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There's got to be another solution, a way of making the Child happy without getting rid of the beavers. For that reason, you decide to visit the beavers and see exactly how much damage they can caused. You might even be able to negotiate with them.
It doesn't take too long for you to reach the river but like everything in the Umbra, it seems a lot more dramatic than its physical counterpart. It's wider than the length of a football field and it's so fast-flowing that you fear you'd be swept away the moment you stepped in it. There's no sign of any tree-munching rodents though, so you wander further downstream.
The further you walk, the more stumps you start to see. They're not just along the river's bank but further inland too, creating small clearings where there should be dense woodland. When you finally come across the home of the beavers, you wouldn't describe it as a lodge or a dam. It's more like a fort, a mountain of logs and branches neatly stacked on top of each other in the middle of the river. There's plenty of beavers milling around the area too, collecting new debris or gnawing on trees. While most of them look like ordinary animals, a few are much larger than the rest and even seem to be intelligent. They march around on their hind legs and stand as tall as any man.
As soon as you're spotted, they all abandon their tasks. One of the smaller beavers barks and then suddenly they're all making for the water as fast as they can. You try to call out to them but they're far more interested in running from you than talking. They swim effortlessly through the rapids to their fortress, only to disappear beneath the river's surface. The entrance must be submerged. One of the man-sized rodents pokes its head out of a hole at the very top and when it sees you standing by the bank, it lobs a rock at you. The stone falls short and lands in the river with a splash.
"<span class="mu-s">Fuck off, nobody's home!</span>" Well, this spirit is certainly very different from the one you spoke with earlier.
"We're here on the behalf of the Child of Black Birch," you call out over the roar of the rushing river. "We're not here to hurt you! It just wants you to stop hurting its children. Can't you find some other tree to eat or build with?"
"<span class="mu-s">Would if we could, birch tastes like shit!</span>" The raucous laughter of other beavers can be heard from inside the fort. "<span class="mu-s">It's fucking everywhere though and we ate all of the willow and aspen already. We wouldn't settle for that shitty wood if we had a choice!</span>"
"Can't you find somewhere else to live, where there's better trees?" Out of all of the directions that today could've gone in, you never would've guessed that it would involve arguing with a foul-mouthed beaver.
