The morning came without mist. For once, the jungle's breath held back, and the clearing was lit by a hard, dry light that cut between the branches. Raif stood near the orb, arms crossed, the others gathered loosely around him.
"We've got three priorities," he said, voice level. "Mira, Naera, Kael, Rix, I want you out scouting. Follow Kael's lead, track further west. If the jungle's shifting, I want eyes on it first."
Rix gave a short nod, already adjusting the straps on his shoulder wrap. Naera stood still, her expression unreadable. Mira only glanced toward Kael, then back at Raif.
"Goss, Hennick," Raif continued, "you'll handle crafting. Test the materials, chitin, barkwolf, whatever you think works. Focus on weapons and anything we can strap to a body."
Hennick gave a dry grunt. "Finally, something that uses my hands, not just my back."
Raif allowed himself the ghost of a smile. "Make it count."
"Lira, Eloin, with me," he said last. "We're rebuilding the fence. And we need to stabilise Syl. Eloin, if you have anything left in the stores-"
"I'll find what I can," Eloin said. "But she's slipping."
Raif looked toward the shelter where Syl lay. "Then we don't have time."
No one argued. There was no need. The camp moved with a rhythm now, tighter, sharper. Each moved to their task like the jungle already knew they were coming.
Inside the shelter, the air was damp and still. Syl lay curled beneath a bark-woven mat, her skin slick with sweat and paler than it had been the day before. Her breathing was shallow, not laboured, but quiet in a way that made Eloin lean closer to check it again.
She murmured something under her breath.
Raif crouched nearby, watching as Eloin dabbed a cloth along her temple. "Still with us?"
Eloin frowned. "Barely. Fever's climbing. And she's dreaming too deep."
Syl stirred, eyes fluttering open. Her gaze was unfocused.
"I told her to run," she whispered. "She didn't listen. She-"
Her voice cracked. "They came from the kiln road... just after noon. We thought the pass was clear."
Eloin's brow furrowed slightly. "Kiln road," he echoed under his breath. "That's not from any map I know."
Her words crumbled into a rasp. Eloin pressed a palm gently to her forehead.
"She's not seeing us," he said. "She's somewhere else. Kiln road, that's not a name I've heard before."
Raif nodded once, jaw set. "We'll keep her stable. No more than that until something shifts."
Outside, the camp had shifted into motion. Near the fire pit, Goss and Hennick had cleared a patch of ground and laid out the materials. A section of Veilback chitin, a coiled strip of barkwolf hide, two thick bones, and a scattering of smaller claws and teeth.
Goss crouched with a sharp-edged rock in hand, turning a wolf fang over in the light. "This curve'll make a fine hook spear," he said. "Good for more than stabbing. Pulls flesh, tangles limbs. Not elegant, but efficient."
Hennick was splitting hide using a sharpened sliver of bone wedged into a wooden handle. "This stuff's drying better than I expected," he muttered. "Takes an edge. Might even layer over barkwood armour, if we bind it right."
Raif approached, arms folded, watching their progress. "Try the chitin. Just one piece. If it holds shape under pressure, we'll test it on a proper frame."
Goss nodded and set a plate of chitin over the fire on a pair of flat stones. It warmed slowly, flexing slightly but not cracking.
"Could bind this to a haft," he said. "Use sinew from the second wolf. Not pretty, but it'll cut."
Raif gave a short nod. "Make two if you can. One for testing, one for the wall."
Goss grunted and reached for a second plate of chitin, frowning as he ran his fingers along the edge. "Feels brittle near the seam. Might not hold if we put it through wood."
"Try thinning it first," Hennick suggested, crouching with a short bone chisel. "Take the tension off. Let it flex without snapping. That's how I used to split riverbone back home."
Raif watched as Goss began shaving the plate's underside, small curls of grey flaking away under the stone blade. The fire crackled beside them, sending up thin wisps of smoke that smelled faintly of resin and damp bark.
The first attempt failed. The binding snapped the moment they twisted it tight, the chitin splintering with a dull crack. Goss swore under his breath and tossed the broken shard aside.
"Too tight," Hennick muttered, already uncoiling fresh sinew. "Try wetting the strip first. Give it give. It'll tighten as it dries."
They started again. Slower. Goss muttered to himself, focused, hands steady despite the heat. Hennick moved like he'd done this a hundred times before, guiding the knots without watching them.
"You ever work with this stuff before?" Raif asked quietly.
"Closest thing was ironroot," Hennick said. "Back in the pine valleys. Grew in these twisted arcs, like it couldn't decide if it was tree or bone. You split it wrong, it'd explode in your hands. Split it right, and you'd have a blade sharper than flint."
Goss snorted. "That the same stuff you claimed you made a whole sled from? I remember that story, sled flew down the ridge and broke your ribs."
"That's because you were the one steering it," Hennick shot back, not looking up. "And if you'd kept your damn feet in the sled instead of using them as brakes-"
Raif raised an eyebrow. "You two never stop bickering, do you?"
"We crossed paths," Hennick said casually. "Shared a border town. Traded goods, shared stories. Goss still owes me two casks of bark ale and a new fishing line."
"You snapped the line pulling up your own foot," Goss muttered. "Called it a swamp eel and nearly shot your own boot."
Raif exhaled, a quiet smile at the corner of his mouth. For a moment, the tension faded.
"Anyway," Hennick said, shaking the sinew out, "point is, strange materials or not, a solid hand can coax a weapon out of most things. You just have to respect the material."
Raif nodded, silent. He wasn't there to give orders now, just to understand.
The second spear held. The chitin flexed but didn't crack. The binding dried stiff, and the wolf bone haft gave it balance. It wasn't beautiful, but it looked like it could kill.
The men kept working, trading tools and murmuring back and forth. Each piece they shaped came with careful tension, a wrong move could waste everything.
Eventually, Goss held up a crude spear, hafted with barkwolf bone and tipped with chitin. It wasn't elegant, but it looked dangerous.
Raif reached for the orb without ceremony.
[Structure Recognised – Primitive Weaponry (Tier 1)]
[Reward: +3 KE]
The camp's rhythm shifted again as Goss and Hennick cleaned their tools. Not far off, Raif moved toward the southern perimeter where the barkwood fence still bore claw marks and blackened streaks from the last attack.
Eloin stood already inspecting one section with a critical eye, a handful of dried mud crumbling between his fingers. "It's drying well," he said. "But it won't hold on its own. We need to layer it. Thick. Bark first, then the mud packed into every joint."
Raif ran a hand along the frame. Some of the slats had been cracked or forced inward, and even where it had held, the signs of stress were clear.
Lira approached, dragging a bundle of split bark branches. "We should double the struts here. Two rows, offset. If another wolf tries to jump the gap, it won't find footing."
"Smart," Raif said. "Let's start with the southeast corner. That's where the last one breached."
They fell into the work without fanfare. Eloin mixed a new slurry from ground-up clay and pulped jungle moss, layering it over bark supports while Raif and Lira braced the frame. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and bark sap.
"This batch's thicker than last time," Eloin muttered, adjusting the mixture in his hands. "Should bind deeper. Might even keep moisture out if the rain returns."
"Let's hope the next storm doesn't rip it off like the last one," Lira said, sliding another slat into place. Her brow was furrowed, her arms streaked with dry dust.
Raif tested the frame with both hands. "It held longer than I expected. But I'd rather not test it twice."
"Or funnel it," Lira added. "We control where it breaks, and where we meet it."
Raif glanced between them. "I'd rather have that choice than none at all."
For hours, they worked in rhythm, scraping, packing, adjusting angles, until the corner rose thicker and taller than before. A wall that answered violence with patience.
When they stepped back, Raif let out a long breath. The clearing felt different now. Less exposed.
And then, the orb pulsed.
[System Alert – Imminent Threat Detected]
[Estimated Time: 5 Days]
[Suggested Action: Prepare Defences]
[Potential Reward: Moderate KE Bonus]
Lira exhaled through her nose. "Five days, huh? Better make 'em count."