Maybe Not Every Plan is a Good Plan

The sun had fully set but Daffodil wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet, so he decided to organize his new pack. Asterion, who didn’t seem to want to go to bed until Daffodil did, sat near the fire for light and started sharpening Ol’ Reliable with a whetstone.

Daffodil took his new bag out of his inventory and took the time to really examine it. He had no clue how someone had managed to create a portable greenhouse in a medieval world, and even after close inspection he still couldn’t begin to figure it out. Shrugging his shoulders, Daffodil undid the clasp and lifted up the see-through top of the bag. When he did so, a new menu appeared that looked like any other pack menu. There were thirty slots in total and each slot was shaped like a planting pot instead of the typical dotted square. Thirty spots wasn’t a whole lot of room so Daffodil needed to plan things out perfectly to optimize the growing space.

“I thought you might like these,” Asterion said. Daffodil startled as he saw the man hovering over him. He must’ve been so absorbed in his task that he hadn’t noticed Asterion’s movements. Asterion held a small packet of seeds in his hand and extended it to Daffodil so he could read it. They were daffodils, Daffodil realized. It looked like they were enchanted and gave a magical boon to whatever potion they were added to.

Daffodil took the packet gratefully and said, “Thank you. I’m sure these will come in handy.” Now he had twenty-nine more slots to fill.

As Asterion sat back down and continued the rhythmic motion of sharpening his swords, Daffodil opened his regular menu and toggled over to his inventory to look at what planting supplies he’d brought with him. Luckily, Daffodil had been smart enough to carry his potting soil with him—he had even remembered to bring the really good stuff he’d engineered himself that allowed plants to bear produce twice as often, which would make up for the small amount of space.

After adding soil to every slot in his pack, Daffodil started to select the seeds he needed. He tried to pick a mixture of plants required for his most used potions and bombs, medicinal herbs used in healing salves, and a variety of food they would enjoy when stuck in the wilderness. Once each pot had seeds gently tucked in it, he watered every slot and closed the pack menu. Now when Daffodil looked through the clear front of the bag, he could see tiny pots filled with freshly tilled dirt. He couldn’t wait to see the bag full of greenery.

It was getting late and they had a lot of traveling to do in the morning, so Daffodil said, “I’m gonna go to bed now. You should do the same.” Asterion nodded and put away Ol’ Reliable.

Daffodil summoned his bedroll and laid it next to the fire, looking forward to the heat he had been missing the last few nights. Asterion mirrored his movements on the opposite side of the fire. Daffodil murmured a quiet goodnight to Asterion and was out before he could hear Asterion respond.

. . .

Waking up next to a mountain was a new experience for Daffodil and one he discovered he did not like. For starters, it was cold as hell for late spring, even with the last few embers of their fire putting up a valiant fight. It was also very wet; the temperature difference between his bedroll and the ground was so great that condensation had formed on it and was slowly seeping into him. The only positive was that it encouraged Daffodil to start his day quickly.

Daffodil wanted to eat a few bites of random food he had in his inventory and get going, but he knew they would be traveling all day and would want a hearty breakfast. Reluctantly, Daffodil brought the fire back to life and started cooking a pot of oats. By the time the oats were almost done cooking, Asterion was awake and packing up the rest of camp. He gratefully accepted the bowl of food Daffodil extended to him and the two sat on a log to eat their breakfast.

“We should plan the rest of our journey,” Asterion said after a bite of oats.

Daffodil nodded. “You’re the expert here. How do we get to Sarina?”

“There’s two ways we could go,” Asterion explained. Daffodil took the map out of his inventory and balanced it on his legs, and Asterion began pointing at the different routes. “The first option is to take the river. It’s too powerful for us to ford ourselves, but we can hire a ferry to take us all the way to the end,” he said as he traced the squiggling river and pointed at the drop off area. “The problem is it’s really slow and would take all day. It’ll be night by the time we get off the ferry, so we’d have to make camp in the dark and walk the final two hours to Sarina tomorrow. This is also the more popular route to get to Sarina which means there’s a chance we’ll run into players.”

Daffodil nodded as he digested the information. He wouldn’t mind a lazy ride down the river, but he definitely didn’t want to be trapped on a tiny boat at the mercy of a bunch of players.

Asterion continued. “The second option is to climb the mountains. It’ll be hard work but it will only take a few hours. We’ll be on the other side around noon where we can take a lunch break and then walk the rest of the way to Sarina. We would probably arrive around six and then could go directly to the well or make camp for the night.”

Climbing mountains in his weakened body didn’t sound like the most fun way to spend the day, but Daffodil couldn’t deny it was the best sounding option. He considered for a moment longer before saying, “I think we should take the mountains. It’s faster and safer.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Asterion said as he hurriedly ate the last of his oats. Daffodil was suddenly a lot happier about his decision to make a warm breakfast as he looked at the snow-capped mountains.

Once they were done eating, Daffodil quickly washed the dishes as Asterion finished packing up camp. They walked to the foot of the nearest mountain, equipped their warmest gear, and looked for the easiest path up.

“How hard can it be?” Asterion asked with a smile.

. . .

As it turned out, it could be very very hard. Daffodil didn’t know why he’d ever expected climbing a mountain range to be simple, but Asterion’s easy smile had been shockingly convincing. Never again would he be fooled, he decided as he started to descend the fifth mountain.

The mountain was freezing, and Daffodil was almost happy about the intense physical labor as it was the only thing really keeping him warm. Most of the mountain was steep and rocky, and as the hours passed by Daffodil watched his stamina bar slowly deplete. Every hour or so they took breaks, but they barely regained any stamina before they decided they needed to keep going.

Daffodil was close to crying in relief when he reached the top of the latest mountain and saw a clear plain in front of him. Asterion clearly felt the same way because the two started sprinting down the final mountain until they’d reached the ground. Daffodil’s stamina bar was completely empty and he couldn’t do more than hobble because of that, and yet he’d never felt so relieved in his life.

They walked a little bit farther until they were in the plain. The plain was empty except for a dirt path that most likely led to Sarina and a few large boulders. They were about to sit when suddenly they heard a roar. It sounded like two stones being scraped against each other and all Daffodil could say was, “You’ve gotta be fudging kidding me.”