We make our way to the northern gate, a quick word from Bardin to the guards and we are on our way into the countryside. We make our way past the fields and into the woods. I have more concerns than I care to count right now. That Truth Seeker, something tells me he’s going to tattle tale on every little fib to Bardin. The question is now does his ability work? Is it based on what he thinks is true, I think is true, what is factually true? Add to the fact we are investigating, well me. This is a recipe for disaster, I just know it.

We walk along the road for nearly fifteen minutes in silence, until Alex finally pipes up.

“I think it’s around here, we should hit a large rock if we head that way.” Alex says while he points into the woods on our left.

Kevin gives Bardin a nod and with that we turn left and head into the woods. I’m really hoping Alex is bad with directions, who knows what tricks these guys are going to pull out when we get there. After a few minutes of walking a giant rock comes into view.

“Alright, it should be this way.” Alex points into another direction.

Another nod from truth dude and we continue through the underbrush, everyone vigilant for what might come. Eventually my fears come true and we come out to the original clearing where I first awoke, where it all began. If I die here too I'm going to be so pissed. Alex takes a quick look around, then opens his mouth to screw me even more.

“This looks like the place, right Nina?” Alex asks me.

The truth seeker keeps his gaze on Alex, then shifts to me when I’m expected to answer his question. These guys aint fucking around that’s for sure. I think as long as I don’t get asked any direct questions like, “Are you a dryad?” I can probably finagle my way around it.

“Yea, looks like it. Still some rotting corpses here.” I reply.

“Spread out and look for clues, but be careful. We don’t know what this monster is capable of.” Bardin says.

With that everyone but three people break off to look for clues, as if I intend to find jackshit. The three left are truth man, guild master, and a third I don’t recognize.

Erold (Elf, Level 35 Tracker)

Huh, I didn’t think that dude was an elf at first glance, then again he is taller than the rest. But I can’t see his ears, so how was I supposed to know? And of course he’s a tracker, because I needed more shit piled on top right now. OK, don’t panic, I might be able to throw them off somehow. Alex’s word alone was enough to start this witch hunt so I don’t think I’ll be able to convince them to stop and it will seem suspicious if I try. But I might be able to throw them off long enough to actually get away, but how to do it? If I can get in range of my network I might be able to order the twiglings to run elsewhere and make trouble. Of course that’s assuming I make it that far, right now I need to focus on keeping them off me. While I start to think up ways to disrupt their search without drawing suspicion to myself, Durin calls out.

“Hey guys, I think I found something. This bush seems a little off, what do you guys think?” Durin says

The bush in question is the one I originally was trying to turn into a swan to practice my plant control. It has a bulbous base and a thin elongated outcropping that was going to be the neck. Definitely not a normal looking bush.

“Don’t touch it!” Bardin yells

He and the other two make their way over, while everyone else watches from the corner of their eye. The tracker kneels down and looks around, then he gives the bush a sniff. Next he gets up and walks around the bush examining it. Then he gives the ground around the bush a check. When he seems to have found nothing he pulls a leaf off the bush and chews on it a little, then gives up completely.

“Nothing” Erold says.

Truth man gives Bardin a nod. Damn these guys are paranoid if they aren’t even trusting their own people. Everyone goes back to looking for clues, except for me, I go back to faking looking for clues. But other than barren patches and rotting wolf corpses, which the tracker is currently looking over, there is nothing here. Not that I can notice anyway. After another twenty minutes of searching Bardin calls it quits.

“Alright, there is evidence that it was here, but clearly it’s not anymore. Let us return to town to regroup with the search and captain Gult.” Bardin says anxiously.

Apparently me moving around has him on edge. With that we group back up and make our way towards town. Order is same as last time, with me in the middle, Bardin’s posse in front, and Alex’s group behind me. It’s almost as if they don’t trust me, which is a good call on their part. I’m getting the fuck outta here first chance I get. I still don’t like how they keep me surrounded, for obvious reasons, or is it because I’m the lowest level here?

We continue along the path in silence for another few minutes until we get to the road, at which point Alex’s group starts talking amongst themselves.

“So where do you think it could have gone?” Durin asks.

“No clue, but I hope we find it! We can retire on that kind of money, even split ten ways.” Shara says excitedly.

“Yea, the actual problem is killing it, Shara. I’ve fought it before and it was no push over even at low level. It’s going to be even stronger next time someone finds it.” Alex says.

“Yea but you were alone before and injured. We’re together now and we have the guild master here. We could probably take it on.” Grant says confidently.

Yea, I have no doubt that if this whole group turned and attacked me I’d be dead before my heart finished its current beat. Which is exactly why I want to get the hell away from them. Supposedly even more higher level guys are on the way, so leaving sooner rather than later is a priority.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

We make our way back onto the main road that leads to town. Bardin’s group is dead silent while Alex’s group continues to chatter, mainly about how they would go about killing me. Rude, I'm walking right here guys. The more Alex talks the more I’m reminded of how I should have kicked his teeth in and left him instead of saving him. But I only ‘saved’ him so I could find a way to town, and look how that turned out. Well on the plus side I only know I’m being hunted because I made my way into town.

As we continue walking I continue listening to Alex’s group talk and oh boy do these guys have an imagination. Currently notable plans include, weed killer, using a desert of some form to try and lure me into a kill zone, trying to attack me while I’m sleeping, using a fake wounded party member as bait to get close to me, and last but not least, offering to show me to town and instead leading me into a kill zone. Most of those ideas are Alex’s, I'm honestly surprised he hasn’t died yet with the level of intelligence he exerts.

While I’m enthralled listening to Alex’s amazing plans to catch and kill me I almost miss the fact that we are walking right past the rock that denotes the way to my camp. It’s now or never, I get the feeling if I get back to town I’m not getting enough slack to make it out here again. So I speak up and try to get away.

“Hey um, can I go grab my camp?” I ask.

Bardin turns around looking annoyed and tries to deny me.

“No Nina, we don’t have any time to waste.”

“Please, I only need like ten, fifteen minutes at most. If those guys in town get to it they will definitely break everything.” I say.

Immediately Bardins look changes from one of annoyance to anger. Oh shit I pissed him off. Before Bardin can rip into me with whatever angry tirade he had prepared Alex cut in and offered to help.

“We’ll help her, it should only take a few minutes with five of us there, I mean she can’t have that much to her name, right?” Alex asks while gesturing to me.

I’d be insulted if it wasn’t so true. Apparently that was enough to change the guild masters mind, don’t ask me how. His anger turned into just frustration as he sighed and rubbed his temples.

“Fine, make it quick.” He says as he turns to continue towards town.

Well shit, an improvement that's for sure. But now I have to find a way to get rid of Alex’s group, or keep them distracted.

“Thanks” I say to Alex.

“No problem, let's get this done quick so we don’t get in trouble.” Alex says.

I turn and jog into the woods, Alex n co right behind me. Now how the hell am I going to get away with this. No way this is going to be a clean get away, I might be able to beat Alex’s group if I surprise attack them with the twiglings but I really don’t want to do that for a multitude of reasons. Hell, if it goes sideways they might end up killing me, god knows they have the motivation for it! Alex can get eaten by an oversized venus flytrap for all I care and Shara seems to have gone against me for no good reason. The only good one is Grant, he’s nice, I don’t know much about Durin but if he’s been with Grant for how ever many years they’ve been together he can’t be that bad.

My musings on who is an ass or not are interrupted by the feel of my network washing over me. I immediately slow down and order the pod to start packing up. I instantly feel the network start to recede and get a time estimation of … twenty five minutes! Ok calm down, it could be worse. I just need to buy time, as much as possible. I order the twiglings, who have amazingly followed orders and stayed inside the hedge, to standby for an attack. Now to think, how will I waste as much time as possible? hmm, getting lost might work, I’ll start with that and see where this goes. I slow to a walk only a hundred feet from the hedges and look around.

“Should be this way.” I say.

I turn to my right and start quickly walking through the underbrush. The semi dense bushing and seemingly cloned trees make it easy to lose your sense of direction. The only reason I know where I am is because my network is still underneath me, but just barely. After almost ten minutes of bumbling around, aka going in a giant circle, I fake concern.

“Um, I think I got lost again.” I say.

“Nina are you serious?” Alex asks.

“For fucks sake!” Shara shouts.

“Again, what do you mean again?” Durin asks.

And Grant, Grant is just standing there rubbing his forehead in a disappointed manner. Well now I feel a little bad, and I’m over it. I need to play this out for as long as possible, only fifteen more minutes. I play innocent and try to waste even more time.

“OK, so the road is that way.” I say while pointing in the wrong direction.

“No Nina the road is that way.” Alex says while pointing in the right direction.

“Oh, that means it should be this way.” I say while pointing towards the hedge.

I order the twiglings to be ready at the edge just in case and not make a sound until I say so. The network is quickly receding, so moving closer will buy me more time to command the twiglings. Hopefully they also respond to verbal commands because that’s all I’ll have once the pod goes into its final packing stage. I walk purposefully slow, making it look like I'm trying not to trip or get scratched by any of the bushes. Once I get to the hedge I stop and ponder.

“I’m pretty sure it should be here. Don't tell me those hooligans got released and found it already. ” I say, sounding annoyed.

“You're pretty sure!? Do you even have a camp you runaway wannabe?” Shara asks.

Where the hell did that come from? Ow right crazy fox lady probably thinks I ran away from the church or something.

“No, we would have seen groups on the way back so they haven’t been let out yet. Nina we can’t keep looking, you need to remember where your stuff is now or we need to head back. The guild master is already going to be pissed we’ve taken this long.” Grant says.

“I’m trying, this shit is stressing me out. Why the hell does he even need me to be there anyways? Alex is the one who got his ass beat by the plant monster.” I say.

“Because you were the one who found me and might know some details that could be important, even if you can't remember them now.” Alex says.

“Can’t you guys just head back and I’ll catch up.” I say.

“Absolutely not, are you trying to get executed?” Grant asks, astonished.

“Well I ain’t leaving without my stuff.” I say with finality.

“Ow for fucks sake.” Durin says.

“Why are you being a pain in the ass Nina, we all know you don’t actually own anything!” Shara shouts.

“Hey fuck you, what’s your damn problem Shara? You know what never mind, go fuck yourself.” I shout back.

“Enough, sorry Nina this is for your own good.” Grant says in a cold voice.

Before I can react and get into a ready stance Grant is right in front of me and pulls me into a bear hug, preventing me from moving. Then he turns and starts walking away from the hedge.

“Put…. me…. down.” I say practically growling.

“Sorry Nina, no can do.” Grant replies.

I’m really pissed off now. It’s now or never I decide, I played my cards wrong and burned this bridge. Only nine minutes left, that’s how long I need to hold them off. I order the twiglings to attack.

“Grant watch out!” Alex screams.