Eugene and Rapunzel rush over to where the caravan was, but Adira stops them. "Both of you, back up! That's a land pit. They're scattered all over the forest. The horses and the camper are likely in another section of the woods now."
"But that shouldn't physically be possible," Varian says, amazed and terrified at the same time.
"Alright, alright," Eugene says, holding his hands up. "Listen up, everyone. There's no reason to be scared. We're gonna find Max and Fidella, and get the heck outta this place in no time."
"We'd better hope no one else finds the caravan before we do," Varian says. "I've got a lot of dangerous materials in there."
"Why would you even bring stuff like that?" Hook Foot asks.
"I'm an alchemist! It's what I do," Varian replies with a shrug.
"Come on," Eugene tells everyone. "Follow my lead!"
Everyone begins to follow Eugene, but Varian takes another look at the dagger in the hand of the skeleton. Seeing those bones creeps him out, but he wonders if the dagger might not come in handy someday... Especially since Cassandra won't let him have his own weapon to protect himself. And they come across a lot of things they need to protect themselves from on this journey. He can't always rely on one of the others to be around to save him, or even his alchemy.
He approaches the skeleton slowly, gets as close as he dares, and stretches to reach the knife. As he does this, he accidentally knocks his knee against the skeleton's other arm, causing it to move like it's reaching out for him. Startled, he jumps backward and falls to the ground.
Ruddiger bounds over to the skeleton, and easily snatches the dagger. He scurries over to Varian, who heaves a sigh of relief.
"Thanks buddy," Varian says, taking the dagger and giving his raccoon a pat. He then pockets the dagger, and runs off to catch up with the others.
As they continue through the forest, they face many obstacles. They come across a tall cliff that must be climbed. Eugene, of course, volunteers and begins to climb, with a rope tied around his waist that he can drop for the others once he gets to the top. But as he struggles to climb, Adira shoots an arrow up to the top with a rope attached to it. The rope pops open into a ladder, and the others climb it with ease. Rapunzel even waves to Eugene as she passes, but he slips and falls all the way back down to the bottom. He refuses to climb Adira's ladder, so instead Rapunzel lets down her hair for him and pulls him up.
Later, it begins to storm. As the rain pours down, soaking them, Varian wishes more than ever that they hadn't lost the dry caravan.
"Everyone, over here!" Eugene says, standing under an abnormally large flower. The others comply, and try to huddle under the flower, but they still don't all quite fit under it. The only good part about it for Varian is that he has an excuse to stand closer to Cassandra.
Adira suddenly slices off a bunch of branches from the surrounding trees, then uses them and their giant leaves to create a much larger shelter. The others rush underneath it eagerly, as the flower dumps over from the weight of the rain and pours water all over Eugene.
When the rain finally stops, Eugene and Adira head up the group. Varian is doing his best to keep up with the rest, but he is quickly losing stamina. Ruddiger climbs onto his shoulder, and taps him on the head. Varian believes his raccoon is trying to comfort him.
"I'll be okay buddy," Varian tells him. But then he sees Ruddiger pointing up, and realizes the raccoon is trying to warn him. Before Varian can react, a strange vine drops down from the trees and wraps around him. He stiffens up, unable to move. "Help!" He screams, but he discovers that everyone else except for Eugene and Adira have been trapped in the vines too.
Eugene and Adira hear their screams, and Eugene rushes to help. "Rapunzel!" He shouts worriedly as everyone struggles to get free of the vines.
"The secret to escaping is to relax," Adira says calmly, as Eugene tries to cut Rapunzel free with his sword. "Reacting only tightens their grip."
The others give it a try, and as they allow themselves to relax the vines slip off of them and they are freed. But Eugene continues to strike at the vines holding Rapunzel captive, which is still proving unsuccessful.
"Alright gang, time to fuel up!" Adira says, leading the others away. But Varian stays to make sure Rapunzel gets free.
"Why! Won't! These! Stupid! Vines! Cut!" Eugene shouts, striking the vines with more urgency. Varian just shakes his head.
"Uhh... How much longer, Eugene?" Rapunzel asks.
"Don't think of it as longer, think of it as better," Eugene replies.
"Just relax like Adira said, Rapunzel," Varian says.
Rapunzel begins to do so, but Eugene says, "Would you please avoid relaxing? I'm really tryin' to save face here." He then continues swinging his sword, grumbling to himself. "Stupid Adira and her relaxing vines!"
Rapunzel sighs, then waits until Eugene wears himself out. When he finally quits hitting the vines, she relaxes herself and the vines release her. Eugene just scowls as he follows her and Varian to catch up with the others.
Much to Varian's relief, they finally stop walking and make camp. They build a fire and sit around it, staring into the almost hypnotic flames as Adira makes supper.
"Just when I thought it wasn't possible to like you more, you go and make this delectable blackberry salad!" Lance says to Adira.
"Mmm!" Rapunzel moans happily. "The roasted trout is fantastic! And, Pascal loves his spiced fly medley." The chameleon munches happily on his meal.
"Yeah, well, the cobbler's salty. I'm gonna go extract some drinking water from that tree over there," Eugene grumbles, standing up.
He's the one that's salty, Varian thinks, enjoying his food. This cobbler's delicious!
"That's damaging to the tree, Fish Skin," Adira tells Eugene. "Try cutting a notch in one of those water-bearing vines instead."
Eugene sighs as he walks away from the rest of the group and sits down on what appears to be a giant mushroom.
"This is the best Gouda I've ever had!" Hook Foot exclaims. "It's—It's a taste explosion!"
"You know, I always say... Never leave home without hard cheese," Adira says.
Suddenly, a mouth reveals itself on the 'mushroom' Eugene is sitting on. It opens up wide, then closes around him. He screams as the 'mushroom' begins to hop around happily. Varian has never seen anything like it.
"Oh and, uh, by the way... Watch out for the pup-shrooms!" Adira says.
"Are you kidding me?!" Eugene screams from inside the pup-shroom.
Rapunzel gasps as the pup-shroom finally spits Eugene out, and hops away barking like a dog. She helps him up, and despite being covered in green goo and looking absolutely traumatized, he seems none the worse for wear. Uninterested in the others' conversation, Varian decides to eavesdrop on Rapunzel and Eugene's.
"Eugene, I think it's time that you give Adira a chance," Rapunzel advises him. "She's done this before. She can lead us out of here! It's not your fault you took the wrong way and lost the camper. Everyone still thinks—"
"We'd be lost without you, Adira!" Lance suddenly says.
"You're the king of the wild!" Hook Foot adds.
"What aren't you good at?" Lance asks. "Maybe somebody should take some notes! Eugene, you got a pad on you?"
No, he has goo on him... Varian thinks.
Eugene grits his teeth. "I'll handle this," he says. He stomps back over to the rest of the group, and jerks the cheese out of Hook Foot's hand.
"Hey, my Gouda!" Hook Foot protests.
"Break's over, everybody," Eugene says, throwing the cheese into the fire. "We've got a forest to conquer."
Everyone grumbles. "You've gotta be kidding!" Varian complains.
But unfortunately, Eugene is not kidding. They all pack up their things, and continue trekking through the forest.