Quest D04: Save the Saplings (sponsor: Fauna the Kirin)
Deforestation is horrible! Dryad saplings are almost indistinguishable from regular tree saplings, and they're in terrible risk of being chopped down by human woodcutters. Save them before they're turned into firewood!
- Identify the dryad saplings and save them from deforestation.
Reward: 3x dryad branches
Quest Report (Part 1 / Incomplete) - Lariel
Normally, Lariel the dryad didn't care very much about the monkeys.
Monkeys were sort of like insects. They swung on tree branches and ate fruit and seeds, but for the most part they were harmless. Monkeys had too short of a lifespan for most dryads to care about, so it's very understandable for a tree to completely overlook them. In Lariel's world, all mosquitos were practically indistinguishable, and likewise Lariel would struggle very hard if you asked him to tell apart an orangutang, a gorilla, and a
homo sapien.
...Weren't they all just... monkeys?
They all kind of looked similar anyways.
Actually, Lariel was quite convinced that humans were just a breed of gorilla.
For this reason, you must understand that Lariel didn't think very much of the rumors that humans had arrived on the eastern edge of the Monster Continent. Since they were just monkeys, you might as well have told Lariel that a large troop of gorillas washed ashore at the edge of the sea. Weird incidents happened every now and then, and it was certainly interesting enough for the birds to gossip about (eww,
birds -- they gossiped about everything). However, Lariel was generally too busy photosynthesizing to really care about a bunch of a monkeys.
Until... of course... a goblin told Lariel that
Fauna the Kirin had declared an emergency.
Huh?
An emergency?
Allegedly, these monkeys were very nasty, brutish, and short.
Allegedly, these monkeys liked to bludgeon slimes with sticks and then swallow slime-rocks whole.
Allegedly, these monkeys were barbarians who set their mortal enemies on fire and ate the charred remnants of their blackened flesh.
Allegedly, these monkeys were sociopaths that heartlessly trampled on helpless baby saplings in the forest.
There were countless allegations spinning around the forest, and Lariel couldn't keep track of all of the horrible rumors that were circulating. In the 44-year-old dryad's opinion, some of the accusations sounded unbelievable, and Lariel simply couldn't believe that there was such terrible thing as a mutant carnivorous slime-eating monkeys that would set their prey on fire. It sounded rather nightmarish, and Lariel would prefer to never encounter such a frightening mutated creature.
However, Lariel could not ignore the Kirin's call.
If it was indeed true — Lariel felt a compelling need to save the saplings.
After all, Lariel was a dryad too. It was only a few decades ago that Lariel was an innocent sapling himself, unable to uproot himself or escape from horrible beings that threaten the balance of nature itself. Nobody would protect the saplings unless Lariel stood up for them, and it was the duty of those privileged with shape-shifting legs to protect the vulnerable flora of the forest they call home.
Word count: 455