Once Victoria had escaped from the eagle and rejoined the party, their first goal was to put distance between themselves and the nest. They all expected the bird would become quite upset once it returned to find its nest half destroyed and its eggs missing, and none of them wanted to be nearby when it did. Though they would certainly be capable of fighting if they had to, the team hadn’t been composed with battle prowess in mind and the unique terrain of the enormous tree was an undesirable battlefield for nearly any adventurer. This was a gathering mission, not a hunting mission, and the more confrontation they could avoid the better.
Once firmly clear of the eagle’s nest, the party found a relatively sheltered nook in a crooked branch to take a rest while Victoria floated off to scout for their next objective. They would need to find a way inside of the massive trunk, to its hollow center, in order to harvest the inner-bark. Misty assured them that it was considered a delicacy in Fale Nalore, and was both cooked and served on its own as a treat as well as ground into a spice. Victoria couldn’t simply phase through the tree and harvest the bark herself because it was so firmly adhered to the trunk that it would take either great strength or specialized abilities to carve it off.
While they waited, Iris soaked in the ambiance of the environment. The wind blew harshly this high above the swamp, but the many leaves and branches of the tree broke up the currents into gentle but chaotic breezes that came from all directions. Like the swamp below, many insects chirped and buzzed, though there far fewer of them and most were quite large and their sounds much deeper. It reminded her of the redwood forest in a way, filled with familiar but supersized animals. That wasn’t to say everything was familiar, however, one of the most peculiar sights she saw was an eight legged reptile, about two feet long and vaguely shaped like a lizard, that scurried around almost like a centipede.
When Victoria returned to the team, she told them of an opening in the trunk a few dozen feet higher and on the opposite side of the trunk. They promptly set off in that direction, but navigating the tree as a collective was at times an arduous process that took some time. As they traversed, Killup and Iris picked all the fruits and flowers they came across. Along the way they were occasionally pestered by bulbous flies the size Iris’s head, and on one occasional a small furry creature with a long, agile tail started flinging twigs and nuts at them.
“Monkeys,” Misty said, “they’re annoying little bastards, but they’re smarter than they look. We’ll need to be careful if we run into a group of them.”
The opening to the inside of the trunk was situated just beside a somewhat small branch only wide enough for the adventurers to stand single-file. The opening itself was similar to some that Iris had seen in trees before, where the bark curved inwards to encircle an inexplicable hole in the tree. The difference with this opening, compared to the others she had seen, was that there were several feet of wood before it reached the hollow center, creating a tunnel-like entrance to the tree. The opening itself was oval-shaped, taller than it was wide, and just large enough for the adventurers to climb through.
“Misty, Iris, you two go inside and retrieve the bark,” Adan said, “Victoria will accompany you while Killup and I keep watch out here.”
Misty and Iris nodded and climbed into the opening. It wasn’t tall enough for them to stand even while hunched, so instead they had to awkwardly crawl and squeeze their way through. The bark was rough against Iris’s hands and knees, and she expected she would at least have a few bruises to show for it when they were done.
The tunnel opened up into a dark but surprisingly spacious vertical, cylindrical chamber that extended into impenetrable darkness both above and below them. Iris’s glow stones and the natural glow of Victoria’s ghostly form were enough to light the far edges of the chamber, which was about twenty feet in diameter. Natural, web like structures of wood bridged across the gap for its entirety, some creating flat surfaces that could be stood on while others were steeply inclined and would be difficult to even climb. A viscous golden-brown ooze occasionally puddled on these bridges, often hanging over the sides in stretched out strands as in frozen in an eternal drip.
“Don’t disturb the sap,” Misty warned as she climbed out of the tunnel onto a mostly horizontal bridge, “some of it will be dormant sap slimes, which we do not want to deal with.”
Iris nodded from within the tunnel before blipping to a sapless-spot on a nearby bridge. Misty followed her own bridge until it reached the inner wall of the tree, where she placed a hand on the bark and closed her eyes. The bark itself was distinctly different than that of the exterior, having a much smoother surface and a pale white color. After a moment, Misty sighed in frustration and withdrew her hand.
“I work best with soft plants,” she explained, “and this tree feels almost stubborn. I won’t be able to remove the bark with my abilities, so we’ll have to carve it.”
“Leave it to me,” Iris said confidently.
Iris summoned her great sword from her palm, stood on the edge of her wood bridge and angled the blade downwards until the tip cut into the bark below her. Once the tip of the sword was lodged in the bark, she leaned forward and applied her weight to the hilt. The blade abruptly sunk into the bark, peeling a large strip of it a few inches away from the trunk as she lurched forward. Iris was now suspended over the darkness with her feet planted on the natural bridge, her outstretched hands clasped to the hilt of her great sword, and her body strewn out almost horizontally between them.
“I’m okay!” she said nervously while eyeing the sword in case it gave way again, “good news, I think we’ll be able to harvest a lot.”
“You’re being reckless,” Victoria observed.
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“It’s fine,” Iris grunted as she pushed off the bridge with her toes and pushed the hilt towards the trunk with her body.
The sword sunk deeper into the bark, further peeling away a large chunk as Iris scrambled to balance her feet on the out-turned bark. Briefly, she hung from the hilt with her chest against the flat of the blade and the strip of bark beneath her feet, and then splintering sounds echoed through the hollow. The bark snapped and her sword broke free, and for an instant she was free falling.
Tentacles shot from an outstretched hand and grabbed hold of the large chunk of bark, and Iris rapidly blipped upwards until she was over her companions head. She landed beside Misty with the sword in one hand and a chunk of bark thicker and longer than her torso in the other.
“Is this enough?” she asked casually.
“I imagine that’s plenty,” Misty said with an impressed expression, while Victoria looked on with a faint frown.
As they returned to the outside, they were greeted by a motion from Adan to be quiet. He was scanning the branches above them with a wary gaze, while Killup cowered behind him.
“What is it?” Misty whispered.
“We’re being stalked,” Adan warned.
“Everyone act natural,” Misty quickly instructed, “keep your wits about you, but don’t let on that you know the creature is there.”
After exchanging concerned glances, Iris and Victoria did their best to behave as they would normally. Victoria floated slightly above her teammates, turning her back to the branches knowing that anything that attacked her would simply pass through her incorporeal form. Iris blipped over and picked a nearby flower, watching her surroundings out of the corner of her eye.
“Do you know what it is?” Misty asked Adan.
“It is perhaps some kind of large cat,” Adan said, “but it moves more like a squirrel. It is currently above us.”
“Lion-squirrel,” Misty said with a worried look, “we should avoid battle at all costs. We could take it without issue on the ground, but it will effortlessly outmaneuver us in this tree.”
“What plan do you suggested?” Adan asked.
“It’s very important we don’t give away that we know it’s there, or it will likely attack prematurely,” Misty explained, “if we act casually and stick close together, we may be able to return to the ship before it sees an ideal opportunity to pounce — or at least get close enough for backup to come to our aid should we need it.”
“Our goals are complete, that is an acceptable plan.”
“Let’s get moving then,” Misty addressed the group, “remember, stick close together, it will target stragglers. If you think you see it, pretend you don’t and never look right at it. Understood?”
The others nodded silently.
“Alright, let’s move.”
Misty led the way back towards the ship, swinging on vines to cross gaps and descend to lower branches. Killup flew near her, while Adan timed his leaps and Iris her blips to coincide with Misty’s swings. Victoria was the only one who strayed from the group, still staying close enough so as not to be an irresistible target but always ensuring that she was the most isolated among them, with the intent bait the beast into wasting its first pounce on her should it choose to attack.
They traveled at a brisk pace, certainly faster than they would have had they not been stalked by a dangerous predator, but Misty led them at a speed that wasn’t so fast that it would seem to the lion-squirrel that they were fleeing. Occasionally, Iris caught a glimpse of something darting between foliage or heard the distinct sounds of claws scratching bark, but each time she resisted the urge to snap her head in that direction.
Descending was much faster than ascending, and soon they have rounded the trunk nearly two times and descended several dozen feet. The Gaping Maw came into view through the branches, and Iris began to relax. Sparks flew as the lion-squirrel slammed into Adan, its hooked claws scraping against his metal skin as the beast tackled him from the branch.
Iris blipped and lunged forward, throwing herself onto her chest and reaching out over the edge of the branch with a void-torn palm. Tentacles shot out and wrapped around Adan’s outstretched arm. His sudden weight almost yanked her from the branch, but vines controlled by Misty wrapped around her legs and held her in place. The lion-squirrel had slipped off of Adan as his fall abruptly halted, but spread its legs wide to reveal webbed flaps of skin between its knees and torso that acted almost like wings, allowing it glide safety to the trunk of the tree where it quickly sprinted vertically as effortlessly as it might run across ground. Adan hoisted himself up the tentacles as if he was climbing a rope, and soon grabbed hold of Iris’s arm which pulled him back onto the branch.
“It’s almost back,” Victoria warned.
“Run for it!” Misty shouted as Adan reached his feet.
Killup leapt from the branch and dove for a dozen feet before spreading his wings and taking flight in a wide arc that brought him far from the tree’s trunk and ultimately swung around towards the Gaping Maw. Misty wrapped vines around Adan and pulled him tight against her as she launched into a daring swing over several branches and towards the ship, while Iris launched off on her broom and followed behind them.
The lion-squirrel ripped off small chunks of bark as its claws dug deep into the tree and launched it forward with each kick. It ran across the trunk and leapt between branches in a slightly zig-zagging pattern, sometimes briefly gliding to extend its jumps.
It wasn’t truly a mixture of the two animals, but rather a distinct creature that somewhat resembled both. It was certainly the size of a lion, with powerful muscles and a distinctly four-legged gait. Its fur was dark brown and lightly striped with grey, puffing up around its neck almost like a lion’s mane. Its tail was was distinctly squirrel like, large and fluffy and trailing behind it as it ran, while its face was unlike either creature for which it was named. It was a short, broad snout with a wide mouth of canine-like teeth which it bared as it chased its prey.
Killup was the first to reach the ship, effortlessly gliding to the deck and sighing in relief as he landed. Misty and Adan landed hard after launching from the apex of their swing, both collapsing into deep crouches as they impacted the deck with great force.
Iris watched the deck grow nearer and nearer as she desperately swung her body side-to-side to sloppily dodge branches and limbs. She felt the lion-squirrel enter her awareness to her left and abruptly dove down and to the right, feeling the gust of air as the creature’s bulky body soared just above her to land on an opposing branch. It kicked off again, this time not leaving Iris enough time to dodge. Instead she blipped, and the beast’s pounce once again found only air.
Finally the way was clear, and she poured an immense amount of mana into the broom, launching it forward and out from between her knees to fly ahead of her and yank her arms taut out in front of her as she desperately clung to the speeding broom. It flew through the air uncontrolled, pulling her along with it until finally the ship came within blipping distance. She disappeared from the air and reappeared just above the deck, landing hard and bouncing into a tumbling roll that ultimately ended with her back slamming against a mast as her broom clattered past her across the deck.
“I’m—” she held a single thumb as she wheezed, “—fine.”