Notail Simulator Beta (4/4)

You take a deep breath and trek south. There was no way they had made it to the fields, but there was a chance that they were forced to ask for entry and settle at the fort.

It was unlikely. You knew it was unlikely.

But you needed to try. You wouldn't go all the way south, but just far enough to ask the people at the fort. They had to know something. Anything.

Fortuna rolls a 20 sided die. A 12 is rolled.

You feared a storm was about to rage several times on your trek, but it appeared the skies could feel your sorrows and halted their lashings for now.

You felt uneasy. You were being followed. You've been here before, you knew what people were lurking in the corners of your view, and so you turned to face them. They leaked out of the trees like a fog. Two R-classes on their steeds. A year had passed since you last saw them. You reached into your bag for a few items.

"Is this the strange knife explorer from before? uuu"

You pull out all three of your current knives and raise them into the air for them to gaze upon your ever-growing collection.

"I got more knives. =3"
"Affirmative. vvv"
"You don't need to affirm it after the explorer pulled out all those knives. uuu"
"Understood. vvv"

Both of the R-classes circle you. At any moment you felt you could be attacked.

"What are you doing back here knife explorer? You know this place isn't for you. uuu"
"Agreed. vvv"

Sliding back all the knives into your bag you take a step forward towards one of the R-classes and steed. The unicorn moves perfectly opposed to you, stepping back as many as you stepped forward, but it showed no hostility or fear. Unicorns were able to tell the emotions of every living being that could feel it. The unicorn knew you came here with no ill-will.

"I'm looking for my friends. I came into the woods with them, but I went exploring for a year, so I could find a spot for them to stay. They were supposed to pass through here, and I know you two had to see them. You can sense anything. Did my friends go to join the fort, or did they make it past this location just fine? =3"

You start explaining how your friends looked, their classes, and even how they act. You describe Z-3894 the most and talk about how he could understand the languages of birds and other animals. You try not to sound too desperate about things, but you fail to. Your sadness makes the unicorns uncomfortable. When you finally finish you await a response. The two H-classes look towards each other as if silently communicating and asking each other questions with just subtle movements. Eventually, you get a response.

But it's not the one you wanted.

"Negative. vvv"
"But how couldn't you have seen them? You can see anything!"

You shouted at them as if they had personally caused this to you. Their steeds eye you more uneasily due to your emotions. You attempted to regain your composure, but it was difficult.

"Which way were your friends suppose to come from, knife explorer? uuu"
"From the south-east! =3"
"Hawkland. vvv"
"Sounds like they walked right into Hawkland then. Hawks likely made them join them or have all of their supplies taken away. Even we don't go to the south-east. Whole south-east part is hawklands. The place your friends went was the ruins. The hawks like to hang around there, but they're not as thick with hawks as the spots just to the east of that one. They must have gotten unlikely and ran into a swarm of hawks, E or Q-classes. Hopefully not F-classes-"
"Worst type. vvv"
"The worst types. uuu"

Sensing that this conversation was over, both of them turned, and their steeds and they slowly melted back into the darkness.

You stood there.

You don't know how long.

But when you regained control over your legs, you went north.

Not south-east.

North.

That was the direction you went.

Abandoning your friends.

You Went North.

Z-3894?

Don't know him.

Fortuna rolls a 20 sided die. A 15 is rolled.

You stay by the tower like you're supposed to. You train your charm by learning to lie to sway others.

Fortuna rolls a 20 sided die. A 12 is rolled.

You train your knowledge by offering to trade some of the locations you have found with information and lessons they could provide.


=========


Winter had ended, and you could tell spring was coming to an end. You had spent months by the tower, and you decided one day, very suddenly, to climb it. You brought food and water with you, as well as arranged for someone to watch Slithers.

You climbed upwards.

By the time everyone below you was a speck you were tired and regretting your choice. You couldn't stop thinking about how one lousy fall would spell death for sure.

You kept heading upwards.

If you had any fears of heights, you evidently lost it.

It took a full day to get to the top, with breaks to eat, sleep and all.

There stood a statue of you guess, some capture creature. It had to be an important one for someone to put it all the way up here. It could have been a possible legendary, but to be honest, for a legendary it was frankly underwhelming. What was more interesting to you was the large button like object on the floor.

Maybe it's because you were tired, but you walked over to it and stepped on it with not a second thought in your mind.

The button slowly sunk until there was a click.

And you were engulfed in red light.

The button you stepped on seemed to activate lights that shot far into the sky, and in the middle of the night, it was breathtaking. Notails for miles would be able to see it due to the lack of clouds in the way.

You stared up, waiting for something to happen.

But then after a solid minute, the light flickered once.

Twice.

And then died out.

It felt like something about you changed just slightly, but you couldn't put your claw on it right now, as you were distracted by something else that had changed.

At least, you felt like it changed. You don't remember its red glowing eyes, the knife in its hand, or the horns that seemingly erupted from its head.

Maybe it was always like that, but you didn't bother to notice before because of how tired you were.

You had to admit, you were worried that the statue had come alive, but as you got lost in its eyes, it proceeded not to move a single inch. It was a strange statue, but you're sure it was just a statue.