Rud sorted out his morning report and tea while talking with Maria. She seemed interested in the bat situation, but only because she wasn’t a true druid. Animal Communication was a weird skill, but he felt as though he was finally getting a handle on it. That mainly had to do with the trust he had built with the bats within the cavern. There were no signs of more interlopers in the grove, and the first of five dungeons had been destroyed.

  Nulsa also came with a report that the brambles he had created were doing their job well. More than a few monsters had been caught in the line of vines, thinking they could push through them. That was good news for Barlgore and the grove. Now if only he could animate those vines to ensnare malicious entities… Rud waited for too long as he had the thought, expected to get a spell that would help him do that. Nothing happened.

  “Gotta go,” Rud said, finalizing his reports. He included the effectiveness of the brambles in his letter to Feather.

  “Take it easy, Rud. Keep working so hard and you’re going to burn out.”

  Rud clicked his radio off without responding. Dean and Taz were waiting for him outside of the mine. The druid had already informed them they were going to go into the caverns to figure out what had happened. Neither cared for the bats, but both understood the implications. If the creatures weren’t overreacting, there could be cause for concern deep within the mine. Since that was Taz’s home, there was no reason not to be cautious.

  “I do not care for caves, caverns or mines,” Dean growled as they entered the mine.

  Rud had accepted the Aspect of Gug. As they passed into the unlit mine, his eyes adjusted quickly. “We need your muscles if anything goes wrong.”

  “You’ll need my fangs more than that,” Dean spat.

  The wolf wasn’t happy about this, but Mint was too busy to help. Since Dean was the second strongest being in the grove, he needed to come along. Rud was once again reminded of how important the mine had been and would be in the future. If there was some horrible beast down there, they needed to sort it out right away. Taz hoisted his pickaxe as they descended the slope, taking the left passage toward the bat’s cave.

  “Wait here a second,” Rud said, activating his Clear Communication upgrade. “We’re coming to investigate the problem. Don’t fly down and get all tangled in Taz’s beard.”

  If the dwarf could have understood the language of bats, he would have fled from the mine.

  “We saw it! The beast came from that direction. Through the tunnel!”

  The tunnel leading out from the cavern should have been closed. Taz and Rud had plans to excavate that area, but the short hall on the far side of the cavern didn’t lead anywhere. The druid urged his companions forward. Dean took the lead, growling up at the bats as he walked over the smooth cave floor.

  “Ah. That wasn’t there before,” Taz said, scratching his head.

  The group had approached the far side of the cave and had found something strange. The smooth stone that had appeared had been shattered, revealing a tunnel. Like the cave itself, this was a naturally formed area. It was easy to tell the difference if one looked for the tool marks on the walls. Everyone stopped when Dean did. The wolf sniffed the air and growled some more.

  “That’s not good,” Dean said, growling down the passage. “This might be a good time for a—”

  Rud shapeshifted into a squirrel out of instinct and fled for the far side of the cave. Dean was sent back by a massive ball of fur, teeth, and claws. Taz screamed in fear, dashing for the far side of the cavern as quickly as his little dwarven feet could carry him.

  “Mint! We need you!” Rud shouted, his chittering squirrel-tongue echoing through the cavern.

  Dean tussled with the creature as the bats fled the scene. Taz ran the wrong way, heading directly into the freezer while screaming, “cave bear! Shave my beard—a cave bear!”

  A dark form burst from the entrance of the cave, slamming against both Dean and the bear. She pinned it to the ground with ease, forcing it down with her powerful forepaws. The cavern rumbled under the force of her attack and the bear howled in agony.

  “Let me go!” the bear shouted, snarling and snapping against Mint’s powerful paws.

  Mint grabbed the bear by the scruff and shook. The bear went limp and for a moment, Rud thought it was dead. “Submit, you arrogant fool!”

  “Something inside!” the bear howled. “Get it out!”

  The bear gained renewed strength, shoving Mint off as though shrugging. It raged in the cavern. And Rud realized the creature wasn’t attacking. It slammed itself against the far wall, snapping at the air and clawing at anything that drew too close. The guardian jumped back, watching as the creature went wild.

  “Rud?” Mint asked, growling and keeping a safe distance from the bear. Taz screamed in fear, cowering in the freezer.

  “Calm down!” Rud shouted, shifting back to his normal form. He used his Clear Communication upgrade, desperate to get through to the crazed bear.

  “Help me!”

  The bear reared up on its back paws. Rud was awestruck at how large the creature was. He had only seen a bear once back on Earth, and it was a black bear. This bear had shaggy fur like a grizzly with light reds mixing with browns. The beast had a dark black nose and a splash of gray above its brows. It must have been twice the size of one. As the massive animal stood on its hind legs, the druid saw something on its chest. A line of fur hadn’t grown back, tracing a path from one shoulder to its hip. The wound underneath was red and filled with infection. Whatever stunted magical sensitivity Rud had screamed at him. There was something wrong with the bear. Like it said, there was something inside it.

  A system message confirmed his suspicions.

  [Spell Obtained!]

  The Cleansing Spirit River has taken notice of you. He has gifted you with the Nature’s Cleanse spell.

  “I have a spell!” Rud shouted. “Just calm down, bear!”

  Rud inspected the spell before he cast it.

  [Nature’s Cleanse]

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  Rank 0 Druid Spell

  Healing Magic

  Mana Cost:

  20

  Description:

  Infuse a being with nature’s cleansing powers.

  Effect:

  Affected target will be put into a deep slumber. Duration of sleep is dependent on the strength of the affliction.

  Curse, disease, infection, and magical effects will be purged.

  “Please!” the bear shouted.

  Rud was happy that the spell didn’t have a component. The wild look in the bear’s eyes was getting worse. It would start rampaging at any moment. The druid held his staff firmly, rushing over to the bear and throwing his arms wide. He activated Nature’s Cleanse and watched as the druidic power gathered in his staff. Green light flowed from the staff, shooting through the air and leaving a trail of green mist behind it. The bear’s eyes went wide as the spell hit it. The power of the druidic magic soaked into its hide and it swayed on the spot.

  There was some level of confirmation on the bear’s part. Rud got the impression that this spell couldn’t be cast on the unwilling. But a few more moments of swaying and the bear hit the ground, snoring loudly.

  “What was that!?” Rud shouted, giving Mint a concerned look.

  Mint growled, approaching the bear to sniff it. “I’ve never seen this kind of befoulment.” She rolled the bear over so they could see its wound. “There is indeed something underneath his flesh. Look.”

  Rud didn’t want to look. There was something wiggling under the bear’s skin. “That’s disgusting. Thanks for coming, though.”

  “Is it over!?” Taz shouted from the freezer. He looked around, gritting his teeth. “I need to change.”

  Rud explained the spell to Mint. She nodded along, her ears twitching when the spell mentioned a curse. The druid determined her reaction meant this was a curse. While he didn’t know the implications, he knew enough to fear such a word. When the dust had settled around the bear, he tended to Dean’s wounds. The bear had done some serious damage to the dire wolf, dragging razor-sharp claws over the poor guy’s flesh. But the second-strongest guardian was tough.

  “Thank you, Rud,” Dean said, finally rising to his feet after a few casts of Nature’s Restoration.

  “No, dude. Thank you. I would’ve been bear food if you hadn’t jumped in.”

  “The bear is yours to care for, Rud,” Mint said, turning away from the scene. “I have a feeling he will be asleep for a while.”

  “Of course.”

  Taz returned shortly after with a fresh pair of pants. He stood by the entrance to the cavern, not willing to enter. Rud concerned himself with checking on the bear, fearful that it might wake. The wound on its chest was deep. Orbs of green light danced over the creature’s skin, still knitting minor wounds or delving within to purge the sickness. Inspecting the damage to the far side of the cave, it was easy to see what had happened. The bear smashed through the wall and must have clipped a bat with its claws. How the dwarf didn’t hear the commotion was anyone’s guess.

  “You shouldn’t be so close to it!” Taz shouted from the entrance.

  “Calm down, dwarf,” Rud muttered, shaking his head. He entered the opening with Dean close behind. The wolf hadn’t left the area, so he wasn’t worried about the bear jumping up again.

  The section of cave where the bear had burst through was marked with shattered stone. It had crashed through about a foot of solid stone, which was shocking. But the state of the passageway on the other side was more impressive, showing all the signs of a rampaging beast of unknowable power. If there was a hierarchy of power, Mint would be on the top followed closely by that bear.

  “If we could recruit that bear, we’d be in business,” Rud said to himself.

  “He was powerful,” Dean agreed. “But his spirit was rage and hate.”

  “That might have been whatever sickness he has.”

  As Dean and Rud pushed into the passages, they heard a frightened Taz scamper up behind them. The druid just hoped the poor dwarf didn’t pee himself again. Unlike the area above the cave, the group came upon a split in the passage. The highest number of tunnels splitting off from the main line was two up there while the section they stood before had four tunnels snaking off in every direction. The wolf smelled the air, growling down the passageway.

  “These tunnels go deep,” Taz said, stepping to the front of the ground. “Like… all the way down.”

  “How would you know, dwarf?” Dean asked.

  “This is in my blood,” Taz said, smelling the air. “Look at the way the wolf’s nose is twitching. What do you smell, Dean?”

  “Mushrooms. Vegetation. A strange breeze that seems… fresh.”

  “Some caves you find are dead,” Taz explained, pushing forward. He peered down a few passages. “Heading into those will kill ya. Nothing to breathe. But there are other places that go deep. They have forests of mushrooms that create breathable air. This is one of those caves. It has to be connected with the dark places of the world.”

  “Woah,” Rud said, enraptured by the explanation. “That’s awesome.”

  He couldn’t help wondering if this connected to Maria’s grove. He remembered her talking about having a mushroom as a tree and a bunch of dwarves running around. That got him thinking.

  “Could this be connected to the dwarf city?” Rud asked.

  “Might be. We hadn’t dug deep enough by the time I left.”

  The value of an underground area was clear. Exploiting the natural resources there was one thing, but there were creatures down here like the cave bear. That brought another problem. “We gotta board this place up. I’d rather not have stuff sneaking up on us.”

  “Look,” Taz said, kneeling and placing his hand on a mushroom. He flicked it, yelped, and sucked on his finger. “Toeknockers. Hard as stone.”

  Rud was picking up what Taz was putting down. The druid withdrew what he needed from his bag and channeled the Shape Plant spell. As he had seen before, the mushroom counted as a plant. Not only could he change how the mushroom looked, he could also grow it to block this area off. And there were plenty of the Toeknockers around.

  Until the blacksmithing building was up, the best thing he could do was block the area off with the mushrooms. No one gathered had the desire to delve any deeper than they already had, so Dean and Taz didn’t care. Rud worked his magic, growing and expanding the mushrooms until every approach was blocked. It was possible that another bear would come smashing along, but there was nothing he could do about it. Instead, he was content to have the area sealed by the black mushrooms.

  “These bad boys ain’t going nowhere,” Rud said, slapping the mushrooms.

  “They certainly won’t.” Dean nodded along, turning away with the others to leave.

  While the others went ahead, Rud stayed behind to check on the bear. The creature’s breathing and heart rate had evened out. It no longer appeared as a raging monster, but a peaceful beast slumbering in a cave. The druid couldn’t have been happier with that. But there were a few more wounds that weren’t cured by his low-rank magic. He cast the Nature’s Restoration spell one last time, and earned his first level in Healing Magic. The bear would recover soon enough, so he left it there.

  The abrupt end to the morning and the appearance of the bear had put Rud Mentally off-balance. The tea plot provided peace to the chaotic day. The plants growing there were doing well, content to regenerate leaves for Rud to pluck. As long as the plants were watered with double-enchanted water, they continued to produce many leaves. But it seemed that once a plant was forcefully grown to a certain stage, the water no longer had an effect to increase their size. At least the larger plants didn’t taste bad, which Rud had been told happened with the mushrooms.

  With more plants on the drying shelves, Rud took time to make more pottery. He needed to find a way to make this process more efficient. Every time he thought he was getting good at working the wheel, he ruined a piece. That cost him time, and more than a little clay sticking to his skin and arm hair. The clay splattered in his face again and he had an idea. It wasn’t as though the mortals knew about the things that grew within the grove. They wouldn’t accept wooden vessels that had been crafted by wood from the grove, but…

  Rud returned to his mushroom house with his bag filled with material. He sat down, rubbing his hands as he pulled a solid sheet of Toeknocker mushroom out. The material was hard as stone, but he easily shaped it into sheets with his magic. Then it was a matter of manipulating those sheets into jars, complete with lids. Compared to how long it took him with the clay, he could create enough mushroom jars to suit his needs in minutes. He used Lacquer on each jar after engraving them with the grove’s name on the front. Thanks to Basil’s instructions, the words were easy to read.

  “Would you look at that?” Rud asked himself, testing the jar.

  He placed the lid on top of one jar filled with tea, sealing it with hot wax. It worked just as well as the clay pots. There was only one way to know if the mortals would go for this stuff. Hopefully Dean was up for a trip to Barlgore.