"Weeds" was a bit misleading.

About a half-acre of the dwarf’s farm was overgrown with large bushy plants ranging from two to four foot high.

Small sprigs of white flowers grew up in the center of a few.

One huge one was over six feet high.Makken was dressed in all of his protective gear, even more of it than when he'd first greeted Ozzy.

He'd braided his beard and tucked it up behind a mask that covered his entire face and distorted his voice.

Ozzy was wearing a hooded jacket and goggles similar to Makken’s.

The dwarf hadn't owned another mask, but he gave Ozzy a jar of 'protective lotion' to slather on his face.

None of this was raising Ozzy's confidence in the job."Ok, so you've got me out here helping.

Now tell me the bad news.

What the hell are we dealing with here? I don't see you being scared of a few bushes."Makken's voice sounded like he was underwater.

"Naw, this will be easy with two of us and you having those large muscles.

You have the easy part, just yank them out of the ground after I loosen the soil up.

Just go nice and slow, and whatever you do, don't break off the root tips.

We need to get it all in one go.

Once you get one out all the way, I'll bag it up and tie it off.

We'll start with this little one here."The plant in question was only a couple of feet high.

Makken carefully brushed away the dirt around the plant and Ozzy saw it had one big root like a turnip.

Makken pointed to where the greens grew out of the root.

"Take ahold of it right there.

I'll be doing a bit of my earth magic to loosen the soil and make it slide right out." Ozzy grabbed ahold of the plant with his hands circling the bunch of leaves down low.Makken's hands glowed a dull brown and the earth seemed to vibrate a bit under Ozzy's boots.

When Makken grunted at him, he slowly pulled the plant up.

The root was over two feet long and quite thick.

Loose soil came with it, but it came out of the ground with very little problem.

Makken quickly put a burlap bag around it and tied it up.

"One down.""What happens if the root breaks?" The dwarf was a wee bit nervous for such a simple job.Makken was laying out bags near the next few plants.

"Well, technically speaking, the plants have a defensive magic that only gets activated when they get hurt.

If the root gets broken, cut, or mangled then the stored magic turns the root into a fiery poison with powerful smell.

In small doses, it works nicely in some recipes.

But this big, they can kill a whole village if the plant was crushed all at once."Ozzy looked again at the plant.

"Oh, screw me sideways.

This is horseradish! Why the hell do you have half an acre of giant horseradish plants?""Not my fault, not my fault at all.

Blame my god-cursed cousin Lem.

He was experimenting with making the plants bigger and crossing it with Mandrake.

Mostly didn't take, but the horseradish got bigger each year.

I was gone for a couple of years buying some new pepper strains down south.

I get back and he's already lost the war to the plants and scampered on home.

I've been fighting them ever since.

If my magic doesn't get all the root, the things grow back the next season.

""Interesting.

And what do you do with it?" There was enough root here to fill wagons.

Ozzy had a couple of ideas.Makken laughed.

"Not a hell of a lot.

Keep a couple crocks for myself.

I've got a deep stone pit in my mine where I dump the rest and pour powdered lime on it."The two worked steadily.

Makken could only make the earth soft and loose while he concentrated on the spell, but it was long enough for Ozzy to slowly pull the roots out.

It got tougher as they moved towards the center.

At one point, Ozzy's grip slipped and the root twisted.

A small bulb broke off.

Makken quickly stepped back yelling "Fire in the hole." A fine mist squirted out of the torn root hitting Ozzy on his left knee.

As he backed away, he noticed his left pant leg was smoking and had small holes in it.

Makken tossed a bucket of water on his lower half.

"Not a bad one, no worries.

The water will disperse it.

Cold and wet keeps it from burning through your clothes and skin.

That's how I slice a bit off for my cooking.

Get it cold first then slice off a bit.

Has a nice burn to it; clears the sinuses.

You humans have it easy, itsy-bitsy noses.

We dwarves have rugged-warrior-noses! Takes a lot to clear us out."The pile of bagged horseradish had grown quite large.

Ozzy's belly was grumbling.

It had been a few hours since lunch.

"Getting hungry are we?" Makken chuckled.

"Guess we have been working a bit, and you've been pretty good about it.

Let's get the big one out of the way and the rest can get done later."The big one looked intimidating.

"Good thing we are quitting for the day.

This will use up the rest of my mana for sure.

Give me about half a minute for the spell to work all the way down, then pull it up.

It's from last year, the root will be tougher and harder to break." Makken was taking deep breaths like a runner getting ready for a sprint.

Ozzy decided to play it safe and burned a few hundred stamina to take his STR up by 3 points to 13.

He spread his legs and took a good grip around the plant.Makken yelled, "Ok, here we go, give me a bit while I loosen it all up.

Feels like it goes a few feet deep." Ozzy felt his feet slip a bit downward in the now soft earth, this could be a bit tricky.

He started to lift out the plant, glad for the extra STR.

This thing was massive! The root was nearly three feet in diameter.

Ozzy got it out of the ground a couple of feet when the ground compacted under his feet.

The root went up, and he went down.

The ground was up to about mid-thigh on him.

Ozzy heaved and the plant came out of the hole by about four feet, he slid down deeper into the ground by a foot.

And that's when it all went to hell! A jagged crack opened up across the root of the plant horizontally and caustic spray caught Ozzy in the chest and head, running down his body.

His protective gear was smoking and he could feel the fumes infiltrating through the holes and burning him.

"I AM ROOT!!!"

Translation: You have disturbed the slumber of The Mighty Root! Woe be to the meat things that interrupt his nap.

You will provide sustenance for his rootlets!!