Open - Enter The Grand Witch

Once upon a time, in a world filled with powerful magic and brave heroes, a wicked witch appeared. The witch's name was Majolica, though she would insist on being called Grand Witch Majolica. As any noble will tell you, titles are dreadfully important.

Grand Witch Majolica was excited to be here. She had heard rumors about this world and all its inhabitants. You see, Grand Witch Majolica was not born a witch, in fact, she was born without any magical power what so ever. Originally, Grand Witch Majolica's identity was a typical high school girl named Barbie. Barbie was a friendly and upbeat girl who loved games and computer programming. Through different internet sites, Barbie had heard rumors of a mysterious VR game that was unlike anything else. After some time, Barbie eventually received an email giving her information on how to play. Barbie was ecstatic, and as soon as she could, remade herself into Grand Witch Majolica, the greatest evil witch to ever grace the world of Terrasphere.

As Grand Witch Majolica materialized into the world she would surely one day rule, she jumped with excitement. "Hehehe! My grand conquest begins!" said the evil witch as she hopped, jumped, and tested her movements, joints, and limbs. While testing her movement, Majolica also noticed that she was perfectly equipped to be a witch. In her hand, she held a magical pitchfork staff. Perfect for casting spells, thought Majolica as she swung her staff from side to side. The Grand Witch was also equipped with a large pointy witch hat and a flashy, cute-yet-witchy dress ensemble. To top off the outfit, fake horns, demon wings, and a tail were added.

"THIS IS PERFECT!" Cried Majolica as she adjusted her hat, and straightened her wings.

After getting a feel for her new form, Majolica decided it was time to try her magic. One cannot be an evil witch without a great many dark spells after all. Unfortunately, Majolica would have to start from scratch. This world didn't allow Majolica the option of materializing as the all-powerful witch overlord she undoubtedly would eventually be. Instead, Majolica had only three humble spells. The first of these spells was a passive ability that could not be cast. It only took effect after Majolica defeated a non-player opponent. Majolica's second ability was a shout that strengthed Majolica whenever she said her magic phrase. This will come in handy, thought Majolica as she read on to her third ability. Majolica's final ability was a spell simply called shadow bats. It was a direct damage spell and most assuredly fit well into the Grand Witch's arsenal and thematics.

"Shadow bats it is then!" Majolica shouted as she readied herself to cast her first darkly magical spell. Unfortunately, Majolica could not find a target. "Well... after I find something to attack first! hehehe!"

Majolica skipped happily in the forest while keeping an eye out for a fresh victim. After a few moments, Majolica came across an angry looking boar. "Victim number one... hehe" whispered Majolica to herself as she readied her spell. Quickly jumping out from behind a bush, Majolica casted her first spell ever.

Holding out her staff, Grand Witch Majolica chanted, "SHADOWY BATS DESTROY THEIR STATS!"

Shadow Bats

​

All at once shadows converged seemingly from nowhere into an orb that grew wings. Suddenly, the orb shot out in the form of a bat. Quickly flying forward, then veering off course, the bat missed the boar completely hitting a tree and causing a small burst of shadowy energy.

"Oooooh, let's try again" said Majolica feeling not quite as confident as before. Unfortunately, the boar had noticed Majolica and was now facing her preparing to charge.

Aiming her staff once more, Majolica casted again. "Shadowy BATS DESTROY--" but the boar was already charging and about to ram into the Grand Witch's chest. Majolica jumped to the side causing the spell to misfire. A shadowy bat appeared and flew backward knocking off Majolica's hat and getting tangled in her hair. Majolica screamed and she scrambled to remove the shadowy bat from her pink locks.

As she screamed and swatted, the bat eventually dematerialized into shadows. Majolica was flustered and wanted to cry, and it was then she noticed the boar redying itself for another charge.

"Oooooh, it wasn't supposed to go like this!" grumbled Majolica with teary eyes. "I'm supposed to be the strongest witch ever!" hearing those words gave Majolica a twinge of confidence. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. That's right...

"GRAND WITCH MAJOLICA IS THE STRONGEST WITCH EVER!"

Witch's Declaration

​

Feeling rejuvenated, the Grand Witch issued a challenge to the boar.

"That's right you idiot boar! I'm the strongest witch ever! You'll never defeat me."

The boar charged with full force, but Majolica was ready. With a smooth side-step, Majolica dodged the boar's charge and whacked it on the head with her staff. The boar tumbled down with a roll.

"It's over, boar!" Majolica shouted before casting her spell again.

"SHADOW BATS DESTROY THEIR STATS!"

Shadow Bats

​

This time, the bat flew directly at the boar and burst. The boar was defeated.

"Hehehe! You never stood a chance boar!" Suddenly, Majolica heard a feminine voice behind her.

"Excuse me are--"

"SHADOW BATS DESTROY THEIR STATS!"

Shadow Bats

​

The voice had startled her and she had instinctively cast her spell. The bat flew forward then dived around a tree.

"Ahh!" Cried the female voice before it was promptly cut off.

"Uh oh..." Majolica jogged quickly around the tree and found a small green frog with a lovely head of flaxen blonde hair. Next to the frog was a basket containing an assortment of wild mushrooms and edible plants. It was then the Grand Witch realized what had happened. She had accidentally shot a spell at an NPC woman gathering plants. The attack would have killed the woman, but her passive skill kicked in. Now the woman was her bewitched toad. Majolica studied the toad as it croaked angrily.

"Th...that's right hehe... you're my-- Grand Witch Majolica's first... bewitched... victim." This wasn't good, thought Majolica. What if the police came and arrested her? But then, Majolica realized this was a fantasy world and no one would probably come. And anyway, thought Majolica, she was an evil witch. This is what she was supposed to be doing! Besides, if this woman had a family, she could just go visit them and turn them all into frogs.

"They could be a happy little froggy family under my rule!" Majolica said to herself petting the frog's blonde hair. It was then, Majolica heard another noise from the bushes. She quickly yet carefully put the frog into her pocket and raised her staff.

"Who's there?!"

 

It was pretty normal for her to scurry around the woods with a hurried demeanor lately. What wasn't normal was having to cover her ears in this part of the woods from insanely loud shouts that made her miss her ear defenders in the real world. She heard something about bats, something about a witch- but it was all kind of blurred in her head, likely from the headache the intensity caused.

When she was rustling a bush mostly because she was stuck on it, she was caught off guard by being asked to reveal herself and was seemingly being scolded for hiding (with only a few words, of course).

"I'm not coming out until you lower your voice!" She groaned softly. She'd been working on finishing off mastering naturamancy, but seemingly this bush was not intending to be her friend like the flowers not far away.

Seriously, why was this day so intent on making her want to break something?

Finally, she managed to hum a tune this bush seemed to like, making it move enough so that she was no longer caught on one of it's safe but sticky thorns. Sifting her way out, she waved nervously to the intensely loud voice from before, finally able to see the owner. "Sorry about that. I got kind of... Stuck in that bush. Been trying to cut through here for a while..."

Though timid, she took a few steps closer. She was small, particularly compared to the woman before her, likely shorter or around as short as the bush had been in her mind. Her eyes caught the boar that was dead in the background, the basket of mushrooms and an unusual noise. "Jeez, I play half to get away from my weird senses... Why is everything so loud today...?"

Eyes darting to the basket not long after she finally managed to calm her skull, the girl sang softly for a moment. Her small voice seemed to reach the ground that had clear patches of emptiness from the mushroom picking, a few popping up to return some color to the spot they'd once stood.

"Ah, by the way, the ones with the white spots? Don't eat those. They're poisonous. Though I've heard if used the right way some alchemists put them in medicine, I have my doubts about it." It was as she stared at the mushrooms she realized why her head was aching, as she adjusted her display to show her her own health needs. "Speaking of eating... Do you have any egg colored mushrooms in there? I mean like yolk colored, shaped kind of like a funnel..."

 

Why are the inhabitants of this world obsessed so much in hunting other creatures?

Darko had a recurring thought in his mind as he walked around the forest one day. He needed to hunt everything that was listed on the paper that he was holding, as it was the mission given to him by an NPC in the starting village, Honeyhome in Brisshal. To be sure, it was the first hunting mission given to him in this whole game. Darko had done a number of quests in the village, which had made his pockets full and his masteries trained, but this would be the first time that he would engage in fighting off creatures as a mission. He had fought some creatures to try out what he had in his arsenal, but that was long ago when he was still starting out. He would then try to test it again on some monsters now that he had increased his masteries.

Not too long on his search he saw a deer at his front, eating grass. Fortunately it did not notice Darko sneaking up to it. Darko then read the list, it was one of those which he should hunt for the quest. He then started to chant Latin phrases under his breath as he pointed his staff towards the deer. As he was chanting, something like a small warp hole appeared at the front of the staff, and what was coming from the warp hole looked like chains made from the warp hole as those were of the same color: pitch black; the chains were still hazy, implying that they were still not complete. As the chant progresses, the chains became more solid in form and were gaining depth as the chant progressed. When he determined that the chains were enough to finish off the opponent, he stopped the chant, and the chains were let loose towards the deer, binding it from the head to the feet; and considerable binding towards the neck and nose. As the deer were bound in the chains that Darko created, it struggled mightily, making Darko wince. But as Darko estimated, it will be over in a short time as he pulled doubly on the deer's nose as he pulled on its neck. There was quite a considerable struggle, but Darko's intent came true as the deer's neck was twisted so much that it was killed from the twisting.

It is such hard work to search for the animal, and it is a hard task to subdue it and kill it. Any half-assed tactic can even lead to death.

As Darko had known, it would take a minute for the spell to mature so much that it could kill a deer with only that kind of magic. Anything less than that would entail him to consume more energy that he had planned to use, and even then might not lead to the animal's death easily. It would mean even death for him since he did not know any weapon mastery or martial arts. And even he had such, it would be hard subduing such an animal, and could injure him. And so he erred on the side of caution and continued with the very long spell that could kill the deer with not much resistance and with only one spell and less energy consumption on his part.

He then continued walking until he saw a boar, which was also part of the list to be hunted. But it seemed that it had another target: a person which was wearing an outfit befitting a witch. Darko instantly knew that her type of magic was likely either like his own or it was Arcanamancy which uses non-elemental magic in form of violet rays, based on her clothing. He then saw a dead boar near her, maybe it was killed by that woman, and that might be why the boar was slowly moving towards the woman. Seeing this, Darko then started chanting. It was not to save the woman from the boar, but to claim the boar kill that would be incoming as his own. By his estimation, the time that the chant should be done would be one minute, same as the deer from earlier. The same warp hole then surfaced, and the chains were then seen to grow from it. As Darko was about to be finished chanting, the boar then charged at the woman. The chant being finished in time, the chains shot out from the bush where he was hiding, towards the back of the woman, and tied themselves at the boar before it made contact with its horns at the woman. The boar was then dragged towards the bush, and it would be seen that the head of the boar was twisted towards its back, and some bone could be heard snapping as the chained boar was dragged to the location of Darko. The boar was dead when it reached Darko.

"Second target, complete." Darko muttered under his breath.

 

As Majolica readied herself for whomever or whatever was about to come out of the bushes she suddenly heard a voice asking Majolica to keep her voice down. Then, with what seemed like a bit of struggle, a small girl worked her way through the growth. Finally getting out, the girl mentioned she had been trying to cut through the brush for a while and then proceeded to cast a spell regrowing some mushrooms. As Majolica watched the mushrooms grow, the girl said something about not eating them as they were poisonous.

“Hehehe! Of course, I would never fall victim to lowly poisonous mushrooms such as these! Hehehe! I am Grand Witch Majolica, future witch-overlord of this world! It would be preposterous to be brought down by a mushroom!”

What the hell is going on right now?

Majolica had no idea what was happening. Why was this girl talking about mushrooms? Did her bats look like mushrooms? No, that’s impossible. Her bats looked like bats. It was then she noticed the basket filled with mushrooms at her feet.

Ohhhh! The frog lady! She was picking mushrooms! Wait, if these are poisonous didn’t I just save her?

She would ponder that question later. Right now, she needed to pretend to not be an evil witch. What if this person was a hero? It wouldn’t do to be smited within her first hour of landing.

"Just don’t let her know you’re a witch…"

“Evil witches don’t concern themselves with mushrooms!”

Damn! I said that outloud didn't I... ooooh... Gotta roll with it!

“I… don’t know where this basket came from! Someone must have left it. Huehuehue! Therefore, I’m sure whoever this basket belong to would be fine if you looked through it and—I don’t know, maybe trade them for some of your mushrooms, or something? That seems fair.”

Majolica scratched her head, then realized that she was being too nice.

“… and… and after you trade, I will take all the mushrooms and… THROW THEM IN THE RIVER! YES! Hehehe! Another dastardly plan will come to fruition… this whole damn world is mine."

Reaching up to her head to cock her hat stylishly, the Grand Witch realized that her hat was missing.

"Oh no! My hat!"

Majolica scrambled back towards the boar... which wasn't dead. The boar, angry, once again began to charge Majolica.

No time to cast... hue hue... guess there's only one thing to do.

"AHHH! RUN!"

Majolica pivoted 180 degrees and hit a dead sprint. As she ran, she suddenly noticed that she couldn't hear the boar behind her. Turning around, Majolica saw the boar bound in evil-looking chains.

I didn't even know I could do that!

"Hehehe! Face the might of the Grand Witch you stupid boar!"

The chains began dragging the boar backward, which was when Majolica noticed the spell's caster standing there.

Is he impressed by my evil chains spell that I didn't know I had? Oh... it was his evil chains spell. I want evil chains...

Majolica gathered herself up so that way she could look competent and not like she almost got gored by a boar.

"Hehehe! You there! I see you have also delved into the darkest witchery! Hehe, I am Grand Witch Majolica! Future evil witch overlord queen of this world!"

Majolica again reached her hat.

"Shoot! Where is itttttt!"

While she looked around, the frog-woman Majolica had been carrying in her pocket managed to leap out on to the ground.

"Ah! Nooo froggy don't!"

Watching Majolica chase the frog around in circles looked like a routine straight out of a comedy act. After a couple minutes, Majolica finally succeeded in re-capturing her frog captor. While brushing some sweat from her brow, Majolica finally noticed her hat a few paces away on the ground. The hat was a bit dusty but no worse for wear. She jogged over to it.

THERE IT IS! Is it okay? Yess... no harm done. Okay! Now then.

Majolica brushed some dirt off her hat, put it on carefully, then jogged back to her previous position and took up what she thought looked like a witchy pose.

"Hehehe! And who might you be, fellow practioner of dark and vile magics!"

For the moment, she had forgotten about the basket and the girl she had left behind in the bushes.

@Darko Ljubicic @Harveste

 

To her surprise, the woman was rather surprised to hear about the mushrooms- which, logistically, meant someone else had been here before with them. Well, honestly, that just meant the basket could be a trap knowing Harveste's luck. She did, after all, tend to have horrible luck in general. After all, would a lucky person get stuck in a bush when they have naturamancy of all things? Surely not!

Then again, what was logic to a writer? The girl had no idea anymore.

"The Grand Witch...?" She tasted the name on her tongue, trying to decide if that meant this person was an NPC or not- it was, after all, rather hard to tell in general with people these days. The longer players were in the world, the less confused the 'locals' had become by the weird chatter they often had. Sure, they still found them weird- but there were lots of reasons to find that to be the case!

For example, again... A naturamancer getting stuck in a bush.

It seemed like her mind wasn't going to give her any freedom from that memory anytime soon. She grimaced as she dusted herself off, before noticing the randomness of Majolica's words. Throwing gathered mushrooms in a river? That was a petty prank, but it wasn't a nice thing either. It wasn't horrible, though. She could grow more mushrooms, so if someone were going to have their mushrooms thrown out, at least it would be her, right?

Wait, that was right! The mushrooms! "Now that I think about it, I was collecting mushrooms for a quest. Some lady asked me to help find some of a specific kind... I couldn't find any, though, but thought they'd grow nicely here. But then I got hungry and started looking for berries and got caught in that bush- ugh... My belly feels like it's going to eat me if I don't eat soon..."

Groaning, she dug into the seemingly orphaned basket. She took one safe mushroom and plopped it whole in her mouth, glad she'd researched them recently for a story. "Hrm... Not bad. I never have had wild mushrooms before... Oh! Want one? I can apologize to whoever owns the basket la- hey wait!"

Before she could finish her question, the 'witch' had run after her lost hat. Clutching the basket they'd left behind, she wanted to know if the woman knew anything. She followed her with due haste, especially when the boar came afterward. Another stranger seemed to subdue it easily enough, to her surprise- and relief- and when Majolica had gotten her hat back, the woman became a bit focused on the man.

Naturally, Harveste did as well. Perhaps for different reasons, though, as she held out a safe-to-eat mushroom to him with a smile. "I warn you I don't know whose basket this actually is... But the mushrooms are safe to eat and tasty. Magic takes energy, and food gives it back, right? Think of it as thanks for stopping mister boar. Sadly, I was in too much of a rush not to get hit by it that I didn't get to try to possess it instead."


@Grand Witch Majolica @Darko Ljubicic

 

As Darko stared at what was happening in front of him, he was wondering how he had descended in this situation. It would seem that it was because of what he had done to the boar. But it was as if anyone could not do that same feat of restricting and constricting the boar to its death with only one spell. As he read the spell, he thought it could be done by just about everyone who had the Malefimancy mastery set, and similar spells could be found within the other mastery sets. The spell, moreover, was a spell that would take a long time before it could go on fruition, any missed words could lead to cancelling the spell without refunding the energy used, and this particular spell had a long incantation phrase that should be repeated in order to produce better results. As such, it was not a good spell to use in situations where he was on a solo mission, this particular instance being an exception. And so he was wondering why they were fawning over his ability which they themselves could do with proper training. Or maybe he did too much of everything the hard way back in Serbia.

As he then saw the witch strike a pose, Darko could not figuratively hide his face which was brimming with extreme cringe. And why not, he was seeing someone taller and looking older than his appearance doing something he would expect from someone around 7-8 years old. If the other person did it, he would never be surprised. But seeing a quite tall person doing that? Well her skills in Malefimancy were quite very powerful as he saw the frog with blonde hair which meant that she might have cursed the frog, but thinking about the pose made Darko think: Is it really necessary? She was looking more like a magical girl... err grown up magical girl which never changed her magical girl ways into something more befitting of a grown-up woman dabbling in the magical arts.

When the witch person, who from before introduced herself as... Grand Witch Majolica - Darko thinking about it with extreme cringe when he saw how she responded against the boar - stopped speaking, Darko then replied, in quite an indifferent tone barely masking his extreme disdain of the person before him, "Darko Ljubicic. Well if you say you are a Grand Witch, maybe I should call myself Grand Archmagus of Eternal Doom." As the smaller woman told him about how draining magic could be on the energy of the user, and handing over a mushroom to him, Darko split the mushroom in half and gave the other half back at the person who gave it to him, and then said, "Well I should know better than to receive food from a complete stranger, much less a wild mushroom which could be poisonous." He then stared at the dead boar. "Maybe that would pass as a meal for the three of us? People can sometimes go crazy if deprived of the proper amount of food." As he said the second sentence, he reared his pupils towards Majolica, his stare implying that maybe that person was just hungry or something.

 

Grand Archmagus of Eternal Doom? Well, that's a stupid sounding title.

Majolica accepted the mushroom from @Harveste .

"Mmm... thanks?"

Turning her attention back to Darko, she pointed the mushroom at him.

"Ehhh....? Well, that sounds stupid. Eternal doom for who? You? Everyone? Regular people? I'm a Grand Witch because I'm a Grand Witch. I actually do witch things, making me a real witch. Do you do eternal doom things to people? I don't even know what that would be? You can only doom someone until they die, right? hehehe."

Majolica sat down on the ground in criss-cross applesauce position.

"Eternal doom for a nation? No, because once the city is destroyed the doom is over, unless the doom never comes and it's an eternal threat of doom? What would the doom be anyway...?"

As Majolica thought through the meaning of "eternal doom" she took a bite of the mushroom.

Hey, this isn't bad! I bet I could live off these if I was stuck in the woods and some strangers just happened to have a campfire that I could sit next to and grill food with or something!

Majolica stood back up and walked to Harveste.

"Hehehe! This is pretty good... people just find these things in the forest, huh? At least now I know I won't starve. Hehehe! Stupid boars will never defeat Grand Witch Majolica, and now neither will hunger!"

While talking to Harveste, Majolica heard Darko suggest cooking the boar.

"Hehehe, well, well... it would seem Darko 'of the Eternal Doom...'"

Majolica snickered and stuffed the rest the mushroom in her mouth. While chewing, she continued to address @Darko Ljubicic .

"... does have some good ideas now and then. Unfortunately, even I, The Grand Witch, has no idea how to cook! Or use pyromancy! Or even build a campfire! HAHA! Though shooting fire might be cool... especially if it was evil green fire... hehehe... but really, I'm more of a lightning girl myself, which is, of course, nothing compared to my dark witch's spells... hehehe."

Majolica sat down on the ground again while resting her head lazily in her hand.

"Anyway, cooking and making fires sounds hard and boring, like peasant work. Unless we're using cauldrons, as Grand Witch, all of that is beneath me. Of course, if you wanted to cook the boar I could take part in your meal as a personal favor."

She turned to Harveste.

"You know how to cook boar?"

 

"It's not like I'd give you a mushroom if I figured it dangerous," Harveste replied to the man. Surely though, he had a point. Naturally, one wouldn't blindly accept food from strangers. To show him it was safe, she accepted the half he returned to her and chewed it thoroughly after placing it in her mouth, smiling.

It was a somewhat sweet taste. She had to admit, she rather liked it.

"I don't know what you mean by 'eternal doom', but... I'd pass on that myself, most likely. I'm all for new experiences, but... That one doesn't sound like one meant to be enjoyed. I'm already easily spooked."

Her words were said with a timid laugh as she took an ear to the witch not long after. She shook her head when asked if she knew how to cook a boar, her shoulders shrugging as she took out another mushroom from the basket she adopted, taking a bite from the new one. "I can't cook for my life. I can make plants grow to cook, though. So... I make good salad, I guess?"

Through her racing blood she felt her heart skip a beat. She'd gotten used to (at least to some extent) the sight and smell of a carcass in the woods- but being used to things didn't mean liking them. It would probably be easier to look at once it was cooked. Until then, she felt like she was in a deserted graveyard.

"I wonder if it found happiness in its doom... Death probably counts as a form of doom, right?" Her eyes were soon fixated on the two malefimancers. At least one of them had to know the answer since they'd been talking about the topic!

@Grand Witch Majolica | @Darko Ljubicic

 

Darko sighed as he heard the words of Majolica and then said, as he materialized a large leather bag from his inventory, "Well, maybe I should put it in my list, that you do not understand sarcasm." As he was saying that, he was chewing on the half of the mushroom that Harveste gave him. The taste was somewhat like a button mushroom in that it was not that much earthy and quite sweet, and Darko quite liked it. He then opened the leather bag, which, on a cursory search, contained some unfinished grimoires, and would include the large leather scroll that Darko brought out of it. He unrolled the scroll, and as he unrolled it, scissors, knives, needles, candles, and other things of assorted length and color could be seen inserted within the scroll. Darko then got something like a tong with one of its ends terminated into a rough rock, and then a red candle from the scroll, and then struck the ends of the tong together near the wick of the candle. As the sparks touched the wick, it was instantly set on fire. He then gathered some dry leaves, lighted the mass with the candle, and then dragged fallen branches of increasing size towards the resulting fire, and the fire grew until it became a decent bonfire. Darko then blew the fire of the candle away and returned it to the leather scroll. He then took two knives, one which looked like a machete, and one which was long and thin, and started removing the hide from the boar and gutting it. After only the meat had been left of the boar, he touched the hide and the inner organs of the boar, and those disappeared, and it would be known that he had placed those in his inventory. He then scrounged again at the bag, and got a small jar from it. As Darko did not take the Cooking mastery, the only he could do to the boar right now was to season it with salt and roast the whole thing on the fire so that it would be more palatable, but the total change in the health meters would only be as if he ate the raw thing. Not long after this, the smell of fat being cooked on the fire wafted around the area. Darko, after packing up everything save a few knives, smelled that, and was quite satisfied. So this was the meaning of hunting. By eating what you have hunted, you were paying your respect towards the foe you have vanquished with your hands. You feel at one with nature were challenges and battles are normal happenings.

But nothing is more refreshing than eating what would be the fruit of your tedious labor in the woods.

Sighing contentedly, he then took the canteen which was always slung from under his coat, and drank its contents, as he was turning the boar meat.

 

Majolica watched as @Darko Ljubicic prepared the meat. It was actually quite fascinating to watch him with all of his gear get the pig roasting.

"Well, well, well! I actually didn't expect you to have all of that stuff in your bag hehehe... and here I thought we were going to have to eat it raw! Hehe, not that I would have. That's disgusting. We're not monsters after all. OOOH! I KNOW! What if we grill some mushrooms too! That can be the side!"

Majolica wiped a trickle of drool from the corner of her mouth.

" @Harveste you have enough right? Or you could use some of that mushroom magic to grow some? Hehehe... this is turning into quite a feast! Unfortunately, the only thing I have with me is this frog."

Majolica pulled out the flaxen-haired frog, which squirmed as if trying to get away.

"Stop it! You're safe with me!"

She put the frog back in her pocket.

"And we can't eat her. She's my pet... hehehe! But, since everyone is working so hard, I think it would be very boarish of me... hehe, nice... to not do something to add to our lunch. Prepare yourselves, knaves! For now, I will perform an awe-inspiringly wicked song! hehehe..."

Majolica cleared her voice then stood up and took a proper singing position.

"and a 1... and a 2... and...a... Ma-Jolicaaaa Ma-Jolicaaa... the Grand Witch is the bestttt Ma-Jolicaaa Ma-Jolicaaa... way better than the Witch of the Westtt, she'll turn you to a frog, don't be such a hog, she's way better than the rest... Ma-Jolicaaa Ma-Jolicaaa she get's an A on ev-everyyy testttt. EVERYBODY! MA-JOLICAAA MA-JOLICAAA BY KNOWING HER YOU ARE BLESSSED! MA-JOLICAAA, MA-JOLICAAA WE PLEDGE OURSELVES TO YOU AND... THIS. WE. ATESSSSTTTTTT!"

Majolica threw up her hat, caught it on her head. She then threw up some spirit fingers for dramatic effect.

"...AND MANY MOOOOOOORE!"

Satisfied with her performance, Majolica sat back down.

I'm amazing.

"So, what were you two doing in the forest? Hunting mushrooms and boars? Why?"

 

Watching with wonder as the man took out tools meant for cooking and crafts, Harveste was surprised when he seemed to lack the proper skillset for the tools he had. "I didn't know you could do minor things without a cooking mastery. If I weren't a pyrophobe... I could try too. All I can really make is salad by growing plants for it."

Around that moment, she was asked for more mushrooms. Surely, the girl could grow enough- but sometimes, she had trouble making sure they weren't toadstools. Still, she sang of a forest of fungi, filling a small patch of grass with more mushrooms for them to munch on. She picked them readily, holding them up as a bundle in her arms.

"I don't know the best way to grill or roast them, but they should be a good healthy addition. I think I saw some mustard plants not far from here too. We could add those in for some greens... Maybe some berries, if I see some safe ones."

Her wide grin remained as she listened to the witch start singing a song rather randomly. It reminded her of the play Wicked due to mentioning a witch in the west, making her ponder which part of Oz the woman might deem herself from. However, Harveste would note later on that she wasn't going to be a minion or pledge her loyalty.

"It's an interesting song though. What about you, mister~? Do you have any songs to sing during the picnic? You already prepped the main dish. You should make sure to have some fun too!"

Before she got her answer, Majolica asked a rather adept question. Why was the girl here? Why was the man hunting a boar in the beginning, and what was the witch doing wandering these woods too? A witch, a hunter and a harvest sprite walked in the forest... It was like a bad joke.

"Sadly, I have no real 'reason'. I come into the forest to help some villagers that live near it with things like gathering plants they need sometimes or come to play with the animals when I'm bored. Today I was helping someone trying to find truffles for a souffle. I found other mushrooms instead, though- they should be happy as long as they're edible..."

 

"Only barbarians would like their meat raw," Darko replied as he was twirling a knife with his right hand. "Fortunately for you I like my pork mildly roasted with a bit of seasoning. As the drunkards say, the pig is a beautiful animal, gourmand speak of course." He then removed the boar meat from the fire while its outside was quite brown, and then carved it while it was still on the makeshift spit, the carving was quite rough and only equally divided. He then took a portion and placed it on a wooden plate that he took out earlier, and then returned the spit to a position quite far from the fire, enough to keep it heated. He then watched as the small woman started to sing, and then some more mushrooms like that which he had eaten sprouted in the vicinity. He then said, as he assisted the small woman in picking mushrooms, in response to what the woman had said before, "At least you could do these things. How convenient. Maybe if those who gather plants, herbs and other things for food saw you could sprout plants from almost scratch, they would be envious."

As he was asked by the small woman if he could sing to lighten the mood, he quickly replied, "I suggest not if you aren't willing to hear something like metal screeches. I am willing to imagine you are not masochists for not hearing me sing." He then cut one part of the boar meat in his plate with a knife and then used two mushrooms so that it would form something like a sandwich as he ate it like that. Although the boar meat was quite tough, it still tasted like pork, and together with the mushrooms, it formed a mixture of creamy, sweet and savory tastes, and Darko liked it as he smiled while chewing and swallowing the whole thing. As he was asked by the "grand witch" why he was here, he just said, "Just doing a bidding of another hunter who did not want to move his lazy ass to hunt his own food. But I am paid to do this so I would never complain any further." After another swig of the fluid in the container that was slung from under his coat, he the said, after his mood was quite lightened after that bite, "Well I said I will never sing for you. However, I would tell you a story about the beginning of the adventure of an obscure magical researcher." He then took another slice of the boar meat, and then sandwiched it with two mushrooms again and ate it.

 

Seeing that the boar was done, Majolica got up and ripped off a hunk of boar and gave it a good chomp.

"Hmm.. Mmm! Yummy."

She grabbed a handful of mushroom and shoved them into her mouth.

"Hehehe! Now, this is the life!"

The food had put Majolica in a good mood.

"You know, you two aren't half bad. At first, I thought I might have to blast you two, but I guess you guys are good guys."

Majolica bounced happily eating.

"Someday, when I rule this whole place, I'll give you two an always open offer to be my two personal chefs. I guess that's a ways off though. So, you guys just come in here to hunt some stuff, huh? That's handy. Do people pay a lot for hunting and gathering jobs? Seems like kind of a pain. You get all dirty an what not. I don't really know if it's really my style. I can't really grow things either."

Majolica turned to @Harveste ,

"...but that seems like it would be a pretty easy gig for you right? Someone says they need a mushroom and you're like, 'oh okay' and then you walk into the forest and grow a bunch, take a nap, then come back like, 'Woah, I found so many...' easy pickings. Speaking of that, you some kind of druid or something?"

The Grand Witch took another bite of pork, and while chewing turned to @Darko Ljubicic .

"After Harveste tells me all about this mushroom growing power, I'd be willing to listen to a story. Especially if it's a true story. Ooooooh! Does have it a witch? Or an area that I could explore and follow the researcher's trail to find some secret powerful artifact! Hehehe... that's exactly what I need!"

Majolica turned back to Harveste.

"You first though, what's the deal with your druid magic."

 

"I'm no masochist, but I wouldn't have guessed I'd meet someone whose singing sounds like it must be similar to my father's." The girl laughed lightly as she tried to imagine the screeching sounds the man had implied. Nope, imagining it hurt enough. She'd avoid hearing it at all costs, or so it seemed.

Being a naturamancer hadn't quite changed her enjoyment of meat. She was happy to use her hands mostly as she bit into the tough tissue, struggling to break through it with her teeth before happily chewing it thoroughly, swallowing the big bite in a few small gulps to make sure it went down. She took a heated mushroom and ate it, preferring to keep the textures separate in her mouth.

As they ate, she hummed happily until questions and conversation began to arise once more. She opted to answer @Grand Witch Majolica first.

"I have what's called 'naturamancy'. It's a form of magic you could choose when you were going through the mastery list. Basically, my magic works best when it involves plants and the like, and when I'm in an area with lots of greenery or soil. I can possess animals to some degree, too- share their bodies, so to speak, though that leaves my own body in danger when I do. I'm only good at it at all because I've practiced a lot. I stick to small animals still to feel at ease, though."

Finished with her explanation, she took another bite of the boar and another mouthful of mushrooms not long after. "I'm no chef, I'm just good at making plants grow. It's kind of like they're my friends. I guess if my job were just to make a salad I'd do okay... But considering I'm actually a pyrophobe, just sitting here like this is pretty amazing for me." She laughed, looking to the man that had done the majority of the work.

She asked @Darko Ljubicic with a smile, "So! Story time, you said? I'd love to be the listener for a change~ I love to hear the tales others have to tell."