Chapter Text
There was a wide trench that had been dug around a large tree. It was about nine feet deep by about twelve feet wide, and there were a dozen yards or so between the tree and the trench. Thick branches jutted out of the bottom and sides of the trench, painstakingly sharpened to points. Gallons of gasoline had gone into coating the trench to get a good soupy mix going. They didn't have vehicles and this was as good of a use for gasoline as any.
Given the time frame that they'd been working with, most of the outbound teams were pulled off of their various runs to prep the raving grounds. They'd hastily planted sharpened branches around the trench, as well as repurposing gasoline to make the site flammable.
It was collectively known as the raving grounds by the Treeline settlement for the simple reason that whoever was stationed in the tree was often accompanied by a boombox, and something loud, vibrant, and catchy.
If there were Inferi in the vicinity, they'd be drawn to them.
They heard them long before they saw them, an eerie roar of groaning and bones creaking. Just like that, most of the others vanished into the treeline some distance away, leaving Harper with only a boombox and Teddy for company. "Ready to rock this party?" She asked, grinning.
She hit the play button and immediately winced when she was nearly deafened by some sort of 80's band.
Harper grinned viciously as they started to topple over the edge of the trench, straight into the waiting spikes. They groaned and hissed in protest, grasping hands reaching for her, but Harper ignored that. Instead, she bopped her head along with the music. It was shitty music, but it was still music and therefore something only experienced rarely.
Once she'd judged that a good number had fallen in, Harper picked up the jug at her side and leaned over the trench to start dousing them in it. Once finished, she murmured a fire spell and watched with glee as they went up in flames.
"You know what this needs, Teddy?" She offered thoughtfully as she sat back against the tree, "Needs some marshmallows. I've always wanted to try those s'mores things."
He crooned above her head.
Something caught her eye then, someone running straight towards her. She stood up, squinting through the Inferi that were turning towards the figure.
"Well, fuck. Why the hell would someone come running *into* a horde?" She pondered out loud, reaching for the ladder. Casually she slung it down across the chasm and took a step back. It was only a few more seconds before the person - who turned out to be a male - came trotting across.
"Brave of you, running through them like that." She observed, yanking the ladder away from the grasping hands of the Inferi.
"Thought you might need a hand."
She paused, looking over the trap that they'd set. "Nah, I think we're covered over here."
"Trapping them?"
She hummed in agreement.
"Got to, some arsehole led them this way." She answered absently, leaning the ladder back across the tree, and therefore missing his expression. "This many Inferi, it's too dangerous to wander the woods."