Suzy’s Strange Saga

You groggily wake up and see Jack over at the table like he was the last time you woke up in this place. He looks like he’s studying a piece of paper and doesn’t notice you waken immediately this time.

After sitting up, you call out to him.

“Hey, cunninglinguist whatcha discover today?” you ask rubbing your eyes.
“Oh hey, you’re up. Just looking at this parchment that was in this large pouch here. It’s a crude map from what I can tell.”
“A map? Well that’s convenient. Anything good?”
“Well I don’t know all the symbols obviously, but I THINK this might lead to a couple towns. Some of these look like roads, I don’t know though until we do some exploring.”
“Let’s do it.” You exclaim.
“What right now?”
“Sure. I mean we’re going to have to at some point, might well start getting some of this shit out of the way.”
“Well okay, guess we better get dressed then.”

You nod and start grabbing your clothing. As much is you might like the furry boots, They’re a little big on you. They’re actually a little big on Jack too, but they at least fit him better, so he gets them. You both of you put on furs much like you did yesterday, then you grab your spear and shield.

“I think I’ll take that other spear. Seems like it worked for you yesterday.” Jack mentions.
“You sure you don’t want to take the crossbow?” you ask.
“If I knew how to use one properly, sure I’d take it. But I think I’m going to have to practice with something like that first. Seems slow to load and it won’t do you any good if you’re in trouble and I can’t use it effectively. At least with this spear I can help you directly.”
“Yeah, good idea.”

After hiding a few of your more valuable items (Like your only pouch of coins) you both leave the cabin.

“So which way should we go?” you ask.
“Hmm, I’m thinking we should follow the tracks of the guy who lived here. They were going to the right before he came back. According to the map, there is a town in this direction. Or at least I think there is, guess we’ll find out.”
“Okay.”

You and Jack head to the right. The occasional blood in the snow makes it pretty easy to follow them though the tracks have been partially covered by snow or stomped over already.

“I’m thinking it was sort of a good thing that guy was wounded yesterday. He wasn’t exactly easy to put down. I can’t imagine the fight he would have put up if he had been at full strength.” Jack says.
“Yeah, but now I’m wondering what the hell he was fighting before he met us and how many.” You respond.

Eventually after a bit of travelling, you and Jack see something lying in the snow. It looks very large too. The pair of you cautiously approach.

When you reach the body, you notice that it’s a massive… creature with grayish blue skin and tusk like teeth. It’s dressed in the barest of fur clothing and has several crossbow bolts and arrows in its body and face. You also see signs of deep cuts across its body. Next to its body is a large club, which resembles more of a broken tree branch rather than a proper weapon. However it would certainly kill someone if swung at them and judging by how massive this creature’s muscles are, it looks more than capable of smashing someone’s head in even without a club. The club has signs of blood on it.

“Holy shit. What the fuck…” Jack says.
“I think we just found what that guy was running from or limping away from rather. Must’ve been quite the fight.” You say.
“I think there is more stuff up ahead, well more blood anyway.”

You and Jack leave the creature’s body behind and follow the rest of the blood trail noting a broken sword along the way.

You soon find a second body, but this one looks human, or at least you guess it was, since the half of the head is caved in. Blood and brains are scattered about the snow. It’s a pretty grisly sight, but you’re long since desensitized by now.

You see a bow nearby, but the body still clutches a bloody dagger in its hand. A fur hat also sits several paces away. You assume it probably was knocked off during the fight.

“I guess this was his friend” Jack says.
“I’m thinking it could have even been his girlfriend, smaller frame, even with the furs on I can see the chest is bigger. Long hair and from what I can tell of what’s left of the face, it looks slightly female…is that ear pointed?” you say.
“…yeah…that ear is definitely pointed.” Jack says looking
“What the hell, did we step into some sort of fantasy world?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Told you that Gray Building could have sent us any fucking where.”

You exhale, not quite knowing what to make of all this.

“Let’s keep going a bit further.” You say.

Jack and you press on, but you don’t find any more signs of battle. You do eventually find that the wilderness ends and the edge of a road begins however. Sort of hard to tell due to the snow, but there definitely is a road here. Across the road are more trees. Sort of reminds you home that way.

“Well I guess this is one of the roads, which means I guess I got something on this map correct at least. Looks like if we go south, we’ll hit the closest town. Still looks quite the like a walk though.” Jack responds.
“Maybe we should cut the exploration trip a little short for today. Let’s gather all that useful stuff from that battle scene and take it back to the cabin. We can certainly use some of it. The boots on that girl look like they would be more likely to fit me anyway and wearing something like those would be a hell of a lot more pleasant for walking around in.” You say.
“Okay, let’s go back.”

You and Jack return to the battle scene and begin looting the dead girl first. Along with the furs and her weapons, you also find a nearly empty quiver of arrows and a small pouch similar to the one that the man had. You take a quick look inside and see several items for you to inspect when you’re in the comfort of your much warmer cabin.

When you and Jack are loaded up, you and he leave the dead woman mostly naked in the snow, much like you left the man and make your way back.

Upon getting back to the body of the monster you attempt to pull out some of the bolts and arrows lodged in its body, but some are either partially broken off inside or just sunk in too deep and you’re not willing to make the effort to hang around and pull out every single one. The monster itself wasn’t carrying anything save for it’s minimalistic fur cloth around it’s waist and neither you or Jack are interested in taking it.

Soon you both get back to the cabin where you drop your new loot and go warm up by the fire. The pair of you are silent as you sit, watching the flames flicker.
Jack however breaks up the silence eventually.

“So, you really think that woman was the owner’s girlfriend?” Jack asks.
“Maybe wife, I dunno how it works here. Seems like the logical conclusion though.” You respond.
“Just didn’t notice a prominent second set of tracks around the cabin.”
“Well it has been snowing off and on, there is the wind to think of, not to mention animals running around. Maybe she was walking behind him so she didn’t have to get her boots engulfed with snow. All sorts of reasons why you might not have noticed them. Don’t worry about it. Besides, you said it yourself, you’re not a tracker.”
“I suppose. I guess I just feel that missing a detail like that could be fatal given what we’ve experienced as well as seen.”
“Yeah, this does seem to be a pretty harsh place. Still don’t know what the hell that blue gray thing was. Definitely want to avoid encountering those things though…and those.” You say pointing to the ugly head on the wall.
“I’ll get rid of that thing later today. I know it bothers you.” Jack says.
“Nah, it can stay. I’m strangely sort of getting attached to Toothy over there.”

A pause of silence in the conversation follows before Jack speaks up again.

“If that was his wife or girlfriend though, that’s sort of fucked up that he just left her body like that.” Jack says.
“Well, it seems like that thing was still chasing him, maybe he didn’t know if was dead or not and wanted to get to a place where he could better defend himself and heal a bit. He could have always returned for the body.” You say.
“Maybe. I just want you to know I’ll never abandon you like that.” Jack says causing you to chuckle.

“Well that’s sweet Jack, but if I already got my brains splattered on the ground and there’s a hulking monster around by all means run your ass to safety. No point in both of us getting killed.” You say.
“I don’t even want to think about something like that. I just…I can’t imagine a life without you now.” Jack responds and grabs your hand.
“Well with as brutal as this place seems to be, you never know.”
“No, I can’t think about such depressing thoughts. I love you too much.”

Jack’s face displays one of concern, like he’s worried you’re going to die right this very second and he can’t even bear the thought of you gone. It’s apparent he’s fallen for you a bit hard; perhaps a bit more than you’ve fallen for him, but you suppose it’s better that he’s like this rather than not giving a shit.

You give him a reassuring hug.

“Don’t worry so much Jack, I’ll try to last as long as I can in this world before the monsters get me.”
“No, you’re going to survive. I bet you’ll even survive longer than I will. You’ll survive everything.”

Jack’s confidence in you is a lot higher than your own though you have to admit, you’ve been doing pretty well so far. You’re certainly not that “good girl” that hid from the rest of the world any longer.

You have no idea what’s in store for you or how you’re going to deal with it, but whatever the future hold for you here, you will make your best attempt to survive and push through it.