While Talon and Fluffy were foraging for dinner, Jessica explained to Yim what she had picked up about the creature they had fought. It had felt as if the code itself was malicious... almost like a virus, but with an actual intelligence behind it as well. It was as if the virus had actually infected the player, the way a demon would posses a person. And there were things in the code that just didn't make sense... arcane symbols that didn't belong to any programing language she had ever seen.
They decided to keep moving until they reached Redwood. By midnight, they walked past the winery to the gates of the Empath Temple. To their surprise, the doors were shut and barred from within. The pounded on the doors and heard a muffled comotion inside.
"Go away!" a voice called out.
"We are weary travelers," said Talon, "seeking shelter for the night".
"And we are taking shelter from the Night. No one comes in after dark... now go away"!!!
| [Tame] |
[Tame] |
[Tame] |
[Tame] |
[Tame] |
| an air elemental |
an air elemental |
an air elemental |
an air elemental |
an air elemental |
The group of elementals appeared on the roof, ready to rain destruction down on the party. They decided to retreat to the far side of the winery.
They laid out bedrolls and decided to camp there.
"Ok," said Jess, "who takes the first watch"?
"Arrggghhhh-uuuffff," replied Fluffy.
They all stared blankly at the animal, which no longer was flagged as being tame. For the first time, Misty picked up on some emotion and intelligence in him... but... that meant he couldn't be just a construct. But she knew what she felt from him.
"He'll watch through the night, so we can sleep. I trust him".
Fluffy watched the humans sleep. He remembered other humans, who had hurt him. But these humans were different. They were more like the ones who had gotten him out of the bad place and helped him. He remembered them too. Bright colors on their bodies and long fur on top. They all had the same name... he had learned to recognize a few words. Pet-ah was their name, Pet-ah was nice and helped him get out of the bad place... back the woods where he could hunt and play. And then Pet-ah asked for help. He would do anything for Pet-ah... Pet-ah was his friend. Pet-ah had a fake animal with lots of tails. One of the tails attached to his head, but it didn' hurt. And then he was here. He saw the other two humans first... but they were strange. They looked and smelled like humans, but they didn't feel like humans... and they didn't pay any attention to him. That made him sad because he liked nice humans... who would play with him and called him "Fluffy". Then the bad thing came and killed one of them... but not for food... it just killed him. Then the other one started fighting with the bad thing but he got killed toooo....ooooo...ohhhh... gotta itch... gotta itch... gotta itch....ahhhhhhh... then he saw the females. WOW!! they were nice. They were so pretty... and he could tell they were nice like Pet-ah. But the bad thing was after them now... well, he wasn't going to let that happen!! He grabbed the bad thing and ripped it's leg off... it was a good leg... lots of meat... he wondered what happened to the bone... did he bury it? He did!! He did!! It was back by the burnt place! He could could go get it!! He could dig it up and bury it here!! Wooohooooo!!! Wait... he couldn't go get it... he had to watch the humans and make sure they were safe... because they were his friends like Pet-ah. Even the male, he was funny, he thought he was alpha male but Fluffy knew who was really alpha male. Hey!!! I have a pack!! This is my pack!!! This is my pack and I'm alpha male so I have to protect them!!! ARRRRrrrrroooooOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Misty opened one eye and looked at the wolf. When he noticed that she was looking, his ears perked up and he cocked his head to one side.
"Ufff".
She smiled and went back to sleep.
