Alice woke up to golden spots of cold morning sunlight lapping at her face. Alice vaguely remembered dreaming of something as she crawled out of the fur-lined leather sleeping bag. When she tried to remember her dream though, all she could remember was a giant wolf and some odd echoes. However despite how nightmarish her description sounded, Alice didn’t think it had been a nightmare. She slowly conjured a small ball of lukewarm water as she groggily got up. After quickly washing her face, Alice started the fire and cut a few chunks of wolf meat for breakfast. I wonder if I’m allowed to eat wolf meat? While she wasn’t sure were the thought had come from, she still considered it, ultimately deciding that since the wolves were already dead it wasn’t a breach of the promise. That thought set Alice’s mind into overdrive as she searched every pocket and fold of her mind for what she dreamt of last night. After thinking her brain into a puddle she somewhat recalled a promise but couldn’t remember the exact terms. With that mystery partially solved, Alice went back to butchering the wolf before cooking it over the fire.
After her breakfast of wolf meat and assorted nuts and berries, Alice set out to replace her clothes with the leather she had made. Feeling the soft, thin and slightly fragile leather in between her fingers, she decided it would be fine for her clothes, but she should replace it with higher quality leather at a later point. Alice started by wrapping the barely processed skin around her waist and trimming the excess leather with her spearhead. She then picked up a stone on the ground and shaped it into a needle. Though it was of good quality, the needle was simply a long rod about half the width of her pinky with a sharp tapered end on one side. Alice then connected the two ends of the ‘skirt’ using the needle and leather strips taken from the trimmings. Unfortunately, that was all the leather she had at the moment so she couldn’t replace her ripped and torn top, at least not until the other two wolf hides were ready.
Alice put on her new skirt and picked up her stone spear, it’s head magically shaped smoothly into a point. With nothing left to do, Alice was hoping to go deeper into the forest today, finally making some progress towards her goal of getting to the other end. Alice walked deeper into the forest, thinking about how to get a steady supply of meat. Deer and rabbits would have been fine, but they were just too quick for her to reliably hunt, in that sense wolves were perfect since they hunted her, all she had to do was defend herself.
Hours passed as Alice happily walked deeper into the woods. While she did meet some wolves on occasion, all of them ignored her, not even sparing her a glance. Alice had been nervous the first few times, but after ten minutes of fear she was now quite comfortable around them. Now she entertained herself by trying to catch any rabbits she came across. Deer would have been included if it weren’t for the fact they could defend themselves much better than rabbits.
Alice had been walking for around half a day when she came across a clearing. The first thing she noticed was the bare and barren dust that made up the clearing’s floor, not a single trace of the black clay-like soil that was common to the forest or of the grass that belonged on it. The second thing Alice noticed, was wooden huts made by driving wooden poles into the ground in a circle with sticks and leaves as roofing, surrounded by a shoulder height wall. The third thing Alice noticed, probably should’ve been the first. Two short bald men stood guarding the entrance to the clearing, speaking in a strange language that sounded jagged and rough, as if each word was intended to start a fight. They had thin wiry frames that looked like they were on the brink of starvation, but their stomachs bulged out as if threatening to burst, but despite their odd looks, Alice could still see defined muscle on them covered only by animal skin loincloths. Perhaps even stranger than their speech, was their skin, it was a withered green, like dying grass with the barest hint of life left in it.
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The two men saw Alice. One of them let out an aggressive sounding shout as they eyed her carefully, though Alice couldn’t tell if there was any actual aggression in it as everything they said sounded aggressive. Slightly fearful, though she didn’t let it show, Alice put her spear down and slowly walked towards them. They seemed to recognise the intent behind her actions as they let out another shout, this time sounding less aggressive than before but still very aggressive. Now that Alice was close enough to touch them, she realised they were around the same height as her, making them especially short as Alice was only ten.
Alice remembered what these green men were, they were goblins, and you were meant to kill them on sight since they reproduced at an incredible rate while turning the area around them into a wasteland. Alice still wasn’t going to fight them though. Alice could tell she would struggle with just the two, let alone the entire village. As the two goblins discussed among themselves, Alice tried to use [Identification].
Name: ?
Race: Goblin(Mature(?))
Level: 1-3(?)
Stat total: -100
While the information didn’t seem overly accurate, it still told Alice enough. A one vs one should have been easy and Alice could expect to win. Two would be difficult and Alice would need luck to win. Any more than that and her skills would be needed to make give her any chance at survival.
The two goblins finished their discussion and called in a third goblin. Alice wasn't sure how she knew, but he looked significantly younger than the other two, maybe around her age. The newcomer , other than his more muscular body and his noticeably less bloated belly, looked identical to the other two. The younger goblin signed to Alice, a few minutes and a game of charades later, Alice understood that she was meant to follow him. Walking through the small village, Alice could see the few huts contained within the perimeter of the wall, they were very few of them. Around ten huts were placed in the village with around a meter between them, the village was also quite empty, with barely anyone outside of the huts. Alice could hear weird rustling and banging sounds from inside the huts though, and while she was curious, she didn't think it would be a good idea to check. As they made their way through the village, Alice's guide tried to start a conversation.
"Kani nalor, krete gra nilor!", The goblin looked quite proud as he showed Alice a pink scar across his forearm. Not understanding anything he had just said, Alice stared at the goblin quite confused before answering in turn.
"Gre ta la?" Alice hoped her confused expression and uneasy tone made it obvious she couldn't speak goblin. "I don't understand."
The goblin didn't give up though and instead pointed at himself, "Kani! Kani nalor!"
"You're Kani then?" Kani looked a bit confused before nodding. Taking that as a good sign, Alice introduced herself, "I'm Alice. Alice nalor. nice to meet you!"
Congratulations! Skill [Language Proficiency: Goblin Lvl 1] and [Language Proficiency: Common] have split from hidden skill [Language Proficiency Lvl 5]!
"Aylik?", That horrendous butchering of her name drew Alice's mind away from the system panel and forced her to correct him.
"No, it's Alice!"
"Nakure Alyith!"
This back and forth repeated until Alice and Kani reached a larger hut. Asides from being larger, this hut also had actual doors on it instead of hanging animal hides and grasses, the roof also looked less like it had been cobbled together using anything available and more thoughtfully made. Somewhat disturbingly though, Alice could feel a powerful presence in the hut. It felt as if the hut was made entirely of eyes and each and every one of them was turned towards her, scrutinising every detail about her, judging every single imperfection in her being. Kani pointed at the hut and directed her inside, he however, stayed outside looking a bit scared.
"Alik togare mikala."
The worry in his voice made Alice fear.