Chapter Eight: Quest Part One

My sprint took me out of town away from that guy yelling at me, letting my long legs carry me away from the town that had been my coop for almost two months. Reveling in the feeling of the wind fighting against me as I ran freely without anything to hold me back. The scent of wild flowers drifting over to me from the prairie, with the wild fruits that grew with the brush, the scent of earthy soil, the smell of the trees along with the scent of animal musk, and rotting carcases that all blurred to gather to make what only could be called nature.

I got lost in it all and just kept running till I took notice that the mountains are starting to get much less distant. I came to a stop and took a look around, Newbie Town is quite aways behind me now, and the mountains not very far away. But the problem is that I’ve been heading in the wrong direction I’ve been heading west, and where I need to go is the east side of the valley Newbie Town is in.

So I either go back through Newbie Town, and go through the town till I get to other side and go east till I get to the eastern forest, or circle around the valley till I reach the forest. Hmm, which one should I pick?

Eh, I’ll just enjoy nature. I jumped off the road to the prairie and began following the following the mountains next to the prairie as I walked, trying my best not to disturb the wildlife, after I crushed my first rabbit I rather not do that again.

Walking slowly I made sure to collect any edible plants or wild fruits, also collecting plants with useful properties like Soap Leaves, which have a layer of oil on it that useful for making soap or being used as substitute it also smells nice. Though I may have gathered quite a bit I tried my best to avoid hurting the plants, I mean how else would I use them in future? Feeling satisfied with my gathering, I continue to walk through the prairie listening for any game and keeping an eye out for any rare or useful plants.

I made sure as I moved to not step on any small animals or sticks, and also avoid any dangerous plants like the Stiff Wood Plant. As I moved with grace that most might think is impossible for a guy my size I made my way through the plain, and at about high noon I could see the forest.

All the towering trees, deep brush, and scarily familiar brambles, but relatively flat terrain despite its closeness to the mountains. I made my way to the forest, making sure to be as silent as possible but there's a limit to everything without magic. I got close to forest, I began to start looking for an opening in brush so I wouldn’t startle anything in it, or alert my prey.

I look to the sky to see the sun is edging its way out of it’s zenith, I have maybe six or more hours before my prey will start moving around. That also gives me the same amount of time to get ready and find them.

I still took it slow and carefully, but I hurried up looking for an entrance to the woods. I made sure to collect some plants that might be useful. Feeling around for any gaps in the brush, my hand slid into a narrow opening in it, that’s just big enough for a guy half my size to go through comfortably, and someone like me to go through uncomfortably.

Slowly sliding through the opening, I looked down at the forest floor and seeing a lack of greenery on the it with a startling amount of animal prints, and dropping which I made sure to avoid stepping in, looking closer at the prints I look for a certain print. As I look at the prints, I eventually find what I’m looking for. A small, maybe amount the size of a child’s foot, but with three toes that ended with a claw mark at the end of them.

Grinning at my prey’s tracks, I went further in eventually coming out into a much more open area of the forest, and kept following the trail while making sure to keep a sharp eye out for anything dangerous. Many a strong adventurer has met a anticlimactic end due to carelessness, and especially so to what I’m tracking.

Eventually finding where the tracks lead into, I decided to back away for the moment I didn’t want to alert the sentries they probably had hiding while the majority slept the day away, these guys wildly varied in strength and allows attacked in packs when I fought them.

Walking away, I thought about the time I have till they wake up and start to moved through the forest, and maybe have about two or three hours at the most, I couldn’t really tell with how thick the trees are. I then began to brainstorm how I could go about fighting these guys.

Sure I could always go in guns blazing, but that could go bad pretty quickly if they have a good leader or have some particularly strong ones, or if they’re all at a certain level of strength, anyone of these could get me killed. Numbers can be one mean advantage if those numbers had any value. So for now I’ll put that idea aside for now.

I could also just follow their patrols, and kill them one by one till I’ve exhausted all their fighters, and then just go into the cave after most of their numbers are gone, and then take down the strong ones without having to worry about the weight of numbers as much. The stronger ones never left their den, without good reason and just either sat around all day, well night fighting for dominance and defending their positions. But this plan could also go awry if they wise up.

I could also observe them till I feel confident that I’m ready to take them down, but that could take days, and as much as I love being outdoors, I also like sleeping on cloth instead of dirt.

I then came up with a idea, dirt that’s what I’d use. I gathered a couple of sturdy sticks, some particularly sharp rocks, and a couple strong vines. I then went down their trails, setting up some vines low to the ground attached to the tree and sprinkle some dirt on them to hide them better, not far from the vines I put some shallow pits with covered with sharp stones, and finally not far from their cave I made some deep pits with covered with sharp stone spears at the bottom and covered them with some leaves and wood. Feeling satisfied with my work, I climbed up a good size tree and settled in to watch my traps at work, and It wouldn’t be long till the first goblin stumbled in there.