The figure is leaning against one of the trees and seems to be breathing heavily. I focus in for a closer look.
Alex (Human, Level 26 Fire Mage)
Holy shit it’s a person! I almost lose my composure and go blasting off towards them at full speed but stop myself. Wait, I’m not a person, what if they attack me? At that though I drop low into the grass. I should be fully hidden from sight until they are right on top of me unless they have other means of detection. The human, Alex seems to be injured; he is still leaning against the tree, breathing heavily. At that thought he pushes off and starts a slow hobble toward the center of the glade, constantly checking over his shoulder. He winces and breathes in sharply every time his right foot moves. Dude seems to be in a lot of pain. It’s a man, short brown hair. He has a small scar running from his ear down to his neck. Green eyes and a medium build. He is wearing basic leather armor over top of a brown tunic, loose brown pants tied off by a rope belt. No armor below his torso, which explains his injuries.
His right calf is badly damaged, missing a good chunk of the back. Blood drips profusely from the wound. The rest of his right leg seems to be covered in a mix of bites and scratches, all of which are bloody. The hell happened to this guy; did he have a run in with the wolves? No, wolves are small fry, unless you meet one of the big ones. Either way he got messed up good, I’m surprised he hasn’t bled out yet. Wait he started saying something. Using my perception I listen in on him.
“Stupid -+@#, !@#! @$%$#@#$ @@#$#@”
Damn, most of his speech is garbled. But why could I understand only one word? Duh, I got that skill for understanding. I guess it needs to be higher level for me to understand more. Let me fix that quick. I pump all my available points into universal understanding, good thing I saved them.
Skill points: 5
*************************************************************************************
General skills:
1. Universal Understanding – Level:6
Darn, I’m one point short of level seven. Well let’s see if I can pick up on what he is saying better now.
“I @#$ her that #@$ was % bad $@#%. That kid @%# way @#@ green @#% Idiotic”
Oh seems like he had a disagreement between himself and someone else. But that doesn’t explain the mauled leg.
“Stupid @^%#@ brat, didn’t @$# attention. @$@ look @%@* happened.”
It’s about this point in his rambling that he gets to my pod in the center of the glade. He takes a quick look around and decides to sit down against the pod upon finishing. Well more like flops down, nothing remotely graceful about him right now with that leg. After he finishes getting situated he takes another look around, carefully scouting out the glade. Man this guy is paranoid, but I would be too if I was missing half my right leg. Wait he is ranting again.
“Oh don’t @#$$%, It @#%% be @$#@. Fine @^ Ass! @^& does anyone @#%$ listen @% me, no!”
Funny, I’m listening to him right now.
“Monsters @#$% active in @$%@ forest @%$ five years, @$#@ solution is @# send # bunch $@ newbies @%$ think %^&$ are &*% shit and @#$ the %$@ of %$ killed.”
Man, this guy is rambling, bit annoying that I can only make out half of what he is saying but better than nothing. Seems like his friend pressured him to go out with someone he didn’t want to, and it almost got him killed. Sounds like college partying to me.
I wonder if I should reveal myself to him. I want to say hello, but will he even understand me? He might react violently actually. I don’t know how humans interact with dryads, he could be friendly or attack me immediately. I’m pretty sure I’m technically a monster so that doesn’t help. I should probably take this slow. He seems to be active again.
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Alex reaches into a pocket on his pants and pulls out a piece of cloth. He then wraps the cloth around the bit off part of his calf and ties it in place. Wincing and cursing all the while. This dude is not having a good day. After that he sits there just surveying his surroundings repeatedly until he decides to turn his attention to my pod. I just noticed something; this guy is way taller than me. The pod only comes up to my hips if I’m sitting on my knees next to it. This guy however only has it up to half his thigh.
He is looking over the pod meticulously, but the look on his face is one of contemplation. Then he ran his eyes over the center and spotted the tail thing. Shit I forgot to disconnect, I have a bad feeling about this. Instantly he tenses up and begins looking around agitated.
Well shit, I’m going to go with he probably won’t like me. I reach back and start disconnecting the tail. I don’t want to be basically broadcasting my location by dragging this thing around. I don’t want to fight but he may not give me a choice in the matter. I finish disconnecting and immediately my senses lose clarity, the tail begins to retract into the pod. The man notices the tail shifting and moving and prepares himself. He makes a gesture like he is holding something up with his right hand, and suddenly a ball of fire is conjured mid air floating above it. He has a fireball, that’s not good for me. He stands there waiting for the tail to finish retracting into the pod. I’m assuming he is going to shoot whatever he thinks is at the end of it. But I’m not attached, so the end slithers out of the grass, up the side of the pod, and fully retracts itself into the center.
Immediately his expression changes from anxiety and fear to confusion. After a moment of confusion, he seems to relax, letting out a sigh and dispersing the fireball.
“ #$@#@ it @#$%$# a dryad @%$#@ all.”
And with that statement he sits back down leaning against my pod. I need to make a good first impression or get barbecued. Well I probably could take him in his current state But I don’t want my first encounter with a person in this world to be killing them. What to do? Oh good idea, or bad idea.
The idea pops into my head, he is injured so I should help him. Wasn’t there a plant around here that helped with healing. Right the Corso berries, I think there is one near me. I start slowly crawling my way through the grass, trying not to make a sound. I’m going to get some Corso berries and see if I can give them to him without getting my face melted off. Here it is, Corso bush.
Corso berry
I start picking berries and only stop when I have a handful of them. OK now, how do I get close to this guy without spooking him. Even in his relaxed state he seems pretty agitated, constantly looking around and over his shoulder. From behind him maybe? No that will just make it worse. From the front? No, if I pop up right in his face it will scare him. I think regardless of where I pop up, I’m going to scare him. I just need to do it little enough that he won’t throw a fireball at me. OK, I’ll come in from the side, make a little noise, then hand him the berries from within the grass.
With my frankly idiotic plan in my head, I start moving around to the right side of my pod, his right to be specific. How should I make some noise? Should I try to talk to him? I doubt he will understand me, but you never know. Just hearing something resembling a language might make him realize I’m not a savage. Or it could freak him out even more and get fire thrown at me.
I get around close to my pod on his right. I mentally prepare myself for what I’m about to do. Need to risk it to get the biscuit, metaphorically speaking. I double check my health an mana, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything important.
Health:203/205
Mana: 272/1558
Stamina: 430/430
OK, lets do this. I get as close as I can without being able to actually see him and then speak up.
“Hey, are you OK?”
Instantly he snaps alert to the direction of my voice, after staring at the grass for a few seconds he responds.
“@%$$#@ who %$ there?”
“I don’t think you can understand me, but I have something for you.”
I slowly push my hand out through the grass palm open, let see if he takes the Corso berries or try to burn me.
I wait a moment, but he doesn’t move. Then he yells something else.
“Hey, @%$# fucking around %^$ stupid #$%^&$ and help @#!”
Fucking around? What is he talking about? Before I can finish processing what he just said he grabs my hand and yanks. I should have seen something like this coming, but I didn’t.
Caught off guard I end up tumbling out of the grass and landing on him, sending the berries flying everywhere in the process. Oh shit, this isn’t going to end well.
“What %$@ hell are $^$ do…..” he abruptly cuts himself off.
I’m staring at him, and he’s got to be twice my size. He’s staring at me saying nothing. We sit like that for a moment, until he screams.
“AAAAAAAAH!”
“AAAAAAAAAH!”
Then I scream, and we go running into the grass in opposite directions.