Everything seemed to be working out in the end. Carnathia would lead the way unburdened, and Gray was spared from the duty of hauling one of those injured porters. However, it should be mentioned that witnessing Roxas hoisting a fully-grown Tretagorian man like he was a bear pelt and carrying him away on her back was both confounding and... embarrassing, considering the party has no shortage of able-bodied men.

Yes, the Sky was their witness, and it was looking at you, Tillius, Gray, and Rezzelo.

Back to Gray Flame, he nodded at Roxas' request but did not say much when the healer conveyed her plan to neutralize the poison in their body. Nevertheless, the idea of collecting the White Lady's venom was a good idea, and he promised her that they would make a stop at the first site. After all, they need to evacuate that one guy with a punctured lung too.

“Actually, darling. I have a traveler’s potion kit. I don’t know if it will have what you need, but it’s something.” said Fia when they arrived at the first site. The dead arachnee was still there, in the same position, with its exterior looking even paler than before.
Fia once again proposed her plan.

“I can go about collecting the venom. I’ll catch up with you once I’m done, deary.”

---

Roxas paused at the spider site and let Fia gather the poison herself. "That's fine, just.. don't ingest it or let it get into a cut. As I said.. I can only do so much without the proper tools." She then moved past them and started heading towards the broken camp they had left Dimitri at. She hoped he had stopped his bleeding, but.. she wasn't so sure.

The Monster was still oozing greenish venom from its mandibles, it changed in color and viscosity upon being extracted, and if one would inspect it closer, it emanated a trace of a magical signature that seems of a foreign origin.

Gray advised not to touch the substance without any precaution, though typical of him, did not elaborate in detail on the important properties of such venom and its usefulness in regard to making an antidote out of it. So for now it was just very potent poison, capable of immobilizing a healthy grown man with a single touch.

With no longer stops ahead of them, they continued their march to the camp. The sun was already rising in the east when they arrived, and the situation at the camp appeared to be nominal at first glance.

Here they are at least, the result was far from optimal but at least mission accomplished. Vesemir, Gray and the remained young porter immediately unloaded some of the supply crates from the carriage and placed them under the giant chestnut, setting up makeshift beds where the injured could lay down.

"I thought you were going to give your verdict anytime now." Said Vesemir, in a defeated tone after Gray excused himself to get some rest.

"My wisdom can wait until I get a chance to close my eyes. For five or six hours, at least." Gray answered. "Until then, I would be no use to you. I am not a doctor you can consult on, Roxas is. though I am not sure if you will hear a lot of good news, even from her."

---

As they reached the camp, Carnatia was more than ready to curl up on her bed sheet, perhaps after a nice cup of tea brewed using her enchanted tea set that could brew various flavours. Maybe green tea? No, on second thought, probably apple cider was more to her fancy right now. After that trip through the damp and misty forest at night, a warm apple cider would be good. It was not something that could be brewed easily in a camp like this, but fortunately, it WAS an enchanted tea set. It was quite expensive, Carnatia had to borrow some money and ended up using her rapier as collateral, but it worked out in the end, she managed to scrounge up just enough money to pay it back. Admittedly...it was quite close and she was about a day short of losing her rapier.

"My wisdom can wait until I get a chance to close my eyes. For five or six hours, at least." Gray answered. "Until then, I would be no use to you. I am not a doctor you can consult on, Roxas is. though I am not sure if you will hear a lot of good news, even from her."

Though...before the tea, there was probably one matter they should arrange as the group.

"I quite agree that I also would like nothing else but a peaceful slumber right about now, however...It wouldn't do for us to get ambushed. We need to take turns watching the camp, to be safe. So...shall we cast lots?"

Back at the camp, Engelbert laid down the wounded porter by the fire before tossing a few pieces of wood in to ensure the blaze lasted longer. That done, and alongside the rising sun, he could more easily assert the wounded man... though it didn't really stray much further than the initial impression. Still bluish and pale and kinda stiff, with no blood coming out of the ripped limb. Even with the haphazard tourniquet it shouldn't stem blood from that kind of wound so quickly, and if not for a quick check for the lifeforce he would've written the man off as dead. But the amount of vitality coursing in the frail body was quite a bit higher than the physical appearance would suggest, so it's probably the spider poison doing the thing.

"I'm afraid it's up to our healer if we could find antidote for you, my friend." He said, disregarding whether the man can hear him or not. "I'm no medic, so this is as much as I can do. I must go attend to the others, but fear not. No monster will reach you here."

Rising to his full height, the knight glanced at the bits of crusted gore on the surface of his armor. His sight moved over to the rest of the camp as he hopped in place with the subtlety of a sack full of pots and pans falling down a flight of stairs, the automatic maintenance enchantment rejecting the dirty residue so severely it only take a small shake to get rid of them. Rest after such long adventure was in order. Rest entailed food and sleep... he happen to be good at covering for both.

"I'll keep watch, lady Carnatia. Everyone can take a one-person rotation to ensure full coverage." Bravado or not, Engelbert's voice sounded just as fresh as the day he first met the party. Whether that's true or not was up to each person's interpretation, of course. "In the meantime..."

Jogging to the supply cart, which was almost miraculously unscuffed through the night, he went through the supplies with one thought in mind - something sufficiently quick so that the party can get some snooze as soon as possible. Tossing he found his way back to the fire and began his preparations.

Bunch of hardtack, crushed and mixed with water to create some chunky batter. Some lard onto a pan, then ladle generously to fry the batter. Flip once, continue to cook, then crumble some cheese on top and lay a slice of salted ham and pickles before folding the makeshift pancake. That done, take out and start piling it onto the plates.

He'd repeat this as many times as necessary.

When the Master Shinobi went back to the camp with the party. He automatically go his scanning routine so that he can notify them when a familiar or a foe closing by with their campsite. The shinobi always be present as a late arrival when during eating break.

@Remuri v2

When the Master Shinobi went back to the camp with the party. He automatically go his scanning routine so that he can notify them when a familiar or a foe closing by with their campsite

Considering everything that just happened in the past 24 hours, Nanashi knew his boundaries. Every step was taken cautiously, in a way not a single fallen leaf would be disturbed.

It was just a light recon, and an uneventful one at that until Nanashi saw a faint smoke rising in the distance. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in that part of the forest, and the smoke looked like coming from one or two campfires that served nothing but a generic source of heat deliberately lit up by a group of people. Probably twice the size of this party.

The question was, who was it? Wasn't this region supposed to be Varenheim's no man's land?

---

Everyone was either settling in or crashing by the time Fia returned to the camp with a couple vials of off green liquid. She wearily wandered near where Roxas was set up. Not paying too much attention to what the elven healer was doing, Fia carefully dropped off one of the vials near her, indicating she had done so.

“Here you are, darling.” said Fia at the end of a yawn, “I hope that’s enough.” Fia left Roxas with a soft smile before she meandered to the place where she could finally lie down and rest. Fia only half listened to the others discussing a night watch. A name that was incorrect as the sun slowly rose over the horizon.

“I’m sorry, dear. I don’t think I can keep up for much longer. I trust you and them to handle it. I promise I’ll give my share next time.” Fia’s eyes were already closed, as her breathing remained steady. In no time, Fia was asleep. Probably faster than the others given the circumstances. Even the arcane eye that hovered over the carriage dimmed as though it could no longer see.