4

“Old McDonald had a farm e I e I ohhhh. And on that farm, there was a maid e I e I oh. With a eee eee here and an iiii iiii there here and eeeee there an iiiiiii everywhere an eeeeiiiii” sang a lovely tenor crudely.

We have been hearing him sing for a while now, but he has been so far away we haven't been able to understand what he was saying. It turns out he is quite the rascal. I see no sense in hiding from him. I simply keep walking and have Waverly keep an eye out for him.

When she expects him to crest the hill we are ambushed from above. A heavy fleshy feeling blanket falls on us and we hear a voice call out.

“well what do we have here a snack perhaps,” the voice mischievously ponders. “I’ve been watching you two for half a day now and you seem like a nice enough couple. What I don't understand is why that beast of a man hasn’t made his move on that lovely little lady.”

Waverly struggles and starts screaming. “We are friends you creep. Wait until I get out of here, I’m going to show you a thing or two.”

We hear the muffled laughter of the voice and the blanket rhythmically shaking with his laughter seems to cover us so completely, we can't move an inch. The only thing I have left to do is to try and bite my way out. I open my mouth and take the fleshy blanket into my mouth and bite down as hard as I can. I rip and tear to gain any sort of freedom.

A flood of coppery fluid seeps into my mouth. What is this I think to myself, as the voice bellowed in agony. It’s, it’s... blood, I begin to absorb some of our captor’s skills, abilities and memories. With the flood of information, I black out and find myself floating in the great darkness again. This seems to be a recurrence with me, I think sardonically.

My vision blurs and I’m sitting in a small hut. I get the feeling this isn’t me, but maybe a memory of our captor.

The hut looks like it was recently vandalized. The roof was in shambles and the door and half the wall were missing. The interesting thing about this is that the wreckage looks like it was blown out from the inside.

The form I am in is small and humanoid in shape. The hands are the things that draw my attention the most, they are more what I would consider a paw. The hairy hands clasping at the figures robes as if in frustration, the small claws at the tip of the digits dig furrows into the dark blue cloth.

I hear echoes of sobbing as the vision of the creature blurs. The last thing I notice before my vision completely fades are 2 dark pools of blood seeping from the wreckage within the hut.

Another vision takes me now to something that feels much more familiar. Like this one belongs to me like a sweet remnant of something only a fond memory could leave behind.

I am lying awake in a bed; the room is warm dark and comfortable. It seems like I have been sleeping on and off for several hours as excitement grows within my chest. I can barely see the sun through my open curtain and there is a gently snowfall drifting quietly outside.

I jump out of bed in feverish anticipation, running around my room pulling on clothes haphazardly. If anyone had seen me at that moment they would have thought I was a vagrant wearing a motley assortment of cloths, but I didn't care it was Christmas the best time of the year.

I had to have been less than ten years old at the time and I feel a compelling sense of joy as the small figure of myself rushes out of the room yelling, “Wake up, wake up, the sun has come up lazy bones, how can anyone still be in bed when the day has already begun.” The very words that rush out of my mouth seem to resonate within me, like I’ve heard them many times before.

Then suddenly, a screen showing several new skills abilities and powers are listed in my vision. The sudden change disorients me even more. I slowly gain my senses and It seems I get to choose two options from the list before me. There are 2 blank grey slots to fill, let's see what we have available.

It looks like Sneak, Shape Shift, Alchemy, and several druidic and magical spells. Fire Spear, Ice Spear, and Illusion are the listed magical spells. Wooden Hide, Speak with Animals, and Untraceable spells are the ones listed for druids.

I think about the listed spells and skills. I come to the conclusion that I know what I want to take. I select the Sneak skill, and the ability to cast Ice Spear. With that the information is simply mine, the darkness begins to fade, and I notice one last ability that causes me to gag.

I wake up and vomit profusely bile finding its way out of my mouth and nares. I try to get the foul gamey flesh and blood out of my mouth. I start licking the ground trying anything to get the awful taste out of my mouth. This was the only thing I could do to get the memory of the rubbery texture, and the sweaty after taste that radiated in a revolting array of conflicting flavors out of my mouth.

When I describe the sensations, I simply cannot do it justice, but imagine a piece of steak made of rubber band and the flavor of a dirty jock strap marinating in sweat as the au jus.

Waverly seems ok as she's laughing and rolling wildly on the ground not even looking up at the sound of my retching and our captor is hopping around crying about how the evil fiend bit his sack. As if it were the last thing that he could have imagined happening.

I stare daggers into the figure. It was a man, well not quite a man he was a strange dog-racoon hybrid like man. His sack was hanging and dragging along the ground. He had a nice hand full of the injured section in which he was applying a poultice and bandage to help it heal faster.

The first words that come out of my mouth are.” What the fuck are you and why, just why were we covered in your sack.”

The strange figure dressed in well-worn kimono type robe made of a hearty greenish brown cloth. “I am Sullivan O’Sullivan and I my dear animal of a man, am a Tanuki. I am a magical being that can shape shift. One of our racial traits is the ability to change the shape and size of our scrotum.

“I am simply walking the wilds to collect some herbs for my special potions and cures. I unfortunately am also racially compelled to be a trickster. When I saw you pass me some time ago, I couldn't help but play a trick on the both of you.”

” Well, besides tea bagging us.” Waverly says, “you didn't do much damage, but startled us quite a bit. My friend here seems to have taken a liking to you though. I mean he literally took a bite out of you. I’m willing to let bygones be bygones since you seem to have a grievous wound not only to your pride, but your manhood as well.” Waverly continues to laugh while miming a man carrying giant balls around like a monkey trying to carry two large barrels.

“I guess as long as you haven't hurt me or Waverly here we can part ways peaceably.” I continue to eye Sullivan.

“I will heal in time and I suppose I got what was coming to me. If you don't mind would you take this potion as an apology.” He hands me a potion similar to the health potions in my bag.

“Thank you,” I say in mild satisfaction, “apology accepted. and I’m sorry about your erm coin purse. We are on our way to the village that's just a few days away.”

“That just happens to be where I was heading. I had heard that the town needed some minor healing remedies and since that is one of my specialties and something I find quite enjoyable about being a druid, I decided to make my way there. I have been traveling for several weeks going from village to village giving help where it was needed and a bit of tomfoolery where it was not.” Sullivan says pointing emphatically toward his damaged goods while waggling his eyebrows.

“That sounds for the most part like a pretty cool thing to do. How would you like to at least join us until we reach the village since we are going the same way? I’m still new to this area and wouldn't mind gleaning some information about the local regions on our way.” I say in earnest.

Sullivan looks us over and shrugs “It is better to travel in company even if its bad company,” he smiles and winks. “I will wow you with my vast array of knowledge both big and small.”

We all introduce ourselves and fall into a comfortable pace. Sullivan turns out to be a very smart and easy-going companion. He tells us what kind of plants he is looking for that he can use to make his healing components, and we eagerly join him in his search, to help pass the time.

After a day of traveling and many a plant collected later, Sullivan tells us he must stop for the night. He explains he needs to prepare some of his ingredients for alchemy which turns out to be how you can make different potions and various other concoctions. We set up camp and he informs us it might take a while.

With nothing else to do, I mention to Waverly that I have a new skill and a spell that I was able to absorb through the unmentionable incident. We walk into the forest and I tell Waverly I'm going to try my sneak skill out. I crouch and begin to move forward, I fade slightly, and she tells me it's kind of hard to see me. I take another step, and when I break a twig and fall out of stealth.

“I suppose with anything I will have to practice this sneak skill and as I get better it will become harder for you to see and harder to fall out of stealth.” I say out loud.

Waverly nods and tells me to try my spell. I raise my hand, think the spell, and nothing happens. I try again and still nothing.

I start to get frustrated and throw my hand forward, but unfortunately toward the ground and my foot. The ice spear shoots through my foot pinning me to the ground.

I scream in agony and the chill creeps up my leg. I notice a debuff to agility. The spell does damage and slows the target. That's good to know I think through the pain coursing through my leg.

Waverly smacks her head and whispers. “Safety was off numb nuts” she laughs.

“Ok, so I guess I not only have to think this spell, I have to use my hand as if throwing a spear.” I wince and stutter.

Waverly nods “Good thinking Sal, you are starting to use your noggin to understand the wide world around you. Spells have different aspects some require thought, motion, and big spells require components. Most spells however use some combination of the three.”

Once the spell wore off I sat and let my mana and health replenish. It turns out that the spell used 10 points of mana out of my pool of 220. Waverly mentions to me that mana is calculated using constitution plus intelligence multiplied by will.

I open my stat screen and read through the spell information on ice spear. It turns out that it does level with the caster and one can charge the spell to make it more powerful. There was a warning at the bottom saying that if you overcharge the spell you run the danger of complete mana drain as well as the spell backfiring. Waverly suggested I slowly increasing the time I hold the spell for charge to get comfortable with the extra boost.

The way you charge the spell is by holding the thought in your mind, willing more mana into the spell, and you release the spear as I did before by throwing my hand forward.

The spells are listed under the skill tab. They are organized by level and currently the spell is novice level for me. It turns out that the more I use the spell the more naturally it will come and the less work it will take to use.

I practiced with ice spear while moving around the forest. I had been sneaking and firing the spear for about 2 hours when I notice a rabbit bouncing by unaware. I had been in sneak mode for a while, when I heard it coming.

I reach back and prepare an ice spear. I launch my hand forward and I strike the rabbit killing it instantly. I run forward filled with excitement that we get to eat fresh meat tonight.

I get to the rabbit and place my hand on it and it vanishes. “Waverly, what gives?” I ask in a hurt tone thinking that I lost our meal.

“check your pack noob” she says sarcastically.

I tap my thigh and my pack opens showing its contents. I see my delectable catch. I think about the items I want to look at an item information screen pops up.

~1 rabbit meat: This item can be used in multiple ways to create a number of meals.

~1 rabbit fur: This can be traded or used in the leatherworking craft.

“Awesome” I cheer jumping and fist pumping in the air. Now all we must do is find a few more.

I return to stealth and continue to search for more tasty morsels. Hunting for another hour and 6 rabbits later, we decide to return to camp.

When we get there Sullivan had a giant tent set up with all sorts of different vials beakers and measuring implements. It seems he took his alchemy seriously. He had something cooking in a pot on the table that smelled of spice and cherries.

At that point he caught us gawking at his setup. He smiles and waves us toward the table. “This is my mobile lab. I can create just about anything I desire that doesn't require long term brewing. Right now, I'm working on my Nature's Bond potion, it helps me focus and really mellows me out. It's almost like I become part of the forest.

“I also have this in a smokable form that I've already set up for later use, but potions are easier on the run.” Sullivan replies sheepishly. “what have you guys been up to for the past several hours.”

Waverly shifts into a cat and curls up on the table. Well I think to myself, I guess I'm answering. I say, “Well you know when I um bit you, I kind of learned some stuff from you through your blood. It’s a racial ability I have.” Sullivan looks disgusted and shocked, but doesn't interrupt as I explain in more detail. “Listen I didn't choose this race, it chose me. In any case, I’ve learned ice spear and sneak from you.

“While we were in the forest, I was training those to get a better idea of what they do and how I can use them.”

The Tanuki relaxes a bit. “I see, I also did not choose this form, I was born into it. I can understand that you are just trying to get by with what you’ve been given. I can tell you're not a bad person by how we've gotten along so far. I will keep this information to myself however, since it may end up ostracizing you.”

“What do you mean?” I interrupt “I haven't done anything wrong” I pleaded.

“Sal my good friend, it is a great power you have and anyone who has worked hard towards their skills, power and abilities covet them like they were their own children. I would not repeat your abilities to anyone with whom you do not trust.”

I nod my head in understanding and thank the Tanuki for his straightforwardness and honesty. “Well as you were playing around here with all your toys, I caught us dinner.”

I pull out the meat and show my spoils to Sullivan. He takes the meat and heads towards a second fire with a stew pot. He tosses the bits of meat in and tells me the stew has been on for several hours.

“It was lacking some meat.” he said, “Rabbit will be a perfect complement to the delicate balance of the pot. It's going to take several hours for it to finish so you might want to find something else to do.

The day shall leave us soon to the waking night perhaps you could practice some more of your skills while I work on finishing up in my lab.” He turns away while calling over his shoulder.

I ask Waverly if should would like to join me and she changes into a great owl and flies into the sky. Okay then I say to myself someone's in a bit of a mood. With that I head north into the woods sneaking my way into the darkening forest.