8/11/1 AME

Journal Entry #1

I think I’m going to bring pages out with me on my next expedition, just so that I can write stuff down if things go for too long or if I end up getting hurt and stuck in the hospital.

I’ve been in the hospital for 3 days and it’s been like pulling teeth to try and get someone to grab my journal for this entry. The doctors for some reason treated me like I'm an intensive care patient and barely let me get visits for the first day and a half. It was a pain to try to get one of my friends to visit and delivery me this journal. Lana managed to smuggle it in with a blanket she brought here after I complained about the chill in the hospital. I asked about that and it turns out that the hospital basically shut off the heating to all rooms except critical ones since they were unsure of how long the power would continue to work for. Still a bitch to get this in and even then; I have to write this under the cover of night because they don’t want me ‘straining myself’ writing in a damn journal. All I have are some broken bones and several maybe minor lacerations. They act like I’m going to die tomorrow if I so much as decided to reach for a cup of water but I’ve been walking and talking with them so I don’t understand the precautions.

So aside from complaining about hospital treatment in the only place they hopefully won’t read about it, I’ve had a hell of week and a half.

As I mentioned above, I received quite the beating on my last expedition and if I’m being entirely honest, it was totally earned from my bad decisions and stupid actions.

I signed up for the latest expedition; Operation Counting Sheep (I didn’t name the operation even though I get why they seem to want to name every sanctioned expedition since it's great for filing purposes). This expedition was solely for the Ranger Corp to get an assessment of the Chimeras in the area and to try to get a more accurate count without the fuck-up of the last operation which was due (officially) to underestimating the situation (un-officially; because we fast tracked a bunch of Rags on missions because we needed to pad out the numbers for the reports). Fewer Troops were sent out for this expedition but they were vetted and selected more rigorously than before. As is: of the total 32 Rags (that were left after ‘The Shedding’), only 12 of them were allowed to go on this expedition.

Lana and I were of that small few.

Due to Range Master Davith forever being on leave for expeditions, we were assigned to a new Range Master for this operation; Range Master Jacob.

I hadn’t meet the Ranger before but I had heard good things about him from some of the other Rags. I can say that he didn’t disappoint but it will say that he didn’t give me a good time at the start.

As mentioned before, Operation: Counting Sheep was about the collection of data for only the use by the Ranger Corp. but isn’t as straight forward as it sounds. Mostly because from the previous reports; the higher ups of the Corp believe that, although we only have small hints of it, that many of the Chimeras and tribes around the town have been settling due to the coming Winter. The older and more experienced people in town are saying it's going to be a cold one and this is leading the higher-ups to believe that the monsters and the Orc Tribes either feel it too or know about it and so are hunkering down early. The main goal of this operation is both to count the monsters and orc tribes in the area but to also confirm that they are hunkering down for the winter (which I guess makes the names a lot more relevant now that I think about).

With that in mind, we packed pretty heavy. Gear for this operation was a bit less stringent but people made it point to double up on a lot of things that we would only really carry one of. My pack consistent of two fire-starter kits, a hatchet, ‘rations’ for 10 days (which are basically just some dried meat, cheese and bread), a couple maps of the area, a disposable camera with two reals, some papers for notes (only notes), two flasks of water, 8 water purifier tablets, some gauss, antiseptic spray, rubbing alcohol, a sleeping bag, a rain poncho and some binoculars. My pack is considered the light one since I’m the spotter and will be heading head ahead of the group from time to time. Most of this list is also in the pack of others but I have the least in terms of doubling the load and resources. Lana has an extra flask of water and then an extra empty one just in case a new stream has appeared. I didn’t think that was the case but Range Master Jacob mentioned that the mountain ranges have changed and while they are definitely far off, it could have changed the flow down the mountain and either created new streams or heavily redirected the existing ones. That was something I hadn’t noticed and he chocked it up to being an N.Rs.

Not going to lie: it have been a while since I’d been called that. Nearly a month and a half. I haven’t forgotten that I am one but it felt strange to be reminded in such a way. And the way Range Master Jacob said was with a distaste and venom did make that memory leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Which I guess brings me to the Ranger in the room and one of the moral lessons this journal might have if there are any at all; First impression matter. Yet despite rumors and ideas based on second hand hear-say aren’t the same in terms of importance, it can still matter to change the image of you in another mind.

I say this because there are things I didn’t hear about Range Master Jacob yet there were things he heard about me. This is important because he heard them from my fellow Rags and my friend Lana; who is his daughter and just because you don’t kill the messenger, doesn’t mean they don’t change the perception of the message.

Lana had talked a good deal about me and most of it in a positive way. Which would make sense, we’re friends and she is probably the only other friend I have that wasn’t made through being bunk mates in the same cell (jeez that’s sound funnier than it should be). Too bad, like any father who had just been moved with his whole town to a new world, he’s become somewhat overprotective. From what I managed to get from him and Lana (at different times when they weren’t in the area together), even letting her join the Rangers was something he had dragged his feet on from the moment she heard about it.

Still, the first couple of days of our expedition was spent with an increasing heavy tension between me and Ranger Master Jacob, who I had yet to figure out was Lana’s father until a day before the return point.

If you’re thinking, ‘How did you not figure it out until so far into the trip?’, then it goes into what the trip was for and what it entailed. We had to move a straight 80 miles out to a specific point, turn back and then make our way back by moving back by making 10 to 15 miles treks zig-zag from the turning point back to town. The easy part is the initial 80 mile trek out to the point. That would only take 3 to 4 days if the weather held fine and we kept up a steady, if somewhat hard pace.

The weather was a muggy mess with light rains every early morning that turns into an annoying low mist whenever the sun came up. It didn’t slow our pace by much but it definitely made the first 3 days of the expedition harder than it needed to be. And when you push for a hard pace in a hike, you tend not to speak much. Sure, I made some comments about either what was ahead, to stay quiet or to hide, but those were basic comments and not much. Lana and I had worked well together for such a period of time that it become second nature for us to set up camp and minimal discussion was needed between us. Range Master Jacob would occasionally comment but one of us would answer, respond or explain as the other would continue the work. He would help out but it was mostly with the things around the campsite and with small game hunting. A lot of walking and hiking but not a lot of talking.

On the way to the turning point, we did spot a chimera. It was a long distance encounter but it was clearly some sort of large bird-like creature. I managed to note some of the details and characteristics of this chimera but they are with my gear and I can’t recall much of them at time of writing. I can remember avian wings and large claws but that’s I can recall and probably because the rest of the trip was more pressing.

We didn’t start talking until we hit the turning point and it took a bit of talk before I actually found out about that connection. Mostly because Range Master Jacob and I were arguing about the direction we should be taking on the way back. Range Master Jacob, as I would later find out the reason why, was arguing to take a farther path around the chimeras we were tasked with cataloguing. He argued that we didn’t need to get so close to them to identify them.

I wanted to get a bit closer than we normally would, my reasoning being influenced by the sight of smaller tracks and signs of more than one and wanting to confirm my suspicion of there being more than one in those areas.

Lana eventually broke the argument by threading a middle ground between the two positions, checking her dad with a counter-point that attempting to protect her was futile since she was already here in the area of danger. I managed to recover from my confusion at the ‘dad’ bit by charting the future two days of hiking.

Thankfully, the mist had gone down and weather had become clearer for the trip ahead. I just wish the weather had stayed that nice for the rest of the coming days but life likes to pile crap onto more crap.

With what we had planned out, we would be taking about 9 days to get back to the town and each day would have some travel and at least on direction change. It would take us close to the foot of one the new mountains (although calling them mountains is a bit much) that seem to have appeared within the new world, close to at least 3 of the reported ‘orc camps’ and would take us within the supposed territories of the chimeras we had recorded to be in the area.

It started out fine. The first day and half had great weather and was a mostly easy walk. We managed to get close to two places we had marked on the map as suspected Chimera den’s (confirming one of them as being a den) and even studied a chimera for a bit. Really, wish I had taken some notes since it's hard for me to remember what it was as I’m writing this. Lana probably knows better but she’s not here right now and I can’t use her description in the report (mostly to avoid looking like I’m lazing about with the reports) so I’ll half to try and jog my memory later.

It was probably a couple hours after studying the Chimera that things took a turn for the worse and that started with lots of rain. It wasn’t a heavy rain but it was something that was constant for basically the rest of the expedition. Now it wasn’t as though we hadn’t planned for rain and finding at least decent shelter from it at night wasn’t hard, but it definitely dragged the whole expedition down from manageable to taxing.

The rain slowed our progress down, making treks that would normally be done in less than half a day take three quarters of one and made identifying tracks and den’s incredibly hard. We could still make out somethings in the area around us when the rain started but after the first day of constant rain, many of tracks were impossible to decipher and identifying dens became as much without running up to the suspected area close enough to lick the trees.

While not all of the Chimeras hunkered down for the rain, a majority of them seemed to be averse to getting wet in it. The ones that didn’t were definitely the larger kind and the ones that could (thankfully) be studied from a good distance with binoculars. Of the ones I can remember encountering, we spotted a strange bug-reptile creature that seem to eat its prey through a strange mixture of ripping it apart and using a strange throw-up/acid to melt it down a bit before ‘eating it’ (pretty creepy and I don’t think I’ll not have nightmares about it). Another one that I think might be problem was a large wolf-shaped creature with lots of very study looking feathers. We studied it for a time and found out that either the feathers have some sort of poisonous or anathestic qualities. We watched it hunt and it seemed to have ejected its feathers to its target and they didn’t go down at first, slowly trying to get away before just collapsing. The fact that it feathered wolf didn’t chow down on its prey immediately when it reached the prize, instead dragging it away leads me to believe we are going to see more of them again once he snow melts.

I will admit that despite the primal fear that watching the Chimeras instill in you when you see them move, I find these types of expeditions quite relaxing. Just watching a beast so large walk around and hunt is strangely peaceful, examining the functions of their bodies and the mechanism of their strange appendages. Even watching them feed, while usually disgusting or horrifying, is interesting to watch and study. This is probably just something that I feel though, mostly because I can tell that Lana is always a bit weirded out by their presences and Range Master Jacob seems enter the more defensive-ready stance. Hopefully this sense of peace I feel while studying Chimeras is only a passing phase and that the higher up don’t send me on them exclusively.

Something interesting was that while the rain definitely curtailed some of the things living in the strange new woods around the town, it only presented opportunities for others. I am of course talking about the Orcs.

We had discussed one night we camped out about the Orc Camps and how we would approach them. Due to the weather being a detrimental factor and the last time we had been accosted by a troop of Orcs, it was established by all of us that encountering any amount of Orcs was something that we wanted to avoid. This condition established three different opinions on how to handle us finding an encampment.

Range Master Jacob wanted us to just note the location down on the map and give it wide birth. It was an entirely reasonable decision to make as it provided the best chance of avoiding any confrontation with an Orc or any Orc troop. At the time, my opinion on this direction was that while it was probably the safest option, it was motivated more by the fact that his daughter was there rather than just outright fear. I didn’t and won’t fault him for that line of thinking since it was sound. As of writing this, while I definitely regret the actions I took, I still feel like it was a too safe option and would have only gotten us the barest information of the encampment. It would not be helpful to the Ranger Corp to only get such limited data.

Lana suggested a more patient approach that would have added some time to the return trip. The idea was to park ourselves nearby enough the camp to see and observe them but far enough that we’d have some warning and time to move if they came walking in our direction. This would take most of day before we’d move away to make camp and then continue the trek back to town. As I look back on that discussion, it was probably the best of our options. At the time, it seemed like a recipe for an early retreat. As we didn’t know how many of the Orc Encampments we would stumble upon and we assumed to go past a least 3 from the previous reports of the area, it felt as though we would be gambling the amount of rations we had over the amount of encampments that we stumble upon.

My suggestion, which I admit then and now was the most risky; was to study the Orc Encampment as close as we could get around the night and make a move before dawn. Yes, it was very risky move but I will use the same reasoning I did then which was that the point of our expedition was to assess the danger we were in by the surrounding inhabitants. The Orc Encampments would require a more thorough inspection since their danger wasn’t as self-evident as the Chimeras; where you can obviously see their claws, teeth and study them for a bit to find out how they hunt. To get an actual assessment of their strength and capabilities, we would have to at least get a count of their numbers, weapons and supplies.

Due to Range Master Jacob being a Range Master, he essentially pulled rank and forced us into his option. This meant that we took a wide birth from the camps we would encounter and just mark them on the map.

This went on for the first two Orc Encampments we went by over the next 3 days and I will admit that I felt a bit frustrated at what we were doing. It isn’t as though we hadn’t encountered other Chimera that I studied but the idea that all we were doing for the Corp was just noting down where the Encampment was felt lacking and shirking responsibility.

It was on the 5th night of our way back that I decided to get a better look at what we might encounter myself. It was definitely a stupid idea and while I don’t regret what did, I do see the mistakes I made and what I could have done better to lessen the potential damage I had done.

I had already planned out what I would do on the trek that morning. Due to me having the second watch, I had the time to shift around my pack to hand off the important gear to the other packs before I woke up my replacement. Before I would wake up my replacement, I would go place my pack, rifle (& ammunition) and a tarp/poncho a dozen or so yards from camp. When I woke up my replacement; I would tell them I’m going to use the bathroom and go pick up my pack and go investigate the Orc Encampment. By the time they realized something was wrong, I would be too far out for them to catch up to and they would have to allow me to go on my way. I would do a bit of recon and then head out to meet them on the trail. If I didn’t meet them somewhere along the planned trail, then I would continue on my way back to town and suffer the consequences. I believed (and still do) that the risks of this plan would be worth the rewards for the town.

With hindsight, I was right about the reward but the old quote from Mike Tyson of “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face” holds true in more scenarios than you believe.

I had managed to pull off my little maneuver without too much effort. Lana always takes a bit longer to really ‘be there’ when she wakes up for her watch so she probably assumed I had doubled back to camp after a couple minutes and went to sleep. When or how they found out is something was wrong, I never found out since it wasn’t a priority at the time and I haven’t broach yet. I am slightly worried at what they might say about it. I think it’s because I’m slightly worried at what they might say.

After I managed to slip away from the group, stalked my way to the large Orc Encampment. Thankfully it was still raining somewhat so it made sneaking around easier since visibility was down and the rain covered most of the noise. It took maybe 30 minutes to get close to the camps and I decided to park and observe a bit before I went in and this was a good choice since we got some good ideas on some cultural aspects of the Orcs.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As it turns out, the encampment we had been circling hadn’t actually been just one encampment but two. I observed that there was a difference in the colors used between the camp tents within the large encampment and that the colors had a dividing line between them (not an actual line but an implied one). It was probably why this encampment had been larger than the last two we had circled around. I managed to scout out the general outskirt of the encampment which gave me a decent guess of the numbers of orcs (together since I decided to ignore the two camp split) as well as get some decent look at the weapons they all had.

Most of the weaponry they had would be called ‘medieval weaponry’. And I write that knowing that the question going through your head is going to be “what do you mean ‘be called; medieval weaponry’?” It’s because while it definitely has its roots in what you would see at the Museum of Natural History’s Dark Age section, it had the same feel that would get from those ‘mall ninja’ weapons. An axe I was able to get a closer glimpse at looked as though it was modeled off a chainsaw, with its blade being more teeth than actual blade. All the weapons I looked at where like, having either strange ornaments or bizarre shapes to it make it distinctive. Even the short spear I own (won maybe?) is like this, looking more like a bird beak instead of actual blade. But I’ll got into that a bit later.

It was only a general look on the outside of the encampment but I would say it was enough to get the idea of the strength of the camp. Now the temperament is different and I do have some insight on that too, knowledge that was gain at some idea of risk.

I had managed to get pretty close to the encampment that night and it wasn’t entirely by skill. I initially believed that for a small time. I continued to stalk around the camp and inspecting it until I managed to see enough of the encampment to witness the dividing line between the two colors of the camp and what was going on. I hadn’t noticed that not a lot of orcs had been around the part of encampments that I was close to and it was only until I saw that large circle of orcs did I begin to question what was going on. I managed to do a little more investigation around the encampment before I used one of tress on the edge of the encampment to gain a bit of a height to view what was going on.

What I saw informed me of the temperament of the orc encampment and made me both glad and worried. I can’t be certain but it looked like a duel, and it seemed to be some sort of ceremonial one at that. At least I can assume it was ceremonial as the particulars of the duel suggested as such. All of the Orcs were in a large circle around two larger orcs that were painted in strange shapes but distinctive colors. Neither of the orcs had weapons yet despite this fact, both of them were quite bloodied and bruised. The orcs that consisted of the edge of the circle all carried weapons and would occasionally beat them together to make a strange ringing noise the fight continued.

Of the two orcs in the ring, the one that was colored in orange-ish shapes and markings looked like he was the winning party. Not an easy way to tell but from the two of them, he had more bruises that cuts or scrap and looked less bloodied than his opponent. The other orc in blue-ish colors was definitely in the weaker position, more cuts than bruises and seemingly had a couple broken fingers. Yet that didn’t seem to stop or impede him as the moment he had the orange orc take a step back did the blue orc pressed that advantage and tried to take a couple swings at him. The orange one avoided most of swings and managed to throw two good punches back, landing on the head and the lower chest on the blue orc.

From that small exchange, it was pretty clear who was going to win and why. This knowledge does make a bit worried since although I don’t know who ultimately won the fight, it was clear who the winner was going to be what it represented. The Orange Orc was methodical and precise in his attacks (or at least as precise an orc can be) and if that translates to his character than the orc leader of this tribe is going to be an issue in the future. If that Orange Orc is able to muster enough of the forces, there is a chance we can be over run. I’ll try to put it in my report but even though I have technical proof (considering I’m still in the hospital as I write this), I don’t have confirmation from other Rangers which can put this up for debate.

To add to this, I wasn’t able to confirm if the Orange Orc won or not since I was spotted during the fight. I didn’t notice that I had been noticed and I will say that if it hadn’t been for the rain, I would have had a spear in chest.

An Orc, probably a straggler or some sort of guard saw me in the tree and I was too involved in the fight to notice that the orc was preparing to impale me with a spear from the ground. I was only able to avoid his attempt because the rain cause me to slip slightly just as the Orc went in for the kill. This slip up caused me to only get cut on my face that might scar later and had me fall from the small tree. Thankfully I wasn’t so high up that the fall hurt and I was able to recover quickly. Which was good because I had to scrap with that Orc the moment I got up.

I don’t know why the Orc didn’t sound any alarm, but he came at me with the spear first instead of anything else (I think he had been drinking at least from some of the unsteady steps he took). I originally wanted to go for the gun I had slung on my back but after dodging the first two thrust with the spear, I thought against it because of the fight. The moment I would have pulled that gun and shot at the orc, I would have the entire encampment come down on me.

So I got into a fist-fight (sort of) with an orc. And I hope to never do that again.

Considering that average orc is some 7 feet tall and they have mostly muscle, being punched by one hurts a lot. And I got punched a lot. Nearly stabbed a lot too. I was only able to come out on top of that fight due to a small amount of skill and a massive amount of luck. There were times in that fight were I’m pretty sure that I would have died if the grip hadn’t been that strong or if ground wasn’t as wet to cause a slip. In the fight that probably only lasted maybe a little less than 5 minutes, I experienced more near deaths than I had ever wanted or thought I ever would. This isn’t to say that I was completely untouchable because in that fight, I felt his blows hard. Maybe someone stronger than me could have made a better challenge to the semi-drunk Orc but my fight with it could be compared to a teenager fighting and winning against his drunk father.

I managed to win by killing the orc with my utility axe that I had brought along the expedition. It was one that I had grown attached to because of useful it had been through the trip. After delivering a punch to kidney (or what I think where it might be), I drove the axe into the orcs neck. He didn’t die immediately and it was definitely a bit haunting to watch the orc slowly bleed out as he still tried to fight back.

I was only able to get a small breather because while I hadn’t heard any change to the large fight in the center of the encampment, the sun was coming up and I was covered in blood. I wasn’t in any shape to either clean or it of be able to really make a daring escape. At the time, all I knew I had was broken arm and that was enough to basically stop me from trying anything else that day.

I picked up the spear that almost killed me and took off the head gear from the orc. I can’t tell you why I did that, but I remember something in the reports about that. I’d have to review when I’m free form the hospital but there was a report of a duel or contest between two groups of orcs and that the winner took ‘trophies’ from the losers. While I don’t know if Orcs are capable of understanding other beings being similar to them, maybe they could at least appreciate the same cultural actions being performed by others.

I managed to make it out of camp fast enough that the sun just crested over the hills when I could see the camp behind me but that effort really strained me. I know now but it turns out that the Orc managed to fracture a couple of my ribs and that my efforts strained them worse. Enough so that over that day, a couple of those fractures bones became broken bones. Thankfully those broken ribs didn’t pierce my lungs the entire trek away from the Orc encampment but it still caused a lot of damage and drained me.

My trek out to the meet up location took longer than it should have due to the injury. My pace was effectively halved if not more so. I managed to do a quick patch job on a small break I took sometime around 8 or 9 am and that definitely took some time out the original plan. By noon, I knew that there was no way I was making it to next turning point of the expedition and so tried mentally map out the way back to town. That first day was pretty bad, mostly because all of the injuries were fresh and I had yet to really take a break to let my body recover.

I put some good distance between myself and the Orc encampment but it still felt like I hadn’t gotten far enough. I’d estimate I only made maybe 11 miles out from encampment. With the idea of just calling it quits on the expedition, my goal was to just gun it towards the town and hope I wasn’t close to dying on the way but it wasn’t going to be a straight shot. I don’t entirely remember if I made the correct estimations but from what I remember guessing from where I was from; there were Chimera in the route i was taking. The choice was either to try and go through those territories and hope the Chimera had either moved on from the area or to take the longer way around those areas and hope it I wouldn’t get ambushed.

Considering what had gotten me into this mess, I actually made the sensible decision (I’m actually surprised I did) of going the around the Chimera territories. It probably added maybe another day before meeting up with Lana and Range Master Jacob but it did get me to avoid the other Chimeras.

I am writing this down here and not going to post it in the reports because I don’t entirely believe it happened but I want to know I did write it down. I’m still not entirely sure if it was real but if I write it down here, I can at least say I recorded the events.

The second night with my injuries, I managed to get myself up about 25 yards up a tree. It hurt but I needed the rest away from potential threats and Range Master Davith taught some of us Rags a trick to get more sleep while avoiding detection. There are two ways to do it; the first it’s to build a fox hole which wasn’t going to happen. While the utility axe had a pick, there was a shovel end to it.

The other way to build a nest up in a tree. A nest is really just a collection of ropes and ties to hold you up as you sleep in the tree. Due to how rare it is for many beings to look up its considered safe if you don’t snore in your sleep (because you’re basically a sitting piñata announcing you location if you do).

This allowed me a good sleep yet I’m not entirely sure if what happened that night was a dream or not. I was woken up sometime in the middle of my sleep by someone prodding me with a stick. A someone who was standing on the branch I was currently on like it was normal and that they didn’t weigh anything.

Again, I’m not entirely certain this was a dream or not because I can’t remember everything exactly. Every time I bring up the memories, they seem to change in small ways to the point where I can’t be entirely sure where reality and delusions blend together.

From what I can remember for certain, this someone was definitely female, had gold blonde hair and had blue-silver eyes. Everything else is fuzzy about that someone except those features.

When this someone woke me, she seemed startled but got closer to me and prodded more gently. I was still tired at this point so I think I might have been trying to fall back asleep despite the danger of strange person standing next to my nest without any way to defend myself. After a couple more prods, this time with her hands and fingers, she eventually pulled out some strange looking branch. She whispered to the branch for a bit, before placing it in between my arm and my bad ribs. It hurt, but at this point exhaustion was so set in that the pain was dull at best. I remember her nodding after that and saying something I didn’t understand before sleep took over.

I don’t have any proof of this being real but I can’t help but think it happened. There was a branch next me when I woke up but it didn’t look exactly like the same branch and there were other branches around me too which could have just meat that the one branch there was just one that happened to fall just right. It was pretty windy when I woke up so it could have just been the wind that blew everything around.

I can still say that a part of me believes that it happened. That part was the area of my ribs that were probably broken at the time not feeling that way when I woke up. I noticed it immediately since it didn’t hurt as much as breathed in that morning. And it didn’t start hurting until hours after I had started to trek a path back to town.

Again, I can’t tell if it was real or not, nor was the strange feeling of being watched the entire climb down was to despite never catching anyone. All I can say is that whatever happened that night felt real and that is important.

That day progressed pretty well. I had a great pace at the start of the day because of the dream’s strange feeling. It definitely started to falter when that strange feeling wore off and the pain began to set in again but by then, any chance of pursuit had been lost and I now had to worry more about what was in front of me. This made the slower pace a bit better in terms of usage since it made me more aware of what was ahead and around me.

This helped since I was able to find the tracks of what I would later find to be my Troop but within the territory of a Chimera. I don’t think they knew, or at least didn’t think about that as they were heading through the area. Mostly because the track I was following definitely showed signs of changing their directions or at least moving from the initial planned path. They were probably working off an assumed size of the Chimera’s territory. I had practically memorized the territory sizes and locations for the local Chimeras, so I was able to notice this and how their change didn’t really help them avoid its territory. That knowledge put as much of a pip in my step to get to them.

It took the rest of the day and some couple hours into the night before I was able to stumble upon them and I was lucky I did so. I managed to find them as they were examining the corpse of Chimera that looked like it had just lost a fight.

I did startle Range Master Jacob and Lana, nearly got a bullet through the side of the chest because of my entrance but it was mostly warranted. What was also warranted, but something I really didn’t think so at the time, was the lecture and talking down to that I was forced to listen through. I gave them my reasons and told them I didn’t regret my actions, but I was still given a lecture about my actions and their effects to the team unit. I will say I don’t remember all of the lecture mostly because the effort I had taken to find them was catching up and I was getting real tired.

In a really stupid move, mostly made to accommodate me, we walked out some two miles and made camp there. It was done to both have enough to time to come back to the body if need by and be close enough to where we were to not have to exert ourselves (me) too much. I was re-bandaged that night and wasn’t given a watch. Range Master Jacob explained that it was because I couldn’t be trusted to in my current condition. I appreciated it but I’m certain I’m going to be paying for that nicety later. Probably sometime after I’m released.

It was actually hard to sleep that night. A mix of the pain from the injuries and pestering I received from Lana during her watch. She made it a point to come in a check on me every couple of minutes or so, peeking into the tent to stare at me and occasionally poke me when I was too still. It was a little cute at first but became tiresome maybe half-ways into the watch. I didn’t want to tell her to stop though since she looked pretty worried about me most of the night and every time I felt like I was going to tell her to stop; her searching look was so anxious that if put me off.

In the morning, the first thing I tried to do was to get us to investigate the Chimera we found. Range Master Jacob was against this idea because of my injuries, saying that they would hinder us and it would put the whole group in danger. He was right, at least when you look at it from the angle of the group and it’s dynamic. He was wrong when you look at it from the point of the view of the expedition’s purpose which was to catalogue the Chimera presence around the town and I was looking at it from that angle. Probably not a good thing to do since those decisions are keeping me chained to this bed I’m writing in or the next week or so but it was correct from that angle.

At the time though, I wasn’t making that argument. I was more trying to convenience Range Master Jacob to give me some time to examine the body to see if we could at least get some clues about the attacker. I argued this purely over the merit of the actions themselves and what it could give us.

I put up a pretty decent argument since Lana joined my side after a bit more packing up of camp. With it being two against one (and probably Jacob being afraid of me pulling another solo-stunt again) he agreed to go back around to check on the Chimera corpse but that we would only be getting two hours to investigate it and that after that, we would be heading back to town immediately.

No detours or course changes. Straight back to town.

With supplies hitting the ‘point of no return’ levels and the injuries making the troop less effective, he said that any longer and this expedition would turn out for the worse.

The trek back to the Chimera was quick and uneventful. It had started to rain lightly again at this point so it was quite out.

The Chimera’s corpse was till were we left it, although some raven had started pecking at it. Thankfully it wasn’t enough too destroyed or eaten as to be able to inspect and identify marks and the Chimera itself.

While I don’t have the name for it, its description was something easy to remember. It was four legged, with its front legs having wing like appendages similar to a bat. Its head was something of a cross between that of a cat and maybe a cobra, scales being the more prominent at its heads but turning into fur just under the armpits of the beast. The tail had a scorpion tip but was more like that of an armadillos. Its body was closer to that of a mountain cat but with spins that seemed to be maneuverable and even eject-able. We managed to remove some from the corpse and collected them for study later.

What was more interesting about the corpse was the injuries it sustained when it wasn’t a corpse. The wounds on the Chimera weren’t numerous but deep. They look almost like stab wounds and it was clear by their placement, with most of them being near the chest and back area, that the Chimera that fought this one was more precise in its attacks. Lana managed to find what looked like a broken talon in one of the wounds and it took some time to extract it. On closer examination, it looked like sturdier and less flexible version of a cobra’s fang. We were careful with everything we touched, mostly because we were unsure of the possibility of poison on any of the materials gathered. It was unlikely due to the injuries on the chimera looking as though it was more bleed out than by poisons. As well, none of the crows or carrion eaters we had shooed away from eating the corpse had died in the meantime so poison was mostly ruled out. Still important to be safe though.

Inspection of the corpse was hard with the injuries but was still do-able. It took a bit longer than two hours though as we spent some of that time debating about what the findings held and were showing. The only reason I think we didn’t stay longer was because the rain picked up.

With that all done, we trek out a bit, pulled out the maps and plotted out the safest and fastest route back to town. What we planned out should have only taken a day and half but due to weather conditions and my injuries acting up after a bad slip, it took an extra day.

The trek was uneventful and quiet aside from the rain. It wasn’t a great trek and despite me my initial good feelings after the chimera autopsy, I was beginning to feel more and more drained as the walked continued. I was able to hid it using the rain as my excuse but I’m pretty sure Lana and Jacob could tell I wasn’t all good. With nothing going on around us, they had time to inspect or stare at me more than they needed too.

I swear I felt eyes on us though at times. I wasn’t allowed to take watch due to the injuries but there were times where I was certain I woke up because something was close to my tent.

I swear one night, when it wasn’t as raining out, I saw that same gold blonde hair quickly retreat back behind a tree some ways back as we were setting up camp. I didn’t call out to it. At the time, it was because of my own tired mind believing I was tricking myself but now, looking back over those events, I’m sure it was real and it was there.

Thankfully whoever the gold blonde hair was attached to didn’t do anything that night and it was a mostly safe trek back to town.

The moment we were spotted by the town edge-guard, Range Master Jacob immediately called to get an ambulance and to pick me up and get me medical attention. I will admit, I really did need it. While I had been managing to keep up with Lana and Range Master Jacob, I could feel myself slowing down and I had to put effort into keeping up. I had even taking to eating another half of a ration the night before due to hunger I wasn’t entirely aware of.

My medical reports are actually not great and the doctors are mostly surprised I don’t have any internal bleeding despite it definitely looking like I should from X-ray scans.

I have 5 broken ribs, two on my left and three on the right.

A broken arm bone (the Radius apparently).

A fractured skull.

And at least 5 lacerations that required stitching.

Nothing too bad but as mentioned before, no internal bleeding, which definitely surprised the doctors and Samantha since apparently one of the ribs looked like it should be causing one.

Once they found that out, I’ve been stuck in the bed ever since, with a nurse on me the first night to make sure I didn’t move around to much and possible puncture my intestines or lungs in my sleep. Not that I moved around much with how much sedatives they put me under.

I don’t like those dreams. I can see the gold blonde someone in them. I remember seeing her but nothing else of what happens. I’m worried I might being a little crazy.