Honeypot appeared right behind Arika, whispering in her ear.

“Bogey sighted 100 meters to the west. Request for immediate death-by-explosion.”

Arika yelped in surprise before glaring at Honeypot. “If there wasn’t a monster nearby, I’d be instructing Femera to burn out your eyes.”

“Whoooaaa. What’s with all the anger?” Honeypot held his hands up. “I was just trying to let you know without alerting the entire forest.” He mimed being lost in thought. “You know, any hostile whales would have heard that yelp you just made and would be on the way right now. I should be appalled with you! Alas, my kind-hearted nature and general demeanor will not allow such a grudge to be held.”

“I hate you so much.”

Orion watched the exchange unfolding, still lost in his own thoughts. There had been plenty of time to reflect on his heated words with Honeypot earlier. The last couple of hours that they walked in silence were spent in rumination. He knew the priest was just trying to improve things in his own way, and Honeypot had been right in saying that yelling and getting angry wasn’t going to improve the situation.

“Honeypot… I’m sorry for earlier. I—”

“None of that, glorious leader. We have a baddie to kill. You can tell me all about how having me as your right-hand man is carrying this party later on when we have the time to—”

“Oh, shut up!” Arika looked ready to blow. “Stop monologuing, you theater nerd. Show me where the thing to kill is before I explode you instead.”

Honeypot smiled a broad grin and set off further into the forest at a slow pace.

“You’re also not the right-hand man!” Arika hissed at his back.

They followed Honeypot closely, everyone making sure their footing was sure, so they didn’t make a sound. He eventually stopped, pointing around a giant trunk they’d reached. Orion peered around the trunk to see something unexpected.

There was a gap in the canopy above from where a tree had fallen. The trunk of the fallen tree lay sprawled in the direction they were traveling. The root system of the tree and tonnes of surrounding dirt had become exposed when the tree fell, creating a large hole in the ground. Poking out of the hole were twelve heads that looked very similar to those of the Flytrap Hydra they’d encountered earlier.

The party all poked their heads back behind the cover of the tree.

“My money is on that being two of the three headed hydra things, and three of the single-headed ones. Any takers?” Honeypot asked in a whisper.

“I’ll take that. I think it’s three of the three-headed hydra things. Five gold wager?” Shadow replied.

Arika rolled her eyes as they shook hands, sealing the agreement.

“Ugh, men.”

“Is it correct of me to assume that we are going to explode these creatures, Daddy?” Gizmo hummed.

“… yes… why?” Orion narrowed his eyes at the little robot.

“Why, because it would only be prudent to send me in beforehand, so that I can Taunt them all. Just in-case they survive, you see.”

“No. Nice try, though. If they live, I can Portal you in afterwards to use Taunt on them. I’d like to avoid that, though. Using my abilities right now isn’t a fun experience.”

Gizmo hummed sadly.

“It really was a nice try.” Honeypot placed a consoling hand on the small robot. “You’ll get ‘em next time, champ.”

“You’re up, Arika.” Orion nodded toward where the enemies were waiting. “Cast your Explosion normally. If they notice you or anything goes awry, use Invoke straight away and blast them.”

Without further ado, Arika walked to the space beside the tree they were hiding behind and began casting her ability.

Orion watched her move for a moment before forcing himself to look away, still able to find her form beautiful despite the somewhat loose robe. He was horrified when he felt Honeypot elbow him in the side. He peered over to see the priest with an evil smile, telling him that Honeypot had seen him steal a look.

Feeling himself blush, Orion forced his eyes toward the direction of the enemies laying in wait. He fixated on the pit they were hiding in, watching the dozen heads for any sign of movement, and trying to clear his mind of Honeypot’s accusatory look.

Something about the scene before him wasn’t adding up. The felled tree, the congregation of multiple of the carnivorous creatures, where previously they’d been isolated.

He leaped to his feet, rushing to Arika and grabbing her by the arm.

“Wait!”

Arika almost jumped out of her skin as he broke her concentration, turning to glare at him as he pulled her back behind the cover of the tree.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Something doesn’t add up…” Orion looked around the clearing. “Honeypot, this is as close as you’ve seen them, right? You didn’t go any closer?”

Honeypot gave Orion a flat look. “I’m going to assume you think I would go anywhere near twelve of those things because you see me as brave and handsome, not because you think I’m a moron.”

Orion looked at him questioningly.

“No, you glorious fool.” Honeypot rolled his eyes in exaggerated annoyance. “I didn’t go any closer than this. I don’t have a death wish.”

“I need you to go closer and look.”

“Oh, good.” Honeypot nodded cordially. “May I inquire as to why you want me to DIE?”

“Don’t be dramatic. I can Swap you out if they’re alerted, and Arika can use her Invoke to immediately hit them with an Explosion. Besides… I’m pretty sure they’re already dead.”

The latter statement caused the entire party to raise an eyebrow or cock their heads.

“And how, may I ask, do you know they’re already dead?” Honeypot asked.

“A hunch. I’ll explain if I’m right.”

“And if you’re not right?”

“Then we have to fight and or die. I’ll also explain afterwards… if we live through it.” Orion leveled one of Honeypot’s own signature smiles back at him.

“Wow, you’re right, Arika. That is infuriating.” Honeypot stood up, brushing off his behind. “I guess you haven’t let me down yet. However, if I die and don’t respawn, you can bank on me haunting that ass.”

Honeypot started fading into invisibility.

“That came off oddly sexual…” Shadow said.

Arika nodded. “Probably intentional.”

Honeypot giggled.

The last thing Orion saw of Honeypot’s semi-incorporeal form before it faded completely was the Priest skipping around the side of the tree.

The party watched in silence, waiting with bated breath to see if any of the heads moved. They never did, though. The seconds stretched into minutes, and Orion was struggling to sit still as his anxiety climbed through the roof. Finally, Honeypot appeared—in the middle of the pit, right next to the twelve heads.

“Yeah, super dead!” he yelled.

“What are you doing?!” Arika half-yelled, half-whispered.

“Oh, would you just relax? I already scouted the entire area. No traps, no baddies!”

The party made their way toward Honeypot cautiously, unable to completely shake the heavy blanket of wariness that hung over them. They arrived at the pit, peering over the top to see a brutal scene.

There were indeed twelve heads, none of which were alive. Each one was completely severed from its body, the exact same length—about half-a-meter—of vine-neck attached. Four large bodies lay in the bottom of the pit, headless and fresh enough to not yet decay. Everyone stood there, taking in the scene, too shocked to say anything—except for Honeypot, of course.

“You win this round, Shadow.” Honeypot handed him five gold. “The first one’s for free. I’ll get you next time.”

“What could have done this?” Arika asked.

“Whatever it is,” Orion said, “it’s strong enough to slice through the neck of these things in a single blow, and not leave even a trace of itself behind.”

“You know, I suddenly feel like using my Explosion wouldn’t have been a great idea. If we drew whatever this thing was to us…” She trailed off, not needing to finisher her sentence.

Orion looked closer at the felled tree now that they were closer. Something on the skyward facing section of the trunk caught his attention. He climbed up the side of the exposed roots easily, glancing down at the marks he’d seen.

The side of the tree was covered in numerous long scratches that he hadn’t seen yet on any other tree in the forest. Upon closer inspection, there was serious damage done to the trunk. Sections looked like they’d been gnawed on, the passage of sharp teeth leaving trails in the bark and wood.

“Gizmo, can you come here, please?” Orion asked.

Gizmo arrived shortly after, peering up at him with a joyous expression.

“How can I be of assistance, Daddy?”

“The scratches. Do you think the teeth of the slain creatures below could have caused them?” Orion gestured at the many marks on the fallen trunk.

“Hmmmmmm.” Gizmo bent down, putting his face close to the tree. “It is extremely likely that the same species of creature that are currently dead in the hole below caused these marks.”

“Are you sure?”

“I never forget anything that inflicts pain upon me. I have excellent memory storage for positive experiences.”

They jumped down, relaying the information to the rest of the party.

“So they were hitting the tree, and why?” Arika asked.

Just then, movement drew Orion’s attention to the top of one of the towering trees nearby. He swore he could have seen something move… there! At the top of the tree to the left, a small creature swung from one of the branches, sending itself gracefully to land on another branch and scurry out of sight. Following Orion’s glance, the entire party had noticed the small animal.

It looked like a spider monkey, far above in the canopy.

“Well, there’s your answer,” he said. “I’d wager they were trying to get something to eat.”

“Surely it would use more energy to knock down a tree than they would get from a single monkey.” Arika looked unconvinced.

“They don’t have a brain so far as I can tell.” Orion shrugged. “Dumb plant sees food—dumb plant wants food.”

“Once again, our glorious leader has surmised the truth of it.” Honeypot bowed to Orion. “The question remains, though… what the hell decapitated them so cleanly?”

“Whatever it is, I don’t think we want to be here if it comes back.”

“Hmmmmmmm. Let us not be hasty. Perhaps we can gain a significant advanta—”

A metallic sound rang out as Arika smacked Gizmo on the back of his head with her staff.

“Thank you.” Gizmo hummed. “Again, please.”

“Oh my god, I can’t even punish you without pleasing you.” Arika shot a disgusted look at Gizmo before turning away from him. “Let’s get out of here. You need to rest anyway, Orion. I say we find a place to sleep for the night.”

Orion agreed, seeing the day was growing late, and not wanting to run into whatever had killed those creatures while it was dark. He had his suspicions about exactly what had happened to the monsters, but he kept it to himself for now. They traveled another half hour toward the center of the forest with uneventful ease.

With the sun setting above, they set up camp between the trees. It wasn’t a clearing, but they didn’t want to risk traveling any further in the dark.

They didn’t light a fire, but could still have a delicious meal cooked by Shadow in his new kitchen, the stove of which used a magical heat source that emitted only a little amount of light. Arika huddled by the small light the stove was omitting, practicing her Enchanting by putting small enchantments on common gear they’d looted and Shadow had stored away.

Much to Honeypot’s disappointment, they hadn’t found a source of water for him to fish in. Orion watched on with suspicion as Honeypot kept himself busy by talking to Gizmo against the trunk of a tree where no one else could hear them.

Orion attempted to experiment with the Moon Dust and Bony Blood Fish, but even attempting to exert a minimal amount of will into the world left his head spinning after the events of the previous night.

He offered to keep watch with his Dark Vision instead, but the entire party insisted that he needed as much rest as possible. With only a little convincing, he conceded—it was important for the party that he could use his abilities again without becoming incapacitated.

He fell asleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow, the exhaustion of the day dragging him into the darkness.

The next morning, he was awoken by a sharp pain.