The Plague Part 4: Investigating the Growth (Private, Solo, Job)

For a few days Samira stayed in Beanstalk Village with the scientist and herbalist that had originally called her to that place. More so to make sure the infected animals stayed away from the villagers and their livestock to prevent the mysterious disease from spreading. That and she wasn't all too sure if there was anything worse in the nearby forest that may have been infected and could attack. Those few days had only a few incidents that were easily dealt with. The illness was contained in the forest now, which led to the next part of the plan to figure out what was going on.

During those few days the scientist got in touch with some of his colleagues and they sent him some devices to aid in advancing his research further. Practical. Of course the devices also only studied the plants instead of the more convenient animal samples from the corpses of the slain infected. There were not too many plant samples available. Even then there was the theory that the ones outside the forest and were plaguing nearby towns were only the first stage of the infection. There had to be more advanced stages further in where the infection started. Naturally Samira was the one that was the best suited to venture into that plague ridden forest. And so, having no real choice but to volunteer for the job, she was given the devices and some containers for samples early that morning and set off into the forest.

As time went by Samira began to find various plants that were out of place. Or so she assumed. The devices were to help with that. Supposedly they were able to pick up on whether there was magic within the plant and from there it could pinpoint other various things. Such as whether it was dark, light, or neutral. And another one detected whether the plant in question was harmful or harmless. Quite advanced really for plants that supposedly had unknown properties. But well, she was no herbal scientist. Her expertise was in the family hobby of archeology and other similar things of that nature, and so she really couldn't judge or comment on plants or the devices used to study them.

The first type of plant spotted was a generic sort, ones that seemed similar to the type that started the whole thing with her being involved in the first place. The device showed no magic essence was in its being. Still, she decided it wouldn't hurt to get a sample to add to the collection due to how much farther it was in the forest than the ones in the nearby villages and towns. The next plant that stood out was more troublesome. Several vine-like plants were running along the ground, a ground that was much darker than the rest and grey colored, as if dead or dying. Even the air seemed to be oddly colored and heavier. Samira scanned the vines from where she stood and found that the results produced that it was heavily corrupted. Getting a sample of that one would indeed be beneficial. However, the moment she stepped on the infected ground she felt a sort of burning from beneath her and even the air above the area that touched her skin affect her. This required her to put up a magical barrier so she could do what she needed to do, but even that was more difficult than it should have been. Instead of a plant, she would have to take ash instead. The plant itself died instantly the moment she broke a piece of it off from the rest, and nothing remained but dead particles.

(Total So Far: 615)

Plant number three was more of a crust-like substance that was growing on the bark layer of the forest trees. No magical signature to be found, but it was harvested anyway for research. Unlike the second one, it didn't break apart the moment she tore a chunck off. A full quality sample it was. Along the way to find even more strange substances, it was clear that more of the infected animals stalked the woods, stalking her even. Those that acted in a hostile way were dealt with accordingly just as they had been when they attacked the village days ago. There was no curing them as they were. They were too far gone. More infected pigs, wolves, and bears were eliminated.

Further into the woods, the trees got uglier and more tainted. The crust from the others completely covered the ones she now saw. A more advanced stage of the infection was on the trees that now surrounded her. A thick purple moss was growing in the place of what used to be leaves upon the branches. One tree limb hung down low enough for Samira to grab a hold of it and tear it off from the others for examination. At first it felt slimy and even stung a bit but then, just like the plants earlier, it turned to ash. Peculiar. She scanned the others and saw that there was no magic essence there. The dust was collected and added to the container for the scientist to figure out later. The last of the plants that Samira had time to run into before heading back was near water. It resembeled a type of algae, although purple in color. Scanning it proved that it had a sort of magical signature around it, and just by touching it, it seemed to drain a tiny bit of her own magic power. Not nearly enough to do anything by itself, but left unattended and to continue growing it could end up as some sort of disaster for the mage world. A sample of that was also added to her now, hopefully complete, collection. If there were anymore types inside that forest then they were in some serious trouble. The ones she found so far she thought were too much, and it made her wonder just how long the infection existed. Hopefully it wasn't too late to do anything about it before destroying the entire forest and the wildlife became the only solution left.

Once the last plant was collected, Samira made her way back to the village. It was much later in the day, evening really, and the scientist and herbalist were starting to worry. Apparently they thought she would have been back hours ago. Well... she probably could have been... if she thought about using her spirits to cover more ground much quicker. Why was it that she didn't think of the easier ways to handle a job or objective until it was already over? Well, it was what it was. The samples were given to them both to go over. For now, her presence was no longer required. The village would be safe for some time since the nearby wildlife that was giving it trouble was taken care of. The forest itself would be blocked off from the villagers and wandering tourists until everything was settled. Samira could leave now with the knowledge that she would be called again once the data and samples were researched. There was a bigger problem behind it all to deal with, after all. They just had to find out what.

(Word Count: 597
Total: 1212)

500 Words used for original job
500 Words used for D rank Freeform