He also didn't want to accidentally ruin the efforts of the locals by spreading the ‘contamination” that they had quite vehemently warned him about. Apparently, the changes in life in the forest had been noticed, but at first ignored - until someone saw that it was expanding at a frantic rate, like a Wildfire spreading through the woods.
The response had been to cut a burn-mark area. A dozen yards or so all around the affected area, the woods were cut and burned down completely the ground salted so nothing more could grow. This prevented the plants from spreading their ‘corruption’ further, and for the animals two things were in play.
First, it was noticed that the changed animals did not tend to stray far from the affected plant life. Secondly, patrols of concerned citizens traveled around the area every so often, armed with long pikes and crossbows, weapons to kill the twisted creatures from afar. This seemed to be enough to keep the majority of the mutations inside the danger zone, but every so often a random animal or plant that had been changed would pop up outside the burned area, and that would spur a fresh wave of concern about the spreading corruption.
This was all lodged in the back of Nevin’s mind as he sat at the outside edge of the salted earth, chewing on a piece of jerky as he stared at the twisted trees ahead of him. He was almost tempted to call it off, to not go exploring in this place - but even if he wasn't looking for the plants, the potential alchemical texts that this place might hold would be worth more than their weight in gold to him.
No, no. Into the twisted forest he would go. Hopefully his preparations would be sufficient - at least he was alone, so if he had to defend himself with blood magic or his blood-threads he could do it without accidentally exposing himself. No one came to this place anymore as it was, so he was fairly certain he'd be the only person in there unless someone followed him in. With a sigh, he swallowed the chewed up remnants of meat with a wash of water, capping off the water skin and resecuring it to his belt.
He only had enough food and water for a couple of days at most before he would have to either leave, or forage. And staring at the distorted foliage ahead of him, the Alchemist did not in the least feel inclined to taste the vegetation. He was also a bit concerned that it might try to taste him.
