The cold rose as the sea of fog crept higher, leaving Nadia to watch with a mixture of morbid fascination and terror as ice crystals bloomed and grew, rising further up the trunks of the trees.
Looking out to where the rest of the crew was resting, she noticed that Jake had woken up, staring silently at the fog with trepidation.
You’re alright, Nat. This… whatever it is won’t stick around forever. Just gotta wait it out. Don’t rock the boat.
While Nadia was trying to calm herself internally, things took a turn for the worse.
One of the haulers, Alec woke in his tree, and as the fear washed over him, he began screaming. Without warning, the fog surged, rising up the tree he was in, cutting off the scream in an instant, replacing it with the soft tinkling of ice crystals as the air seemed to move for the first time in ages.
Nearby to Alec’s tree were Jonas and Georgie, both of whom were now awake, and struggling to keep silent as the fog continued to prowl the land after settling back down to reveal Alec’s frozen corpse.
The group spent the rest of the night rigid with fear, no one daring to move so long as the fog remained, hoping that it would leave with the dawn.
Their hopes were answered with the first of the predawn light, as the sky grew brighter, the fog drifted away before finally retreating to whatever abyss it had come from, leaving the survivors exhausted and shaken.
~
The group waited until the sun was well overhead before descending their trees, with Nadia carrying Rodney down the same way she’d brought him up, a dark mood hanging over the morning meal.
“What the fuck happened to keeping watch? Too worried about your own skin to wake the rest of us? You’ve fucking killed Alec.” Jonas shouted, venting his anger at Rodney and Nadia.
Nadia glared back at the man without speaking while Rodney stood nearby, his pallor sickly as he tried to make himself small.
“Stow the bitching, Jonas.” Jake barked. “Nat’s the reason we weren’t lying on the ground when that shit rolled in, and the Wildlands kill people every day. Alec was unlucky, that’s all it is.”
“Fuck off, Jake. Why are you sticking up for the runt and this who-” Crack~! Thump~!
Almost too fast to see, Jake sent a straight jab at Jonas, knocking him flat on his back. “I told you to stow the bitching, Jonas. I won’t tell you again.”
Jonas struggled back up to his feet, a scowl on his face as he rubbed his jaw. He sent another glare towards Nadia and Rodney, spitting at the ground before he stomped away grumbling.
“We’re not far from Iron Bear territory now, but if that… that fog is going to be lingering here nights, chances are we lose more people.” He paused, turning to Nadia. “You ever encounter the like before?” He asked, his voice not betraying the uncertainty he likely felt.
“Never.” Nadia shook her head. “I think the fear was magic, like it was trying to scare up game. Couldn’t seem to find us when we were quiet, but it felt like it knew we were there.” She added.
Jake nodded thoughtfully. “That sense of yours telling you anything? How does that work?” He asked cautiously.
“It’s just a feeling, you know? Instincts. With that thing though… I couldn’t get a read on it.”
Jake shook his head solemnly then set his shoulders and adopted a determined expression. “Right, boys. There ain’t shit we can do about it now, let’s go bag us a bear and get the fuck out of here.”
~
Nadia put both the survey drone and her Tracker’s Instincts to work, locating the signs of an Iron Bear by midmorning, earning a fair amount of appreciation from the crew.
With the prey located, Rodney led the rest of the crew in assembling the requisite traps while Nat was once again up a tree on overwatch duty.
Much like Rodney had mentioned, the crew were hard at work with mattocks, digging a deep pit that they would bait the Iron Bear into, after which they would use the specialised smoke pellets to incapacitate the creature for slaughter, assuming everything went to plan.
Naturally, they were also forced to prepare backups which included the Steelthread snares, which would be strong enough to bind the bear long enough for the crew to regroup, and the large steel traps Rodney had called iron jaws which would clamp onto a carelessly placed foot, hampering movement.
As weapons of last resort, Rodney had a canister of something similar to mustard gas as well as a net woven of Steelthread that would tangle the beast long enough for him to hit it with a jar of Firegel if things went disastrously wrong.
It was just after noon when the crew finished digging out the pit, Nadia was surprised by how quickly the group had worked. The pit was a 5m cube with sheer sides, with an improvised cover of sticks, dirt, and leaves strong enough to hold a person, but that would collapse under the bear’s weight.
With the pit dug, and the rest of the traps set, the group took a final breather before it was time to bait out the bear.
Jake hoisted his shield and spear, approaching the bear’s den making considerable amounts of noise as he went, coming to a halt roughly 100m away from a cave entrance overhung by roots.
“Oi, get out here ya fuckin’ brute!” He shouted at the cave. “Come and dance with ol’ Jake.”
RoAoAhAwuh~!
Loud shuffling followed the furious roar, and before long a large grey creature emerged as Nadia watched from afar.
The bear was huge, nearly 3m in length, but to her eyes it’s body resembled a gorilla’s more than a bear’s. Its arms were as thick as tree trunks, and she could see distinct knuckles on the fat and stubby fingers that each ended in a vicious claw.
Jake turned and ran, leaving the indignant bear to chase after him, running in a strange gait to accommodate it’s high centre of mass.
Jake dashed across the pitfall, with the Iron Bear not far behind and moving surprisingly quickly for its bulk.
Crr~snap~!
One of the Steelthread snares meant to rob the bear of speed and cause it to stumble into the pit caught its mark, but was unable to stop the beast’s momentum, barely slowing it down as it charged forward.
With a frown, Nadia squeezed the trigger sending a shot towards the eyes of the enraged animal, hoping it would be enough.
RoAoAwuh~!
The bear let out a pained groan, momentarily losing balance and tumbling halfway onto the lid of the pit, but not quit falling in.
“Forward!” Jake yelled and rushed to push the bear into the pit, his shield and spear up with Jonas and Georgie right behind him.
The three men shoved and Jake was tossed aside like a ragdoll when the bear swiped back in retaliation.
With Jake cast aside, Jonas and Georgie moved low, lifting on one of the bear’s hind legs to try and upset its balance before it could take another swing.
Rodney rushed forward with a Steelthread lasso, casting it over the bear’s form and passing it around a tree, pulling with all his strength.
“Give me a hand!” He shouted as he hauled on the cord. Nadia slipped down from her perch, moving to help Rodney pull, inching the bear further over the pit.
“Jonas, Georgie, back off there and help us pull!” Rodney shouted as the sounds of the lid beginning to buckle could be heard.
The two ducked away from the bear, taking up grips on the cord, and as all four gave a strong heave, the bear fell into the pit.
“Holy fuck.” Jonas cursed, panting on the ground. Without wasting time, Rodney lit the smoke pellets and tossed them into the pit from a safe distance before going to check on Jake.
“Alright Boss?” He called out. Jake struggled to his feet, his shield arm hanging oddly in its socket, apparently dislocated from the hit.
Jake ignored his injury and called out praises to the team. “Good work, boys. You too, Nat. Caught us a big fuckin’ bear!” He laughed, but then halted with a wince.
Feeling he’d said enough, Jake started peeling of his coat and gambeson so that he could inspect his injury. With his shirt off, the man had a massive purple bruise spanning from his left shoulder to his sternum, but after having Georgie help him reseat his shoulder he simply carried on.
Rodney moved to retrieve his traps as they waited for the smoke to do its work on the Iron Bear, and by evening they had the bear’s carcass up out of the pit and onto a sled, ready to haul.
Nadia was pleasantly surprised that the surge of energy that Felix gained with the Iron Bear’s death was considerable, resulting in her gaining a level up.
Level up: Bone Stalker Armour is now Lv2.
Attribute gained: +1 Presence
~
Not wanting to remain in the valley for fear of the fog returning, the group marched late into the night, with Nadia leading the way, Jake, Jonas and Georgie hauling the sled in rotation, two at a time, and Rodney bringing up the rear.
By the time they bunked down for the night, the trio on sled duty were exhausted while Nadia and Rodney were left to split the watch between the two of them.
Nadia’s watch passed uneventfully, as did Rodney’s, leaving the group to enjoy a restful night of sleep.
“Go ahead and grab a quick nap if you need to Rodney, I’m up now anyway.” Nadia said as she climbed down from her tree, looking over the rest of the crew, still fast asleep in the predawn.
The sleeping camp began to stir as the sun rose, and Nadia was eager to see what Falkirk had to offer, now that she’d actually have some currency to spend. Jonas and Georgie grumbled as they dragged themselves from their bedrolls, wandering off into the brush to relieve themselves while Rodney rose with a tired stretch.
Time dragged onward, and Rodney finally went to wake Jake when the rest of the equipment was packed up, only to release a shout.
Nadia came closer to check, and could see that Jake’s skin was ghostly pale and clammy while his breath was rapid and shallow.
Are you fucking kidding me? Nadia groaned as she thought back to Jake's injury, realising what was likely wrong. Swinging her pack off, she pulled out her medical kit and knelt down next to him.
She pulled open his jacket, cutting open his shirt before grabbing the medical multitool from the kit and placing it against his injured chest. The device beeped, and she reached back into the medical kit, grabbing a flexible tube which she fed into the device.
“Rodney, give me a hand here. I need you to sit him up so I can help him.”
Nadia took a moment to carefully position the multitool below the injury which repeatedly beeped before proceeding. The tool punctured his chest with a needle, feeding in the flexible tube and sealing the wound. With the tube in place, fluid began draining, and moments later Jake took in a deep, gasping breath and began coughing.
“Hold him still. He’s going to have trouble breathing for a while.” She said.
It took some time for Jake’s breathing to settle down, but by mid-day he’d woken up.
“Hey, Jake.” Nadia greeted him sarcastically as he woke. “You know that stabbing, burning pain in your chest that you ignored yesterday like a moron? That was your lung collapsing. They’re what you breathe with, pretty important, you know?”
“It *cough* it wasn’t a big de-” He tried to argue, only for Nadia to cut him off.
“You nearly died in your sleep.” She said sternly. “Unless you know someone who can magically heal you, you’re going to need to rest a few days.” She paused. “Oh, and I cut your shirt open and put in a tube in your chest so you could breathe again and remain living. You’re welcome.”
