Kazimir got word that a retired rune knight was looking for assistance with a plant problem. A simple enough task. He went early in the morning to catch Inspector Nilan doing some rounds through the busier parts of town. A worried expression in his face. He peaked down alleys and through the streets taking careful not of the typical looking vines that grew over the buildings.

“Inspector Nilan,” the wind mage called out, “You need some help with a plant problem? I’m Kazimir Seiryu.”

The inspector moved by some chatting people and greeted Kazimir with a firm handshake. ”Good to finally get some help around here. No doubt the knights are busy though. With everything happening now.” He was clearly talking about the demons. Neither of them expanded on the topic. Kaz just shrugged his shoulders with a sigh. “So what is it you need me to do?” Kazimir asked as the inspector brought out a notepad.

Thumbing through the pad, the inspector flicked the side of the notepad as he arrived at the page he was looking for. “There is a large tree growing rapidly in town. It’s been known to get people sick from touching it. While it would be good for tourist traffic, I can’t risk people’s health over some concern for wealth.”

“Alright then, what exactly is it that you want me to do about it?” Kazimir waited to see what the inspector’s decision was. Did he really want him to get rid of it?

“Investigate it…and cut it down if you need to. People tried before but no one can sustain being close to it for long,” he ran a finger across his lapel confirming what Kazimir was thinking. A lumberjack’s job is all this was but hopefully he didn’t have to get to close to it. He seemed to be the perfect choice for the job with his wind blades. The inspector reached into his bag and brought out a device, “Use this to take some samples once your done so we can investigate it.”

“An easy enough task then. I’ll get to it.” The wind mage took the device and began his trek through town until he arrived at the mother of all trees. It reached up to the skies, blocking out the light from almost half the street. Homes were cast into darkness from its thick branches and leaves.

The wind mages eyes widened as he saw a rough looking scene at the base of a tree. A crowd had gathered and two men with axes laid unconscious at the foot of the tree. The crowd inched forward but bent over with nausea the closer they got. Unable to reach the victims.

Kazimir dashed forward past the crowd and kicked off of the wind sending him toward the unconscious men. He felt the subtle sting of nausea, but he was far less effected. Maybe it was the fact he wielded magic. Grabbing their bodies, he gathered the wind around himself again and dashed as far away from the tree as possible.

WC 505

He laid the now lightly stirring bodies on the ground. “Send for some help for these two. I’m here to take care of the tree.”

A few other pages arrived to help the injured man. They looked at Kazimir standing vigil before the tree. “Hey Kazimir. You sure you can handle this by yourself? Maybe we should get an apprentice or a seated?” the pages voice was concerned and Kazimir had begun building up a reputation for tackling issues that may be above what he was supposed to.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just a tree,” he said plainly but reassuringly. His eyes still fixed on the tree. He would like to investigate it further but perhaps if it fell then he could take some samples without fear of sickness.

He peered upward to see the extent of the branches. Many of them hung over homes. He couldn’t very well slice the tree down without clearing that out of the way first.

He rose his hands and created a circle with them. A gentle breeze ruffled his clothes and the pages took a few steps back. Thrusting his hand forward cause an eruption of wind to tear through the branches, snapping them off and sending them harmlessly cascading into the street. He repeated the process until all the branches had fallen away. Any stray pieces he cut down with wind blades before they reached anyone.

“huh, part one done. Now for the real task” he said as the pages looked on. “get the people out of the street,” he told the pages and they rushed to clear them out of the way. It wasn’t so much an order as it was a respectful request from one page to another.

“Just how much mana does he have? He’s only a page.” The began to question who he was and how he accomplished that task.

Kazimir paid them no attention and instead focused on the. “Gale Slash!” he yelled as he ripped a wind blade out striking the tree. Bark splintered off from the narrow incision. Before seeing the effects of his first attack he launched another. “Howling Wind slash!” the stronger blade cut even deeper into the tree. He was able to cast them much faster now that he wielded the breeze staff.

One after another he sent the blades crashing into the tree. Before long the wood creaked and cracked. The tree clung to the last splinters of its life. One final strike, “and here we go,” releasing the last howling slash that toppled the mighty tree.

It crashed into the street. Luckily the other pages had successfully cleared the road of people.  Kazimir approached the tree and took out the sampling device that Nilan had given him and took some sap from the vines around the leaves. He returned it to the inspector who gave him the reward.

“Fine working with you. My men will clean up the rest.”
“I hope we can work together again sometime,” Kazimir replied, reward in hand and walked away.

WC 506
Total WC 1008