Streams formed through the crevices in the uneven roots that covered the ground, fed by the thin waterfalls that formed as the heavy rains filtered through the canopy. The forest was darker than a moonlit night now, save for the patches lit by torches, lanterns and magical abilities. The woods resembled a massive cave more than ever before, one threatening to flood as water poured in from the surface.

The final remnants of the initial horde were being systematically mopped up by the remaining expedition forces. Recovery efforts for wounded and delirious adventurers were forming, along with defensive lines that formed a jagged, disjointed perimeter around the quickly growing rendezvous point. The location had been chosen arbitrarily by mob vote, with the only real consideration given to balancing distance from the web with proximity to the wounded. Several campfires had been started to provide warmth and light, though the redwood branches burned slowly and billowed thick streams of smoke that filled the canopy overhead with a haze.

Titus made his way to the rendezvous in a zigzagging pattern, stopping to heal wounds and help adventurers to their feet. He could do nothing to cure delirium, but he healed the bites of those who would let him close enough. Bites were far from the only injury, however, the spiked legs of the spiders had pierced and impaled as many or more adventurers as had been bitten, and more than a few had been injured by friendly fire in the chaos.

By the time Titus arrived at the rendezvous, his reputation had already spread. Fighters on the defensive line quickly ushered him towards a growing crowd of wounded survivors, where he spotted Victoria conjuring cards on delirious adventurers too exhausted to fight or run.

"Playing healer?" He asked as he crouched down beside her current patient to inspect the bite on his lower leg.

"Doing my best," she grimaced, adding a third card to the two that already slowly orbited around the dead-eyed adventurer on wistful trails of purple magic, "all I can really do is slow their heart to stop the shock from killing them."

"So all you can do is save their life?" he looked up at her inquisitively.

She let out a tired chuckle, "yeah, I guess that's one way to see it."

"Get ready," he said, placing a hand on the adventurer's leg, "this is going to excite him."

Titus's hand glowed for an instant, and a pulse of white light left his palm and entered the patient's wounds. His eyes shot wide open and he gasped for breath. Each consecutive breath slowed until he returned to his catatonic state. The wounds on his leg closed and sealed themselves, leaving gnarly scars beneath the blood that covered his skin. Titus stood and placed a hand on the patient's neck for a moment.

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"Good," he said, "he hasn't lost too much blood. Can you put him to sleep?"

"Yeah," Victoria nodded, "it'll take a moment though."

Titus surveyed the two dozen battered and bleeding adventurers huddled on the ground around them. Most were sitting upright and leaning against trunks or back-to-back with one another, while others laid on the ground, clutching wounds or clinging to consciousness. Others were being carried in by fighters and scouts, many of whom were pushing through their own, less severe wounds. His eyes lingered for a moment Lieutenant Ash Druga, unconscious with two large holes in her chest plate.

Titus stepped away from Victoria's patient and addressed the crowd, "I need everyone with a healing ability to report immediately. The rest of you, if you have potions or healing ointments, pool them here in the middle."

There were murmurings and glances amongst the adventurers, but no one stirred to action.

"You heard the man!" the Dreamweaver shouted, storming into the rendezvous with Lieutenant Kerrick in tow.

Her words were followed by bustling movement as adventurers began depositing their medical supplies into a pile. A few scouts and a single warrior approached Titus as he stooped down to heal a piercing wound through an adventurer's chest.

Titus wasted no time on introductions or formalities. "Identify the most critically wounded and do what you can. If you can't stabilize them, call for me immediately. Save the potions for those none of us can heal."

He turned and locked eyes with Lieutenant Kerrick and spoke without patience for rank or authority, "we need a scout on their way to base camp immediately with instructions to send a contingent of healers to our location."

"On my authority," the Dreamweaver added.

The ranger nodded and dashed away to locate one of his quickest scouts. The Dreamweaver made her way to Ash Druga, crouching down to inspect the condition of her lieutenant. She had no physical wounds to speak of, but her bloodstained skin was visible through the jagged punctures in her armor. She was unconscious, but stirred occasionally in fits of twitching convulsions, her face contorting into an angry snarl with each fit.

The Dreamweaver briefly surveyed her surroundings. The recovery efforts were still in the early stages of organization, but the adventurers were on the right track. She decided they could get by without her guidance for a while longer, and took a seat beside Ash Druga. She took the orc's hand in her own, and closed her eyes to enter her mind.

Iris blipped beside Titus as he pumped multiple healing bursts into a mangled and disfigured adventurer, "what can I do?" she asked.

"Nothing here," he said, "find Eli and ask him."

Iris blipped away, flashing across the rendezvous in a series of blips until she found Eli posted up in a row of other ranged fighters standing guard.

"Anything I can do here?" she asked.

"We have this side covered," Eli said, "I hear Autumn's building cots for the wounded, maybe she could use your help."

Iris huffed and blipped away to find Autumn. She found her working alongside several other adventurers with matter manipulation abilities. An adventurer who specialized in plant was carving large sheets of wood from a redwood trunk and dropping them into a pile beside the tree, where Autumn hefted them up and spread them out across the ground.

"Can I help?" Iris asked, blipping beside Autumn and causing her to drop a sheet of wood in surprise.

"Yep!" Autumn said, placing the wood on the ground and tossing Iris a stone. It was rounded and smooth on one side, and flat and rough on the other, "get to sanding."

Iris groaned, but got to work.