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>>43760498

Your servant spent some time holding you up and telling you her name was Sera more times than necessary, to which you responded by prodding her on the cheek, but otherwise the past half hour or so has been rather cooperative to lazing about.

That strikes you as strange, actually. These people have fled here to get away from a raid, and they haven’t made much distance. You did hear quite a bit of discussion between the trio of adult voices, and you think the uninjured guard left for a while, but it’s only now that they decided to get moving again; you can hear the older woman urging the children to get up.

Perhaps it’s time to be a little productive.

>

[ ] [Scout NE] Check out the direction you’re heading in.
[ ] [Scout NW] Make sure you’re actually getting away from the attack.
[ ] [Scout SW] You’re a little afraid of being ambushed; it’s happened once already.
[ ] [Snooze] Five more minutes...

>>43760529
>[ ] [Scout SW] You’re a little afraid of being ambushed; it’s happened once already.

>>43760529
>[ ] [Scout SW] You’re a little afraid of being ambushed; it’s happened once already.

>>43760498
Oooh yay you're back!

>>43760529
>[ ] [Scout SW] You’re a little afraid of being ambushed; it’s happened once already.

>>43760529
>[ ] [Scout SW] You’re a little afraid of being ambushed; it’s happened once already.

>>43760540
>>43760571
>>43760652
>>43760702
(Looks like we're headed SW. Writing.)

>>43760652
(Yup! Last time was fun, ended up pretty eager.)

So we're a no-flame charmander with a personality of a cat

>>43760752
That sounds adorable.

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Thinking about it, you actually don’t have much of a clue where you are in relation to, well, everything else. You know the Realm, your birthplace and where most of the Wild like to live, lies to the west, and somewhere east is some really big mountain of a significance that you really didn’t pay any attention to, but otherwise you know nothing of your own location.

Hasn’t mattered in the past, but it might now.

You’ve been steadily moving away from the Realm for a few months, but you think now the pace will pick up. Not that you have any desire to go back, but the more colourful, almost chaotic flora there had its own charms.

Considering the abnormal size and timing of the raid, you have a feeling that wasn’t the end. You decide to take a look towards the south-west, as even if you find nothing, you’ll at least confirm the direction the scary, killy things are coming from.

>>43761242

You hop off your servant’s lap and nuzzle her hand in what you hope is a reassuring manner, before moving off and hopping up a tree, swapping out your colour to a pattern of greens and browns. You catch her glancing your direction before the group is out of sight.

The ground level is thick with deep green undergrowth, more than enough to hide you, but if you’re going to look around it’d be best to get some height. Plus, the low canopy level is plenty thick as well, so there’s rarely any difficult jumps, and people, human or Wild, don't tend to look up.

You spend a fair bit of time hopping between branches, stopping to scan around you as best you can, the thick tree trunks hampering the task despite your vantage points. Eventually, though, you hear the snapping and crackling sounds of leaves and twigs underfoot, and turn to see the borders of a large collection (probably a fair bit more than a dozen, though it’s difficult to count from here) of short, humanoid figures with reptilian features...- oh.

Kobolds.

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>>43761287

You turn your scales back to their usual light brown and hop down, finding the thick root of a nearby tree to sit on, a few of them regarding you with an expression of mild surprise. You raise your right (sheathed) claw as one approaches, various wooden and stone implements clanging on his large leather pack.

‘Sup.

He returns the gesture, and speaks in their typical slow, croaky, somewhat high pitched voice. “What brings you here, scaled one?”

>

[ ] [Write-in: Questions] Ask them something… or try to.

> And before you head back…

[ ] [Fruit] Find something to eat.
[ ] [Nice lizard] Find something to eat, and share it with Sera [0 - 75%].

>>43761330
>Goblins attacked, any safe ways or human settelments nearby?
[ ] [Nice lizard] Find something to eat, and share it with Sera [50%].

>>43760752

(Hahah, an incredibly apt description.)

>>43761330
>What are they doing here?
>[ ] [Nice lizard] Find something to eat, and share it with Sera [0 - 75%].

>>43761355
>>43761475

(Goin' with it.)

You pause. You don’t seem to have very good vocal cords for the whole communication thing, but Wildtongue tends to be much less complicated than whatever the humans speak. Still, you fish around your head for some simple things you could ask, and prepare to make miscellaneous grunting noises.

You gesture to the large group of kobolds.

“We’re fleeing, scaled one. We have heard of colonies being attacked, and we would have us avoid the same fate.”

You tilt your head, trying to prompt for more.

“Goblins. Fighting to capture, too. Strange.”

Strange, indeed. You do remember seeing the human guards holding up small clubs taken from the goblins they had fought; unusual, considering their preference for spears, bladed weapons, and bows.

You make a soft growling noise, point to the north-east, and the kobold shakes his head.

“Humans there. Not fond of our kind. We move to another colony. Away from Realm. Away from humans.”

… Guess that’s good enough.

You nod, and the kobold turns and bids you farewell as you hop back up onto a branch in the lower forest canopy. You do think to look for something to eat, deciding to share some with Sera as a reward for her help in the earlier fight, and come across a nice, round red fruit, hanging from a vine that seems to be connected to a large plant nearby.

It smells really good.

You jump nimbly, pulling the fruit level with your branch, but the stupid thing feels like it’s practically glued onto the stupid vine. You keep trying, frustrated, but you can’t get it to separate no matter how much you yank, so you jump on it to try snap it off with your weight-

And then it lifts up, taking you with it.

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>>43762102

A sleepy, musical voice comes from the nearby plant.

“Hello.”

You look at the Wild.

“Do you want that?”

You nod tentatively.

The fruit detaches from the vine, and you fall onto a second, larger of the green rope-like appendages before it lets you down back onto the branch under you.

“Okay.”

>

[ ] [Say/do something?]
[ ] [Welp, thanks]

>>43762124
[ ] [Say/do something?]
Uh hii what're you? Can you help me and my human ?

>>43762124
>Say/do something?]
give a little bow as you thank it

>>43762124
>Thanks

(It's a bit slower today. Should I let voting go on longer or shorter than normal?)

>>43762198
>>43762200
>>43762237

(Writin'.)

You keep a paw on the fruit, and nod in thanks.

She stares at you, and there’s a strange pause before you make a soft sound and lift a paw to point at the Wild.

“Me? I’m Fenora.”

... That wasn’t what you wanted to know. You try to gesture north-east, where your group should be, and then start making wilder, aggressive gestures and growls when she tilts her head in confusion, and point to the west.

“Angry people are doing angry things from that direction?”

... Good enough. You nod, and a vine comes down to settle softly on your head, rustling to and fro before retreating back again.

“Okay. Thank you, little lizard thing.”

And that’s all you get before the large plant bulb closes, hiding the girl from sight.

Well then.

>>43763067

You head back, the return a bit awkward with your arms mostly occupied ferrying the plant Wild’s small red present. You consider yourself a pretty capable fruit smuggler though, alternating between careful tail-work to keep yourself balanced as you hop about, and rolling the thing on the ground where terrain allows. It obviously takes quite a lot longer than your first trip, but eventually a familiar group of people come into view.

Giving the timing another thought, it’s quite clear that their progress is much slower than what you’d be comfortable with, though your surprise and confusion disappears pretty quickly when you consider the thick forest undergrowth, injured guard, and moody children. To some extent, they’re all relying on a little good fortune to see them out the area without harm.

You meet up with Sera, who smiles brightly as she notices your approach. You stare at her until she picks you up, which doesn’t take long. You press the fruit into her hand and climb onto her shoulder before unsheathing a claw to slice it in half, prompting a soft gasp of surprise. Ignoring curious looks and youthful chatter, what follows is a few minutes of bliss as you devour the Wild’s fruit, savouring its cold, snow-like flesh and mildly sweet, relaxing taste.

>>43762335
having a twitter feed would help speed things up, you said you'd be trying for monday or late sunday, not saturday, still happy to see you though.

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>>43763106

You rest a while, staying put as your servant’s soft, shoulder-length auburn hair keeps you warm, before hopping back up into the trees, matching the group’s speed. Arguably justifiable as it is, the slower pace does frustrate you, and you think it takes most of the day before the trees and green undergrowth of the forest starts to lessen. Everyone seems understandably restless, mirroring your own emotions.

The forest canopy thins to reveal a red sky, hints of twilight chasing the evening sun. You start to see stumps, cut clean by metal tools, and the tree trunks part to a grassy plains stretching off into the distance. A rather wide dirt road runs almost perpendicular to your direction, and you all see four large, horse-drawn wagons with cloth coverings stopped on the far side of the path. They’re surrounded by a collection of people, a much greater number than your own, and there is a defeated, wounded atmosphere that hangs over their quiet bustle of activity.

As your group nears the caravan, you start to consider your approach more carefully. On one hand, you would rather not have to stay hidden at a distance for the time Sera is with them, though you don’t know for how long that would be. Maybe staying with your current company would give those people more time to become used to you.

On the other hand, though your own bunch of humans didn’t react poorly, you are still a Wild. And you think you can guess what’s responsible for the caravan’s despondent atmosphere.

> What do you do?

[ ] [Stick around] Just have your servant carry you in.
[ ] [May as well] You don’t need to go far. Find a nice rock or something.
[ ] [Other?]

>>43763136

(Thanks.
And I do have a twitter! @boxofmithril
Also it's Sunday for me, hahah.)

>>43763217
>@boxofmithril
Oh, you're one of those damn commie europeans aren't you?

>>43763163
[ ] [May as well] You don’t need to go far. Find a nice rock or something.

I'm holding off voting until other people catch up reading, chances are they're switching between multiple tabs and are catching up.

>>43763226

(Hah, nope. I hail from 'straya, where everything's either venomous or a dropbear.)

>>43763163
[ ] [Stick around] Just have your servant carry you in.

What could possibly go wrong?

>>43763163
[ ] [Stick around] Just have your servant carry you in.

>>43763163
[ ] [May as well] You don’t need to go far. Find a nice rock or something.

>>43763253
>>43763272
>>43763366
>>43763521

(Oh boy.)

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>43763603
Roll

>>43763163
>[ ] [Stick around] Just have your servant carry you in.

>>43763616

(Hahah, I can just take that as [Stick around], right? Writin')

>>43763648
>>43763656

(Oh, pfft.)

>>43763676
You know, for a first timer you definitely are better at this than most people, including me were.

The uninjured guard moves forward and is greeted with a word and tired smile by a woman wearing a green dress, seeming somewhat not practical for travelling. It takes about five seconds for the conversation to turn to you, and you’re regarded with suspicious eyes. The older woman of your bunch, Merila, you think, speaks out first.

“Seidaiul'mu saerul laanresu, ir'ir hesnresu. Aid'os raisr'ir raicailr fasuna ani faraiaya.”

Yes, agreed, whatever the hell that means, you think as Sera lifts you up in her hands towards the woman in green. You figure this is where you should declare your awesomeness, and the honour they have in being in your presence, so you give her a majestic roar.

The woman pauses, then nods, seemingly satisfied, and your servant hugs you tightly and giggles quietly, for reasons you can't quite fathom.

>>43764108

Taking a look around as you lose interest in the conversation between adults, you see signs of conflict: gashes and broken-off arrows in the wood of the wagons; guards or fighters of sorts in leather, holding weapons and nervous eyes; people with strips of cloth wrapped around wounds, doing little to hide their stress and fatigue.

Your attention turns back to the guard and woman as their frustration begins to show. The guard gestures with his hands, his tone both pleading and agitated, and the woman replies with frayed patience and taut tongue, arms folded across her chest. You catch a lot of negatives and a few words, including ‘travel’, ‘wounds’, ‘Wild’, and ‘capture’.

You glance up and see Sera looking doubtful, turning to visible distress at that last word, but her eyes light up when she turns away to the left and catches the figures exiting the forest.

“Nerdas nasrail!”

Despite having only spent a few hours together, you feel like it’s been some time since you heard that kind of energetic joy in her voice. Heads turn towards the figures and you spot a familiar grey-haired old man, accompanied by a handful of men and women, looking just as tired as the people of the caravan, but smiling nonetheless. You catch the woman in green shutting her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose before Sera pads her way across the field, taking you with her.

They converse, concern quickly filling her tone as she notices her former master’s many injuries. It takes a fair bit of reassuring to calm her worried mood, and it’s somewhat abated when the old man hands her a leather-bound tome withdrawn from a pack by his side, complete with a portable ink well and quill case.

>>43764125

It doesn’t take too long afterwards for your group to join the caravan. You note the old man presenting his own spellbook for the green lady to touch with her hand works as a strong argument; spent as it probably is from whatever crazy crap he had to deal with, you can still feel the thing from here.

>

[ ] [Chill] It’s been a long day. Stay with Sera, take it slow.
[ ] [Lurk] You might catch a thing or two if you move about the caravan. See what you can hear.

>>43764155
>get to know the old man

>>43764155
[ ] [Lurk] You might catch a thing or two if you move about the caravan. See what you can hear.

>>43764155
[ ] [Chill] It’s been a long day. Stay with Sera, take it slow.
Because fuck you all 3 way tie. Also because its possible option 2 is a trap option.

>>43764155
>[ ] [Chill] It’s been a long day. Stay with Sera, take it slow.

>>43764237
(Whaaat, how could I possibly spring a trap out of that, hahahah.)

>>43764155
crawl on top of Sera's head so you can get a good vantage point so you can spot more things. Then chill up there while keeping an ear open to whoever is nearby.

>>43764155
[Lurk] You might catch a thing or two if you move about the caravan. Look for more food we can't understand human anyway

>>43764298
Do you want me to go full shadowrun mode and explain every paranoid feeIing I get or no?

>>43764189
>>43764237
>>43764261
>>43764301

(I think that counts for [Chill]. Writing.)

>>43764344
(Is it amusing? It sounds amusing. Yes.)

>>43763734
(Oh and thanks mate! Really, I don't have creative writing experience and whatever so there's not a whole lot of confidence here, so that means quite a bit!)

>>43764388
Scenerio 1: We get busted spying, they suspect we're hostile, we get lynched, our ""servants"" get lynched.

Scenerio 2: servants notice we're missing, suspicion rises about us.

Scenerio 3: Rocks fall everybody dies.

>>43764709
I fall to see what sneak around has to do with mountain giants so I think your third idea I makes no sense
(I'm trying to make a joke here)

>>43764834
And failed I uterly failed I reject everything

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Sera squirms as you climb up on top of her head, and you get a weird look from the old man. The people of the caravan seem guarded at their new arrivals, and you get more than a few glances, but your servant’s hair is fluffy and you really don’t care.

Twilight turns to dusk, and dusk to night as small cooking fires are lit around the area. A few of guards are posted around as sentries for the night, while their kinsmen focus on recovering their wounds. You see familiar faces offer help to the unfamiliar, who respond gratefully, but the mood is little improved.

At some point, Sera takes a seat with her master, who you greet with a friendly growl. You feel sluggish, and don’t pay too much attention to their conversations, but the topic of captures and abductions come up more than once. It is strange indeed, the kobolds pointed out as much, but there’s little you can make of it given what you know.

As darkness falls and stars wink into the evening sky, people start to retreat into patched cloth and leather tents, with many, including Sera and yourself, setting up places to rest in corners of empty wooden wagons. It’s clear no-one believes what they’ve faced is the end of their troubles, worries lending themselves to the uneasy air, but for the same reason their strength is needed for the morrow.

You eventually drift off to sleep, and dream of bright, cheerful, amber eyes.

>>43764969

Pitch blackness meets you when you awaken, blinking away your sleepy daze. You hear some snoring, and the quiet whispers and mutters of the sleepless. You look around and see the prone forms of the older woman, two guards, and the various tangles of the cloth blankets and limbs of the dozen children you came to the caravan with. It’s still in the middle of the night, and you feel as sluggish and tired as you expect, yet you cannot bring yourself to close your eyes again.

Because Sera is missing.

You catch sight of her small form outside, already fairly distant from the caravan, and follow her soft, padding footsteps as she walks west across the field towards the trees. There’s something different in her countenance, in the way she makes her strides; a kind of purpose you’ve yet to see. Her hands are by her sides, the book she received from her former master clutched tightly in her left.

She fails to notice you until you’ve caught up, and stops as you place yourself on the grass in her way. You look up at her, and see a hint of familiar distress, concern, and sorrow.

Most importantly, you see a certain spark of intent, held only by someone who’s about to do something very, very fucking stupid.

>

[ ] [No] Beg her to stop.
[ ] [Fuck No] You won’t let her past. No matter what.
[ ] [You can’t go alone], so I’m coming with you.

>>43765041
>[ ] [You can’t go alone], so I’m coming with you.

>>43765041
>Raise Staff, and hold the fearsome balrog off!

>>43764709

(Ha, that's actually really reasonable.
Especially #3. I've played NWN2, I know how these adventures are supposed to end.)

>>43765041
wait, she received it from him? Oh, then it's not....AS....stupid as I thought.

>you cant go alone.

>>43765041
[ ] [It's dangerous to go alone], take this.
Note: We're ''this''.

>>43765114

(The "leather-bound tome" she got >>43764125
Distinctly different from her master's spellbook, as it doesn't radiate the power of a master.

That doesn't make what she's thinking not stupid as fuck.)

>>43765174
I agree we should definitely stop her she can't fight an army

>>43765041
>[ ] [No] Beg her to stop.

So, on a meta note, do we know what we actually are? We encountered what was either a fae or a dyrad without dying horribly so clearly we're some child of the wilderness, but what the hell are we actually?

>>43765231

(Hahah, maybe I shouldn't have posted that spoiler! Might've influenced things in an unwanted way.)

>>43765302

(You're an awesome weird lizard thing! Technically, you are a Wild, which is basically a monster either from a species created ages ago, born spontaneously from the residual magic of the Realm, or a mutated regular animal or Wild from said magic. You're the second one.)

>>43765338
Nah I thought she was gonna go try to either go try to learn weird magic or get revenge on the goblin horde

>>43765403

(Uhh.....

Actually, what do people think her intention is? For future reference, so I have a better idea on handling hints and crap.)

(Oh and writing.)

>>43765054
>>43765114
>>43765136

>>43765279
>>43765090

>>43765470
A simple plot to rescue her master consisting of

Step 1: Find master

Step 2: Kill everything that gets in the way

Step 3: ????

Step 4: Profit.

>>43765519

(That's wrong, unfortunately.
>>43765231 seems to have been on the right track though.)

The book was mundane when she received it. Now, you feel from it a familiar, electrifying sense of substance. Mana.

You focus.

You can’t quite read Sera’s expression, and it’s not the dark’s fault. With an empty smile, she kneels down onto the grass, her form still more than twice as tall as yours, and places her hand softly on your head, fingers brushing down the back of your neck before withdrawing.

Every moment, your eyes are on hers, and hers on yours.

“Fraera, fesc ru.”

What are you planning, Sera.

“Ai'os runadhailr'ir nu laan.”

There’s nothing but danger in there, things that will hurt you.

You haven’t made a sound, completely incapable of conveying yourself through words. When something in her countenance cracks ever so slightly, you find yourself wishing you could.

“Ai'os ru laan. Ai’os dhan'ir harf laan.”

The crack widens, her voice showing the barest quaver.

“Ai'mu nidirr. Aill airresu, ai'os riesn’mu wusdh'ir airresu.”

You don’t have to do a damn thing, Sera. You don’t have to throw yourself into this.

“Fraera fesc ru. Nu lud... Na'ir irarlud necamun.”

You aren’t even close to useless. It’s been less than a day, and you already saved me once.

>>43766211

You can only stand as her words continue to waver, tears start to fill her eyes, and sobs start to rack her frame. You can only watch as her voice grows louder, her tone more sorrowful, and you bear witness to the invisible chains somewhere in her core; something that drags her feet forward, even as her eyes fill with hesitation and fear. Something you wish you could help with.

You don’t know a damn thing about her, do you.

Even if you did, there’s no words you can make, and there’s no saying that you could do anything to help. You wonder if this is exactly what you wanted to prevent; the responsibility that you tried to take up when you pompously declared her your servant. You wonder to yourself what would be different if you weren’t so small, or if you were human, like her.

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>>43766227

Even as doubt lingers in your thoughts, you take your steps forward and climb up onto her lap. Her tears now flow freely, and her words have given way to sobs. You reach up and touch her nose with your snout, gently pressing forward, making as calming and reassuring of a noise as you possibly can, and she responds by pulling you closer, something other than sadness in her cries.

When the two of you pull away, it comes to a surprise to neither of you when she stands, book in hand and facing the same direction as before, and follows as you move forward, leading the way through the forest.

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(And that's it!

Thanks for joining me fellas. Not too sure how things turned out, but it was fun!)

>>43766355
Thanks for running!

>>43766355
Thanks for running!

We're going to die horribly to orcs aren't we?

>>43766355
Remember to archive, also you may want to consider doing so early into the thread, as trolls have been known to intentionally write inflammatory, offensive, or flat out incorrect archivals.

>>43766355
Also things have turned out well so far, I have no complaints.

I'm figuring out whether I still have silly amounts of free time, but I'll probably run this thing again in 5 or 6 days. It'll be announced at @boxofmithril.

>>43766479
Possibly!

>>43766495
Done, can be found at that link in the OP.

>>43766707
Ah, I meant the bit of confusion round the end. Thanks though.

>>43766760
look forward to your next run the mithril loving the story so far.

>>43766298
Dawwww