Helena woke me up for my guard shift and I crawled out of the tent. It was still dark and I yawned. I would not have minded more sleep but having the last shift was nice. Nyx was curled up at the fire. One eye briefly opened as I left the tent. Then it closed again.

I stretched, then threw some more wood into the fire. We had collected quite a bit yesterday. It was important to have enough for the night. While it was not that cold the fire provided illumination and kept most animals away.

My undead were still alive. Ok, alive was the wrong word, they still existed. I checked all my links. Then I walked the perimeter of the camp and checked on all my undead in person. Soon I was back at the fire with nothing to do.

The real problem of guard duty was boredom. Technically I should have been scanning the area, watching for something. But how long could you reasonably do that without going insane? I could train my magic but it would mean paying less attention. I did have my undead keeping watch as well though…

In the end I decided to train my water shield. I created various forms of shielding, covering my body and even a small dome. The last one was relatively exhausting. It would have been much easier if I had used the water from the river.

As the sun began to rise I stopped training and decided to brew some coffee. Maybe I should prepare breakfast…

I looked into the supply wagon and debated what to do. I grabbed some bacon, eggs and leftover bread from yesterday. I fried the bacon in a pan, then used the fat to toast the bread and fry the eggs. Once the food and coffee were ready I woke my friends.

“No attack, damn. I really thought something would happen during the first night.” Cassie said while rubbing her eyes.

“Oh, you made food! I love you!” Helena said while grabbing some bacon.

“And coffee.” Skadi added while pouring some into a mug.

“So, what is today’s plan?” Cassie asked while filling her plate.

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“Scout the local area. The map I have is not very detailed inside the forest. It was mostly about the camping spot. We want to look for tracks, find something to hunt. Maybe lay a few traps…” Helena said.

“Do you know how to use traps?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know how to create them but I can deploy one. I actually brought four. You place them on the floor, hide them with leaves and they snap shut around someone’s foot if they step into them.” Helena explained.

“We need to make sure we don’t step into them.” Skadi pointed out.

“Yes, and would we not need something to attract an animal too? Like bait?” Cassie asked.

“If we catch something we can use the meat as bait.” Helena said.

“We could also use them to defend the camp. Let’s put them in the forest close to our base.” Skadi suggested.

“I like the way you think. We could put them in the spots someone would use to watch us. Like near that bush.” I pointed at a bush at the edge of the forest.

“Hm. Ok, let’s use my traps for defence.” Helena agreed.

After breakfast we washed the dishes in the river and got ready for the day. We wore chainmail and arming swords. Additionally Skadi had a two handed axe and Helena used a spear. I debated grabbing one too but decided I would focus on magic. Cassie said she wanted her hands free to throw potions. She carried quite a few in various pouches and around her belt.

We also had backpacks with useful tools, like rope and snacks. Before we left though we placed Helena’s traps. There were no signs of someone watching us.

“Did they not even spy on us? Lazy ambushers.” Skadi said.

“Maybe nobody is going to attack us.” I said.

They all stared at me.

“Hey, there is a chance!” I protested.

“Keep telling yourself that.” Helena patted me on the head.

Nyx was sniffing around the bushes. It did not look like she was finding something interesting. She had mildly grown in size and was currently as big as a fox. Besides her, we had Frank with us. The zombies and the two goblins were at the camp keeping watch.

After we were done with the traps we made our way into the forest. Helena took the lead. She had the map and a compass. Although we did not need them for now as we followed the river. A source of water would likely attract animals and therefore help us find something to hunt.

“Should we have hired a tracker?” Cassie asked as we walked.

“Um…” Helena looked slightly embarrassed. “Maybe. I did not want a random person in our group though. I thought it would be fine. We did find the boar during the field training. And I did read a bit about tracking since then…”

“It is certainly more fun with only the four of us.” I said.

“Meow.”

“The five of us.” I corrected my statement.

“I am sure we will find something.” Skadi said.

“Hey, I think something moved over there!” I pointed at a bush in the distance.

“Ok, Skadi and myself will take the lead. Have Frank cover the rear. Keep your spells ready. Oh, and remember to not kill anything we want to eat with death magic. It’s not that important since we have enough food but it might be tasty…” Helena said. Then she looked at Cassie. “Please don’t burn down the forest.”

Cassie smiled. “You are all a lot better at water magic now. And there is a river. It will be fine.”