“What an exotic sound.” Gizmo hummed with contentment as the screech dissipated.

“Shhh!” Orion hissed. “Let’s get out of here. We don’t want to fight that thing confined in these tunnels!”

They all moved quickly out the door, no one needing any further prompting to remove themselves from the cramped room. As they arrived back into the room with the scattered desks they’d found the scorpion carapace in. Orion was relieved to not find the Queen of the Forest waiting for them.

“Outside! We need to get outside!”

They scrambled toward the stairs leading to the daylight above. As they rushed upwards, the screech rang out again, causing everyone to stumble a step and Shadow to drop to his knees.

Orion recalled Shadow was wearing the helmet that improved his hearing.

“Take off your helmet! Use the tentacle hat!” Orion bent down to help Shadow to his feet.

Shadow didn’t respond; he was dazed. Honeypot came up behind, rapping his hands against the helmet rhythmically. Shadow looked at Honeypot, his senses returning.

“Helmet bad! Slime hat good!” Honeypot whisper-yelled at Shadow.

Shadow slowly removed his iron-leaf helmet, his brain rattled by the screech.

As Shadow put the tentacle hat on, Orion was struck with inspiration. He took two of the dangling tentacles on Shadow’s hat, pushing them into the warrior’s ears as Honeypot had done previously to block out Arika’s voice. Orion did it to himself with his own hat, then clicked his fingers beside his ear to check the effect. He could still hear the clicking faintly, but muffled; it was as if he had ear plugs in.

The rest of the party followed suit, everyone on foot but Gizmo having a hat—and ear canals—to stuff the tentacles in. Orion noticed Honeypot looking extremely smug and pointedly looking at Arika. Naturally, Arika gave Honeypot a very rude gesture, then looked anywhere but at the Priest as she put her hand into her pocket to cover Femera’s ears.

They quickly ascended the rest of the stairs, arriving at the door to the outside. Orion looked around, and all he could see were the familiar colors and sights of the forest warped through the curvature of the glass roof.

Just like the surrounding dome, the door was also made of glass. It slid open without a sound when Orion leaned his weight against it. As the door opened, the cool air of the forest hit him like a wall. He hadn’t realized just how musty and stagnant the air was in the tunnel below.

The party stepped out into the filtered sunlight, finding themselves back amongst the trees. The scenery seemed almost the same here as on the outskirts of the forest—the only difference being that the monolithic trees were spread a little further apart, allowing grass to grow on the ground beneath their feet.

Orion checked his map, seeing that they’d almost reached the red marker that signified the Queen of the Forest. It lay just north-west of their position, unmoving. Orion indicated for everyone to pull a tentacle out of their ears.

“We’re almost at the queen.”

“The food…” Shadow said, his senses returned. “Should we eat the food for the buff?”

Orion chastised himself for forgetting yet another thing.

I have to do better… for everyone’s sake.

He thought about it for a moment.

The smell of the fish could bring attention to them… but for the extra stats, is that worth it?

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“Screw it. This thing will probably get the jump on us, anyway. Pull out the perch.”

Shadow did so, unceremoniously putting the dish on the ground. As he took the lid off, a fragrant smell washed out.

“Let’s eat it quickly. Keep your eyes on the trees,” Orion hissed.

Even rushed as he was, the experienced of eating the dish was unavoidably positive. The flavor exploded in his mouth, and he felt power run from his core out into the rest of his body. It felt like more than a +5 boost to Agility—he supposed that was the drug-like effect of his concentrated Stim Leaf.

The forest was still, apart from the wind flowing through the canopy above. Orion had just begun to relax when the deafening screech tore through the forest once more. He’d been ready this time, a tentacle still firmly lodged in one ear, the other quickly covered by a free hand. Looking around, everyone had managed to mitigate the sound in time—everyone who had wanted to, at least. Gizmo shuddered in apparent joy after the sound receded.

The party gingerly uncovered one ear again as Orion spoke softly.

“Let’s advance toward the mark. Honeypot, lead in stealth. We follow. Gizmo, Taunt the second you see the boss in range. We don’t want to get jumped. If this thing can cut through a giant scorpions exoskeleton, it could potentially one-shot someone.”

Not needing any further prompting, Honeypot walked ahead and faded into Stealth, shooting Arika a wink as he wiggled the tentacle and placed it back in his ear.

Her upper lip twitched, and she shook her head at his back. “I hate when that idiot is right about something.”

The party advanced. They took their time, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of danger as they walked toward the mark on their map. They slowly got closer-and-closer, no sign of danger making itself known. The trees ahead opened up more-and-more until they arrived at a giant clearing with a single tree growing in the middle.

The tree had a thick stump, with wiry knots of roots stretching in every direction. It grew into the shape of a throne—one which was designed for a being much larger than a human. It had tangled branches forming the back of the living chair, the top of which was sprouting a lush canopy. The sun was high in the sky above, casting shadows beneath each colossal tree surrounding the clearing.

It became clear that the mark was zeroed in on the throne… not the Queen of the Forest. They all looked around, unsure of what to do.

A harsh, chittering laughter rolled out through the trees. Their blocked ears did nothing to rob the sound of its malevolence.

“So, you finally arrive!” the voice said.

The party looked around the clearing, unable to determine the source of the statement.

“I have prepared quite the surprise for you all. While I would just love to get your sweet, sticky blood all over me, I have thought of something much more… fun.” The statement was followed by a rumbling sound, and the party braced themselves as they looked through the trees, trying to work out what was happening.

On the other side of the clearing, a mass of bodies exited from the trees. There were vines, leaves, and snapping-mouths aplenty as a horde of the three-headed Flytrap Hydras appeared.

There has to be dozens, Orion thought.

“Run!” he yelled. “Kite them back into the trees!” He turned to make his way back into the tree-line, but saw something that stopped him in his tracks.

Behind them, from where they’d come, was a wall of hostile plants. The plants weren’t the same as the three-headed plants, but they were vaguely similar. They were much squatter, with short, springy necks, and large bulbous heads.

He inspected it, seeing that it was called a Thorn-Spitter.

As he looked at the closest Thorn-Spitter, it also looked at him. The name made perfect sense—its head shot backwards and expelled something from its mouth at a blistering speed.

Orion threw himself to the ground, and the projectile flew where his body had been just seconds before. Gizmo threw himself into the path of it and it bounced off of his body uselessly.

Honeypot, who had been saved by Gizmo’s heroic dive, inspected the offending projectile. It looked like a giant thorn to Orion now that it wasn’t moving.

“It’s poisonous!” Honeypot said. “Nasty, too. We’d probably need to use one of Orion’s potions to cure it.”

Orion swore as he gazed around and saw a line of the Thorn-Spitters emerging from the tree-line around the entire clearing. No more were shooting—in fact, other than the one that had already shot, none had even looked the party’s way. They seemed content to sit and hold their position.

So they won’t shoot unless we get too close to them?

Orion had a moment to think now that escaping the clearing was no longer an option. They could send Gizmo ahead to draw the attention and hope they’d be able to escape, but the Queen of the Forest was well prepared. She’d planned this ambush, and was clearly toying with them. She could have made all the Thorn-Spitters advance together, which would likely lead to their certain demise. There had to be hundreds of them spread out around the clearing.

If they broke through the line of Thorn Spitters, she might just order them all to attack at once. Worse, there could be something even more deadly just outside of the clearing, waiting for the go ahead to attack.

We’ll play her game for now. Let her believe we are prey to be toyed with.