The dryad princess Ulmenglanz strode swiftly through the forest. Her mystical connection with the forest enabled her to draw strength from it. She would therefore never tire within the forest. Right behind her, the humans puffed away, carrying her tree on a stretcher in a clay pot behind her. Torm, the young mage accompanying her, had tried it with a magical carrying disk. Unfortunately, the tree had immediately sprouted roots that had sucked the mana out of the spell. Now the four of them carried it on the wooden frame.

Two rangers secured the sides. Esche, the druid, walked directly in front of the tree, proudly carrying the small box with the seeds attached to his back with leather straps. The protective spells of the seed box also connected him to the magic of the forest. Only weakly, but he could feel it. He just sensed the forest. The trees and animals. Where they were, what they felt. He could barely walk straight, but he grinned broadly to himself.

Ulmenglanz turned her attention back to her surroundings. The forest before her wasn't empty, but far and wide she couldn't sense any of the invaders. Only other heroes. Like the ones who had shown up at the mystical spawnpoint to help them. She paused. A few scouts or stragglers wouldn't have been unusual, but she sensed over twenty of these heroes in the immediate area. What were they all doing so far from the battlefield? Had they deserted? Why, if they were here voluntarily?

Burning pain shot through her body. It felt as if her whole body was on fire. She screamed out in agony, the world spinning around her. When she looked down at herself, she expected to see burning skin and scorching flesh, but visually everything was normal. Her eyes went black. Then the pain disappeared again, just as seamlessly as it had come. She found herself lying flat on the ground with her face in the dirt. The druid helped her up while her other companions looked at her worriedly. The dryad ignored them. She felt inside herself, where she now sensed an emptiness. The connection to the temple and, through it, to the magic of the forest had disappeared. Gone. She felt weak and tired for the first time in her life. Her limbs felt heavy and sluggish.

"Princess, are you all right?" The druid sounded confused.

"No. Nothing's wrong at all." She stood up, pushing him away. "Someone has destroyed the temple of Findrabarr. Looking back, she saw a thick cloud of smoke rising above the trees. "The temple grove is on fire. We have to get back!"

Esche held her back by the arm and almost caught a backhanded punch for it. "No one can harm the temple as long as Archdruid Hazel lives. Against someone who could overcome him..."

She gave up trying to free her arm from his hand and stared at the column of smoke. "You're right. We don't stand a chance against whoever was able to defeat Hazel. From the looks of it, it's already too late. Our escape has become even more important now. Therefore..."

A breeze silenced her. Something had flown close to her face. One of the bearers of the tree grabbed his throat, in which an arrow was now stuck. He collapsed to his knees, gurgling.

Ulmenglanz wheeled around and saw someone with a bow disappear behind a tree. The sound of quick footsteps and cracking twigs echoed through the forest.

The dryad raised her hand and commanded the plants to embrace and stop the fleeing one. The mental call faded into the void. Ulmenglanz looked around in confusion, then it broke over her like a dark storm. Her connection to the forest... was gone. Her abilities as a priestess of Fliedabarr... gone. She didn't need to look at her status screen to know that all her levels as a priestess were gone. She dropped to her knees and choked dry.

A hand on her shoulder made her flinch. When she lifted her head, she looked into the compassionate brown eyes of the druid Esche. He helped her up again: "Your temple has fallen; your god has passed away. You were a high-ranking priestess. Level... eight?"

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"Nine. And now... nothing..."

"You have lost your class and levels. But not everything is lost. You should have a gotten back 500 XP, which you can use to purchase a new class immediately. That's enough for five levels. Becoming a druid would be a perfect match for your innate abilities. I can assist you in entering my class."

"I... I don't have a head for this right now." She collapsed to her knees and put her face in her hands, but then she immediately started up again and looked around with widened eyes: "Wait... That was one of the heroes I sensed in the area earlier. If one is hostile to us, maybe the others are too. There were more than two dozen of them. Far away from the front line, where they should be. This is a trap!"

Esche also looked around, and the other warriors did the same. They were all talking to each other and making suggestions about what to do now. The druid remained silent and thought. Then he silently raised his hand. His behavior contrasted so strongly with the wild waving and discussion of the others that it was immediately noticeable. To his own surprise, everyone immediately fell silent and turned their full attention to him. Apparently, it had paid off to increase Charisma. A decision he had often regretted when he lacked points elsewhere. But surrounded by warriors, hunters and rangers, most of whom had lowered their Charisma to 8 in order to use the points elsewhere, he immediately stood out.

"If they were already in position, they knew we were coming. There's no way they could have overtaken us so quickly. So they also know our planned route. If we keep following it, they'll catch us. We'll have to think of a new route. Does anyone have any ideas? Ulmenglanz?"

The dryad held one hand against the trunk of a large oak tree at the edge of the path. Her eyes were tightly closed and her head tilted slightly to one side as if listening. When he spoke to her, she snatched her hand away.

" Ulmenglanz?"

"I don't know... I don't remember the exact positions of the heroes, but some were on or near the two forest paths. There is no other way. If we go cross-country, we'll have to constantly overcome thorn hedges and other obstacles. They would easily catch up with us."

Esche nodded thoughtfully. Then his face brightened: "We could deviate from our path at a right angle and run to the next edge of the forest. We've learned all the skills for faster movement in the last few days. Forest run, race, marathon. Or a variation of these. They will hardly be able to catch up with us. If they do, we'll at least be able to choose the battlefield."

The discussion began anew, but was quickly stifled by the dryad: "Quiet! If we don't leave immediately, our enemies will surround us and then nothing else will matter." She held an accusing index finger close to Esche's face: "What are we supposed to do on the forest side? There's no way to our destination from there. We can go into the desert, where the Krigesti are waiting, or into the mountains. I don't see any chance of making our way to a pass."

"We take the path through the mines of Norgrul. The entrance is on our side of the front. We can walk under the edge of the forest and the ambushes on the main paths. The exit is at the eastern mountains, a day's journey before the wall-fortress of Mulnirsheim." He raised his hand defensively when Ulmenglanz started to object: "You can survive underground. Not for long, but it's not far. A few days, that's all. A dryad can survive a few days without light, otherwise cloudy weather fronts lasting several days would also be fatal. You are the princess of the forest! You'll manage."

Her mouth closed. With an act of willpower, she steadied her trembling hands and straightened up a little. Hesitantly, she nodded. Then more resolutely: "All right. Let's walk."

The group briefly secured their equipment once more, then deviated from the path and broke through the undergrowth at a steady run. As everyone had the right skills, they made surprisingly little noise.

* * *

A few minutes later, some warriors broke through the bushes. They also tried to make as little noise as possible, but without the right skills they failed miserably. None of them were equipped for survival in the forest. Chain mail and long swords got caught in the undergrowth and heavy boots stomped through branches and leaves.

The leader of the group raised his hand and looked around the small clearing: "They were here, the ground is so trampled that even I can tell. Then they ran off in... I don't know. Probably not in our direction." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Does anyone here have any tracking or similar skills?"

The warriors looked at each other and then shrugged their shoulders.

"Too bad. Then we'll split into two groups again and head back to the forest paths." On the way, he looked back a little concerned and muttered quietly to himself: "Umbramar will kill us if they sneak past us..."