Dawn didn’t break so much as it bled into the trees—gray light seeping between trunks, heavy and reluctant. The air was thick with dew and the scent of wet bark, a sharp earthiness that clung to everything.
Marcy sat at the fire pit with her knees tucked beneath her, coaxing smoke from damp tinder with soft, rhythmic breaths. Her fingers worked with the tired patience of someone who had done this every morning for weeks—though it had barely been a week. She didn't speak. She didn't need to. The fire answered in soft crackles.
Li arrived with her usual armful of offerings—mushrooms, fern shoots, a handful of wrinkled berries that looked more hopeful than edible. She crouched beside Marcy and laid everything out on a folded scrap of cloth.
"Nothing new," she said.
Marcy didn’t look up.
Li settled beside her, both of them quiet as the kindling finally caught.
--
Across the clearing, Roger and Theo were reinforcing the palisade—though calling it that felt generous. It was more a suggestion of defense: sharp branches lashed together with vine, uneven and brittle in places. They were both builders on Earth so a lot of the construction projects falls to them.
Theo winced as he drove another post into the soil. His left hand was swaddled in a blood-crusted bandage. “This one’s already cracking.”
Roger leaned on his shovel, scowling. “We’re not building Rome, we’re buying seconds. Seconds matter.”
Theo didn’t argue. He just adjusted his grip and kept hammering.
Behind them, a boy named Dev was sketching rough layouts in the dirt with a stick. He didn’t talk to anyone. No one asked what he was planning.
--
Near the Obelisk, Josh was crouched low, tongue caught in the corner of his mouth as he tied a snare for the fifth time.
“It’s not a puzzle,” Yusuf told him, watching from above. “You’re overthinking it.”
Josh adjusted the twig placement. “I’m an engineering student. Overthinking is the job.”
Yusuf smirked faintly. “Then let me know when it catches something besides your own boot.”
They shared a rare, brief laugh, though it died quickly.
Josh finally triggered the snare. It snapped tight around an imaginary rabbit’s ankle.
“See?” he said, sitting back with a grin.
Yusuf nodded. “Now do it ten more times.”
The snares had started to prove successful, bringing in some much need meat, rabbits, occasionally a squirrel.
Yusuf got up and headed towards Alex who was sat at the edge of camp, watching the trees.
"Hey man" Yusuf greeted.
Alex nodded back.
"You fancy coming with me into the forest today, don't want to check the traps alone since the goblin incident"
"Yeah sure, we going now?"
"That's the plan."
Just as Alex got up to leave with Yusef, Ellie approached with a strip of flatbread in her hand. “Where you off?”
“Just off to check the snares, hopefully there will be something to bring back, starvation is starting to set in for most” he said.
She stood beside them “I know right, the rations are only enough for tonight then that is it. Miriam told me.”
"Shit" Alex took the bread but didn’t eat. “I was hoping at least for another day. Settle in a bit more.”
Yusuf joined in, “Well it was bound to happen at some point, no point wasting anymore time then, lets head in” "See ya" "bye", and they vanish into the tree line.
--
Miriam was at her usual place—center of camp, notebook balanced on one knee, face unreadable.
She flipped through pages filled with notes, arrows, crude maps, names and checkmarks. Her fingers moved like clockwork, efficient, deliberate.
Camila’s shadow fell across the page.
"How many people are close to twenty?" she asked.
Miriam didn’t look up. “Not many. Yusuf is, he got rid of his phone and some other possessions and maybe you.”
“Any idea on what he's going to choose?”
“Afraid not, ask him if your curious” Miriam finally glanced up.
Camila folded her arms. “How much do you know about the world these paths belong too.”
“Not much, why?”
“Well, since its been confirmed that you can get not only the powers of that world but also its items, I figured it'd be important to have diversity with the paths.”
"Yeah, that could be useful, but we can discuss it when it reaches that stage, as I recall briefly from the Tally, there was quite a bit of variability."
They stared at each other for a moment. Then Camila walked off.
--
People moved with purpose, but not energy. Hunger made everything feel heavier. Conversations were shorter. Even jokes came slower.
Three college kids and Vin, the high school dropout, had taken over a sunny patch near the southern edge of camp. They were tending to what they hoped might become a garden. So far, the dirt had been poked, rearranged, and cursed at, but nothing had grown.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Vin squatted by the plot with a stick. “If something sprouts, I’m calling it Vinroot.”
Wren just snorted at him.
There was laughter—tired, genuine.
--
Later, Yusuf came back with a rabbit strung to a branch with Alex who had two rabbits in hand, a triumph. Albeit 3 rabbits are not going a long way for 100 people. They need to start hunting something bigger, goblins are a no go, hunting them will be purely for sacrificial reasons, eating them would just feel wrong to most. But they know there's deer and Yusuf has seen tracks of what seems to be wild boar.
--
As sunset painted the camp in long orange shadows, someone played lo-fi music from a half-busted phone. The melody drifted above the fire, mixing with the smoke.
Li passed a cup of nettle tea. It tasted like boiled dirt but was warm.
Theo and Raj leaned against the barricade, not talking, just nodding now and then like that was enough.
Marcy handed out ash-bread, thin and charred but filling. She handed the last piece to Ellie, who hesitated before taking it. Her hands were trembling.
“No one’s okay,” Marcy said softly. “But you've got to eat, I'm sure things will get better.”
Ellie didn’t respond. But she ate.
--
Night fell.
The next day came upon them. Dawn filtered into the clearing like breath on cold glass—cool, diffused, and without urgency.
There was no scream. No flurry of motion. Just Camila’s voice from the northern edge of the camp—quiet, certain, weighted with something unspoken. Her tone drew attention like a magnet pulls iron, and one by one, they came.
"Tracks," she said simply, crouching low beside an impression in the soil.
Roger was the first to arrive, followed closely by Miriam, who clutched her damp notebook as though it might keep the world from slipping further into mystery. Frost-laced grass crunched beneath their boots as they approached the site.
Camila ran a hand along the outline of the footprint.
Four toes. Broad. Deep impressions where claws or nails had pressed into soft earth. The stride, stretched and deliberate, indicated bipedal motion.
"Too large for a goblin," she said. "Walked upright. Long gait. Watched us for a while, then moved off."
Miriam narrowed her eyes and scanned the treeline. "Any idea what we’re dealing with?"
Camila shook her head slowly, lips thin. "God knows, though I figure if there are goblins why, it could be something like an Orc maybe."
"Yeah I guess so. For fucks sake, honestly do we ever get a damn break issues just keep coming" Matt says.
--
Breakfast was more ritual than sustenance. Marcy rotated a dented pot over low flame, stirring a thin broth that smelled faintly of moss and bitterness. Bark. Shaved mushroom stems. Perhaps a root or two some meat, a mixture of rabbit and squirrel. The heat was weak, but the motion of eating helped stave off the silence.
"Still better than campus food," Wren muttered, tugging her sleeves down over her fingers.
"You lived above a ramen place," Vin said, breath steaming in the cold. "That shouldn’t count."
Nearby, Dev hunched over a growing diagram scratched into the packed dirt. It had evolved beyond maps—no rivers, no terrain. It was now a sequence of repeating patterns. More like music. Or mathematics. A rhythm scored in soil.
Miriam approached, arms crossed. "What are you charting now?"
"Sound markers," Dev replied. "Points where people reported hearing something. Or thought they did."
She knelt beside him, frowning at the concentric shapes. "So, what. It’s moving around our camp?"
Dev shook his head. "I guess, seems to just be observing currently at least."
--
The Obelisk waited in the center of camp, silent and unmoving as ever. Twisted roots surrounded its base like fingers reluctant to let go. It offered nothing but presence.
Alex walked up to it, silent, his boots leaving barely a mark in the frost. He carried a limp forest bird—lifeless, neck limp, feathers dulled. He pressed it gently to the stone.
+0.4 Points — Forest Bird (Dead)
The words flashed, then disappeared. Again, it was too rotten to be food
He sat beside the stone, knees drawn to chest, watching the Obelisk’s surface as if it might, at any moment, shift and speak.
Ellie joined him after a while, dropping kindling beside the dying coals.
"Camila found tracks this morning," she said. "Not goblin. Something larger."
Alex nodded, barely.
"You think it’s watching us?"
He hesitated. "Seems to be"
"Yo, fancy going for a hunt" Yusuf shouts over to Alex
"I'm starting to feel a bit useless" Ellie says, looking down.
"You can come with us if you'd like"
"Not yet, I just, get the creeps"
"Alright then, See ya"
As Yusuf and Alex disappear into the forest, they are joined by Camila.
"What's going on?" Alex asks.
"Goblin's, 6 of them they've been lingering near the camp, coming every day for the last couple days" Camila answers.
"So, why you telling me this?"
"Well, you and Yusuf are quite active compared to others, and majorly seem keen to get points. David is doing his own thing, and i need assistance to kill them"
"Hold up, wait, why are we jumping to kill them now"
"Look Alex, you've got to be realistic here. These are goblins we're talking about, I think its fair to assume that they'd be similar in nature to the fictional ones on Earth. We figure strike now, before they come in the night. Currently they just seem to be observing us, monitoring our movements, but for how long. How long till Marcy or Li gets their brains bashed in scavenging for mushrooms and berries." Yusef was stern when saying this, he looked resolved.
"Fuck man alright, ok. Then what's the plan."
"They're goblins, small and frail compared to us. They're only advantage is their numbers, but we go in, act quickly and we can easily take out one each before they no what's hit them" Camila lays out a very basic plan.
"She's right, only thing we've got to make sure on is we're down wind" .
"Alright, lets go"
It was a short walk, only 10 minutes. Then they held position.
"They're not here yet, lets wait".
Around one hour passed, till a rustle was held. Then 6 goblins were revealed, they has some rudimentary clubs and sharpened sticks but nothing of note.
They held, their breath bated.
Camila raised her left hand, and with a flurry brought it down, and they moved. No hesitation from any of them. In a few short seconds they were already on the goblins, who squealed in confusion till one of their heads was mashed by a powerful swing from Alex. Before they could collect themselves, Camila and Yusef had already dispatched their own targets. The remaining 3 stood no chance, killed with little chance to resist.
As the 3 collected their breaths, they each had a minor grin on their face. Not one of malice, but of success.
--
The garden was failing. A mound of dry, stubborn earth, and too little sunlight. Vin and Wren stood over it, the only green a sickly sprout curling in on itself.
"It’s cursed," Wren said flatly. "Or depressed."
Vin crouched beside it, pressing fingers into dry dirt. "It'll be fine, its just a slow grower"
Wren raised an eyebrow. "If you say so"
--
On the eastern side of camp, where the trees thinned into fog and failed light, Theo, Raj, and Roger hammered makeshift stakes into damp earth. Their barricade was rudimentary—scraps of rope, salvaged metal rods, even torn sleeves twisted into tension knots.
"We need a kill zone," Roger muttered. "Something to trip or slow whatever comes."
"We need more materials," Theo said. "Vines, nails, more cord."
"And more hands," Raj added, without looking up.
--
By mid-afternoon, the air grew dense. Not with moisture or scent—but with the kind of pressure that preceded storms. It wasn’t weather. It was anticipation.
Under the patchwork tarp that served as a crude communal shelter, Miriam sat with Camila, Alex, Yusuf, and Marcy. A shallow fire crackled nearby, offering little warmth.
"We need scouts," Miriam continued. "Eyes in the trees, in the brush. Before whatever's watching us makes a move, I've already stopped people heading out on their own, but we need more done."
"I’ll go," Alex said.
"Same," Yusuf added, stretching his back.
Marcy hesitated. "And if something happens? If they don’t come back?"
Miriam didn’t flinch. "They'll come back Marcy don't worry. Just see if you can find where it is coming from, or at least what it is."
--
Later, Ellie and Marcy worked near the fire, laying out strips of boiled root over sun-warmed stones. The root smelled bitter—acrid and sharp—but it dulled hunger, and that was enough.
"You think they’ll come back?" Ellie asked, voice quiet.
Marcy turned a strip. "They’ll return. But maybe not as we remember them."
Ellie frowned. "You always talk like you’ve lived through this before."
Marcy didn’t look up. "Only when I’m afraid."
--
Time passed like breath held too long.
The shadows elongated. The fire was rebuilt. The wind moved against the barricades like a creature brushing its claws along canvas. Alex and Yusuf's scouting duties complete, albeit unsuccessfully, they returned. As night came upon them they took first watch and both headed into the forest with Camila, returning lugging two goblins each to the Obelisk, they had done it discreetly enough that nobody noticed. Each garnered 4 points each, 2 per goblin.
