"This is freaking ridiculous." Seamus inspects the squirming squirrel in his grasp, trying to discern if it's an elf girl in disguise. The halfling rogue lets out a yelp as the squirrel sinks its tiny teeth into his flesh, flinging the furry creature far into the forest on reflex. "We'd have better luck finding a needle in a haystack then we'll have tracking a druid down here. She could be any of these animals."

"True," Adam says. He scoops a spider onto his sword and swivels it around a few times to see if it reacts abnormally. It does not; the artificial arachnid is absolutely terrified. Adam lowers his blade to the ground and gently shakes the poor thing off. "But at least we're headed this way anyway. We should reach the Spire by tomorrow, and the wizard's tower a day or so after that."

Kohl, having chosen to take a more morally questionable path to locating the runaway druid, aims an arrow at a potential suspect flying overhead as the group traverses through trees. "This would be so much easier if one of us had the 'Speak with Animals' spell. Orianna, does your wizard have anything like that?"

"Let me check." Orianna scrolls half-heartedly through her spell list, her failed and nearly fatal encounter with the goblins still haunting her. "No, doesn't look like I have that ability. Should I?"

"Nah, 'Speak with Animals' is typically just a druid thing." Adam answers, staring straight at a deer. It scampers away as soon as it sees him, and he sighs at the fruitlessness and difficulty of the search.

Orianna's eyes flash for a moment at Adam's mention of the mysterious girl. "Druids seem really powerful."

"Yeah, they're super overpowered," Seamus chimes in, ever-so-helpfully. "Druids can heal, cast spells, use melee, shape-shift into a giant bear or something and tank, and a bunch of other cool stuff. They're so broken, it's dumb."

"If you think druids are so awesome, why didn't you play one?" Kohl nudges Seamus's shoulder playfully after she successfully shoots down her target, nearly knocking him over. After watching the bird disappear and its carcass pop up in the half-elf pirate's inventory, Kohl decides it's safe to say her prey had not been a shape-shifter in disguise.

"Cause rogues are broken too. Plus, they're way more fun to play. What about you, Kohl? Fighter is like the most boring, basic class of all time."

"That's just the way I like it. No spells, nothing complicated, just stabbing stuff in the face. Simple, satisfying, yet still so fun."

Seamus nods, respecting Kohl's player preferences as well as completely understanding the amusement gained from wanton virtual murdering.

Orianna, however, still has more on her mind. "So why did you guys want me to play a wizard then and not a druid? If they're so cool, wouldn't that have been a better choice for the party?"

"Well, yeah, maybe. But druids are so complex and multi-faceted that they're really not something a new player should take on." Adam shifts the weight of the two backpacks on his shoulders, uncomfortable in more ways than one. His tiny, devious rogue companion had roped the paladin into carrying both their belongings hours ago.

"Oh." Orianna's fists clench, frustrated by her lack of game knowledge and the feeling of holding her friends back.

"I mean playing a wizard is tough enough as it is," Adam hastily adds, "and you're already doing us a huge favor by playing a magic user. Why make your job even harder than it needs to be?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Orianna says as she pulls her spell list back up. She starts to read through it thoroughly as the group strolls onward, feeling determined to prove her worth in the next battle and to never again be a uncertain lump frozen in the sidelines.

After a short rest at lunch and several more hours hiking through Starchasm Forest, the group sets up camp and scrounges at dinner.

"I can't believe we've blown through all our rations already." Adam says as he searches through the party's backpacks and comes up solely with wrappers.

"It's not our fault! That stupid baby goblin ate most of it." Seamus's stomach growls as he dismisses yet another notification about his increasing need for food. The rogue recalls the plentiful wares of the inattentive, easily-duped vendors back in the previous village with deep regret. If only he had stolen more from those innocent NPCs when he had the chance.

"Yeah, you're right, that's not our fault. Just yours." Kohl glares at Seamus, who reliatates with a not-so-friendly hand gesture.

"Is it really such a big deal if our characters don't eat?" Orianna asks, glancing away from the spell list she's still diligently studying toward the other occupants of their fledgling campsite.

"Well, kind of." Adam scratches his chin. "If we go too long with food, we could gain the "Starved' debuff which would damage us over time along with hindering us in fights."

"Good thing I've killed so many birds for us then." Kohl smirks smugly, kicking her feet up on a nearby log as Adam sparks a fire to life with some flint. "I'll just pull them out now and we can--"

The half-elf pirate begins to click through various buttons and checks on her screen, becoming more and more frustrated as in-game time goes by.

Seamus glances up from unraveling his bedroll after a minute or so, curious as to why the scent of roasting bird has yet to breach his nostrils. "Kohl?"

The dual-wielding sailor curses colorfully, her cheeks turning red. Seamus presses her for information once more but Kohl's lips press together tightly, unwilling to share the fact that she failed every 'Survival' check needed to successfully de-feather and butcher her kills.

Kohl's inventory now holds five piles of unusable bird bits and bones.

With a steady string of swears, the pirate lifts herself to her feet, grabs her bow and arrow, and strides into the forest with nothing but the moon to guide her. Seamus chases after Kohl, leaving Adam and Orianna to finish setting up the camp.

"Kohl, wait up! Where are you going?" Seamus's short legs shuffle at a swift pace to keep up with the pissed off pirate. Ambient sounds and a peaceful night time melody starts to play in the background as they venture away from their sliver of civilization.

"I have to get more food for us! I failed all five freaking 'Survival' checks to skin those stupid birds and now we've truly got nothing to eat." Kohl kicks at an unfortunate rock that's in the wrong place at the wrong time. It skitters far away from the force of her boot, safe from further abuse.

"It's fine, okay? Who cares?" Seamus gestures to the darkened forest around them as he catches his breath. "This is just a game."

"I care! I'm not someone who can make mistakes, no matter the circumstances."

"According to who? Your asshole parents? Kohl, they're on the other side of the state. They're not gonna know if you messed up in some random game. They're not gonna know if you play video games at all."

Kohl grumbles something under her breath that Seamus has to struggle to hear. "They're not assholes. They just have high expectations for me."

"Suffocatingly high. And they get really upset if you don't meet them, which is probably why they sent you to boarding school against your will. Wouldn't you have rather stayed at our old school and had a normal high school experience?"

Kohl's eyes narrow. "Let's not criticize my parents, okay? I agreed to come to AMS, and I like it here. Besides, if I had stayed back home, I wouldn't be going to school with your lovely self anymore. "

Seamus scoffs before he speaks, quieter than usual. "You say that like I would've moved here without you."

Kohl stares up at the sky, too busy searching for a target for Seamus's whispered words to really register. "If I can find something to shoot, I can fix my mistake. We can pretend like this never happened."

The halfling rogue turns his gaze skyward alongside her, resigning himself to indulging her wish. Despite his good intentions, however, he finds himself bored within minutes. Seamus roams the nearby forest floor instead, looking for anything edible to appease Kohl's goal.

Ignoring the persistent hunger notifications he receives, the rogue soon spots a thorny bush full of bright red berry clusters nestled against an evergreen tree.

"Look, Kohl!"

The pirate turns her head just in turn to see Seamus harvest bunches of berries off the bush, eager to silence the starvation warnings lighting up his screen. He holds a handful out to her, triumphant.

"Oh thank God, I was about ready to turn my sound off. That stupid notification bell is so annoying." As Kohl accepts and examines the glistening red fruit, a wave of uncertainty crashes over her. "Seamus, are you sure these are safe to eat?"

"Yeah! I made a 'Nature' check and everything. Should be totally fine."

"Uh huh." As Kohl lifts the berries to her lips, she hesitates once more. "That's an intelligence-based skill, right? Isn't your modifier like a negative one?"

Out of nowhere, a giant hawk swoops down and snatches the berries from Seamus's grasp, the strength of its beating wings rustling tree leaves and tousling tendrils of Kohl's long hair.

"What the actual fu--" Before Seamus can finish, the hawk circles back around and dives straight at Kohl. It rips the fruit away from her as well, but before it can retreat, the pirate manages to pierce through its feathers with an arrow.

"Hell yeah! I hit it! Seamus, did you see that?"

Seamus's eyes grow as wide as saucers as he watches the hawk's body plummet. The bird hits the ground with a sickening thud; the metal protruding from its stomach glints in the moonlight.

The two watch, both fascinated and horrified, as the hawk body melds into that of a barefooted elf girl whose appearance matches that of their mysterious druid savior.

No one moves, especially not the girl shot out of the sky. Seamus and Kohl study the elven druid intensely, praying that they spot a sign of life.

So far, not so good.

~~~

Word count: 1733

Total word count: 9956

T&T Handbook:

Debuff - a negative status effect, similar to a handicap

Anything I miss? Let me know and I'll add it in!