The last few ants taken care of were by where he had left the bucket. The bucket was knocked over and the sap spilled the two ants where practically laying in it. Remembering how simply touching the sap had made him feel numb Gar carefully stepped around the sap while having Bodger and B1 step in it to finish the ants. Just then another ant came scurrying along the path Bodger and B1 dashed for it Gar and B2 hung back, Bodger and B1 split to each side of the ant Bodger cutting in a bit closer. The ant turned to keep its mandibles pointed at Bodger, B1 took this opportunity to leap and slash at the ant its claws leaving a gash in the ants back. The ant span to face B1 as Bodger bit at a leg the ant tried to turn back but slowed until it went still, it wasn’t dead no kill message, Gar saw the footprints in the sap, the ant was unconscious because of the sap on B1’s claws. Bodger finished off the unconscious ant.

  “You have killed a level 2 Mega-ra ant worker 1 experience awarded”

  What this did show was that he hadn’t gotten all the ants he needed to deal with the nest then and there he knew earth ants laid lots of eggs, growing up fast, if he left them all his work would be for nothing as the ant would just be replaced and soon. He returned to the ladder leaving Bodger, B1 and B2 at the bottom he climbed up then carefully took B3 out of his bag, placing him in the shelter on the bed so he was out of the rain and safe. Next he grabbed another bucket of sap and climbed back down.

  They moved as before Gar in the middle the badgers around him, when they got back to the ants path Gar stopped and took a moment to have each badger dip its claws in the spilt sap and stick their face in it as best they could to coat their teeth. They then moved on, Gar didn’t know how far until the source of the ants, his guess was he would find the ants at the series of caves by the river. They moved quickly not trying to be quiet any ants nearby would notice them from the smell of the sap even if they were silent. They dispatched two more workers before they came across something Gar hadn’t expected the ground was wet not just from the still falling rain it was standing water everywhere, the river had obviously overflowed its banks. The water was up to his knees while the badgers where practically under water (not that it seemed to bother them) before he saw another ant, it was a solitary worker scurrying about on the cliff wall. Gar could see the whole series of caves he had noticed weeks ago all the ground level ones had water flowing into them while the worker ant was going in and out of one of the caves about five meters off the ground, it was carrying something out and dropping it.

  Gar and the badgers backed up along the path until they were no longer standing in water as Gar tries to work out a plan. Gar needed to lure out as many of the remaining ants as he could, he couldn’t even approach the cave safely the closer he got on the ground the deeper the water got and with the deeper water came a stronger current. Gar might just have been able to withstand it, the badgers though most certainly wouldn’t and even Gar wouldn’t be able to fight in it. If he left the badgers behind he could climb along the cliff wall up to the cave, however doing so would leave him vulnerable to any ants that could move on the vertical surface as if it was level ground, he needed to pull them to flat dry ground to even have a chance.

  Gar went over everything he knew about the ants in his head: There were two types he had seen so far worker & solider, workers where smaller more agile and more numerous, soldiers where larger with thicker carapaces and could shoot acid. Soldiers where smarter than workers although neither type was particularly smart with both types being easily tricked. The ants seemed drawn to the slumbering vine sap and would disregard any caution or cooperation for it. It wasn’t much to go on, unfortunately for Gar it was all he had so he had to make it work. Gar needed some more information he just needed a test subject, fortunately there was one that was potentially available. Gar spent a few minutes gathering fist sized rocks and loading them into his bag.

  With the bucket of sap in one hand and a rock in the other Gar instructed the badgers to wait at the water’s edge while he waded back in. He got to about waist deep only to find the flow of the water was too strong for him to keep his balance on the slippery ground underneath. It forced him to back track out to where the water was only mid-thigh level, it was further away from the cliff wall with the ant cave than he would have liked yet he thought he could make it work. He dipped the rock in the bucket of sap then held it at the ready. When he was watching earlier the worker had been coming in and out of the nest every few minutes. So he waited until the ant was crawling along the wall, as it got further away from the cave and slightly closer to him that was when Gar took his chance. Throwing the sap covered stone with all he had directly at the ant, the stone flew faster and harder than anything Gar had ever thrown before, it seemed increased stats did have a marked difference although it hadn’t helped his aim, the stone slammed a meter wide of the ant crashing into the cliff before dropping to be lost in the water below. Nether the less it got the ants attention, it was hard to tell with the things unmoving compound eyes and lack of neck movement where exactly the ant was focussing. Still Gar was sure the rock had gotten its attention, even better when it dropped the clump of whatever it had been carrying and moved too shove its face into where the stone had impacted. While it was distracted Gar took another rock from his bag dipped it in the sap and threw it, this time not worrying so much about strength to reach the distance and more focused on aim. It was a much better shot hitting in front of the ant a bit further round the cliff, the ant lifted its head from the first impact site before scurrying along to the next one. Like this Gar was able to lead the ant around the cliff and away from the cave, only once did he have to throw a second rock when the first was ignored after being thrown too far away. The ant scurried along following Gars trail; once he had it near dry ground he started bringing it down the wall. Things took a turn when they got near the end Gar was standing at the base of the cliff bucket of sap in hand just outside of the water, as the ant got overhead it was several meters up when it seemed to notice the bucket of sap.

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  The ant just let go of the wall dropping straight down mandibles first pointing at Gar. Gar screamed throwing himself back not having expected such reckless behaviour. The ant hit the ground barely missing Gar, in its disorientation and before it could arrange itself Bodger B1 and B2 all piled on top of it pinning the creature to the ground. The ant still struggled and writhed the lightweight skeletal bodies not enough to stop its moves completely were still more than enough to stop it getting to its feet or going anywhere. What Gar needed to know was how the ants reacted in the water it was a major disadvantaged area for him although if it was the same or worse for the ants he may be able to turn it to his advantage. Gar approached the pinned ant, it snapped its mandibles at him, stepping to the side of it he placed a hand behind it and a hand holding at the base of its head, lifting it as the badgers got up until it was off the ground and held out at arm’s length. With a few quick steps into the water Gar spun then threw the ant as far as he could into the deeper water. Gar had observe and mana sight active to make sure he could see exactly what happened to the ant. It hit the water with a splash then sank like a stone; Gar could see it flailing its legs in an attempt to move except the current had hold of it, the ant was swept away out of Gars site. In a little over a minute Gar received the message.

  “You have killed a level 2 Mega-ra ant worker 1 experience awarded”

  Gar hadn’t known if the death of the ant would count as his kill, he was glad it did as the message confirmed the ant had died and hadn’t been able to get out anywhere. So it seemed the water was even more of a disadvantage to the ants than it was to him, a plan was coming together in his mind. Gar went back to his base to start setting things up, he put away his backpack gathered up his longest rope, refilled his bucket with sap, this was using a lot of his sap supply although as far as he was concerned it would be worth it even if he used it all up. He only sat down long enough to have a drink and eat some nuts and berries, he feared if he waited too long he would lose the courage to get this done. With one last check on B3, who was still in Gars bed, he went back to the ant cave. At the water’s edge he stopped and tied one end of the rope around Bodger the other around his own waist, secured together he took the bucket of sap and started pouring it over Bodger he wanted a good layer coating Bodger. The bucket, his spear as well as B1 and B2 where then hidden a little way back the way they had come.

  Bodger balanced on his shoulder, slowly dripping sap down his arm, Gar waded into the water. Gar got as close as he could to the ants cave entrance while still being confident in his footing. He set himself as stable as he could uncoiled the rope and held it loosely while taking Bodger, who had curled into a tight ball, in his other hand. Gar took a moment to adjust his footing as he aimed then threw. Bodger sailed through the air the rope trailing out behind, Gar watched Bodger fly, the throw wasn’t perfect Bodger landed much closer to the left wall than Gar would have liked, he was in the cave though. Seeing that Bodger had landed safely Gar dunked himself under the water quickly scrubbing off the sap that had run onto him making him feel slightly numb. When he had come up Bodger was no longer able to be seen having followed orders to go deeper into the cave, Gar could only wait and hope. Hope that the skeletal puppet was smart enough to understand the plan, hope that nothing went wrong, and hope that he hadn’t just sent his first friend on this world to its death. Time ticked by Gar waited tense watching the cave entrance, he heard noise a lot of noise and it was getting louder. Then there was Bodger running it got to the edge and leapt, Gar was pulling in the rope before he even registered what followed Gar out of the cave. It was two ant soldiers as well as something different; Gar had been ready for this observe was active.

  “Mega-ra ant queens guard level 7”