Skull Woods - Autumn, the Guardian of the Lost Woods (2/2/5 Hylian) [Blonde Panther] Reward: Navigation, Straight Shooting. - Cain, Bestial Hunter (4/2/1 Hylian) [jdd2035] Reward: +40 Rupees. The Lost Woods were different, today. Autumn was perched on the branches of a leafless tree, crouching like a cat ready to pounce, and rested one hand on the trunk for balance as she looked around intently. They were darker, she mused, more oppressive. Of course, the Lost Woods had always been unpredictable. They were rarely the exact same for longer than a few days, but changes to the forest were always gradual and slow; this change had occurred overnight, and was too big for Autumn to be comfortable with. Something wasn't right. The guardian leapt down from her perch, bending her knees as she landed to lessen the impact, and touched the ground under her feet. It was cold and moist, in line with the fog that covered the woods today. She heard a growl to her side, but ignored it- she sensed no danger, so the beast approaching her had to be her stalwart, four-legged companion. "Hush," she said. "I know. I'm not happy with this either." Getting up and patting the dirt from her hands, she started walking. Most forest creatures went about their business normally; birds fluttered about as normal, polecats darted in and out of sight around the trees, and small groups of wolves shied away when they realised the woman was in their path. And yet, Autumn was sure that if she kept wandering the forest, further away from the Fairies' Glade, she would run into something that didn't belong.
Forests well really all places have particular smells for particular times of the year and right now a forest should smell of the sweet smell decaying leaves mixed with berries starting to ferment and the smell of Hylian deer in the rut. Cain had been stalking his pray for hours. A red deer a beautiful doe that had been eating berries, grass and nuts the meat would be tender and tasty. The deer were bugling and fall was definitely in the air. He felt the crunch of the leaves beneath his feet and the cool air blow through his hair and he felt good. Then all of a sudden things changed. The thing about it was that Cain was not sure when things actually changed he had been so focused on the hunt. The first thing he noticed was that he had lost the deer it's prints disappeared and he couldn't find any sign no snapped twig no scratch mark on the rocks. After that he noticed the smells changed. It went from a sweet to a sweet/musky smell to that that reminded Cain of bad meat it was a sour pungent smell that kind of made him a touch dizzy. As he paused to get a better look around he noticed that the red and brown oak leaves that were blowing around before were gone now replaced with the occasional bone or skull rather than the cobble stones and the like. All this was added to the fact that the song birds were replaced with the caw's of crows and squawks of vultures. Yup Cain had become lost. So to make himself un-lost Cain began looking around for marks that he typically made while hunting; knocked over rocks, snapped twigs and the like it was a trick he knew that tended to show the way back. But not this time but it was worth a shot.
She hadn't walked long when she heard rustling off the path. Hurrying behind a tree for cover, she stuck a spare arrow behind an ear and nocked one, ready to bury it in the cause of the rustling if it were hostile. She knew the Lost Woods were home to a largely organized guild of thieves, and as much as she would like to run them out of the woods she was only one woman and besides, the Spirits had told her not to bother. Still, her own relationship with them was less than cordial, and on at least a few occasions the thieves had flown at her throat on sight. She'd learnt to keep her bow ready, if only as a deterrent. What came out of the bushes wasn't a thief, however. It might once have been, but now it was little more than a skeleton, walking around aimlessly as it looked around and didn't catch on to Autumn. As it passed her, Autumn sighed, and un-nocked and stored her arrow. Unenchanted and unsupported, they were useless against creatures that consisted entirely of bones. She took the spare arrow and made to put that away too, but it was at that moment that she heard another movement not far away from her. Nocking this arrow and turning in the direction of the noise, she pointed her bow at it and waited for the cause to appear. This time, it was a human. "What are you doing here?" Autumn hissed, not lowering her bow. "You have no business in these woods!"
No track no trace of the red deer and no sign of his own intentional tracks. Not even what ever what one bare rock could show. But soon he happened upon a hylian-ish print. It was light, and faint but still hylian-ish but only if the hylian's foot was bare of all flesh. Well that made sense a forest that smelled like bad meat, and had bones and bits littering the paths would have skeletons. Well it was something to follow any way and he kept half way quiet things should go okay for a bit. He might not find civilization but it should be interesting. He stayed several paces away from the skeleton and followed it watching it as it roamed. Until he found a place to get his bearings he had nothing better to do so he followed the skeleton. It seemed to be more mindless than most skeletons but Cain decided not to press his luck none the less. He eased through the woods deeper and deeper into them. He saw that the blackened bark on the trees began to sluf off and show stark white wood underneath making the forest look skeletal. Then he caught wind of something different and against the scent of bad meat it stood out like bright yellow against black. Soap Not any kind of scented soap but it kept the arm pits clean. At any rate is was a good sign. He kept moving forward and a few minute later he hear some one shout... Cain stopped at-least she was Hylian looking up at the lady he smiled his incisors might be a touch longer than normal but one could never tall at distance. In reply Cain said "You are right, I have no business in this forest." He snapped a bone dry twig..."and as for what I'm doing here I'm looking for the way out. You wouldn't happen to know which way that is do you?" Cain asked he was the honest sort it wasted too much energy to lie after all.
