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[StormLord]

"No."
Friedhold answered Utzi's last question very plainly.
"Man is Man's worst enemy.  Though it occurs to me you may not yet have been introduced to the concept of agriculture."
Friedhold pauses, thinking pensively for a time before deciding on a way to describe agriculture to Utzi.
"Consider what need would a man have to hunt or gather if he has a beast that would not run from him, and plants that would grow where he commanded?"

[nuclearwhale]

"Man's worst enemy is the dark spirits that visit and bring sickness and death wherever they go. Man is not nearly as much of a threat. You can give a man a warning that they have entered your territory, and they will leave, unless they are truly desperate. You cannot do the same for a dark spirit. They will make even the mightiest hunter grow hot and die."

Utzi shakes his head. "A beast that does not run is dangerous, that usually means it has young nearby, man would have great need to hunt elsewhere if he had such a beast around. If plants were to grow on command, however, I could see how people wouldn't need to move around. But even plants flee in fear when the winter comes. A person would have to hunt the rest of the time."

[StormLord]

Friedhold scoffed.
"Dark spirits?  We killed those long ago, gave them names like bacteria, radiation, and electricity.  Bent them to our heel and inevitably used them to pursue petty squabbles."
He shifted, glancing over Utzi and looking at something past him.  His jaw twitched and pulled oddly as he thought.
"Fear is the ultimate essence of man.  It is the weapon we used to beat back nature, and our drive to do so.  But man is obsessive, and must always fear something, so that fear quickly turned back upon us.  Some tempered it, forging an unstoppable cruelty or a façade of courage in the last possible moments, most though were simply consumed by it."

[nuclearwhale]

Utzi listens intently. "So you mean to tell me that people managed to stop the dark spirits and then moved on to kill one another for lack of anything better to do? That is... disappointing."

Shaking his head, the caveman glances downward. "Is man truly so weak that they must fight something even with the dark spirits gone? To forget the power of our enemy to the point where man must instead fight man... the power of the Dark Spirits must  have been removed a very long time ago indeed."

[StormLord]

Friedhold shrugged, breaking out of whatever state he'd been in.
"Perhaps your world will fair better than my own.  It is still young, and I have no reason to return to my own."

[nuclearwhale]

Utzi shrugs. "Perhaps. I have been gone from my world for a very long time, however. I do not know what it is like now."

[StormLord]

"I believe now that I have eaten and introduced you to our own hell, I am going to find somewhere to rest."
Friedhold leaves the Ballroom for the Throne Hall

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto enters the ballroom.

The doors to the ballroom opened slowly as something from just beyond them audibly sniffed at the air. Apparently liking what it smelled, the creature peeked its head in. Then it's whole body. A young woman dressed in what looked to be summer clothes, looking completely human save for the... dog ears and tail attached to her. A tail that wagged as she gazed around at the expansive hall. Even in its state of disrepair, the remnants of its old decorum were still impressive (in their sheer scale, if not in the interior design choices at least). It was enough to briefly distract for why she'd wandered in here in the first place.

And distract her from the other denizen already there.

[nuclearwhale]

Utzi hears the sharp inhale of a beast tracking down something's scent, and reaches behind himself to grab his darts, before his eyes settle on the new face that had entered the room, and he allows his hand to settle at his side. The canine features of the new guest were worrying, as wolves were dangerous creatures, not to be trusted, but the other wolf-person had already taught him how to recognize the strange, story-telling drawings, so perhaps there was nothing to worry about. Clearing his throat to let the clearly distracted wolf-girl take notice of him, Utzi speaks. "Are you looking for something to eat? I have some cooked Aurochs that I can give you."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Utzi
The hund could hardly contain her elation at the offer of food. She didn't even know this man, or what an Auroch was, but it smelled great and she really didn't care. Her tail wagging increased tenfold but soon slowed as she reigned herself back in.
    No... gotta... stay in control. I didn't even notice him here, I was so hungry... how long has it been since I last...?
    She tried to recall, but... couldn't. Surely it hadn't  been that long. Though... last she could remember, she'd been lost for a few days. Ah, thats right yes. Somewhere in the mountains. North of Cannibra, had to be. Thick fog and heavy rain had rolled in for days and made it near impossible to find her way around. Had apparently scared off all the wildlife too, because she'd found nothing to hunt. Not even a scent. She swore she kept seeing something in the fog though, but every time she tried to clamp her jaws down on it's throat, she'd just end up with a mouthful of dirt. Strange...

"Oh, uh, hi there!" She waved, trying to play off the fact that she had completely missed the short man standing there. "If you're offering a free meal, then sure, I'd love something to eat right now. But before all that, I'm Ehto, just got here. What's your name?"

[nuclearwhale]

Etho, Utzi
Utzi smiles with perhaps a little bit too much relief as Ehto confirms she isn't about to attempt to maul him to death and eat him. Holding out a handful of steak, the caveman responds to her question. "I am Utzi. I am also new to this strange land."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Utzi
Utzi's excess of relief was rivalled, if not surpassed, by Ehto's excess of enthusiasm as she took the proffered steak and effortlessly tore into it. Quite literally, given the massive chunk missing out the morsel. Utzi might note the glimpses of gleaming sliver in her mouth as she chewed. If she even chewed at all. She downed the chunk so fast it was hard to tell honestly.
   "Utzi, huh? Ut-zi Ut...zi..." She tested out each syllable in between bites. Within moments the whole steak had vanished. "Got a nice ring to it. What's it like where you're from? You look a bit... uh...I'm not even sure. Those are pelts you're wearing, right? And that steak just now was pretty good. I'm guessing you're some type of hunter?"

[nuclearwhale]

Ehto, Utzi
Utzi shakes his head, as he glances down at his now-empty hand in an emotion somewhere between respect and amazement. "I am a hunter, but I am ashamed to say I did not bring down this Auroch. A strange raven gave this to me. I have not seen anything to hunt since I arrived, so if you see a smart bird, be sure to thank it. Just... hide anything it might want to steal first."

Utzi furrows his brow as he ponders how to respond to the other question.

"I am from the land northwest of Alpeak. Most of the year it is a fertile place, full of beasts to hunt. When the weather gets colder, we travel south past Alpeak to attempt to stay where there are more things to eat. In the winter, this usually means we hunt Mammoth." Utzi gestures to his cloak. "They are large beasts. As tall as two men, and as heavy as many more. Their pelts are warm and their flesh hearty and filling."

Utzi closes his eyes in happiness as he imagines chewing happily on a nice slab of mammoth flank, before snapping back to reality and glancing back at Ehto.
"What about you? Where do you come from?"

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Utzi
"Oh, a bird made this... huh, not that surprised. Sounds pretty interesting where you're from then. It's always nice to have big game to hunt." She briefly imagined what it would be like to take down a bear in its prime again. Strong, lean, with plenty of meat on it. They were the largest land creatures to be found back home in most places, at least... the largest non-magical ones. But she reminded herself that she had literally just been given food and that it was time to start exerting a bit more discipline.
   "Well, it's only fair that I return the gesture so... I come from a castle, where I live with the rest of my family. Its kinda similar to this one, but uh... better maintained. A lot better. Might be bigger too. We've got a bunch of subterranean levels with all sorts of weird stuff left in there. Father always told us to never go past a certain point though... wouldn't even let me explore past it either, so I'm sure he had a good reason. Anyways, outside of the castle we have some cleared land, lots of open space on the grounds, a few gardens, a catacombs where my ancestors lay, an orchard or two... and beyond that its all forested mountains for a few hundred miles around. Used to be a few towns around according to some of the books I found in the library but uh, Father told us never to go exploring that far either. Actually it was always kinda weird how he just shut the conversation down anytime we asked about it. I've always wanted to know what happened to that region and all the people who used to live there."

[nuclearwhale]

Ehto, Utzi
Utzi nods as he racks his head for something that could've taken out entire settlements of people. "Perhaps they were overtaken by dark spirits? It is bad luck to approach a camp that has been ravaged by them. Either way, you must be from a powerful tribe to have constructed a place even bigger than this. What animals live on your lands to hunt? My people mostly ate elk in the summer months."