Brone Heavyaxe had taken a new quest. It was posted recently by a local druid. The dwarf wasn't sure what a druid was, but he was happy to be able to stretch his legs again. Benimaru, not having anything else to do decided to tag along while Gnicholas choice to accompany them for the sake of research. From what they could understand of the quest posting, a large dark treant has been rampaging through local villages within the forest.

"Destroy the tree, simple" Brone said as he sat behind Benimaru as they rode the black pegasus, Noctus.

"The request says 'please do not destroy the spirit'" Gnicholas recited as he poked his head out from Brone's satchel.

"Druids are tree huggers, so it makes sense" Benimaru shrugged as he held the reigns and guided them through the sky over the forest. They had heard the treant was located heading south from a village it had terrorized, so they searched for the village.

"Then we'll uproot it and watch it fall" Brone was blindfolded in order to keep his fear of heights from getting to him. Gnicholas and Benimaru didn't reply to Brone's idea, wondering if he was being intentionally an idiot since he should have been aware that a walking treant isn't rooted in the ground.

Eventually they would find the village, so they flew down to the ground and landed gracefully. Benimaru had changed his visage to his human form for the sake of the villagers, he rather not lose their trust with his demonic look.

"So it went south by south east about two days ago, so it could be long gone" Beni said as they took to the sky again.

"Not exactly" Gnicholas poked his head out from the bag while looking through one of his mythology books, "Though treants are able to use their roots as legs to walk, they are known to be extremely slow walkers".

"And trees are tall, so it'll be easy to find it" Brone happily added, though because he was blindfolded, he didn't notice the looks the gnome and the oni were giving one another. They were surprised how much of an idiot their dwarven friend was; if only they could remove the blindfold and show Brone how large the forest was so he could understand that finding a tree in a sea of trees would be greatly difficult.

The sun was beginning to set and the three of them were worried, amongst the three of them, Beni's eyes were the only ones that could be able to perceive the dark, given Brone would still have to be blindfolded. Luckily as the sun providing an orange color to the sky, Beni managed to spot a moving tree.

"Bingo" he then dipped Noctus down, causing the dwarf to grunt in fear as he felt the drop.

"Ye found it!?" Brone's voice shook as he hesitated to grab the hilt of his blade.

500

They close the distance on the moving tree, but because Brone was their protector and the only one willing to engage the treant, Benimaru guided the black Pegasus below the branches and to the ground. ”I expected just a whole bunch of moving roots like a octopus” Beni said as he watched the large tree trunks that made up the legs of the truant, walking, albeit slowly, it was still covering great distance.

”Octopus, tree, don’t matter” Brone said as he pulled the blindfold off and hopped down from his mount while drawing forth his golden axe, ”Its still getting chopped down” he then ran after the moving tree.

”Shouldn’t we figure out why it’s attacking villages? It’s odd that a treant, who are normally peaceful, is attacking unprovoked” Gnicholas asked as he remained in the dwarf’s bag.

”He has a point, I’ve heard tree spirits are usually protective of the forest and rarely ever leave it , let alone enter human civilization” Beni added as he rode on Noctus, keeping up with the dwarf.

Brone groaned in irritation. Normally if Gnicholas was trying to prompt the dwarf from doing something rash, he would barely consider entertaining his suggestion, but with Beni adding to it, who normally prefers to keep to himself, then the dwarf would reframe from acting foolish and lend an ear. ”Fine, I’ll see if I can talk to it!” he practically yelled before stowing his axe away.

When Brone finally caught up to the slow moving giant tree, he looked up and called ”Oy! Tree!” he began to wave his arms. But the treant didn’t acknowledge him and raised his foot. Seeing the large stump-like foot elevate over him, Brone ducked out the way to avoid being stepped on. He looked down at his bag to try and give Gnicholas a mean expression, but realized the gnome had abandoned the bag and was running back towards Noctus and Benimaru who had fell behind in order to avoid being caught in any danger.

”Try again! It might not have heard you!” Gnicholas called against as he turned to face the dwarf.

Brone groaned as he ran after the tree again who had already gained some distance. When he caught up again, he gave it another try, ”Oy, tree! Look down!” he shouted as loud as he could while jumping and frantically waving his arms, but one again the treant didn’t notice him and moved on. Taking a giant step which landed so near the dwarf, Brone unintentionally hopped from the ground.

The dwarf looked back at his team to see Beni and Gnicholas were giving him a thumbs-up gesture for support, though the oni seemed to be doing it sarcastically. Brone grew so angered, he pulled out his golden axe and gripped it tightly in his hand. Gnicholas started to shout, trying to calm the dwarf, ”I’m just trying to get his attention!” Brone yelled as he ran after the moving tree who was once again ahead of him.

Once he caught up, he swung his axe, widely arcing. The blade slammed into, what would be consider, the Achilles heel. A loud deep groan echoed, causing flocks of birds to leave their perches and fly to the sky. The treant stopped walking and looked down to observe what had hurt it.

The treant had the face that resembled an elderly man with a long beard. His eyes would move slowly, scanning the area, having trouble trying to find the dwarf, though Brone wasn’t trying to hide.

”Oy! Right here, ye blind bat!” Brone called while waving his free hand and his axe. He eventually caught the treant’s attention, ”Oy freeman! Why are ye attacking villages!?” straight to the point, as always with the dwarf, with no care for the possibility the treant would find him as a threat. Luckily the treant seem to be more curious of the small being, as well as struggling to view him, so he knelt down and lowered his head to get a better view.

“Lumber Jack!” The treant’s deep voice said slowly as he raised a wooden fist, his expression changed from curious to anger. But Brone wasn’t fearful, but more satisfied that he was finally getting somewhere with his tactic… which was not at all what Gnicholas intended.

The large tree of an arm came crashing down, slamming down upon the dwarf. Though Brone raised his shield in time above his head to block the brunt of the force, the entire weight of the treant was brought down upon the dwarf by the strike, and with the strength of the treant pressing against the strength of the dwarf, it caused the ground below them to upheave, dirt and rocks flew about. But Brone still stood, and with a quick swing, he used the flat of his axe to knock away the giant arm, sending the treant tumbling back and being caught by inanimate trees.

”Ready te talk!?” Brone yelled as the treant stared at him, confused.

After a moment of silence, the large being finally spoke to Beni and Gnicholas’ surprise, “I’m Branchbeard” his speech was just as slow as his own movements, but his tone was different now.

”Pleasure te meet ye, I’m Brone Heavyaxe” Brone’s demeanor changed too as he bore a smile while stowing away his axe. This surprised Gnicholas, but simply made Beni laughed about how simple the two were.

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Benimaru and Gnicholas along with Noctus came out of hiding behind the brush and approached Branchbeard who was now sitting in a grove. They joined Brone, sitting on an elevated slope so they could be closer to the treant’s face so he would haven’t to struggle to speak to them. The demeanor had changed, though he gnome found it odd, he was glad the dwarf was able to open communication with the forest spirit.

“Humans have been cutting down the trees within the forest” Branchbeard explained, now calm, sounded like a giant old man with centuries in his voice. There was a hint of sadness in his face, showing pain.

”But people cut trees down all the time, and beavers do it too” Brone said, he crossed his arms. Gnicholas tried to signal to the dwarf, trying to inform him to try and be more sensitive to the spirit, but even if the dwarf noticed him, he wouldn’t waste his energy trying to beat around the bush and soften the blow when he could be straight forward.

“Yes, living beings need trees, but there are humans who have been cutting too many trees too fast, not allowing enough time to pass to allow more trees to grow and take their place” There was now a hint of anger to the treant’s voice and Brone understood.

”Aye, I hear ye; there’s a story of me kin, of a clan of dwarves who got so greedy and dug too deep into the earth to find more jewels and gems that they unearthed an evil that swallowed them whole” Brone thought back to when he was a child and his mother told him this tale. He was sure the story was probably just a simple myth to teach young dwarves to not get too greedy. As for Gnicholas, he never heard of such a tale in the dwarven history books he’s read, albeit the history books he’s managed to get his hands on were dated and barely covered all of dwarven history.

”So what do we do? Report this to the King of Fiore so he issues an order to stop lumbering?” Benimaru asked half-jokingly.

”Well that’s the only legal option to do” Gnicholas replied.

”Where’s the lumberjacks?” Brone didn’t add to the conversation, he wanted to go straight for the issue and solve it. Gnicholas tried to explain to him such things aren’t so simple, that there needs to be a process, but the dwarf wasn’t listening. Branchbeard pointed south west saying that the other trees had told him where the ‘danger’ was. Brone then stood up and mounted Noctus. Gnicholas, hopping into the dwarf’s bag, tried to warn him not to attack the lumberers for doing their job, that Paradise Dawn could be fined, ”Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna kill them” is what Brone promised, but that didn’t assure the gnome that no fight will break out. No matter how much Gnicholas warned him, Brone just simply ignored him.

After Benimaru mounted the black pegasus, he took the reins as the dwarf put on his blindfold, and after Branchbeard gave them a wave, they took to the sky and flew south west.

It was for some time, but after several hours of searching, by the time the sun broke through the horizon, Benimaru signaled that they found what they were looking for and his voice wasn’t joyful at all. This worried Brone to the point the dwarf removed his blindfold despite his fear. When looking down, he saw a horror: three large metallic machines were bulldozing through the edge of the forest, razing the trees down with large buzzsaws. Several large acres were already cut down, leaving hundreds of stumps, the land naked of its beauty.

The anger in the dwarf was enough for him to overcome his fear for just the moment as he directed Beni to fly close to one of the machines. Once again Gnicholas warned Brone not to attack, but suggested to report this to the king, and once again, Brone ignored him. Once Noctus flew over one of the machines, Brone leaped off the Pegasus me pulled out his black axe. The workers below weren’t aware of what was coming until he heard the dwarf shouting. Brone landed upon the top of the machine while slamming the axe into it, slicing it in half. The gears, wheels and saws stopped working as the dwarf tumbled away.

“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” The driver of the machine burst out from the driver’s seat to see the disaster and shouted at the dwarf. Brone walked up to the lumberer and head butted him, knocking him out. He then immediately ran towards the next machine. The other workers were confused and frantic, trying to figure out what had happened to the first machine that was now in two major pieces. When the second machine was cut in half, they all became aware of the dwarf who was destroying their equipment. They shouted at him, but Brone simply divided the machine in fours this time.

As Brone was running towards the last machine, several of the workers stood in the way, three of them pulled out spellbooks and began reciting an incantation. A big magical circle formed, conjuring a blanket of fire, but as it descended, Brone drew forth his green axe and cut the blanket of fire, causing it to disperse. As the mages who were hired to help the lumberers gasped in shock, Brone rammed into them, defeating them easily. The lumberers did what they could to stop the dwarf, but they weren’t strong enough to stop him from slicing the last machine in several pieces.

After that altercation, Brone, Beni, and Gnicholas flew back to Branchbeard who thanked them heavily. Brone shared a laugh with the tree spirit who soon faded, seeing his job was done for now. Gnicholas however found this troublesome because now he has to write a report to the local magistrate about this incident, otherwise Paradise Dawn would end up having to either pay a heavy fine or send Brone to prison for destroying property and interfering with a lumbermill.

None of that worried Brone, but what did bother him was the machines. He asked Gnicholas about where they could have come from and the gnome gave it thought. He said that such technology was too advanced to have come from anywhere other than the Island of the Future. Once again Taz Lagar is behind a troubling event. This put a bad taste in Brone’s mouth, but he was glad it was all done.

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[Exit]