Outside Crawlinghome...Martingold is the first to formulate a plan, moving somewhat out of view of the three conversing dwarves and spends a good amount of time shifting into a convincing dwarf corpse, complete with claw marks, rent flesh and other such things, while
Viri observes from the shadows. After getting himself into order, he lets out a very convincing yell.
"HELP! OH GOD PLEASE HELP, I'M BEING ATTACKED!" he screams in what he imagines is a dwarf-like fashion, which ought to attract attention - and indeed it does, as two of the dwarves run on over in short order, followed immediately by the third who seems to have paused to grab a wood axe for defense. They take a quick look at Martingold, then at the surrounding area.
"Who's that?" asks a long-haired, yet short-bearded dwarf, pointing at the corpse. "Do any of you know him?"
"Nope," says another, clean shaven dwarf. "New arrival?"
"Keep an eye out. Something attacked him," says the dwarf with the axe, considerably older than the other two, keeping alert at her surroundings.
Just then, Viri springs out to help, jogging toward the group. The sight of a human around Crawlinghome is reasonably unusual, it seems, considering their reaction.
"I am a healer. Let me help. If I can-" she begins to say as she runs, but the older dwarf steps forward and lifts her axe in preparation for a good strike, which Viri wisely takes as an indication to pause in her approach.
"Hold up!" she barks at Viri. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The other two dwarves appear to be checking the corpse, though their attention also squarely rests on Viri, with only the occasional glance in Martingold's direction.
At the gates of Crawlinghome...Rev, having taken the shape of what, after finding
Whiskers to be an unhelpful source on these matters (it having been several years or perhaps even decades by this point since he's seen a cat), really does look a lot more like a rather hairy wildcat, has by this time gotten to the main gates of the walled-off village, which, while currently closed, still appear to have enough space under them for a reasonably-sized cat to squeeze through, coming through on the other side, where he gets a good look at the village center.
The village, similarly to the outside of it, has a bunch of pyramidal buildings within it, with various things painted on their sides - looks like some sort of script, though not one that Rev himself could possibly read. A few dwarves seem to be walking around, some carrying things, some in a clear rush, and a few more seemingly going on an evening stroll. Most don't pay him more than a slight glance as he saunters into town, clearly underestimating the danger of stray cats, of which there appear to be several aside from Rev. Looking at them is somewhat informative, as it makes him feel a tad out of place, being a bit larger, chunkier and hairier than any of them.
The white thing, he discovers, turns out to be a giant, scaly puffball placed smack dab in the middle of the village, perhaps even built around it. He's never seen a puffball that size, truth be told. Might be some kind of dwarven crop? Can't really tell what it does aside from look unusual, but it does seem significant - after all, why else would it be here?
Anyway, there's no shortage of places to explore here, even if Rev has only the very vaguest of notions what any of these buildings might be.
In an inconspicuous location outside Crawlinghome...Faer, not feeling very proactive at the moment, has instead camped out in a tree, getting a good look at the surrounding area. First off, he watches Rev saunter off toward the gates, and judging by the lack of commotion he appears to have got in just fine.
Judging by the distinct commotion in Martingold's area, though, it looks like his plan might be working to some degree as well, though the dwarves seem a bit suspicious of Viri. Interestingly, none of the other dwarves in the area (presumably still within their pyramidal farmhouses) appear to have responded to Martingold's cry for help. Perhaps they didn't quite hear it, or are indeed indifferent to the plight of their fellow dwarf. Or maybe they just know better than to respond from calls coming from the nearby woods.
Point is, this area doesn't seem terribly friendly.
((I can't believe I didn't even notice this being put up. Darn. Waitlist?))
Certainly. But you'll need to put up a character to get into the waitlist. Might take you a while to be incorporated into the game, but probably less than you'd think.
Author
Topic: Outfoxed - Chapter 1: A Sense of Direction (Read 14654 times)