“So, uh, Odelia?” Shaynen asked as the party walked down the road.

“Hm?” She hummed, her glow had died down and no one was talking about it.

“That glowing.. Was it. Normal?” He asked slowly.

“Nope.” She said.

“You know what happened?” Shaynen ventured.

“Forest’s weird,” She shrugged. The conversation dropped after that. Cleatus cleared out a place to camp for the night.

“Tomorrow we’ll make it to the grandfather tree,” Cleatus said while he set up the campfire. “Who’s gonna take the first watch.”

“I just wanna sleep.” Odelia moaned before throwing her things down and collapsing face down into them.

“I’ll… take her watch.” Shaynen said. “First two, if they’re open.”

“Third then,” Haagut said as he made a little ditch to sleep in.

“Right,” Cleatus nodded. “I’ll be last then.” He walked the perimeter of the camp before picking an awakened tree and climbing up into its branches. Haagut laid down and then there was nothing but Shaynen and the fire.

It was peacefully silent… or it was. Quickly moving shadows started circling around the camp. Getting ever closer. Shaynen got to his feet. Not waiting for them to get any closer. He went to the base of the awakened tree that Cleatus had climbed, unable to cross the mushrooms.

“Cleatus! Cleatus! Do that thing you did yesterday night that made the creatures go away!” Shaynen whispered loudly.

“Shaynen. I just got to sleep.” Cleatus growled from the treetops. “It’s your watch. Deal with it.” Shaynen turned back to the fire. The creatures were keeping away from the light; which reminded Shaynen of the first night they’d met the ick’d creatures. He took the pile of firewood that had been collected for the night and spread it out evenly around the camp.

He lit the little fires and made bigger rings of light that made the creatures shy away. Shaynen smiled triumphantly only then realizing that he’d used all the wood for the entire night. He huffed and looked up into the treetops.

He climbed up into the trees, collecting all the dead branches he could carry. From high above it looked like the smaller firelight was working and keeping the creatures back. He lost track of them as he rebuilt the firewood pile and started feeding the biggest campfire.

While he was tossing an armful of wood into the fire when a mob of ick’d owls burst out of the branches above. Swarming about all the party members. Odelia woke slowly to something messing with her hair. Waking up fully when the light messing with her hair turned to a sharp cut along her cheek.

“What the hell?!” She yelled as she smacked one of the owls out of the air. Haagut’s eye cracked open and then went wide as two pairs of crazed yellow eyes were staring from the bushes. Two wolves jumped out of the bushes and charged Haagut. He scrambled back, kicking one of the wolves jaws shut. The other one biting his leg. An owl swooped, barely swiping against Cleatus. He jumped, sliding off the branch and falling to the ground.

Shaynen turned as another group of owls surrounded him. The talons making the lightest scratches over his arms. The glow of the astral arms lashed out, smacking an owl out of the air. Cleatus dropped from the tree, falling onto all fours on the ground. One last owl flew down and scratched at Haagut’s arms. Cleatus turned, getting back up to his feet. The owl that knocked him out of the tree swooped down at him. With the momentum he used to get up he balled up his fist as tight as he could and punched the owl hard enough to make it explode into a mass of ick.

The owls swooped around Odelia, digging their talons into any skin they could find. The one on Haagut scratched at his arms. He swatted it away and ran away from the fight. Throwing a handful of ash into the eyes of the wolves and slipping between the talons of the owl. As he ran he threw a handful of rocks, three more visions of him appeared around the camp.

The wolves scratched the ash out of their eyes and looked to Shaynen. They lunged for him. He ducked around the first while the spirit arms grabbed the wolf’s jaws. Holding them shut and gut punching right through the beast. A little glow sparked around the wolf before it erupted into black ick. The ick splattered over one of the Haaguts. He shifted uncomfortably.

“God damn it Shaynen!” Haagut yelled. Shaynen held out his arms in a ‘what do you want from me’ expression. An owl swooped low, only catching some of Shaynen’s hair.

Odelia got to her feet and sliced an owl in half with her blade. The ick splattered on either side of her. Cleatus looked about the madness of the camp, the animals weren’t acting the way they should. Not even rabid animals acted like this. Cleatus ran across the camp, he grabbed onto Odelia who nearly stabbed him on impact.

“Come with me!” Cleatus commanded. Odelia nodded and let Cleatus lift her off her feet and carry her away from the enemies to the other side of the camp. Leaping over one of the small fires.

One of the owls swooped down and right through one of the visions of Haagut. It rushed past Shaynen distracting the ethereal arms away from the wolf he fought with. With the window of opportunity the wolf snapped shut onto Shaynen’s knee and yanked him down to the ground.

The Haaguts all reached down and scooped up a handful of loose dirt. Rubbing it over his wounds and keeping distance between himself and the rest of the fight. Another owl on the field flew at Odelia, she cut right through it with little resistance. Shaynen kicked the wolf off of him and got back to his feet, the partially visible arms wrestled with the wolf. Holding it’s jaws open so that it couldn’t hold him down.

Across the camp Cleatus drew back his bow and when he got the chance, he shot. His arrow flew right into the open jaws of the wolf. It fell from in front of Shaynen, dead. It exploded into ick that covered Shaynen. Cleatus stepped closer to Odelia.

“Remember that the beasts explode.” He said. She gave him a thumbs up of acknowledgement. Haagut moved away farther, eying the last two owls that were swarming around Shaynen. He brought out the animal skull and smacked it, radiating the bell sound. The owls stopped moving. Shaynen struck both stilled owls, both exploding into ick.

Then the camp was still. Slowly the party started to return to their beds and back to sleep. Shaynen fell heavily with a tired sigh.

“I need to stop volunteering for the first watch.”