Chapter 2: Reaching the Seed
The old North gate, a small, iron thing the servants carefully maintained, opened onto a clearing. Save for a dirt path heading into the forest, there was hardly any sign this gate served a purpose. Ohjun was never much of a hunter and in the years while Dzautch was at war, his brother had never set foot in the forest. All things considered, that was possibly one of the smartest decisions Ohjun had made in recent times. Perhaps even the last . . .
As they started moving through the clearing, Loumia said "I can use [Locate Secret] a couple dozen times without issue but I'm not certain if it'll pick up a Dungeon Seed. If I use [Greater Locate Secret], I'll only have eight chances to point us in the right direction."
"I can try casting [Find Select Object]" Enphallenon replied "but I have two concerns in regards to that. First off, I have no idea if a Dungeon Seed is even considered an object. I simply don't know enough about seeds to be sure. Secondly, even if it is an object there's no guarantee the spell will work. If the Dungeon Seed has any magical protection, the spell could easily fail."
Dzauth was nearing the forest's edge when he said "Try casting [Find Select Object] once; don't bother anymore after that if it fails. As for you Loumia, wait till we're in the deep forest before using [Locate Secret]. If [Locate Secret] doesn't work, just try [Greater Locate Secret] right after. If none of that works, we can discuss other options."
In the following silence, Dzauth observed the forest ahead. The Hadra trees that made up so much of the forest weren't just impressively tall; they were also rather thick, with roots that spread quite far. As Dzautch followed the old hunting track into the forest, he brushed his hand against the smooth, white bark of a nearby tree. The feeling of the familiar bark against his callused hand reminded him of his adventures at the forest's edge as a child. A piece of Hadra bark had once been one of the items he most valued out of the collection of curios he'd collected. 'Those were simpler years,' Dzautch thought wistfully.
What moonlight there was was soon hidden by the dense roof of leaves above. As this happened, Criver moved to the party's head, while Dzautch and Davrenick took up the rear. Though they had torches and more than one of them could cast [Ball of Light], there was no need to reveal their presence. Criver and Davrenick both possessed excellent night vision, ensuring they could see perfectly clearly despite the darkness.
Criver led the way, lopping forwards in his strange, hunched gait. Like a hound, his ears often twitched in response to some sound human ears failed to notice and the green-skinned scout sometimes leaned down on all fours to sniff at the ground with his long, sharp nose.
Roughly thirty minutes into their trip, Criver whispered "We're entering Silvershade territory now. There aren't too many webs here on the outskirts but a bit deeper in they'll be virtually everywhere. So long as everyone moves slowly and follows my lead, we shouldn't have any issues. If something does happen though, don't hesitate to use whatever means to produce light. Silvershades fear light, especially fire. If someone gets stuck in a web, a torch or flame ought to be enough to scare a spider or two away long enough for us to free you. Don't forget though, Silvershades get brave in swarms, so we'd best not attract any unnecessary attention."
Following his warning, Criver continued forwards, though at a noticeably slower pace. He sometimes led them a bit to the left or right. As the webs became more common, Criver would call for a halt when they needed to move past a particularly tricky section of webs. Once he'd worked out the route forwards, he'd carefully whisper instructions to the others, before then leading them through, one by one. As Davrenick could see just as clearly as Criver, he simply directly followed Dzautch most of the time.
The really problematic areas were spots where some members of the group could navigate a clump of webs but others couldn't, due to the differences in size. In those cases, Criver really proved himself invaluable by scouting out routes for everyone. Typically, he'd split the group into two and lead one to an agreed rendezvous point; Davrenick would guide the other group.
After about an hour by Dzautch's estimate, they left the Silvershade's territory. Now they had new worries though. The deeper forest was inhabited by a number of nasties but at night Phantomfangs, Spotted Leapers, and Grayleg Ravagers were the major threats. In the hierarchy of the giant spiders native to the Forest of Ezrier, at least on an individual basis, it went, weakest to strongest: Silvershade, Phantomfang, Spotted Leaper, and finally Grayleg Ravager.
Silvershades relied on their near inescapable webs and numbers to overcome their prey. A single Silvershade wasn't much of a threat to anyone here but finding a lone Silvershade was less likely than finding a dragon.
Following Silvershades were Phantomfangs. Phantomfangs were ambush hunters, who relied on their camouflage, magic, and poison when hunting. A Phantomfang's modus operandi would be to rely on their natural camouflage to near their prey. They'd then activate their magic, allowing them to phase through mass, and attack. Physical attacks would simply pass through the Phantomfang's body while it closed in and if it bit its target, most creatures would be swiftly paralyzed. Although Phantomfangs were great ambush hunters, they were ill-suited for drawn out attacks. They couldn't maintain their magic long, only for roughly twenty seconds; moreover, Phantomfangs tended to retreat if they failed to bite their prey in the first two attempts. As a result, although one needed to be vigilant when dealing with Phantomfangs, they didn't pose much of a threat to fighters of Dzautch's caliber, one-armed or not.
Dzautch had hunted Phantomfangs before but they didn't tend to be popular sport. While their corpses were fairly valuable, the main issue with hunting them was simply finding them and cornering them. Once finally trapped, Phantomfangs didn't tend to put up much of a fight and some were known to die of sheer fear. No, on most of his hunting trips out here, the targets would be Spotted Leapers or very rarely Grayleg Ravagers.
Spotted Leapers were also ambush hunters but they didn't rely on stealth to surprise their prey. Instead, as their names suggested, they'd leap from far away, pouncing on their prey. Spotted Leapers used poison to kill but they were also frighteningly strong.
At the top were the Grayleg Ravagers. These giant spiders, the rarest of the different types of giant spiders found in the forest, were more scavengers than hunters. Using their acute senses and sensory magic, Grayleg Ravagers would find fresh corpses. They would then either force the predator responsible for killing the deceased creature away from the corpse or simply kill the predator; often they'd eat both the hunter and the prey.
Grayleg Ravagers could do this because of their physical strength, stamina, and magic. A Grayleg Ravager was no weaker than a Spotted Leaper and had far more stamina, let alone in comparison to the other giant spiders in the forest. More importantly, Grayleg Ravagers had multiple magics. They could slow fleeing prey with a net of webs, vastly increase their body's durability for a limited time, or even enter an enraged state where they temporarily became far stronger than before.
Dzautch had hunted Grayleg Ravagers twice. Each time, multiple people had died. Although they could certainly be killed with proper preparation, any mistake in such a hunt would be costly, far too costly by Dzautch's standards. Much like his brother Ohjun, Dzautch wasn't a particularly big fan of hunting; it had always been his father's pastime.
Thankfully, Dzautch was familiar with the local giant spiders' capabilities. Without need of a reminder, Enphallenon cast [Inventory] and retrieved the Mechin powder. Regardless of which type of giant spider they might encounter, Mechin powder would ward any of them away, so long as no one appeared too threatening.
Unless something went very wrong, the spiders shouldn't cause them any issues. 'There still might be adventurers about though,' Dzautch couldn't help thinking. Yes, adventurers were what really worried Dzautch now.
"I'm going to cast [Find Select Object] now" Enphallenon stated quietly. Then, with a brief flare of mana, Dzautch's advisor released his spell. It wasn't quite an instant cast but the spell still didn't take a full second, which in turn meant the telltale blue glow of mana didn't appear.
"So" Criver questioned?
"Hmm, I'm not sure if this counts as a success or not. [Find Select Object] is directing me to the East but it isn't specifying an individual object; it's only designating an area to search in. For those wondering, that's not how the spell is supposed to work. My guess is that either the seed has some ineffectual protection or something redirected the spell."
"Let me try using [Locate Secret] in that case" Loumia suggested. "If it's just some weak protection, [Locate Secret] will work. If it doesn't work, then we'll know it was redirected."
Enphallenon agreed it was a good idea, causing Loumia to begin chanting. "God of Adventures, aid me in my quest. I beseech thee, light the way towards the secret I desire. Reveal the hidden!"
A moment after her chant ended, Loumia remarked "It did work; I can lead us to the seed!"
"Let's hurry then" Dzautch said.
Criver and Loumia began working together, leading everyone else towards the seed. The trip went remarkably smoothly and they soon came upon a distortion in the air just like they'd seen in the sky earlier.
Dzautch was feeling pleased till Criver warned "There're tracks here my lord. Looks like a group of four to me and at least one of them is a goblin."
Dzautch ceased smiling when he heard the goblin. A mask of serenity settled on the noble's face as he stated "We're still going to investigate. Perhaps they haven't already bonded with the seed; perhaps they have. Regardless, we aren't turning back now."
Criver laughed and replied "Of course my lord. Allow me the honor of entering first, please?"
"Go. Don't you dare die in there either; I've lost enough friends."
The goblin smirked and bowed flamboyantly. "Die? Me? My lord, I'm glad to see your sense of humor has returned."
Finished speaking, the goblin entered the distortion and vanished from sight. Enphallenon sighed and said glumly "Overconfidence will be his death one of these days. Let's just hope it isn't today."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
JamondAroth
JamondAroth I was tempted to make Enphallenon's line "Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer" but I changed my mind. It might be worth a laugh but I felt too uncomfortable with it to actually have it in the story.
Weekly Power Status
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