A soft light fell on Starling’s closed eyes, slowly waking them. Consciousness brought a wave of pain from their whole body. Everything ached and throbbed. The mattress was soft, moulded to the contours of their body, it was like lying on a soft warm cloud. Starling’s eyes fluttered open, peering in the light that seemed to come through a curtain that was around their bed. They could feel the ache of the burns on the back of their hands, face, down their back and legs. There were bruises and scrapes everywhere and one of their fingers was extremely painful. Moving their arm carefully they could see some sort of cream was smeared on them soothing the pain. Their whole body was damaged, and they cast their mind back, trying to think of what could have put them in the hospital.
There was a fire? A wildfire! The campers… I think they got out and the tower collapsed? I must have been caught in the fall. Lucky they found me and got me to this private hospital. I… remember thinking it was over. I thought I was going to die. How… how the hell did they get me out of the forest?
The curtain moved aside as someone held it up and ducked under it. Starling struggled to focus on them, eyes tired and heavy. There was something not quite right about this nurse.
“Good Morning sleepy head! You were in pretty bad shape when we found you!” The still blurry form of the nurse paused for a second. “Well, worse than you are now. Which is still pretty bad I will admit! The doctor, the closest we have to a doctor at least, says you have a broken rib in addition to a whole ton of burns and bruises. We’ve got some natural remedies on your burns, one of our foragers unlocked a skill for finding natural medicine and they are pretty effective. Everything should be fine, though we do need to take another look at that finger once you are a bit more rested.” The nurse stopped talking and looked over their shoulder as something on the other side of the curtain distracted them.
“Hang on, I need to deal with this, I’ll be right back hon.”
The nurse stepped back and let the curtain fall, returning Starling to the soft light and the comfort of the hospital bed. This hospital was strangely quiet, none of the sounds that Starling remembered from their last, lengthy, stay were apparent. They couldn’t hear any distant announcements, the sounds of hurrying feet or even simple things like heart monitors.
I must be in some sort of quiet ward? Never heard of that before, this must be a really exclusive private hospital. Nice as it is, I really hope I am not stuck here for months again. It took so long to get my fitness back last time.
Something tickled the back of their mind.
This hospital smells weird… sort of spicy?
Acknowledging the smell triggered memories - the forest of purple and green, the two suns, the tree-phalants, the crabs and then finally their desperate painful escape from the underground. This wasn’t a comfy eco-focused private hospital, they were in the wild somewhere, and these were other people living in the forest?
Damn, this isn’t good. I can’t stay here, I can’t put these people at risk! I’m just a drain on resources like this. What if that Shadow Creature is stalking me and I lead it here! Or a tree-crab or that sap flow? There are way too many things that could go wrong if I don’t leave this place as soon as possible!
With a grunt, Starling tried to sit up from what they now realise is a wooden bench with moss growing on it, similar to their little bed back at the camp. Rising is difficult, someone has bound their torso tightly so that it doesn’t bend well, probably to help their rib heal. It takes a little work but after a minute or so Starling is sitting up in the bed, taking in the small alcove they are in, enclosed behind a luminous plant curtain. There is a notification in the corner of their eye that they quickly check as they get their breath back.
[Secondary Settlement Site Established]
[Existing Structures Connected with Proxy Foundation Network]
[Site Attunement Development Increased - Secondary Site added to Location Knowledge]
[New Site Attunement Ability Unlocked - Shared Inventory]
Sleeping here must have linked it in with my ability?! I… guess I need to be really careful about where I rest or I will end up with a ton of these cluttering up my mind. Proxy Foundation Network? Does that have something to do with the plinth that was destroyed? My powers feel… looser somehow, like they aren’t tied into the fabric of the world in the same way as before. Maybe I was linked to that local, damaged, Foundation Node and now that it is no longer there I can establish my own network?
Head swimming a little with the pain in their chest and the new bright flare across their bare back, Starling took in their situation. Their clothes were gone. Someone had dressed them in a strange sort of gown made from interwoven ferns, the back was open and now that they were sitting up the fresh air was wafting over their burns.
[Proxy Foundation Network Established]
[Primary and Secondary Sites now linked]
[Site Inventories available: Note only items stored in connected storage units can be catalogued]
[Primary Site:]
* 14 Wood (Low Quality)
[Secondary Site:]
* 23 Jerky (Low Quality)
* 5 Uncured Hides (Low Quality)
* 12 Purple Root Bundles (Low Quality)
* 8 Dried Fern Wraps (Low Quality)
* 1 Foundation Aspect Stone (Superb Quality)
* 3 Woven Rope (Low Quality)
* 6 Tree Sap Bowls (Low Quality)
* 4 Moss Bandages (Low Quality)
* 7 Firewood Bundles (Low Quality)
* 2 Waterskins (Low Quality)
* 9 Herb Bundles (Unidentified) (Low Quality)
Whoa, that’s a lot. Wait, I can see Everything they have stored in ‘storage units’ here, and whats stored at my other site as well? This is really powerful information. You can just put things in storage and know exactly what you have!
Something nagged at them in the list but they put it aside as the shape of the nurse approached through the thin curtain of hanging glowing lichen.
“Oh! Nonono!” the friendly looking nurse said as she bustled back into the alcove. “You need rest, honey! Your injuries are not healed enough for you to be up and around. Don’t worry, we’re gonna look after you ‘till you are all better.” The nurse paused, absently patting Starling on the shoulder. She stopped and looked Starling up and down before continuing in a tender tone. “Have you been here long, I mean this forest? Things are a little… different here.”
Stolen story; please report.
Starling didn’t fight the nurse as she pressed gently on their shoulder and pushed them back to lie on the bed. It was hard not to be rolled up in her enthusiastic avalanche of one-sided conversation. And Starling couldn’t argue that the bed wasn’t uncomfortable. From their prone position, Starling looked up and regarded the nurse fussing over them, taking in what they could. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had “The Problem” printed on it with an arrow pointing up at the nurse's head. The jeans and the t-shirt had many rips and tears that had been sewn back up with some success, it looked like whoever had been fixing the clothing was slowly getting better at sewing. Over the top they wore a cloak very similar to the one that ‘Jeff’ had been wearing over his postal worker uniform when Starling had found him. It looked like it had been made by weaving together the hanging tendrils that fell from many of the trees. This one had some of the luminous lichen and moss running through it, making the nurse easy to spot in the dim room.
“I shouldn’t ask, Jeff usually does the introductions but he is recovering from an injury himself right now. In fact, if it wasn’t for Jeff getting injured we wouldn’t know about the sap and you wouldn’t have anything to help with those burns…” The nurse trails off and bites their lip, clearly worried about something. “Look, Kara will be along once she hears you are awake and she will likely have some questions for you, just try and relax until then. I’m Helen, just shout out if you need anything ok?”
Starling tried to reply, voice cracking as they answered. “O.. Ok… I’m Starling. Thanks for looking after me, but honestly I am fine, I should probably get going.”
The nurse rounded on Starling and gave them a look, “No, you are going to lie there, try and relax and wait for me to bring you some food. Stop arguing and lie back!”
Helen paused and broke into a smile, showing she really wasn’t all bad. “Oh don’t worry about it, I don’t have that Physical Assessment skill that Armaan has but I used to work as a vet’s assistant so I get to play nurse in exchange for not needing to hunt. I’m pretty happy about that honestly, there is some freaky stuff out in the woods. I'll let you doze, you’re gonna need your strength.”
With that Helen smiled again and stepped back into the larger room past the curtain.
Starling lay back and thought about what Helen had just told them.
It sounds like this is a bigger group than I thought. It’s also the group that had that man I helped in the woods is from. Sounds like he is still recovering. I can’t let myself get tied into this place - it’s too dangerous to stay here too long. With the Foundation Aspect link I can keep an eye on them from a distance, maybe stop by and pretend to just be a wanderer. I don’t think it is a good idea to advertise what I can do... Plus it sounds like they have people with special skills here as well.
Now that Starling was a little more comfortable they noticed that they had the same resting Stamina recovery bonus here as they did at their primary camp. Knowing how powerful that little boon was they activated their [Environmental Awareness] and focused on what they could pick up.
There were the sounds of several people walking around and talking distantly, someone else was trying to cut firewood but it didn’t sound like they had the proper tool and were maybe dropping wood onto a sharp stone? It was surprising how their hearing and smell were able to build an image in their mind of what was around them when they closed their eyes.
[Settlement Analysis]
* Current Population: ~11
[Note: More Information Available with higher Class Level]
Assigned Roles Detected:
* Wood Gatherer (1) - Inexperienced, lacking proper tools
* Foragers (2) - Skill Bonus [1xNatural Medicine Detection], lacking proper tools
* Hunters (2) - Skill Bonus [1xEnvironmental Awareness], lacking proper tools
* Medical Staff (2) - Skill Bonus [1x Physical Assessment], lacking proper tools
* Leadership (2) - Skill Bonus [1xResource Organization]
* Unassigned (2) - No Manifested Skills
So, they do have skills like I do! I am not the only one! No sign of [Environmental Awareness], I wonder how they got access to [Natural Medicine Detection] since I can only use it as a skill synergy?
There was a flurry of activity in the room on the other side of the curtain and two voices spoke quietly. If Starling didn’t have their skill active she wouldn’t have heard more than a murmur.
“Hey Doc! Welcome back.” Helen said brightly, greeting the new arrival.
“Helen, how is our new patient doing?” A different voice replied, their accent was Canadian, which contrasted a lot with Helen’s very casual New Yorker drawl.
“They’re doing ok, awake and already tried to get up, very quiet and shy.”
“And the sap cream? What sort of effect is it having?”
“Well that’s what's strange, we know that on Jeff that stuff crystalised and kind of grew into his skin”
Starling’s face paled as they tried to picture what had happened to Jeff since they had doused his upper body with sap straight from a tree.
“And?” replies the new voice, presumably Armaan
“Well, it’s different for them, the burns are healing but there is no sign of crystalisation. In fact I keep finding crystals on the floor around their bed, like their body is rejecting them or something. The effect is much less powerful as well. I would say it’s mostly just working as a numbing agent. It’s totally different from Jeff… except for their finger.
“No change there?”
“No, it's still just as strange.”
Starling recalled getting the finger stuck in the rising sap for a few seconds when they were helping free the digging creature in the tunnel. The feeling of it being crushed and burning on all sides resurfaces in their memory making them wince. Warily they lifted their hand and saw that the index finger was swaddled in homemade fern bandages. Starling unwrapped it carefully, terrified of what they might find. Layers of thin fern bandage fell away and as the binding became loose they were happy to discover that they could still move the finger, though it felt heavy and the sensations were dull. Finally they got to the last layer of bandages and ripped them off, soft fern leaf ripping on what was underneath.
Nestled in the ripped bandages, standing out among their other fingers, Starling’s index finger on their right hand was now clear, with a reddish hue. It was a crystal finger with deep purple striations running through it. Starling turned their hand this way and that, watching how the light caught it. Flexing the finger carefully they found that at least they could still bend it, but it wasn't part of them in the same way the rest of their hand was. It felt dull, and weirdly hollow. Running the fingertip of the crystal over the ferns they could feel the texture of the fern exactly the same as they could with their other fingers.
What the hell, this place has taken my finger from me now as well!? How the hell does that work? What if this spreads? What if I touch someone and turn them into crystal?!
Starling held their hand out from them as far as they could, pointing the crystal finger away from themself, trying to keep it as far from their body as possible.
There was a rustle from the curtain and someone new stepped into the space, there was an aura around this person that felt different from the overbearing friendliness of Helen or the detached medical focus of Armaan, this person expected to be listened too. They were dressed in business attire, what looked like a very expensive power suit. The woman's clothes were repaired like Helen’s but to a much more effective level. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she regarded Starling with suspicion.
”Awake, finally.” She sneered down at Starling, as though they had kept her waiting for a latte during a lunch rush.
This must be Kara…
“Good, because you are going to tell me Exactly what you did down in that tunnel, why my people found you half dead and burned and why it’s now full of hard resin. It has cost us a significant amount of medical supplies and attention to keep you here so far, and you aren’t leaving until you tell me everything.”