“You know, I wanted to go on an adventure, be a hero, become powerful, save the day. If I keep passing out, freaking out, or puking I don’t think I am going to get to where I want to be.” He said with a deep sigh. “I don’t recall ever talking to myself this much on earth. I need to find some friends.” As he finished saying that he felt a strange tightness in his chest. After shaking off the strange feeling he decided just to get on with his day. An eventful day against the jackalopes ensued. He was attacked on 3 separate occasions which was significantly more than typical. As the day wound down, and he anticipated the orb it never arrived. He had an odd dream where he was with a group of people who felt extremely familiar, and yet he was also positive he had never seen them before. The next day started like so many others, but about 3 hours into his journey he heard shouting, and what sounded like fighting. Wyatt wasn’t sure he had ever felt this excited. “People!” He yelled before taking off as fast as he could without dropping his bag.
As he got closer, he realized he was going to have to make a big decision. He could now see people, but they were across the water. He couldn’t make out much, but from what he could tell they were humanoid, and slightly greenish skin tone. After a moment he realized there was another group of people that were fighting against the ones with the greenish skin tone. These ones appeared to be slightly purplish, but without getting closer he couldn’t tell much more.
“Of all the rotten luck. I finally find people, and not only are they on the other side of the murderfish infested water, but they were also in conflict with another group. He wasn’t ready to pick sides, and it seemed like that would be necessary if he announced his presence. “Well, maybe I can figure out something from watching. I just hope I don’t choose the evil side. You just know one of these groups is secretly evil." He mumbled while watching as closely as he could from this distance. Eventually he pieced together a few more details. The purple people were definitely the aggressors. The green people were being herded towards the water, and he realized something else. Either the green people varied significantly in height, or they likely had children with him. As he continued watching he saw that the purple group also had large, caged wagons. Instinctively he knew. “Slavers,” he hissed. “Ugh, why the bad guys gotta bad right in front of me.” He said while preparing himself for what he knew he was going to do. Wyatt grabbed a piece of meat from earlier and hurled it into the water downstream from where he was. He could see the water being disturbed a moment later, and then threw another piece right as he jumped in the water and swam for everything, he was worth. Now he hadn’t swam much in his life, but assumed having seen people swimming plenty of times it would be easy. When he was not making progress as quickly as he hoped he started to panic. Getting eaten by that fish was literally his worst fear. “Oh my god!” he yelled, getting water in his mouth as he swam for all he was worth. Despite not having good form he was extremely fit from his time in this world, and fear motivated him to move his arms much faster than he would otherwise. In short order he had safely cleared the river, although he was fairly certain the fish chose to leave him alone for some reason.
Splashing up onto the shore he did not expect all of the fighting to stop at the same time. Everyone from both groups was staring at him like he was some sort of monster. Then he realized that he was mostly nude, covered in scars, and he just swam through the river sporting murderfish. ‘Ok, what do I say? Think... Think...’ “Um, Hello. Nice weather we are having today. Don’t you think so?” ‘What was that. Nice weather?? Wow, my social skills are more broken than I thought.’ It got even more awkward when nobody responded. Everyone just stared at him, still not making any further moves to attack each other or interact with him. “Ok, well this is awkward. You see, I am new around here. I was hoping someone might be able to answer some of my questions.” Wyatt added when nobody had responded. Almost a minute passed when the biggest of the purple group that on closer examination looked like some sort of weird hybrid between an orc, and an elf finally responded. “You are encroaching on our territory. Your kind is not welcome here. This is our land to do as we see fit.” ‘Well, that pretty much settles that as far as I am concerned purple guys are definitely the bad guys.’ Wyatt thought while also trying to figure out what sort of weird elf, orc hybrid this guy was. Pointed ears check, bulky figure and in this case oddly large tusks also check.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
While trying to decide on his next move the green guy who also appeared somewhat orcish, but with much smaller tusks that just barely peaked out shouted “Don’t believe them they knowingly violate the accords. They are taking children to use as cultivation slaves! You must help us!”
‘Wow, well that confirms cultivation is a thing so that’s nice, but damn these are the bad guys. Who knows how strong they are. Clearly, they are familiar with humans, and seemed worried to see me here so I am going to guess that they are most certainly violating the accords whatever that is. Well, I don’t want a fight right this second. I guess I am going to play the asshole and take them from the other guys to keep them safe.’ Putting on his best jerk impression Wyatt turned to the clearly distressed, probably father of the kids he saw standing behind him and said “First off, I do not ‘have’ to do anything. Do not presume to put demands on me.”
This elicited the reaction he wanted from the purple guy who smirked at the now distraught father. Which is when Wyatt turned to him and said “As for you. I am not an idiot, and a violation of the accord would be serious business. It’s also more work than I want to deal with right now, and as I haven’t witnessed anything personally, I think if I bring these folks with me then no crime has been committed. I don’t need to look further into what you are doing, and I am not obligated to make any reports because I haven’t actually seen any wrongdoing.” Watching the look on the man’s face as he desperately thought of some way, he could keep his prey without inviting more problems almost made Wyatt laugh. The look of utter defeat forced Wyatt to bite his tongue to avoid laughing.
“It’s clear you understand the situation. Nothing illegal is happening here, and we have other things to do anyway.” The purple man said, before turning to walk away.
“Just a word of caution. If you are breaking the accords others will be out this way. Just something to consider.” Wyatt added. Then knowing how bullies liked to see someone kicked while down and wanting to have him leave in a better mood. Wyatt looked at the presumed father and spoke. “I have had a very long last few months. Make me some food. Then almost immediately without giving him a chance to respond said “Did I stutter? When I said make me food I meant now!” The chuckle from the purple man as he walked away told Wyatt he had read the situation properly. It was strange being able to read people like he did. He actually was always fairly decent at it, but after he shut himself off from the world, he had no opportunities to use the skill any longer. Once he was certain the slavers were far enough away, he turned to the man he believed to be the father of the children and said “Don’t worry. We are going to talk about everything in a couple minutes. As far as the food, it was necessary that I be rude, but I actually am hungry if you could spare a meal.”
Wyatt wasn’t sure that surprised or shocked were strong enough words to truly capture the amazement on the man’s face. “Not now. We will talk in an hour or two. I have many questions, and I believe you will be able to answer them for me.” Wyatt added in a hushed tone.
The man clearly wanted to say something, but after a few seconds or so of observing Wyatt, he just nodded his head, and headed towards what appeared to be a wagon that looked like it had been modified to allow a person to pull it rather than an animal. It appeared this family was not in the greatest of situations which became clear after looking closer. They were worn down, and clearly had no animal to pull the cart, and as he looked closer, he realized they likely had very little food. Then he wondered how they survived the constant attacks from the jackalopes as he severely doubted their fighting prowess. “So many questions.” He said in a whisper as he found a spot to sit down and wait to see what kind of food was provided.