Cultivation is passion." Ren uttered the mantra, and he felt a strange calmness befall him. The day seemed like it would be yet another serene day when the silence got interrupted by a dreadful scream. Ren's attention was piqued instantly, that was no cry of joy or excitement, something was wrong.
He quickened his steps to the village eager to find what was it that had occurred. Tunish was so peaceful that Ren had doubts it was anything serious or important as he came down, but he did so nevertheless, he could not shake off the feeling of something terrible that was to come.
He saw people out of their huts, heading towards a direction and he went with them. He could hear mutters, whispers of death. After a few minutes of walking, Ren finally got to where the people gathered, he could hear sorrowful cries and shouts as he got closer. Then, he saw the terrible spectacle himself, bodies of people laid on the ground, some of them unmoving, and a few others remained convulsing, their muscles stiff, and mouths frothing.
Mothers held their dead children in their hands, and wailed, they worried for those on the verge of dying. Ren remained frozen, his eyes opened wide-eyed in shock, "What happened?" He said, not intending to have his thoughts spoken aloud.
"They were poisoned. Our well was poisoned as we slept." Eldrad commented, the wall of people broke away to have him come into the midst of the purple bodies. Rage was written on Eldrad's face, his face bore a hateful frown.
A man suddenly burst forth from the crowd, carrying a piece of animal skin that held a fluid. He moved to those who were not dead, and hastily gave all of them a drink, a common antidote for poisons. The people watched earnestly, hoping that the antidote would cure them, but nothing changed, even one died as they waited for them to get better.
"What poison is this?" The man cried, clearly frustrated. Eldrad too was frustrated, of all who watched, he was the one who bore the most emotions on his face. Hate, frustration, rage. He had to do something, the village chief could not just watch, he was as responsible for these children as their parents were.
"On the gods' honour, purple death." a voice uttered.
Ren turned to see Erigald with his hand over his mouth, he was the one who said the words, he knew what this was, what assailed these children.
"I have seen these in the days of my youth, I'll never forget." Erigald cried out, hoping to get the attention of the crowd.
"A mix of the leaves of Featherthorn and that of Sparrowveil would neutralize the poison. Does anyone have these in their homes?" Erigald cried. There were no responses, most of them had no idea what these plants even were.
Erigald went on to describe the appearances of both plants,and he urged the people to go looking for them; there was bound to be some of them present in the woods.
Immediately Erigald kindled hope that these children could survive, a message popped in Ren's mind, it was a new quest.
[Quest: Assail purple death]
[Rewards: +20 Charisma points, +15 gold coins]
[Failure results to: -12 charisma points]
[Duration: Thirty minutes]
[You have just thirty minutes to fulfill this quest]
A new quest, one that was quite incentivizing, but even without it, Ren would have gone in search of the plants. He immediately went into search, darting his eyes about, and replaying Erigald's descriptions in his mind, Featherthorn flowers were white with a red center, and Sparrowveil were grey in color, almost seeming deadened.
Ren had no idea when he had traveled that far into the woods, he knew he was someplace uphill, but where exactly he wasn't sure, and there, it came to him that he had barely done any exploration of the place. Of course, he knew the spots close to his home, and some landmarks by the village, but beyond that, he was mostly clueless. He was not lost however, he could tell that he was just uphill, to get to the village, he would just need to come down.
"Sparrowveil, Featherthorn." He mumbled. All he had seen so far were bushes, and a few flowers of little importance.
[Duration: 9 minutes, and 45 seconds.]
The pressure to find the flowers suddenly increased by tenfold. Sweat dribbled down his body, leaves stuck to his skin, his breath was quick from the exertion.
His attention was drawn to a noise, and he spotted the source, where he saw a rodent that looked just like a squirrel, numbing on some nut, and as soon as the little animal realized that Ren had locked his eyes on it, it scurried away, throwing away the nut.
Ren's eyes followed the nut as it rolled down the tree, and fell into a bush, rolling into the midst of a cluster of flowers.
"Featherthorn—white, with a center the color of blood." What laid before him was a smaller number of flowers that fitted the description, white with a red center.
"This must be it."
His luck had not run out, turning to his left he spotted a small bundle of Sparrowveil growing at the foot of a tree.
He swiftly pocketed some, and made his way down to the village, running frantically, the downward slope nudging his acceleration.
He jumped, ducked, slid as he avoided obstacles, and yet he stood a great chance at breaking his bones with how fast he came down. He eventually got beyond the midst of the trees, past his abode, moving on the path that led right to the village's center where the bodies lay.
'I will make it.' His body pushed to its limit.
[Duration: One minutes, forty-five seconds]
'I will make it.'
"Clear the way! clear the way!" He yelled to those on the path, he could not afford to decelerate now.
He reached the crowd, and knowing that they all would not react on time to get out of his way, he jumped on a the roof nearest to him, breaking it apart with his weight, but before it crumbled away, he was able to land at the center of the crowd, with a loud thud, causing mud to splatter on those nearby.
"I have got the leaves." He said excitedly, burying his hands into his pockets, and bringing out the crumpled leaves.
[Time has been elapsed]
[You have failed].