Part 3: The Village Green Preservation Society

Update 3: The Village Green Preservation Society



I knew I should go talk to the Elder about the temple, but the sound of my idiot nephew crying about the well was a bit distracting. Feargus was old enough that he could have been sent to the Temple of Trials and my aunt had tried to get him sent in my place, but anybody could see that he would have ended up as food for the giant bugs in a few minutes.



The idiot's definition of broken was a stuck pulley wheel. I wasn't great with my hands, but even I could see it wasn't that big of a problem. I fixed it then and there, just to shut him up. And you know what the worst part about it is? He's got children now. That idiot actually bred. I sometimes think that if I hadn't fixed the well he would have died of dehydration and the next generation would have been better for it.



"What were you doing, trying to get me killed in there?"

"You survived, didn't you? The Chosen One cannot be weak, or we are doomed."

"Hmph. Okay Grandma, spill it. What do you want me to do?"

"That's Elder when we're talking business, boy! You children have no respect these days… when I was a girl I went through the Temple of Trials and I didn't whine about it. I told them how to make it better!"

"That explains a lot…"



"Uh.. what was my quest again?"

"Idiot! Pay attention! Find the holy Vault 13 and bring back the GECK. Vic, the trader from Klamath, brought us the flask from the holy Thirteen. Start your search with him. The disk will remind you of your task. May the Gods of the Vault watch over you."

"Okay, that's giving me more questions than answers. Where the hell is Klamath?"

"Klamath… is to the east."

"So are a lot of things. Okay, where's Vault 13?"

"The Holy Thirteen? I can not help you. Only the Vault Dweller knew. His tales have the sound of a perilous journey."

"Okay, zero for two. Now for the big one. What's a GECK?"



"Great. You know what else would make our village green and prosperous? MOVING!"



We didn't exactly part on the best of terms, as you can imagine. She gave me some money and a flask with Vault 13 stamped on it, and I helped myself to a couple of knives and some fruit from inside of her tent. Then, I went to see what help I could get to prepare for my trip.



My first stop was with the local expert in hand to hand fighting, who I had not paid nearly enough attention to before going into the Temple of Trials. Almost falling on my ass a couple of times trying to kick giant ants to death had made me think a bit differently.

There are actually two trainers in the village who will give you a boost to some skills. How exactly it works is a bit of mystery, but they can boost you up to 10% in a skill up to certain maximums. It seems to be about 55% for unarmed.



My next lesson was in the spear, which I didn't think I'd ever get used to. I was hoping that nobody outside the village would care how terrible I was with a spear, but until I could get something better it was the best weapon I had.



Feargus' mother was adopting her usual contemptuous survey of the village when I went to say goodbye. She was a bitch, may she rest in peace. I wouldn't put it past her to rise from the grave and haunt us if I didn't add that. I knicked a piece of flint out of her pocket when she turned her back on me, purely out of spite.



The last person I specifically wanted to visit before leaving was Hakunin, the shaman who'd tried to pound herb lore and medicine into my thick skull. He was… unique.



"I'm leaving. Could you talk like a normal person for once?"

"The Earth sings with the news of a champion upon the land… Perhaps, before you go, you would bestow a kindness?"

"So that would be a no. Sure, what do you need?"



"…did you just ask me to weed your garden? I guess I can do that."

"May the gods bless your efforts, Chosen. May your aura grace my presence when the earth breathes clean again."

"Come back to you when I'm done. Got it."



It turned out that weeding Hakunin's garden was a lot more work than he made it out to be. Weeding a garden normally requires a gloves and perhaps a small shovel, not a spear.



Long story short? I almost died weeding Hakunin's garden. I had to stop in the middle to have him patch me up so I could go after the second Spore Plant. It started spitting seed pods at me as I charged up the row toward it.



Eventually I succeeded, and went back to the old man to find out what else he wanted me for. If it for any other domestic task, my quest might have ended before I got out of Arroyo.



Instead, he wanted to give me some medicine powder and offered to whip up as much medicine powder as I could bring him ingredients for. I don't think I'd ever felt like I earned a reward as much as I did at that moment.



Just past the garden my other cousin Nagor was waiting to ask me to go looking for his lost dog. Since this was the cousin I actually liked, I figured I could kill a bit of time with it. I was delaying my departure from the village by any means I could at this point.



Cameron was also nearby, in a perfect position to watch me get my ass kicked by a pair of carnivorous plants. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure I heard him snickering the entire time. I think he got an earful from my grandmother about just letting me walk past him.



Luckily, he didn't hold a grudge. He was a better person than I had given him credit for, even if it didn't work out too well for him.



The hunting grounds where I was going dog hunting were just a short distance through the woods, marked by a couple of paths and a place where hunters would bed down when they needed to rest. It was also a place that young couples went to for a bit of privacy, although there were some risks with that.



Scouring the area I found the ingredients for half of a dose of medicine powder, and nothing else. So much for half of my gardening reward. But the plants weren't the risk I was talking about, other than the occasional bit of mutated poison ivy.



The real danger was the roaming geckos, whose jaws were strong enough to leave some pretty impressive bite marks. At least one warrior in the village had scars in an embarrassing place from getting interrupted at an extremely inconvenient time.



Smoke had wandered off into an isolated clearing away from most of the geckos, and looked like he was perfectly happy where he was. Luckily he recognized me and knew that following me was a good way to get back home.



He was smart enough to know that, but stupid enough to step in a puddle of glowing green goo on the way out. Dogs. I'm just glad he didn't try to drink it, because then I'd have had to explain to my cousin how I got his dog killed on the way back.



That didn't stop me from borrowing Smoke and using him to do a bit of hunting. The real problem was keeping the gecko's attention so that it didn't decide to eat Smoke.



Together, we tore through the geckos and cleaned house. I think Smoke was actually having a good time.



The biggest risk was that we'd accidentally get the attention of two of them at once, so we worked pretty hard to keep that from happening. I did end up using a lot of my healing powder on the mutt, but I took a liking to him. He was more helpful than most of the people in my village.



Eventually we ran out of Geckos, and I had to bring him back. I kind of wished I could bring him with me, but Nagor needed him more than I did.



After I rested to clear my head from the side effects of the medicine powder I headed out toward the bridge that was the only way in to Arroyo. Mynoc, the usual bridge guard, was standing there keeping watch and I noticed something a bit different about his spear as compared to my two. Let me tell you, asking another man why his spear looks different from yours is really hard to do without accidentally making it sound like you're interested in more than just weapons.



Luckily he knew what I really meant, and even more luckily I actually had the flint I'd stolen from my aunt with me.



With a minimum amount of awkwardness, I was the proud new owner of a freshly sharpened spear. I was also completely out of excuses to avoid leaving the village.



I crossed the bridge across the gorge, something I'd done dozens of times in my life, feeling like it was the first time and like I had developed a sudden fear of heights.



It was going to be a long walk to Klamath.