It was two days after the group returned from their five day trip.  Everyone who intended to go on the next one was getting ready and Jelin was a little disappointed that he hadn't been able to get Ell to make some satchels in time.  Mel had woken up about a day before the group's return, though, with an evolution he thought she would skip. 

[Lesser Young Arachne Broodmother]

Her spider abdomen had swollen up and the rest of her spider body had made tiny adjustments to compensate for carrying the new weight and size.  She didn't seem as happy with her new evolution as Jelin had expected.  She started complaining about how awkward it felt to walk around and such almost as soon as she made it outside. 

Jelin had told her about their latest expedition plans and she seemed to want to go as well at first but, after looking at her own rear end, changed her mind and decided to stay behind and get accustomed to her new changes.  Jelin hoped everything worked out since it was one of the only times he had seen one of the girls unhappy with their evolution. 

Emmy decided to stick with him in place of Mel, and along with Sai, Zaer, and Ell once more, made up the rest of the team going with him.  Ell was actually excited for another trip already since they planned to find new materials for her to work with.  

Nobody had found the home of the bats yet but from what was reported, Sai was certain that there were enough trace left for her to find them, even if they flew everywhere.  Jelin wasn't going to doubt her skills and was already impressed that she could say that just from hearing what the others had said. 

As breakfast concluded, they bid those staying behind farewell and started on their way with Jelin having high hopes that they would have as successful of an adventure as possible.  They took their time for the first day since they wanted to spend a day with Sai doing her tracking thing before they had a night close to the bat swarm. 

Their first night was spent huddled together at the base of the largest tree they could find as no branch could hold all of them.  None of them were really worried about getting attacked, though, since the bat hunting ground should have still been some distance away and they were all natural predators.  Plus they had bee drones all around them. 

The next morning, they moved quickly at first and slowed down as they reached the large creatures' roaming area.  Sai started to run around to do her tracking thing and soon started leading them on some weird path that only she could recognize.  It took about an hour before she slowed and they could see one of the large creatures ahead. 

Jelin took a good look at it and thought that it looked kind of like a stegosaurus.  If only the dinosaur was without the spines on its back, had the size and skin of an elephant, and had the head of a rhinoceros. 

It was actually a little intimidating, but it gave him an idea about trying to make them future livestock and beats of burden.  There was even the possibility of mounts.  They were all ideas for later, though, since there was no place for them yet.  

However, as strange as they looked to him, he knew they weren't monsters.  That feeling he got from recognizing a monster core wasn't there, which meant that even if he wanted to raise such beasts he couldn't use the link and would have to wait the time for their growth. 

He shelved the idea for later and waited with everyone else while Sai checked the area for traces of whatever she was looking for.  They continued walking around, seeing creature after creature, until around late afternoon.  Jelin could almost swear they had made several circles. 

Sai seemed somewhat aggravated as they took a rest and snacked on some squirrels they caught. 

<Sorry.  I circled around a few times and in different places but I always end up here.  It's like they just vanished.>

<Don't worry about it too much.  There's a few hours until dark still.  Let's split up and look around.  Even if we don't find anything related to the flying creatures or caves, we might still find something interesting around.  It'll be a good chance to relax a bit anyways and when night comes we can see if they show up.>

They all spent a few hours just looking around the area and trying to find things they thought might be interesting.  When the sun finally began to set, Jelin called everyone back to where they had stopped earlier and gathered them all together at the base of another large tree.  he thought about how to check out the whole situation before giving out his plan.

<Okay.  If they don't show up tonight, then we can try and wait one more night after this.  As for what we do if they do show up, let's see.  Zaer, sorry, but you might lose a few drones with this.  Kai said they weren't interested in her but she was also some distance away and they likely finished their meal before even noticing her.  Have your drones spread out and we'll see if any of our new friends appear tonight.

In the meantime, we're going to wait here as stealthily as possible.  If these are like the creatures I know of, sight is slightly less important than sound or smell, so I'll try to keep us in a wind barrier to mitigate that.  If any break through, aim for injury and capture when possible over killing them.  Don't hesitate to kill them if you feel danger, though.  I'd rather all of us be safe than them alive.

Everyone keep your eyes and ears open now.  I'll be ready with wind in case they show up but I'm going to wait until they do beforehand.  Zaer, if you can track where they come from or where they go once they come back, then great.  If you don't think it'll work out, just bring your drones back to us.  No need to sacrifice them over nothing, okay?  This is the plan unless someone has a better idea...>

Everyone started to prepare for a long night with some combat instead of suggesting something else, so Jelin tried to center himself among them.  He didn't want to have to focus on a wind barrier being larger or more oddly shaped than necessary in case he had to hold it for a long time, so being in the middle of them all would make a simple and small sphere easier.

Once they were in a good enough position, they sat down and waited.  Jelin kept his ears open more than his eyes since Zaer's spread out drones would likely work as better eyes than anything he could see with all the trees in the way.  He also had his psi spread out to Sense Emotions all around as far as he could stretch it.  He easily picked up a few of the large beasts but it wasn't until he realized his mistake and that he should check a full three dimensional plane that he called to Zaer and the other girls.

<Zaer, hide your drones as best you can!  They're coming!  My barrier will be a little weak, so get ready just in case, ladies.  I'm such an idiot...>

He put up the barrier around them just as the beginning screeches reached their ears.  Moments later there was what looked like a cloud of fast moving smoke flying through the trees at the limits of what they could see.  He had to use two different rounds of [Inspect] on it to get the information he wanted.  The first only brought up [Swarm of Bats] while the second, more focused one, brought up [Least Adult Wild Vampire Bat Flyer].

Putting aside how the information he got seemed a little strange for the moment, it confirmed that the creatures were, indeed, bat monsters.  He was pretty sure none of the girls had managed to pick up something like [Identify] yet, so he kept trying to look at every bat he could, both to get more information and to try and find some that he thought might be useful.

Sai suddenly swung her blades around a bit, backwards, and Jelin saw dark little bodies start flying across the ground.  Ell moved quickly to start wrapping them up and Jelin saw that there were bats trying to crawl in their direction with a few lone flyers that seemed to just fly into them by accident.  Jelin trusted the girls to continue guarding their location as he tried to [Inspect] all of them and more from the swarm.