Ruxus Fuss (Ruxus Fuxus?)
Awdz looked over her supply of paints. They were getting dried out; she needed to gather more ruxus slobber to recondition them. Sighing, she picked up her empty slobber jars and looked around the spacious storage in her tool shed – and had a brainstorm.
“There’s plenty of floorspace here. If I bring a ruxus back with me, I can keep it here and have a constant supply of slobber all the time!� Deciding to bring back more than full jars with her, Awdz slung a large coil of thick rope over her shoulder and headed off to ruxus mountain.
The hunt went readily enough; Awdz was able to harvest enough ruxus slobber and slime to fill all of her jars quickly. She stowed them carefully and readied her rope with a lasso on the end. She checked the loop, making sure the safety knot was ready at an appropriate length so she would not strangle the creature when she tightened its leash. Scanning the fields, she spotted a likely target and carefully crept up on it.
With a swift twist of her wrist, Awdz cast the loop around the ruxus and pulled the rope tight to the safety knot. The ruxus immediately charged her, trying to envelop her in its mouth like an arbotus swallows its squirrel. However, the deft gnome was ready for it and began running down the mountain with the ruxus in tow.
After a short chase, the ruxus grew tired of its elusive prey. It turned to head back to its home field, only to be brought up sharply by a pull on its neck from the rope. Awdz coaxed the ruxus to continue following her in this manner, dragging it nonstop down past South March, across the bridge to Fabric Isle, over to and all the way around Scorpion Island, across Wisp Isle, and onto the guild islands. Finally, with both the gnome and the ruxus nearing complete exhaustion, they reached Toku.
Awdz crankily urged the ruxus past the various construction areas over to the tool shed. Getting it into the building, she tossed it some food, set down a bucket of water, slipped outside, closed and barred the door, and slid down against the wall to sit with an exhausted sigh. Moments later, she was asleep.
Several hours later, Awdz awoke when a large crash sounded in the building behind her. Awakening groggily, she looked out across the ocean in front of her and tried to figure out where she was, and why. More thumps and bangs sounded behind her, gradually getting quieter. Eyes suddenly widening, she remembered.
“The ruxus!� Awdz jumped up, unbarred the tool shed door and peeked inside. Tools were scattered about everywhere, mostly intact except for the wooden ones which were generally broken and with obvious teeth marks on them. Nothing Awdz could see was moving, however; not even through the large hole in the wall where a hideous trail of slime and slobber led.
Giving a small whimper of dismay, Awdz followed the trail of slimy ruin out of the tool shed, across her gazebo, through her fountain, and onto the neighboring plots. She continued tracking the ruxus through Myrandir's leatherworking and clothworking shops, where it had chewed through most fabrics and broken the machines; through Moheda's stoneworking shop where little was touched; and into the library on Moheda's plot. Apparently the ruxus liked the taste of furniture, techniques and formulae because it was settled there munching away at them.
Awdz pulled out another rope, looped it around the feeding ruxus’ neck, and dragged the voracious creature back to her tool shed. This time she tied the ruxus securely to a support post rather than let it roam free in the building. Thinking the creature contained, she headed toward the essence fields for some crafting.
Barely out of Toku, Awdz was hailed by a guildmate: “There’s a ruxus attacking our guild vaultkeeper! Help!� Rushing back to the guild properties, she grabbed the chewed-off end of the rope and dragged the ruxus into the secondary tool shed, slamming and bolting the door on it quickly. Awdz hurried back to the vault, found the vaultkeeper dead, and cast resurrection on her.
The vaultkeeper regained consciousness, looked around and gasped in dismay. It was the vaultkeeper’s duty to ensure items stowed in each vault were kept safely in pristine condition until retrieved. Various gaping holes showed where the ruxus had chewed its way in. The contents of several vaults were strewn about, covered with ruxus slime.
Awdz waved to the vaultkeeper apologetically. “My pet ruxus does not seem to like metal and stone tools much, and there is nothing else in the building where I locked it up. I need to get back to it before something worse happens!� With that, she scurried back to the tool shed.
The ruxus had not waited. The fresh slime trail led out to a neighboring plot filled with silo scaffolding, then across the road to Moheda’s house. Although the trail led into the house through a doorway, a large hole where the opposite wall used to be showed an alternate exit route. Once more, the ruxus had ended up in Moheda’s library.
Furious now, Awdz dragged the ruxus back to the tool shed and rooted it there. Amid jeers and complaints from her guildmates came the suggestion that the ruxus would make a better barbecue subject than housepet. Angry enough to agree, and assured by the hatchling Nasel that he would keep an eye on the ruxus, she went after firewood.
Apparently the ruxus overcame Nasel because he had died and the ruxus had gotten back into Moheda’s library before Awdz got back. She was so frustrated with it at that point that she picked up a broken chair leg and conked it over the head.
It really did make a nice roast.
Awdz spent the next few months in Toku trying to scrape dried-up ruxus slime off her gazebo and fountain, and hiding from Moheda in particular until she could repair some of the damages. She tried to make up for the mess on Myrandir's plot by finishing the bright essence construction work on his library, but he did not speak to her again even after his library was completed. Through all the work, Awdz wondered, “Who knew a ruxus would be so messy?? They keep such lovely flowers and mushrooms up on their mountain...�
With Awdz too busy with repairs to tend them, her paints dried out.
