CHAPTER FOUR: INTO THE WOODS
After leaving the shop, I tuck my swordInto a sheath he gave me last second, and put the sheath on my belt. Then I start jogging down the road. The guard stops me, and gives me a look over. He notices my sword, gives me a nod, and lets me leave. As I begin my trek down the road, I look back at the guard. I’m pretty sure that he wasn't there the first time I headed out. I shake my head, turn around, and continue walking.
I get to the forest ten to fifteen minutes later. It was a pretty boring walk. Nothing new to inspect, No new creatures wandering onto the path. The entrance to the forest however, was very interesting. There was a perfect arch of trees, As if the trees grew in such a way to form that arch. Interesting, but not the best part. Across the arch was some vines. They twisted together, and went all over it. It gave it a nice aesthetic. The aesthetic wasn't the coolest part of the vines. Each of the types of vines had its own type of flower. I prepared inspect, and looked at each one in turn. The first one has a pink stellate flower. On the second vine, there are yellow campanulates. With the third vine comes a set of white-green tubular flowers. All three types of flowers came back with results.
Inspect results
Stellar Idonna (Pink)
Quality: Excellent
State: Fresh (Still on plant)
A pale pink stellate flower, with five prongs. [Identify skill too low for further information]
Inspect results
Lunower's Bells (Gold)
Quality: Excellent
State: Fresh (Still on plant)
A bright gold campanulate flower, hanging down like a bell. Rings like a bell when shaken.
Inspect results
Xeer Lights
Quality: Excellent
State: Fresh (Still on plant)
A tubular flower in an extremely pale green. While fresh glows in the dark.
Ann interesting set of flowers. I write the information out into my herblore book, noting this arch as the location they can be found. I pick a flower from each, careful not to damage the flower or the main body of the vine. I tuck them all away in my herb storage containers. I go to leave, but turn around, and pick some more of the glowing ones. I have a feeling they’ll be useful in future. I turn back, and begin my trek into the forest.
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I manage to make it about twenty minutes into the forest before anything of note happens. All of the plants around don't seem to have any qualities. Or at least not the ones close to the entrance of the forest. I hear some small forest animals, and even notice a few out of the corner of my eyes, but they never stay still enough for me to get even an inspect off on them. Whats of note, is that I have finally got a creature I'll be able to record. However, it's a badger and it looks angry. I'm staying far enough away that it still hasn't noticed me, but I need to get closer to run inspect. I also need to stay in one spot to record it into my bestiary. I move in closer, careful not to step on any crunch leaves, or loose sticks. I manage to close to the minimum inspect distance of five meters, and it still hasn't noticed me. I finally spot what has it angered. A small wolf is on the other side of it from me. The side that the badger is facing. The wolf has a couple of scratches on its snout, and has blood visible below the jaw. To the side is a smaller badger that isn't moving. I move a bit closer so that the wolf will be within inspect distance too. Once it is, I use the skill on the badger that is still standing, and on the wolf.
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Inspect Results
Grenwood Badger [Level 3]
Gender: Female
Status: Alive, wounded
Health: 40-50%
Abilities: Unknown
A common badger found in the forest of Grenwood. Pretty common, and on the lower end for strength compared to other creatures about.
Inspect Results
Grenwood Wolf [Level 5]
Gender: Female
Status: Alive, Lightly wounded
Health: 60-70%
Abilities: Unknown
A common wolf found in the forest of Grenwood. Relatively rare. Higher than average strength.
The information suggests the wolf is winning. Having taken out one badger, and already damaged the second one down to half health. I decide to wait back before I do anything. The battle continues, with the badger continuing to lose. The badger takes another hit, and the health percentage that appeared above her head drops another 10%. The badger attacks the wolf again, using her rough claws to deal a whopping 15% of damage, bringing the wolf's health down almost to level with her. The badger prepares for another strike, but the wolf takes the opportunity, and lunges for the badgers revealed belly, biting down as the badger begins her swipe. The badger manages to deal 10% more damage, bringing the wolves health down to match hers, but the wolf tears into her belly, bringing her down 25% and nearly killing her. The wolf backs away,pulling out some of the badger's insides, killing her.
The wolf takes a small break before starting to put the badgers in a pile together. That's when I strike. I draw my sword and charge the wolf. As I reveal myself, the wolf drops the badger it was dragging, and bares its teeth. I swipe with my sword, cutting across the wolf's side. She yelps out in pain and drops to the ground. She whimpers as I move over to finish the job. I stop. Seeing the wolf in pain makes me start to reconsider this choice. I run inspect on the wolf, to check it's health. 10-15%. That means that my sword dealt about 15% health. I wonder how that works out in damage values I muse… I shake my head and turn back to the wolf. I kneel down and look over her. She has a scratch over one eye, several scratches on her muzzle, and some other scratches on her side. Across her side is the not-so-clean strike of my sword.She is bleeding heavily from my cut. It takes me a moment, but I decide to put her out of her misery, and finish her off. I draw my sword across her throat, and sigh.
I pull out my bestiary and writing supplies, and start adding entries for both types of animals. I put the wolf first, and write down all the information. For the sketch, I put the head of the wolf, and guess what the spots with scratches would look like if it didn't have any. For the badger I do the same. Tucking away my writing supplies, I pull out my knife. I start with skinning the badgers as practice to get as much of a better quality on the wolf's pelt. The badger I saw the wolf fighting is much more damaged than the other. It wouldn't be worth as much to sell, so I start with that one, the reasoning again being practice for the other animals. I extend the opening on its chest up to the throat, and down to the tail. I cut around it's ‘parts’ and then start the next part. I run the knife carefully along, and after 20 minutes, I manage to get a really rough pelt. I repeat the process for the next badger, and get a marginally better cut. I put the pelts in my bag, and cut out some of the ‘usable’ meat. I grab the wolf' body, and start heading out of the forest. I'll probably sell the pelts I have, and purchase assistance for the wolf.