It turned out to be a bit later in the day than I had expected it to be. I was already concerned about our timeframe, and the sun being past its zenith didn't promise a lot of daylight left. Fortunately, my journey wasn't interrupted by any combat. While a fight out here in the wild most likely wouldn't take long it would still be a hindrance. A good night's sleep would also help me regain the lost health points and bring me back up to twenty.

Not wanting to risk the murky swamp waters again, I skirted along the swamp and the forest. As dusk set in and the terrain became too treacherous to navigate, I took out the magical torch and used it to light the path. I hadn't travelled during the night before so I was feeling a bit on edge. While keeping my head on a swivel, I spotted sources of light coming through the trees. I quickly turned my torch off and ducked low behind a nearby tree. After watching the lights for a while, I concluded that they weren't moving. I was of two minds about this. On the one hand, I needed to get back to the keep and on the other, I wanted to know what I would find out here.

It was a tough choice to make but the keep was ultimately the most important objective right now so remorsefully I resumed my journey through the forest. I mentally marked the location and maybe we could visit it again tomorrow. Being a city boy I was surprised by the utter lack of light there was at night without all the light pollution I was used to back on Earth. I was caught up in my musing when the world shifted.

Combat initiated with disadvantage (caught unaware).

You’ll draw one card less in the first round of combat.

My stomach lunged from the sudden motion and I fell on all fours as soon as the motion stopped. I raised my head and came face to face with a growling wolf. With a dark brown coat of fur, it was baring its teeth at me. I blinked a few times and focused back on the battle. The wolf was only (2/2) and alone so the fight ended quickly enough. Unfortunately, I had to leave the corpse behind since I was still too far away from the keep and carrying it around would only slow me down.

Not even five minutes later I was once again ambushed by another similar wolf. However, this time it wasn't alone and I barely managed to activate my ring before the second wolf could take a bit out of my arm. Instead of slamming into the wall, it was launched up into the air when the wall shot out of the ground right as it was mid-lunge. Not wanting to attract any more predators to my location, I walked for two minutes before setting up my tent. The night wasn't a safe time to travel and I'd slip up eventually with all the ambushes if they kept happening. So I chose the better option of just making camp for the night.

I was awake before the daily notification popped up. I had a quick breakfast before storing my tent and continuing my journey back to the keep.

Welcome to the final day of the round.

You recovered five (25%) of your life points from a long rest.

There are no updates to the tournament today.

A couple of uneventful hours later I was finally back at the keep. Smoke still lazily drifted from the chimney so Falliana should be 'home'. I still carefully approached just in case. The courtyard was empty as always and the door still stood slightly open.

I made my way inside the keep and towards the kitchen area. The door to the kitchen was closed which was a bit odd, but I just opened it and stepped inside. A high-pitched scream went out and a second later I had to dodge a bucket that got flung my way.

I yelled an apology as I quickly left the kitchen and closed the door. Falliana opened the door a few minutes later. Her face held an expression of anger and embarrassment.

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"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have walked in casually and scared you like that". She gave me a glaring look before sighing.

"Sorry about throwing the bucket". I could only laugh at the situation.

"I'd love to chat but I need you to grab your things and come with me. I've found the store and we should be able to make it there before the end of the round", I explained. her eyes went wide and she dipped back into the kitchen to grab her backpack. We packed up and divided all the extra rations she had made in my absence and within five minutes we were back in the forest and heading towards the store.

We talked about our adventures during the past few days as we walked.

"And that's where I got this magical whistle", she told me with pride as she handed it to me so I could have a better look at It and read the item's effect. It was a beautifully carved whistle in the shape of a wolf head. You'd blow into the back of the head and the snout would produce an early howling sound.

Wolf's call whistle Player equipment - Necklace When blown, a member of the pack will head your call.

This necklace has 1 charge that will refresh at the start of each day.

The description was vague. A member of the pack could mean a lot of things and proper testing would be needed on her part to figure it out. The single charge would make that a difficult process. She had used it once so far and she had blown it when the first round started and a normal (1/1) wolf appeared by her side which she could then direct to one of the open spaces on the battlefield.

The fact that she could direct it to a specific spot was already a boon on its own. It could be an emergency blocker or a great opener to force an advantage.

I told my tale about the incredibly hard altar fight and she confessed that she probably wouldn't have survived that on her own. I tried to cheer her up a bit but I could see the doubt on her face. Internally, I understood her feelings and had to agree with her assessment of her capabilities. I was pretty sure I'd only survived because I had a deck filled with Undead cards. We chatted about the card reward and I explained my reasoning for picking the upgrade option.

We hit the edge of the swamp somewhere after midday and we might make it before dark. I warned her about the ambushing Gators and that they were the reason we were going around the swamp.

We stopped by the location where I had seen the light the previous night and found a small village of Lizardman. Dusk was already approaching so we had to make a decision.

"What do you think we should do", I asked Falliana. "Night's almost here and we might encounter ambushes at night but we should make it to the store on time". This was under the assumption that the day would end with the new day notification.

I saw her bite her lip in the dim light as she weighed the options I had laid out. This also made an interesting point. What would happen if two players decided to accept the attack on the settlement? Could it even be done? Would we have to fight each other instead? That last option would be a terrible outcome for both of us.

In the end, she decided to challenge the settlement. We both got close enough to see the size and rating and the trivial difficulty should have made this a no-brainer if we had bothered to look at that first.

You have found a settlement with the following traits: Double entrance and Lead from the back.

Rating: Beginner

Type: Frontal assault

Size: 3 staged prolonged assault

Deck size: 12+

Accept the challenge: Yes / No.

It was interesting to see another player fight a battle. I watched the first two rounds before reaching out again to the notification. It still listed the same information but the accept line was replaced with "Another player has already accepted this challenge". I filed the interesting tidbit away and when I looked back to the fight, Falliana had entered the village proper and the first stage had been cleared. So once again I resigned myself to waiting on her.

While it didn't take her longer than half an hour to clean the challenge, dusk was fully setting in and we'd be pressed to reach the store. That made me wonder if we'd find the store to be closed at such a late time. I hadn't asked during my last visit and hadn't looked for a timetable with their opening hours.

As expected, the rewards weren't that interesting. A few common Lizardman cards and a flimsy quality equipment card that could only be used by Lizardman.

Darkness set in soon after and I pulled out the magical torch to light the way. Fortunately, we only had to suffer from one ambushing lone wolf before we reached the clearing where the store was located. The light in the display windows was still glowing as was the neon sign above the storefront. With a small sigh of relief, I pulled open the door and we stepped inside.