After the fiasco of noise caused by the tree, your surroundings have grown quieter. Birds have flown away, and small critters that rooted around in the undergrowth have ran, giving the forest a little sullen feel, as if it was sulking. Anyway, you turn your attention to covering your tracks.

You have partially succeeded the skill check

Somewhere in your mind you find the knowledge of how to not leave a trail, and you think you would be able to act on that knowledge fairly well, though when you actually start to move you discover that things are harder than you'd imagined. The ideal way to hide your passage through an area is to not leave any sign of passage through an area. However, as hard as you try, you can't control your muscles well enough to make minute changes in how you apply pressure to the ground as you walk, resulting in steps in the earth. Well, you could just smooth out the prints. You try to do that as well, grabbing one of those springy, leafy branches that didn't have much use earlier and swiping it over the dirt. Unfortunately, your work ends up looking like someone had scrawled around in the dirt with a branch. On the bright side, you had hidden your tracks. You suppose you could directly hide them by putting leaves and grass over them, but that would be a lot of work, and getting leaves and grass would leave even more tracks.

There was nothing else to do but go forward while dragging a branch behind you, sweeping your prints away as you made them while also creating patterns in the earth. A bit of walking later, the path twists again, and you realise that you're back in the direction you were facing when you first entered the forest. It was just a snaking road, doubling back on itself once, and then twice.

You're so focused on looking down and behind you to monitor how well you are succeeding in making it look like you never passed that the road turns again, you only vaguely register turning. And because your attention is elsewhere, you don't notice that you aren't the only one on the path. The other person apparently isn't paying attention either, because the two of you bump into each other and both stumble back a few steps.

When you look up, startled, you see a woman looking back at you, the same expression of surprise on her face. Her skin is a rich chestnut, bringing out the depth in her gleaming green eyes slanted above her prominent cheekbones dusted with shimmering gold. Her dark hair spills from her head and flows down her shoulders where it turns into iridescence like that butterfly you'd seen earlier; strands float about her when she moves, lighter than air. She's wearing a gossamer dress and carrying a basket of plants around her elbow.

All that you see second. First, you see her wings, the pearly snow white feathers of a dove flaring out to her sides as she straightens herself. When she is collected, she tucks them neatly behind her back.

"Oh," her eyes sparkle with a curious interest. "Hello!"

You have partially succeeded the skill check

With the dust in your eyes, you misjudge the distance between you and the wall, so when you reach your legs out, you find air. That takes you off guard, and before you can recalculate, the rope moves up again and you're swung into the wall. Thankfully, you manage to catch yourself before you completely smash into it. After scraping yourself on your elbows and shoulder, you twist. Your feet hit stone and the force of it travels all the way to your hip, shaking your bones in their sockets. Now, it's only a matter of walking - or running - up the wall in time with the rope.

The tension of the rope pulls up and you have to pick up the pace. You stumble sometimes, catching your foot on an unseen ridge or slipping when a particularly loose layer of sediment breaks off from under your weight. Those times you bump into the wall, scraping yourself again, but you manage for the most part. The most terrifying part is at the edge of the cliff, where the rope is taught against the ground and there is no space under it for you to fit your feet. In a miracle of strength, you somehow don't let go of the rope as it hauls you over the lip. Dirt and stone dig into your skin and flesh, and you can feel pain sting where you know you have open wounds. You'd have to get that treated for sure - all the dust and grime in it can't be sanitary.

At least you're at the top. Your muscles and bones feel like jelly. You have to hunch over and brace yourself against your knees to catch your breath, chest panting with exertion. When you finally look up, you find parallel tracks in the dirt, and at the end of them, a small plane. The tracks had been from the wheels. The end of the rope was tied to the landing gear; you had been dragged up by a plane. As you watch, the hatch up top pops open and the girl jumps out, landing on the wing before sliding down and running over to you.

"You good?" She asks.

Health status update: Minor injuries, fatigued

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=6#52 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/21/2021 at 1:17 PM You have partially succeeded the skill check With the dust in your eyes, you misjudge the distance between you and the wall, so when you reach your legs out, you find air. That takes you off guard, and before you can recalculate, the rope moves up again and you're swung into the wall. Thankfully, you manage to catch yourself before you completely smash into it. After scraping yourself on your elbows and shoulder, you twist. Your feet hit stone and the force of it travels all the way to your hip, shaking your bones in their sockets. Now, it's only a matter of walking - or running - up the wall in time with the rope. The tension of the rope pulls up and you have to pick up the pace. You stumble sometimes, catching your foot on an unseen ridge or slipping when a particularly loose layer of sediment breaks off from under your weight. Those times you bump into the wall, scraping yourself again, but you manage for the most part. The most terrifying part is at the edge of the cliff, where the rope is taught against the ground and there is no space under it for you to fit your feet. In a miracle of strength, you somehow don't let go of the rope as it hauls you over the lip. Dirt and stone dig into your skin and flesh, and you can feel pain sting where you know you have open wounds. You'd have to get that treated for sure - all the dust and grime in it can't be sanitary. At least you're at the top. Your muscles and bones feel like jelly. You have to hunch over and brace yourself against your knees to catch your breath, chest panting with exertion. When you finally look up, you find parallel tracks in the dirt, and at the end of them, a small plane. The tracks had been from the wheels. The end of the rope was tied to the landing gear; you had been dragged up by a plane. As you watch, the hatch up top pops open and the girl jumps out, landing on the wing before sliding down and running over to you. "You good?" She asks. Health status update: Minor injuries, fatigued

Wincing a bit at the scrape he had earned from that experience he nodded still catching his breath. " I'll survive..." He examined the flying machine a bit more, a bit curious about it. Of course he wasnt ignorant enough not to know what was a plane but he didnt remembered ever being that close to one, granted he coudnt remember anything from before but still.

Glancing back at the girl he smiled. " Thanks for getting me out of there, i realy though i was going to have to figure out how cold the river was the hard way for a moment."

She looks you up and down, taking in your torn clothes, dirtied skin, and bleeding scrapes. "No problemo! I thought I was seeing things at first." With a grand gesture, she waves toward the cloudless blue above the both of you. "So, what're you doing out here falling out of the sky? I saw no other planes or airships or transports, and this isn't a place people come by often."

Up close, you now get a better look at her. Her skin has a greenish tint to it and looks rougher than regular human skin. Her ears are large and protrude out of her head, looking more triangular than oval or whatever normal ears are supposed to be shaped like. In addition to the hat and goggles you'd seen before, she wears a loose shirt over trousers tucked into leather boots that hug her calves. Over everything, she has a bomber jacket with pockets full of all sorts of objects you haven't seen before - metal rods, hexagonal things with holes in the middle, long flat sticks with a moon-shaped head, something shaped like scissors but much thicker, and whatnot. She is much shorter than you. Even standing straight at full height, she barely reaches your shoulder, and her hat already gives her an extra centimetre or so.

Your adrenaline rush is dying down, and all your bodily sensations are returning full force. The tiredness drags at your limbs, giving you an urge to just flop onto the ground for some rest. Your cuts and scrapes sting incessantly, a pain that is small but noticeable at the moment. You know it will get worse soon, especially if you move around and tear them open more.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=5#50 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/21/2021 at 10:18 AM You push yourself onward despite your tired body. Eventually, you make out the shapes to be tents and pavilions erected in a dip of land relatively flat compared to the rest of the rolling hills that made up the grassy plains. The smoke twists up from a blazing fire at the center which is surrounded by figures mingling and horses clopping around. You do your best hopping from shrub bush to shrub bush, hiding between trunks of trees when you come to clusters of trees, and staying behind the crests of hills while the riders before you were still ascending themselves. They aren't looking behind them, so it's not difficult for you to keep up while remaining out of their sight. The closer you get to the camp, however, you find that your task becomes difficult. Sentries are posted around the perimeter, some on foot and some riding on horses and a few other types of animals you don't recognise. When the horseriders come into sight, they stand alert and make a few gestures which the leader of the procession returns. With some ceremony, many of the camp members draw forth to welcome the riders. The way things are positioned, you can't find a way to get close without someone seeing you.

Unsure of the people Crystal keeps her distance willing to just observe from what she can see. She has two reasons for this the first being rest and the second to be able to watch them without them hopefully knowing she was there. Curious about the strange mounts Crystal wonders what kind of world she fell into.

Shaking her head Crystal goes back to the second reason for her spying; food and to see if maybe there were edible plants that the people were eating nearby. Licking her lips she looks to see if there might be water source near the area thinking that it would make sense to camp near water. Eventually though she knew one of the people might find her. Shivering from the thought she tries to keep her eyes and ears working.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=6#54 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/21/2021 at 5:55 PM She looks you up and down, taking in your torn clothes, dirtied skin, and bleeding scrapes. "No problemo! I thought I was seeing things at first." With a grand gesture, she waves toward the cloudless blue above the both of you. "So, what're you doing out here falling out of the sky? I saw no other planes or airships or transports, and this isn't a place people come by often." Up close, you now get a better look at her. Her skin has a greenish tint to it and looks rougher than regular human skin. Her ears are large and protrude out of her head, looking more triangular than oval or whatever normal ears are supposed to be shaped like. In addition to the hat and goggles you'd seen before, she wears a loose shirt over trousers tucked into leather boots that hug her calves. Over everything, she has a bomber jacket with pockets full of all sorts of objects you haven't seen before - metal rods, hexagonal things with holes in the middle, long flat sticks with a moon-shaped head, something shaped like scissors but much thicker, and whatnot. She is much shorter than you. Even standing straight at full height, she barely reaches your shoulder, and her hat already gives her an extra centimetre or so. Your adrenaline rush is dying down, and all your bodily sensations are returning full force. The tiredness drags at your limbs, giving you an urge to just flop onto the ground for some rest. Your cuts and scrapes sting incessantly, a pain that is small but noticeable at the moment. You know it will get worse soon, especially if you move around and tear them open more.

He followed the girl's gaze for a moment, confusion probably writen all over his face at this point. With his lack of memories and the situation he had found himself prior, Oris realy hadn't had the time to process mutch of the strangeness of his appearence so far tho it did. He didnt felt like lying to the strange girl and with no idea of what was possible and what wasnt in this world tho, he didnt though he could even pull that off. "I dont know, i just fell i guess ? I cant realy remember anything before the fall ..."

Getting his attention back toward the girl he tryed his best not to stare at what his mind was telling him were not normal human features, tho he was somwhat curious about that too. Luckly, even in his tired state, he had the decency not to flat out ask what she was, instead trying to deflect his mind toward somthing else. " W-well, i am Oris, nice to meet you i guess ? Would be a bit better if it hadnt involved a natural death trap but anyway, glad that is over."

When you finally stop, your body goes slack as if letting out a tense breath. You don't realise really how tired you are until now, and your muscles thank you for not pushing them even more. Given how much you have travelled with no sustenance, you will need more rest to be fully recovered from your fatigue.

From your viewpoint, you look at the camp again. Other than the horses, you see mounts that look like horses, with the upper half body of a horse, a lower half body of some feline animal, and wings leathery like a bat. There are also mounts that look like tigers, but instead of fuzzy manes, they have crests of feathers around their neck and a pair of horns curling out from their skull.

You have failed the skill check

You squint and try to see the smaller details of what people were eating, but you're too far away to know anything of use. The sacks hanging off people's belts might be water skins, though you can't be sure. There isn't any sign of a water source nearby even though the people look perfectly lively and hydrated.

The wind picks up, blowing your hair back. The clouds are darkening and racing toward you.

Her look shifts to concern. "You must've had a really bad fall if you can't remember anything," she says, and stands on her tiptoes, reaching up to grab your head. She manhandles you down to a level where she can turn your face this way and that, inspecting your features and probably searching for signs of concussion or something else. When she finds nothing of the sort, she frowns. "Huh." Her eyes go down and take in your clothes that are starting to stain with blood. "Well, I guess we can figure stuff out as we go. We should probably get you some help first. How do you feel?" Grabbing your hand, she begins to pull you toward the plane.

"And I'm Baje," she tells you when you introduce yourself. "Would have been better if it didn't involve someone suddenly appearing and falling out of the sky," she agrees.

You have failed the skill check

Despite your best efforts, she notices your blatant attempt not to stare. "What?" She demands. "Sorry I don't speak eye-language, we're both gonna have to find a common tongue to communicate."

Discovered new character!

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=6#51 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/21/2021 at 1:02 PM After the fiasco of noise caused by the tree, your surroundings have grown quieter. Birds have flown away, and small critters that rooted around in the undergrowth have ran, giving the forest a little sullen feel, as if it was sulking. Anyway, you turn your attention to covering your tracks. You have partially succeeded the skill check Somewhere in your mind you find the knowledge of how to not leave a trail, and you think you would be able to act on that knowledge fairly well, though when you actually start to move you discover that things are harder than you'd imagined. The ideal way to hide your passage through an area is to not leave any sign of passage through an area. However, as hard as you try, you can't control your muscles well enough to make minute changes in how you apply pressure to the ground as you walk, resulting in steps in the earth. Well, you could just smooth out the prints. You try to do that as well, grabbing one of those springy, leafy branches that didn't have much use earlier and swiping it over the dirt. Unfortunately, your work ends up looking like someone had scrawled around in the dirt with a branch. On the bright side, you had hidden your tracks. You suppose you could directly hide them by putting leaves and grass over them, but that would be a lot of work, and getting leaves and grass would leave even more tracks. There was nothing else to do but go forward while dragging a branch behind you, sweeping your prints away as you made them while also creating patterns in the earth. A bit of walking later, the path twists again, and you realise that you're back in the direction you were facing when you first entered the forest. It was just a snaking road, doubling back on itself once, and then twice. You're so focused on looking down and behind you to monitor how well you are succeeding in making it look like you never passed that the road turns again, you only vaguely register turning. And because your attention is elsewhere, you don't notice that you aren't the only one on the path. The other person apparently isn't paying attention either, because the two of you bump into each other and both stumble back a few steps. When you look up, startled, you see a woman looking back at you, the same expression of surprise on her face. Her skin is a rich chestnut, bringing out the depth in her gleaming green eyes slanted above her prominent cheekbones dusted with shimmering gold. Her dark hair spills from her head and flows down her shoulders where it turns into iridescence like that butterfly you'd seen earlier; strands float about her when she moves, lighter than air. She's wearing a gossamer dress and carrying a basket of plants around her elbow. All that you see second. First, you see her wings, the pearly snow white feathers of a dove flaring out to her sides as she straightens herself. When she is collected, she tucks them neatly behind her back. "Oh," her eyes sparkle with a curious interest. "Hello!"

Falcon goes red with a sudden flush of embarrassment at his attempts to hide his tracks. It's obvious enough already, so he drops the flimsy branch by his side with a scowl.

He blinks slowly at the stranger who is very, very definitely not human. He's woken up somewhere completely different to the world he left, now he knows that for sure. Because unless he just never noticed before, people didn't have wings.

He briefly wonders if she can fly. The idea makes him feel queasy.

Cocking his head to the side, he looks at her with narrow eyes. "Who are you?" he demands. He doesn't want to reveal how out of his depth he is, so he's aware he'll have to word his questions carefully to get the answers he needs without looking like a bumbling fool.

The way she's looking at him, though, gives him the awful feeling that she already knows more about him than he knows about her. Or anything here, for that matter. His grip on the walking stick tightens.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=6#58 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/22/2021 at 3:52 AM Her look shifts to concern. "You must've had a really bad fall if you can't remember anything," she says, and stands on her tiptoes, reaching up to grab your head. She manhandles you down to a level where she can turn your face this way and that, inspecting your features and probably searching for signs of concussion or something else. When she finds nothing of the sort, she frowns. "Huh." Her eyes go down and take in your clothes that are starting to stain with blood. "Well, I guess we can figure stuff out as we go. We should probably get you some help first. How do you feel?" Grabbing your hand, she begins to pull you toward the plane. "And I'm Baje," she tells you when you introduce yourself. "Would have been better if it didn't involve someone suddenly appearing and falling out of the sky," she agrees. You have failed the skill check Despite your best efforts, she notices your blatant attempt not to stare. "What?" She demands. "Sorry I don't speak eye-language, we're both gonna have to find a common tongue to communicate." Discovered new character!

A bit stunned to be handled this way, Oris didnt object to her examination despite his embarasment. He was surprise to hear that he didnt hitted his head at some point, at least he could rule out a previous phisical injurie to his lack of memories. " I've been better honestly, nothing too bad but getting those patches up woudnt be a bad thing." He said while gesturing gingerly toward his bleeding cuts.

His embarassement grew a bit ferther when she noticed his stare. " S-sory, i... never saw someone with your skin tone before... or at least i think i did ?" He hopped that she woudnt take it the wrong way, he was realy gratefull that Baje had been there to help him out, he was just curious.