Gladesbale Grove Book 3 - Chapters 58,59,60

Chapter 58

I Need More Acorns!

The fluffy things attached to Mint’s skin fell away in sheets. Anyone nearby sneezed uncontrollably, and her skin was terribly red. But Billy stood there with his eyes closed, channeling some energy Rud couldn’t completely understand. The druid stood at a distance, watching the look of relief on the guardian’s face as she was cured by the devil.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Rud said, looking on in complete bewilderment.

“Yes, the system threw us a strange one this time,” Ban said. “When Billy first asked for a contract, I wasn’t interested. But there was a flare of something within him that spoke to me.”

“Well, it sure is flaring brightly now. Which god accepted him?”

Rud felt a curious sensation flow through him. It was a mixture of amusement and slight concern coming from the Sacred Tree. “None.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Rud said. “Can you cast spells without a class?”

“You certainly can. Under one specific condition.”

Rud screwed up his face, pushing his brain to its limits. The only example he could think of was Jasper, who kinda cast spells using his fox magic. The druid realized now that the fox wasn’t just using fox-brand magic. He was exerting his will on some kind of fox domain, resulting in something that seemed like spells. That meant only one thing.

“Billy is a Sacred Beast?” Rud asked, blinking hard. “Wait, how does that work?”

“It shouldn’t. The system wasn’t prepared for a devil to cross between the planes. It shouldn’t be possible, but here he is. So, it decided to make him a Sacred Beast for the purposes of advancement. Billy has wrapped himself around a healing domain quickly. I’m impressed.”

So, Billy was a beast. Rud wondered if he could break the news to the poor devil without him freaking out about it, but he had adjusted to the Grove well, considering his previous position as a lord. More than likely, he would be happy just to have a path to gain power. Most impressive of all was the way he removed the curse from Mint without even breaking a sweat. It was hard to understand why he had such a clear grasp of that domain, but for now, the druid wouldn’t question it.

“This is a good thing, right?” Rud asked, sending the message to the Sacred Tree.

“Of course it’s a good thing,” Ban responded. “He’s already signed the contract with the Grove, which gave him access to quite a bit more energy. More than likely, he had something of a healing domain already forming within him, whether that was a conscious thing or a mistake by the system is impossible to say.”

“You know, he was running around doing a bunch of herbalist stuff. He healed a few adventurers by mixing a few things together, but I didn’t think he was that closely tied to the domain. But whatever.”

Truly, there was nothing to be done about it. After Billy removed the curse from Mint, he went around the adventurers, healing whatever wounds he could. If those same adventurers could see exactly who was healing them, they might think twice. To them, Billy appeared like some kind of forest creature, perhaps a bit wilder than normal, but Rud could see the true version of him, one with flaming eyes and horns.

Yet whatever malicious image he had on the outside, his heart was in the right place. He was doing his best to help people, and it was hard to deny that the efforts were already bearing fruit. The adventurers had come with quite a few healers, but as always, there never seemed to be enough mana to go around. He drew on this newfound power until he exhausted himself, eventually falling asleep near a log. One female adventurer draped a cloak over him, tucking him in for a well-deserved nap.

It had only taken a demon running around and curing everybody of minor ailments to wake the camp of adventurers up. Despite Rud’s expectations that they would be useless today, thanks to the drinking last night, they set off to clear more dungeons. This sort of put a wrench in the works of his plans, but more attributes were not a bad thing. He had already grown strong enough that it made him wonder how he compared to someone like Sarya or Dean in terms of pure strength.

It took about a minute to figure out what he was doing before this whole thing went down. When he realized that he had plans to push himself to his limits with his newly crafted spell, he reached out and found that Nulsa had already begun planting the seeds on the northern path. The owl was far more efficient than even Elm was with her telekinesis. He had covered a massive swath that would no doubt take the druid quite a while to care for. He passed through the nearest bush and arrived near the lodestone tower, looking above and failing to spot his companion for the day.

Rud moved to the farthest section of the forest. He had grown and rolled his shoulders, gripping his artifact staff tightly. He was still in a proactive mood and knew that gaining a basic sense of his domain wasn’t good enough. He needed to master it. He determined that the spell was so hard to cast because he needed more practice. His command of this power had to be absolute.

This first cast of the Grove Growth spell went much like the last times he had used it. It was an impressive feat, and it was always nice to listen to himself utter the word of power, but it still lacked the oomph he expected. A massive section of the forest rose up, creating new life where once there were only barren plains, but still, he was unimpressed.

The second cast went slightly better. Rud took a page out of Billy’s book and focused on his command of this domain. He stood within the physical manifestation of that domain. It was the Grove itself. Each cast of the spell seemed to draw on more than just the mana he had in his chest or the domain power he had imbued into the stick. It drew on the very Grove around him and carried with it not only elements of Ban but also Mint, Sarya, Dean, and everybody inside the grove. It was an amalgam of twisting energies all mingling together to make something work.

“I never thought I’d see you so studious.” The familiar voice of Nulsa seemed to rumble through the forest.

Rud looked up. He had just been concentrating on understanding what exactly his domain meant when he spotted the owl in the branches. It was hard to read an expression on the face of a beast, but this owl had a particular quirk of amusement.

“Well, you know I gotta do what I gotta do,” Rud said with a shrug. He once again turned his attention inward but didn’t place too much of his concentration into the effort. Sometimes it was easier to grasp a concept with a loose grip rather than an iron fist.

“I’ve planted a fair string of seeds to the north, and your current pace will keep you busy for a few days. But if you improve your ability to cast that spell, perhaps it will be quicker.”

“Do you have any nuggets of wisdom you want to drop on me? Then go ahead,” Rud said with a sigh. He prepared to cast the spell again, and Nolsa watched intently. When it dominated this time, it was slightly more impressive. The casting itself was smoother, and the druid thought he’d used slightly less mana for a larger area. But it still wasn’t exactly what he was looking for. The thing he needed to see was something he couldn’t predict. It was just something he felt.

“I believe you’re on the right path, not so sad. This isn’t exactly something you can sort out in a few hours of serious effort. I would say your best example would be to look at what our newest member is doing.”

Of course, that was a very heavy-handed recommendation from the normally beguiling owl. Typically, Nulsa wouldn’t give a direct answer but instead would speak in half-riddles, as if he knew something he didn’t want to share. Dropping a hint about Billy practically screamed that he had to understand his domain. For some reason, the devil had arrived in Gladesbale Grove and, within a few days, mastered a domain of healing. The druid thought back to all the things Billy had done to achieve this and determined that he simply needed to better embody the aspects of the Grove. That wasn’t a matter of sitting in the forest and meditating on the nature of squirrels and how much they like nuts. No, it was an exercise in understanding what made the Grove the Grove.

Nulsa gave a satisfied hoot after Rud went back to his studies. Of course, the ancient owl could understand what he was reaching out to touch, yet he didn’t leave. He watched from the trees as Rud busted his butt to understand what he was doing. Once his mana had regenerated enough, the druid prepared the spell again. The unfortunate thing was that imbuing the sticks with domain power took more out of him than mana typically did, which meant longer rests between casts. This made him wonder if it was even more efficient. But as he brought the spell to the front of his mind and watched the lights dance before him, he realized that it was significantly better than the base spell. The forest that sprang up before him was slightly bigger than the ones he had created before. It covered a greater area.

“Slightly better,” Nulsa commented. “You’re on the right track. Imagine yourself as a conduit to Ban’s power.”

Rud wasn’t sure if he understood the hint entirely, but he thought he at least had a direction to move in. He sat on a log and contemplated the suggestion, running every possibility through his mind. More than likely, what Nulsa was saying was that he needed to pull some power from Ban herself when he was finally ready to cast. He assumed the position and held his staff out in front of him.

Instead of imagining the power of the spell as being drawn from within him, he sent his senses down into the ground, finding roots that tracked long paths back to the Sacred Tree. He took a steady breath and felt that energy flow from the ground into his feet, then linger in his chest as though circling a soul. When he went to cast the spell, the same power ran up through his body and out his arm into the imbued stick. When it dissolved into dancing lights this time, they shone with an impossible luster, dancing to the ground as the spell was completed.

“There it is,” Nulsa said, turning his head to watch as the new forest rose. This time it went much further. Almost twice as far as before. “Do you see the difference?”

Rud looked down at his hands. The hand he had been holding the stick in had burned slightly, but he was unsurprised. The energy that Ban stored in the roots was incredibly potent, strong enough to cause the explosions that he still had to repair. He thought he understood exactly what was happening. “So this domain is a physical thing,” he said, looking up at the owl and cocking an eyebrow.

“When Ban refines energy, she leaves a piece of herself behind. That fragment serves as a marker for the domain. If you consider the conceptual infusion of a domain into energy—which one day might become mana—then, yes. This domain is represented in the physical world.”

“Please. Stop. My head hurts enough already,” Rud joked. “Come on. Let’s see how far we can stretch this forest. I need more acorns!”

“Right away,” Nulsa said, taking off.

Chapter 59

Zoinks!

Rud yawned, smacking his lips as he looked over the food that Taz had made that morning. He had spent the entire previous day clearing the path to the north, and although his progress was great, they weren't even close to the halfway mark yet. He just had to keep reminding himself that this wasn't something that would happen overnight. Pacing himself was important. That way, not only would the task get done without him burning out, but he would also gain a better understanding of his domain.

"Long night?" Taz asked, laughing as he ladled some soup into the Druid's bowl.

"Extremely long," Rud said, accepting the bowl and giving it a sniff. It was basically unchanged from the first time the dwarf had made them the meal. Although Super Breakfast might have seemed weird, it had become the norm within the grove. At least they didn't have to share the space with all the adventurers who were visiting to destroy the dungeons.

“Well, what can you do?” Taz said, finding his seat and placing his hammerpick on the table. He spun it a few times until he found the perfect angle to catch the light. After that, a broad smile crossed his face.

“Any more weird things underground that you found? Did you summon a couple more devils?”

“No, just the one devil has said the plan is to dig deep enough to find rare ores. I haven't found anything yet, just a few pockets of interesting stone and some fairly valuable gems, but nothing much worth noting.”

That was a fact Rud was grateful for, and if the dwarf found any more strange dwarven artifacts down there, the druid wasn't sure if his heart could take it. But digging at a fresh mine was definitely a good idea. They weren't exactly low on ore, but they still needed some weapons for the other groves. As far as he knew, Ban was still working on the enchantment which would make the weapons unusable by mortals. He decided to check Taz's progress.

"I hope you have a decent stock of weapons and armor," Rud said, digging a bit of his soup and sighing in contentment. It was pretty good, especially for something that had been sitting on the fire for a few weeks.

“Oh, yeah, I've got a ton,” Taz said, waving a dismissive hand. “But the tree says we can't do anything with them until she makes the spell. Any idea when she’ll get that done?”

“I'm guessing it will happen when I repair most of the grove. She's kind of low on energy.”

Their conversation slipped away from serious topics, instead turning to things like the production of cheese, the gathering of mushrooms, and simply the act of living within the grove, as they had both come from mortal lives. It was a bit of an adjustment, but now that they had settled into it, neither could imagine life anywhere else. It wasn't just the peace that came with the serene forest, but also the sense of duty and the workload that kept them from idling for too long.

The only thing that broke the silence of their deep conversation was the slamming of the longhouse door. Elm came trotting in. She stomped across the distance between them, shaking her head and cursing under her breath. When she approached the table, she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she centered herself. "Rud, I have a problem," she said, her tone far more even than it should have been.

There's only one thing that could get her this worked up. “What did Oak do this time?" Rud asked.

Elm blinked. "How did you know it was her?" she asked. 

"Because, look at that," Rud said, pointing. “The only thing that gets your forehead wrinkling like that is your sister. So, what did she do this time?”

It took Elm a moment to recover from being called out like that, but eventually, a smile played across her face. This was her trying to get better at dealing with the feelings she had about her sister. She had made some incredible progress. 

"Right, this is nothing to be annoyed about," Elm said. “But Oak said she had detected some strange energy within the Grove. I didn't know what she meant at first, so I started yelling at her. Then, when I was about to throw a heavy book at her face, she revealed that she had detected ghosts.”

Taz made a gesture across his chest, touching five points and then grabbing both his earlobes while shaking his head. "I'll have nothing to do with this," he said, grabbing his bowl of soup and storming out of the longhouse. Of course, he had forgotten his hammerpick, so he stomped back in, grabbed it, and made the same dramatic exit again.

"Guess dwarves don't really like ghosts," Rud said. "Anyway, why do we really care about ghosts? There must be at least 500 deer ghosts and a few thousand squirrel ghosts around here. I heard Major ate a dead raccoon the other day. Do you think it's related to that?”

"These are unlikely to be the ghosts of animals," Elm said, her brows knit sweater shifting as she tilted her head to the side. "Well, now that I think about it, I don't even know if animals leave behind ghosts—perhaps if they're intelligent enough." She shook her head. "Well, that's not the problem. I think it might be related to the underground city, you know, the old wizards' academy that crashed somehow underneath your grove."

"Oh, those ghosts," Rud said. "I remember somebody saying something about ghosts, but you know how it is. So many weird things going on around here that I can't keep track."

“I was going to lead her to the underground ruins, but then I thought better of it. I think that you should come with us just in case anything goes wrong. I don't believe that the structure you created is entirely stable. No offense to you, of course. It would be best if you were there to save us if things were to go wrong.”

"Wow, my ego attribute just went up by two points," Rud said, flashing a smile. "Yes, I think that would be best. But I just have one question. Why haven't we seen ghosts if there are ghosts? It feels like we'd be overrun with ghosts, up to our ears with ghosts even."

"Don't look at me. This is the domain of clerics and priests, maybe even necromancers, but not wizards. We don't typically interact with ghosts if we can avoid it."

Rud took a few more bites of his soup and then nodded. He should have known the underground city situation wasn't sorted yet. Of course it wasn't. The problem was that if there were so many wizards in that floating city when it magically teleported under the Grove, most of them would have died either due to negative interactions with magical forces or the simple impact of it all. One thing that he knew was that an army of wizard ghosts wasn't anything to trifle with. They should take care of it sooner rather than later.

"Right," Rud said, stretching his back and checking that he had all the things he needed: about a hundred acorns, a scatter of loose beef jerky, a couple of sticks, a handful of leaves, and about twelve buttons he had found the other day. "I'm ready."

“Oak is waiting for us at the entrance to the underground just north of here. She is bringing along Barrow and another man who claims to be a paladin.”

“I don't have any spells that can take care of ghosts, but maybe Ban can help with that.” The pair left the longhouse. There were actually a few adventurers visiting the center of the grove. It was hard to remember that this was not only a place for them to grow stronger or get rich, but also a kind of holy site. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about what Bent's grove looked like back on the mainland.

As promised, Oak was standing with her little posse outside the tree's staircase. Barrow was inspecting the side of the tree, nodding with appreciation as though he admired the craftsmanship. Rud and Elm were spotted from afar, and the cleric offered a cheery wave. The druid saw that his companion wanted to shrink in on herself, but she rolled her shoulders, forced a smile onto her face, and waved back.

"While I'm sure everyone here is nice and strong, I'd rather not risk anything," Rud said. "Jasper, do you mind coming along?"

The fox spirit came from the nearest bush. Rud didn't know if he had been lingering nearby, spying on the gathering, or if he had heard him through the grove itself, but it hardly mattered. He was in his elf form today. It was somewhere between his nerd and Fabio phase, which meant he had regained some of his confidence.

"A pleasure as always," Jasper said, bowing slightly. "Should I lead the way, or what?" 

"I'll take the lead," Oak said, straightening her back and gritting her teeth. "The concentration of spiritual energy I feel in that underground area is immense. I'm afraid of what we'll find on the other end."

"Nonsense," Jasper said. "We've been down there plenty of times, and it's all just magical garbage. Not a spirit in sight."

"Are you touched by a god?" Oak asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head as she assessed the fox. "No, you're a spirit of a Grove. You couldn't sense a ghost if you tried."

"Well, that was a bit harsh," Rud said, tutting at the cleric.

"Apologies for my short temper," Oak said. "Thanks to the blessing of my god, I feel the spiritual energy in my bones. I've had a constant headache since yesterday, and I've only just recently figured out the source."

The paladin in the group remained silent, standing in gleaming silver armor with their face covered. They offered nothing to the conversation, but Barrow wasn't as blessed to have a mouth that stayed shut. "Sally forth to adventure," he said.

"I really wish he'd stop saying that," Oak said, following closely behind the man. She had to shove her way past him to get to the front of the formation.

Nothing about the path into the underground city had changed since Rud had visited it last. It was the same spiral staircase that seemed to go on forever. The only difference was that this time, Rud didn't feel his legs getting sore as he went. That was the difference between 20 and 40 vigor, apparently. Each step felt easy. He practically glided down them, and his heart rate barely increased.

"You're having a good time, aren't you?" Barrow asked with a booming laugh. It echoed loudly enough to make his ears ring.

“Oh yeah, I got a ton of new attributes, so I'm feeling spry. I'm feeling light on my feet.”

"You don't even want to know where he's at with his attributes," Elm said with a dramatic sigh. "You'd cry yourself to sleep tonight."

"Yeah, maybe I should start wrestling for money," Rud said. "I bet I'd win."

"Could we keep the chatter to a minimum," Oak said, from the head of the formation. "The energy I'm sensing is becoming more intense as we descend. It felt like I just walked through a curtain of spiritual power, but I don't feel any single distinct presence."

"And that's weird?" Rud asked.

"Typically, when I sense spirits, I can feel each soul as a distinct presence, but this is weird. It feels like they're all clumped together or spread out. I need to get closer to see."

Rud hadn't been much for ghost hunting when he was Shawn back on Earth, but he had to admit this was pretty exciting. The otherwise mundane underground city now took on a new light. It felt exciting because, though every turn they made on that spiral staircase would lead them face to face with a Scooby-Doo adventure, he wanted to say ‘zoinks’ more than anything but held back for the perfect moment.

When they finally reached the bottom of the staircase, the ruined underground city came into view. That is to say, they couldn't see a thing. Only the encapsulated sections of the area that Rud had shielded with the roots were visible. Everything else was in ruins. They followed the narrow path toward what was once the central spire of the academy. The druid was forced to shore up some dangerous sections of their path and expand others. Although the weight of the rubble was intense, he was able to push some of it back, at least enough to grant them access to the spire from the ground floor.

“There it is,” Oak said, gesturing vaguely forward. “A pinprick in the distance. Be ready with those holy seals.”

The paladin only nodded.

“What are we expecting?” Rud asked.

Oak took a long moment to respond.

“Something strong.”

“Zoinks! Nah, didn’t feel right,” Rud said, shaking his head. “Maybe when I see it…”

Chapter 60

There’s Your Problem

Whatever Oak had sensed simply wasn’t as dramatic as Rud had expected. They arrived at the ruined tower. Most of the walls had completely collapsed inward and were barely held together by the roots. The druid had forced his way in. Truly, it was an approximation of what the tower had once been rather than the structure as it was when they first found it. He had created a spiral staircase that went up, but it hardly seemed to matter. All the contents were lumped in the center, amid rubble.

“Interesting,” Oak said, walking along the edge of the massive pile and studying what little of the original floor remained. “This was once a great tower, wasn’t it? I see you thoroughly destroyed it, Elm.”

“Wasn’t me. Blame the ghosts.”

“I can sense it,” the paladin said, his helmeted head craning from side to side. Oak mimicked a similar gesture, as though they were snakes scanning for prey, but eventually, both of their gazes locked downward beneath the big pile of rocks.

“Do you think it’s under there?” Oak asked, looking more puzzled than before. “Do you guys remember a path leading down?”

“No, I don’t recall there being one,” Jasper said.  

“Me either,” said Elm. 

“Well, if you all want to get down there, we’re going to have to clear out all this rubble. So I hope you’ve brought your rock-moving gloves,” Rud said, cracking his knuckles. “None of us has all day, so let’s get to work now since this is going to take forever.”

“Well, I can help with my telekinesis magic,” Elm said.

“And I’m very strong,” Barrow proclaimed.

“Well, let’s get to work.” 

It was bad enough that an entire tower had fallen and deposited this pile, but moving it with such little space was a pain. The group worked using a combination of their powers and sheer muscle to clear away the rubble. Rud had to force his way out on the exterior of the tower and create a place for the rubble to go. He wasn’t eager to use too many roots on the interior to shift the stones around, but outside was fine. They soon cleared away enough of it to reveal the stone floor and nothing else.

“I don’t see anything,” Rud said, scratching his chin as he looked down at the ground.

“Maybe we’re not looking the right way,” Elm said, nodding to Jasper. “What do you think?” 

“I don’t sense a single thing,” Jasper said, shaking his head. “But if the holy ones sense something, then there’s got to be something under here, right? It’s worth investigating, anyway.”

And so the excavation began. No excavation was complete without a dwarf. However, the only dwarf in the grove who could have helped with the situation was too scared to come underground. Taz wouldn’t even lend Rud his hammer pick for the job, instead forcing him to use one of the old pickaxes they had been abusing forever. Removing some stones with roots was the way to go, but other sections needed detailed work. Besides, the druid wasn’t about to let Barrow get away with not working.

The man had to earn his keep.

“As I suspected,” Oak said, helping hoist the last of many blocks to reveal a void. Below came a rush of cold air that carried with it a foul stench. Everybody covered their faces with cloth and turned away from the fetid odor.

“Oh, cool! A tomb,” Rud said, pulling his pink backpack on and waving. “See ya.”

“You can’t just leave,” Elm said with a giggle. She was the only one, aside from Jasper, who understood it was a joke. “You need to reinforce these walls. We don’t know if they’re going to collapse.”

“Fine, twist my arm,” Rud said in mock complaint. He ordered the nearby roots to come and reinforce the opening, widening it slightly and creating a convenient staircase for them to follow. Except it wasn’t just a few steps. He felt through the roots how far down it was. At first, he counted 10 steps, then 20, 50, 100, 200. It just kept going. On the side of his staircase, he allowed glowing flowers to blossom, illuminating the pitch-black darkness below. “Good news bad news situation. The good news is, I’m very good at creating structures. Bad news is, the void down below is about ten billion miles deep.”

“But that’s just a rough estimation,” Elm said, giggling again. “Okay, who’s going to be first?”

“Not so fast, elf lady. I am still looking for the bottom. I need to draw some material from the trees up top to get all the way there. The structural integrity of this thing is failing about halfway through. If a mid-sized chihuahua were to step on it, the whole thing would collapse.”

“I shudder to think what a large-sized koala would do,” Jasper said.

“I said ‘chihuahua.’”

“Same thing.”

This was when Rud felt the effects of his heightened Affinity attribute. It was difficult for him to understand how that attribute worked, but he thought he finally had a grasp of it. Normally, it would be much more difficult to command roots at such a distance, but since he had increased that attribute significantly, it felt much easier. He pulled material from the trees high above and forced it to grow downward, reinforcing the staircase and creating pillars. He finally hit the bottom, finding a firm surface he couldn’t fully sense through the tree’s senses.

“More bad news,” Rud said. Ban didn’t even need to tell him. “The energy down there is all the way in the red. Super evil stuff. What’s the word, Elm?”

“Necromantic,” she confirmed. “I can feel it.”

“Oh! No adventure is complete without a tussle with the undead,” Jasper said, shifting into his fox form. “I’m ready!”

“I’m not certain we’re dealing with ghosts here Oak,” Rud said, peering down the staircase and swallowing hard. “I think it might be something else entirely.”

“I agree with you,” she responded, looking at the paladin and nodding. “The issue is that if we let it fester, it will only get stronger. We need to take care of it here and now.”

“How about a crash course on undeath for the uninitiated?” Rud suggested.

“If we take into account all the evidence we see here, we can paint a picture to start,” Oak said. “The information I have says this is an academy of sorts. It was a flying refuge for wizards that met with some kind of calamity. An interesting thing to note is that I don’t believe you found the corpses of any of those wizards up above. Which begs the question, where are they? If I had to guess, they’re down here. Perhaps this was a shelter they went to, or they were driven here through the nefarious actions of a necromancer. Perhaps something as strong as a lich.”

Rud went to open his gob, but the paladin cut him off. “Understanding through context,” he said.

“Right.”

“That gives us an idea of what we’re dealing with. So, the necromancer is either still here, or they have left. If they are still here, that’s the worst-case scenario. It means we have to defeat a powerful necromancer to lift the magic that lingers here. If they are gone or have changed into some benign form, we will have a much easier time. We simply have to siphon the energy off or otherwise purify it using the power of our gods.”

Elm looked as though she had something to say as the silence settled over the group. When she hesitated, Rud could feel that she was doubting herself. He gave her a gentle nudge to the ribs and an encouraging nod. 

“I’m not here to start problems, sister,” she said, even more hesitant than before. But she pushed through. “Your area of expertise has never been the banishment of the undead. Do you think we can do it?” 

Oak took no offense to the statement, instead flashing a bright smile and clapping a hand on the armored shoulder of the paladin. “Yes, but Raze here is. He took part in the Scourge Hunt, and the Banishment of Ah’gal.”

“Oh. Really?” Elm asked. “Why didn’t you sense the undead?”

Raze gestured at the stones, shaking his head. “Enchanted stone. It made the presence of undeath feel like that of ghosts.”

Rud scratched his head, feeling frustration bubble in his chest. “That means whoever enchanted the stone was trying to hide their presence. That makes it worse, doesn’t it? “

“Of course it makes it worse,” Oak responded. “But as I said, we can’t let this fester. We need to handle it now.” 

Somehow, the trip underground had transformed from a lovely Scooby-Doo adventure into a post-apocalyptic zombie horror. Rud wasn’t sure what he thought about that, but he agreed that if there was some evil festering underneath the grove, they had to take care of it. 

“You need to give me a minute to confer with the Sacred Tree,” he said. “Perhaps she has some more information on the problem.” 

“That’s fine. We need a moment to prepare,” Oak said. 

“Jasper, can you scout ahead with your magic in any way?” Rud asked. 

“Yes, I suppose I can work with Elm, and we can get rudimentary senses for any magical objects down below.” 

While everyone got ready, Rud closed his eyes and reached out to Ban. He felt her watching them, monitoring every step of the way and even sampling the energies from down below. “So, I guess you know what’s going on,” Rud said with a shrug. “Do you have any opinions about what we’re facing?”

“I can’t really say,” Ban replied. “I’m very unfamiliar with necromantic magic. The only thing I can say is that this is potent. If I were you, I would set the entire underground area on fire and let it burn for a month.” 

“Not a bad idea. Can you blow it up like you did those other sections of the Grove?”

“Unfortunately, no. Well, I could. But it would take a while to prepare.”

So they were without the support of the Sacred Tree and had to handle this on their own. Rud wasn’t sure what kind of defenses those blessed by the gods had, but he had to trust in them. A dangerous thought crossed his mind, and he dismissed it as soon as it came. If worse came to worst, he could create a bush down there, and he, Elm, and Jasper could travel through it, leaving the other three behind. It wasn’t something he wanted to even consider, but no matter how hard he tried to push it away, it still lingered.

“Scouting only,” Rud announced. “No matter how much you guys wanna bash in some zombie heads, we’re only scouting.”

“I don’t suppose your conversation with the Sacred Tree went well, did it?” Oak asked.

“No. She suggested that we nuke it from orbit and never think about it again,” Rud said. “But that wouldn’t solve the problem, would it?”

“The energies would still be here, and the undead would still be alive,” Raze said. “One day, you would face the undead, and it is very likely that they would rise from the dirt more powerful than before.”

With no other option and the party fully prepared, they began their descent down the stairs. Rud ensured that there were safety handrails on either side to prevent anyone from pitching over the edge. The magical scouting that Elm and Jasper had done revealed nothing. The group walked for some time, losing sight of the entrance they had passed through after a bit. Sound didn’t even seem to carry, instead just falling into that same void that consumed the light.

Rud, near the back of the formation, poked his head over the edge and squinted. “I see something down there,” he said, narrowing his eyes as though that would let him see further. “Anyone got dark vision or whatever? I can’t see a thing.”

“Really?” Elm asked, also leaning over.

“I’ve got a spell for that,” Jasper said with pride. He summoned an orb of light that flitted over the edge and fell. “Why didn’t you use that earlier, Elm?”

“Didn’t think there was anything to see… But… Oh…” Elm trailed off.

Rud looked down below, shaking his head. “Well, there’s your problem.”