The moment the little guy started charging at me with its arms swinging I didn’t know what to do, so I ran. Heart racing, arms pumping, and eye tight, I ran as hard as I could down the path away from the little plant monster. Looking back I should’ve known that it was friendly because of our bond but honestly it was a wiggling mass of roots charging at me in a way that my instincts fought against. I got about 100 yards down the road when I noticed the green bar on the left of my vision had partially depleted along with a large portion of the green bar on the right of my view. And that’s when reality hit me, I had another set of bars on the right and they were accompanied by what could only be described as a crying emoji peppered with little snowflakes. My running started to slow to a stop as I started to process exactly what happened only moments ago. That was my familiar and it seems that the little guy was cold. Looking back I see it about half the distance of our starting point away. It had fallen and seemingly given up on chasing me.
Feeling bad for the little one I headed towards it. Sensing my approach the ball of roots and bark seemed to grow with its top most roots branching out high and towards me. For a moment it reminded me of a little kid asking to be picked up. Before I did anything hasty and with too many assumptions, I took a look at the information box over its head.
“Name: Undetermined, Age: Seedling,
Race: Tree familiar (standard), Bonded Partner: Bradford Wallace”
Having confirmed that the little thing was indeed my bonded familiar, the tension in my body subsided, my breathing calmed, and I bent down to touch the seedling. Upon making skin to root contact the thing launched itself into my unbuttoned jacket using my arm to help propel and guide itself. Heart instantly pounding and my hands flying all over the place I started to strip and throw off my jacket. About 10 foot away I saw the little thing pull my jacket tight around itself with only a small little gap in the bundle to peer out of. The whole thing was kinda cute, right up until the wind blew hard and I felt goosebumps and shivers start to wrack my body. Steeling my mind for what I knew shouldn’t be hard, I went and picked up the jacket and found that the familiar was crawling down a sleeve to stay warm as its bundle unfurled.
“Come on little guy, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I’m really new to this whole thing. I don’t want to hurt you, I really need that sleeve though. I promise, if I can put on my jacket properly I'll let you stay in the body portion of it until we get into some cover.”
With my request acknowledged, the little thing squirmed out of the sleeve and hung itself off of my shoulders and down my back. Within moments the back of my jacket was pulled tight against my body and keeping out any possible draft that could make it up there. To my detriment that meant that wind now nipped at my lower back. With the chill on my mind I started back towards the shack, otherwise known as my decrepit home.
As I approached the doorway I noticed the door was hanging off of 1 semi-attached hinge with the other one hanging from the doorframe, nails completely rusted through. The door itself having the bottom few inches chewed off and various growths and mushrooms on the shaded side.
Walking past the door and into the home proper, a beam of light shining through the roof revealed the floor was bare dirt and i had a shoddy cupboard in the corner that possessed such a lean it was hard to say how long it would still be with us. Opening the cupboard I was pleased to find a new window appear.
“Estate Inventory Management” tab added to the menu.
Feel free to view it through the “Estate” tab and the “Lytel Estate” sub-tab.
Following the prompts instructions I was able to bring bring up the estate’s inventory
Lytel Estate Inventory:
Shack:
-1 Ax (Bronze)(Durability: 30/30)
-1 Broom (Wood)(Durability: 10/10)
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
-1 Blanket (Coarse Linen)(Durability: 10/10)
-1 Flint
-1 Hammer (Wood)(Durability: 10/10)
-1 Kitchen Knife (Iron)(Durability: 40/40)
-1 Pan (Copper)(Durability: 20/20)
-1 Shovel (Wood)(Durability: 10/10)
-1 Water Pail (Wood)(Durability: 10/10)
-5 Caulifloweer seeds
-20 Potato seeds
-30 Eggs (Chicken)(Unfertilized)
-1 Jug of Oil (Vegetable)(Portions: 30/50
Upon seeing the Blanket I immediately withdrew it from the inventory menu. It was as easy as highlighting it and hitting withdraw. Having a coarse linen blanket appear in my hand I quickly threw it over my own shoulders hoping for the goosebumps to disappear. As the blanket settled around my form, I felt the little familiar start to climb around my body until its central core had the smallest of holes to lookout from my jacket. The little guy being curious had apparently wondered what just happened. After satisfying its curiosity it quickly went back around and resumed its hanging position.
Now that the issue of immediate warmth was solved I started thinking about warmth over the coming day and night. With the flint in my cupboard I could definitely start up a fire, but I had no where to put it. “Well, I do have a hole in my roof to let the smoke out.” I stated outloud to myself.
Taking the knife and ax from the cupboard I headed outside. Knife strapped to my waist and ax in hand, I was going to go gather some wood. Upon making it outside I quickly located a fallen tree branch that was located just outside of the waist high grass. Approaching the branch I saw a window display above it.
Fallen Branch
Type: Unknown
Durability: ?/?
“Well that is the most useless window I have ever seen.” I thought to myself. “Why would that even display if it had nothing to display?” Gripping the ax with both hands I brought it over my head then swung down. The moment the ax slammed into the branch and wood chips flew, a new window appeared along with the initial description updating.
Successful hit with the “Ax”
2 damage (base 2 *1 (Farmer proficiency))
Material difference of 2 adds and additional +4 damage
Total damage: 6
Fallen Branch
Type:Soft Wood
Durability: ?/?>6
“Huh, well that definitely became a much more useful window. I wonder, will it apply to similar looking branches?” I asked out loud to no one in particular. Still wondering, I followed it up with another swing of my ax.
Successful hit with the “Ax”
2 damage (base 2 *1 (Farmer proficiency))
Material difference of 2 adds and additional +4 damage
Total damage: 6 (Overkill 2)
Fallen Branch Destroyed
Fallen Branch
Type:Soft Wood
Durability: 0/ 10
As my ax had made contact the branch had split into 2 smaller pieces. Both we now about 3 inches thick and 2 foot long. Great for a fire but not small enough to actually start one. “Heck, I will need even more to survive the night. Just getting a fire does me no good if it goes out within a few hours.”
Approaching another nearby branch, I started to raise my ax to strike the wood when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. As my head started turning, I saw a long green vine lash out at my leg moments before my mind filled with pain and my leg caught fire.
Unknown Attacker hits you with attack
3 damage taken
Poison applied