The next morning Danny was packed and ready to head out. They met one last time at their customary spot in the dining hall and after breakfast they retrieved their packs and head out. Their Journey would take them further into the forest than they had been before. Most of their missions had been within a few days of the headquarters. They always traveled in silence, only speaking when stopped. At their break for lunch on the first day, Danny brought up something he had been meaning to ask since they discovered the details of their mission.

"So, could someone explain to me what you know about goblins? I do not really know much about them."

All three girls turned to stare at him blankly for a second before Brooke asked, "What did they teach you at the wizard academy?"

"...magic..."

Brooke blinked and replied, "Well, Goblins are shorter than most humans, with greenish to grey skin. They are tribe like and breed like rabbits. When they grow too numerous, they form hordes that flood the surrounding lands. Those they don't kill are taken as slaves."

"Are they weak to anything?"

"Same things we are."

"Where did they originally come from?"

Brooke shook her head, "I don't know."

"I heard they were an evil wizard's experiment on the Fae," Ivy said in between bites of her lunch.

"Fae, like fairies with wings and magic dust," Danny said shocked.

"I've never heard of the Fae having wings, but they do have powerful magic. They are ancient beings who are best avoided. Some say the elves are descended from them. At least that is what I was told," explained Ivy.

Danny couldn't believe all the stuff that wasn't in the wizard academy library. Did their society only depend on knowledge traveling by word of mouth?

Their journey continued for a few uneventful days when they were set upon by a pack of beast wolves.

Danny had been looking around the dense forest for plants resembling those from his alchemy books. If they had time on the trip he was going to practice his alchemy skill some more. Too many of his free days back at the headquarters were spent sleeping or trying to catch up with the girls. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He was pleased that his magics were an equal contribution to any one of their martial skills. Over the years his magic had grown, but only at a slightly faster rate than before. He really wished he could measure his magic in some easy to discern fashion.

He had stopped the group as he spotted a new mushroom with black and blue spots. He quickly went over and started digging in the soil. He had to get the roots and this one apparently created something similar to a tap root, going deep into the ground.

Ivy called back to him, "Danny please keep up, what are you doing back there?"

"I just found a mushroom that I haven't seen before."

"Don't you dare eat that, it could be poisonous!"

"I am trying to level my alchemy skill, I'm not going to eat it..."

"Picking mushrooms is foraging not alchemy."

"I... I know that!"

Jade barked a warning from above, "Wolves, Danny to your left!"

Annoyed being been interrupted, Danny absently waived his hand to his left creating a half circle wall of flames, before going back to work on the mushroom.

Brooke yelled, "Wolves!"

It was Ivey’s turn to yell, “Danny, wolves!”

Danny had dug about six inches in the ground and the roots still hadn’t ended, “Ivey, it’s just wolves, nothing you three couldn’t handle. I almost have…”

Danny suddenly remembered he was a wizard, and starting laughing. Loosening the soil with earth magic he quickly pulled up the rest of the mushroom. Standing up he turned around to show everyone his find, and stopped laughing.

Ivy was bent over with her hands on her legs, struggling to catch her breath. Around her were four large beast wolves, each wolf had been significantly larger than her own. One had been pierced through the eyes with a crossbow bolt, the other three had been run through at critical locations with her sword.

Brooke had taken a knee and rested her large shield on the ground. She had killed six wolves. Most of them had obviously flown a few meters, wrapped around trees or laying, unmoving, on the ground. This was made more impressive the fact that she had done it with a one handed mace.

Danny looked to his right and starved his flame wall with air magic. On the other side was Jade pulling an arrow out of the five wolves she had shot. From what he could tell, each one seemed to only need one of her arrows.

Danny’s shock addled mind could only come up with this golden gem as proof of his high intelligence, “Oh…”

The sound of heavy breathing got louder and quickly Danny turned his head to see an irate Ivy, standing with her face inches from his own.

“What?” The question came out of her at a deceptively quiet volume.

Danny looked around timidly asked, “What… what?”

Ivy somehow had the mushroom in her hand, and turned to him with a smile Danny did not find reassuring, “What is so important about this mushroom that you almost got us killed? Can it maybe bring one of us back from the dead?”

Danny’s fight or flight response was heavily leaning towards flight. As he took a tentative step backwards he mumbles, “Arthritis…”

A look of confusion washed over Ivy’s face, “What about arthritis?”

Danny took another step and his back hit the tree the mushroom had been growing under. “It can be used to treat arthritis,”

If someone had been observing from above the tree line of that particular part of the forest that day, they would have seen countless birds in a seemingly mile radius take flight, obviously started by a loud high pitched scream.

Danny’s face was scrunched up and bits of mushroom were peppered all over it. Danny turned his head to the side before spitting the mushroom pieces. “Ivy, I am sorry, I got distracted again…”

Ivy threw her hands in the air, “You got distracted again! Danny, do I need to remind you for your propensity for getting distracted?”

“N… no”

Ivy narrowed her eyes at him, “Yes, yes I do. I won’t go over all of them, but let’s get the highlights. Brooke, stop that and help me here.”

Brooke had fallen on her back and hadn’t stopped laughing until Ivy singled her out. “What about the Bigleg?”

Ivy rolled her eyes, “Yes, the Bigleg you say you saw!”

Danny sheepishly interrupted, “It’s Bigfoot… it’s called a Bigfoot…”

Ivy just shot daggers at him, “And what did it turn out to be?”

Embarrassed, Danny stayed quiet.

Brooke started laughing again, “An elements damn big forest troll! I didn’t think we were going to be able to kill that one… fast bugger.”

Danny nervously smiled, hoping Brooke’s laughter could change the mood, “Yeah, if you hadn’t crippled both its legs long enough for me to burn its heart, I don’t know how we would have gotten it. It kept wiping its head around too quickly for me to hit its brain.”

Ivy wasn’t smiling, “Then you found that special plant in the forest.”

“I thought it was a plant with mana!”

“It was a male nature variant beast snake, and it was mating season! How many snakes was that?”

Brooke was grinning at Danny’s obvious discomfort, “I counted at least twenty-seven…”

Danny crossed his arms and looked away.

Seeing his mood, Ivy changed tactics and spoke pleadingly to him, “Danny we could have avoided all of those fights…”

“…I know.”

Ivy looked around and declared, “You will have to have a punishment for this.”

Danny over at her warily.

Ivy finally came to a decision, “You will take care of everyone’s armorer for a month.”

Danny quickly agreed and they started getting ready to leave. That’s when one of the wolves Brooke had supposedly killed started whimpering.

Brooke sighed and walked over to it to deal the wolf a final blow when Danny yelled, "Wait!"

Brooke looked over at him, "What?"

"I want to try some new magic I got. Just make sure it doesn't attack me!"

Ivy came over having heard the interaction, "Danny is this really necessary, we need to get moving. We have already wasted enough time."

Danny looked at her pleadingly, “Please, just a few moments. It shouldn’t take long.”

Ivy sighed and nodded her head, defeated.

Danny turned around to find Brooke looking upset, "Danny I know this wolf almost killed you, but I don't want to hear it suffering anymore."

"Ok, hang on."

Danny looked at the animal and decided healing it was necessary. He couldn't have it attacking them once healed. Grabbing a few seeds from the pouch at his belt, he bound it with vines. Making sure they were nice and strong he started to heal the wolf. When its whimpering stopped Brooke visibly relaxed only to be replaced by a different tenseness.

"We need to make camp soon, so I hope this is worth it, Danny," Ivy said with concern.

Danny was actual surprised Ivy hadn't told him to stop already. He looked up to his left where he last heard his teammate's voice, "Jade, would you watch my back?"

"Already on it," came the reply to his right.

Looking over at Ivy and Brooke, Danny explained, "I haven't had a chance to use my magic on an animal and don't know when I will get another chance."

Ivy looked like she was going to strangle him, "Danny they keep chickens in a specially made room near the kitchens for quick access to their eggs and meat. You could have used one of those!"

"Oh..."

"Did you ask anyone for an animal to practice on?"

"Instructor Pebble is really scary..."

Ivy threw up her hands, "Well, hurry up and get on with it then!"

Nodding Danny sat down next to the struggling Wolf. The vines appeared to be holding, but Danny strengthened them a little bit more just to be safe. Danny reach out with his mana and touched the wolf. He activated the nature rune and saw... himself. Danny could see through the beast's eyes! Danny's eyes were closed and he wasn't moving.

Danny could "hear" the wolf’s thoughts and communicate with it to some degree. The wolf did not like him. He tried asking it where its home was. He saw images of the forest and a large hill. Underneath the hill was small impression. Danny moved towards the hollow in the side of the hill and a litter of pups came running out and surrounded him. He realized this was a memory when he couldn't control anything. In the memory, he started licking the puppies as they jumped all over him. Then the puppies started to nurse and Danny suddenly had all the answers he wanted at the moment. Danny backed out of that memory quickly and asked another question of the wolf only to meet resistance. Then he felt himself forcefully flung out of the wolf’s mind.

Danny came to, on his knees, back in his own body. Looking up, he tried entering the wolf’s mind again with no further success. Danny knew he could have forced his way back in, the wolf's mind wasn't particularly strong. He felt that forcing his way in would be a violation of some unwritten rule. He couldn't help but find the whole experience enthralling and bizarre at the same time. He had expected a few things when he went to use nature magic on the wolf, but reading thoughts wasn't it. He didn't read a plant's thoughts when he used it on them, though they really shouldn't be thinking anything.

Getting up, Danny said, "Alright, I got what I wanted. We can go now when you all are ready."

Ivy walked up and grabbed his arm asking, "What just happened, you were sitting there a while?"

Danny noticed it was significantly darker than when he started, "I entered her mind and read some thoughts before she kicked me out. She has puppies waiting on her so let's leave and I will remove enough vines for her to escape later."

Brooke looked down a little pale, "She has... puppies."

"Come one Brooke, let's go so she can get back to them," Danny said sympathetically.

The four team members moved away before Danny removed half the vines and all those around her head and neck. The wolf immediately began chewing on the remaining vines. Before she got free the four humans were gone.

On day four of their journey, they were walking east along a small field next to the forest. Appearing out of the trees to their side, Jade moved over to them and whispered, "Goblins." Then motioned for them to follow.

They hadn't gotten far into the woods before Jade had them crouch low and sneak forward. There in the trees ahead, a group of goblins wrestled with something big. Danny couldn't see how many there were because of his lower elevation and the trees. Using air scan, he couldn’t make out the different bodies as they were all wrestling with the creature. Jade looked to Ivy to see what she wanted to do. Ivy looked thoughtful before apparently deciding to take advantage of the goblins distraction.

They all removed their packs and she issued the order to move out. Jade moved to flank while the other three went the opposite direction towards higher ground. Once in position Ivy looked to Danny to begin the attack. Thinking for a moment he decided to go with something new he had been working on. He could see at least four goblins, three wrestled with something covered in short fur, while the third watched.

Danny willed all the oxygen in the surrounding area to condense around the four goblins. As he waited for the oxygen levels to rise enough in the targeted area, he prepared to send a fireball. Before that was even ready there was a loud explosion that blasted the goblins away from where they had been gathered.

Danny had instinctively ducked. The concussion wave was strong enough to cause his ears to ring. With wide eyes, Danny looked over to check on the girls, only finding Brooke and Ivy next to him. Both of them were staring daggers at him.

Danny jumped as an arrow landed in the ground, next to his butt. He recognized it instantly as one of Jades. Looking around he had no clue where she was hiding, and tried to hide further down into the grass.

Screams erupted from where the goblins had been. Eight goblins raced across the field towards them. The four to five foot creatures wore crude hide armor and wielded clubs, small swords, and crude wooden shields. When one of them went down with an arrow in the eye, those with shields quickly raised them. Those without shields ducked behind those with them.

Brooke and Ivy rose and stepped forward in front of Danny, with Brooke holding the line. Getting up, Danny opened his mouth wide to try and stop the ringing in his ears. Looking around the girls, he sent out his mana into a large patch in front of Brooke. Using nature affinity he had grass roots grow up in loops all over.

Another one of Jade’s arrows found the side of a goblins head before they could reach Danny’s surprise. When the first goblin with a shield tripped and fell to the ground, Ivy quickly shot it in the top of its skull with her crossbow.

Danny saw an opportunity to create one of his sawblades of air and tore through three of the goblins that had collapsed in a heap. Even though he had killed numerous beasts this way, the sight of the mangled sentient goblins was enough to make his gag. Unfortunately, none of the other goblins were hindered by the grass snares.

The first goblin that reached them found Brooke’s mace easily dividing their shield before doing the same to their skull. The second goblin was bashed by her shield and fell backwards onto the ground.

“I’ve got this one,” stated Ivy.

Her sword ready, she approached the goblin on the ground. It looked up at her in contempt and when it realized the rest of us were not going to interfere, grinned with a mouth full of crooked yellow teeth. It said something in its language, obviously taunting Ivy, as it stood up without grabbing its shield. Circling each other the goblin shot out its non-sword hand and threw the dirt it had been holding. Ivy spun away and parried the lunge the goblin had followed its throw with. Angered that its trick failing the goblin screamed and issued a series of brutal and relentless blow at Ivy.

Ivy effortlessly parried and diverted every attack as if training a small child. When the goblin had tired itself out, Ivy quickly swung her sword and relived it of its head.

Wiping the blood off her sword on the fallen goblins hid armor, Ivy addressed them, “They do not appear to be much of a challenge individually.”

Jade spoke up behind Danny, startling him, “Four more tried to flank us. The ones we first spotted are all dead.”

Nodding, Ivy turned to stare at Danny, "Were you trying to alert the whole forest we are here?"

Danny was visibly taken by surprise, "No..."

"We don't know how far their camp is! That probably alerted the whole tribe to our presence!"

Danny looked between the girls before responding, "I... didn't think about that. I was trying to take them all out at once and didn’t think it would be that loud... I will choose more silent methods from now on."

Ivy stared at him quietly for a minute before her face turned softer and she smiled, "Thank you. Now let's see what was on them, maybe something will give us a clue as to what they are doing here?"

Searching the bodies and area only netted us a few crude or rusted swords and daggers. Everything else either smelled too bad to take or was junk.

Jade came back with a net, "I think this was a human trapper's net and not theirs. They must have raided it to take back for food or livestock."

Brooke kicked one of the bodies saying, "They look pretty thin, but I'm not sure what they are supposed to look like to begin with."

Ivy nodded, "Sounds right, Danny, bury the bodies. Then, let's move out and try to find the camp. Hopefully they didn't hear us. Jade, you lead."

After he sunk the bodies into the ground, they grabbed their packs and continued on for a while. Jade would report back every now and then on what she found. She came back at one point and led them in a roundabout way to a large hill. Once they climbed it she motioned us to get down and crawl the rest of the way. They took off our packs again and did as instructed.

The hill turned out to be overlooking a very large and dry creek bed. In it was a goblin camp with at least five dozen goblins walking around. No telling how many were in the crude tents that dotted the area. Jade pointed out a cave in the far side of the ridge. A goblin came out and went on his way. There was a half dozen wooden cages next to the cave. In them were animals, but one cage held a human form, laying on the ground. Ivy finally motioned for them to move back, and they did. Grabbing their packs, they moved further down the ridge as silently as possible.

After a few minutes’ walk, Ivy grabbed Danny's arm and pointed up at a tree. She had gotten good at picking out what trees he could use. Danny nodded, took off his pack, and got to work. Making the handholds on the far side of the tree form the goblin camp, just in case, he climbed the tree. After finding a suitable spot, Danny made sure it also wasn't visible from the goblin camp. He added extra foliage to the cage around the new tree house, to muffle sound and light. An hour later he was done. Then he went higher with the handholds but unfortunately couldn't see the goblin camp from higher up. When he came down to the tree house level, Ivy was there and looked confused at what he was doing. So Danny explained quietly and she nodded her in understanding.

They all gathered inside the living room and Danny cast a light. During the day this won't be noticeable, but at night some light might leak out so he went back outside to wrap the doorway around a bit more, making the living room look more like a snail shell.

Setting their things down, Ivy got right to business, "I want us to take turns scouting the camp for a day or two. We need to know patrol routes, numbers, and try to discover any weaknesses. I want to know why those animals are being caged and if that person they captured is still alive. We might have to try and extract them before an attack. Danny, good work on the tree house. Can you get us closer through the trees while maintaining cover?"

"Like a system of tree bridges?"

"Exactly, but with plenty of cover."

"Sure, it might take some time depending on distance."

"Can you get it done today?"

"... I don't see why not."

Nodding Ivy turned to Jade, "Until then you are in charge of surveillance. If Danny takes longer than planned, Brooke or I will switch with you. At sunset return here."

Jade nodded and left them.

Ivy turned to the remaining girl, "Brooke, you guard the way up here. I don't want any uninvited guests."

Brooke departed to her assigned task.

Ivy turned to him last, "Danny, I will watch your back and keep an eye out for any goblins below us while you are distracted. I would rather they not notice you working. Alright let's go."

As Brooke went and leaned against the trunk of the tree, Ivy followed him towards the direction of the nearest tree. Danny sat down cross-legged and planned what he was going to do. A stiff branch connecting to two trees might break in a strong wind that affected one tree more than another. If he did this it would need to be flexible. Happy to try something new, he grabbed a grape seed from his pouch. Holding it to the tree they were on, he used nature affinity to grow the seed. He made sure to graft the roots all the way into the tree. Plants have a system of veins and arteries kind of like animals, connect the right ones and they work together. Normally you would only graft plants within the same species. Fortunately, knowing what processes in the plants he want to streamline, the magic worked to make it happen.

The grape vine grows out along the smaller branches and jumps to the next tree. Then he has it pull itself tighter, but still lets the vine hang slightly loose. Danny repeats the process a meter down the branch he is on and then starts weaving the two together. Soon he has a rope bridge between the two trees, that shouldn't snap in high winds. Now all he needs is to hide it from below.

Danny decided to create another vine across but this time it hung in the middle and two meters above the first two. Then he started weaving a triangular tunnel. Once that was done he has the two trees grow more leaves near the bridge. Grapevine leaves in amongst the two trees might be an eyesore and stand out. Happy with the low visibility, Danny crossed the bridge to the next tree. As Ivy is crossed to him he started creating a platform there. He discussed with Ivy about which tree to move to and repeats the process.

By mid-afternoon Danny has reached a tree close enough to the goblin camp to observe. He increases the tree's foliage slowly and then creates a hunting blind type structure on that trees platform. This will allow anyone observing not have to worry about excess movement and will block most sound they make.

Jade returns at sunset and reports that she counted at least fifty goblins but is unsure how many are in the cave and still out hunting. She watched as a large group of about ten goblins set off towards where they attacked the hunters, around midday. They had returned later empty handed and the camp appeared more on alert after that. She also said that the human didn't move all day and is either unconscious or dead. If he is too hurt or sick that he can't move, then getting him out of their before attacking will be next to impossible. Ivy has Jade go with her to the new lookout while I take the first watch guarding the way up. Brooke is told to eat and sleep so she can take the last watch near morning.