After recovering a bit, Callie jumped us through the shadows back to the fortress. Because she could find shadows for hopping to, she was able to keep us out of sight easily enough, and when we finally got back, let us bypass any remaining siege forces.

"Oh hey!" Said Bethy as we reappeared. "You guys are back! Did one of you get the flag?" She glanced over us like she could sense our souls, focusing really hard on our faces. After a minute of staring and squinting she pouted. "I can't tell. You guys are so sneaky."

I burst out laughing. "I don't think you not being able to tell if our souls are stronger is a sign of sneakiness. I think you just don't have the ability to do that."

She shook her head. "I don't think that's it. Daddy always says I can do anything I set my mind to. I think you guys are just sneaky." I opened my mouth to retort, but realized that she actually DID sometimes do crazy shit that she shouldn't be able to do. Still, I was pretty sure she just couldn't do this. Souls were pretty esoteric, and sensing someone else's probably wasn't possible at her level.

Realizing I was getting sucked into her crazy mental rhythm, I shook it off, focusing back on what we'd learned. "Anyway, we're here because Callie DID get the flag, and she got a clue for the next one. It's not going to be in the fortress." I gestured off the wall, into the surrounding trees to where we could see mountains and streams and various other wilderness style nonsense.

I'd ceased to be impressed by the temple's ability to create random stuff after the sky island trial. At the moment, it was more inconvenient than amazing. Still, Bethy seemed excited. "Oh! We could go look for it early right? Form a forest investigation team." Putting on a serious look, she summoned her cats and struck a pose. "Bethany Lark, forest detective! Taking a bite out of injustice!" She bared her fangs at us, and I had to stifle a chuckle at her antics.

"Is there...like, justice in the forest?" Questioned Callie hesitantly. "I mean, it's mostly animals and plants, I feel like justice as a concept is sort of outside the meta."

"Well, I mean, survival of the fittest." I shrugged. "That seems like forest justice. But you can't really bite survival of the fittest, if anything you'd just be disproving your entire conceptual model. Unless this is supposed to be an irony thing. That might work."

Bethy groaned. "You're overthinking this. I'm not making a philosophical statement. I just want to have some fun with my cats and be awesome. Obviously the forest doesn't have detectives." She stomped her foot in annoyance. "I wish Tracey and Ada were here. They would have played along."

I put both hands up in surrender. "Sorry. We didn't mean to be buzzkills. We'd love to have your help investigating the forest Bethy."

She pouted. "I guess. I don't know if I even feel like it anymore. You guys are no fun." She sulked for a few seconds and then her face lit up. "Ok I'm over it! Let's go look for the flag. Should we ask one of the others to come with us. That Adrian guy maybe. I don't like that other guy. Bloody Billy I think his name was. He gives me a bad vibe."

"What about the big blonde guy who was guarding Chelsea?" I asked, looking around. "Callen? I haven't seen him around anywhere, and I doubt he got bounced this early. Do you think he's in our fortress?" A lot of people had ended up on the other team. I was wondering exactly how strong Adrian was, to offset so many powerful fighters, or was it even balanced at all. Maybe it was just random.

"Should we wait to actually start looking?" Asked Callie. "Because if the flag isn't out there yet we might waste our time and overshoot. If we pass it and end up deep in the woods or something when the next flag rush happens we'll be screwed. Also, when IS the next flag rush? The rules weren't clear about time frame. The first one hit pretty early, but who knows how long it'll take until the next."

I considered her point. "I think looking around is a good plan. At the very least we might get a better feel for the area. Sure, we might pass the flag and end up far away, but we could just easily stay here and find out it popped up on the other side of the forest. The more information we can gather the easier the search will be."

Eye of Revelation was also an option, but if the flag was underground it would make things harder. Eye of Revelation wasn't optimized for that kind of thing, that was why I had my mining divination skill, even if I'd turned it into something else. It would help get us a direction though, at the very least.

Callie mulled over my points. "Ok, that's fair. Let's head out and look around. We can take note of any areas the flag might be hard to find. Not to mention the flag might already be placed and just not...active? I don't know what term I'd use there."

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I hadn't considered that. Maybe she was right, the flag had already been placed in the bell towers before the first rush after all. Bethy was bouncing with excitement. "Let's GO!" She leapt up onto the battlement. "I'll send the kitties out to scout ahead. "Poptarts, Donuts, GO FORTH!" She pointed imperiously out into the forest.

The shadow cats materialized and then dove out into the woods. I chuckled at her enthusiasm and hopped up on the battlement myself before stepping off. Callie followed me after and I caught her in a princess carry effortlessly, though I groaned and stumbled around like she was heavy just to mess with her. She rolled her eyes, appearing not to take the bait, but I tripped over a shadow after putting her down before I even got three feet.

She blinked innocently at my glare, but I caught a hint of a smirk when I turned around. Rolling my eyes, I headed off into the jungle, paying extra attention to my Danger Sense, and triggering Eye of Revelation on enemies just in case one tried to sneak up on us.

Bethy and Callie both vanished from behind me, Bethy into a swarm of bats and Callie into the shadows, leading me to follow the trail blazed by the cats carefully, trying to be as Stealthy as possible without an actual Stealth skill. My Moonlit Night wasn't optimized for searches like this, but even if I couldn't use Stealth abilities directly, careful foot placement and deliberate movement made surprisingly little sound.

In the distance I could see small red dots. With my soul's improvement came an enhanced range with Eye of Revelation, and human beings were large enough for me to pick up at this point. It made avoiding enemies much easier. "Shane." Whispered Bathy's voice from somewhere nearby. "Poptarts found a cave to the left." Apparently her bats could talk.

Turning left, I silently made my forward until I came to a small brook between a pair of large hills. The brook was shallow, babbling lightly. At the bottom I could see wet rocks and tightly packed mud leading to a small cave set back into a larger hill that rose behind the two others. Stepping into the brook, I strode through the ankle deep waters, my boots well made enough to keep my feet dry as I approached the cave.

Upon entry, I found Poptarts (probably, who could tell those things apart) crouching in the shadows, waiting for us, and when I arrived Callie emerged next to him. We headed down further into the tunnel to get a bit deeper. Donuts appeared and Bethy manifested in a surge of bats. I used Eye of Revelation, checking to see if the flag was here. It wasn't nearby, but off in the distance I saw a tiny speck of red.

"It's not here, but it IS underground." I said as I knelt to get a better vantage point. "I don't think we can access it from here, but I have a direction for us." I pointed off to the northwest.

Keeping Eye of Revelation active, we retreated from the cave, climbing one of the hills as we headed in the direction where I had seen the flag. I lost sight of it once we got back to ground level, but I kept the skill active just in case, so we'd have a heads up when we got close.

I was so focused on tracking, I neglected to search for enemies, but my Danger Sense was more than up to the task of alerting me to their presence. As it triggered, I stepped off the air with Ripple Running, shouting a warning to the others as a volley of arrows hit the dirt where I'd been standing.

"Nice reflexes." Called a familiar voice as a tall blonde man with pointed ears emerged from behind a tree. Simon grinned at me. "Sorry about this, Shane. We're on different teams now."

My Danger Sense went off again, and I hurled myself sideways as a colossal spiked mace smashed into the earth where I'd just been. The mace had somehow grown to about column size, and as I watched it shrunk down enough to reveal a chain on the end, which was used to pull it back.

Vinnie caught it easily, giving it some more slack as he lazily spun the mace beside him. From behind him emerged Kellix. I frowned at the masked man. "Did Abel not kill you?" I tried to remember and realized we'd left him smashed but alive in the third trial. "Don't suppose you're so grateful to be alive that you're willing to let us leave once as a sign of gratitude?"

He drew his rapier with a sneer. "Maybe the ladies. I hesitate to stain my blade with the blood of such lovely creatures." He offered them what I assume he thought was a charming smile. "Would either of you like to change companions? You could travel with us, I assure we'd keep you safe."

"Gross." Sneered Callie. "And no, I don't want to help you murder my boyfriend so you can 'protect me'." She looked at Bethy. "How about you, Beth. Any interest in switching teams?"

Bethy giggled. "No, but maybe we could keep him. He's funny." Kellix beamed, until she continued. "He's so weak, but he thinks he can protect us." I realized with a start that we were alone with them. Three on three. I didn't see the cats anywhere. A quick Eye of Revelation revealed their barely corporeal forms slinking through the shadows of some nearby trees.

"I'm standing right here." Said Kellix indignantly. "And gorgeous or not, I'm not going to let you talk down to me. I'll take care of you both now, and hopefully you'll get over it after we leave. It's a trial after all. Don't take it to heAAARGGH."

His little monologue was cut off as one of the cats fell from a tree manifesting as it hit him, while the other emerged from his shadow to sink its teeth into the back of one of his knees. I winced as I watched him viciously torn apart, and Bethy just clicked her tongue. "Probably for the best." She said lightly. "I could never date a man who doesn't get along with my cats."

Vinnie and Simon had both freaked out and retreated as their third team member was butchered, and they watched us warily. Before we could encircle them though, another familiar voice rang through the clearing. "Looks like you boys could use a hand." A form stepped from the shadow of a nearby tree clarifying itself into Abel, who gave us all a cheerful wave. "Mind if I cut in and make this three on three again?" I swallowed hard. This...might be a problem.