The Shark Titan barked orders as he strode down the beach, observing the adventurers assembling ballistae in the sand, "dig those anchor stakes deep! There'll be waves!"
His ship loomed just off shore, where his trusted first mate was preparing the crew and a select few Champions he'd personally vetted for the battle. A large, limbless carcass was being hoisted by ropes and cranes over the deck of the ship to be dropped as bait. The titan frowned as he saw a winged-silhouette in the sky above, swooping down to land a dozen yards ahead.
"You're in the wrong place," he called out at the approaching figure.
"I'm on a tight schedule," Commander Bridge said curtly as he quickly closed the distance on foot, "we need to talk."
The Shark Titan grimaced, then noticed distracted looks from nearby adventurers and shouted, "back to work!"
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The party rested by a babbling creek that cut through the forest. Everyone but Iris had changed into fresh clothes, and all but Autumn were now washing their armor in the creek. Autumn, having no armor to wash, was instead fire roasting fist sized nuts she'd harvested from the base of a few giant shrubs. Beside her were several jars filled with honey, and Titus and Eli were notably washing not just goop, but also honey from their armor.
"I didn't even know wasps made honey," she said errantly, spinning the spit over the fire to roast the nuts evenly.
Iris was propped up against a rock beside her, clutching her shoulder, "no deadly quests," Iris mumbled in a bad impression of Eli.
"Hey," Eli called out, standing upright from he was leaning over barefoot in the creek scrubbing his armor, "there weren't supposed to be that many wasps, I said I was sorry."
"How did you even hear that?" Iris called back with an attitude, then winced in pain.
"Must be the elf ears," Autumn whispered.
"Is that racist?" Iris asked, curiously.
Autumn paused, then made an unhappy face, "shit, I hope not."
The puncture wound through Iris's shoulder had been fully healed, but it was extra sore from all the healing magic it had taken, and the hole in her robe still remained. Titus wasn't able to remove the venom from her blood, however, and every muscle still ached when she moved. He had explained that it would take days to fully work itself out of her body, and recommended she drink plenty of water in the meantime. Breathing wasn't difficult now, but each breath hurt like she'd done a thousand abdominal crunches the day before. She still had two of Mrs. Rousey's painkilling candies in her bag, but couldn't bring herself to eat one of her last reminders of home.
Titus waded through the slow flowing river carrying a washcloth and his now shining chest plate. He stepped up beside Eli where he was crouched in the water, furiously scrubbed a submerged leather greave still coated in a layer of wasp goop.
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"You good?" Titus asked quietly.
"Yeah," Eli replied without looking up, "I already told you I didn't get stung."
Titus crouched down beside him, "you know that's not what I'm asking."
Eli dropped his hands and sighed, "I don't need a pep talk, Titus."
Titus paused for a moment, then spoke somberly, "I stopped keeping count of how many lives I've saved a long time ago, but I still remember every time someone got hurt because of my mistakes. Most nights it's the last thing I think about before I sleep. When being stoic stops working, come talk."
Titus clapped Eli on the shoulder, then stood and walked away.
The party gathered around the fire as the first batch of nuts finished roasting. One by one, Autumn placed them in a thick stone bowl and lightly smashed them with a rock until they were broken into knuckle sized chunks. She then transferred the chunks to a wooden bowl and passed it out before moving on to the next nut. She gave Iris the first bowl, uncorking a jar of honey and placing it beside her.
"Thanks," Iris said, balancing the bowl in her lap as she used her good arm to dip a chunk into the honey. She moaned as she chewed the first bite, not waiting to finish before she spoke again, "this is almost worth it."
"Just make sure we save three jars for the quest," Eli said, accepting a bowl from Autumn after uncorking another jar.
After the snack, Iris climbed to her feet with a groan and trudged down to the creek, where she washed her boots and did her best to scrub the goop from the trails of her robe while the other's packed up. She made a mental note to herself, buy more than one robe. She frowned at the hole in the shoulder of the robe and added a sewing kit to the list.
Another half-day's travel brought them out of the forest and onto the trade route. It was a simple, muddy road just wide enough for one cart to pull aside while another cart passed. The route wound through the trunks of the giant redwoods, and either side was crowded with dense foliage of extra-large bushes and regular sized trees. They traveled along the road for the rest of the day and started looking for places to camp as the light waned.
"Titus, look at this," Eli said, stopping to point at a large footprint in the muddy road.
Titus crouched beside Eli to inspect the foot print. It was vaguely human shaped, with five toes and a notable heel indent. He placed his hand flat against the ground inside it, with his thumb and pinky spread out they only barely brushed the edges of the print.
"This is it," he said, rising to his feet and looking around, "see anymore?"
"Cart tracks have covered them up," Eli said, scanning the area as well, "looks like it was crossing, heading that way." He nodded towards the brush to the north.
"Can we camp nearby?" Titus said, "I'll take first watch, maybe it'll show itself."
"Dibs on not being the bait," Autumn said, raising a hand.
"No one's gonna be bait," Eli said.
"Doesn't that mean we're all kind of bait?" Victoria asked.
"No-- there's no bait," Eli struggled.
"I'll be bait," Iris volunteered, wincing as she tried to raise her hand, "actually, maybe next time."
They found a small outcropping in the brush just down the road, where a fallen redwood had held back the bulk of the crowding plant life and frequent campers had stomped away the most ambitious of the plants, evidenced by a smattering of boot prints and the remnants of countless fires in a well-established fire pit.
At Titus's request, Iris pulled out a few large metal claw traps from her bag, which he had procured specifically for this quest. He spaced them out in a perimeter around the camp, with some advice from Eli about where they should be placed. Afterwards, Eli showed him how to set up a snare trap just outside of camp, and then watched and critiqued as Titus placed another one on the other side of camp.
As promised, Titus took the first watch, ensuring Eli he'd wake him for the second watch. Iris and Autumn slept closest to the fire, most wary of being snatched away by a monster in the dark. Before she closed her eyes to sleep, Iris reviewed her journal.
IRIS ORION
Hero Rank, Level 5
Experience Points: 1057 / 6680
Progress to next level: 15.82%