The first thing Reina did when she saw that monster was imbibe an elixir of ogre's strength infused with orc semen. She immediately put herself in front of Rahja who had fallen on the ground.

"Reina, save yourself! Get out of here!" he screamed.

"As if I'm letting a fine piece of meat get wasted without plowing me first!" She put her arms out and received the brunt of the impact, then combining its momentum and her monstrous strength, pivoted on her heels to hurl the monster away.

It landed behind a curtain of vegetation and vines.

The elves behind Reina fired a volley of arrows which landed on the other side of the vegetation. Whether they made their mark and actually hurt it remains to be seen. Whatever the creature was, let out an angry screech and retreated deeper into the forest.

They were safe for now. However, there was no telling when it might return or attack them at a later time.

"Are you okay?" Reina asked, pulling Rahja to his feet.

"Thank you. I'm… fine," he answered, scratching his cheek. "That was… quite the exclamation you made back there."

Reina blushed redder than a tomato and covered her face. "F-Forget I said that. It was an accident. Spur of the moment. I wasn't even sure what I was thinking!"

"Rahja, Reina! We should hurry back to the tribe before that thing comes back!" The others had recollected themselves and were already on the move again.

"We're coming!" Rahja called back.

Both of them walked awkwardly side by side. Most of the journey was made with their eyes peeled and on high alert in case of another ambush. Reina kept her mind occupied trying to recall what sort of monster that was.

It was reptilian in appearance. However, its legs were anything but and looked like deformed primate arms had been stitched on.

For some reason, Reina recalled the strange witch who had visited her atelier. With all that magic returning to Talmora and philosopher's stones spontaneously spawning across the continent, could they be having an affect on the natural processes in nature?

"We're here," someone at the front of the group said.

Their encampment was made along the bottom of a cliffside. Using the cliff as a natural barrier, six wagons contributed to forming a half-circle wall. Fifteen large, round tents the size of houses made of tanned, sewn-together animal leathers were arranged around three firepits. A good choice so as to not risk burning the forest down.

Several of the women who were outside tending the fires welcomed the return of their men. Reina was embarrassed that she had seen the males naked when some of them were  likely committed to another woman. She kept an eye on Rahja, who wasn't finding himself in the arms of a lover, but instead went to warm himself up by the fire and beckoned her over.

"This is Reina. She is an alchemist living in Vessyra who has vowed to cure our ailment," he introduced her to the tribe.

Others emerged from the tents to investigate the commotion. Many of the women were glad for her presence, including several of the younger men. The tribe in their entirety numbered up to 45 members of varying ages, but not a single adolescent was among them.

Nomadic elven tribes like these had no leaders. However, in this desperate time, they had elected Rahja to guide them. He was apparently the one who suggested reaching out to her after hearing about an alchemist from a local physician in Vessyra.

Reina was led to one of the tents and told she would be sleeping there for the time being. The space was about as lavish as outdoors folk could make it. Fur pelts and leaves cushioned the floor. Hollowed out tree trunks served as tables and chairs. Animal bones and feathers hung from the ceiling and entrances as decoration.

Each tent was sizable enough to shelter almost ten people each, which came as a surprise that they erected so many with how few people lived here.

"Is it just me, or do you guys not have any kids around?" Reina asked.

Rahja nodded. "We had all traveled to Vessyra not long ago to ask the goddess for her fertile blessing once the youngest had come of age, then picked this spot to begin mating. The rest… we have already told you."

That explained the tent to member ratio. They were anticipating adding more members to the tribe through childbirth.

"I see. So at some point, the men of the tribe couldn't get it up anymore," she mumbled to herself.

A young elven woman opened the tent flap and stuck her head in. "Rahja, it seems Yuen has come to pay us another visit."

"Oh, great timing! Come, Reina. You must meet the huntress," he said.

"Wait, Yuen… as in the Magrand Bannerlord Yuen?" she asked.

Reina exited the tent to find her friend mounted atop a large black panther the size of a horse and entering the encampment. 

"Now that's a familiar face I didn't expect to see!" Yuen dismounted to meet her. The warrior of a woman clasped hands and grinned, excited to encounter each other again so soon.

"You two are already acquainted?" Rahja asked.

"We're friends. I didn't expect the huntress to mean Yuen of all people," Reina answered, then turned to Yuen with questions of her own. "Last I heard you were dealing with harvests and a tower? You still haven't reported to me the effects of the serums I gave you."

"Oh, shit. It completely slipped my mind! I can tell you all about it later, just know that it worked wonders. In fact, look at all this!" Yuen returned to her panther to unhitch the cart behind it. The large cat flopped onto the ground and began to groom itself playfully. Some of the tribal members, more friendly with the creature, patted its head and rubbed its belly.

"Uh. Is that safe?" Reina asked, still on edge from the lizard monster they fought earlier.

Which reminded Reina, she should bring that up to Yuen later. The bannerlord might know more about what's going on in these parts.

"Kilalua's a big softie. She won't attack anyone or anything unless I order her to. Ain't that right, baby?" Yuen stroked her panther's face affectionately and received a slobbering lick in return.

The cart Yuen and Kilalua had brought was filled with bushels of crops ranging from potatoes, fruits, cabbages, mushrooms, nuts, and more.

Yuen went out again with several hunters to catch some game, bringing back a boar and stag. The entire tribe feasted that night. Everyone was in high spirits, including Kilalua who was gnawing on the remains of the boar.

Reina and Yuen sat around a campfire of their own, away from the main group, relaying to each other everything they had to say in turn.

According to Yuen, the serum infused with Perrwyn's sap had resulted in a greater yield than her bannerkin could eat themselves. That was how they came across Rahja and his tribe, offering the extra harvests to them when they had recently arrived in the outskirts of Vessyra.

Additionally, the bannerlord's foray into the towers alongside human knights ended in failure. The towers were created through witchcraft and ancient alchemy from the Second Crimson Wars, they existed all across Talmora and contained pocket worlds to explore.

Time slowed down in those towers depending on how dense the magic was within. A day that passed outside could be weeks inside. After five years, no one knew what kind of worlds awaited unless they went in themselves.

The human organization of knights formerly known as the Order of Piety had reformed themselves following the end of the war, and vowed to scour the lands to topple the towers one by one, even if it took centuries to do it. They called it their penance for their part in raising the towers to begin with.

It was they who had asked Yuen for help given the proximity of her bannerkin to the tower. However, upon entering they encountered an enormous maze and ventured until their rations were exhausted to no progress, forcing them to use an expensive translocation spell to return outside.

"And… you faced nothing else in there? No monsters, no demons, no vegetation?" Reina asked, more perturbed than curious.

"Not a damn thing, just a big fucking maze. We didn't want to split the group either in case there was something to fight." Yuen tore into a whole roasted deer leg to vent her frustration. She stuffed her face with about half of it, bit off more than she could chew, and tossed the rest of Kilalua.

"I wonder if there's something I can make you navigate the maze much easier," Reina asked aloud.

"Ah, don't bother yourself too much about it. Those human knights sealed the place off until a more capable group could handle it. I wanna hear about this monster you guys fought earlier in the day. Sounds interesting," she said.

Kilalua even came closer to listen, as if she understood speech to have her curiosity piqued on the topic.

Reina recounted what they had fought, how the giant lizard-like monster had the arms of an ape, what it took to force it to retreat, but omitted her embarrassing outburst.

"Even with the elixir of ogre's strength, that thing might overpower me. I only have two more left." She patted the vials on her belt, the touch of glass put her at ease.

"Rough." Yuen leaned back against the panther and shut her eyes. "Which means my bannerkin are also in danger, but it should take a lot more to put those warriors down. What say we hunt that thing down tomorrow. Put it out of our minds?"

"You'll stay the night to help?" Reina asked.

"If I let you guys handle it yourselves and someone gets hurt, what kind of bannerlord would I be? You can count on me and Kilalua tomorrow. Besides, I need you to help these men to help me," she said.

"Glad to have you on our— wait, what was that last part?"

The elven bannerlord hopped to her feet and stretched her arms until the joints popped.

"You heard me. There are two ways to grow a banner— recruitment and childbirth. The males here are plenty strong and promised to knock up some of my warriors. I need their dicks working, so I'm counting on ya!" Yuen grinned.