The forest had been filled with dead trees, and the hill region was any much better.  The scraggly trees continued in this area as well, although not as dense as it was in the forest.  Remnants of grass sparsely covered the dead rocky ground, and a mist sprang up that they had not seen from a distance.

The enemies in this area were not as dense. However, they were much more powerful.  First was the stealthy six-legged panther called the .  Then there were the that had a rock-like exterior making them hard to kill.  But what surprised Jude the most was the .  It was exactly like the one from Earth and seemed ordinary compared to the other beasts.  But after having to fight one, he found that it didn’t lack any of the ferociousness of the others.

The biggest problem wasn’t the animals they came across, but the mist they had not seen when plotting out their course.

Krinn sighed, “We’ve completely lost the pillar now.  Without seeing it, I’m not sure which direction we should go.”

Krinn had plotted out this course based on one of the nearby pillars that supported the ceiling.

“If only we had a compass,” Jude said.  Then he wondered if there even was compasses in this world.

“A compass?” Ellie pondered for a moment, “Magnets are very rare, so compasses are very expensive.  I doubt you would find one in Longdale.”

“Most people just develop their ,” Wen added.  “I’ve improved mine a bit, but I am unable to tell the direction in this mist.  But it has been a lot harder to use since we’ve been underground.”

Jude saw a cave nearby, so he said, “Let’s stop here and figure out a solution.  Randomly wandering around in the mist may only get us more lost than we already are.  We can use that cave as a base and rest.  Then we can focus on getting our bearings.”

Krinn cringed, “I hope there isn’t a in there.”

The was the worst opponent for Krinn to deal with since the adventure started.  The size and sheer power the beast had caused him to have shivers every time he thought about it.  

“Don’t be a pansy,” Wen scolded her brother, “Besides you have Nellie to heal you up.  Buck up and be a man!”

Krinn took the lead with his axe and shield in hand.  The cave wasn’t deep, but it was occupied by the very thing Krinn feared.

The grisly roared when it found people entering its home and started launching vicious attacks at Krinn who began to taunt it.

Everyone started to unleash their attacks to slowly chip away the massive health pool that the grisly had.

Jude waited for Cairfray and Ellie to launch their attacks before he behind the grisly.  Then he launched a at the same time as he lacerated the bear with his sword.  The sword could not cut deep into the bear's thick fur and hide, but it was enough to let the do extra damage.

The bear noticed the powerful attack from behind and with surprising speed turned around and launched a counter attack.  Jude angled his sword to deflect but was still thrown by the blow to the back of the cave.  He slammed on the back wall and slid to the ground.

No wonder Krinn hates fighting these things, Jude thought.

As soon as Jude was thrown away, the grisly focused on Krinn once again.

Jude decided to stay back farther and fight from a distance as a proper wizard should.  He decided not to use because he was in a cave and instead continued to throw out that eventually engulfed the back of the bear.  The fur was surprisingly resistant to fire, so it took a lot of work to get it to the point where Jude had it.

The grisly fell not too long after, and the scent of burnt hair filled the cave.

“Since we are staying here for a bit,” Wen said, “We should cut this bear up and cook it.”

Jude’s stomach turned at the thought of eating the bear, but his rational side thought it was a good idea.  They didn’t have an endless supply of food.

Nellie added a comment as well, “We should clean up this place a bit too.  Can anyone do anything about this smell?”

Wen smirked, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.  Besides, cooking a grisly will give you a whole new smell to appreciate.”

Nellie’s face paled, and she didn’t say anymore.

“It’s been a few weeks,” Ellie said to Jude, “Let me check the wood and see if it has purified enough.”

“Alright, I’ll help the others clean up this place a bit,” Jude replied.

“Give me some of your ink in case one is ready,” she said, and Jude handed a flask filled with ink over.

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There were many rocks, bones and other things not convenient to human habitation inside the cave.  Jude, Krinn, and Nellie cleaned and removed debris.  Wen started hacking up the grisly and Cairfray set up some at the entrance.

By the time the cleaning was done, Wen already had a fire going and was cooking meat.  Ellie seemed to have made some progress as well, and she walked over and handed Jude a brush.

“It’s not the best piece of wood, but it was the most purified,” Ellie told Jude. “Still it should last a lot longer than any of your other brushes.  I’m the proudest of the ink reservoir inside of this one. I think you will find it much easier to control.”

Jude beamed a smile and replied, “Thanks, Ellie.  Now I can replace some of those scrolls, and we won’t have to worry about water from now on.”

***

Jude’s group decided to rest at this location for a few days.  Their journey through the forest area had been one of constant battle, even at night, there was little rest.  So now that they were in a relatively safe location, everyone took a much-needed break.

The other reason for staying was to see if this fog would dissipate or if it was a more permanent thing.  There were many strange areas in the world where they looked different up close than they did from a distance.  So the group decided to wait and see if this mist would leave.

Jude took a well-earned rest, but he didn’t stay idle for long.  He quickly copied out a new set of scrolls, and he was quite pleased with the way the ink flowed.  But after the scrolls were finished he pulled out the items Ellie had made him a while ago to practice his item skill writing.

First, he took stock of what he had.  There was a dagger, bracers and the letter opener.

The dagger had glyphs related to sharpness, piercing, mana, and power.  The glyphs went straight up the flat part of the blade and were boldly imprinted.  A bronze lizard-like creature seemed to be wrapped around the hilt which also formed one side of the guard.  The other end of the guard was a stylistic tree branch.

The bracers had glyphs related to the netherworld, protection, and reflection.  The bracers then had several supporting glyphs related to mana and the Spirit stat.  It was a beautiful object that with the untrained eye was adorned with countless lines and patterns.  The surface was a shiny steel, and the edges were a darker metal.

The letter opener was the strangest item of the three.  Appearance wise it was the simplest of all of them, but Jude’s trained eye could see the numerous glyphs that ran up the blade.  The object was small, so the glyphs were incredibly tiny.  This was probably Ellie’s best work so far when it came to glyphs.  She had clearly enjoyed making this piece as each glyph matched each other well, but also exhibited a strange humor.  Jude would probably be the only one to understand the humor since he worked with her so much over the last several months in Longdale.

Jude kept the letter opener for last and started with the bracers.  The netherworld glyph would work well with and combined with the protection glyph he was sure to be able to make something like his old .

He took his time with the bracers and was only finished with the core structure after three days.  It would be usable in its current form, but not for extended periods of time.  Due to them being made out of steel, Jude made sure to leave enough room to compensate for the quality of the material.  He needed to find a good source of metal for Ellie.  Her skills had reached a point where the higher levels of metal would be more suited to her.

After three days, the fog still existed.  Krinn and Wen were discussing some options.

“If we map out the area slowly one step at a time, we will eventually get out of here,” Krinn said.

“And how many cosh’ing years do you think that will take?” Wen asked with a bitter tone.

Krinn was used to this side of his sister so he calmly asked, “Then what do you think we should do?”

Wen smiled, “We have a pretty good idea which direction to go, just pick a straight line and head that way.”

“That’s worse than my suggestion.  Do you know how difficult it will be to stay in a straight line over the hills and through the valleys?”  Krinn’s head throbbed, but he kept his tone even as not to rile up Wen.

“Eventually we will leave the mist and then we can figure out a way from there,” Wen was confident.

“How is that even a good option?” Krinn was angered, but only let it affect his voice a little, “We might not even be able to find out where to go if we do that.”

“Like what we are doing now is a sure thing,” Wen shot back in retaliation. “Even our final destination is at best grasping at straws.”

Krinn was now getting upset that Wen was throwing out all logic just to be doing something, “It’s still better than randomly going around everywhere.”

“At least we would be going!” Wen shouted.

Jude finally cut in, “Alright, that’s enough guys.  I understand that you might be getting a little cabin fever, but let’s not take it out on each other.  This fog must be magical in nature, so give me some time, and I will see if I can I can do something about it.”

“I may have a solution,” Cairfray interjected.

“Really?” Jude said with surprise.  It was rare for Cairfray to take the initiative.

Cairfray paused to gather her thoughts, “I was practicing outside as it seemed to resonate with the surroundings in a strange way.  I believe that this area has some similar properties as my spell, but I’m not exactly sure what it is.  I continued to practice to figure out what it was and to my surprise, I unlocked a new spell from the ring.”

“And what is the new magic?” Jude was just as excited to find a way out as he was to learn about the new spell.

“,” she said.

“How is that going to help us?” Wen asked in an irritated voice.

“I’m not sure the true purpose behind this spell, but once I used it, I was able to see through the fog like it wasn’t there,”  Cairfray said.

“Interesting,” Jude commented and then extended his hand, “May I?”

Cairfray extended her hand and Jude grabbed it.  He placed a finger on the ring and initiated to see into the rings circuitry.

“Now activate the spell,” he told Cairfray.

She spoke the incantation then said, “.”

Jude watched as the circuitry lit up like a bolt of lightning across the well-organized lines, runes, and glyphs.  It didn’t tell him exactly what all the spell would do but gave him a better understanding than even Cairfray had.

“This is an incredible skill,” Jude told her. “It should be able to dispel illusions, but also focus your mind allowing you to learn and pick up skills easier.”

“If it dispels illusions,” Ellie said, “Does that mean the fog is just an illusion?”

“That would make sense,” Jude said, “Since we couldn’t see it from a distance and are only affected by it from being up close, it has to be some sort of illusion.  I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.”

“No one can blame you for not seeing it,” Caifray said, “Not only did we not see it, but you haven’t experienced illusions before have you?”

“No, I haven’t. Thank you Cairfray.”

“If you are all cosh’ing done congratulating yourselves, can we leave now?” Wen asked.

Jude laughed, “Yes, let’s be on our way!”