"Whose idea was it to run into the forest again?" Fjord asked as he fell back into a defensive stance, Star Razor lifted in both hands.

"You were leading the way," Nott said. She jumped down from her and Jester's horse and aimed her crossbow at the maned forest cat. "Safe to say it's all your fault."

"I think it was Caleb's idea," Jester said, dismounting as well. "But it was either this or the army, but that army might have been easier."

"Hey, don't touch them. The cats," Beau called out, "They're poisonous, or at least the ones without manes are."

"That's mostly a 'you' problem, isn't it?" Caduceus said, sounding worried. "With the punching and everything?"

"Eh, poison doesn't bother me anymore. But, yeah, don't let them touch you."

Nott fired her crossbow at the maned forest cat, catching it in the shoulder as it began to jump down from its perch in the tree. It roared in pain but landed on its massive paws, gnarled claws streaked with purple popping out and burying into the soft rich earth.

Without riders and with vicious cats dropping out of trees around them, the horses took off into the woods in multiple directions, though no one was paying their mass expeditious retreat any mind at the moment.

The cat that seemed focused on Caduceus picked up its pace, and the firbolg suddenly went invisible. Behind him, up on the root, Brier's eyes went huge now that she could more easily see the monstrous cat. She immediately began to climb higher, scurrying up the roots as fast she could manage with her sore ankle.

Jester's lollipop, the edges sharp, the colors bright and cheerful in the dim sea of green, shimmered into existence and walloped the cat that was still up in the tree. It yowled and fell from the branch, twisting in midair to land next to the maned cat.

Caleb, still in the giant ape form, lumbered toward the cat he had thrown, intent on flinging it even farther into the forest if he could pick it up again. He swiped at it, but it leapt away and then pounced on his left arm, landing on his bicep.

It clawed at his shoulder, dragging its claws through the muscle before it tried to bite at his neck. Caleb managed to grab it and toss it one-handed, but it landed a few feet away and started to circle him. Caleb huffed, trying to ignore the burning sensation that was now shooting through his left arm.

The battle became chaotic as Beau launched herself toward two of the cats, Nott shot off a few more crossbow bolts, and Fjord jumped into the fray with Star Razor, the runes on the long blade blazing. Jester's lollipop whizzed through the air, swinging at the same cat she had smacked earlier.

At almost the same time, another version of Jester appeared and dashed off at an angle, catching the attention of the maned cat, which now was beginning to look like a pin cushion for Nott's crossbow bolts.

Fjord cut one line down the cat that Jester was harassing with her lollipop, opening up a wound, but it evaded the sword's second swing. However, it couldn't quite get out of the way as Beau tackled it, pounding at its face with her fist.

"Stupid cat!"

"Wouldn't it be nice if they would all just take a long cat nap?" Nott said as she loaded her crossbow with another bolt.

"Caleb, use—aw, right, he's still Cape-leb," Jester said, looking over to where Caleb was trying to throw the forest cat again. He seemed half-hearted about it, which she guessed was because even as a giant ape who was getting ferociously attacked, he still had that bone-deep love of cats. Including blood-thirsty plant-based ones, apparently.

As one cat crept closer to where Caduceus had been, the firbolg popped back into sight on the root Brier had originally been standing on. Green-tinged white flames leapt from his hand and burst against the cat as he started to climb up, easily making it to where Brier was.

"Good to go?" he asked, standing up, his hand on the bark of the tree. She was crouching farther out on the root, holding onto another root above her.

She nodded and closed her eyes for a moment as if gathering her courage. Looking at the cat, she spat into her right hand and made a fist. As she rolled her wrist widdershins, frost crept around her glove, trailing out from between her fingers as a shard of ice extended on either side of her fist.

Brier let out the breath she had been holding and hurled the shard at the cat, who danced back out of the way. As the shard hit the ground, it exploded, throwing pieces of ice into the cat, cutting through some of its vines.

The cat screeched and bounced back, scrubbing at its stinging face with one of its paws. It growled deep in its throat and crouched down at the bottom of the tree, watching them with emerald green eyes shot through with purple.

Caduceus gave Brier a warm smile, almost absently putting a hand on her shoulder before remembering she probably wouldn't like that. It was hard to not touch people when you showed how much you cared through touch. "Nice job."

Down on the ground, Beau kicked away from the cat and activated her gloves, letting lightning crackle around her fingers. "Hey, so along with the poison thing, they're weak against fire, but they like water! No water!"

"Did you hear Beau, Fjord?" Nott demanded.

"No, I'm sorry, what did she say again?" Fjord said in a monotone voice even as he raised his hand. A pair of eldritch blasts burned through the forest, but both of them missed the maned cat as it jumped back and forth out of their range.

"Caleb!" Jester yelled, waving her hands at their resident fire wizard, trying to get his attention. He was far too focused on the cat who was now gnawing at his ankle.

"Thief kid, do you have fire spells? You have those, right?" Beau yelled back toward Brier and Caduceus.

"Her name is Brier, Beau, we gave her a name," Jester insisted. She watched as the maned cat roared and leapt at her duplicate, its jaw so wide open they looked unhinged. It snapped into thin air and landed awkwardly before whirling around quickly to find another target.

Caduceus gave Brier an encouraging smile. "What about that one from yesterday?"

Brier chewed her bottom lip. "Is that okay? If it's just the small one?"

"Do you have a bigger one?"

She must have been distracted because she actually nodded, holding her left wrist with her right hand. "Is the small one all right?"

"Uh, sure, if you'd rather do that. Might be better for the trees, actually."

Brier held up a hand, made a symbol in the air, and fire shot from her hand at the cat on the ground. It hissed and rolled out of the way, avoiding the spell nimbly. After a few seconds, Brier sent another firebolt and then, as quickly as she could, a third. One scorched the cat's shoulder as it surged forward, but it ducked under the third and began to climb the tree.

They were out of roots to climb, but the branches of the tree were now within reach. "Okay, let's go," Caduceus said, cupping his hands, "Up with you, little miss."

She hesitated but eventually stepped into his hands, letting out a surprised squeak as he hefted her up onto the highest branch she could reach. She wrapped her arms around it then hooked her arms around it, hanging like a sloth, before she scrambled up onto the branch.

Caduceus climbed up after her as the cat melded its paws into the tree and began to shift up toward them, half of its body sunk into the bark. Caduceus turned and shot off a guiding bolt at the creature, knocking it out of the tree trunk and onto a root on the other side.

"Oh, maybe the tree wasn't a good idea. But we should probably go higher," Caduceus said, and Brier rapidly nodded. Both of them continued to climb, Caduceus helping Brier whenever she had trouble reaching branches.

"Jester, wave your lollipop in front of it and try to get its attention!" Nott said, watching the cat gather itself and start after Caduceus and Brier again.

"What, like a cat toy?" Beau said.

"It's better than nothing!"

With both hands, Beau swung her lightning-encased fists at the cat closest to her, once, twice. Scorched by an earlier eldritch blast and pounded by the lollipop, the beating it took from Beau was enough to drop it to the ground, its green tongue lolling out between sharp teeth.

Fjord squared off against one of the three remaining cats, Star Razor slashing into its mane as it tried to rush right past him to get to Jester. Yowling, it turned toward him and bit at his side, sinking its teeth into him before he could raise Star Razor to fend it off. With a shout, Fjord held up a hand and tore into it with an eldritch blast, forcing it backward. It looked bad off, green sappy blood seeping from multiple wounds, but it was still standing and glaring at Fjord.

Farther away, Caleb's reddish-brown giant ape form was worse for wear, but the forest cat wasn't having a good time of it, either. It was squirming in his grasp, and Caleb flung it once more. This time, instead of landing on its feet, it laid still on the forest floor, one paw twitching.

Looking around, he spotted the cat moving up the tree, chasing after Caduceus and Brier. Bellowing, he rushed at the tree, surging up the root system and into the branches. Nott and Jester raced toward the tree as well, Jester's lollipop bobbling above her head, ready for more action. A guiding bolt from her hand burst on the trunk, catching the cat's paw, making it pause for a moment. Caduceus and Brier were able to gain a few more feet as it hissed.

On the forest floor, Beau and Fjord teamed up on the cat closest to them, landing blows with staff and sword. It took a swipe at Beau, raking its claws across her thigh. While it was distracted, Fjord slashed at it with Star Razor and Beau slammed her foot into its side. The combined attack dropped it, lifeless, to the ground.

The remaining cat was still making its way up the tree, outpacing Caleb, catching up swiftly to Caduceus and Brier. Nott shot off two crossbow bolts, one after the other, and one hit it in the haunch. It wavered for a moment before continuing onward, its teeth bared.

Caleb dropped Polymorph and was immediately bombarded with yells from Jester and Nott about how the cats were weak against fire. With an arcane word even as they continued to shout at him, he shot off a few scorching rays at the creature as Jester took a swing at it with her lollipop. It shifted deeper into the tree as one of the scorching rays hit, but the lollipop was too far out of range. When the cat emerged, it roared in pain and kept climbing, getting closer by the second.

Up in the tree, only a few feet away from the cat, Brier stopped climbing and lifted her hands, fear in her hazel eyes. She touched her thumbs together, her fingers spread like the wings of a shadow puppet, and flames shot from each of her fingertips, swirling into a cone of fire. For a moment, it looked like it was going to engulf Caleb as well since he had swung higher after the cat, but the flames curled around him as Brier twitched her fingers, sparing him from the flames. They also seemed to arch away from the tree in places to keep it from catching fire, the flames curving in unnatural ways, bound and shaped by arcane energy.

The cat burrowed down into the tree, but the flames licked against its back and it was moving slowly and whining when it reappeared from the bark. It peeled away and stepped onto a branch, moving away from Brier, Caleb, and Caduceus, but another one of Nott's bolts soon buried into its side. It stumbled and fell from the tree, landing on a few of the roots before its body rested limply across a large root a few feet down.

"Does anyone need healing?" Caduceus called down.

"Ah, I believe I might be poisoned…" Caleb said. "Is Brier all right?"

"Just fine," Caduceus said, glancing down at his small but capable little companion.

"Yeah, I'm rather certain I'm poisoned as well," Fjord said.

"Not poisoned, but sort of bit up, scratched some," Beau added.

"I'll be down in a moment." Caduceus let out a shaky sigh and sat down heavily on the wide branch he had been standing on as he prepared to start climbing down, closing his eyes for a second in relief that no one had been hurt worse than what they were. He felt a gentle touch on his arm, a small, unexpected hand.

"Are you all right?" Brier asked.

"Yeah," Caduceus said, opening his eyes to find Brier sitting next to him. She pulled her hand away. "That was a little close, wasn't it?"

There was a spark of amusement about her even though she didn't smile. "Just a little."