If an environment was to be judged by the number and vociferousness of the curses uttered while traversing said environment, the jungle that had sprung up near a certain city would rank near the top of the list. Or the bottom, depending on whether more and louder curses were deemed good or bad.

Either way, as a small group of five people was moving through the dense underbrush, the entire forest knew of their passage. Not only were they cursing the entire time, but the strongest and bulkiest of their number was leading the way and had to repeatedly use a heavy blade to cleave through the obstacles. On the positive side, no critters would ever make the mistake of getting caught up in their path and attacking them due to surprise but on the negative side, every beast in a few miles' radius knew their location and if one of them was interesting in an afternoon snack, they only had to lay in wait.

Tank, as the group had nicknamed the sturdy bruiser who protected them with his sturdy shield and heavy blade, only just noticed the movement out of the corner of his eyes. He managed to get his shield up but the impact was heavy enough to stagger him, as he hadn’t braced himself properly. After catching himself, he rallied and was ready to block any follow-up attacks while his friends had taken up position behind him, ready to fight.

Only, there was nothing to fight. Next to Tank, a long vine was hanging from an overhead branch, the end curled together around nothing while it was slowly moving back towards the tree, almost as if it was gathering tension.

“The heck?!” Tank muttered, realising that it was the vine that had hit his shield that hard.

“I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going,” Sue, one of their spellcasters muttered, before blushing scarlet when she realised just what she had admitted.

“Kinky,” another of their number chuckled, before poking the vine with his spear, as if trying to ascertain its threat level, “I don’t think we’ll have to be careful of this vine for a bit, it looks like they can only strike once before having to prepare anew. But there might be other vines, just like this one, I don’t think any of us want to get hit by them, it looked like it’s going to bruise, Tank.”

“Yeah, that thing packed quite the punch for some discount ivy,” Tank grumbled, his eyes already scanning the nearby trees for similar vines. There were a few visible but none were close to the path he intended to take.

“You know, the vines might not be the only dangerous plants here,” Mirko, their other spellcaster and the closest thing they had to a healer reminded them and suddenly, the entire forest looked a lot more dangerous than it had moments before. If one vine was this dangerous, what else could lurk in the area?

But their plan was to explore, and that could only be done if they continued onwards. It didn’t take long for them, now that they knew to avoid the vines, to spot another potentially dangerous spot. This time, Tank didn’t need to use his shield to avoid the danger, he actually noticed it before getting too close, though given that the danger was marked by a few bones sticking out of the ground, it wasn’t too hard to see.

The only difficult thing was to figure out just what the danger was. The group could easily see the area, a small clearing covered in relatively short grass without any shrubs or anything in sight, but the bones made it obvious that there was something dangerous here. Or it might simply be the preferred spot for some predator to feed, leaving the bones of their prey behind.

Nobody really wanted to move into the area and find out what the danger was using their body, so they moved around it, carefully avoiding anything that might cause them harm. As they circled, Tank accidentally spooked a squirrel and the critter bolted, running headlong into the area. As the group watched, they could see it slow down and before it reached the other side of the small clearing, the squirrel was down, sinking into the apparently soft grass. Nobody could tell whether it was dead or asleep, they were too far away from it, but watching the small squirrel suddenly get moved by the seemingly soft grass until it was in the middle of the clearing where it was covered in a green cocoon sent shivers down everybody’s spine.

“What the heck?!” Tank asked, repeating his earlier reaction. Only this time, the others clearly shared the sentiment, none of them knew how to deal with an area where even the grass was trying to kill them.

Now, with their senses dialled up to paranoia levels of vigilance, they continued on and as they moved, they managed to add strange thorny bushes to the plants they wanted to avoid. A bush that was powerful enough to send a thorn through Tank’s shield was nothing anyone in their right mind wanted to mess with, even if Josh considered poking the bush with his spear from behind an obstacle. Once the thorns were gone, the berries might be good for human consumption but for now, they didn’t dare poke the murder bush.

Instead, they continued on until Sue noticed something weird, as she put it. A magical presence, not hostile or threatening, simply a gentle and quiet presence, one quite in tune with the forest around them. If they hadn’t stumbled quite close to it, she might not have noticed it at all and continued onwards but now that she felt it, her curiosity was roused.

However, given that the forest had, so far, been filled with lethal dangers masquerading as simple plants, Tank remained in the lead, his shield ready to block and his eyes constantly swivelling.

Finally, they reached a small hill upon which a massive tree stood and going by everything Sue could feel, the tree was the source of the presence. Stepping into the empty area around the tree, Tank could instantly feel a strangely solemn sensation, one that forbade any kind of violence. Deep within himself, he knew that this was a place of peace, one where no voices should be raised and communication be done with quiet, respectful words.

“Wow,” Sue whispered, staring at the tree before her eyes were drawn to an opening between the tree’s roots, narrow but somewhat inviting.

Drawn in by the peaceful presence, Sue simply walked towards the opening, ducking inside to get a better look, only for her eyes to widen. There, hidden beneath the roots of the tree was a small cave, not just a simple hole in the ground. Just looking at the structure around her made it obvious that this was deliberately made, not caused by chance and nature, an intelligent mind had formed the structure. Almost certainly using magic, unless the tree roots and the strange, crystalline formations had just happened to form arches and pillars. But that was just impossible.

Calling out to her companions, she continued onwards, wondering just how big a cave she was in now. And who could make a comfortable place like this beneath a tree, it was surprisingly temperate and dry, with no musty smells or moisture in the air. Walking through the cave, Sue found multiple rooms, all nicely appointed and comfortable, far beyond anything that should be possible at least in an earthen cave.

Deeper inside, Sue could only stop and gape in shock at what she found. Enshrined between the roots of the tree above was a statue, a divine idol unless she missed her guess, depicting three females, each different but all three with a common thread connecting them. An enigmatic little smile, a quiet whisper of secrets and arcane knowledge graced their faces, alongside subtle similarities. One was young, one was mature and the last one was old. Maiden, Mother, Crone, the words came unbidden to Sue’s mind but just thinking it was enough. All around the statue were openings, holding stone tablets, with one tablet resting near the foot of the statue.

Curious, Sue stepped forward, only to pause, as she felt herself judged. Judged by something inhumane, as if she had just stepped in the weighing pan of a scale and had to hope that her heart was lighter than a feather or something along those lines. But the feeling didn’t last long, and soon, she could step forward and read the first tablet near the statue.

‘Welcome, stranger, to the Burrowed Library, Sanctuary of Hecate. Be welcomed in this shelter, be respectful of the knowledge held within and, before you leave, add your own observations,’ the tablet read and moments later, a familiar blue window popped open, tasking her to add to the knowledge contained in the library.

Maybe there was a lot more to this forest than they had originally thought.