When Nature Callsby SwiftEthanChaptersDeal With a DevilUnfamiliar TerrainTimberBoss Fight, I Guess?Deal With a DevilI blew gently on the steaming tea and stared blankly at my laptop screen. The lines of text seemed to blur and fade the harder I tried to focus on them. I leaned back in my chair, sighing. It hadn’t been the brightest idea to come to a public place to try making a start on my project. What I really needed was peace and quiet, but the buzz of conversation in the coffee shop was constant, just loud enough to keep me from concentrating on the ‘mandatory mini-assessment’ I had been assigned. I was starting college in a week, having been forced to drop out of sixth form when I didn’t achieve the grades necessary to continue. The school had recommended a change of scenery might help, which roughly translated to “We don’t want you here any longer, get the hell out.” I wasn’t terribly upset when I found out my results, but at the time it was the middle of the summer holidays, and all I wanted to do was enjoy myself and not have to worry about the future. So, when summer did eventually wind down, I was a bit put-out when the college I’d enrolled in announced that all students in my course were to complete an assignment before the start of the course. I drummed my fingers on the keyboard lightly, occasionally pausing to hit the backspace key when I accidentally typed a letter out. It didn’t help that the establishment provided free wi-fi which meant distractions were far more common than I’d have liked. ‘Just five minutes’ turned into ten, which turned into thirty, and before I knew it my tea had gone cold. I found this out when I went to take a sip and grimaced at the bitter taste. Shrugging, and not wanting to waste my money, I downed the rest and called over a waitress, asking for another. She smiled, which was nice enough, and walked off behind the counter to start on the brew. I looked back to the screen, which was still blank. With a groan, I rested my head on my hands, rubbing my eyes in despair. It didn’t help that I was feeling tired, either, but I’m normally at least able to function in that state. Here, my mind was just blank. “Having a hard time?” I looked up toward the new voice and was greeted by a hand presenting me with a new cup of tea. I took it gratefully, then looked back at the person who’d handed it to me. Well, it wasn’t the nice waitress, for a start. The man who’d delivered my drink smiled back at me in a far less friendly manner than the waitress had, in fact, he looked almost predatory. “Can I help you?” I asked warily. The guy looked like a con artist, frankly. With a fedora pulled low over his face and a long trench coat covering his dark suit, he fit the stereotype perfectly. Maybe a little too perfectly, as though he was trying too hard. All he needed to do now was hold open his coat revealing row upon row of fake watches. “Perhaps.” He replied, taking the seat opposite me a gazing coolly over my laptop screen. “And if so, maybe I can help you in return. How does that sound?” It already sounds like a scam, I thought. “Care to elaborate?” Why did I say that? The man’s grin grew even wider. “Of course. It’s only fair.” For some reason, I shivered as the word fair left his lips. “So,” he said, adopting a businesslike tone. “I’m in need of a representative for a very important event. Are you a fan of video games?” The sudden turn surprised me. Maybe he worked for a game company. “Yeah,” I replied, not sure where this was going. “Why?” He raised an eyebrow. “It’ll make sense. What games are you into at the moment?” Ah, maybe this was a survey of some kind? I felt much more at ease at this point. “I’ve been enjoying RPG’s lately, like Fallout and Skyrim,” I replied. “That’s all really.” His eyebrow fell back to its original position and his eyes narrowed. “Excellent.” He pushed my laptop screen closed with a little unnecessary force. I wasn’t hugely fussed by this, it was old and I’d been meaning to get a new one when I actually started college. “I would like to make you a deal.” He said, staring at me intensely. I realised I hadn’t put the cup of tea down throughout the entire conversation and raised it to my lips. “Go on,” I replied, after taking a sip. I noted with annoyance it tasted slightly sweet, as though sugar had been added. His grin now threatened to split his face, it looked manic. I leaned backwards. As I did so, I noticed the dog that was lying down beside the strange man’s chair. It’s eyes snapped to mine, and I thought I detected something more than in normal dogs. I returned my gaze to the man, more suspicious than ever. “As I said before, I need a representative for an event. I would like you to fill that role, Thomas.” I sat bolt upright in alarm, trying to remember when I’d told him my name. I realised with a sinking feeling that neither of us had introduced ourselves. “You will be transported to another world, where you are to participate in a game. You will be given-” He stopped, interrupted by my snickering. “What is so funny?” “Transported to another world?” I laughed. “Sure. I totally believe you. Where do I sign?” Maybe sarcasm wasn’t a concept this man knew, or maybe he chose to ignore it. Whichever it was, what happened next came as a bit of a surprise to me. “Well that was easy,” his grin became less malicious and more cheerful, which actually worried me more. “I don’t think anyone’s ever agreed to one of my deals without hearing the full terms. What do you think, Barbas?” He addressed the dog to his left. The dog, Barbas, rolled his eyes in response. I had realised who this guy was the second he said the name, but it was just too ridiculous for me to consider. “Hold on,” I stuttered. “You’re...Are you..?” “Clavicus Vile, at your service,” he simpered, returning to the shark-like grin. “Well, to be more accurate, you’re the one at my service. Fancy that?” He cackled. I regained my composure. This guy was clearly either insane or this was all a big practical joke. “Right. Next you’ll tell me that I have to retrieve a powerful axe from a necromancer.” He laughed loudly, drawing looks from the other patrons in the cafe. “Oh, nothing so archaic. That’s been done already, you see,” he reached down and patted Barbas on the head. “Besides, I doubt you could take Barbas in your state anyway, magical weapon or not.” “What do you mean, ‘in my state’?” I grumbled indignantly. Sure, I wasn’t exactly the sporty type, but I still kept in good shape by walking everywhere. “That body. So slow, so weak,” he replied, gesturing to all of me. I started to get a bit annoyed. “Which is why you’ll have to get a new one before you go off to participate.” “Hold on, get a new one?” This was sounding more and more ridiculous with every word that came out of his mouth. “But of course! In fact, since I’m feeling so generous, I’ll even let you pick,” he grinned. After a split second the grin vanished, replaced instead with a thoughtful expression. “I’m thinking...An atronach of some kind. You’ve certainly been very cold so far, how about a frost atronach? No? Alright, maybe a sabre cat? Have you ever wanted to just bite someone’s head off? I know I have,” he growled, glancing down at his dog. He was just listing off monsters in Skyrim. Well, two can play at that game. “What about a dragon?” I grinned at him, which turned into a look of confusion as he shook his head. “Boring! Try again.” Oh. Well, this was a bit awkward. I struggled to think of a creature that hadn’t been said. “A troll?” He mulled it over, before shrugging. “I suppose we can’t rule that one out. Bear in mind that if you don’t choose, I will.” He leaned forward. “You wouldn’t want to be a hagraven, would you?” I shuddered at the thought, racking my brain for another creature. “Err...Spriggan?” His eyes widened, and he leaned back appreciatively. “Yes, not bad. Might have to make some tweaks to the current model, but all in all, good choice.” He nodded at me. “Well, now what?” I asked, taking another sip of my tea, which had also gone cold. I rolled my eyes before downing the rest of it. At this point I just wanted him to leave so I could get on with my project in peace. “Now?” He leaned forward, predatory grin once again present. “Well, since you agreed earlier so readily, all that’s left for you to do is take a nap.” Something about the way he said it set off alarm bells in my head. I looked down at the now empty cup. My eyes shot back to his. “What did you do?” I asked fearfully. “Oh, nothing much,” he explained calmly. “Just a little something I added. You may have noticed the slightly sweet taste?” “Help!” I tried to shout out, only to find my face wasn’t working. I tried to stand up, raise my arms, do something, but I found myself completely immobile. My eyes felt heavy and my vision was fading away when I heard him say one last thing. “Well, that was surprisingly easy.” Unfamiliar Terrain“Ugh...Ow.” Waking up face down on a cold stone floor is not the most reassuring situation to find yourself in after being drugged. “Ah!” I heard Clavicus’ voice ring out from somewhere in the room. “You’re awake! Finally.” I heard him rise, letting me know he had been sitting, or at least crouching down beforehand. "You were out for a lot longer than I was expecting. If you were anything more than a pawn to me I might have started worrying." Charming. "Where are we?" I mumbled, blearily trying to get up. I was relieved to find that I wasn't tied down, so things weren't quite as ominous as I had originally thought, but my limbs were stiff and unresponsive. I attributed that to the after-effects of being knocked out, and looked up at Clavicus. The man, or rather god, in question was advancing towards me down a set of stone stairs. He reached me and knelt down. "Hmm...Not too shabby, if I say so myself." He was examining my face closely. I recoiled slightly. "Do you mind? You're breathing right in my face." He let out a short laugh, before grabbing my head in one hand and hoisting me up. Despite wobbling a little, I managed to not fall back down, much to my relief. Now that I was stood up, I felt…Taller, for some odd reason. “Now, onto the first order of business,” he announced, turning back around and striding back up the stairs. “You may by this point have noticed that the body that you woke up in is not the same as the one you fell asleep in.” Wait, what? Confused, I held my hands up… “WHAT THE F-” I yelled, cutting myself off as the sight truly sunk in. Instead of skin, my arms were covered by smooth tree bark. My hands were no longer hands as such, but rather talons and I now only had three fingers, lacking a pinkie. I looked down at the rest of me. “So this is a dream or something, right?” With that thought in mind, it was much easier to not freak out. Clavicus shrugged. "Sure, if you like. Anyway, You're probably wondering why you're here." I shook my head. "Nope." Clavicus raised his eyebrows. "No? Really? You wake up in a strange place in a strange body, and you're fine with that?" "Well," I sighed. "If it's a dream, then it won't matter because I'll just wake up. If it's not a dream, then there probably isn't much I can do about it, so how about we just skip over all that?" Clavicus considered this, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm...No, I'll tell you anyway. Take a seat," he grinned. "I'll stand, thanks," I muttered. "Well, someone's in a mood. Anyway, welcome," he spread his arms dramatically. "To Equestria!" I stared at him blankly. "Yes, well," he coughed awkwardly. "This land. It is known as Equestria, and you are currently standing in the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, deep within the Everfree-" "No, wait. Hold on a moment," I cut in, shaking my head. "Royal Pony Sisters? Please, explain." He shrugged. "Oh yeah, Equestria is primarily inhabited by sentient equines. Shocker. Now, moving on." I rubbed the side of my head. What the hell... "Now then, the reason I brought you here..." He paused. "Well, now that I think about it, I guess you were just the first person I came across. Lucky you," he grinned. "A great cosmic game between gods is happening right now, and I wanted in. For this, I needed a piece to represent me. Guess who that is?" He stared pointedly at me. "Right. So if I'm representing you, what do I have to do?" Another thought crossed my mind, regarding my appearance. "And also, why do I look completely plain? In the game, spriggans had a light in their chest, didn't they? Why don't I?" He smiled. "Noticed that, did you? Excellent, that will speed things along. You see, I didn't want to just go ahead and give you all the powers you can potentially wield right off the bat. It's a lot more entertaining for me, and rewarding for you, if you have to earn them." I groaned. "Great. Well, at least I can expect a bunch of stupidly difficult boss fights in future..." Clavicus slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that? That's brilliant! And to think, I was just going to set them out as puzzle rooms," he snickered. "Please tell me you're being sarcastic." "I am. Don't worry, those stupidly difficult boss fights are already out there, waiting for you. I designed them beforehand, and put them in stasis around this world. They will awaken when you get close, so that's when the fight will begin. If you beat them...You will be awarded a power from each one. There are four in total." Four? "Okay. I'm assuming these will have something to do with the different coloured lights that spriggans have? So green, gold, and purple...That's three. What's the fourth one for?" He grinned. "You'll see. Anyway, you should probably get going. The first one isn't too far from here, it's already awake and causing a bit of a ruckus." I glared at him. "You know, usually there are a bunch of grunts to fight before the boss. Or at least a tutorial." His smile vanished. "It would be unwise for you to think of this as a game. However, I would say that you think of this as your tutorial. Now go," he snapped his fingers, the huge double doors at the far end of the hall swinging open quickly. I looked back. "So where-" I was cut off by a crushing force pushing me backwards, sending me flying through the double doors. I sailed over a ravine, and landed in a heap on the other side of it, rolling over the grass before coming to a rest at the foot of a tree. I looked up at the double doors again, just in time to see them closing, with Clavicus waving to me, grinning. As the doors slammed shut, there was a brief flash of light within the castle, and then nothing. I picked myself up carefully, still adjusting to the weirdly long limbs and digitigrade feet. After a few steps, however, I had got the hang of it enough to walk at a comfortable pace. With some steely determination, I held my head high and set off into the ominously dark forest. TimberWhere the hell am I going? I had been wandering about aimlessly in the forest for the best part of four hours. Apparently, there was meant to be some kind of monster causing havoc somewhere nearby, but the entire place was deathly silent. This was worrying, to say the least. Either everything in the area had run away or something had silenced them all. I sighed. At least I was probably in the right area. I wondered what kind of creature it was. Probably something pretty horrifying, to say the least. I had no idea what the mind of a bored Daedra was capable of cooking up. It didn't help that the light was starting to fade, either. The canopy was thick enough to block out the majority of the sunlight in the first place, I didn't really want to be trying to find my way through the forest in complete darkness. That would only make it even more boring. My mind drifted to what Clavicus had meant by 'powers'. Specifically, the fourth one. The green, gold and purple lights each represented a level of power spriggan held in the game, each level being substantially tougher than the last. Maybe the fourth would just be another level? I shook my head. It wasn't doing me any good wondering about that now. If anything, it would just serve as a distraction while whatever boss was supposed to be skulking around crept up on me and tore me limb from limb. Wasn't that a lovely thought... A rustling sound behind me caught my attention, and I spun around to face whatever it was. At first, I couldn't see anything, but then a pair of yellow eyes shone through the gloom, staring right at me. Before I could react to this, however, another rustle emanated from a bush just off to my left, and I turned my head to that one. Another pair of yellow eyes. Well, this was nice and creepy. I backed off slowly from the ominous glowing orbs, only to be distracted by yet another rustling to my right. Of course, there was another pair of yellow eyes peering out at me from the darkness. I sighed. Being surrounded by a bunch of unknown creatures wasn't much fun, as it turned out. As I backed up further still, my progress was abruptly cut short by one of the many, many trees that made up the forest, blocking my retreat. I stood still, my back pressed up against the rough bark, and briefly wondered how fast I'd have to shimmy in order to start a forest fire. That thought made me question where my priorities lay. Here I was being hunted by a group of strange predators and I was thinking about setting myself on fire. Not really the best frame of mind to be in, especially in a situation like this. I dropped down lower, moving away from the tree to give myself some space as the creatures finally decided to make their presence known. I was prepared to take on whatever they were...Despite knowing it would probably not end at all well for me. The level of confusion and surprise that shot through my being might even have been visible on my expressionless, carved face when I saw what had been stalking me. Three large canine forms emerged from the foliage, glaring hungrily at me. That wasn't the surprising bit. Well, not quite, anyway. I mean, what kind of creature would see a walking tree as potential food? Apparently, these things did. It wasn't the fact that they saw me as prey that surprised me so much as the creatures themselves. They were definitely canine, sort of wolf-like by the looks of them, but they weren't at all like anything I'd ever seen before. Not even as sculptures. The weird thing about these wolves was that they were completely made out of wood. Like...Kind of like a wolf version of myself, almost. Only these things had working jaws. With very sharp teeth. Well, this day was going fantastic so far. I kept a close eye on all of them as best as I could manage, my gaze flicking between them rapidly while they stood still, staring. It was pretty intimidating, given the lack of pupils in their eyes. ...We must have stood there, staring suspiciously at each other for at least ten minutes before I got bored. I stood up straight, dropping my hands to my sides, and shrugged. "So are you lot going to attack or what?" The three creatures looked between themselves, seeming to communicate with their thoughts. I mean, they didn't make a sound that I could hear, so telepathy is the obvious conclusion, right? After a brief deliberation, the wolf in the middle of the trio stepped forward, cautiously approaching me. I found myself stepping back again, only to find that the tree that had blocked my path earlier was, in fact, still there. The creature sniffed tentatively at my stomach, then seemed to shrug and back up a step, staring up at me. ...Wow, I felt tall. I stared back, unsure of what to do next. Apparently they weren't going to eat me, which was nice, I could deal with that. But now it looked like they were expecting a conversation...Which wasn't exactly my forte. "Uh...How's it going?" What are you doing here? A voice in my head snapped. I would have blinked. As it was, I just stared blankly at the creature before me, suddenly experiencing a whole new level of weird. Talking wooden wolves. Why not? "...Um." I shook my head in bewilderment, searching for what seemed like a suitable answer. "I...Got dropped here?" It sounded more like a guess than anything else. When? Where? The other two wolves advanced to join the first, standing in a line staring at me intensely. It was pretty creepy, the way their blank eyes were all focused on the same thing. I couldn't even tell if it was just one speaking or if they were all talking at once. "About..." I scratched my head. Not sure why, really, but it conveyed the appearance of deep thought. "Five or so hours ago? Somewhere around..." I waved in a vague gesture off in the direction I had come from. Not that I could remember where the castle was, but it was something, at least. I had to appear to know what the hell I was talking about. "Around that direction. Sort of." They each turned to each other, seeming to share a moment of deliberation between themselves. After a moment, they turned back to me as one. From a castle? Huh. Well, not too surprising that they might know about it, considering it was inside their forest. I nodded. They shared another suspicious look with each other before taking a step back warily. What are you..? The sudden switch from intimidating to intimidated threw me for a loop. They still outnumbered me. They still had teeth. We were both still made of wood...It'd be interesting to see how that played out in a fight. I mean, would I even feel pain? Would their teeth even be able to cut into my...Outer layer enough to do some damage? I shrugged. "I'm a spriggan," I sighed. No sense in beating about the bush, anyway. Might as well tell the truth. If they knew what that meant, then great. If not I lost nothing. "What are you?" When they fell out of their aggressive poses to adopt a more proud one, I inwardly rolled my eyes. I really hoped this wasn't about to be some long-winded explanation about how they were the 'guardians of the forest' or something... We are the Guardians of this forest... Great. Used to be that we needed the influence of some goddess of this planet, but... There was a cackle. As unnerving as it was having something talking to you directly through thought, hearing that same creature laughing maniacally inside your head was closer to downright horrifying. We don't need her anymore. We never did...She was holding us back. Now, we are free. The voices gleefully explained. Personally I had no interest in finding out who this supposed 'goddess' was. And clearly these creatures were a little...Unhinged. No, it would probably be best if I just went along on my merry way. "That's...Lovely. Now then, I'm in a bit of a hurry, stuff to do and all that. It was lovely chatting with you lot. Bye then!" I cheerfully told them while edging around the tree to leave. Fake-cheerfully, of course. I was still freaked out by the whole situation. No! The voices snarled, and in an instant I had two wolves blocking my path. Blimey, these things were fast. I took back any and all interest I had expressed towards a fight with the creatures. "...What?" Where are you going now?! They made it sound like I was planning to set the entire forest on fire. "Well..." I sighed again. "I was told about some creature in this forest who's been making trouble. I'm supposed to go kill it." I don't think I could have sounded any more jaded if I'd tried. They looked at each other in confusion, once again seeming to share a moment of thought before reaching a decision. You know of that creature? How? Still suspicious, though. Of course. I shrugged. "Someone told me about it." I had expected to be questioned further on that topic, but that seemed to be a satisfying answer to them. Really..? Well, good...Good. We will take you to it. "...You will?" At this point, I wasn't sure if this seemed more like a tutorial mission or an outright trap. They all nodded in unison. Eurgh, that was creepy. We will. Follow. And with that, they took off through the forest at a sprint. Grumbling, I set off after them, annoyed that they couldn't slow down even a little bit. Very considerate. Still, at least things had gone much more smoothly than I'd been expecting. I wasn't being digested right now, for a start. I chuckled. Yeah, this day was going just great. Boss Fight, I Guess?Catching up with the wolves hadn't been too much of a hassle, all things considered. They had pretty much continued on in a straight line from when they left me in the dust, so to speak, so I found them after a few more minutes running just sort of lazing around, waiting for me. Funny thing about this new body of mine, I didn't feel the least bit fatigued after all that running. It felt strange to have run all that distance and to not even feel the slightest bit out of breath, but then I guess I didn't have a circulatory system anymore. I mean, I could look down at my chest and see partially through it. Spriggans had a weird build...They don't look very sturdy at all, but then again they are made out of solid wood. I don't know what type, exactly, but it was clearly pretty damn resilient. When the wolves spotted me as I pushed through the dense foliage, approaching their position just on the outskirts of a clearing, I swear I could hear them tutting at me. Bloody things...They of all creatures should know that things with four legs are faster than things with only two. Well, that was assuming there were any bipeds in this forest, anyway. I began to wonder what other species there were living in this place. I mean, so far all I knew was that I'd been dropped by a godlike being I thought only existed in a video game into a dense, expansive forest with the instruction to find some creature and kill it. I didn't even know what this creature looked like. And now there were these wolves made out of trees that could communicate with me telepathically. What next? Maybe the other residents of this forest were all made out of trees, too. What a weird ecosystem that would be...Although I guess I'd fit right in. I shook my head clear of these sidetracking thoughts as the wolves began speaking to me again. It would probably be best to pay attention. After all, they had just led me to the thing I was supposed to be killing. ...Oh yeah. That. You're slow, they began. Compared to them, yes I was. Wasn't about to argue there. I'd only just noticed there were now two of them. The third was nowhere to be seen. The creature is through there. We believe it is resting. You can attack now and take it by surprise. Hmm. This all seemed a little too straightforward. "Why don't you lot just do it? Speaking of which, where's the other one? There were three of you before," I pointed out, keeping my voice low. Didn't want to disturb the thing while it was 'resting'. He tried to attack it. I nodded after a long pause. ...He was crushed. Over there, see? The wolves turned and stared out into the clearing, specifically at a pile of crushed, splintered twigs and leaves. I shut down for a moment. That used to be the third wolf? But...It was kindling now! I turned back to the wolves slowly, who were both staring at me now. "I'm supposed to fight whatever did...That." They nodded. "...But I'm slower than you. If he couldn't avoid...Whatever it was that did that, how can I?" They seemed to shrug. I shook my head in frustration. "I suppose you two aren't even going to come to help, either." That is correct. I detected a gleeful undertone to that message. "Fine," I grumbled, shifting around through the foliage to try and get a look at whatever this creature was. "Didn't want your help anyway..." There were no further comments from the beasts after that. Instead, they simply sat there and watched me while I tried to assess the situation. Creepy things. After a good bit of moving around I got a better glimpse of what I had first thought to be a pile of rocks with vines and creepers growing all over it. From this new angle, it actually strangely bore a slightly hunched over humanoid shape. If that had been the only odd thing about it, I would probably have just ignored the structure and moved on. But there was a faint glow emanating from what I would roughly have estimated was the torso area. From the angle I was at, it looked much like a human crouched down low on the ground, except that its head, hands and feet were large pieces of rock and the rest of its body was comprised of thick, intertwining vines that wrapped in and around the rock, binding the structure together as an actual recognisable shape. Well...It didn't look like it was causing any destruction, really. The area around us was seemingly untouched, apart from the pile of mangled twigs off to one side. It was just...Well, resting, as the wolves had said. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all. I crept up behind it slowly, careful not to make even the slightest sound that might alert it to any kind of threat. Unfortunately, that isn't the easiest thing to do when your limbs actually creak with every movement, as I found myself internally wincing at every step I took. Still, it wasn't like the creature even had ears. That said, neither did I, and I could hear things just fine. It was fairly reasonable to assume that I was going to be detected pretty soon. I've been told I'm too pessimistic at times. The creature was still just sitting there, though. It hadn't made any reaction to my approach so far. Things were looking good. Maybe I could actually do this. Of course, that brief hopeful thought was all it took for fate to decide things were too easy for me. The creature stirred just as I came within arms reach of it, causing me to falter, thus giving it time to bring itself up to its full height. As it stood, the vines that made up its midriff coiled slightly tighter as it twisted its head around to look at me, revealing that it did, in fact, have an actual face as opposed to simply a large rock for features. The creature's face reminded me a lot of some Aztec carvings I'd seen before, with the large, flat mouths containing tombstone teeth, big round holes for eyes that stared hollowly, the faint glow from its chest somehow managing to shine out of each orifice. To top it all off, its nose was a large flat slab that barely extended out over its mouth, nothing more than an aesthetic feature. Nice and creepy then, in keeping with everything else I'd encountered so far. I backed away as it shuffled towards me, the hefty boulders that were its feet being dragged along the floor by its legs, which of course were vines, its arms trailing behind like wrecking balls as it drew closer. Due to its size it was easily catching up with my increasingly panicked backtracking, and it was only gaining speed. The right arm began to drop back even further than the left, causing the creature to twist its body round as though gearing up for an attack. ...It was gearing up for an attack. The right arm vines suddenly, much faster than I would ever have imagined this creature could manage given its slow approach thus far, coiled tightly around each other, pulling the heavy boulder forwards quickly, then swinging it around to the side in a manner very similar to an actual wrecking ball. The massive weight lurched through the air towards me, picking up speed as it drew closer. Unable to think of anything else to do, I leapt backwards in a desperate attempt to avoid being pummelled. The haphazard nature of my leap caused me to land badly and trip, falling over onto my back, but thankfully the wrecking ball missed me by a matter of inches. Even a glancing blow from that thing would probably have sent me flying back into the nearest tree. The rush of air as it sailed past was felt even by my tough wooden skin somehow. Maybe I was just imagining that. I landed heavily on the ground, thankfully not winded due to my new body structure. The arm that had swung at me was now wrapped around the creature's body, the momentum enough to have carried it all the way around. I began to sit up when I realised it was unwrapping its arm again, clearly preparing another swing. I lay back flat on the ground just in time for the rock to pass just above my nose. Or at least, the lump in the middle of my face that now passed as a nose. From this position, I had a clear view of a dark cloudy sky through the gap in the canopy, fading from dusk to night. As my gaze shifted down from the sky to look back at the creature, the sight of a large rock hurtling through the air in a tight arc caught my attention, shooting straight to the top of my list of things to deal with. I'd forgotten about its other arm. As I rolled to the left, a manoeuvre that was deceptively difficult given my build, mostly due to pieces of wood sticking out from my shoulders and back, I felt the earth shake when the boulder slammed into the spot I had been lying in just moments prior. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as possible, trying to work out some kind of plan to take this thing down. As it turned out, I didn't have too long to do that. Rapidly approaching from the right was the creature's other boulder, and given where I was standing, I was about to be crushed between both rocks. Well, that would be a rubbish way to go, so I decided to do something about that. Acting on instinct, I threw myself out of harm's way, the deafening sound of two massive boulders slamming together thundering throughout the clearing as I landed on the grass, now between the creature and its weapons. A thought occurred to me as I pulled myself up using the tightly strung vines that were the creature's arm. While it could stretch these vines to an extent, there was still a minimum range it needed to throw those huge rocks around, and if I could get inside that area it shouldn't be able to hit me. Another thought that occurred to me as the vines that were clenched firmly in my hand tensed and then twisted was that I needed to stop pausing in one place to think about things while in the middle of a life-or-death situation. I didn't really get the chance to react or do anything as the creature pulled its right arm back towards itself, bringing the rock speeding along that same course. I happened to be in the way of the rock at that time. It hurt. Really, that should go without saying, given the situation. The giant boulder slammed into my back, lifting me off the ground and carrying me towards the coiled mass of vines that concealed that strange light inside its torso. In my dazed state, it did not occur to me that I really was going into the light after experiencing something that by all rights should have killed me. However, while a hit like that might have broken a regular tree, I had the advantage of not being rooted into the ground. My back still bent and curved around the rock, but miraculously stayed intact. My head swimming, I looked around to come to the conclusion that I was no longer moving. Instead, I was clinging to the writhing vines like a bug. Wait, no I wasn't. I was being held there. It took a moment to realise this, but after an experimental wiggle of my fingers I realised that I must not have been holding on to anything, and yet I was still stuck on this thing. After further examination, I found that leaning my head away from this thing was literally the only thing I could do, thanks to a series of vines that had snaked out from the creature's body and were now wrapped around my neck, waist, legs and arms, massively limiting my ability to move. "What..." I muttered, trying to wrench myself free. At the very least, getting an arm out to pull off the other vines would be enough for me. Unfortunately, nothing budged. "...This is just inconvenient." Apparently satisfied with ensnaring its prey, the creature sat down again, lowering its head slightly and going still. I continued thrashing, becoming more and more annoyed with my inability to do anything useful while the damn thing just sat there. Something about it seemed unbelievably smug. "Let...Go..." I growled, still futilely trying to break free. Needless to say, the creature did not react. I couldn't even tell what it was trying to do, really. It could be trying to strangle me, if the tightness of the vine around my neck was any indication, or it could just be keeping hold of me while it regained its strength, or something along those lines. Eventually, after several minutes of pointless struggling, I sighed and gave up on trying to pull myself free. While it wasn't really tiring, it was pretty boring. I wiggled my fingers a bit more to make sure I still could, and that I wasn't being strangled. ...Right, I'm an idiot. So I could still move my fingers. My very sharp, claw-like fingers. All I needed to do was start cutting away at the vines in general and hopefully the whole thing would fall apart. Sure, it might not, but it was worth a try. Also, it would stave off the boredom. Finally, after a good few minutes of trying to position my fingers in such a way that I would be holding a vine between my two longer fingers, I managed to slice through a single vine with my thumb. I had thought this would have warranted a reaction from the creature, but apparently not. It continued sitting there, all pleased with itself, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that I was slowly but surely cutting its body. I groaned. Apparently I really was going to have to do this the long way. In its mind it had already won, so it clearly didn't see any reason to continue fighting. It didn't even feel like going on a celebratory rampage, either. What a boring creature. As darkness fell, the only light source available for me to work with was the one shining out from the creature's body, which was becoming less and less stable as, one by one, I severed the vines holding it together. A couple of times had started a chain reaction, so to speak, as long segments were weakened, resulting in the creature sagging slightly. It had also occurred to me earlier on to use both hands for this, so that I was attacking it from two points. Finally, after a lot of tedious sawing and cutting, I managed to loosen the vines holding my right arm against its body. Mostly by luck more than anything else. I didn't have a wide range to cut the vines up until that point, so it was by pure chance that I happened to sever the ones binding that arm. However, it did mean I could finally speed this up a lot. Raking my claws down the creature's body, I felt like grinning as the taut lengths of vine snapped and fell apart by the dozen. Getting rid of so many at once had a sort of therapeutic effect after being tied up for so long. As I fell to the floor, landing on my back but quickly sitting up, the torso of the creature now completely open, light shining brightly out onto the grass, the large stone head began to wobble, no longer sufficiently supported. My feeling of triumph quickly faded as the terrifying carved face began to tip towards me, the mouth of course happening to fall directly towards my head. Well, I hadn't gone through all that escaping this damn thing only to end up being crushed by its head. I rolled hastily to my left, just barely managing to avoid being crushed to splinters by a thing I'd just beaten. As I picked myself up, that thought gave me pause. I had really just beaten that thing. Somehow, in one-on-one combat, I had taken down the bizarre monster created by a Daedric Prince thus earning the right to claim its power as my own! ...Hang on, that's a good point. Can I claim something? I wanna claim something. The mass of vines that were still intact making up the creature's back shifted, and the ray of light that shone through caught my eye. The light inside this thing was green. Spriggans normally had a light in their own chests. I, as it happened, did not. Claimin' it. The uplifting feeling of a recent victory returning to me, I stepped towards the creature with the intent to pull the light out with my bare hands. It offered no resistance, being unable to support its own head at this point, and I wasn't even sure if it was still in the same mindset it had been when it chose to capture me instead of crushing me. Either way, I wasn't complaining. Pulling at the few stubborn vines that still retained the basic structure they originally had, I managed to clear a space large enough for me to reach in and grab the floating light. Pushing my hand through the gap, I felt like a champion. Time to claim a power-up.
Deal With a DevilI blew gently on the steaming tea and stared blankly at my laptop screen. The lines of text seemed to blur and fade the harder I tried to focus on them. I leaned back in my chair, sighing. It hadn’t been the brightest idea to come to a public place to try making a start on my project. What I really needed was peace and quiet, but the buzz of conversation in the coffee shop was constant, just loud enough to keep me from concentrating on the ‘mandatory mini-assessment’ I had been assigned. I was starting college in a week, having been forced to drop out of sixth form when I didn’t achieve the grades necessary to continue. The school had recommended a change of scenery might help, which roughly translated to “We don’t want you here any longer, get the hell out.” I wasn’t terribly upset when I found out my results, but at the time it was the middle of the summer holidays, and all I wanted to do was enjoy myself and not have to worry about the future. So, when summer did eventually wind down, I was a bit put-out when the college I’d enrolled in announced that all students in my course were to complete an assignment before the start of the course. I drummed my fingers on the keyboard lightly, occasionally pausing to hit the backspace key when I accidentally typed a letter out. It didn’t help that the establishment provided free wi-fi which meant distractions were far more common than I’d have liked. ‘Just five minutes’ turned into ten, which turned into thirty, and before I knew it my tea had gone cold. I found this out when I went to take a sip and grimaced at the bitter taste. Shrugging, and not wanting to waste my money, I downed the rest and called over a waitress, asking for another. She smiled, which was nice enough, and walked off behind the counter to start on the brew. I looked back to the screen, which was still blank. With a groan, I rested my head on my hands, rubbing my eyes in despair. It didn’t help that I was feeling tired, either, but I’m normally at least able to function in that state. Here, my mind was just blank. “Having a hard time?” I looked up toward the new voice and was greeted by a hand presenting me with a new cup of tea. I took it gratefully, then looked back at the person who’d handed it to me. Well, it wasn’t the nice waitress, for a start. The man who’d delivered my drink smiled back at me in a far less friendly manner than the waitress had, in fact, he looked almost predatory. “Can I help you?” I asked warily. The guy looked like a con artist, frankly. With a fedora pulled low over his face and a long trench coat covering his dark suit, he fit the stereotype perfectly. Maybe a little too perfectly, as though he was trying too hard. All he needed to do now was hold open his coat revealing row upon row of fake watches. “Perhaps.” He replied, taking the seat opposite me a gazing coolly over my laptop screen. “And if so, maybe I can help you in return. How does that sound?” It already sounds like a scam, I thought. “Care to elaborate?” Why did I say that? The man’s grin grew even wider. “Of course. It’s only fair.” For some reason, I shivered as the word fair left his lips. “So,” he said, adopting a businesslike tone. “I’m in need of a representative for a very important event. Are you a fan of video games?” The sudden turn surprised me. Maybe he worked for a game company. “Yeah,” I replied, not sure where this was going. “Why?” He raised an eyebrow. “It’ll make sense. What games are you into at the moment?” Ah, maybe this was a survey of some kind? I felt much more at ease at this point. “I’ve been enjoying RPG’s lately, like Fallout and Skyrim,” I replied. “That’s all really.” His eyebrow fell back to its original position and his eyes narrowed. “Excellent.” He pushed my laptop screen closed with a little unnecessary force. I wasn’t hugely fussed by this, it was old and I’d been meaning to get a new one when I actually started college. “I would like to make you a deal.” He said, staring at me intensely. I realised I hadn’t put the cup of tea down throughout the entire conversation and raised it to my lips. “Go on,” I replied, after taking a sip. I noted with annoyance it tasted slightly sweet, as though sugar had been added. His grin now threatened to split his face, it looked manic. I leaned backwards. As I did so, I noticed the dog that was lying down beside the strange man’s chair. It’s eyes snapped to mine, and I thought I detected something more than in normal dogs. I returned my gaze to the man, more suspicious than ever. “As I said before, I need a representative for an event. I would like you to fill that role, Thomas.” I sat bolt upright in alarm, trying to remember when I’d told him my name. I realised with a sinking feeling that neither of us had introduced ourselves. “You will be transported to another world, where you are to participate in a game. You will be given-” He stopped, interrupted by my snickering. “What is so funny?” “Transported to another world?” I laughed. “Sure. I totally believe you. Where do I sign?” Maybe sarcasm wasn’t a concept this man knew, or maybe he chose to ignore it. Whichever it was, what happened next came as a bit of a surprise to me. “Well that was easy,” his grin became less malicious and more cheerful, which actually worried me more. “I don’t think anyone’s ever agreed to one of my deals without hearing the full terms. What do you think, Barbas?” He addressed the dog to his left. The dog, Barbas, rolled his eyes in response. I had realised who this guy was the second he said the name, but it was just too ridiculous for me to consider. “Hold on,” I stuttered. “You’re...Are you..?” “Clavicus Vile, at your service,” he simpered, returning to the shark-like grin. “Well, to be more accurate, you’re the one at my service. Fancy that?” He cackled. I regained my composure. This guy was clearly either insane or this was all a big practical joke. “Right. Next you’ll tell me that I have to retrieve a powerful axe from a necromancer.” He laughed loudly, drawing looks from the other patrons in the cafe. “Oh, nothing so archaic. That’s been done already, you see,” he reached down and patted Barbas on the head. “Besides, I doubt you could take Barbas in your state anyway, magical weapon or not.” “What do you mean, ‘in my state’?” I grumbled indignantly. Sure, I wasn’t exactly the sporty type, but I still kept in good shape by walking everywhere. “That body. So slow, so weak,” he replied, gesturing to all of me. I started to get a bit annoyed. “Which is why you’ll have to get a new one before you go off to participate.” “Hold on, get a new one?” This was sounding more and more ridiculous with every word that came out of his mouth. “But of course! In fact, since I’m feeling so generous, I’ll even let you pick,” he grinned. After a split second the grin vanished, replaced instead with a thoughtful expression. “I’m thinking...An atronach of some kind. You’ve certainly been very cold so far, how about a frost atronach? No? Alright, maybe a sabre cat? Have you ever wanted to just bite someone’s head off? I know I have,” he growled, glancing down at his dog. He was just listing off monsters in Skyrim. Well, two can play at that game. “What about a dragon?” I grinned at him, which turned into a look of confusion as he shook his head. “Boring! Try again.” Oh. Well, this was a bit awkward. I struggled to think of a creature that hadn’t been said. “A troll?” He mulled it over, before shrugging. “I suppose we can’t rule that one out. Bear in mind that if you don’t choose, I will.” He leaned forward. “You wouldn’t want to be a hagraven, would you?” I shuddered at the thought, racking my brain for another creature. “Err...Spriggan?” His eyes widened, and he leaned back appreciatively. “Yes, not bad. Might have to make some tweaks to the current model, but all in all, good choice.” He nodded at me. “Well, now what?” I asked, taking another sip of my tea, which had also gone cold. I rolled my eyes before downing the rest of it. At this point I just wanted him to leave so I could get on with my project in peace. “Now?” He leaned forward, predatory grin once again present. “Well, since you agreed earlier so readily, all that’s left for you to do is take a nap.” Something about the way he said it set off alarm bells in my head. I looked down at the now empty cup. My eyes shot back to his. “What did you do?” I asked fearfully. “Oh, nothing much,” he explained calmly. “Just a little something I added. You may have noticed the slightly sweet taste?” “Help!” I tried to shout out, only to find my face wasn’t working. I tried to stand up, raise my arms, do something, but I found myself completely immobile. My eyes felt heavy and my vision was fading away when I heard him say one last thing. “Well, that was surprisingly easy.”
Unfamiliar Terrain“Ugh...Ow.” Waking up face down on a cold stone floor is not the most reassuring situation to find yourself in after being drugged. “Ah!” I heard Clavicus’ voice ring out from somewhere in the room. “You’re awake! Finally.” I heard him rise, letting me know he had been sitting, or at least crouching down beforehand. "You were out for a lot longer than I was expecting. If you were anything more than a pawn to me I might have started worrying." Charming. "Where are we?" I mumbled, blearily trying to get up. I was relieved to find that I wasn't tied down, so things weren't quite as ominous as I had originally thought, but my limbs were stiff and unresponsive. I attributed that to the after-effects of being knocked out, and looked up at Clavicus. The man, or rather god, in question was advancing towards me down a set of stone stairs. He reached me and knelt down. "Hmm...Not too shabby, if I say so myself." He was examining my face closely. I recoiled slightly. "Do you mind? You're breathing right in my face." He let out a short laugh, before grabbing my head in one hand and hoisting me up. Despite wobbling a little, I managed to not fall back down, much to my relief. Now that I was stood up, I felt…Taller, for some odd reason. “Now, onto the first order of business,” he announced, turning back around and striding back up the stairs. “You may by this point have noticed that the body that you woke up in is not the same as the one you fell asleep in.” Wait, what? Confused, I held my hands up… “WHAT THE F-” I yelled, cutting myself off as the sight truly sunk in. Instead of skin, my arms were covered by smooth tree bark. My hands were no longer hands as such, but rather talons and I now only had three fingers, lacking a pinkie. I looked down at the rest of me. “So this is a dream or something, right?” With that thought in mind, it was much easier to not freak out. Clavicus shrugged. "Sure, if you like. Anyway, You're probably wondering why you're here." I shook my head. "Nope." Clavicus raised his eyebrows. "No? Really? You wake up in a strange place in a strange body, and you're fine with that?" "Well," I sighed. "If it's a dream, then it won't matter because I'll just wake up. If it's not a dream, then there probably isn't much I can do about it, so how about we just skip over all that?" Clavicus considered this, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm...No, I'll tell you anyway. Take a seat," he grinned. "I'll stand, thanks," I muttered. "Well, someone's in a mood. Anyway, welcome," he spread his arms dramatically. "To Equestria!" I stared at him blankly. "Yes, well," he coughed awkwardly. "This land. It is known as Equestria, and you are currently standing in the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, deep within the Everfree-" "No, wait. Hold on a moment," I cut in, shaking my head. "Royal Pony Sisters? Please, explain." He shrugged. "Oh yeah, Equestria is primarily inhabited by sentient equines. Shocker. Now, moving on." I rubbed the side of my head. What the hell... "Now then, the reason I brought you here..." He paused. "Well, now that I think about it, I guess you were just the first person I came across. Lucky you," he grinned. "A great cosmic game between gods is happening right now, and I wanted in. For this, I needed a piece to represent me. Guess who that is?" He stared pointedly at me. "Right. So if I'm representing you, what do I have to do?" Another thought crossed my mind, regarding my appearance. "And also, why do I look completely plain? In the game, spriggans had a light in their chest, didn't they? Why don't I?" He smiled. "Noticed that, did you? Excellent, that will speed things along. You see, I didn't want to just go ahead and give you all the powers you can potentially wield right off the bat. It's a lot more entertaining for me, and rewarding for you, if you have to earn them." I groaned. "Great. Well, at least I can expect a bunch of stupidly difficult boss fights in future..." Clavicus slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that? That's brilliant! And to think, I was just going to set them out as puzzle rooms," he snickered. "Please tell me you're being sarcastic." "I am. Don't worry, those stupidly difficult boss fights are already out there, waiting for you. I designed them beforehand, and put them in stasis around this world. They will awaken when you get close, so that's when the fight will begin. If you beat them...You will be awarded a power from each one. There are four in total." Four? "Okay. I'm assuming these will have something to do with the different coloured lights that spriggans have? So green, gold, and purple...That's three. What's the fourth one for?" He grinned. "You'll see. Anyway, you should probably get going. The first one isn't too far from here, it's already awake and causing a bit of a ruckus." I glared at him. "You know, usually there are a bunch of grunts to fight before the boss. Or at least a tutorial." His smile vanished. "It would be unwise for you to think of this as a game. However, I would say that you think of this as your tutorial. Now go," he snapped his fingers, the huge double doors at the far end of the hall swinging open quickly. I looked back. "So where-" I was cut off by a crushing force pushing me backwards, sending me flying through the double doors. I sailed over a ravine, and landed in a heap on the other side of it, rolling over the grass before coming to a rest at the foot of a tree. I looked up at the double doors again, just in time to see them closing, with Clavicus waving to me, grinning. As the doors slammed shut, there was a brief flash of light within the castle, and then nothing. I picked myself up carefully, still adjusting to the weirdly long limbs and digitigrade feet. After a few steps, however, I had got the hang of it enough to walk at a comfortable pace. With some steely determination, I held my head high and set off into the ominously dark forest.
TimberWhere the hell am I going? I had been wandering about aimlessly in the forest for the best part of four hours. Apparently, there was meant to be some kind of monster causing havoc somewhere nearby, but the entire place was deathly silent. This was worrying, to say the least. Either everything in the area had run away or something had silenced them all. I sighed. At least I was probably in the right area. I wondered what kind of creature it was. Probably something pretty horrifying, to say the least. I had no idea what the mind of a bored Daedra was capable of cooking up. It didn't help that the light was starting to fade, either. The canopy was thick enough to block out the majority of the sunlight in the first place, I didn't really want to be trying to find my way through the forest in complete darkness. That would only make it even more boring. My mind drifted to what Clavicus had meant by 'powers'. Specifically, the fourth one. The green, gold and purple lights each represented a level of power spriggan held in the game, each level being substantially tougher than the last. Maybe the fourth would just be another level? I shook my head. It wasn't doing me any good wondering about that now. If anything, it would just serve as a distraction while whatever boss was supposed to be skulking around crept up on me and tore me limb from limb. Wasn't that a lovely thought... A rustling sound behind me caught my attention, and I spun around to face whatever it was. At first, I couldn't see anything, but then a pair of yellow eyes shone through the gloom, staring right at me. Before I could react to this, however, another rustle emanated from a bush just off to my left, and I turned my head to that one. Another pair of yellow eyes. Well, this was nice and creepy. I backed off slowly from the ominous glowing orbs, only to be distracted by yet another rustling to my right. Of course, there was another pair of yellow eyes peering out at me from the darkness. I sighed. Being surrounded by a bunch of unknown creatures wasn't much fun, as it turned out. As I backed up further still, my progress was abruptly cut short by one of the many, many trees that made up the forest, blocking my retreat. I stood still, my back pressed up against the rough bark, and briefly wondered how fast I'd have to shimmy in order to start a forest fire. That thought made me question where my priorities lay. Here I was being hunted by a group of strange predators and I was thinking about setting myself on fire. Not really the best frame of mind to be in, especially in a situation like this. I dropped down lower, moving away from the tree to give myself some space as the creatures finally decided to make their presence known. I was prepared to take on whatever they were...Despite knowing it would probably not end at all well for me. The level of confusion and surprise that shot through my being might even have been visible on my expressionless, carved face when I saw what had been stalking me. Three large canine forms emerged from the foliage, glaring hungrily at me. That wasn't the surprising bit. Well, not quite, anyway. I mean, what kind of creature would see a walking tree as potential food? Apparently, these things did. It wasn't the fact that they saw me as prey that surprised me so much as the creatures themselves. They were definitely canine, sort of wolf-like by the looks of them, but they weren't at all like anything I'd ever seen before. Not even as sculptures. The weird thing about these wolves was that they were completely made out of wood. Like...Kind of like a wolf version of myself, almost. Only these things had working jaws. With very sharp teeth. Well, this day was going fantastic so far. I kept a close eye on all of them as best as I could manage, my gaze flicking between them rapidly while they stood still, staring. It was pretty intimidating, given the lack of pupils in their eyes. ...We must have stood there, staring suspiciously at each other for at least ten minutes before I got bored. I stood up straight, dropping my hands to my sides, and shrugged. "So are you lot going to attack or what?" The three creatures looked between themselves, seeming to communicate with their thoughts. I mean, they didn't make a sound that I could hear, so telepathy is the obvious conclusion, right? After a brief deliberation, the wolf in the middle of the trio stepped forward, cautiously approaching me. I found myself stepping back again, only to find that the tree that had blocked my path earlier was, in fact, still there. The creature sniffed tentatively at my stomach, then seemed to shrug and back up a step, staring up at me. ...Wow, I felt tall. I stared back, unsure of what to do next. Apparently they weren't going to eat me, which was nice, I could deal with that. But now it looked like they were expecting a conversation...Which wasn't exactly my forte. "Uh...How's it going?" What are you doing here? A voice in my head snapped. I would have blinked. As it was, I just stared blankly at the creature before me, suddenly experiencing a whole new level of weird. Talking wooden wolves. Why not? "...Um." I shook my head in bewilderment, searching for what seemed like a suitable answer. "I...Got dropped here?" It sounded more like a guess than anything else. When? Where? The other two wolves advanced to join the first, standing in a line staring at me intensely. It was pretty creepy, the way their blank eyes were all focused on the same thing. I couldn't even tell if it was just one speaking or if they were all talking at once. "About..." I scratched my head. Not sure why, really, but it conveyed the appearance of deep thought. "Five or so hours ago? Somewhere around..." I waved in a vague gesture off in the direction I had come from. Not that I could remember where the castle was, but it was something, at least. I had to appear to know what the hell I was talking about. "Around that direction. Sort of." They each turned to each other, seeming to share a moment of deliberation between themselves. After a moment, they turned back to me as one. From a castle? Huh. Well, not too surprising that they might know about it, considering it was inside their forest. I nodded. They shared another suspicious look with each other before taking a step back warily. What are you..? The sudden switch from intimidating to intimidated threw me for a loop. They still outnumbered me. They still had teeth. We were both still made of wood...It'd be interesting to see how that played out in a fight. I mean, would I even feel pain? Would their teeth even be able to cut into my...Outer layer enough to do some damage? I shrugged. "I'm a spriggan," I sighed. No sense in beating about the bush, anyway. Might as well tell the truth. If they knew what that meant, then great. If not I lost nothing. "What are you?" When they fell out of their aggressive poses to adopt a more proud one, I inwardly rolled my eyes. I really hoped this wasn't about to be some long-winded explanation about how they were the 'guardians of the forest' or something... We are the Guardians of this forest... Great. Used to be that we needed the influence of some goddess of this planet, but... There was a cackle. As unnerving as it was having something talking to you directly through thought, hearing that same creature laughing maniacally inside your head was closer to downright horrifying. We don't need her anymore. We never did...She was holding us back. Now, we are free. The voices gleefully explained. Personally I had no interest in finding out who this supposed 'goddess' was. And clearly these creatures were a little...Unhinged. No, it would probably be best if I just went along on my merry way. "That's...Lovely. Now then, I'm in a bit of a hurry, stuff to do and all that. It was lovely chatting with you lot. Bye then!" I cheerfully told them while edging around the tree to leave. Fake-cheerfully, of course. I was still freaked out by the whole situation. No! The voices snarled, and in an instant I had two wolves blocking my path. Blimey, these things were fast. I took back any and all interest I had expressed towards a fight with the creatures. "...What?" Where are you going now?! They made it sound like I was planning to set the entire forest on fire. "Well..." I sighed again. "I was told about some creature in this forest who's been making trouble. I'm supposed to go kill it." I don't think I could have sounded any more jaded if I'd tried. They looked at each other in confusion, once again seeming to share a moment of thought before reaching a decision. You know of that creature? How? Still suspicious, though. Of course. I shrugged. "Someone told me about it." I had expected to be questioned further on that topic, but that seemed to be a satisfying answer to them. Really..? Well, good...Good. We will take you to it. "...You will?" At this point, I wasn't sure if this seemed more like a tutorial mission or an outright trap. They all nodded in unison. Eurgh, that was creepy. We will. Follow. And with that, they took off through the forest at a sprint. Grumbling, I set off after them, annoyed that they couldn't slow down even a little bit. Very considerate. Still, at least things had gone much more smoothly than I'd been expecting. I wasn't being digested right now, for a start. I chuckled. Yeah, this day was going just great.
Boss Fight, I Guess?Catching up with the wolves hadn't been too much of a hassle, all things considered. They had pretty much continued on in a straight line from when they left me in the dust, so to speak, so I found them after a few more minutes running just sort of lazing around, waiting for me. Funny thing about this new body of mine, I didn't feel the least bit fatigued after all that running. It felt strange to have run all that distance and to not even feel the slightest bit out of breath, but then I guess I didn't have a circulatory system anymore. I mean, I could look down at my chest and see partially through it. Spriggans had a weird build...They don't look very sturdy at all, but then again they are made out of solid wood. I don't know what type, exactly, but it was clearly pretty damn resilient. When the wolves spotted me as I pushed through the dense foliage, approaching their position just on the outskirts of a clearing, I swear I could hear them tutting at me. Bloody things...They of all creatures should know that things with four legs are faster than things with only two. Well, that was assuming there were any bipeds in this forest, anyway. I began to wonder what other species there were living in this place. I mean, so far all I knew was that I'd been dropped by a godlike being I thought only existed in a video game into a dense, expansive forest with the instruction to find some creature and kill it. I didn't even know what this creature looked like. And now there were these wolves made out of trees that could communicate with me telepathically. What next? Maybe the other residents of this forest were all made out of trees, too. What a weird ecosystem that would be...Although I guess I'd fit right in. I shook my head clear of these sidetracking thoughts as the wolves began speaking to me again. It would probably be best to pay attention. After all, they had just led me to the thing I was supposed to be killing. ...Oh yeah. That. You're slow, they began. Compared to them, yes I was. Wasn't about to argue there. I'd only just noticed there were now two of them. The third was nowhere to be seen. The creature is through there. We believe it is resting. You can attack now and take it by surprise. Hmm. This all seemed a little too straightforward. "Why don't you lot just do it? Speaking of which, where's the other one? There were three of you before," I pointed out, keeping my voice low. Didn't want to disturb the thing while it was 'resting'. He tried to attack it. I nodded after a long pause. ...He was crushed. Over there, see? The wolves turned and stared out into the clearing, specifically at a pile of crushed, splintered twigs and leaves. I shut down for a moment. That used to be the third wolf? But...It was kindling now! I turned back to the wolves slowly, who were both staring at me now. "I'm supposed to fight whatever did...That." They nodded. "...But I'm slower than you. If he couldn't avoid...Whatever it was that did that, how can I?" They seemed to shrug. I shook my head in frustration. "I suppose you two aren't even going to come to help, either." That is correct. I detected a gleeful undertone to that message. "Fine," I grumbled, shifting around through the foliage to try and get a look at whatever this creature was. "Didn't want your help anyway..." There were no further comments from the beasts after that. Instead, they simply sat there and watched me while I tried to assess the situation. Creepy things. After a good bit of moving around I got a better glimpse of what I had first thought to be a pile of rocks with vines and creepers growing all over it. From this new angle, it actually strangely bore a slightly hunched over humanoid shape. If that had been the only odd thing about it, I would probably have just ignored the structure and moved on. But there was a faint glow emanating from what I would roughly have estimated was the torso area. From the angle I was at, it looked much like a human crouched down low on the ground, except that its head, hands and feet were large pieces of rock and the rest of its body was comprised of thick, intertwining vines that wrapped in and around the rock, binding the structure together as an actual recognisable shape. Well...It didn't look like it was causing any destruction, really. The area around us was seemingly untouched, apart from the pile of mangled twigs off to one side. It was just...Well, resting, as the wolves had said. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all. I crept up behind it slowly, careful not to make even the slightest sound that might alert it to any kind of threat. Unfortunately, that isn't the easiest thing to do when your limbs actually creak with every movement, as I found myself internally wincing at every step I took. Still, it wasn't like the creature even had ears. That said, neither did I, and I could hear things just fine. It was fairly reasonable to assume that I was going to be detected pretty soon. I've been told I'm too pessimistic at times. The creature was still just sitting there, though. It hadn't made any reaction to my approach so far. Things were looking good. Maybe I could actually do this. Of course, that brief hopeful thought was all it took for fate to decide things were too easy for me. The creature stirred just as I came within arms reach of it, causing me to falter, thus giving it time to bring itself up to its full height. As it stood, the vines that made up its midriff coiled slightly tighter as it twisted its head around to look at me, revealing that it did, in fact, have an actual face as opposed to simply a large rock for features. The creature's face reminded me a lot of some Aztec carvings I'd seen before, with the large, flat mouths containing tombstone teeth, big round holes for eyes that stared hollowly, the faint glow from its chest somehow managing to shine out of each orifice. To top it all off, its nose was a large flat slab that barely extended out over its mouth, nothing more than an aesthetic feature. Nice and creepy then, in keeping with everything else I'd encountered so far. I backed away as it shuffled towards me, the hefty boulders that were its feet being dragged along the floor by its legs, which of course were vines, its arms trailing behind like wrecking balls as it drew closer. Due to its size it was easily catching up with my increasingly panicked backtracking, and it was only gaining speed. The right arm began to drop back even further than the left, causing the creature to twist its body round as though gearing up for an attack. ...It was gearing up for an attack. The right arm vines suddenly, much faster than I would ever have imagined this creature could manage given its slow approach thus far, coiled tightly around each other, pulling the heavy boulder forwards quickly, then swinging it around to the side in a manner very similar to an actual wrecking ball. The massive weight lurched through the air towards me, picking up speed as it drew closer. Unable to think of anything else to do, I leapt backwards in a desperate attempt to avoid being pummelled. The haphazard nature of my leap caused me to land badly and trip, falling over onto my back, but thankfully the wrecking ball missed me by a matter of inches. Even a glancing blow from that thing would probably have sent me flying back into the nearest tree. The rush of air as it sailed past was felt even by my tough wooden skin somehow. Maybe I was just imagining that. I landed heavily on the ground, thankfully not winded due to my new body structure. The arm that had swung at me was now wrapped around the creature's body, the momentum enough to have carried it all the way around. I began to sit up when I realised it was unwrapping its arm again, clearly preparing another swing. I lay back flat on the ground just in time for the rock to pass just above my nose. Or at least, the lump in the middle of my face that now passed as a nose. From this position, I had a clear view of a dark cloudy sky through the gap in the canopy, fading from dusk to night. As my gaze shifted down from the sky to look back at the creature, the sight of a large rock hurtling through the air in a tight arc caught my attention, shooting straight to the top of my list of things to deal with. I'd forgotten about its other arm. As I rolled to the left, a manoeuvre that was deceptively difficult given my build, mostly due to pieces of wood sticking out from my shoulders and back, I felt the earth shake when the boulder slammed into the spot I had been lying in just moments prior. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as possible, trying to work out some kind of plan to take this thing down. As it turned out, I didn't have too long to do that. Rapidly approaching from the right was the creature's other boulder, and given where I was standing, I was about to be crushed between both rocks. Well, that would be a rubbish way to go, so I decided to do something about that. Acting on instinct, I threw myself out of harm's way, the deafening sound of two massive boulders slamming together thundering throughout the clearing as I landed on the grass, now between the creature and its weapons. A thought occurred to me as I pulled myself up using the tightly strung vines that were the creature's arm. While it could stretch these vines to an extent, there was still a minimum range it needed to throw those huge rocks around, and if I could get inside that area it shouldn't be able to hit me. Another thought that occurred to me as the vines that were clenched firmly in my hand tensed and then twisted was that I needed to stop pausing in one place to think about things while in the middle of a life-or-death situation. I didn't really get the chance to react or do anything as the creature pulled its right arm back towards itself, bringing the rock speeding along that same course. I happened to be in the way of the rock at that time. It hurt. Really, that should go without saying, given the situation. The giant boulder slammed into my back, lifting me off the ground and carrying me towards the coiled mass of vines that concealed that strange light inside its torso. In my dazed state, it did not occur to me that I really was going into the light after experiencing something that by all rights should have killed me. However, while a hit like that might have broken a regular tree, I had the advantage of not being rooted into the ground. My back still bent and curved around the rock, but miraculously stayed intact. My head swimming, I looked around to come to the conclusion that I was no longer moving. Instead, I was clinging to the writhing vines like a bug. Wait, no I wasn't. I was being held there. It took a moment to realise this, but after an experimental wiggle of my fingers I realised that I must not have been holding on to anything, and yet I was still stuck on this thing. After further examination, I found that leaning my head away from this thing was literally the only thing I could do, thanks to a series of vines that had snaked out from the creature's body and were now wrapped around my neck, waist, legs and arms, massively limiting my ability to move. "What..." I muttered, trying to wrench myself free. At the very least, getting an arm out to pull off the other vines would be enough for me. Unfortunately, nothing budged. "...This is just inconvenient." Apparently satisfied with ensnaring its prey, the creature sat down again, lowering its head slightly and going still. I continued thrashing, becoming more and more annoyed with my inability to do anything useful while the damn thing just sat there. Something about it seemed unbelievably smug. "Let...Go..." I growled, still futilely trying to break free. Needless to say, the creature did not react. I couldn't even tell what it was trying to do, really. It could be trying to strangle me, if the tightness of the vine around my neck was any indication, or it could just be keeping hold of me while it regained its strength, or something along those lines. Eventually, after several minutes of pointless struggling, I sighed and gave up on trying to pull myself free. While it wasn't really tiring, it was pretty boring. I wiggled my fingers a bit more to make sure I still could, and that I wasn't being strangled. ...Right, I'm an idiot. So I could still move my fingers. My very sharp, claw-like fingers. All I needed to do was start cutting away at the vines in general and hopefully the whole thing would fall apart. Sure, it might not, but it was worth a try. Also, it would stave off the boredom. Finally, after a good few minutes of trying to position my fingers in such a way that I would be holding a vine between my two longer fingers, I managed to slice through a single vine with my thumb. I had thought this would have warranted a reaction from the creature, but apparently not. It continued sitting there, all pleased with itself, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that I was slowly but surely cutting its body. I groaned. Apparently I really was going to have to do this the long way. In its mind it had already won, so it clearly didn't see any reason to continue fighting. It didn't even feel like going on a celebratory rampage, either. What a boring creature. As darkness fell, the only light source available for me to work with was the one shining out from the creature's body, which was becoming less and less stable as, one by one, I severed the vines holding it together. A couple of times had started a chain reaction, so to speak, as long segments were weakened, resulting in the creature sagging slightly. It had also occurred to me earlier on to use both hands for this, so that I was attacking it from two points. Finally, after a lot of tedious sawing and cutting, I managed to loosen the vines holding my right arm against its body. Mostly by luck more than anything else. I didn't have a wide range to cut the vines up until that point, so it was by pure chance that I happened to sever the ones binding that arm. However, it did mean I could finally speed this up a lot. Raking my claws down the creature's body, I felt like grinning as the taut lengths of vine snapped and fell apart by the dozen. Getting rid of so many at once had a sort of therapeutic effect after being tied up for so long. As I fell to the floor, landing on my back but quickly sitting up, the torso of the creature now completely open, light shining brightly out onto the grass, the large stone head began to wobble, no longer sufficiently supported. My feeling of triumph quickly faded as the terrifying carved face began to tip towards me, the mouth of course happening to fall directly towards my head. Well, I hadn't gone through all that escaping this damn thing only to end up being crushed by its head. I rolled hastily to my left, just barely managing to avoid being crushed to splinters by a thing I'd just beaten. As I picked myself up, that thought gave me pause. I had really just beaten that thing. Somehow, in one-on-one combat, I had taken down the bizarre monster created by a Daedric Prince thus earning the right to claim its power as my own! ...Hang on, that's a good point. Can I claim something? I wanna claim something. The mass of vines that were still intact making up the creature's back shifted, and the ray of light that shone through caught my eye. The light inside this thing was green. Spriggans normally had a light in their own chests. I, as it happened, did not. Claimin' it. The uplifting feeling of a recent victory returning to me, I stepped towards the creature with the intent to pull the light out with my bare hands. It offered no resistance, being unable to support its own head at this point, and I wasn't even sure if it was still in the same mindset it had been when it chose to capture me instead of crushing me. Either way, I wasn't complaining. Pulling at the few stubborn vines that still retained the basic structure they originally had, I managed to clear a space large enough for me to reach in and grab the floating light. Pushing my hand through the gap, I felt like a champion. Time to claim a power-up.
