Kingdom of Mass

[JMFD]

You feel a rough tongue across your face as you breathe again in the physical world. Blinking, you are greeted by the face of the young wolf that followed you into the cave what seems only moments ago.

You feel warmth, wherever you are is far warmer than your native environment, but it there seems to be less light. Above the wolf you see a canopy of interspersed trees, and as your eyes focus you realise you are indeed in a forest, the trees very different from the ones of your homeland.

Your pack and axe lie on the dry ground nearby, and you see no initial movement around you.

After the first sign of your own movement, you hear a voice above you, "About time you woke."

The voice is rough, but the figure makes themselves visible. In the crook of the nearest tree sits a lithe human, perhaps a handful of years older than you. Seemingly perfectly at ease in the canopy's embrace, he is clad in leathers and armed with twin longswords and a longbow. As you look more closely, you are not sure he is entirely human; his tied-back long black hair reveals pointed ears.

With practiced ease, he climbs down the tree in a series of jumps.
_________________
It's time to try defying gravity

This world of ours is not as it seems... for monsters are real, but they are not in your dreams

[Peebs]

Kuge groans and clutches his head as he sits up, still dazed and half in the dream. "Ugeth," he breathes, "what have you done?". As his head clears he offers one wrist for the young wolf to sniff, as he remembers other warriors of the tribe doing to their companions.

He turns his head to meet the eyes of the stranger. "I am Kuge -", he pauses, unsure if he has yet earned his second name, "- of the Guarding Wolves. Have I dreamed here long?"

[JMFD]

The wolf approaches you inquisitively, as the stranger begins to speak.

"You have been here a few turns," he replies. "Your friend here," he gestures to the wolf, "wouldnae let me much closer to see if I could patch you up."

[Peebs]

" Aside from a splitting head, I do not feel as though I need much patching up - but I fear I do not know where here is, or who speaks to me" Kuge grimaces apologetically while studying the stranger.

[JMFD]

"Yer deep in the Shabredell forest," the newcomer says, looking you up and down.

He reaches for something at his waist, and tosses you a waterskin, "I'm known as Khaiden."

He appears to be at ease.

[Peebs]

Kuge quickly snatches the waterskin from the air, and takes a deep drink. "My thanks Khaiden - you are hospitable to a stranger in your forest. Although I must admit I have never heard of it before now."

He rises to his feet and starts taking a quick inventory of his kit, making sure he has tools for survival first. Some part of his mind wonders if this is all part of his rite of passage, another fears Ugeth dead and his tribe in danger. Whichever, survival comes first, knowledge next.

"Khaiden" he continues, "I thank you for watching as I lay unconscious, but I fear I will repay you by asking many questions about this land, if you are willing to answer"

[JMFD]

He shrugs, "Should be safe hereabouts for a time."

He looks into the forest for a moment, then back to you, "Still, you should know that this is not my forest. The wilds belong to noone."
_________________
It's time to try defying gravity

This world of ours is not as it seems... for monsters are real, but they are not in your dreams

[Peebs]

" True, no one can own the wilds. Yet there are those who have more knowledge and skills in them than others - they might be said to belong to the wild land. And there are those who live in and use the wilds - some tribe must pass this way occasionally unless it is much more dangerous here than is seems"

[JMFD]

"Tribe?" He says quizically, furrowing his brow, "The barbarian tribes live in the desert to the far east of here, noone else would go by that name,"

"Where do you call home anyway?" Khaiden asks. A few moments after he speaks, he looks up, as if hearing something, and extending a gloved hand.

A large, brightly-coloured bird swoops down from the canopy, similar to what you know as an eagle, but its feathers are shades of green and red. It lands on the wildsman's outstretched forearm, and he reaches to proffer the bird some food.
_________________
It's time to try defying gravity

This world of ours is not as it seems... for monsters are real, but they are not in your dreams

[Peebs]

Kuge seems to relax at the sight of the bird with Khaiden.

" I come from the high mountains - where my tribe live in a rich, wide valley. I would not say we are barbarians - we respect the land and live in harmony with it. Some of the tribes who live near us are little more than savages who despoil the land and we are constantly alert to keep them from our valley. These might be the barbarians you know of."

He pauses, before continuing, "But where my home is from here, I do not know, for I do not in truth know how or why I got here. I am just glad that my companion came with me, as I would not so soon be separated"

[JMFD]

Khaiden frowns, "The tribes live far from any large mountain ranges as far as I am aware. But no matter, you are here now."

"Who's your new friend?" he asks, gesturing to your wolven companion.

[Peebs]

Kuge smiles, " That I hope to spend the rest of my life finding out. She joined me on my run through the land as I became a man - gaining a companion, a spirit of the land, in my coming of age ceremony shows I should become a leading member of my tribe."

The smile fades, "But our shaman was dying when I found him - I believe he sent me here to get me away from whatever befell our people" Kuge reaches his hand back out to the wolf, already seeking some companionship and support.

[JMFD]

Kaiden's hawk hops to his shoulder as he looks to both of you.

"Yer words seem sound," he says simply. "And if you have nature as your ally, you may well have been sent to my folk not simply at random."

"We are only a four day trek from one of my people's bases," he adds simply.

[Peebs]

"I think I'd like to meet your people." Kuge says, rising to his feet. Nodding at both Khaiden and his hawk he adds, "I suspect I'll have a lot to learn."

[JMFD]

"Aye," Khaiden says, "And mayhap we'll learn from ye as well."

The colourful hawk launches itself into the sky as the man proffers you his hand.

"We'd best get moving before nightfall if we want to make decent speed."