out to Herakylz and the two of us asked--begged--Vaahl if we could have the fruit, but he refused. At first, I thought maybe he had realized the fruit's monetary worth, but I was wrong.
"This is my apple," he said as he held the fruit away from Heraklyz, "and I'm freaking starving so I'm going to be the one to eat it!"
Nothing in this labyrinth is as it appears. That fruit was not an apple. Neither Heraklyz or I expected that Vaahl intended to eat the fruit and before we could stop him, Vaahl had quickly taken a bite. I cringed when he began to chew knowing what would happen next. Even before he swallowed, Vaahl clutched his stomach and fell to the ground. The fruit's juice had made contact with Vaahl's tongue and throat and that was all it took for the poison to take effect. Red mortepples are never eaten raw because of that. The fruit needs to be heated at high temperatures to evaporate the poisonous juice and harness the curative properties within it. Vaahl has clearly learned that the hard way.
Heraklyz, though, is happy. The fruit that Vaahl bit into is more than large enough to be of use to us. Best of all, with Vaahl's condition, we have an excuse to cut our excursion short and get out of the Labyrinth as soon as possible.
***
End chapter
