After practicing my new communication skill all night, I was starting to be able to “say” proper words! It was still a little rough, and it wasn’t quite as deep as my mental voice was, but it was still better than having to force a mental connection to strangers. After the fiasco with the elves, I wasn’t as willing to trust others with access to my mind as I was before.

  And, unfortunately, here come some strangers to practice on. I was hoping to get a bit more practice by myself before anyone heard my still broken voice, but I guess there’s no time like the present, right?

  Well, let me watch and see what’s going on with them before I make contact. I mean, the Laughing Vipers should have told the adventure guild of my presence a while ago, so it’s strange to not have gotten many visitors by now, but I guess not everyone is willing to trust a talking tree as they were.

  So, let’s see. Hmm, this is a pretty unbalanced party. I see the five men carrying axes, and one that appears to be armed with a… wand? Are there wands here? I think this is my first time seeing one, at least. I mean, I’ve seen and made magical staffs before, so I guess it makes sense for there to be wands. I might have to ask him about it, assuming I make contact.

  Oh, cool! The magic user seems to have noticed my presence. He doesn’t seem keen on sharing that information, though. Oh, well. More fun for me. It’s been a while since I’ve had anyone to prank! And the humans seem a lot more friendly than the pompous elves.

  Let me start of simple. I think a basic root knot to trip the leader would be a good start. I’ll time it so no one is looking, aaaaand…. Boom! Face plant!

  One after the other, three of the axe-men tripped and fell into a small pile of limbs; none were actually hurt. The last two were far enough back to not be caught up in the pile. The caster, though, almost seemed to be expecting something more to happen, but he looked confused as to what it was that had happened to the men in front of him.

  “Is that it?” he seemed to mouth. It was almost like he wanted more. Which I would happily provide, but only after they recovered. I like pranks, but I try not to let it go too far.

  The men grumbled and berated the first to fall for not watching his step, though the root he had tripped on had already disappeared under the ground. I felt the caster try to send some of his mana into the loose earth, but it was quickly dissipated as soon as it left his body. No one could use magic in my domain, not without my permission. And he most certainly did not have that yet.

  When the group got moving again, I could see the leader of the group stepping much more carefully than when he first entered my forest. The rest were also more careful, but the caster most so of all. Not only was he watching the ground more closely, but also the trees around him. If I didn’t know that sentient trees like myself were as rare as we were, I would almost guess that he knew I was here.

  As the group continued their careful walk into my forest, I used the vines hanging from the trees to get in their way. When the leader moved one aside as he walked through a dense patch, a heavier vine just happened to fall at the perfect moment to slap the guy behind him in the face as it fell. That was an actual coincidence, too! I didn’t even have to move it myself for it to fall.

  When the man up front started to swing at my vines, though, I made sure to keep them hanging higher up. While it was fun and all to mess with them, and fixing the vines after they left wouldn’t be an issue, I wasn’t trying to be wasteful. However, I am interested to see if they even can cut through my vines.

  So far, every time the leader has swung at a vine, I made sure that the vines in their way “just happened” to get tangled in a manner that they wouldn’t block the path forward anymore. But what would happen if I just let him wail on my vines for a while? Would he be able to get through my Iron Bark skill? Would this count as training for me to be able to upgrade that skill for free?

  The group continued on, and I stopped helping to get my vines out of their path. I might have even added a few extra vines to force their hand in cutting them down.

  The group walked right into a small clearing that was just big enough for them all to relax in. Whether or not I designed it that way was irrelevant.

  The leader called for them to take a break, so they started setting up a mini camp, taking out chairs and such from their storage bags. They had been walking for around an hour and a half, but due to my interference, they’d made it less than half a mile away from the road. I think they also seemed to be going slow on purpose, though I wasn’t sure why yet. This group wasn’t exactly chatty; I haven’t even learned their names, and ‘Axel’ was already taken by my friend in the Laughing Vipers.

  While the group was getting their meal ready, the magic user was scribbling away at a note book. I took a quick peak only to be met by a blank page. If I had to guess, it was probably a privacy enchantment meant to keep prying eyes away. I can’t imagine who would be reading over his shoulder, though. Paranoid much?

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  Regardless, their break served as the perfect time to spring my trap. All around the clearing laid trees that were under my control. Every one of those trees was grown to have its vines extended to well past the ground, but those vines were currently hanging in their branches. All it would take is a strong gust to blow them all to the ground, creating a loose vine cage.

  The group definitely noticed the strong gust of wind, but they were too preoccupied by it to notice the vines falling. I think the mage of the group noticed the mana in the wind, but he opted not to say anything yet. I almost wanted to connect to him via Mental Magic to hear what he’s thinking, but he seems talented enough to have some sort of protection against that. And if not protection, then at least knowledge of it.

  The men grumble about the wind, then went back to relaxing. I find it odd how at ease they are in the monster-infested forest. Sure, I know that I’m keeping the orc population under control in my neck of the woods through my golems and dryads, but they should be much more worried for their safety than they are.

  Well, their life, their rules.

  I took the ends of the vines that fell and buried them. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, I slowly tightened the vines to form a proper cage. When I was done, none of the humans had noticed my actions, and the cage was tight enough that none of them should be able to slip through.

  It was only as they were finishing their break that they noticed. Well, that the mage noticed.

  “What the bloody hell!” he cried out.

  The axe wielders all looked around at once, trying to find the source of the mage’s concerns. At once, they all seemed to realize the predicament they were in.

  “What is the meaning of this, Loki?” the leader yelled.

  Loki, huh? The name alone makes me think I’m going to like this guy. I think I’ll have some fun with them before I let them out.

  Loki looked up from his notebook and looked around. The Axe-a-lot-els were almost done with their break and it was nearing time to get going again. During the entire break, he had been taking notes of everything he had seen in this area of the forest so far.

  The first thing he wrote was about how the nature spirit – for he was certain that was the source of this fog – had transformed the trees under its control. The forest surrounding its territory was much less dense than the area they were currently in. The branches were thicker, and their colors were more dulled, but the leaves were much more vibrant. Yet, the most noticeable change was the vines.

  At first, Loki wasn’t sure as to why the spirit would grow so many vines, as it had to be a waste of resources. The longer they walked, though, the more he understood. It started off subtly at first, the vines pushing back against them every so slightly. They were heavier than they should have been, meaning the spirit was resistant to their presence here.

  When the leader of the party he was with tripped and fell, he was all but certain that the spirit was making its first kill. Loki was going to use that as his excuse to cast an overpowered fireball and run, but the killing blow never came.

  Loki tried sending a pulse of mana through his feet into the ground to get a look at anything that might seem off somehow, but the mana was quickly dissipated. That was when he remembered where they were and what they were investigating.

  The group continued, going much more slowly this time. As they went about their hike through the woods, the vines continued to be a nuisance, though no outright damage was done to any of them. When the second in line was caught in the face with a vine, though, Loki had to suppress a laugh. It appears this spirit is more of a prankster than a malicious one.

  Well, that was his thought until he noticed the cage they were in.

  “What the hell?” he called out.

  During the break, the violent wind had scattered a multitude of vines from the trees around them, which Loki had noticed. In the following minutes, he had also noticed a large amount of mana beneath their feet. He was so preoccupied with the mana that he hadn’t been paying attention to the vines. It seems the spirit was using that as a distraction to keep him occupied while it laid its trap.

  “If this spirit is a prankster,” Loki thought to himself, ignoring the people he was with, “then why trap us? Is there something it wants out of us? Does it need us for something?”

  He only snapped out of it when one of the others jostled his shoulders to get his attention.

  “What do you know of this? Is this your doing? I’ll have your head for this!”

  “I know nothing about it!” Loki yelled, shoving the large man away from himself. “And if it weren’t for this damn fog, I’d have your head for the threat! We’re supposed to be working together here, you fool!”

  The man was stopped by his leader, who got between them.

  “Loki, given your… reputation, you can’t blame us for being suspicious of you. But you are right, we need to work together.”

  His subordinate turned around and walked away with a “Tsk”, though he didn’t go very far, confined as they were.

  “How about you start by telling us what you’ve been writing in that book. It would go a long way to gaining our trust.”

  Loki could only roll his eyes. If these people needed him to tell them everything, then he wondered how they planned on getting past any magical traps they might face in the future.

  “Fine. I suspect we’re dealing with a nature spirit, and this might be some sort of prank of its. I don’t know how much you’ve been paying attention, but have you noticed we haven’t seen a single orc since we entered this forest? Yet before, we encountered a squad of them regularly. In fact, I don’t see any signs of orcs anywhere near here. I think the spirit might be killing orcs, and I think that it’s been messing with us since we first entered its domain. I’ve counted at least 15 times that it could have killed us, if it wanted to, yet it hasn’t. I don’t think it’s hostile, but I have no clue as to why we are trapped. It might just be messing with us yet again.”

  As he was talking to the leader, one of his people was walking around the perimeter of the cage. He appeared to have found his mark, as he unholstered his axe and got ready to strike.

  Loki raced over to stop him, thinking that attacking the trees would be an offense to the spirit. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it in time.

  The axe met the vine, and the wielder fell back as his axe bounced right off. A deep voice laughed, though it was a broken sound and came from all around the group.

  “Very smart, little Loki. But can you solve the riddle of my cage before the time runs out?”

  “Shit,” was all he had to say.

  Discord Here!