The journey into the redwood forest was graciously peaceful. Most of the party walked on the forest floor, winding and turning through the roots as needed. There was space between the trees for Glimmer to fly short, straight distances but it was too cramped for her to circle above, so she trailed behind them and deftly leapt around or over obstacles -- reminding Iris that she was as much a big cat as she was a big bird. The journey was made all the easier by nearly all of the party's heaviest supplies being stored in Iris's bottomless bag.

Eli stubbornly insisted on clambering over many of the roots, always seeking to maintain a visual on what was up ahead. Iris, for her part, easily blipped around on the tops of the roots, maintaining excellent positions for over watch and scouting which she didn't have the training or experience to make use of. Still, sometimes she would call out to Autumn if she saw a plant that sort of matched one of the many descriptions Autumn had provided her of good tasting forageables.

Shielded from the harsh sun by the massive multi-layer canopy, the forest floor was comfortable and cool. The breeze didn't penetrate far into the forest, so the air was largely still, but the rich smell of the soil and plants filled the space. The party encountered countless creatures, mostly forest critters that were squirrel or rabbit like, except much larger. At one point they had all drawn their weapons, conjured magic or -- in Iris' case -- blipped away as a wolf-sized rabbit sprinted past them, tearing up dirt in its wake. Thankfully, none of the oversized animals had been hostile.

Iris took the easy travel time to berate the party, mostly Eli, with questions.

"Tell me everything I should know about the Grand Hunt," she said, appearing beside Eli atop a root above the others.

"That's a long conversation," he replied, his eyes pointed forward.

Iris motioned at the endless expanse of forest ahead of them, "now's a good time then."

Eli sighed, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything," Iris said, then thought for a moment, "will they let me compete? I mean, as a low level."

"You might not be able to officially register as part of our team, which means you'll be left out of potential rewards and we'd have to split our shares with you. The books say regulations are lax on the front though, so you might get signed up anyway, and if you don’t we shouldn't have a problem bringing you along if you're ready."

"What does it take to be ready?"

Eli took a leap to the next root as the party below winded around the trailing edge of the one he and Iris had been standing on. Iris blipped after him.

"We need to figure out your role," Eli said, "then we need to train you to do it. Of course we'll need to spend a lot of time on the basics, too. You'll want to reach Level 5 at least, to get your next ability. That's almost guaranteed by the time we reach Giantrock City. Level 10 would be ideal, but we'll have to train hard to get you there before the hunt."

Eli slid down the curved edge of the root and landed deftly on the ground below before moving forward to climb up the next one. The aged roots had various cracks and bumps in their surface that he used as holds while he climbed, but it would be a much more difficult task without the physical enhancements that came with levels. Iris lingered behind for a moment, pulling out her journal to check her experience points.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

IRIS ORION

Hero Rank, Level 4

Experience Points: 987 / 6510

Progress to next level: 15.61%

She popped the book closed and blipped ahead, catching up to Eli just as he rose to his feet on the next root. This one twisted and turned as it sprawled in the direction they were traveling, so they walked along it for a moment.

"You'd make a good scout," Eli suggested, "and it'd keep you further from the danger."

"You guys already have two scouts," Iris said, "besides, I didn't become an adventurer to stay out of danger."

Eli seemed annoyed by her reductive summary of a scout's role, but didn't argue, "what did you become an adventurer for?"

"Well," Iris thought for a moment, "adventure, I guess. I want to climb the highest mountains and fight the scariest monsters."

Eli laughed, "wait until you meet a few scary monsters, you might change your mind."

Iris stopped and stared at him, "dude, in the past three days I've fought murderous sentient scarecrows, a dinosaur, razor-fanged panthers and a pack of magically rabid jackals."

"Yeah, those aren't the scary ones," he said matter-of-factly, "wait, the scarecrows really happened?"

"Of course they did! That's how I got here. Weren't you paying attention when I explained that?"

"I'm always paying attention. I just thought you had hit your head a little too hard."

"Yeah," Iris admitted, "that happened a few times, too."

The trees were spaced further apart for the next short stretch, so the two followed their root down to its end and rejoined the others on the ground.

"I was thinking maybe a big sword," Iris continued, "like you said, appearing out of nowhere with a giant weapon, the element of surprise combined with overwhelming force. I think that'd be pretty cool."

Eli looked her up and down, "you don't exactly look like the giant sword type."

"Yeah, that's part of the surprise."

"Got me there. Alright then," He slapped her on the shoulder, "let's give it a try. Titus, wake Iris up first thing in the morning to train with you. She wants to use heavy weapons."

"First thing?" her face dropped.

"Oh!" Autumn perked up, "can I train too?" She crouched down, drove her hands into the dirt, and hoisted out a giant two-handed battle axe made from stone.

Titus laughed, "anyone's welcome."

"As long as you still make breakfast," Eli added.

In the late afternoon Eli instructed everyone to keep an eye out for good camping spots, deciding they would make camp early tonight so there would be time to focus on temporary fortifications to get through the night. Autumn nudged Iris with an elbow and bet that he actually just wanted to give her time to cook a nice dinner.

Not long after, the party came upon the most beautiful sight Iris felt like she had ever seen, water. It was a large pond, cradled in the roots of the surrounding trees and dotted with lily pads. Various water grasses sprouted up from the surface, and more than a few dragonflies with foot wide wingspans buzzed around to snatch up the other insects in the air. Iris immediately blipped up to the edge of the water and sighed in relief.

"Wait!" Eli called after her.

She instantly blipped back to him in a panic, "what is it? Monster?"

"Always inspect water before you get that close, you never know what's in it."

Victoria walked ahead and surveyed the water with her mucus vision, as Iris had started calling it in her head. After a moment, she spoke, "it's clear. Some freakishly large tadpoles and a few fish, but nothing big."

Eli approached next, crouching down to dip his fingers into the water and the mud beneath it. He sniffed his fingers, then tapped his tongue with one.

"Don't drink it," he said, "it needs to be boiled first. Should be safe to swim."

Iris dropped her bottomless bag on the ground, her walking stick clattering to the ground beside it as she blipped away and re-appeared out over the water. She crashed into it in a ball and then delightedly shot her head back out with an infectious laugh.

"Hell yeah, CANNON BALL!" Autumn ran forward, leaping with all the might of her strength attribute and crashing into the water with an even bigger splash than Iris.

Eli sighed, "sometimes I think we'd have been better off recruiting actual children."

"Yep," Victoria said, slipping off her shoes and outer layers, "you're on first watch." She patted him on the shoulder as she walked by him to join the others in the water.