Rud poked his head out of the mushroom house, wincing back when fat raindrops fell on his nose. He had awoken the next morning to the sounds of driving wind and the constant falling of the rain. A breeze blew through his front door, washing him with an icy wind that drove him back into his room and before the fire. Since he had arrived in this new world, the weather patterns seemed constant. Whatever storm had washed over the grove shattered that record.

  A fire crackled in the fireplace, grateful and hungry for the pile of sticks Rud had accumulated over the day. If the storm persisted, he could pilfer his supply of Fairy Peat from the smeltery building, but hoped it didn’t come to that. With no desire to head out into the freezing rain, he settled before the fire, brewing tea and roasting mushrooms on the stovetop. The peaceful sitting was disturbed when one massive wolf's eye appeared at the threshold.

  “Afraid of some rain?” Mint asked.

  “It’s cold,” Rud objected, pulling a blanket tightly against his chest. “And wet.”

  Mint backed up enough for Rud to see her muzzle, and the teeth she bared. One growl later and she vanished into the gloom of the storm. Lightning struck somewhere, heralding her departure. As always, she returned promptly and tossed a bundle of cloth onto the ground. “It should fit you.”

  Rud removed himself from the chair, holding the blanket close to himself. He picked up the cloth and unfurled it, finding it to be something like a poncho with a hood. The material was normal cloth, maybe wool or burlap he couldn’t tell, but it had been soaked in something. It felt waxy under his fingers, and the water that had splashed onto it either beaded off the surface or remained as complete droplets.

  “Thanks, Mint,” Rud said, removing his blanket and jacket and trying to cloak on for size. It fit fine, the hem brushed the ground a bit.

  “Oiled cloth. Mortals use it often to avoid the rain.” She was gone without further explanation, vanishing back into the rain.

  Rud took time to build up his courage. He had another cup of tea, the leaves provided by Mint and not his own, and ate some more mushrooms. He stepped out into the deluge, seeing how effective his cloak was. It wasn’t magical. Someone had soaked it in some kind of oil, or rubbed it into the fibers. The effect was like a plastic poncho or raincoat back on Earth. It kept the water off his top half, but did nothing to keep his feet and legs dry. Too bad Mint didn’t bring him some rain boots.

  “Oh, well.”

  At least the trip was brief. Rud stepped through a bush, then jogged his way to the workshop, finding cover under the slanted roof. He listened to the rain dance off the ceramic tiles for a moment before turning his attention to the completed copper ingots. Those that weren’t infused with the spell looked like normal bars of copper. The others that had felt the touch of Aegael had bands of black-red through them, spiraled throughout the metal. A faint light emitted from each, pulsing with a slow beat. Although they had been cooling all night, the druid took care when removing them from the molds. Those blessed by the spirit were still warm to the touch. He inspected one.

  [Spirit Copper Ingot]

  Epic

  Description:

  A copper ingot infused with the power of a Sacred Tree.

  Aspect:

  Ban’tanthein

  If the information he had was true, this weighty piece of metal was worth a lot of money. In Rud’s case, it was worth a lot of crystal fragments. He enchanted what he could of the other ingots and set them aside, stacking them in a neat pile on a wooden table. Twenty seemed like a lot, and it wasn’t a ton of work. But as had been the case in previous days, the supply of fragments was running thin. Rud wanted a pile, and he had a scattering.

  The druid found himself at a crossroads for the day. Mira might have left him a note in his mailbox, but it was raining outside. He could stay in the smelter to make more metal, maybe figuring out what kind of ore was in the second pile. But then the fragments came back to mind. Rud stuffed an ingot in his backpack, fluffing his poncho out to make sure the pack was covered before heading out to brave the rain. He passed through a bush, appearing near the stump field. Thanks to the rain, he walked out onto the field to check his trees bucket free.

  The loggers had removed all the trees marked with the red ribbon. Rud didn’t have enough mana to promote those trees worthy of the Plant Growth spell, and instead went to investigate the curious tents that had been erected near the road. Mira and her people had built the road right up against the stone piles. All the way to the forest’s edge. He walked the road, finding that it was even with no bricks sticking up to knock his toes. There were more tents near the area than there should have been. He counted enough tents for each person in the road effort to have a tent along with another ten for good measure.

  “Spirit!” Mira’s voice came, carrying through the sheets of rain like a battlecry. He spotted her waving from one tent, beckoning him in.

  Rud made his way over the field of dead things, sticks crunching underfoot as he plotted his course. He entered the tent, finding the interior to be sparse. A magical device produced a flame in the tent’s corner, and a cot rested alongside one side. But Mira was smiling down at him as he shook the rain off onto her things. She didn’t seem to mind.

  “Excellent news, Rud,” Mira said, bending low as she always did. “I’ve assembled a team.”

  “A team of tents?”

  “Of adventurers from town. I settled terms for you. If you don’t mind.”

  Rud nodded, thinking he understood what she meant. “What did you settle on?”

  “Every fragment they find goes to you, and you get two picks from the gear they find.”

  “Does that include Dungeon Core Fragments?” Rud asked.

  Mira narrowed her eyes at him. “What would you need those for?”

  “A personal project.”

  “I’ve only been in a few dungeons,” she said, tapping her chin as she thought. “I’m not sure what they’re used for.”

  “Then you wouldn’t mind collecting them for me,” Rud said, patting Mira on the head. “And those terms are excellent. I think.”

  “They are perfect,” Ban said, putting her thoughts into the conversation.

  “We can start whenever you’re ready,” Mira said.

  Rud poked his head out of the tent. The storm wasn’t going anywhere. If anything, it was getting worse. He grimaced at the thought of leading a group of mortals four or five hours through the grove. Since he couldn’t bring them through the Thicket Travel upgrade, it would be a rough walk.

  “The journey is about five hours,” Rud said. “Based on how bad the terrain will be.”

  Mira raised a brow. “Your home is five hours away?”

  “Three hours, but we need to head north after going west.”

  “They’ll have to deal with it,” Mira said, waving the thought away. “Stay here. I’ll rally the troops.”

  Rud did just that. He sat on the ground, picking mushrooms from his bag and snacking on them. His hand brushed against the ingot, reminding him to ask her about it along the way. After a while, Mira called him out of the tent. He pulled his hood up and braved the rain once again, spotting three hooded figures standing next to her. Just three.

  “That’s it?”

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  “Adventuring parties for low-rank dungeons are often small,” Mira explained. She looked over at the adventurers, clicked her tongue, then elbowed the biggest one in the side. “Make your introductions.”

  “Sorry,” the first said, his voice coming out like rough gravel. This guy was big. A few heads taller than Mira and wide. When he shifted, he revealed some of the polished armor under his cloak. When he drew his hood back, Rud could see his scarred face and graying hair and beard. “Barrow. Third Rank adventurer from Sparwyn. At your service, great spirit.”

  The next one removed their hood, revealing the soft features of a young woman. Her brown hair fell over her shoulders, and hardly seemed to feel the effects of the constant downpour. Rud barely noticed the pointed ears poking out from under that hair. “Elm. Wizard.”

  And that was it for her introduction.

  The last removed her hood, revealing features similar to Elm. There were some differences though, although they were the same height. This one had red hair. A little too red, as though she had dyed it. The tip of her left ear was missing, and she had a scar running down her cheek. Despite those blemishes, she had a cheery attitude.

  “Oak!” she exclaimed. “Yeah, it was hard getting that name. Elm and I are sisters. Oh, I’m a Priestess of Alyn. We’re from an island. Just southwest of this continent—Aiswyn—and we grew up dreaming about all the things that we could do as adventurers. And one day—not too long ago—Barrow teamed up with us and we made our way to Barlgore. Just going along the coast and…”

  “That’s enough,” Mira said, holding up a silencing hand.

  Oak folded her hands and cast her eyes to the ground.

  “Everyone here understands the rules,” Mira said, looking pointedly at Oak once again. “They have performed jobs in Basil’s Wood. Isn’t that right?”

  “Right,” Barrow said, the obvious leader of the trio. “Stick with the custodian. Touch nothing. Be nice to the critters.”

  That was an excellent list of rules. Rud made a mental note to engrave that somewhere for all to see.

  “Exactly. I won’t be joining you for this trip. I have approval for a team to head in, but I’m not on the list. Folks back in town were getting weird when the storm rolled in. But the Great Spirit Rud is in dire need of help, aren’t you?”

  “Oh, yeah. Super need.”

  “That’s it, then. Off you go,” Mira said, shooing them away.

  “Follow me,” Rud said, turning and grumbling low enough that the others couldn’t hear. He should have stayed in the smelter. The adventurers fell in line behind him, all pausing at the edge of the grove. He turned, finding them touching their foreheads and saying something under their breaths. After a moment, they joined him, trudging into the wet forest.

  For the first hour, the group was silent. Rud made sure both Mint and Ban knew that there were mortals in the forest. The guardian announced that the rain was preventing the dungeon from releasing more monsters, which allowed her to stalk them along the path. That brought great comfort to Rud, who still wasn’t sure what he thought about mortal folks. After that first hour passed, Oak was the first to talk. No surprise there.

  “So, how do you get to be a keeper of a grove?” she asked, jogging up to walk beside him.

  Rud pulled the hood of his cloak back far enough so he could see her. Under her own hood, he could see her smiling down at him. “A custodian needs to be compatible with their Sacred Tree. That’s about all I know.”

  “When we were in the Lord of the Wood’s domain, we were watched closely. I could feel the guardian of the wood on our backs at all times.”

  “Then my guardian is doing her job well,” Rud said with a laugh. “You’re still being watched. You just can’t see her.”

  Mint laughed into Rud’s mind. Silence set in over the group after that. The landscape was hard to traverse in the rain. The druid had the advantage of being barefoot, giving him a firm grip on the ground. Another half-hour of nothing before someone spoke up again.

  “What’s in your bag?” Elm asked, breaking the silence.

  “Enchanted ingot. Wanna buy it?” Rud asked, removing the copper bar from his pack and holding it for her to see. She didn’t ask for an invitation. She took it for an examination.

  “You crafted this?” she asked.

  “What she meant to say was ‘Wow! What amazing craftsmanship! You’re awesome!’” Oak said, clapping her hands together.

  “It is high quality,” Elm said, ignoring the statement made by her sister. “I might be interested.”

  “Take advantage of a fresh custodian spirit and I’ll cave your head in, Elm,” Barrow said. Rud didn’t need to look back to see he was shooting daggers at her.

  “I wouldn’t. You’d get ten silver on the open market. Per bar.”

  “Almost meaningless to me,” Rud shrugged. “What is that in high-quality crystal fragments?”

  “Two to five, depending on clarity.”

  And Rud had twenty bars, either enchanted or ready to be enchanted back at the workshop. Ban had planned the construction of her buildings well. She could have made other things that would help him produce things to help the grove directly, but she knew better. The Sacred Tree had seen the long road, and put herself on the line to see it through. After that realization, the druid didn’t feel the sting of the cold so bad. His feet felt less sore and the adventurers seemed less annoying.

  “Perhaps you can put me in contact with a buyer,” Rud said.

  “Myself, of course,” Elm said, doubling her pace to catch up with him. “Elmera Oaken.”

  “What?”

  “My real name.”

  Oak groaned. “What’s the point of adventurer names if you don’t use them?”

  “You may call me whatever you like,” Elmera said.

  “There she goes. Laying it on thick,” Barrow groaned.

  “Sorry, I’m married to a tree,” Rud said, waving her away. “Just kidding, but I am interested in selling ingots if you’re buying.”

  “We’ll settle after the adventure,” Elmera said.

  “Wow, already getting cozy with the mortals?” Mint mocked.

  Rud pushed on, pulling in front of the adventurers to warn them of a sudden drop ahead. He realized they needed to head around, since they couldn’t teleport.

  “Leave him alone, Mint. He’s having fun with them.”

  Rud wished he knew how to use telepathic communication. So far, he could only talk out loud for the others to hear. Instead, he pressed forward and navigated the grove with the adventurers. Elmera became slightly more talkative after that. She explained why the ingots were so valuable. Enchanters couldn’t enchant raw materials, and their process was expensive. Blessed ingots, like the one Rud had produced, were regulated by whatever church produced them. Druid groves rarely produced ingots, making what he had a rarity.

  “Each item produced from your ingot will carry a piece of the Sacred Tree,” Elmera said, far more passionate than Rud expected.

  “That’s crazy,” Rud said, stopping on a rise. They had been walking for the requisite three hours and finally caught sight of the Sacred Tree. “There she is.” He gestured dramatically toward Ban.

  All members of the adventurer party performed the sign of respect, bowing low enough that he was worried their foreheads would hit the forest floor. They passed through the clearing, stopping to admire the tree.

  “Is that your house?” Oak said, biting her lip. “Why is it so cute?”

  Rud shrugged. “I’m a little guy. I got a little mushroom house.”

  Barrow approached the Sacred Tree, kneeling before her. Rud could feel Mint tensing in the distance. He placed something on the ground before returning to the group, clearing his throat as though he had done nothing. As they pushed on, heading north this time, the druid saw it was a letter and a low-quality crystal fragment. The fragment soaked into Ban’s bark, but the letter remained.

  “Not long now,” Rud lied. He took them to the west more than he needed to avoid questions about the mining and smelting building. “At least the rain isn’t letting up.”

  Mint scouted ahead, making sure it was clear of monsters. Another hour and a half later and the group approached the charcoal clearing. The adventurers paused, withdrawing weapons from bags that were too small to house those weapons.

  “We’ll get to work, great spirit,” Barrow said, bowing to Rud.

  “The guardian will wait for you here,” Rud said, returning the bow.

  “Don’t sell those ingots,” Elmera said, glaring at Rud. “I need them.”

  Rud waved as the group departed. He was exhausted from the social interaction and weight of his responsibilities. When they were out of sight, he scampered into a bush and returned to the Sacred Tree. After retreating into his house and stoking his fire, he fell into his chair with a great sigh.

  “Looks like your plan is coming together, Ban,” Rud said. It was always awkward talking to the air, and not a person.

  “One step at a time.”

  After the soreness of the long walk wore off, Rud got up to add more wood to the fire and start some mushrooms and tea. He poured himself a steaming cup, grabbed a mushroom skewer, and fell back into his chair.

  “The party has entered the dungeon. They’re all third rank, and capable,” Mint siad. Rud could tell she was speaking to the group again.

  “This is our first exposure to outsiders, Mint,” Ban said. Her tone wasn’t angry or anything. She was excited at the possibilities. “The beastfolk woman, Mira, was smart enough to pick a leader from Sparwyn.”

  “Indeed. I wish to increase security in the grove, though.”

  Mint and Ban talked back-and-forth for a while. Rud dozed on his chair, slipping in and out of sleep. The fire crackled as the storm raged on outside. A deep sense of comfort flooded through his body, a warm blanket tucked up under his arms. The druid fell asleep in his chair, embracing the coziness all around him.