"That sounds wonderful, before I forget did the guard compensate you for these?"

"No, and I'm not comfortable enough here yet to make an outright gift, by Elbon's bones, or I perhaps would. This place is beautiful."

"Thank you, we work hard on it. Do you have an idea of what you would like? We can pay in all Adventure's standard currencies, elemental crystals or metal. If you have a special request we might also be able to accommodate you."

"If you have a good reliable polearm going spare I may be interested, aside from that a bit more magic to work with never hurt anyone."

"I don't think we have spare weapons around the Conservatory so magic it is." There's a warm sensation like when she earned magic earlier though slightly different.

She nods pleasantly and heads inside. Where they can talk about botany for a long time! She has very little understanding of the underlying biochemistry, but does know things about plant nutrition and soil conditions and insectborne diseases and so on. Some of the plants back home are pretty lethal, but those are rarities. The toxic swamps - toxic to outsiders, but flourishing in their own way - are incredibly dangerous and have most of the truly nasty stuff like invisible painless blood-draining root tendrils or launching carnivorous seedpods coated in high impact neurotoxin.

The Dryad, whose name turns out to Persimmon, is happy to talk for as long as Karakan wants. She has extensive knowledge of natural, Adventure warped, and magically altered plants. Adventure warped plants tend to either produce magical fruits or have various aggressive abilities to attack anyone that gets close. The ones with hypnosis and parasitic spores are noted to be particularly dangerous to the unprepared.

"...How does one prepare for such a thing? I think I do not understand what, the word 'Hypnosis' is not really translating except as a reference to a few people's rare abilities-"

"You can use mine magic to get an enhanced defense but having a firm control over yourself can work even without that. The people most at risk are those who are easy to persuade through more mundane means."

"Hmph. Well, I should like to think myself stubborn, but many do deceive themselves in just how prepared they actually are."

"Indeed they do. There's more than one would be adventurer with a shambler out there somewhere due to their overconfidence. And also a significant number who felt they didn't need an anchor and so are stuck in the spirit realms."

"Hmm. I do need one of those. Any more advice you would consider common sense for small children?" She shrugs. "I don't entirely know what to do with the remaining magic, though getting over our infuriating designed illiteracy is on the table."

"That does sound like an awful thing have designed in. As for standard advice, usually we recommend people don't travel alone unless they're very experienced. If you do insist on travelling alone it's important to cover your bases, you need to be able to deal with projectiles, melee attacks and mental attacks. Some way to attack at range is needed to deal with flying enemies. A rapid movement ability is also important for intense combat. If you're seeking out more dangerous areas you'll also want to be able to notice traps and have a way to track down monster lords."

"Of my objections to the gods, it is the greatest. I tend to rely on lightning for ranged fighting if I really must. It's a fair bit of work to charge my salk up to that level, but effective. Traps, hmm...? You don't seem like the type to venture off into the unknown, more like putting down roots." A wry smile and headtilt. "I think I'll go challenge people to fights and see where I stand. And possibly look for a place to stay."

She giggles lightly at the joke. "I understand why you'd think that but most people go adventuring at least once. I spent a few years adventuring before I started working here."

She nods and has a faraway look on her face for a bit, before stretching her neck and bidding Persimmon farewell.

Surely there's a lot of fighting areas around here? What happens if she finds one and loudly declares her intent to win without using her hands?

A man with vibrant orange fur and a large sword walks up smiling broadly. "I hope you're not just making an empty boast. What rules do you wish to go for? First Blood and three points are the most common. I'm not personally interested in paying to return from my anchor but if you're set on that you might find someone else."

"I am no slouch at home and figured this would be a good way to measure things here! First blood or yield is fine by me."

"Let's do first blood at least for the first round." The man produces a spear from nowhere. A voice of sorts sounds in her head asking if she agrees to the terms of the fight.

She nods, then bounds back and stands in a ready pose, arms tight at her side. Her signature flame appears above her head, and she takes deep breaths, watching him.

Walls appear around them. The light level doesn't change. Her opponent takes this as a cue to rush forward towards her and try to stab forward with the point of his spear. He is clearly skilled but substantially less agile.

Decent skill with a spear is easy to come by. The fighting form is unfamiliar, but not awful. Fairly good, actually, firm, quick, not clumsy at all. Her momentum and sheer mobility, absorptions and discharges of momentum mediated by the salkstones and practiced for decades and decades, heart pounding and feeling every breeze and twist of proprioception, is less easy to come by.

She twists and falls to the side at a moment that seems like it should be far too late, one moment about to be stabbed and the next all the way over there. Then a short lunge with her quick-movement power to try and get behind him while he's still overextended, and then a kick with her hard cloven hooves, or at least that's what she'll try.

He does try to pivot when she gets behind him but he's not quite fast enough to avoid taking a blow. He stumbles slightly but his footing is firm enough that he keeps his feet and turns the rest of the way.

She backs off and gives a recognizable cocky smile, then proceeds to leap into the air- And then forward and down, closing far faster than she has any right to with a kick aimed at his face.