Three Friends

Marcus, having finished the fine lunch, decided to head for the Forest, to try getting back to his new home, humming to himself and thinking about his day so far.

For Hunter’s part, he was diligently studying the diagrams Shady Leaves had drawn of the plants he was to find, and she even included the occasional note on how they could be used; Nightcap mushrooms can be used in place of enhanced carrots for night vision, Elder Bloom can be used to ward off spirits when dried and applied as ashes, and so on. Trekking through the woods, he continues his search, the gloom of the woods being calming to him, even if every shadow hid unknown dangers. Lacking a wand for defense, or a broom for a hasty escape, and not a brew to his name, Hunter realised just how vulnerable he was. Sure, his robes protected him from the walking, explosive fungoides known as Creepers, but in the dark of the woods, any number of zombies could be hiding from the sun, waiting for prey. There could be giant Spiders, or even the tiny, evil menaces that are Jungle Spiders, or even-

-crack-

Turning to the sudden noise and dropping the small bundle of plants he’d collected into his pockets, he prepares for the worst. At the very least, he has some waystones he could throw to act as... rocks. Hunter suddenly recalled how dangerous the world could be for an unprepared Witch.

Something moves in the undergrowth, low and swift, and it slips through a stand of brambles without slowing. The tight, coiling ranks of thorny vines seem to be no impediment to whatever approaches.

Hunter, realizing his utter disadvantage against the unknown threat, turns to make a retreat, but moves slowly so as not to potentially entice the creature with something to chase.

Before he leaves the little clearing, he hears... the clucking of a chicken? It comes from the direction of the oncoming thing.

A chicken, Hunter knew, was not quite dextrous enough to avoid brambles. Likely it was either some odd mutation he had never encountered... but that wouldn’t make sense. Who’d mutate a chicken with anything? They have little to add to any being.

Somewhere, far away, a Unicorn testing an ‘Animal and Plant Fusion’ spell, sneezed, miscasting and turning the whole flock of chickens into chicken-melons.

Deciding that the creature is harmless, he turns to see a chicken peeking out of the undergrowth and he sighs, figuring he should at least grab the plant he was heading for, and then leave the poor beast alone.

As he approaches, the ‘chicken’ rears up, extending leathery, bat-like wings and hissing violently at him, fang-filled beak and crimson eyes showing it to be no normal chicken.

Needless to say, his fear outgrew his curiosity or need for plants very quickly, and Hunter made a hasty retreat, focusing entirely on getting away. If only he had been more prepared...

Marcus, meanwhile, had wandered in and promptly gotten turned around enough to come out where he started no less than three times. He finally began getting deeper into woods at last, and found himself in a small clearing... with a trio of waist-high, wooden wolves, one of which is small. All of them look up to him and begin growling, and he backs up slowly.

He reaches for his wand with one hand and his knife with the other, when the first timberwolf gets up, the others following. Heck, even the timberpup gets up, making squeaky little growling noises, and the small pack all charging him.

Marcus flees.

As he runs, he commands the wand to swap foci back to the Force Focus he’d made from studying Iron Golems, and prays his idea will work. He runs towards a ravine, and points down with the wand, urging power and intent through the length of black obsidian, the fiery runes flaring to life and heat in his grip, and a blast of nearly-invisible force hits the ground... and with nowhere to go, push back on him, launching him high into the air. He has only one thing to say about the situation as he flies over the chasm easily, passing the treetops in the process:

“This was a terrible ideaaaaaaa!!”

Hunter, for his part, was still running from the creature, finally checking behind him to see if he’d gotten away. Sparing a few precious seconds, he scanned the wooded area behind him.

All was mostly quiet - and that, in a forest, is significantly more reassuring than actual silence. He can hear distant bird calls, the wind in the woods, and other such things. Deciding he was safe, he decided the best course of action was to return back to his grove and study the plants he had picked before selling his samples to Shady. Taking the long way around the wooded area that had housed the strange mutation, he took about an hour to get back to the aquarium and it was nearing midday, the sun barely filtering into the canopy, except for their clearing, which was very bright.

Within moments, he spots something very, very off about the clearing. For one, there’s no sign of Slendy’s normal antics, such as a veritable storm of various mobs stuck in minecarts. For two... there appears to be a large new hill, covered in grass and shrubs, in front of the aquarium house.

A hill with ears, and patches of flowers that look like eyes the color of freshly-bloomed violets.

The massive, canine shape doesn’t move at his presence, but the flower-eyes wilt and bloom in sequence to make the illusion of an eye shifting to look at him. This wolf, whatever it actually is, also seems to be pouring a steady, gentle stream of life back into the surrounding environment.

The titanic canine bears a carpet of moss and grass in place of fur, wooden hide and flesh beneath it. And even laying down, it’s as tall as Hunter.

Also, it has a giant, bright red bandana around its neck.

“Slendy...” Hunter assumed, sighing, a bit cautious of the beast. Moving around the giant to get to the front door, and sees something leaned against the beast. Hunter, for his part, took a few moments to recognize Slendy without the face-covering mask. “Did you... make that thing?”

“No… He found me here and we became friends…Unlike the ponies, this lil guy likes me.” Slendy said a little disheartened. The wolf chuffed, turning a little to make Slendy more comfortable.

“Is that why you have discarded your mask, finally? I said wearing it was not the best of ideas.” The mask itself, while plain and easily acquired, had been in homage to a Griefer Hero of old... and perhaps not appreciated in the modern day.

“Yeah but because of it no one wants to be friends with me now; the zebra, the baker pony and the one by the farm all hate me and told me to leave and never come back.”

“And so you’ve decided to remove your mask in an effort to make peace?” Hunter asked, “That’s... rather mature of you.”

“Yeah, but even though I took it off, I doubt they would want to be friends…”

“Wooden wolves’re chasing me and then I flew across a ravine and then realized I was on the wrong side and had to do it again and then I got back here and now I’m going to pass out!” Marcus yelled, all in one breath, before pitching forward onto his face, six feet from the hillock-sized wolf, which he’d thankfully failed to notice. Clovers and moss grew to cushion his fall, courtesy of said wolf.

Hunter, for his part, was surprised at the control the creature had. Turning to the beast, he questioned it. “Can you do... other plants?”

The wolf stares at him with its flower-bed eyes, not making any motions as if it had understood him. Its ears, like hollowed stumps, turn towards him momentarily, before facing in other directions as the wolf seems to disregard him once more.

Hunter, a bit disappointed, still goes over to collect a sample of the clover for inspection and testing. Along the way, he gently pats the Mage to see if it would stir him. The young man mumbled something into the earth, but was otherwise still, evidently sleeping quite hard.

“Well, he seems alright, just weakened physically. He should be fine by next morning if not sooner.” Hunter deduced, taking another sample of clover. This one to plant should the first sample display any paranormal abilities. Finding no externally visible effects, he decided that he might as well leave it be. It was just clover, and not even the fortunate kind. What he did have though, was a few plants on Shady’s list and he took out her list and inspected it for any details on what he could do with what he found. He would still sell the samples, but definitely add to his own notes.

Bluebells, for protection; Celestia’s Grace, for purifying; Luna’s Tear, which has potent effects for counteracting poisons and venoms; Mandrakes, of course, and Wormwood; St. Yarn’s Wort for warding off evil spirits; Deerwort as a plant used to combat and nullify or simply weaken some forms of magic.

The final, he decides, could be very interesting. But he only had the one sample he could find and would have to decide... plant it and claim he couldn’t find any, or sell it for the agreeable price Shady had written for it.

One of the ones he’d seen that was questionable then and even more so now with the creature he’d found with Slendy, was listed as ‘Timberwolf Heart’. Apparently, they are wooden ‘hearts’, shaped like anatomical hearts, not valentines, that animate the Timberwolves... and given the gigantic size of the canine resting by the spot he’d planned to set his grove, he could see why they are considered ‘rare and valuable’, and he’s not entirely sure why any witch would wish to harvest one.

Still, he had a few plants on the list and, he decided, that if he honestly needed the others, he could find more, but the rarity and potential for Deerwort was... enticing. He decided to plant it, and... realized he had no idea how to care for the new plant. He’d have to acquire this knowledge. Maybe the zebra knew something.

He decided to take the Deerwort to her, and the other plants to Shady. He could easily get more Deerwort from a healthily-growing plant after all.

Walking down to where he recalled the path to the town, and the zebra’s hut by proxy, he gets about halfway to where he recalls the path being but is stopped by a crackling noise, followed by a rather bad scent in the air. Something akin to the sound of creaking wood and feral growls accompany the signs, and twin eyes, glowing a sickly, virid green peer from the darkness aside the path.

The sounds and other information matched the description of Timberwolves much closer to the ones in Shady’s notes. Perhaps Slendy had summoned a new variety. Either way, the eyes looked very predatory, and the sounds it made were notably hostile. It was not going to simply let him rip its heart out, and still lacking any form of personal defense, he immediately ran for his camp, hoping to get help from Slendy.

The lone timberwolf chases him, growling and barking like a rabid animal, and he barely makes it to the clearing once more in time to be tacked to the ground by the elemental. He feels splintery wooden teeth, and smells rotten wood and putrid meat, and can feel the waves of decaying magic roll from this thing. It’s not just a different type of Timberwolf from the one Slendy summoned, it’s almost like the antithesis of it, or one that’s been sick its entire life.

Either way, he recognized decaying effects being similar to a brew he once made using a poisonous potato as the main ingredient. And the effect was. Hunter’s eyes go wide and he begins screaming for help, the only thing his frightened and unmanageably racing thoughts could do.

He feels a surge in the life of the forest around him, and then the weight of the wolf on his back vanishes with a surprised yelp, the wolf being thrown through the air. The larger one stands protectively over Hunter, having sprinted nearly forty meters in two seconds without making a noise.

The wolf leans down to nuzzle Hunter, and a small patch of flowers with white blooms shaped like pale tears and two reddish-orange eyespots on two upper petals, crystalline in appearance, grows instantly. A drop of water from a tree above drips down onto the petal, growing in lustre as it does, and falls onto the bridge of Hunter’s nose. A shiver runs through him... and the wounds on his shoulder close.

The flower wilts and blackens, dead and gone in seconds.

Hunter, hardly believing the effect, stands up and, feeling much better, goes to inspect the flower. He wondered if the plant could naturally supply that, or if the larger Timberwolf had enacted some magic on it; if it was just the flower, then if he could find another... He hastily scrawled a description of what he remembered the flower looking like before it blackened, his memory fading from the fact that the glimpse he got was a memory riddled with fear.

Slendy, for his part, was still confused over his backrest vanishing. “Faolan, where’d you go?” He asked, still tired. The wolf turned instantly, ears perking up as it padded back to its master, pawsteps not only silent, but leaving no bent grass or clover in its wake as it returns. In addition, a tail akin to a siege weapon wags happily behind it as it lays back down.”Good boy” Slendy says as he pats the timberwolf on its head.

Hunter, impressed with the creature’s obedience, walks over to Slendy once he finished writing all he could about the flower that had saved him. “Your... pet is very formidable.” Hunter understates.

“And a good nap buddy, good night.” Slendy said, before he fell asleep again.

For his part, Hunter decided he needed a weapon. But he didn’t have much. He had some spare flint with which to make more waystones... but he could potentially use a particularly sharp one to use for weak defense... but then Hunter eyed the sword of diamond that Slendy was so callously letting sit on the ground. He wouldn’t mind, he could spawn another.

As he reaches for the sword, Marcus makes noises and begins to heavily push himself up, only a few feet from Hunter, blinking blearily. “Muzerpha... wha’s goin... oogh... where am I?” he finally settles on a question once his mind and mouth are capable of formulating coherent, real words.

Hunter, taking the sword in hand, walks over to the Mage to see how he is. He didn’t have any way to help really, but he could at least check the poor boy over. “Can you sit up?”

Marcus looks up, groaning as he rubs his eyes, the red-glow flickering into view and back out, sitting up after some effort. “Y-yeah...” he says, as he remembers the start of the day so far.

“Well, at least you’re alive and... mostly well.” Hunter says, cautiously heading for the forest path again, this time armed.

“He’s not dead? That’s good.” Slendy said with a yawn as he was mostly asleep.

“Yes, he seems alright. I will be back shortly.” Hunter announced as he exited the clearing, once more hoping to reach the zebra’s hut.

Marcus pushes himself to his feet. “Wait, Hunter... where’re you going?” he asks, blinking and looking after the man.

“Just ahead of here is a path. One way it leads to town, the other to a friend. I’m going to inquire about this plant I found.” Hunter explained as he turned back to his destination.

“Ah... I should probably work on getting some Iron. I’ll need it to get anywhere with the more advanced materials.” Marcus says, rubbing his head as he stands up. The young man began marching to a side of the area, to begin tearing down a tree and working on a pit to turn into a mine.

That reminded Hunter that he should get some information on local firestarting techniques; flint and steel does someone no good without either of those items, or a way to contain the fire itself.

Either way, he had a few new plants to discuss, so he headed for the hut in the woods. Eventually he got there with little trouble, and he approaches the door.