Explorer of Edregon

After a quick check in with Spur to let him know they'd probably be gone for a couple of days, Vin, Shia, and Alka took a moment to go over Vin's map of the surrounding fragments. At this point, Vin had personally explored seventeen different fragments including the Earthers' own, and had two more that they at the very least knew what to expect within.

"What about checking out Forpurt's fragment?" Alka asked, pointing a finger at the hexagon Vin had marked as the capillan's on his map. "He did invite us when we ran into him in Sakis. I'll admit I'm curious to see what this frozen tundra looks like."

"Can't say I'm a huge fan of that idea," Shia admitted, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering at the thought. "Not only is it going to be freezing, I doubt there are many plants living in such extreme conditions."

"Well you chumps still can't breathe underwater, which means Lumel's fragment is a no-go," Alka shrugged. "So if not Forpurt's, then I guess we just pick one at random?"

"Spur did ask me to check out the second layer of fragments surrounding ours," Vin reminded them, drawing a rough circle with his finger around the Earthers' fragment. "So far we know that encompasses the death fragment, the swamp, Forpurt's place, the meriders' forest, the former prisoners' fragment, and the crystalline desert we were in last. That still leaves six fragments in the second ring we know nothing about."

"This is shaping up to be some vacation," Alka chuckled. "Been a while since we hit so many fragments back to back."

"Let's just focus on checking one or two off the list for now," Vin decided. "Should we just pick up where we left off? Take a quick trip through the Sacred Forest and hit the fragment adjacent to it and the crystalline desert? Erik did ask us to drop by at some point and share our adventures with him."

"I like that plan a lot more than suffering in below-zero temperatures," Shia grinned.

"Well that settles it," Vin said, tapping the blank hexagon on his map before putting his journal away. "I admit, I'm hoping to stumble upon some sort of self-warming spell before I make that house call to Forpurt. He just has so much hair…"

Their decision made, Vin and Shia grabbed a quick bite to eat at the mess hall before striking out with Alka at their side. A small part of Vin was screaming in the back of his mind that leaving camp again was reckless when they had no idea how early the fourth wave was going to hit, but he tried to squash that down with logic. They were supposed to have had twenty days between waves two and three, and then thirty days between waves three and four. Wave three ended up coming four days early, and today marked twelve days since then. That meant based on their original schedule, they should still have another eighteen days until wave four. Even if the wave came early, Vin couldn't imagine it would end up coming quite that early.

It would be less than pleasant waiting around in camp for so long, but he figured he'd station himself here in preparation for the next wave once there were only ten days left.

He owed the Earthers that much after not being there for the last massacre.

Vin tried to think about what he'd spend ten straight days in camp doing as they made their way over to the Sacred Forest. Maybe by that point the many crafters under Witherson's command would have gotten a solid jumpstart on the town and there'd be something to actually do within the walls other than eat or train.

Granted, even if they did, he had a feeling he'd spend most of his time just locked away in his room studying magic anyway.

Though he wouldn't mind a bigger room.

"Ahh, I missed this," Vin smiled, taking in a deep breath of the forest air as they walked across the border into the Sacred Forest. The wet, earthy smell of trees and dirt seemed to wipe away his weariness, and he couldn't help but grin as he watched two of the adorable lemurs scurry away from their sudden entrance, chasing one another up into the higher branches of a tree that could never exist back on Earth. "I should really drop by more often."

"I might be slightly biased, but personally, I think it is one of the better fragments," Shia smiled, running a hand lovingly along the bark of a nearby tree. "Come on, Erik will know we're coming now that we stepped foot into the forest. Let's crash his place for dinner!"

The three of them began making their way through the forest toward the elven village, happy to just enjoy the natural wildlife and looking forward to chatting with Erik once more.

Which naturally, was exactly when the monsters attacked.

"On the left!" Alka shouted, whipping out her sword and cleaving through a hideously fanged monkey that had launched itself directly at Shia out of nowhere. By the time the two halves of the monster had hit the ground, Shia and Vin had their staffs in hand and were ready.

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"Fangers," Shia frowned, narrowing her eyes at the small horde of monsters as they screeched and swung through the trees all around them in an attempt to find their blind spots. "Not nearly as bad as a Trunkback, but certainly annoying. They're ambush monsters, they only attack from behind!"

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"Sucks for them," Alka laughed, her head spinning around a full one hundred and eighty degrees as she tracked a few of the screaming monkeys trying to run around behind them.

"Agreed," Shia said, gesturing with Blossom and casting. "Root Spikes!"

The moment the words left her mouth, roots exploded out of the ground, impaling half of the monkeys in a single instant. It was obvious that they weren't all that tough individually, because Shia's roots didn't have the slightest trouble putting any one fanger down.

Not wanting to make Shia do all the work, Vin kept a careful eye on the monkeys darting around as he began firing off empowered Stone Shots. The monkeys were fast, but thanks to his training with Alka, he was more than capable of hitting them. Not all of his attacks were kill shots, but they at least knocked the monsters out of the trees, allowing Alka to finish them off.

It took the three of them less than a minute to eradicate most of the fangers, and the few surviving monsters rushed off into the forest, screaming all the while as they fled.

"I didn't realize the Sacred Forest had ambush monsters," Vin frowned, nudging one of the dead fangers with his foot. A quick cast of Sense Life confirmed that they were all truly dead, as the last thing he needed was one of them leaping back up and sinking its teeth into their neck. "Kelly passes through here all the time!"

"She always has a group of warriors escort her, whether from your own camp, or from my village," Shia explained, using her nature magic to fix the damage her spells had done to the forest floor. "Fangers are really only an issue if you travel in a small group, which is half the reason my people never leave the village in groups less than six members strong. So long as you can watch all around you, fangers won't even bother attacking."

"Hidden monsters are the worst," Alka growled, staring off in the direction the monkeys had fled. "I hate not being able to finish them off."

"I'll let one of the hunting squads know the direction they went, they'll take care of them," Shia smiled, gently bopping Alka on the head with Blossom. "Come on, let's not wait around for more to show up."

They didn't run into any more surprises on their way to the village, but they did find a familiar face waiting for them on the very edge.

"Hello again, Shia," Smohl said, nodding slightly to her before turning toward Vin and Alka. "Vin. Alka. It is good to see you both in good health. The Ancient One told me you'd be coming."

It had been some time since they'd last seen each other, but Smohl looked exactly like he had the day he'd threatened to shoot Vin with an arrow and sacrifice him to the Ancient Ones. He wore the same interlocking leaf armor as Shia, and the braid marking his seniority still hung low, dangling against his upper thigh.

"Long time no see, Smohl," Shia chuckled. "Are you joining us for dinner tonight?"

Vin knew Shia had dropped by the Sacred Forest a few times on her own while he'd been doing his own thing, so this wasn't so much as a homecoming for her as just another check in. Still, it was amusing to see Smohl all but shiver at the thought of eating dinner with Erik. Within the Tree of Ancients no less.

"No, I believe I will let you meet with the Ancient Ones yourselves," he said, offering them a small smile. "The Ancient One simply asked me to let you know he wouldn't be meeting you out here himself, and said you should come to the Tree of Ancients whenever you're ready. I'm actually off to assemble a team to hunt down those fangers that ran after attacking you."

"Man, sure is nice when your boss can see everything that happens throughout the forest," Alka said. "I mean, personally, I find that a bit creepy. But I can't argue against how useful it is."

"Alka, maybe try and remember that the elves view the Ancient Ones as all but demi-Gods," Vin muttered under his breath, watching Smohl carefully to make sure he didn't start ranting or anything. Thankfully, he seemed entirely unperturbed by Alka's comment.

Vin wondered how much of that was because Erik had clearly made it known to the elves that they were his personal friends, or because Smohl had witnessed firsthand just how terrifying Alka could be back when she was still forced to use Vin's own body to interact with the world. Vin had no doubt that even if Shia hadn't spread the word about Alka's transformation from ghost to golem during one of her visits, Kelly would have told the elves herself.

Wishing Smohl good luck on his hunt, the trio made their way through the village to the Tree of Ancients at the very center. While Vin received quite a number of looks from the many elves, he immediately noticed something seemed… off about the way they looked at him. Unlike his first visit, where the elves had stared at him in either curiosity or hatred, this time, it almost felt like…

Spotting another group of young elves go from laughing amongst themselves to turning and quickly walking away the moment they laid eyes on him, Vin glanced at Shia. "Am I crazy, or is everyone taking one look at me before trying to make themselves scarce?"

"Can you blame them?" Shia asked, giving him a sly grin. "At first, seeing an actual human that wasn't trying to burn down the forest was wild. But these people have been dealing with Kelly and her elf obsession. For weeks."

"Oh. Oh God…" Vin muttered, his eyes widening as he suddenly understood why everyone was staying clear of him. "She isn't harassing anyone, right?"

"No, she just likes to ask a lot of questions," Shia laughed, leading them down to the Tree of Ancients. "I mean, some of the elves actually enjoy chatting with her and telling her all about our culture. I told you, she even has a boyfriend from what I've heard, so she can't be that annoying. Can't say I know him personally, but I've seen him around. Hard not to when there's only a couple thousand of us."

"I'll have a talk with her about reining it in a bit next time I see her," Vin said, frowning as a pair of elves caught sight of him and quickly began scaling an apartment building grown out of a large tree to get away.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before they made it to the Tree of Ancients, and Vin was once again struck by the incredible sight once more. The gigantic conglomeration of trees worked together to form one single, glorious monument to magic and nature as they swirled together up high into the canopy. Even after everything he'd seen across Edregon, the Tree of Ancients was still perhaps the single most impressive thing he'd personally witnessed.

And standing at the very base of the tree, just waiting for their arrival, was a familiar wooden door growing right out of the tree itself.