”Just follow the path marked out. It’ll take you directly to the fern. You can’t miss it. Just mind the large cliff. Good luck.” The mad doctor said with what could only be described as a smart ass tone, just before slamming the door in his face. Ambrose simply stood there for a moment, staring at the door with an irritated look on his face, and twitch of his brow before turning and leaving.

”Well, at least he was more specific this time around.” Ambrose said as he checked out the map given to him by the doctor, standing at the edge of town now, the bag for the gathered fern slung over his shoulder. ”But it figures, he would be more helpful when the path is far more difficult.” Though the path was clearly marked out on the map to the fern, the end of the path would require a difficult climb up a steep cliff.

He sighed as he folded up the map and placed it in his pocket, and then began his trek to find the fern. The first three quarters of the path was as expected, flat and mostly direct with few turns, and took him only about an hour to traverse. He could tell when he was getting close to the cliff, the path beginning to become steeper and steeper, with more winds in the path, and he could feel the climb beginning to affect him making his breathing more labored.

When he finally reached the face of the “cliff” mentioned by the doctor, he stopped, staring at it and chuckling. ”What a prick.” It was closer to a miniature mountain, and there were numerous cliff faces that he would have to climb up. He was beginning to hurt just thinking about the climb required. Not to mention, he didn’t really see any good hand or foot holds from a distance. It would be slow going, and probably more than a little painful.
Gathering his strength, Ambrose began the treacherous climb. The first cliff wasn’t all that bad, not being all that steep, and possessing a few good spots to place his hands and feet to aid in the climb, but there were still a good number left. The next cliff face proved much more difficult, and terrifying; one of his hands slipping on a rock at one point. However, there was a small but sturdy tree that was beginning to grow from the cliff’s face that he was able to grab ahold of and keep himself from falling.

The rest of his climb up that cliff face went off without a hitch. When he reached a landing above that one, he stopped to rest for a minute. There were at least four more faces he’d have to progress up before reaching the top of the hill, and that’s where he’d find the fern the doctor wanted.

The remaining cliff faces proved harder and harder to progress up, each one causing him to exert more and more strength. However, he was able to climb them without any more slips or accidents. When he finally reached the top, he took a nice long break, and catching his breath. While resting he took the moment to eat the few sandwiches he’d brought with him. He knew from the doctor that the trip would take a while, and figured he might get hungry.

After his break, it only took him a couple minutes to make it to the spot marked on the map. Unlike with the mushrooms he found them without trouble. With the herbs gathered, he started looking for another way back down the cliff. He was really hoping he wouldn’t have to try and descend back down the way he had come up, especially seeing as he hadn’t completely regained his strength.

At first, it seemed like he wouldn’t have an option but to try and make his way back down the steep cliffs, however upon closer inspection, he noticed that there in fact was another way down the hill. It wasn’t easily spotted, and he knew that if he hadn’t been at the top of the hill, he never would have noticed it. It wasn’t a clear marked path, but it would suffice, and wouldn’t require trying to scale down a cliff face. It was still a crude path though, and slow going, but even still it took half the time to descend the hill than it did to climb it.
When he reached the bottom, he turned back to look at the path he’d taken, realizing that if you didn’t know it was there, you’d likely never find it. Knowing that, he figured the doctor didn’t keep it from him just to be a dick, and probably didn’t know about it. However he definitely wouldn’t put something like that past him.

Ambrose started back on the path towards the town, he was tired and sore, but other than that, was perfectly fine, well except for the burning sensation he got when he now thought about the doctor. He really didn’t like that man. A couple of hours later and he was reentering the town. Unlike last time, he didn’t take his time in returning to the doctors’ shop, wanting to be done with the man’s damn request as fast as possible. When he got back to the shop, he knocked on the door, presenting the bag to the doctor when he answered.

”Much faster than last time. Glad to see that.” The doctor said with a bit of a surprised look on his face. ”Here’s your jewels, no be gone.” And then held out a bag of jewels for him to take. Ambrose didn’t respond, simply nodding his head as he took the reward and left. He was extremely sore now from his little adventure, and went straight back to his room at the end, ready to get off his feet and enjoy the rest of the day, while also enjoying happy thoughts of one day hopefully receiving an assassination request for the doctor.

[EXIT]

Word Count: 1,010/1,000