Ferox

Starting log . . .

6:49 AM

It was a peaceful day on the first floor, the sun was cautiously rising, hiding behind the large tower in the central plaza, casting a long pronounced shadow. The atmosphere had a sort of tranquility to it, hardly anyone was awake yet. Well, for all this peace and tranquility, one question arose on the surface of Kade’s mind, where do you find a tailor around here.

Kade wandered down the market district, head darting at every market stall, looking for anyone who sold light armor. Each stall he stopped at, his hope of getting some specialised looting equipment became smaller and smaller. He couldn’t seem to find any, not one, either because there was none to be found or they were still asleep. Finally he found a shop, and a very good looking one at that, but it was deserted. Strange. Kade entered and was greeted by a strange man named Rufus.

“Why Hello there! My name is Rufus, and I'd love to show you around if you got the time.” Rufus said warmly, Kade noticed the man’s attire, actually it was kind of hard not to notice. Rufus wore a sharp three pierced suit in shades of crimson with a white undershirt and black tie, it seems the man knows his stuff. A new quest indicator popped up out of nowhere, it read;

‘Earning a Living: The Tailor’

’Follow Rufus’

“Great, another quest to add to the menu. Why not.” Kade sighed, giving in to the circumstances. He follows Rufus further into the workshop, which had shelves of clothes and cloth waiting to be threaded.

"Now, this is where I make my latest in fashion, maybe you could use some help with it yourself," Rufus said, gesturing to the large mechanation on the desk in front of him, it was a sewing machine. Kade nodded before realising what Rufus said.

“Woah woah woah, what are you trying to say about my outfit?” Kade said, his arms spread out, his leather armor flexing at the movement and stiffening. Rufus ignored him and started looking frantically through a drawer or two.

"Blast it! I have completely run out of materials to show you what I am talking about, the process is so beautiful, and the clothing that comes out is amazing... Wait! You seem like you can take care of yourself, would you mind searching for some for me? I can even show you how to craft the best fashion around the world! I would just need five materials, sounds easy right?" Rufus begged, looking at Kade with heartfelt eyes.

‘Collect 5 Tier One Materials (0/5)’

“Uh huh, so first you insult my outfit, then you go on to ask for my help. Sounds about right, I’ll do it.” Kade casually intoned, waving his hand in a sort of dismissal, and with that he was off on another tedious fetch quest.

He began trying to scale the rock face, the crystal was at least a good twenty meters ahead of him. He placed his right hand onto an exposed part of the rock, his left a little higher in a small natural crack through the surface, he hoisted himself up a bit. From there he managed to reach a yet another set of grips, and jumped from there to a protrusion in the rock, it was a massive slab that went on for a good meter or two, Kade climbed to the side, his legs dangling beneath him, he looked down, by god he should not have looked down. He looked back at his goal, that’s all he had to focus on right now. He jumped and climbed from rock to rock until he was within half a meter from the crystal, and that was when his hand slipped. He started to fall, and reached out desperately for something to stop or slow his descent and his hands managed to grab the slab he was climbing on earlier, he fell a good ten meters before he managed to stop himself. He was panting, mostly out of fear, before looking back up at the crystal, it’s glimmering reflection of the volcano’s orange light taunting him.

The ash started falling harder, it was like a twisted blizzard, and it was getting hotter too. Kade needed to seek shelter or he might be in danger. Kade opened his map, deciding the best place to seek shelter would be in a nearby cave. Kade followed his indicator through the blinding ashen storm, until he came upon a crag, a large hole in the side. He ran into it for shelter, he only stayed in the entrance area, he didn’t wish to go further without a light source, that and he could swear he could faintly hear clattering over the sounds of the winds outside. He sat on a rock in the cave for a little while until he heard something, it sounded like someone moving in armor, actually, it sounded like a lot of someones moving in armor. He looked up from he seated position to see a group of players walking into the cave, one waved at Kade, and being polite he waved back. The players moved on down into the cave, the sounds that followed were definitely sounds of combat. Kade got up and left after that, the storm had died down enough, and it didn’t feel hot, he also noticed something on his way out, a small crystal jutting from the crag, it’s placing was too convenient not to have been a material. It was too high up to reach, he would need to climb.

He kept up the pace, smashing the glassy black stone hoping to find something I damaged beneath, looking over his shoulder every so often out of paranoia. He didn’t feel alone, and the nature of this floor wasn’t helping in the slightest.

Alas, he didn’t see anything that could be perceived as a threat. The ground shook for a moment, Kade stopped and looked at the volcano, which was fuming more then before. That’s when it began to snow, well, it looked like snow, it wasn’t cold. Kade held out his hand and small gray particles landed in his palm, it was ash.

Kade shrugged off this new information as a unique weather condition for this floor, and nothing more. He resumed smashing the glassy obsidian and as before, he found nothing.

Kade continued to take a leisurely stroll through the scorched delta, he could feel the heat through his armor, and it was starting to exhaust him. He soon came upon a forest, not a typical forest, no this forest was dead, it’s trees made almost entirely of charcoal encased in obsidian, this looks like a lovely place to search for materials. He decided he would be as productive as possible, and to look for materials until he could happen upon a wandering phoenix. He looked around the trees for anything of value, and as surprising as it sounds, he could not find anything. Whatever was here was encased in obsidian or found by a more experienced player, but that got him thinking, if everything here was encased in obsidian maybe he just needed to break it to reveal whatever was underneath? He pulled his sword out of it’s scabbard, and began striking at any suspicious looking clump of obsidian that looked big enough to conceal items.

“This was a terrible idea.”

Kade said staring skyward at the peak of the notorious Mount Kazan, watching the glowing hot rock bursting from the volcano as he contemplated on his life choices so far. As much as he wanted to stop and go back, he desperately wanted a companion to help him out. As far as he knows, this companion could very well be the difference between life and death in the future. Besides, it’s not like he is climbing to the peak, at his level, that would be suicide at his level.

He left the scorched town of Yogan village to the east, crossing over various lava flows on bridges of questionable integrity until he reached a large flat plain, the plain, much like the rest of the area on this floor, was scorched black. The chances of finding materials here are slim at best, but luckily he isn’t searching for materials, he is searching for a Phoenix. Allegedly, these creatures aren’t aggressive to players unless provoked, but if you manage to tame one, you can get a nice bit of in combat healing. Kade looked around for anything that had any resemblance to a phoenix, which is just a flaming bird. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to find anything that was on fire in his immediate surroundings, although there were signs of such recently.

The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the birds were chirping. What could have possibly gonna so wrong, well, that is an interesting story. It all started during a stroll to Horunka, a village on the first floor.

Kade was once again all prepared, wearing his typical brown and blue leather armor topped with an armet composed of the same materials and style. On his back, his Estoc in it’s scabbard, swaying from right to left as he walked. The orange autumn forest around him were beautiful, and were dropping leaves that left a satisfying crunch when stepped on. The afternoon sun had risen high in the sky, beaming down on the world, refracting it’s light through the orange and yellow leaves. Suddenly he stopped, but the crunching of leaves didn’t, now on full alert, he turned around swiftly whilst pulling out his sword.

In the path he had recently taken, stood an old woman. Kade was confused, but still on full alert, staring at her like a deer who heard a predator sneaking in the brush.

”Hello?” Kade asked skeptically, scanning the nearby trees for any movement. 

“Hello dear, I am Uthari, the tamer of beasts!” She said, trying to command respect.

”Right...” Kade said, slowly loosing his grip on his blade’s handle.

”Why, I can go on and on about countless tales where I and I alone have tames dragons, minotaurs, and even demons.” She continued, she was an NPC, that he had noticed so he relaxed his posture. Was this a random encounter or something? Bit weird in an MMO, but hey, what do I know about game design. 

“I couldn’t help but notice...” The lady continued. “That you have no familiar of your own.” 

“Yeah I kinda just fly solo.” Kade remarked.

”Here, take this. You can use it to tame a familiar of your own. When you are done using it I would like what food you have left back.” The lady said.

”I don’t even want this.” Kade pleaded. Unfortunately, talking to an NPC is like talking to a brick wall, she ignored him and walked away as a new quest popped up in front of him.

‘Feeding your Enemy’

’Succesfully find and tame a familiar’

Kade sighed and opened his menu, selecting the new item(s) in his inventory, the Familiar Food. Kade pondered a bit, it wouldn’t be all that bad to have a buddy watching his back for him.

The more he thought about it, the more he found he wanted a familiar.

“Alright this can work, now I just need to find a familiar that suits my needs.” Kade said, setting a new waypoint in his map back to the Town of New Beginnings.

The night air was mild, not too hot and not too cold, but a slight breeze made it feel colder. The moonlit sky shone down upon the town, encompassing all in a faint white glow, though not quite as illuminating as the streetlamps he passed that dotted the road every so often. For a moment or two,Kade reflected on his day as he made his way to Lyle’s workshop. He was still alive, and that is what mattered most. He wandered through the fields and forests of floor one, even in darkness and was unscathed, and he even managed to get what he was there for. He was one step closer to getting out of here, and he knew it. Unconsciously, a faint smile spread across his face as he thought, just maybe, he stood a chance. 

He yawned, wanting nothing more then to finish up this quest and get some rest. He then stopped for a moment, as he noticed the large building he had come to. It had blacksmithing tools out front along with a forge. This has to be the place.

He entered the workshop, looking around for any sign of life.

“Hello?” Kade called out into the room.

An old man emerged from behind the counter wearing a blacksmithing apron. He looked over and gave a smile, similar to Zachariah’s.

“Hello, and welcome to Lyle’s workshop.” The man said warmly, leaning over the table.

“Yeah, hi, I have a package from Zachariah, I’m supposed to give it to Lyle.” Kade asked.

“Splendid, hand it here, would you?” The man responded.

“Wait are... are you Lyle?” Kade asked, a mild expression of confusion across his face. The old man nodded.

”I- Your and eighty something old man, and your name is Lyle Tealeaf?” Kade asked again for confirmation. The man nodded again. Kade stared blankly at Lyle for a moment before speaking.

”I guess I need to be more open minded.” Kade added, handing over the parcel he was carrying.

“Thank you, now that you’re here I could use your help.” Lyle said as a new menu had popped up in front of Kade, it read;

Would you like to start the quest “The Second Lesson, Is Also Free”?

Kade let out a long drawn out sigh that lasted a good seven seconds or so before speaking once again.

“...god dammit.”

________________________________________
<<Quest Complete!>>
Rewards -

Skill Points (x4)

Tier One Health Potion (x5)

Tier One Damage Potion (x1) (Buffs DMG +1)

Tier One Overheal Potion (x1) (Lasts a full thread)

Ferox walked back to the town, disappointed, but ready to get the rest of the quest over with, it can’t be that hard right? He sighed, as he made his way through the tall grasses onto a cleared path, one that is used by players frequently, as monsters don’t typically spawn on it. The town was close now, maybe half a kilometer, as he could see the cities imposing walls and towers from where he stood, along with the great gate he departed from earlier in the afternoon. What a strange world, to think just a few months ago, something like this would be completely unheard of, and you would have been called crazy, but now? Being held hostage in a virtual fantasy world doesn’t sound quite so crazy. 

He passed through the gates, and a sense of ease comforted him. He was still alive, though he feels he needs to be more cautious. What if he was seen by a monster, or another player out there? He could be dead.

Either way, now it was time to finish this and go to bed. The streets were pretty much deserted at this out, the streetlamps illuminating the tiled roads with soft warm lights, proving sight to those who dare be sketchy enough to walk the roads during nightfall. The buildings all around him told a different story, their lights jaded or off entirely, ensuring the more reasonable individuals a rather restful night, but even in the dark, Ferox could make out the distinct silhouette of Zachariah’s homestead.

Ferox entered the familiar abode, and was greeted with the same smell that burned his nose and watered his eyes. As he approached, Zachariah started up:

“Ah welcome back! I see you have those materials, now let’s make a potion.” Zachariah said with a warm smile. Ferox started with a sigh.

“Great. Alchemy, my favorite.” Ferox grumbled, a hint of obvious sarcasm in his voice.

“That’s the spirit, my friend!” Zachariah responded. “Now, how about we get started.”

Ferox rolled his eyes, then nodded. He went up to the table where Zachariah told him to be, and began following the instructions. Ferox went through a tedious process of mixing and mashing various materials he gathered until he ended up with a vial of sparkling red liquid.

“Congratulations, you did it!” Zachariah approved, that same warm smile on his face.

“Thanks.” Kade remarked.

“Hmm… I’m afraid I do need your assistance once again, my friend.”

“Oh great, I was hoping I could keep working.” sighed Kade as he quickly deposited his newly crafted potion into his inventory. There was a brief silence before he resumed.

“So… what do you want?” Kade continued, looking back up.

“I need you to deliver something, a package, to a local blacksmith named Lyle Tealeaf.” Zachariah said, clasping his hands together.

“Alright, just give it to me.” Kade responded reaching out one of his hands. Zachariah handed him a small parcel which quickly disappeared into his inventory. Kade turned around and began walking away, and Zachariah chimed in.

“Thank you… I might need help again soon enough, and maybe you will return to lend another generous hand.” Zachariah praised.

“...god I sure hope not.” Kade mumbled as he left Zachariah’s shop.

Ferox hung from the middle branches a moment before dropping to the ground, and managed to stick the landing, although he stumbled slightly and had to lean against the tree for support to rebalance himself although it was more of a ram then a lean. What he didn’t expect of that tree was for it to make a sound when he ran into it. It sounded like it was hollow. Ferox went around the other side of the tree and only now noticed a hole, like the kind where a bird might nest. He looked into it, and faintly saw a reflection of the beautiful glimmering moon in the sky behind him. He reached into the hole and pulled out a small lockbox, he was excited now. Had he found treasure? He opened it immediately, and the excitement on his face was killed in an instant.

“...and of course.” Ferox huffed before turning the lockbox upside down, nothing came out.

He tossed the small box over his shoulder into the field behind him, frustrated. He was no longer in the mood to search for any more materials, as that little encounter just killed it. 

He started to swing his way back to the Town of New Beginnings, slashing at any plant that was unfortunate enough to be in his path. He came upon a tree, a single tree in the middle of this vast area just a ways out of town. This struck him as odd. The grass around the tree wasn’t as tall as that of the rest of the fields, so out of sheer curiosity, Ferox approached it and began inspecting it, if it truly was a tree that held a fruit of some kind it was probably picked clean by the many players before him. I mean seriously, this tree’s placing is so abnormal in this field that it would attract anyone with experience in role playing games and the curiosity to match. Fortunately, luck was on his side, as he quickly noticed a magnificent ripe fruit in the middle branches of the tree. Ferox put his sword back into its scabbard which he had been holding it tightly since emerging from the grassy plains that surrounded the tree. He ran directly at the tree, kicked off it’s trunk, and grabbed hold of a branch above and began to climb towards the fruit, rather quickly too. He found himself a branch away, and he reached out and plucked it from it’s branches with one hand, the item disappeared into his inventory.

After a while of staring with blind fascination, he snapped out of it. He sat up, grabbing the sword he placed to his right when he laid down earlier, and looked around to make sure he didn’t miss a spot. After he was satisfied with his little visual survey, he moved on. Walking through the waist high grass, and when he was about thirty meters away from where he was cutting earlier, he began a new. Slashing at the grass left and right, turning the over growing plants into shattered crystals that hung and swayed in the air like falling leaves before disappearing forever. Would he end like that? Just shattering into nothing before he could make something of himself? These somewhat deep thoughts were unfortunately interrupted by a loud clang. His swing was interrupted by something in the grass, it looked like a rock. Irritated, he flipped the sword upside down, holding it by the blade. He swung with all his might, hitting the rock with the reinforced leather wrapped metal handle. The rock began to chip. He swung again and again, until the rock shattered like the grass, but unlike the grass this rock has something to show for it, an ore, it was that same salt substance he encountered earlier. Grabbed it and watched the objective change as it disappeared into his inventory.

‘Collect 5 Tier One Materials (5/5 - Completed)

‘Return to Zachariah’

Although Ferox didn’t listen to his quest objective, not immediately, as also wanted some for himself, they could prove useful in the future. So he decided to try and get a few more.

The town was maybe a kilometer away now, according to his map he was approaching from the south side of the city. There was grasslands as far as the eye could see, Kerox was still swinging wildly towards the town, cutting down every blade of grass in his way hoping he’d luck out and happen upon a material. He started going in circles, making a larger and larger area of cut grass, anyone looking at it from above may have called it a crop circle. He didn’t find anything though, nothing but exhaustion. He panted as he fell backwards into the cut grass, spreading out like he was making a snow angel and staring up at the starry night. He then wondered how the developers of such a game will made the sky look so very real, he could feel the depth as he stared into that false infinity as if it truly was real, as if it truly was infinite. He couldn’t make out any constellations that he could recognize, so he tried to connect the shimmering white dots against the twilight. Making them up as he stared, and for a moment he was at peace.

Ferox still needed at least one more material before he could return to Zachariah with his spoils, he didn’t seem to need the lantern with the moon’s bright light present, so he decided to search in the meadow. He recalled his strategy from earlier, where he cut down the grass revealing any material he cut down in the process, and since it was efficient he started swinging away.

Almost half an hour later and the entire meadow was cut cleanly, the crystal shards were the only thing that remained of the tall grasses and flowers, but he hadn’t found a single material. Maybe someone had already beat him to this spot? Either way, there was nothing here of value as far as he could tell. He opened his menu, accessed his map, and put a marker on his location with the note “Resource Scarce Area”. It was always better to be informed of things, this way he wouldn’t come back here by mistake.

He made his way closer to the Town of New Beginnings, planning on looking for that last material on his way there.

He held out his arm to protect his head from the various branches trying to scrap at him as he marched into the darkness, stumbling ever so often on an exposed root. He strained his eyes on the path through the underground before him, even with the lantern on his belt loop he couldn’t see very far, and it was beginning to show.

As he was walking he saw something in his lantern's light, a small fruit growing from a tree, he reached for it knowing it must have some value. As he moved towards it, he felt a tug at his foot, it was caught in a root. He stumbled and rolled, and started tumbling down the slight incline the tree was on until he found himself in a small moonlit field. The moon was full and awfully bright, it lit the meadow in a faint white glow. In the distance, he could see the Town of New Beginnings. It was... majestic, in a strange way.

Ferox looked down at his belt fastened lantern, the flame was out and the glass was broken, it glowed a bright blue then shattered into hundreds of small crystalline shapes. There was no way he was going back into that forest to find that fruit, he wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway.

He got up and began walking down the path, at least until he thought he saw something shimmer off the path, perhaps a valuable material? Kade took his chances and went for it, as he emerged from the bushes he saw that what he was looking at was shimmering all right, but unfortunately for him the shimmering turned out to be the spinning red crystals of red eyed boars. They haven’t seen him yet, so he started backing away, and quickly found he had no idea where the path was anymore, it was a really thin path, maybe he just passed it and didn’t realise it? He turned around, avoiding the ominous red shimmering jewels in the distance, looking for the path. No luck, his lantern was ridiculously crappy, and he couldn’t make out his environment very well. So he did what everyone who has ever played an RPG has done, set a waypoint and followed it as closely as he possibly could. 

Unfortunately, Ferox didn’t find any more of those brittle white rocks nearby, or any other material for that matter. Disappointed, he continued down the path which forked again, he once again went right, making a mental note to explore the neighboring part later. Kade decided to take a short break on the side of the path, just to rest his legs a little, and was distracted by the quickly fading light.

“Crap, what time is it?” Kade said, hurriedly opening his menu. The menu read “7:07 PM”.

“Dammit, I thought I’d have more time.” He muttered wearily, stretching out his arms before letting them rest beside him. He raised them once more to open his menu, and pull out a small square lantern which he fastened through a loop just above his right leg. The lantern only lit the path ahead, and not very well either as he could only see clearly five feet ahead, anything past that are just shapes and shadows.

Having cut down the rest of the meadow with absolutely zero concern for environmental impact, Kade put his sword back into its scabbard. He went back to the crudely maintained dirt trail and followed it down further into the forest. The trail forked, and Kade decided to take a right, but to take note of the left side for later. The right trail weaved into a rocker part of the terrain, Kade grew cautious, he didn’t notice this area on his map before and had no idea if there were monsters or not. He pulled out his sword and readied it with one hand, leaving one hand free. That’s when he saw something that poked out from a large rock face, a white colored crystal substance, he climbed onto the flat rock face and pulled at the crystal with all his might, it came loose and he tumbled off with the crystal. Fortunately, neither him, nor the crystal were damaged. He looked at it for a moment, inspecting it, it kind of reminded him of salt. The rock began glowing blue and disappeared and once again, the quest objective updated;

‘Collect five Tier 1 Materials (4/5 Collected)’

He made a smile of approval, and quickly got to his feet looking around for any rocks of a similar color.

He began walking back down the path, a feeling had been gnawing at him from the inside out, he turned back around and looked at the grassy field before letting out a groan.

“Fine, I’ll search the grass.” He said, partly to humor himself and partly to reassure himself he didn’t miss anything. 

The search was as he had guessed, slow and tedious, which is about as fun as parting blades of grass are. Then he got a brilliant idea. If he cut down the grass it would also cut down whatever material plant is hidden there, so it would be much faster and more efficient. He pulled the sword back out of it’s scabbard, patted himself on the back, and began his improvised lawn mowing session. He must have cut down over half the field before finally there was something that didn’t shatter into shards in the shortened grass. It was a flower, it looked like an white and blue orchid, he picked it up and low and behold it glowed bright blue and vanished, display the updated quest objective;

‘Collect five Tier 1 Materials (3/5 Collected)’

“Alright, three down, two to go.” He reassured himself, as he believed this was all he needed to do. He just had to pick up alchemical ingredients, and that was all he focused on.

There didn’t appear to be any more flowers on the lily pads, so he moved on, and decided to next search the area around the trees. From what he’s seen in other games, mushrooms like trees and will grow on dead ones or on the bark of living ones. So he investigated with the proficiency of a crazed forensic investigator looking for any trace of blood, and found nothing, the tree’s were perfectly healthy. He looked in the branches for any kind of fruit and found the same thing he had found countless times before, nothing, then he heard it, rustling, he stopped and listened. A squirrel jumped out at him jumping on the leather visor cover his face, which startled him enough to make him stumbled backwards onto the ground. The squirrel left as soon as it came.

“Well… that was a bust.” He said getting back to his feet, and looking around one last time.

The path led over some hills and into a small clearing which had many features including but not limited to; a small pond with lily pads and the like, uneven green grass, and a few sapling oaks that filled the local area. 

“This looks promising.” He said softly, nodding ever so slightly. He went to work searching, he decided to start with the pond, partly because sifting through tall grass to get anything useful is tedious and would much rather enjoy kicking a wall for twenty minutes. So, he went to the pond, inside of this pond was slightly murky water with only three lily pads inside, one of these lily pads had a pink flower on it, so Ferox took it.

“Please be a material, please be a material…” He said to himself.

The flower glowed bright blue and disappeared, his objective updated indicating his success:

‘Collect five Tier 1 Materials (2/5 Collected)’

“Alright, looks like I’m making some progress…” Ferox commented.

Ferox decided that he would follow the dirt path a little more to see where it led and look for materials along the way, it was a very simple plan but very effective. So off he went on the path looking for splendid loot, which would be appreciated in pretty much any form as long as it wasn’t anymore violet purple flowers growing out of cliff edges.

He stopped, there was a large branch in the path. Ferox approached it, and knelt down, ripping one of the smaller branches off the larger one.

“Wood is a material, so… this is a material, right?” He asked no one in particular.

The branch he was holding glowed blue, then shattered into crystalline shards that floated around him momentarily.

“I’m gonna take that as a hard maybe…” He continued.

He started kicking at the large branch, slowly moving it off the path, once it was out of the way he continued.

Kade stood up, turned around and looked at the flower with burning hatred in his hazel eyes, he backed up and tried again, and again, and a few more times for good measure all of which resulted in the same spectacular failures as previously mentioned. He dropped to his knees before the almighty flower and started screaming out of frustration.

“WHAT THEY HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME GAME!?” He shouted at the inanimate purple flower, which as suspected, did not have a rebuttal or comment on Ferox’s protests. He grimaced, looked at his longsword, looked at the flower, looked back at the sword one final time, then wound up and threw it at the stupid plant.

The sword hit the flower cutting it at the stem cleanly, Kade watched in complete shock as the sword clattered back to the ground, the flower close behind, it daintily swayed in the breeze right to left as it fell to the ground before him. Still bewildered, he bent over and picked it up in silence, it glowed bright blue for a moment, then disappeared.

‘Collect five Tier 1 Materials (1/5 Collected)’

He quietly started laughing to himself over how ridiculous this whole encounter was, was he really angry at a flower? I was just a flower, and not even a real one at that. He picked up his sword, put it back in it’s scabbard and continued his search.

Ferox sat up, and stared at the stupid flower and it’s stupid purple petals, now agitated. 

“Alright if I can’t get up, I’ll just make you come down.” He told the flower in the absolute sanest way you can talk to a flower. 

He pulled his sword back out of it’s scabbard and started running at the rock face, he jumped, kicked off and swung, unfortunately he did not jump high enough. The flower continued to be a flower, and gravity continued to pull Kade back down, as is the way of life. This time Ferox actually managed to land on his feet. He turned back around and tried again, running, jumping, kicking, swinging, and each time with varying the distances to the flower. He went at this for about twenty minutes and eventually tired himself out, slumping down against the rock face while putting his free hand over his chest and panting.

Ferox sighed, trying to figure a way out of this situation, with that damned flower. He looked up at it, it was taunting him he just knew it, he was starting to get tired and was losing his grip. Kade maintained his position, he didn’t care if he fell as it wouldn’t kill him, he just needed the material. The material, however, would not be gotten, not now.

“This is just perfect isn’t it.” He muttered to himself. “I’ve been outmaneuvered by a plant, how does that even happe-.”

His brief monologue was cut even shorter by the sudden weightlessness he felt, that and he was falling. On the way down he hit the bottom of his chin on an exposed stone, then hitting the ground and rolling backwards, finally coming to rest in a sprawled out position in the middle of the dirt path and took a moment to contemplate what just happened.