The Ghostly Six, Zark, and Ezel appeared confused. "Where are you going, chief?"
Frank exined, "One of the ingredients isn''t avable in apothecaries. I have to harvest it myself—the rest of you, stay and guard Faust. I''m pretty sure this is a diversion!"
Ezel, Zark, and the Ghostly Six all nodded repeatedly.
-
Frank arrived beneath Mount Statera three hourster.
The lunarise root that he was searching for grew over three thousand feet above
sea level and also required humidity and sufficient sunlight.
It just so happened that Frank had seen such spots when he climbed Mount
Statera before, and he thought he could try his luck.
He found some soon enough, and plucked one, roots and all.
With that done, he took to the skies and suddenly noticed the moving trails of shlights halfway up the mountain.
He saw that they were rangers upon a closer look, and each of them were bracing against the freezing cold to climb toward the peak.
Curious, Franknded and asked them, "Are you here to pick up litter? It''s the dead of night, and I don''t see any of you bringing trash bags either!"
The rangers were startled and needed a moment topose themselves. Their chief was a big man, who snorted. "Ugh, don''t even get me started."
"You''re right that we''re not here to pick up litter-we''re trying to track down a group of college students who went off-trail up here. To put it harshly, would anyone visit this ce if people died here?
"That''s why we have no choice but to brace the cold to see if we can run into them!"
Frank nodded in understanding. "Well, how''d you know that an entire group went off-trail?"
The chief ranger replied, "I''m sure you know how cell signals fluctuate up here in the mountains. It just so happens that they attempted a distress call when they got a signal."
Then, staring at Frank in uncertainty, he added, "The same goes for you, brother. The winds up here can get violent-you should get off the mountain yourself instead of going up."
Frank chuckled. "I''m sure I''ll be fine in yourpany! And I coincidentally happen to be a professional hiker too, so I won''t have any issues with situations like this
one.
"I just happen to have some time to spare as well, so why don''t Ie along?"
The chief ranger thought about it, but having a professional would definitely help matters.
Nodding, he said, "Sure, but since you''re not an official member of the crew, you should prioritize your safety.
"This might be jinxing it, but don''t worry about us at all if things go awry. Run as far as you can!"
Frank smiled and nodded, but he did not agree in his mind.
Who was he kidding? Would everyone not be fine with him around?
In fact, he stayed expressly to protect these rangers!
They continued up the mountain while chatting but found the group of college students in front of a cave soon enough.
Contrary to the look of despair they had expected to see, the college students were all clearly here to camp. In fact, they had set up tents and were singing and dancing as they admired the view!
Furious, the chief ranger strode up to them and bellowed, "Are you kids crazy? Camping in the dead of night instead of heading home?! Don''t you know how far the temperatures can drop up here?! You''d freeze to deathe midnight!"
A tall girl strode up from the group of college students, snorting. "Could you not jinx this for us? Did your mother never teach you manners? Also, we have a bonfire and tents. How would we freeze to death?"
The chief ranger sighed in
exasperation. "Oh my lord... Can you put a fire in a tent? And your tents aren''t fireproof or
1.n
weatherproof-there have been others who have either died freezing in tents or burned themselves with
it!
"Also, if you''re so sure you''re going to make camp, why make a distress call? Are
we your circus monkeys or something?!"
The girl remainedpletely unrepentant, standing akimbo as she snapped, "Did we ask you toe?"