WILD LIFE: CHAPTER 11 ~THE BLINDSIDE~

Blindside had been traveling towards Restia at Hope's behest for a few hours now. The moose was honestly shocked with how fast he had become. Every creature on the plains avoided Blindside fearfully as he galloped by. Blindside had begun to feel some turbulence and surprisingly enough he felt no fear. Without altering his course the moose decided to barrel right through the coming storm instead of using a detour. Thanks to his fur's new found resilience when the storm hit Blindside he once again felt like a god... and at that single thought, to his honest dismay Hope's letter was violently torn from his neck and flung through the storm.

As Blindside altered his course to chase after the letter he profusely apologized to every god and goddess he could think of. Once he was done apologizing and out of the storm Blindside quickly scanned the horizon in search of Hope's letter that she had trusted him with. The moose stood still paralyzed with fear... he had heard about the reason why Hope was fleeing the Forest of Despair with such haste. The moose knew exactly what Hope would do to him if he returned to ask for another letter... Blindside sat down and looked towards the sky with eyes closed. 'I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry' the moose thought.

Moments later the letter fell from the sky and hit the goofy moose square between the eyes. After thanking every god and goddess the moose could think of, he resumed his journey to Restia. Having decided to avoid storms Blindside was running across more of the local plains animals. One wolf in particular left an impression on Blindside... Moving on Blindside tried to put the sight out of his mind. It would appear that Bjorn was not the only animal to have incurred the wrath of Hope...

With Restia now in sight Blindside altered course slightly so that he would arrive at the northern gate. Ignoring the numerous screaming freedmen he marched towards the gate until to his dismay a freedman decided to attack him. Looking down at the pitiful freedman Blindside decided that he shouldn't kill him since the knights probably wouldn't approve. So Blindside thought of how his master... friend... Hope would handle this situation. Grabbing the freedman by his shirt as the freedman attacked him uselessly with a blade. Blindside quickly dug a large hole with his powerful limbs then planted the freedman in the ground. Slightly offended that the freedman had even considered attacking him, Blindside picked up the now dropped hard iron sword with his teeth. He then bent down in front of the freedman and snapped it with his jaws.

Now walking away from the sobbing freedman towards the northern gate Blindside recalled his mas... Hope's instructions. As the knights guarding the gate took up a defensive stance towards him Blindside laid down and rolled over on his back... realizing that the letter was no longer around his neck but in his mouth the moose spit it at the knights feet. Once again, to his dismay the people just stood there gaping at him confusedly. Blindside decided that these two were useless so he walked up to them, bent down, retrieved the letter, then triumphantly marched right past the gate into Restia...

Less than twenty paces from the gate, when Blindside dropped the letter on the ground to drink from the fountain he was surrounded by about a dozen knights.

"What's going on?" a tall barbarian woman asked "Oh... that's some moose."

"It just walked right past the gates Cynthia." one of the men called

"Well it's being peaceful, we shouldn't attack something that isn't hostile." she said

"But we can't just let it roam the city, it could hurt someone." one of the other men said

Cynthia walked up to the moose and patted him fondly on the neck. Blindside, now enjoying the attention of the first person to treat him well looked down directly into the barbarian woman's eyes. What happened next really confused the ever living penguin out of him. The barbarian woman blushed from ear to ear and quickly took a step back with the most shocked look on her face he had ever seen. Cynthia had recognized his eyes... Hope's eyes. Blindside decided that it was now or never so he picked the letter back up and held it out to the barbarian woman trying not to bare his teeth.

"A letter?" she said still a bit out of breath.

After looking the letter over she yelled "You morons this is Hope's moose and he came with a letter for the Commander!"

At that moment all the knights put away their weapons and began to treat Blindside very, very well... confused but happy with the new treatment he hunkered down and allowed himself to be attended to.

Cynthia had gone directly to the knight commander with the ragged letter. "Commander Marcus, a letter from Hope arrived."

"Let's have it then..." he said as he received the ragged letter "this is a bit abused eh?"

"How do we know the letter is from Hope?"

"... the moose that brought the lett..." she began

He cut her off "Did you just say a moose brought this letter?"

"Yes sir"

"Continue"

"The moose is... unique."

"How does that prove that it belongs to Hope?"

"They have the same eyes sir... those eyes are... unique."

"Well judging by the contents of this letter I'd say you're right. It would seem that the livelihood of Restia hangs in the balance, we're needed at Fort Odin... as soon as possible. Hope has asked us to send reinforcements for a large scale battle. She has claimed that if Fort Odin falls Restia will suffer. I agree with Lady Hope on this one."

Cynthia's eyes absolutely beamed "I would like to volunteer sir!"

Marcus chuckled "I can't send too many knights and I'll only send one leader with the knights, this is unprecedented. But it's also the right thing to do. Select nineteen of the men and take them with you to Fort Odin. Better yet call the men out to the northern fountain we'll select them there."

"Yes sir"

After a few minutes the Restian Knights had all assembled in full gear... Blindside was in heaven... food, attention, milk... this moose was being spoiled.

Marcus spoke up "We're sending a twenty man squad to Fort Odin for a large scale battle against the lizardmen! Anybody with experience fighting lizardmen is to personally volunteer!"

That sudden shouting had startled Blindside out of his happy little daze. Looking up to see that he'd been surrounded by a few hundred knights Blindside suddenly remembered Hope's orders... instructions once again. Fear swept over the moose, if Hope found out that he had wasted time here instead of immediately returning to Fort Odin as instructed... Blindside decided that for the sake of his fur he would go the extra mile to please Hope. Promptly standing to his full height he approached the barbarian woman from behind. In a rather poorly thought out attempt to get her on his back Blindside lowered his head to go in between her legs. *KYAAA!*

Blindside had forgotten about his newly developed horns...

As all the knights laughed at Cynthia she turned to smack the offending animal only to find him near the ground looking up at her with those eyes... "... bad moose!"

Blindside's ears went down and he looked back at her even more sorry than before.

"... as long as you didn't' mean to." the barbarian woman said shyly

"I think he wants you to get on Cynthia." Marcus claimed

Cynthia looked back at Blindside and couldn't resist the chance to ride such a rare beast. As Cynthia mounted Blindside he quickly turned to the gate then bolted out across the plains turning east. "Hey wait a second!!!"

After the knights had managed to calm down and stop laughing Marcus spoke up again. "All right I need nineteen of you to march on Fort Odin and render aid in the coming lizardman battle!" as knights began to volunteer Marcus gave the gate a sidelong glance "... your leader has gone on ahead."

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Blindside was feeling pretty proud of himself right about now. He was sure that his mas.. friend would be very happy that he had returned with a knight. He was also pretty sure from the gasps and various sounds the barbarian woman was making that she was very impressed with him. So in another poorly thought out bout of showboating Blindside decided to start rapidly ascending and descending the largest mounds he could spot. About three mounds later and various complaints...

*THUNK* he felt a bit of a bump.

After coming to a halt and turning around Blindside instantly felt remorse. Laying on the ground now unconscious was the hairless wolf that he had passed by earlier that day. Cynthia dismounted Blindside and quickly moved to inspect the wolf. "I don't believe it! You caught Harry!"

What happened next also immensely confused Blindside, Cynthia proceeded to sling the hairless wolf over his back before remounting him. "Let's go! I can't wait to show her Harry!"

Ignoring what had just transpired and profusely apologizing to the sleeping wolf for bringing him towards Hope. Blindside took off once again at a similarly ground breaking pace.

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As Hope was finishing with the last of the repairs that she had been asked to attend to by the very thankful people of Fort Odin.

*ding*

Familiarity within Fort Odin has been greatly increased. You have become Honored.

You have removed a dangerous element from the coming battle.

Leadership has been permanently increased by 5

Morale up!

As Hope got up to leave the forge she was greeted by a familiar voice. "Hope!" Cynthia called out

"Cynthia?! What are you doing here?" Hope said

Cynthia walked in and dropped the hairless wolf on the ground as Hope chose to ignore that for the moment. "You asked for reinforcements didn't you?"

"How did you get here so fast? It hasn't even been a full day yet."

"Your moose is a monster when it comes to travel speed Hope."

"Oh ok I get it, I'm surprised he let you ride him... he was rather difficult when I first met him."

"Well your moose also caught a rare wolf that we've gotten to know lately." she said pointing at the wolf. "Meet Harry, the hairless plainswolf responsible for the deaths of about a hundred freedmen. Nobody's quite sure where he came from."

Hope hiding her amusement asked "How did he manage that?"

"The wolf likes to lead freedmen into traps when they decide to bother him."

At that moment Hope made a decision...

While Cynthia watched and stifled many, many laughs. Hope carefully and meticulously glued about an eighth of Bjorn's reddish fur to the wolf... Hope had decided that in an attempt to mend what she believed was a burned bridge, this was the best course of action. As Hope worked on the wolf she noticed that Cynthia was rather uncomfortable... "Having trouble sitting Cynthia?" she asked

"Your moose got a little friendly with me..." she blushed as Hope busted out laughing

"I can heal that for you if you'd like?" Hope offered

Cynthia, a bit shocked asked "When did you become a priestess?"

"I didn't, I learned a little nature magic." she explained

Cynthia blushed "I'm not really sure how I feel about this." she said as she turned away from Hope and began to unfasten her belt.

Hope had lost her chance to tell the barbarian woman that she didn't need to see the wounded area to heal it and decided that for both of their sakes, she would never know.

As Cynthia bent over, Hope proceeded to place her hand on the wounded body part and thought. 'mend wounds'

While Hope had been doing this she received two new visitors... Amanda and Lily now stood in the doorway of the forge staring at the pair in shock. Hope mulled over what was about to happen next and said flatly "It's okay, I'm a doctor."

As Lily bolted out the door Amanda spoke up. "Does that spell require you to have your hand on a persons rear to work?" Clearly recalling what Hope had done to her during the jormungand battle.

"Yes" Hope claimed without a moment of hesitation.

Amanda looked at her skeptically "Really?"

Hope averted her gaze. ".....maybe?"

Cynthia was shocked by this new "information" and quickly removed Hope's hand before redressing herself and also bolting out the door.

"Do this often?" Amanda asked

Out of reflex Hope answered "Not as often as I'd like." while staring at Amanda and flexing her hand.

Amanda turned red "Oh no you don't, unless you wanna lose that hand it stays where it is!"

After laughing for a good while Hope asked "Why are you here Amanda? I thought that the three of you planned to return to Restia."

"We did but Guy decided that I should add you to my friends list to keep in contact." she said honestly

Hope looked at her skeptically "Thank you for being honest..." after a few more moments "Why?"

"Guy is making a change... he wants to change for the better. He's restarting as a front line melee class and he wants the ability to find you again when he thinks that he's done enough."

"He wasn't a bad person... just a bit cowardly and superficial. If he didn't care about appearances I'd have never had a problem with him. People can change... I know that better than most."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"So you'll be my friend?"

Amanda has sent you a friends request, do you accept?

Hope thought to herself for a few moments...'Sam might be mad if he found out I said no... and it's not like I dislike her...'

"I accept."

Amanda is now your friend.

"What's wrong?" she said seeing Hope's perplexed expression.

"I'm... not looking forward to the party the people I'm living with are about to throw when they find out I made a friend." Hope said honestly

Amanda gaped "You're like level one hundred and fifty and you haven't made a single friend?!"

"Show Amanda avatar status window, Hope."

NameHopeAlignmentNeutralLevel69ProfessionWandering WardenRaceWood ElfTitleSurvivorFame896(+50)Infamy0Health2150 / 2150Mana2400 / 2400Strength125(+45)Agility225(+80)Vitality83(+20)Intelligence20(+20)Wisdom80(+20)Leadership116(+120)Luck19(+20)Charm132(+75)Endurance104(+60)Nature Affinity159(+150)Fighting Spirit112(+40)Art287(+65)Attack273Defense82Magical ResistanceFire20%Water20%Wind20%Earth50%Light20%Darkness20%Racial: 10% movement bonus and 5% experience bonus while in forested areas, 30% earth resist.

-20 points added to all Stats.

-Nature affinity + 80

-In nature all stats increase by 5% in addition.

-Enables you to equip certain items specialized for the class.

-Enables you to learn secret skills based on your level in Nature Mastery.

-You incur ten times the normal amount of infamy for committing a crime.

-Titles that add infamy are no longer available.

-Slaying infamous players gains two times the normal amount of fame.

Outdoor non-combat movement speed + 10%

Stealth skill level rises by one.

Npcs are more likely to sell you goods at a reduced price.

After spending a good amount of time examining Hope's status Amanda said "I don't even wanna think what you've been doing to get stats like that at level sixty-nine..."

Hope looked at her a bit puzzled "Normal stuff?"

Amanda looked back to Hope "Normal for you..." she said thinking of all the effort it would take to raise her own status like Hope's without leveling past her current level ninety.

As a tank Amanda was very curious. "How did you get so much magic resistance?"

"30% earth racial and this..." she said holding out the amulet "Show Amanda Item Eugene's Amulet."

Eugene's AmuletTypeNecklaceQualityGrandDurability120 / 120Artistic Value220CreatorMarie DalokDefense10A platinum amulet with a rectangular sapphire embedded in its frame. Belongs to the next in line of a noble merchant family of Yar Dalok.RestrictionNoneEffect(s):

Makes npcs more likely to sell you goods at a reduced price.

Art + 30

Leadership + 20

Magic Resistance + 20%

Cannot be dropped upon death.

Amanda gaped at the necklace in shock "Where did you get such a rare item!?"

Hope blushed with embarrassment and looked away...

"Please tell me... that's an insanely rare item you've got. Any tank would kill for it." she pleaded

"I... may have seduced a knight npc to get it." Hope muttered under her breath

Amanda once again gaped at Hope in honest shock before she laughed and said "No really Hope, come on."

"Whenever I manage to get maximum level intimacy I end up getting a reward." she said honestly

"You've done it more than once?"

"Ummm... let's see... Sereda, Eugene, Cynthia, Dalamund, and Blindside. I got a hammer, necklace, two skills and a very reliable familiar... but you already knew about Blindside." she explained

"Ahhh so that's what the rare evolving moose was about!" she laughed "Maybe I should go get a pet."

"It's related to my class skills, I don't think other people can evolve familiars... they might be able to tame them but evolution is probably unique." Hope hypothesized

"Ahh that's a shame I'd have liked a bear or something." Amanda looked back to Hope "So as someone with experience what's the best way to raise familiarity with npcs?"

"Surviving life or death situations seems to be a good way, you can be friendly, also sometimes they get impressed by your abilities or actions... but the best way I've found is... shameless." Hope said self admonishingly

"I'm sorry what?"

Hope stepped closer to Amanda, moved her right hand to the small of the slightly taller woman's back, looked into her eyes then spoke. "Thank you Amanda... if you hadn't attacked the jormungand when you did I'd be dead. I... want to thank you." she said getting closer to the now blushing Amanda then proceeding to pull her into a gentle embrace.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Calm it down, what are you doing?" Amanda asked desperately freeing herself and shaking off Hope's advances.

"That's the sort of thing I've found to be the best way to raise familiarity with an npc... you just seduce them." Hope said candidly

"I can't do that!"

"You don't have to... it just seems to work rather well... oh wait, I have a high charm stat so that might be why flirting seems to work so well for me... sorry Amanda."

"No I'm the one who asked..." After a few moments of silence Amanda spoke up. "I have to go find Lily, I'll see you around Hope."

After Amanda left Hope turned to her new interest. She walked up to the silly looking patchwork wolf and laid down beside him. A few minutes after Hope had draped her arm over the wolf, he awoke. Looking into his eyes "Good morning Mr.wolf."

She could not have produced a more profound reaction from Harry. The wolf struggled to free himself of the maniacal elf, he flipped, turned, begged and cried out. After a few long minutes Harry gave in to fate.

"Want to be my familiar Mr.wolf?" she asked with an impish grin

Harry seeing no other way out of this alive answered. "...yes."

*ding*

Nature affinity has been permanently increased by 40

You have become friends with a renowned wolf fame + 150, choose a name for your familiar.

"Harry" she answered remembering what Cynthia had called him while indulging in the irony of her new familiar's name.

"What do I have to do?" Harry asked

"Just be my friend and travel with me for a while."

A bit shocked by how simple that sounded he asked "Why me?"

"You have something of a reputation Harry. I thought that you might be a strong ally."

"I do?... wait Harry?"

"Ah yes that's what all the people in Restia named you." she claimed leaving out the fact that she could've changed the name.

Harry spit on the ground and looked up at her angrily "That's your fault!"

"Calm down and don't forget you tried to eat me Harry... also, I've seen fit to give you new fur."

Harry immediately checked himself to find... a very odd reddish coat. "What is this?"

"It's kermode spirit bear fur."

Harry looked at her in shock "Why?"

"It will make you much stronger." she lied again

*ding*

Familiarity with Harry has massively increased. You have become intimate.

At that sentence the patchwork wolf began to happily roll back and forth while inspecting his new fur coat. Hope thought absently 'It's a good thing I've got such a high art stat... that could've went very wrong.'

"Oh I forgot to mention that the friendlier we get the more powerful you'll become."

*ding*

A new Passive Skill has been generated: Companionship

CompanionshipThis skill increases your familiar's growth rate. The more familiars that you bond with the stronger this skill will become.

-Familiars may learn unique skills.

-Familiar experience + 10%

-Familiar intimacy rate + 20%

'oooooooo' she thought

Harry nodded to Hope. "Now go play with the big moose out in the courtyard and remember people are friends, not food."

"That won't be a problem I haven't tasted humanoid flesh since..." Harry's mouth started to water as he looked fondly at Hope.

"That!... is the last mistake you will every make Harry." she said acidly

After Harry turned and sauntered off Hope made her way to the mess hall and began to cook.

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Amanda was taking her time to find Lily as she mulled over everything that she had found out about Hope. She was unique to say the least. Not many people would play an mmorpg solo. She also seemed to have a wealth of unusual knowledge and some very... odd methods. That was what bothered her the most. Amanda had never even entertained the thought that another woman was attractive... until today. Though Amanda would never admit it, Hope is very good at what she does. Amanda was now in just a slight bit of turmoil. Having given everything a little time to settle in she decided that most of what she learned about Hope wouldn't be spoken of to either Guy or Lily. "It's not like I'm hiding anything from them after all." she said absently

*ding*

A new Passive Skill has been generated: Freya's Favor

Freya's FavorThe Goddess of beauty and fertility Freya has taken a liking to you. For showing your loyalty to the polite adventurer she favored Freya has seen fit bestow upon you a blessing.

-Strength + 20% when in a party with Hope.

-Vitality + 20% when in a party with Hope.

-Endurance + 20% when in a party with Hope.

-Magic resistance + 10% when in a party with Hope.

-Healing received + 15% when in a party with Hope.

"Freya's Favor!?" Amanda shouted as she did a one eighty and marched back to where she assumed Hope would be.

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That was a really fun chapter for me to write! hahahaaa [th_084_.gif]

Proofread by lomie0.