Emily's Arrival

Thunder boomed and rippled across the forests of Heaven. Black clouds let loose their contents on the land and the rain fell to the ground in sheets. Wind tore through the forests and limbs fell from silver trees. Clouds of purple spores drifted from the hallucinogenic forests of Heaven. They glowed ever so softly in the almost absolute darkness of night. Lightning tore across the clouded sky and thunder resounded across the land. A single space pod whistled through the storm, crackling with electricity. It was glowing red with heat and an alarm screeched from inside it. Lightning snapped and smashed into the space pod, hurling it to the ground. The ground shook with the sudden impact and thunder murmured in the sky as if pleased that it had hit its target. The pod caught fire and there was a banging sound coming from inside it. “Help! Please!” someone shouted from within the pod. But no help would come. The pod had landed just outside of a hallucinogenic forest during one of the worst storms of the season. No one with any sense would be out on a night like this. The person inside the pod kept banging on the door and succeeded in finally knocking open the exit,  but only by a crack. “Damn.” The woman inside whispered. The inside of the pod was extremely hot and the instruments were malfunctioning and sending sparks everywhere. There was no way the girl inside would survive. The woman knew this and accepted it with a bit of irritation. “So be it.” She whispered, annoyed. Suddenly her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed. Goo began to ooze out of her mouth and it coagulated on the floor. A silvery blob with faint green lines shivered on the floor. ”I really hate to leave a good body.” the blob thought to herself, not at all happy with her vulnerability.  She slowly took on the rough form of a tiny, silver human. This is Emily, a bio-tuffle from the planet Uberia and the first one ever to land on Heaven. She raised a hand and shielded her eyes from the sharp winds and rain. As she scoped out the landscape the space pod behind her died. Emily spied the softly glowing, silver forest and decided to hide out there while she waited for the storm to pass since no signs of civilizations could be seen. She ran lightly into the forest and was immediately hit with a strong scent she couldn’t quite place. Her legs got twisted up with themselves and she fell to the ground. “Ugh… what’s…” Emily tried to get up but couldn’t quite control her limbs, “What’s wrong with me?” A purple spore gently landed on Emily’s nose. She crossed her eyes and groaned. “Hallucinogenic forests.” Emily began to giggle. “I should have known.” With some trouble Emily flipped herself over with her nose in the mud. Emily now breathed with a bit of difficulty, but at least she wouldn’t be breathing in as many spores. She slowly began to regain control over her body. Taking a large breath she got to her feet and ran out of the forest and back into the heavy rain. She scampered back to the space pod to find that the fire had gone out. Emily reached in and tore a bit of cloth from the dead woman’s clothing inside. She tied the white cloth around her face so it would protect her from the hallucinogenic spores in the forest. Hopefully. “There!” Emily ran back to the shelter of the silver forest. She crept carefully along the forest floor; not eager to awake any of the beasts she knew lay within. She had read the Traveler’s Guide. She knew what could happen. Emily looked at the sky through the dense tree tops and saw that the storm wasn’t going to end any time soon. She delved deeper into the forest for more cover and in search of some shelter for the night. Emily soon found a relatively safe place to sleep for the night under a large bush, and sleep she did. Lucky for Emily, nothing found her under that bush that night.
Emily woke in the morning to the delightful sound of growling. She immediately liquefied herself and peeked out of the bushes. A massive white wolverine was snuffling around the area. “Most likely finding some prey it buried for later.” Emily thought.  Sure enough a few moments later it was scratching at the ground. Emily slowly crept through the mud and snuck up behind the animal. She figured an animal’s body would be better than none. The bio-tuffle leapt from the ground and wrapped around the wolverine. It gave a valiant struggle but Emily won and inhabited its body in the end. Emily growled and laughed inwardly. She had never been an animal before! Emily bounded around the forest feeling giddy. Must be the hallucinogenics. Emily’s new ears perked up as she heard someone just outside the forest talking. “We really should do something about this, Cyril.” Emily crept along the forest floor to the edge of the forest. Well… where it was before anyway. Emily looked around confused. She was sure this had been where the edge was. “We can’t let these forests grow at such a rapid rate!” Emily ran silently to where the new edge was, yards away, and found two people deep in conversation. “Don’t worry about it; I’ve posted the job on the Inter-Galactic Quest Board.” Emily snuffled and turned to look at the man talking. A glowing aura of white surrounded him and that was all she could see. Damnable wolverine vision! “Fine, but if someone doesn’t take it soon we’ll have to start burning.” The other man said. He had no aura of white. “I understand.” The other man seemed to bow and he left. The person with the aura of white stayed and seemed to look in Emily’s direction. She couldn’t quite tell. “I’m sure if someone would take the time and poison a water source or two things would be solved. Lives saved.” The man known as Cyril said aloud. With an audible pop he disappeared. Emily whirled around and sniffed the air to make sure he was actually gone. He was. “Incredible.” Emily slunk back into the forest, thinking about what she had just learned. This forest was rapidly growing and must be somehow infringing on these people’s lands.  That’s the only way they could be putting lives in danger that she could think of. That man, Cyril- he obviously must have known that she had been there. Why else would he have just randomly said aloud the solution to the problem? No one does that. But why would this Cyril want her to fix his problems? Emily’s mind rushed with possibilities, but she shoved them aside. It didn't matter why but lives were at stake and she could help, so she would. Emily ran on into the forest but stopped. It’d be best to find a way back to her wrecked space pod to collect poison before she found a water source. She’d probably never find it again if she left the source. So Emily bounded back to her space pod and circled it thoughtfully. More than a few liquids inside would be poisonous, but which one would be safest to handle in her given state? Emily mulled over this for awhile before deciding on which would be satisfactory. Emily sniffed happily around the pod and ripped out a few tubes from it. She ran into the forest with a bitter taste in her mouth. Eventually she cut herself off from the beast’s taste buds. She reluctantly acknowledged that the wolverine would not survive her inhabitance. Emily hated when that happened. Emily found a water source quicker than she expected when she found a small pond with a cluster of trees densely grown around it. Emily nuzzled her way through the thicket and dumped the poison filled tubes in. She left the woods, satisfied that this would have done the job.


Word Count: 1,352

Silly Emily, the only water in the forest is the river.

2,500PL 1,000Z
+Quest gains

Previously on Emily’s Arrival… “More than a few liquids inside would be poisonous, but which one would be safest to handle in her given state? Emily mulled over this for awhile before deciding on which would be satisfactory. Emily sniffed happily around the pod and ripped out a few tubes from it. She ran into the forest with a bitter taste in her mouth. Eventually she cut herself off from the beast’s taste buds. She reluctantly acknowledged that the wolverine would not survive her inhabitance. Emily hated when that happened. Emily found a water source quicker than she expected when she found a small pond with a cluster of trees densely grown around it. Emily nuzzled her way through the thicket and dumped the poison filled tubes in. She left the woods, satisfied that this would have done the job.”

Emily was just making it out of the silver forest when she began to feel the effects of the poison she had just been handling. Her wolverine body was becoming sluggish and harder to control. Emily struggled to keep the body walking. She needed to make it to civilization before she had to leave the body. Emily knew in her current state she probably wouldn’t make it too long. The universe is a dangerous place for a small Bio-Tuffle. Emily toughed it out for almost a mile before the poor wolverine was too far gone for her to use anymore. The body collapsed on the ground and blood trickled out of its nose and mouth. Emily dripped out of the wolverine’s mouth and looked back on it regretfully. She always felt bad about killing a host. “Two dead hosts in one day.” She thought to herself, “Must be a record.” Not that the girl Emily had been in earlier was ever really alive. She had been custom made for her back on Uberia. Cost a lot of money too, but the community had managed to scrape up enough for her to get one so that she could go travelling safely. Emily smiled inwardly at the memory. What bad luck that it should have been destroyed so fast!
It was just getting to be afternoon, not that Emily could tell from the twin suns. She was on the beginnings of a vast desert- a dark blue one. For the first time Emily took a moment to appreciate the beauty of this new planet she had landed on. She looked to the night sky and found it to be black and dotted with twinkling stars. Two suns were on the north and south horizons. “Stars during the day time!” breathed Emily, “Beautiful!” Emily adored new planets.  After a few minutes of admiring the beauty and serenity of Heaven, Emily turned her mind to more practical things. There was no sign of civilization and she was vulnerable without a host. Priority number one was now to find a host of some sort and stay alive until then. Emily shaped herself into a ball and rolled around in a circle thoughtfully. Her best choice would be to travel back to the forest and find another host there, but that would take quite awhile and she would be exposed during the entire trip. A deep howl interrupted her chain of thought. On the horizon out on the desert was the silhouette of a wolf. It was huge, three times the size of the wolverine at least. Emily figured she could take it if she was careful. Emily flattened herself out and flitted surreptitiously over the desert sands and towards the wolf. The wolf never saw her coming and was still howling by the time she reached him. Emily made an impressive jump and slid right into the wolf’s open mouth. The howl was broken off abruptly and replaced by a choking sound and then silence. The wolf immediately buckled to the ground once Emily took over. The controls were quite different from the wolverine’s and she was surprised to find a scrap of intelligence fighting her control this time. Emily squashed it easily and went about learning how the large, indigo canine worked. It did not take Emily long and within a single minute the wolf was taking in its surroundings. It turns out the lone wolf wasn’t so lone. Just behind the wolf lay several packs of wolves, and none of them looked very happy about being together. Emily wasn’t surprised to find a pack close by but this was an awful lot of wolves. Emily racked the wolf’s brain, trying to find out why there were so many. Oh. Oh. Apparently a whole mess of packs from around the plains have banded together and plan on taking over the forests to the east. “Well that doesn’t sound very good for the ecosystem.” Emily thought. ”It’ll be easy enough to stop though.” Emily bounded to the other packs and barked something the wolf’s brain assured her was offense. The other wolves perked up their ears and growled. Emily made her host attack the other wolves and stealthily abandoned ship. Emily slithered a few yards away and buried herself under the sand. She waited for the sounds of battling wolves die down. It took quite awhile. Eventually Emily left her hiding hole and found that two packs were slinking off, severely injured. Emily took over the body of a wolf that was all alone. Its pack had not been present anyway. Coincidentally it was the same wolf from before.


Word Count: 914

1,000PL 500Z
+I'm assuming another quest...

Previously on Emily’s Arrival… It did not take Emily long and within a single minute the wolf was taking in its surroundings. It turns out the lone wolf wasn’t so lone. Just behind the wolf lay several packs of wolves, and none of them looked very happy about being together. Emily wasn’t surprised to find a pack close by but this was an awful lot of wolves. Emily racked the wolf’s brain, trying to find out why there were so many. Oh. Oh! Apparently a whole mess of packs from around the plains have banded together and plan on taking over the forests to the east. “Well that doesn’t sound very good for the ecosystem.” Emily thought. ”It’ll be easy enough to stop though.” Emily bounded to the other packs and barked something the wolf’s brain assured her was offense. The other wolves perked up their ears and growled. Emily made her host attack the other wolves and stealthily abandoned ship. Emily slithered a few yards away and buried herself under the sand. She waited for the sounds of battling wolves die down. It took quite awhile. Eventually Emily left her hiding hole and found that two packs were slinking off, severely injured. Emily took over the body of a wolf that was all alone. Its pack had not been present. Coincidentally it was the same wolf from before.”

Emily shook herself and looked around thoughtfully while resisting the urge to pant. Well, now she had a reliable temporary body, but there was still no sign of civilization. Emily looked in all directions and found nothing that would point her in the right direction towards a city or town. She shrugged as best she could in a wolf body and figured any direction was good enough. Emily began walking to the west where she could see mountains rising in the distance. The indigo sand was warm beneath her paws. It was warm because of its dark color and due to the nature of its dark color it absorbed the suns’ heat. Thus the sand was very warm. Warm enough to fall asleep in really. Emily was almost tempted to do so, but she didn’t know what the plains of Heaven held in store for her and so it would be unwise to just fall asleep all exposed. So Emily traveled on through the warm desert sand for miles without any sign of anyone or anything. It was all very boring and hardly worth writing about really. But write about it I shall because its words that count right now- and I’ll do it in a fine, quality manner because quality is as important as quantity. Strange thoughts passed through Emily’s mind as she traveled along the dark-bluish desert. Thoughts like, “Hey, is that a tree?” and “That is definitely a tree. I’m going to go to that tree.” So Emily went to the tree and found herself on the edge of the great indigo plains of Heaven. It was brilliant, really it was. The most beautiful thing about this glorious landscape to Emily was probably the caravan of seraphim that was just a bit away. Finally her search for civilization was over! Sort of. It was actually a town or city or any sort of settlement- just a group of people. But that was all Emily needed because surely they could help her get to where she needed to go! “Damn!” one of the seraphim shouted. “We can’t get where we need to go!” Another seraph poked out his head from the vehicle and a shadow from the ground leapt up and seemed to snap at his exposed head. The seraph jerked his head back inside. “Those darn shadows! I do not know what could possibly be riling them up so much that they are driven to attack us!” Emily carefully backed up and hid herself behind the tree. Well, she tried to anyway. Her wolf body was large and the slim tree wouldn’t do much to hide her. The leaves above her began to crinkle and hiss in the wind. Wait. Do leaves hiss? Emily didn’t have time to ponder this question as a blob of shadow fell onto her back, hissing. Emily yelped as she felt the sudden and not at all metaphorical chill down her spine. Emily rolled over on her back in an attempt to squish the shadow on her back, but this was how the shadow hunted. As soon as Emily rolled over the shadow flew across her fur like a cold wind and over onto her belly. It spread and pinned down the night wolf. Emily snarled and struggled against the shadow to no avail. Once the shadow knew it had a solid grip It began shaking. The night wolf shuddered involuntarily. Emily felt the wolf began to panic. This wasn’t natural, it howled. Not right! The night wolves devour these cretins! Emily decided it was better to let the wolf’s instincts to take over in that case. Now, after this Emily didn’t recall much. She simply let the wolf ride on auto pilot and when she took back control of its body there were masses of half-eaten shadow beings strewn across the ground. Emily sat back on her haunches and looked towards the caravan. Already the seraphim were making ready to leave. Emily bounded towards them and the people looked cautious and ready to defend themselves. Emily abandoned ship and the wolf growled.  The night wolf slowly back away, keeping eye contact with everyone to make sure they would not attack. It ran off. Once Emily talked to the people they were more than happy to give her a ride to the nearest city.



Word Count: 951

Same as above.