Ch. 5 Outside

His first steps towards his new goal would require him to get stronger and to amass an army. He had no clue what was outside these tunnels and not a lot of supplies to his name. First things first, he would raid the tunnels for anything that could help him and then find a new home that was not littered with bodies. Now that he had plenty of time, he spent the rest of the day searching through each of the rooms and all the bodies to find anything of value.

Taking the sword and shield from the warrior as well as the spellbook and a faint glowing ring from the wizard and the backpack from the cleric, he proceeded to fill the bag full of food and some ammunition as well as some rope and a bear trap. He had no clue what else he would need to bring with him on this adventure, but he decided it was time to stop stalling. He left the tunnels and entered the outside world for the first time. He took a deep breath in, and he could smell the trees and grass.

I was a pleasant smell, much more so than the tunnels. It was night now, and Kaz figured it would be better for him to travel at night since he had dark vision and could see incoming threats better than a human would. Wandering the forest aimlessly, he quickly realized he had no clue what he was doing. He looked up at the stars and noticed that there was a bright star. He remembered in his classes that on his planet, the north star was a good sign to follow to get to civilization. If he were human, he would probably want to follow it, but as he stands now, he would probably get cut down if he entered a human settlement.

His only course of action to take would be to find another cave and seek refuge there and hope that nothing more significant resided there. Deciding to head back towards his cave, he quickly realized that he was lost now. "A compass and map would be helpful right about now." That was it. He decided that he was going to stick to one direction and follow it until he found something. He was already headed in one direction, so he decided just to keep going.

The night kept creeping up more and more, and Kaz felt a little uneasy. Not knowing what kinds of creatures lurked in the forest did not sit well with him. He was minimally prepared for combat and still needed armor. He could not take the kobold armor cause it was too small, and the human armor was just a little too big. He would need to either spend more points in body to be human-sized or get gear that fits him. "Good luck with that last part." He thought to himself. A howl could be heard from the distance. At first, it startled Kaz, but then he realized something was off about it. It seemed more like a distressed howl than one of attack.

MISSION ACQUIRED- Investigate the noise

REWARD- 1 CHARACTER POINT

FAILURE- -1 EGO + title- (COWARD)

"Oh great, what am I a campy teenager about to meet his killer?" This was not good. If it were a pack of wolves, he would most likely be toast. He heard the howl again. It sounded sad and scared. There were no other accompanying so that it might be by itself. Reluctant to go, Kaz put one foot in front of the other. He kept following the sound until he found himself about to walk right into an opening. Kaz stopped beforehand and watched from the bushes. On the other side were two humans and a girl. Or at least he thought it was a girl. She was covered in the fur around her arms and feet and neck and wore very little clothing. Her ears were pointed and looked more like wolf ears than human ones. Her eyes looked sad but ferocious, and the wound on her foot was enough to tell Kaz that she was not going to be able to run away.

Taking a deep breath in, Kaz quietly pulled out his crossbow and loaded it. "I know I'm going to regret this, but I can't let another monster fall to these damned humans." With the crossbow loaded and aimed, Kaz mentally prepared for the idea of killing another person yet again. Now that he was not fighting for his life, he felt a sickness in his stomach at the thought of killing someone. He shook the feeling away and continued to aim at one of the humans. "This better work." He unloaded the bolt, and it landed in the lower back of the first man. Howls of pain filled the night sky as the man reached for the wound. The other man looked back as Kaz ducked back into the bushes. The second man pulled a sword out and smiled. He said something, but Kaz was not sure what he was saying. It sounded utterly foreign to him.

Walking towards the bush, the man bent down a little to get his stance ready to attack. Kaz unsheathed his sword and held it in his hands. His heart was racing, and his hands were a little sweaty. This would be the first time he was in hand to hand with another person. In his games, he always preferred to stay in the back and command his troops and support them with ranged attacks and buffs. He was never one for close-ranged combat. But he had no other choice now. The man was moments away from getting to the bush when he heard his partner scream again. He looked over to see the wolf girl had bitten the other man's arm with her fangs. It was the perfect moment for Kaz. He quickly leaped out of the bushes and charged the man with his sword raised. The startled man stepped back and parried the blow. When he finally had a good look at Kaz, he froze.