Kris eyed the clearing around him. This was a bit of an unusual starting location. No sign of civilization, just trees and leaves. Brush and birds. It was nice, and certainly complimented his class, but he didn't relish the idea of hiking potentially miles to the nearest town.
Oh, and a man, dressed in a crude leather outfit and covered in blue tattoos, who'd fallen from his seat on a tree stump into said brush, stood up, wide-eyed and covered in leaves. He was pointing now, and looked like he wanted to say something, but all that came out at first was an embarrassing yelp.
"Eugh! Who in the hells are you!?"
Kris focused looked up to meet the man's eyes. He was still in his starter gear, but he supposed even a basic, hooded robe and staff would look intimidating to a forest... tribesman? Was that what he was? On somebody who'd just shot down from the sky like a fallen star. He decided to try and placate the guy, he was still level 1 after all, and the guy had a couple of mean-looking hatchets hanging from his waist.
He decided he'd try a spell out, and cast [Calming Touch]. He stretched out his off hand, a green glow surrounding it, stretching out in a thin line and lazily cloaking the man. The effect was visible immediately as the forest man began to relax his tensed muscles. Kris supposed that this was as good a time as any to introduce himself.
"Do not worry, I am a harvest wizard, and have come from afar to commune with the plants and beasts of these lands." He gave his staff a thump on the soft earth, for punctuation, hoping it was a convincing display. He wasn't used to roleplaying, but this felt real enough, and his class description had encouraged getting into the role...
The man gave him another look, most of the fear gone from his face, and replaced by a thoughtful expression.
[Empathy skill check successful, 50 experience awarded. Current Exp: 50/200]
"Ahh, well then... Quite an entrance you made for yourself there, I've only heard stories of your kind, travelers from the sky. Ancient legends from times long ago." He wiped himself off and made for the edge of the clearing, motioning for Kris to follow, pointing at an old game trail leading deeper into the woods. "Come, there's someone you should meet, she should know how you can achieve yer goal, the name's Sloane, by the way."
"I am called Kris, it's nice to meet you."
The two shuffled onto the path and began a brisk jog through the woods, following the game trail and crossing a fallen log leading over a small stream.
"So what have you been told about us travelers?" Kris asked, using his stave to steady himself over the narrow path, following Sloane who had just crossed it cleanly in several steps.
"Well, just the old stories really, ancient heroes of all shapes, some bad, some good, they come from other worlds and choose their guise, performing all sorts of deeds to grow their power'n their legend."
Kris made it to the other end of the log, the whole movement made harder by the scratchy woolen robe he wore, "I take it there's work for me around here then? You seem eager to get me back to your village."
"You don't know th' half of it, things have been looking a bit grim lately, you see, the creatures o' the forest have been actin' up lately, the neighboring grellkin have been raidin' isolated huts, the crops t'ain't growin' so well, and my wife's ugly." He snorted after making the last point, "But I love 'er anyways."
"Sounds like I've got my work cut out for me."
The path cut off abruptly at small ravine, which caused Sloane to frown.
"There's s'posed to be a bridge here."
That made sense to Kris, considering the remains of two posts on opposite sides of the fifteen-ish foot drop, and length of rope caught on some rocks downstream. The gap was only about ten feet across, but he didn't see any dead logs he could tip over the gap to cross it, but there were a few fir trees lining the thing. He looked over at Sloane, who was pacing up and down the ravine's edge.
"Hold on, I'll try something."
He held up his non-staff hand and began to focus, lining it with a familiar green energy as he cast [Plant Control], and soon his entire field of view was tinted green. All the plants reflected in bright hues in this vision, and he could even see their root networks twisting down into the ground. He gave one of the younger fir trees a mental push, and molded its trunk down and across the ravine. The action took mana to channel, and left him with a little over eighty points, which began to tick back up at a regular rate.
Sloane gave an approving nod, and they promptly shimmied over the makeshift bridge. The forester looked back at Kris, "We're gettin' close to one of th' outer huts, but somethin' don't feel right, stay close, n' stay low."
Kris nodded, crouching down with him, slowly moving through some ferns towards the edge of another clearing, this one holding a small house, a well out front and a fenced off area containing what were clearly crops to one side and a large shed to the other. Sloane held up a hand, pointing at several sets of tracks, belonging to some sort of canine, leading directly to the farmhouse.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: "New Quest: Farmers in Peril; Arriving in the wilds of Arran, you've accompanied a strange forest person to the nearest settlement, a small farmhouse, to find nearby infrastructure sabotaged and the house under attack; Success: Defend the farmers and repel the attackers; Failure: Allow the farmers to die; Reward: Food and lodging; 5 silver; 150 EXP]
"Well, lad." Sloane eased his hatchets from their belt loops. "Are y'ready for a brawl?"
Kris grimaced, he didn't necessarily want to kill anything, or anyone for that matter, but he needed that experience.
A loud scream pierced the air at that moment, drawing his eyes towards a flash of orange and fur nearer the farm.
His decision made, he nodded, his eyes beginning to glow a verdant green.
Together they stood up, and began to run towards the sound.