~Sara~

The wave of distorted senses hit me worse than the others, if for no other reason than I had more senses to distort. To make matters worse, the empathetic sense allowed me to feel the sickly discomfort of my companions after further distorting the feeling. On the bright side, my range as an impath was limited so I didn't sense any creatures beyond our group.

As I came to grips with my sensory overload, I caught a feeling of calm and amusement among the sea of disgust. I focused on the calm; it allowed me to ignore the others' mangled emotions. The muffled sense was similar to holding a perfumed cloth to your snout to block the foul scent of your surroundings. I did that too, once my head was clear enough to remember. I should have done so in advance, but my irritation at Ashley made it slip my mind.

“Well that sucked,” the irritant said.

“Yes, on that we can agree. Here, take this,” I tossed her a second cloth that I prepared for her.

Ashley’s sense of smell is greater than mine so I was sure she should get more benefit out of it than others. Supplying such a thing may not be strictly my duty as her guardian, but I would feel remiss if I didn’t provide such a trifle when I knew she would suffer otherwise.

“Oh? Another admiror giving gifts to gain my affection? It’s embroidered with my name yet carries your fragrance. I shall treasure it always, my darling!”

I tried to resist the urge to roll my eyes; I failed. I could feel the satisfaction coming from her, which only annoyed me more.

“That's a good trick,” Lisa interjected, “I should have thought of something like that.”

“Here,” I tossed her a cloth as well, “I always keep a few spares.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“Yours isn’t personalized like mine,” Ashley pointed out, “she must have really taken a fancy to me!”

I turned away from her before the urge to roll my eyes overcame me yet again. Thankfully she didn’t notice; I smirked, enjoying the disappointment wafting off of her before chastising myself and letting the emotions drain away. Reveling in someone's misery isn’t a habit I want to develop, no matter how irritating that person may be.

We started marching once everyone was adjusted to the warped space. The direction we traveled didn’t really matter; the thicket decided our destination for us. That's why I found it odd that Avery kept changing direction ever so slightly, radiating confidence and amusement the entire time. I couldn’t help but wonder if the spruds had some secret method to travel through the area.

The trees around us were massive, the smallest truck was wide enough for 6 people to be unable to wrap their arms around. The largest stretched off into the distance, though that might have been the warping of space. As massive as the trees were, they grew in irie patterns. Twisted and tangled from growing within such a strange environment.

The group stumbled along after Avery, swaying drunkenly as the space around us moved ever so slightly. The relative peace only lasted about five minutes before the local terrors started playing their mind games.

Shadows traversed the canopy, always just out of sight. Occasionally, stones, fruits, or feces flew towards us; luckily, they missed more often than not. Vines and roots shifted, predicting when we swayed to trip us or snag our clothing with hooked thorns. Lights flashed to draw our attention to one direction, only for movement to occur in another. The ever-moving canopy above us caused the lighting to vary sporadically, causing our pupils to constantly constrict and dilate.

We ignored the harassment as best we could. These creatures fed on the unease they caused but were rarely responsible for directly killing anyone. Instead, they caused people to become mentally drained, distracted, and often low on projectiles. Once a group is weary and debilitated, more dangerous creatures will appear to deal a devastating blow.

Groups have tried to fight the shadows in the past, but with little success. They’re used to the ever-changing landscape and seem to be able to disappear at the slightest threat, only to return once vigilance is neglected.

A few archers, through luck or skill, managed to kill a few for study. The creature's appearance was reported to range from demonic apes to living shrubs while inside the thicket but when the corpses were transported to Convail they fell apart, unable to hold themselves together once outside the strange special magic infusing the forest.

About three hours of travel passed before we entered an area of stable space. Behind us, the Twisted Thicket was gone and in its place was nothing but an ordinary forest. After ensuring there were no predators nearby, we took a few minutes to relax and recover from the ordeal. It felt similar to walking on land after a long voyage at sea, it took a while to get your ‘land legs’ back.

One after another, we started pulling out salted fish and dried fruits to snack on. Despite feeling like three hours passed in the thicket, the sun was now high in the sky; nearly six hours had passed outside. Time always passes strangely within the warped areas, sometimes faster and othertimes slower.

“So, how’d the kitten enjoy her first foray?” Hellen asked.

“It was awesome! Strange, scary, but kinda gross.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t puke,” Lisa commented, “I couldn’t hold it in my first time.”

“The worst part was the lighting,” Ashley admitted, “My eyes strained from constantly switching between light and dark mode.”

We concluded our impromptu respite and started exploring the territory that the thicket delivered us to. The trees scattered sparingly between grassy meadows with swaths of colorful flowers highlighted by rays of the sun. After a bit of walking, the chittering of insects and chirping of birds were drowned out by the wailing roar of a beast in the distance.

Without a word, we crept in the direction of the roar with weapons ready. As we got closer to the ruckus I was able to distinguish three different creatures roaring. One was the unmistakable squawking roar of an owlbear while the other two must be the panicked high-pitched chittering of its cubs.

Peeking from behind a large boulder, I saw the mother owlbear writhing on the ground in agony. Numerous quills were embedded in its face, piercing its eyes, nostrils, and beak. Several other patches of quills covered its paws and flank. As the creature struggled to remove the barbs, they were pushed deeper inside.

I started picking up wisps of emotion from the mother. Burning pain. Blind and full of panic. Fear for its babies it could no longer see and enrage at the creature responsible.

The cubs weren’t nearly as bad off. One had a few quills in its cheek, the other in its paw. They were torn between seeking their mother's aid and running away from her terrifying display; scared to leave her, scared to approach her, and in pain from their own wounds.

“Will they... be alright?” I whispered, voice quivering from my own heartbreak mixing with the emotions from the creatures.

“Not likely,” Lisa admitted, “Those quills will just keep going deeper. even if they don’t pierce anything vital, infection will do them in.”

“Well can’t we help?” I asked, not liking her answer.

“We could treat the pups,” Avery offered, “but the mother is already blinded and senseless. All we can do is put her to rest.”

“We would have to take the pups with us,” Lisa added, “they're still too young to survive on their own.”

After a bit of planning, we encircled the beast. Lisa and I were on opposite sides, using our spears to pin the creature down. Avery cut off its retreat to the rear while Hellen used her shield to cover Ashley as she approached to bash it on the head with her enchanted mace.

The creature didn’t go down easily. It swiped blindly, trying in vain to defend itself from its unknown attackers. It took several attempts before Ashely was able to get a clean hit on the creature. Even then, it took three heavy blows to put the creature down for good. Fortunately, the first blow knocked it out.

The rest of the day passed with a dull ache in my heart. Hellen and Avery worked together, entangling the pups with vines so that I could remove the quills without them struggling. Ashley tried to help as well, but her scent only agitated the poor creatures even more.

Lisa went to butcher the mother, and I snapped, “Don’t do that so close to the pups. Drag it away at least.”

With a shrug Lisa enlisted the aid of Ashley and the guards to pull the massive creature away before disassembling the corpse. Several hours passed as we nursed the pups. They cried pitifully each time we removed a quill, causing my heart to throb. They were rather smart creatures though and stopped struggling after they realized we were trying to help.

By the time we were finished treating their injuries, their mother was already hanging from a tree; skinned, gutted, and nearly bled dry. When I saw Lisa, my blood boiled.

“Why are you helping that monster?” I half-shouted, my voice harsher than I meant.

Lisa was sitting across the creature that caused such anguish to the poor mother and her poor family. A good two feet away, a prickle-backed boar was lapping a mixture of juice and healing tonic.

“This lil-fella is hardly a monster,” Lisa retorted, “Not like it would go out of its way to attack an owlbear after all. Doesn’t even eat meat.”

“No it just tortures babies before blinding their mother for coming to their aid.”

“Well, in all fairness those babies are bigger than this lil-fella. They probably stumbled upon him monching on that berry bush and got curious.”

I took a deep breath, and held it, before slowly exhaling. I needed a moment to settle my emotions, and separate mine from others. I knew it didn’t make sense to villainize the creature in front of me, but it was hard not to choose sides after going through all that.

I eyed the monster–the creature–in front of me again. It didn’t come out of the battle unscathed either. It felt pain; likely having several cracked ribs from the mother’s claw swipe. The boar was lucky that he managed to blind the beast or else they would likely both be dead now.