We took a break atop the tree to catch our breath as a group, and it was apparent that none of us were in amazing shape at the moment. Now that we were atop the tree I was just trying to stay away from the edges, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to avoid them when we resumed our trip. After we all had some water and our muscles weren’t burning as badly, Rose took the lead.
“Alright, let's go down that branch, I can’t see anyone else on it and it’s pretty wide. We shouldn’t have any trouble going down it.” Wil lagreed, and so did I, admittedly a bit reluctantly. Rose led the way down the branch, keeping an eye out while I just tried to stay in the middle of the branch and not look down. The branch was about twenty feet around, but only about half of that was easily walkable, the rest was very slopped and blocked off by more crude railings.
Will was talking with Rose about buying weapons and wondering where he should buy some when Rose spotted our first wasp. It was coming toward us from the far side of the root and looked to be tier one. Me and Will manifested our avatars while Rose just drew her bow. An arrow lodged itself between its abdomen and its torso, and it faltered for a moment. I was hoping that was enough, but it recovered quickly and resumed flying toward us. Rose fired again as it got closer, nailing it in the eye and dropping it just ten meters away with a dull thud. Will and I dismissed our avatars, Will cheering while I just breathed a sigh of relief.
“That was awesome Rose. you didn’t even need us, you were just like shheew, thwack-” He mimed an arrow in flight and then something falling. “-and then it fell just like that.” Will said as he came over to Rose.
“Yeah, that was really cool.” I agreed quietly. My adrenaline had just spiked and now it had nowhere to go, leaving me feeling a bit drained. Rose grinned.
“It was definitely easier than I thought it would be. They’re really good targets, and it’s not too hard to spot them if you’re looking.” After a moment we collectively realized the body hadn’t dissolved and we rushed over to it. The wasp’s body wasn’t moving, laying face down on the root, no dirt to cushion its crash landing. Rose reached in, and pulled out an off white shard I recognized as cape aspect. A quick check from Rose confirmed it. The wasp dissolved, leaving behind two remarkably intact arrows. She picked up those as well, and Will and I joined her in celebrating. Admittedly my celebration was pretty reserved, but we were really high up.
“This has to be a good omen!” Will exclaimed, and Rose winced.
“Don’t jinx it man.”
“Oh, don’t worry-” Will bent down and knocked on the tree three times “-knocking on wood cancels that out, and we're on a tree.” Rose and Will got into a debate about how superstition worked as we resumed walking.
“It doesn’t count if it's easy.”
“Since when? The rules are the rules, knocking on wood undoes a jinx.”
“No, you have to look for the wood, it shows the luck gods you're sorry for invoking their anger.”
“Wouldn’t it be jinx gods?”
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“No… maybe? I guess we could say omen gods?” and so on. Eventually another tier one wasp approached, this time Will saw it coming from behind us.
“Hey Rose, wasp behind us.” Rose turned around and knocked an arrow while me and Will quickly got out of the way and behind her. I prepared my avatar just in case, but I didn’t need to, this time it only took one arrow, though it did break in the fall. This wasp dropped a shard too, a spear aspect one. Rose put it in one of her many pockets and we continued on our way. Will seemed to have gotten over his fear of heights by just talking, leaving me alone in the cautious and scared club.
We continued like this for a while. The next three wasps were dropped with ease but dropped nothing, so we continued down further. I anxiously watched as the branch got thinner the longer we went. It's fine, there’s a railing, I can do this, I reassured myself, growing more uncomfortable every step. Then the railing ended. Rose and Will continued like it was nothing, not noticing I had stopped.
“He- hey guys.” I called out to them when they didn’t notice I had stopped. They stopped and looked back towards me.
“I don’t think I can go any further. Is it okay if I hang back for now.” what I really wanted to say was could we turn back, but I didn’t want to inconvenience them.
“Yeah, of course. You good on your own or-” I interrupted Will. I couldn’t be a burden.
“No no, it’s fine. Keep going, I’ll be fine. After all, I’m one with the shield, right?” Will and Rose agreed and continued along their way. Will looked back for a moment, but I just smiled and waved. He was too far away to tell how forced they were. I watched them continue down the branch for a bit before deciding to make my way back to the trunk. If I was waiting for them I wanted to do it in the safest place on the tree. I was halfway back to the trunk when a wasp attacked. I was so consumed looking at the branch ahead of me that I didn’t notice it until the buzzing became audible. I got my shield and hammer out while looking around for where it was. Behind me! I barely got my shield up in time, and my avatar manifested a moment before the stinger struck. The black lance pushed into the avatar but not my shield. I swung my hammer with all my might, and the stinger snapped in two, driving the wasp into a frenzy. I stepped toward it and swung the hammers spike into its side with a crunch, and the wasp fell to the ground. My hammer was deep in it, so instead of pulling it out I pulled it toward me while punching with my shield, the tip punching into one of the wasps eyes and making it go limp.
I waited a moment, but the wasp didn’t move or evaporate. I placed my hand against it and pulled out an off white shard, spear attuned again. As the wasp dissolved I let my avatar fall away as well. As my avatar fell away everything became more real, and I realized how poorly that could have been. It was too dangerous alone, I had to get back to the group, even if they were on the end of the branch. I dropped the shard in my backpack and started down the branch, only to pause as something from earlier hit me. Had I… manifested my avatar without trying? I closed my eyes, reaching for my avatar. I mentally grasped it, and it stayed. I felt something in my hand. I opened my eyes to see my teardrop shield in my left hand. I had! I had manifested my avatar without any crutches. I began to celebrate before remembering where I was. Hundreds of feet up on the branch of a tree. Maybe I would hold off until I was somewhere I trusted the ground. I took one last look back toward the trunk, and then resumed going down the branch to rejoin my team. No more wasps attacked me as I crossed, though I made sure to occasionally check the sky
I slowed as I reached where the railing ended. There was still plenty of space, but the railings served to reassure me that in the worst case I would be safe from falling off. That wouldn’t be the case anymore. I took a deep breath, and manifested my avatar. With it came a faint sense of safety, a shield between me and the danger. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to let me continue along the branch. After a few minutes I felt comfortable enough to dismiss it, and though I felt my fear return in force I was able to continue on. The branch was still almost a dozen feet across, no need to be scared yet. Still, I was relieved when they finally came into view.