Island Trip

The next day, the now five strong party met up at the Guild in the morning to grab a new request.

Now that we have a Rogue, we should be able to set up better ambushes, Damien thought as he perused the request board.

Betty grabbed his sleeve, pointing to one up high. “Grab that.”

Damien did, and read the request. “Giant Chameleons?”

Betty nodded, “They're worth a lot, twelve silver each.”

Kara laughed, “Haha, we'll be rich!”

Damien raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that's a lot for our Rank. There's a catch, I'm assuming?”

Betty pointed on the map, “The closest territory is an island a half-day by boat to the south. Also, chameleons are hard to catch. They blend in with their environment, and can get away easily.”

Everyone seemed on board, so they scoured the board and found one other request, totaling up to ten Giant Chameleons. They then went and packed for the trip, assuming it would take a few days.

Afterwards, they met at the docks. Many other adventurer's were milling about.

“Is this a common place for Adventurer's to go?” Damien asked.

Betty nodded, “Yes, Estora doesn't have a Guild Hall, but has a lot of creatures that aren't common in other places near Ancona, so it's a popular destination. They also have an inn and other shops dedicated to Adventurer's there.”

“Have you been there before?”

“Yes. We fought some of the Wind Tigers there.”

“Wind Tigers! That's awesome,” Kara said, a bit in awe.

Betty blushed, “It wasn't that difficult.”

After paying the boarding fee, they crowded onto a ferry with many other Adventurer's, finding a spot on the deck to huddle together.

Well, really Betty, Bluey, and Aurora cuddled against Damien while Kara awkwardly stood near them.

“Are you just going to latch onto him the whole trip?” Kara asked, blushing slightly.

Betty blushed back, “The boat rocks a lot, and I don't want to fall off.”

Aurora nodded in agreement.

“I just wanted to hug Master,” Bluey explained, hugging him tighter and squishing her breasts into him.

The boat suddenly lurched forward, and Kara lost her footing, grabbing onto Damien as well before she fell.

Damien gave a sheepish smile, “Maybe it's best we stick together.”

Kara blushed an looked down, nodding.

The boat ride was fairly uneventful, most of it spent watching the capital recede, until Estora suddenly came into view. It looked more jungle-like than the areas around Ancona, and he could see several large birds occasionally flying above the canopy of the jungle forest of the island. The whole thing looked like it was part of a volcano rising up from the sea.

As they approached, they pulled up next to a dock in what looked like a bustling shanty town. The vast majority of people looked like Adventurers, some at vendors, some talking merrily with each other, and even some drinking in the streets.

“Wow, this is so cool,” Kara said as they walked down the rampway.

Bluey asked, “Can we get some food? I'm starving after that trip.”

The rest agreed, so they went and found a food stall, buying some meat skewers and bread.

As they were eating, Aurora sniffed around, “There's so many different creatures here, it's hard make anything out.”

Bluey nodded, “All I can sense is the saltwater.”

Kara laughed confidently, “Hehehe, I'll be able to find those Chameleons, no problem!”

Betty smiled, “I hope so, otherwise this might take a while.”

Kara suddenly seemed less confident.

After they finished eating, it was early afternoon, so they headed into the jungle. According to the map, the Giant Chameleons territory was everywhere around the island, so they headed into the jungle. At first they were running into more Adventurer's then monsters, but eventually they thinned out and they were able to start looking properly.

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Kara walked a bit in front of them, and they continued slowly going further in for a while. At a point, she held out her arm to stop them. She then activated Stealth, creeping up.

“Wait, don't go by yourself,” Damien whispered loudly to her.

Suddenly, three daggers shot up and into the tree. Except, they didn't hit the tree, instead hitting the chameleon and causing blood to spurt out.

Damien took charge, “Aurora, use Fire Breath on the tree to knock it out. Bluey, finish it off once it falls.

They both went to follow the orders, and Aurora used Fire Breath where the chameleon was.

The chameleon started turning red as the flames, making it much more visible. However, it wasn't falling off.

As Damien was thinking, Kara ran up the tree, jumping onto a branch and started slashing at the chameleon's legs. Two of them let go of the tree, but the others were still holding on.

The chameleon shot out it's tongue, wrapping it around Kara, who struggled to get out.

“Bluey, kick it down!” Damien said, running under it.

Bluey jumped up and kicked the chameleon in the back, causing it to crumple and finally fall off the tree, losing it's grip on Kara.

She started falling, and Damien caught her as she fell, falling over as he did.

Betty ran over and started using Heal on both of them, while Aurora used Flame Wall to finish off the chameleon.

After they all huddled together, Kara jumped up and off Damien, red and apologizing, “Sorry! I'm so sorry! I thought I could knock it out of the tree.”

“It's okay, just be careful,” Damien replied as he stood up. “You can rely on your teammates too.”

Kara blushed and nodded, looking down.

After they had cleaned up, they continued searching again. After a while, Kara held out her arm again, “I'll go-”

Damien grabbed her shoulder before she could activate Stealth. “Hold on, let's make sure we have a plan.”

Kara blushed but nodded, giving him her rapt attention.

“How high is it up the tree?” Damien asked.

Kara looked over at it, “About a third of the way up.”

Damien nodded, “Aurora will cast Fire Breath to make it change color, then Bluey will kick it out of the tree. Once it falls, Aurora and Kara will finish it off from afar. I don't want anyone staying too close to it.”

They all nodded, then went out to complete their objectives.

Aurora lit half the tree on fire, and they could see the chameleon change color to try and compensate. Bluey jumped up and kicked it, causing it to fall out.

As instructed, Aurora and Kara started attacking, with Damien coming up next to them to watch.

Suddenly, a tongue wrapped around Kara again. It didn't come from the chameleon on the ground, instead coming from above them.

Damien grabbed her, trying to wrench the tongue off her, before she started to get pulled up. Damien wrapped his arms around her, holding on as they were both pulled up.

“Damien!” Betty yelled as she watched them fly up.

“Betty, please help,” Aurora said, pointing to the first chameleon. The distraction had allowed it to regain it's footing, and it was trying to scurry away.

“Oh Goddess, bind my enemy!” Betty shouted.

The running chameleon locked up, sliding into the mud.

Meanwhile, Damien was holding on as the second chameleon was shaking them, trying to get him to fly off.

Kara was squirming and struggling, eventually getting an arm free. She conjured a dagger, and started hacking at the tongue.

This caused it to start shaking them even harder.

As Damien was worried he was going to lose his grip, he saw a blue flash next to him. Bluey had jumped towards the chameleon, and attempted to kick it. Unfortunately, since it was still camouflaged against the tree, she missed, instead kicking below it, straight through the tree.

They started to fall, as the part of the tree the chameleon was on fell as well. Damien held onto her as the hit the ground, jolts of pain shooting through Damien's side as they landed.

Betty ran over immediately, using Heal on him. He could feel the pain slowly fading away.

“Did you get the other one?” he asked.

Betty nodded, wiping sweat from her brow, “Aurora is finishing it off right now.”

Bluey was beating the second chameleon to a pulp

Kara freed herself from it's tongue, then got red. Bowing in front of Damien, she started apologizing, “I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't see it, I-”

Damien flicked her forehead, causing her to fall back. “Stop apologizing, no one blames you for that.”

“Wha-”

“Damien!” Betty shouted, running over to Kara and using Heal on her forehead.

Kara shook her head, getting back up. “No, I'm-...you're right!”

Damien sighed and smiled. “I'm sure it just came over from the fire. No one expects you to know everything. I told you, you can rely on your teammates, too.”

Bluey did a fist pump, “Yeah, we got this!”

Kara did a fist pump in imitation, “Yeah!”

We might have too much energy on the team, now.

Aurora came up and grabbed his cloak, smiling, “Master, I leveled up.”

Damien pulled up the status screen:

Aurora leveled up

Fire-Fox – Level 12

STR – 97

VIT – 135

MAG – 227

DEX – 134

Fire Breath

Speed Boost

MAG +31

All Abilities +5

Flame Wall

Fire Mastery

Fire Attunement 2

New Ability Available

MAG +12

Fire Ball – Long ranged Fire attack.

“Master, I think the attack is the best option.”

Damien nodded. “I agree. We really don't even have any long range options right now, so that's gonna be a huge benefit.

After cleaning up, they decided to make camp for the day as it was getting late, and found a clearing to set up camp in.

Damien and co. set up their tent, while Kara set up hers.

“You're all going to sleep in one tent?” she asked, a bit incredulous.

Betty nodded while stirring some soup.

Bluey gave a thumps up. “It makes it hard to mate, so we usually only do when we stay at inn's.”

Kara blushed, looking down.

Damien grabbed Bluey's shoulders, “Come here a second,” he said, pulling her away.

Kara sat down near the fire, pulling out a piece of bread, chomping on it.

“Do you not want stew?” Betty asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kara was confused, “Isn't that for you?”

Betty smiled, “It's for the whole party. Obviously you can have some too.”

Kara blushed again, quickly eating the rest of the bread and nodding. “Thank you.”

Bluey walked back over, bowing in front of her. “I'm sorry, I'll stop talking about mating in front of you all the time. If I do you can punch me, it doesn't hurt much.”

Damien facepalmed, “I didn't say you needed to go that far.”

Kara blushed but smiled and shook her head. “It's okay, you can talk about whatever, don't mind me.”

Bluey smiled and hugged her, catching her off guard. “You're awesome.”

Kara was taken aback, gingerly hugging Bluey. “Thanks.”

After they ate, they went inside their respective tents. Kara was flipping a single dagger up, thinking instead of sleeping.

They seem really nice so far. Even though I screwed up and got caught, they didn't kick me out. And they fed me. Actually, this is going great so far! She smiled to herself. I need to do a better job tomorrow.

Determined to make a good impression the next day, she turned out the lantern and tried to fall asleep.