Well, if he un-tinies the bucket, and fills it with sand, he can tiny it again and it will become {1 bucket of sand}.

That makes both more and less intuitive sense than if it had behaved like rock. Very convenient not needing a to lug the full-sized bucket, though. Can he also get a bucket of river water, and does he see any plum trees about?

He can totally get {1 bucket of water}, and that might be a tree-shaped silhouette over thataway in the desert, in the direction of the ominous hill.

A round jellylike blob hops toward them from the desert. It's a pale, slightly sparkly golden yellow that blends in with the sand around it. {sandy slime,} the forest spirit identifies. {is monster, but reactive monster. only try to hurt you if you touch it. can get gel from slime, make torch!}

"Gosh that's pretty. But last time I tried to get gel I exploded the slime, so, yeah." He gives it plenty of space and tries making a small cactus-wood wall to see if it has spines or what.

A cactus-wood Thin Wall is spineless, but a cactus-wood Thick Wall has spines on one side, and he can choose which orientation he would like to place it in. Both versions are a pleasant shade of green and have a smooth cactusy texture on their non-spiny parts.

Well, file that one under Awesome But Impractical. He attempts to estimate the length of the spines, and to break one of them off.

The spines are a few inches long, roughly the size of pine needles although considerably sturdier, and when he breaks one off he has a broken-off cactus spine.

If he finds something to use for ink and something to use for paper, he could attach this to a stick and make a pretty decent pen. It would work even better on a clay tablet; when he gets back to base he should mix water and dirt and see what he gets. But first he wants to get plums, from the plum tree farthest from the creepy shadow zone.

The plum tree farthest from the creepy shadow zone has pretty purple leaves and small dark fruit. Intermittent howling noises can be heard faintly from the south, but nothing comes out of the shadow zone to bother him.

"Will plum trees grow in the forest?" he asks, "Or only in the desert?"

{if can plant tree, tree can grow! plum tree grow in forest.}

"Nice!" In that case, he will go just a bit closer to the spooky sector and cut down another plum tree for its seed(s), plus a stock of tiny plums.

The tiny plums are so round.

The spooky sector is definitely making noises which one could describe as screaming.

Also there's movement from that direction.

Nope nope nope back away slowly while trying to see what the movement is.

It's...

A slime! An inky black slime.

"Is this one also reactive or is it going to come at me?"

{all slime is reactive,} the spirit assures him. {problem if nightmare see you though.}

"Then I am going to offski." He offskis.

This is probably wise. The forest spirit balances on his shoulder, looking back nervously at the shadow zone.

{oh dear...} it says. {nightmare coming!}

And indeed, if he looks back, there is a long snaky shadow flowing across the landscape toward them. It has an oddly shaped head, a hard-edged silhouette suggestive of armor plating, and an uncomfortable overabundance of legs.

"Ohhhhh shit. I don't think I can outrun that thing." He puts the spirit down. "Will it go after you if you run for it and I stay here?" he asks, eyes locked on the nightmare.

{am not abandon friend!} it says, stamping its tiny pointy foot. {friend fight monster, i help!}

The nightmare is getting closer. Its surfaces are a uniform glossy black colour with purplish undertones, except for the two vertical rows of deep, lightless, faintly smoking pits in its face, which are arranged more or less where and how one might expect eyes. Speaking of its face, it looks sort of like a spider, except that someone apparently got confused about how many chelicerae a spider is supposed to have and put in three extra pairs, then filled the resulting maw with a really excessive quantity of glossy black teeth. There's a tongue in there, forked and flickering like a snake's. It is also covered in teeth. The amount of teeth going on here is downright unreasonable.

Bruce is filled, somehow, with even more affection for the spirit. Whether or not they can help fight, that's amazingly gutsy for someone so small. Bruce grabs his stone pickaxe and tries to look menacing, on the theory that it's supposed to work with bobcats.

The nightmare does not seem appreciably menaced.

The forest spirit digs in the sand with a tiny pointy arm, somehow comes up with a little ball of sand not much bigger than a golf ball, and flings it at the nightmare with all the force its round little body can muster. The sandball splatters on the nightmare with a gentle paff, and a little gets in its eyes, disorienting it momentarily. While it pauses and shakes its head to clear away the sand, the forest spirit readies and heaves another sandball.

Bruce wishes he was Gordon Freeman and flails wildly at the nightmare with his pickaxe, trying to stab it in the eyeball while it's distracted.

It flails back at him. None of its feet are quite the same design as any of the rest of its feet, but they are all sharp. With the spirit distracting it, though, he manages to get a few good hits in before it lands one. Good thing he's wearing that wooden armor; the creature's claw sticks in the wood, and he won't have more than a bad bruise on his arm.

The forest spirit's aim is improving with practice. Between that and Bruce's pickaxe, the nightmare is running out of unobstructed eyes. They might actually win this fight!