“ARE YOU INSANE!?” Descendre shouted at the two triumphant, grime covered hunters. Her eyes were focused on the Eulb beetle behind the two. The arthropod had so many that Tev’Tek corpses draped across its body it looked a green and black striped dress. “WE’RE SUPPOSED BE HUNTING THE COLLIGERE NOT WASTING TIME HERE!”

Devourer ignored her outrage, his face was covered in twigs and mud, his grin showing even brighter in contrast to his grubby appearance. “I got you a present.” He caught the infuriated expression and hurried to add “It’s a way to say ‘thank you’ for all the things that you do for our group. And for me…”

“Wait…” Descendre stopped in her next rebuke and raised a suspicious eyebrow “You got me a present?”

“Don’t make too big a deal about it okay, just take them.”

“This is wonderful.” Onion exclaimed as he erupted up from the ground beside the beetle. The insect did not appreciate the abrupt appearance and took grumpy sidestep, the Silken didn’t notice “I’ve heard of the Tev’Tek their meat is supposed to be delectable.” He licked his lips in anticipation.

The Derkaz interposed herself between Onion and her present “Those are mine! Devourer got them for me!”

“I would like at least a small morsel to sample.” The Silken circled around her like a cat “Tev’Tek is an incredibly rare delicacy after all.”

“Fine.” Descendre said begrudgingly. “But as soon as we cook some Tev’Tek up we are leaving. We have a Colligere to kill and a continent to rescue!”

-

The adventurers said farewell to the Grau and Maw crew before they climbed atop their various steeds and traveled towards the Fluffy Mountains. In the new region the tree trunks were spotted with yellow circles, the leaves on the branches were blacker than coal. A hint of purple could be seen on them if the light hit them just right. The Grau munched on trees sedately, high above the adventurers as they left on their journey to destroy the Colligere.

It was several hours before the group passed the decimation of the two Fluffy attackers, the same webbing and bones covered the ruins of a village. There had been no bodies left behind, pulled down by the root system of the Fluffies Descendre explained.

The team quickly vacated the area, feeling uneasy until the hollow place was well out of sight. And even then, they kept a careful eye on their backs. They felt a distinct shift in the forest as they traveled deeper, there were plants with broad leaves with blue pulsing veins, there were little furry animals with six legs that watched them from the canopy of the trees. The animals swiveled their oversized as they inspected the group. At times the only way to see the creatures was by their snow-white spots.

Before night had fully settled in around them the Mottoy planted his mushroom houses, the buildings were much more lavish when his magic was included in their growth, two stories tall with beds as soft as thistledown, a jacuzzi on each floor and two working showers. Devourer took it upon himself to do everyone’s laundry while they waited for dinner, another change in his usual behavior that raised some eyebrows, but everyone took it as a positive shift in his teamwork skills.

Onion and the plump woman worked on dinner in companionable silence. They made tea from the leaves of a bush with red stripes; when the foliage touched the hot water, they evaporated with the scent of bubblegum and tasted like cold watermelon on a summer day in the shade. The meal itself was a stew with the meat of a tentacle beast that attempted to eat Eli as he went about his explorations outside. (The beetle and ant-horse had come to the Frozen Death’s rescue and Descendre had executed the multi-limbed creature with extreme prejudice.) Accompanying the stew were a plethora of root vegetables that Gus was able to sense using his mushroom root network.

After the second creature attempted to eat Eli, Descendre disappeared into the shadows keeping watch for any new dangers attracted by the enticing smells of the evening meal or the small blue creature that loudly trundled through the undergrowth with loud barks of excitement.

Once the food was complete Devourer offered to take Descendre guard duty so she could enjoy her meal first. Again, there were confused expressions shared by the group but shrugs as they returned to their food.

While the tired team enjoyed their meal with the gusto, the ant-horse and the beetle made quiet rumblings at each other as they caught forest creatures and chomped on them. Eli wanted to be included in the activity and started capturing small creatures and dragging them back to the two insects.

“Odd.” Gus watched the behavior as the ant-horse delicately took the offering in her mandibles from the small blue creature “Usually an ant-horse would have eaten a creature his size.”

“Is it maybe because he’s familiar to them?” Mrs. Strawberry asked.

“Maybe…” The Mottoy looked unconvinced “Just feels like there is something more.”

Eli stopped in his activities to peer at them with curiosity, Mrs. Strawberry smiled “We were talking about you, not to you, go on.” She made a shooing the Frozen Death woofed happily and trotted back out to forage with his stub of a tail wiggling.

After dinner the adventurers sat on large toadstool chairs beneath the stars. Dessert was a spicy berry wrapped in a flaky pastry that tasted like vanilla ice cream with just a tiny hint cayenne pepper. Mrs. Strawberry had roasted the berry slowly over an open fire as the group enjoyed the light nip of coolness in the air. As they enjoyed the decadent confection, they looked up at the twinkling lights in the sky and listened to the haunting song of the Tracelily flowers on the edge of the water.

“It’s amazing sometimes,” Onion murmured as he listened with rapt attention to the singing flowers, “The music you can discover while adventuring.”

“Reminds me of a weeping willow from my realm.” The cook observed. “The tree’s leaves and branches don’t grow up they actually hang down like a big hoop dress, and this sounds like a weeping willow dipping its leaves into a fast-running river.” She daintily wiped the crumbs from her mouth and scooped up Eli that had been wandering by with an arachnid in his mouth (for the party’s mounts to eat). The small cub made a reproach woof towards the woman as the spider escaped from his mouth and scurried off into the forest. The ranger booped the blue creature’s nose “Enough exercise for you today. Time to sleep.”

-

Mrs. Strawberry was sleeping, she had been sitting between the fork of branches of her favorite tree, Marshall was there beside her reading one of his favorite rock books. They were both barefoot enjoying the cool breeze around their toes. She leaned back and rested her hand on her husband’s knee. She was about to say something about how much she loved him when the midmorning sky turned to sunset. All the hues of red danced across the sky and the cook woke up to the fungal alarm system warning of an intruder.

She sat up, cook pan in hand; ready to clobber whatever monstrosity that had interrupted her sleep.

“Just five more minutes.” Devourer mumbled waving his hand in dismissal. “Just need a few more…” He fell back to snoring. His ear socks were striped black and white this time and they made him look like an old time prisoner.

Gus was already heading out the door to settle the steeds. “Get ready for a tumble, Cook.”

“Of course.” The forest ranger said as she grabbed her boots and had them laced faster than one could say ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.’. She was out the door spinning the web covered handle of her pan. Watching for possible lurkers in the tree line.

The intruders made no attempt to hide as they rode towards the mushroom cottage. It was a horse drawn carriage with no roof. The creatures within the vehicle were cloaked in shadows, the only discernable features were eyes that flickered like coals. As they approached one of the shadow things raised a hand covered in a spiked gauntlet to stop the carriage. The steeds were Forates; much like the one the adventurers had met before the four-legged creatures lowered their horned heads and purple cascading energy moved across their bodies. Mrs. Strawberry lowered herself into a defensive stance trying to figure out how to deal with an energy that tore limbs from bodies.

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“Grrrrr.” Eli grumbled as he exited the mushroom abode, so sleepy that he moved like a drunken sailor. The Forates froze at the sound. After the Frozen Death made no move towards them, they started taking nervous side steps away from the little fuzzball. Their harnesses jangled and leather creaked as they attempted to put more distance between themselves and the blue cub. “Woof!”

“Everything is fine, Eli.” The old woman said quietly, she kept her eyes on the shadow beings, they were watching the entire interaction with undiscernible expressions. Eli yawned sleepily and settled down in front of the cook. “Good boy.”

The Forates blew out big gusts of air from their nostrils, their heads turned sideways to keep their eyes fixed on the Frozen Death.

“Greetings.” Gus said conversationally from atop his ant-horse as he rode the insect into view at a leisurely pace. The lance in his hand was pointed up towards the night sky. His tone still relaxed as the steed came to a stop beside the cook, “I would suggest you and yours back away.

The shadow figures turned to speak with each other in a whispering echo language that made the hairs on the back of Mrs. Strawberry’s neck stand up. The smallest one turned to the Mottoy and spoke in common, her words still echoing, “We have no interest in squabbling with you, we have a much more urgent matter that must be dealt with immediately.” Her eyes flickered with a brighter light as she stood up looking at a flash of lighting in the distance. “In fact, we must go now! Hss, get them out of here, we don’t need any more snafus like last time we had travelers!”

“Of course, it’s me again.” A tall being mumbled to himself as he vacated the carriage from back. “Ahh! gets to go off to do the expedition. Just wait until I take over this guild, you won’t know what hit you.”

Without paying any heed to her subordinate’s mutinous comments the small female spoke again in the echo language and the Forates snorted and passed through the tree trunks as if they were mist.

Hss stood in front of the two with an air of incredible annoyance. “You guys couldn’t have come through at any other time, could you?!” he folded his bulging arms. “You adventurers pass through at the worst time, every time.”

Gus broke the silence. “That sounds like an overly broad generalization.”

“No. Every time!” Hss retorted, he looked at the two and waved his hand for them to move. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here. Maybe if I get you two out of here fast enough I can catch up.” He perked up at the thought and started shooing them. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Mrs. Strawberry was about to object and say they needed to wait for the others when Gus caught her eye and shook his head. He spoke instead “Yes, let’s go.”

They followed the malcontent guide quite a distance down the road to the point where the forest was thinning. Hss gestured towards the open plains “Go on, best you not stick around here. The dogs were released a while ago and I don’t want you getting eaten while in our woods.” He paused. “Actually, I don’t get why they didn’t already take a bite or two out of you or your bugs.”

Mrs. Strawberry stepped up to the towering creature and tapped his chest with her pan. “Best you tell visitors that type of thing as soon as you meet them. Did it ever occur to you that bad things happen to the travelers because you didn’t bother to tell them!?”

“Oh.” Hss mumbled, a new thought being forced into his brain. “Oh!” he said as he started to connect the dots with her words and his past experiences. “Ah.” He finally came to the conclusion. “I think I see what you mean.”

Just as the tall creature came to this conclusion Onion popped up from the ground with a merry little whistle.

“How’d it go?” Gus asked without preamble.

The Silken beamed up at the fungal knight “Easy as pie. Local aristocrats wanting to know what we were doing in their territory. I explained we were passing through due to the Fluffy expanse. They said we were fine passing through but not to terry too long, they like to let their dogs run loose at night and they would feel bad if we were eaten by accident.”

“Wait, you spoke with someone other than me?!” Hss asked with a hurt tone.

Gus turned his horse towards the thinning forest “Yes, I sent Onion off an hour before your party arrived. When you appeared to be a moron I decided it was best to not tell you. You might have gotten us lost simply to be vindictive about us going over your head.”

“What!” The shadow being growled. But it was clear that Gus had hit the nail on the head with his accusation.

Mrs. Strawberry looked curiously at Onion, she had lost any interest in attempting to educate this shadow creature about proper manners, it was clear that his only concerns were his own. She turned away from the creature and asked, “What type of dogs do they have?”

Onion winked at the cook “The kind that we would not want to tangle with, they will be kept on their leashes tonight, but that is the only courtesy we are given. We best be well out of their territory before sunset.”

“And you have an expedition to join, I think.” Gus said with firm command in his voice, it was clear he wanted Hss well away from the adventures. “I think we can show ourselves out from here.”

Hss looked at the newly emerged Onion, then around the forest. “How many more of you are there?”

“More than enough to protect ourselves.” The Mottoy asserted.

The shadow being looked around again and shuffled off into the forest without another word. The fungal knight raised his voice “You can come out now, Devourer.”

The Auris stepped out from behind a tree. “That felt tense. Did anyone else feel tense?”

“I was waiting for him to go for a weapon.” Descendre agreed as she dropped down from the trees. She flicked her tail a few times before scratching an ear with the poisoned talons.

Gus started walking his horse “No, he was just unhappy, and petty, generally those types don’t try to tear out your throats unless you push them. He would have however gotten us lost and deserted us if he knew we weren’t relying on him solely. Now enough idle prattle, best we be on our way, we have a long ways to go before we our fully our of their territory.”

Other than that statement they started their journey with nary a word. There were women wearing three-piece suits sitting in the tops of trees watching them pass. Devourer leaned over “Those are the ladies of the forest, the hounds answer only their call. As soon as we are out of their domain the hounds are going to howl. The handlers like to re-affirm how dangerous they are to travelers.”

Mrs. Strawberry never saw a boundary, but she felt a distinct shift in the forest, the plants with the blue pulsing veins stopped growing as frequently, the little creatures with large ears and white spots stopped peering down at them from the trees. she glanced back to see the ladies of the forest whistle loudly, a moment later hounds appeared, they were a meter tall and had ethereal blue scales. The canines raised their heads in unison and a haunting lullaby crashed outwards, sending leaves and plants whipping around dramatically, Mrs. Strawberry grabbed Eli to keep him from being blown away by the sudden gale.

Devourer’s fine clothing whipped about him and once it passed he turned and made a complex gesture with both of his hands towards women. The ladies of the forest returned the gesture with smirks of contempt. The gentleman held the gesture for a long moment as he shouted back at the handlers “STOP TRYING TO SHOW OFF, IT DOESN’T WORK!!!”

Mrs. Strawberry made an attempt at the series of hand movements “What does that mean?”

“Ah, um…Nothing important.” Devourer said hurriedly, he started pressing down the fabric in an attempt to remove the wrinkles and dust that tarnished his clothing “Can’t have a cook be doing anything like that.”

“Could you clarify that?” Mrs. Strawberry said with a tone that made it clear she did not appreciate his flippant words.

Descendre rolled her eyes at the Auris “Ignore him, he’s being superstitious that if a cook curses or makes rude gestures that their cooking will go bad.” She stuck her tongue out at her longtime friend “Even though there is no magic that ruins food!”

The two started bickering about various magics and Mrs. Strawberry lost interest, making a mental note to attempt the gesture again. Eli was still chewing on one of the horns and the beetle paused to patiently move the cub to another horn.

With words that made the entire party jump the necklace loudly declared “It is Thursday, you best kill the Colligere because you only have three days left before Strawberry is returned.”

Devourer smacked the stone and grumbled about buzzkills.

-

With the odd forest behind them, they travelled quickly. It was as they crested a hill that they saw the various colored Tracelilies floating on a sedate pond, they stopped to relax and unwind, using the flowers to scoop up water and enjoy the bubbling flavors.

“They’re like soda pop, carbonation and everything.” Mrs. Strawberry sipped from a yellow Tracelily, the bubbles tickling her nose and dancing across her tongue. She pulled off her pack and rested against it as a makeshift chair.

Devourer tasted his own red flower, his pinkie up as if he was at a high fashion banquet. “Mine tastes like a fine wine.” He peered at the bubbling drink the cook held “Let me try yours.” He took a sip of the carbonated drink and made a sour face “That is disgusting, why would you drink that?!”

Of course, the other members of the party tried the concoction the only other one that enjoyed it was Eli.

-

The party travelled in a sedate pattern, sometimes spreading out a little to give the steeds more room to forage while they travelled.

It was midday when Mrs. Strawberry noticed something was off, it was almost imperceptible, the buzzing of insects changing just the slightest bit. The way the light was coming down through the trees at the slightest wrong angle. She felt a foreboding, the hairs on her arms and back of her neck rising. The voices of her companions were gone.

She pulled on the beetle’s reins to bring him to a halt.

She turned him slowly in a circle as she realized she was very alone