After letting out a few incomprehensible whuffs and chitters while gesturing at Nick, the Elder decided to approach and take a closer look.
She was tall enough to stare him straight in the eye, and she met his gaze without fear or hostility. As the tactic had worked well for him thus far, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ripe berry. He handed it to the Elder, then made a small bow. She sniffed at the offering and then shoved it into her mouth, letting out a small grunt that he interpreted as approval. After giving him another long look, the Elder pointed at Nick, made a few vocalizations to the others, and then headed off to supervise a group of lemurs who were digging up roots.
Having received the Elder’s blessing, the other lemurs accepted Nick’s presence. The guards visibly relaxed, and the tribe went about its business, now treating him as a guest rather than a curiosity.
“Thanks, Bandit.” He reached out to pat the lemur’s head, realizing too late that this wasn’t the smartest thing to do with a wild animal, even one that seemed to enjoy your company. Fortunately, Bandit didn’t mind, leaning in as Nick rubbed the spot behind his ears. But then the Elder let out a cry that he interpreted as, “You need to get back to work.” Bandit issued a final friendly whuff and then bounded off to join the other members of his tribe.
Glad to have made a new friend, even if he belonged to a different species, Nick began heading toward his next destination, the giant tree another mile to the east. He had no intention of climbing to the top any time soon. But until he discovered something better, the great tree was the closest thing to a proper shelter that he had found.
As night was only a few hours away, Nick decided to explore the terrain around the base of the trunk, then get himself set up in the tree. If he ran into the cruncher pack, he would be able to climb into the branches to escape. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, as the tree was in the opposite direction that the pack had been heading when he encountered them earlier in the day. Based on the tracks and territory markers he had seen so far, he believed that the pack was laired somewhere to the north, where the forest transitioned into the highlands surrounding the mountain looming in the middle of the island.
Unfortunately, Nick didn’t find anything else to eat, but he did get a better sense of the local landscape. On a brighter note, he didn’t spot any signs that the crunchers had been in the area recently. It didn’t mean that he was safe, but it lowered the odds of a chance encounter. Which was great, as Nick intended to conceal his presence from the powerful predators for as long as possible.
Not long after, he began to lose the light. Night came early beneath the dense canopy of needles. Rather than risk stumbling around in the dark, he returned to the great tree and, after a bit of trial and error, managed to pull himself into the branches along with his heavy backpack.
He had to climb higher than he wanted before the branches were sturdy enough to stretch out on. If Nick fell out of the tree in his sleep, it was really going to hurt. But he wasn’t going to try camping up here without taking some precautions first. He took out the ball of twine from the pocket of his belt and began looping it around the neighboring branches, creating an anchor that he could tie his belt to, as well as one of his ankles. It wasn’t comfy, but after a bit of testing, he was confident that the setup would keep him from falling off the branch in his sleep. At least the sound of the wind stirring the canopy was soothing, and the air smelled pleasantly of pine.
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With nothing left to do, Nick pulled his bathrobe over him like a blanket and then closed his eyes, intending to wake with the break of dawn. Sleeping in the branches was a challenging endeavor, especially with the chill wind that blew in from the sea. But at least none of the beasts that he had seen in the forest could get him up here, except for the giant spiders. Fortunately, he was far enough away from their territory that he doubted they would be willing to square off against the hyena-boars. They had plenty of prey closer to their webs.
Nick awoke as the sky began to lighten, shivering but otherwise no worse for wear. The discomfort was a small price to pay for the security this location provided. Safety aside, the tree wasn’t going to work as a shelter for more than another night or two.
In addition to being uncomfortable, there was nowhere for him to build a fire up here. No space to craft tools or set traps, and most importantly, the canopy would be woefully insufficient to protect him from the boiling rain that accompanied the searstorms. He needed to find a shelter with walls to guard his back, only one entrance, and a roof overhead. He hoped to find something suitable today, once he had foraged enough food to get by.
After untying his harness and climbing down from the tree, it was time for Nick to find a dependable source of food. He took a deep breath of the misty morning air, stretching out the kinks in his muscles while deciding which part of the forest he wanted to explore.
He was hoping to run into another critically injured swordclaw, as their meat was one of the most delicious things he had ever tasted. But he couldn’t afford to wait until he came across another of the delectable crustaceans, who were harder to spot beneath the canopy than they had been on the sandy shore.
Regardless of the source, he needed to find enough food to make it through the next several days, freeing up his hours to figure out how he was going to deal with the bonecruncher pack. Nick was willing to fight some uninjured komos or swordclaws if he had no other choice, but after his various battles in the sewer, he wanted to figure out a way to fill his belly that didn’t rely on violence. He had a hunch there would be plenty of fighting in the days ahead regardless.
The tribe had been scouring the area south of the great tree for days, and the crunchers were laired somewhere to the north. Heading further east would take Nick uncomfortably close to the domain of the giant spiders, who scared him almost as badly as the lurk. Even the brutal bonecrunchers seemed friendly by comparison.
Thus, he decided to survey the land to the northwest. It would mean walking toward the stretch of forest claimed by the enormous mushroom looming in the distance, although he had no intention of getting anywhere close to the absurdly large fungal growth. No matter what danger the area posed, at least the mushrooms couldn’t actively hunt Nick like the predatory beasts on the island.
He was dead certain that the giant shroom was bad news, but hopefully it would be safe enough to explore the border of its domain. He had already spotted berry bushes in the region, and the tribe flat out refused to range deep enough to pick them.
His decision made, Nick started walking west, planning to stop by the spring and then head north until he passed the berry patch that he had already picked clean. He was looking forward to filling his belly, as he had given his dinner to the lemurs to ensure their goodwill.
As he traveled, Nick studied the terrain carefully, both to familiarize himself with the interior of the woodlands and to always have a tree nearby that he could climb into if the pack arrived on scene. Thanks to his diligence, his journey through the woodlands was peaceful, and he arrived at the island’s west coast about an hour later.
He passed by the barren bushes and continued walking north, keeping the ocean in sight on his left to ensure that he didn’t accidentally veer too far inland. This part of the forest was remarkably peaceful. He didn’t see any beasts, and there were fewer animals on this side of the island as well.
In retrospect, Nick should have recognized this detail as the massive red flag that it was. But in that moment, he was simply relieved that nothing was trying to murder or eat him.