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Juvenile Grey Stalker would like to form a bond. Accept? YES/NO
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"Yes." Cooper stated audibly for the Grey Stalker, just for emphasis.
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Bond accepted.
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"So now that we're friends and this bond thing is a thing, you wouldn't happen to be able to talk, would you?" The Grey Stalker just stared at him, turning his head sideways. "Of course not, that would be too much to ask for, wouldn't it." Cooper sighed, pondering about his, their, next moves. "I suppose we'll head to the smoke I saw earlier. Also, I can't just keep calling you 'Wolf-Thing' or 'Juvenile Grey Stalker' now can I? I suppose I should think of a name, unless you've got suggestions." Tabling that pretty one-sided discussion, Cooper began to backtrack, trying to find his way to the river again, unable to see smoke against the dark night sky yet. He hadn't wandered too for in his quest for stick, so he found the battleground soon enough. Making his way back to the tree he slumped up against after the end of their fight, he had an easier time tracing his way back to the river, with his now-loyal puppy following him. Soon enough, he found the river, starting to head downstream once again before he was so rudely interrupted, looking for the source of the smoke. After a brief walk, he saw a glimmer of light, growing brighter by the step. Soon enough, there was no doubt, the light was coming from a fire. Fires. Campfires.
"HALT! Identify yourselves and all who you may be traveling with." the voice came from a wall, next to what he now realized was a very primitive gate. "Stop staring and answer, who and how many are you?" came the slightly irritated voice.
"I'm alone, apart-" there was a rustle as his newfound companion stepped into view.
"Step back, I'll take care of it" the man said as he jumped down from the wall.
"Don't be an idiot Tommy, there might be a pack of them and we don't know how many are with this guy." Another man said, stepping forward, spear in hand.
"Look, he's not dangerous, looks like a fresh one. Are you a fresh one?" asked who Cooper now knew to be Tommy.
"I don't know what that means and that, thing, Grey Stalker or whatever, is with me, I think." Cooper responded, slightly taken aback by the situation.
"It's with you? That means you're not fresh, then. Although you don't know what fresh means so maybe you just got lucky." said the man on the wall.
"Are you sure its with you? I haven't seen a lot of people with a pet Stalker, let alone a fresh one like you." Tommy spoke up.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure it's with me, it asked to Bond, I think." Rolling with the punches, Cooper continued "It's a juvenile, it was alone and I seem to have beat it into submission, by accident I might add. I'm not a danger and I don't think he is either, after our fight he just walked up to me and requested to Bond, whatever that meant."
The man-on-the-wall spoke this time "Well, you look alone enough, and don't have the looks of a brigand or anything of the sort. Open the gate Tommy and get your sorry ass back inside. There could be actual brigands or beasties out there. You get in too, stranger, oh, and speaking of, I'm Darren, this is Tommy as you might've deduced, who might you be?"
Walking towards the gate, Cooper replied. "I'm Cooper, I haven't named the pup as of yet. Thank you."
Taking Cooper further into the camp, past some wagons and tents, he pointed to an older, by comparison, man. "That's the Captain by the fire, I guess he can answer your questions, he's supposed to be asleep but I think he's too grumpy today, I've got watch duty so I'm going back to the gate, not supposed to leave Tommy there alone. I suppose I'll be seeing you Cooper." Darren said as he walked off, not letting Cooper reply before he was off.
"Well come on then, stop sulking at Darrens poor manners and get over by the fire, can't be too nice out in the cold." the Captain half-shouted at Cooper. Sitting down on a large flat rock covered by some sort of pelt or crude blanket, he took a closer look at the Captain, looking to be in his late thirties, early forties, wearing worn but solid looking leather armor with plate in some of the more vital areas. Other than that, he looked pretty normal, apart from his intense eyes, scanning him and the area around him, in a slightly unsettling manner, like a predator looking for prey. "Come now, don't be shy. People call me the Captain out of respect for my long holding of the rank, and some even say deserved, but my actual name is Gort. It's a very simple name, I know, but you can call me either Captain or Gort, the tradies here call me a mixture and I don't mind either way. Since Darren let you in I assume you're not a brigand and can actually keep me entertained with at least semi-intellect conversation?"
Cooper hesitated a bit under the withering gaze of the Captain, but eventually spoke up "I'm Cooper and yes, I think I can, but it really depends on what you qualify as 'intellectual'. There have been happenings as of late that I do not understand, especially with the pup over there."
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The Captain thought for a bit before responding, rubbing his chin. "Well, that was more intellectual than what Tommy's said in his entire life, I think, so you'll do for tonight. Seems you're a fresh one, so I suppose I should let you in on some specifics. You have a Grey Stalker with you, looks young, but I assume you Bonded with it? As in something not physical appeared in front of your eyes, notifying you of a Bonding Request?" Cooper relaxed, it seems these people were not after him, and this was the perfect time for some questions.
"Well, I do have some questions, yes. I accepted a Bond Request from this Grey Stalker, did it request Bonding or what exactly happened? What is this group you have here? What are 'tradies'? Where are we?"
The Captain guffawed. "Slow down there lad, I can answer all your questions but only if I remember them all. But alright, lets start with the Bonding question. Sometimes it is the creature requesting a Bond via some primal instinct or the like, the intellectuals are a bit divided on this matter. It depends on what the context during the Bonding Request was. Did you have it cornered, begging for its life, did you come up on it and offered terms of friendship in food or water, did you aid it in its time of need? Any of those situations and some more uncommon ones I didn't mention could trigger a need for a Bond, varying by creature. Some creatures won't submit and are too prideful for a Bond after being defeated and some are the opposite of that, it all depends on the creature and there's a whole library of books about it and how it functions within the System, which if you're interested in, there should be some in the next town over. This group, on the other hand, is a mercenary caravan of sorts. We were hired at a guild to protect these tradies moving from one place to another, with some added tasks on the way if the opportunity struck. That leads us to your next question I believe. Tradies are people mostly not oriented for combat and are generally weaker in combat than what their level would suggest. These are people who tend to do civilian professions, the backbone of the economy and the world. An essential part of it, though for most, it is less exciting than the other kind of work. Blacksmiths, cooks, tailors and the like. Tradeskills is the word from which the term comes. Where we are is a question with multiple layers. Like an onion. We are in the vast forests of Thandar, island or continent, depends on who you talk to, of Vasyn. It is on the west side of the known world, currently known world I should say, as explorers keep finding more and more lands. Did this relieve your hunger for knowledge or did it just spark more questions aflame in your mind?"
Cooper took a moment to take all information in. This seemed to not be a place familiar to him, everything was familiar at its core, but the outer layer of it remained unknown. Apart from this 'System'. That was unfamiliar in its entirety. "I have more questions, both new and sprung from what you said. Tommy and Darren called me a 'fresh one' at the gate, and so did you. What does that mean? A Guild? Are there more Guilds? Who is the leader of the land we are in? What is the System? Oh, and the Bond, I defeated the Grey Stalker in combat, I went to look for something and it found me and then I got the Bond Request."
The Captain turned to his side, grabbing something from his pack. "Here you go, some water. Thought you might be a bit parched after all those rapid fire questions." Handing Cooper some water, which he was more than happy to consume while the Captain continued. "There's no gentle way to put it, but the smart lads around the world have concluded that some people are sent into this world after their death. This is what a 'fresh one' is. You died in your original world, and were sent here. Some people keep some of their memories, others don't, so this might be even more confusing for you if you didn't keep your memories. Not much is known about this in detail and technically we still don't know for sure if people are sent here after their death. It's pretty hard to get solid evidence about this, as you can imagine. When you woke up, there might've been a symbol of some sort, burnt into the ground or carved into the rock or the like. This is generally believed to indicate how you died, though this is also all speculation." Cooper wasn't particularly perturbed by the news of his likely death, for he was alive, as little sense as that actually made. "In other, less grim news," the Captain continued "the Guild we are part of, is part of a larger organization, the Adventurers Guild. It's our own thing that's part of the Adventurers Guild as a whole and operating under their rules. Most of us joined up at New Torrency, though some, like Tommy, are later sign ups. So we are part of the New Torrency Adventurers Guild, which is part of the organization as a whole. There are other Guilds, with similar structure of 'there's a Guild over here that is it's own thing, but is part of the collective.' Quite a lot to list, but one for most professions and a few notable ones are the Mercenaries Guild, the Golders Guild and the Academy. While the Academy isn't a Guild in name, it functions similarly to the Guilds and most people count it anyways. This land does not have a set leader, instead there are parts ruled by different people, forming a council with even more lands divided between even more people who are loyal to those above them. The current section of land we are situated in however is ruled over by Duke Inder Vorn and his lands are known as the Dukedom of Vorn. They have been rulers of these lands for a few hundred years or so. Onwards to your final question, the System. It's a gift from the gods, the creators of this world, or maybe it's the world itself. We don't know for sure. It however grants us Skills, power, information and new ways to live your life. It helps you define your path. Take your Bonding Request as an example, you Bonded via the System, and it has given you a loyal companion and as you progress your bond, you gain new Skills and powers, and so does your companion. You should see this listed somewhere in your status page, though I have never experimented with the beast companion stuff so I don't know much about this. There are plenty of teachers and masters in cities, towns, settlements in general, that you'll run into to help you with specifics of what strikes your fancy." The man sure knew how to talk, maybe a little too much talking but regardless, their questions went in circles for a majority of the night, teaching Cooper important information about this new world he found himself in.