M&FF: The Sacred Grove
#5 of Monsters and Fairy Folk
"River" finally arrives on the island and gets the first look at where she and Pan will be conducting their training for the next two months.
"Group up together?" Samantha -now called River- repeated Pan's words. She thought about the possibility of them working as a pair.
It was true that not every member of the factions were comfortable serving as the rank and file soldiers, they preferred to do things their own way. Those who felt such independence were called Adventurers. They didn't follow the King or Queen's orders directly, but they did provide assistance for tasks the main force was unable to handle because they were distracted with the war effort.
"A Nymph and a Satyr in the same group?" River asked, "Yeah, I'm sure nobody will make any comments about that." she scoffed. Pan rolled his eyes, realizing that once again, he had played into the stereotype expected of his new race.
"Well whatever, I don't see much options elsewhere." River agreed, extending a hand, which Pan accepted and they shook on their new partnership.
Again, the fog horn from the ship sounded and they had finally arrived on their docks, or so River believed. Shortly after the ship pulled in, a voice came on through a speaker system, addressing the players on the deck.
"We have arrived in the royal city of Fantasia." the voice said, "Home of the Elves, Fairies, and Pixies. Would those belonging to the appropriate races please disembark." it instructed. It became apparent to River that the game was going to have designated starting areas.
She and Pan watched as the designated players began to leave the deck of the ship, the Fairy Queen among them. By the time they had left, roughly half the players on board has disembarked, leaving a lot more room to move about.
"Those must be the primary races for the Fairy Folk." Pan commented as he watched the players below. River nodded before the horn sounded and the ship began to pull out again, making its way to its next docking point.
The ship circled around half of the southern part of the island before it came to stop again. Announcing that it had arrived at the Town of Sweet Ale, home of the Hobbits, Dwarves, and Centaurs. The appropriate races began to disembark and by the time it was finished, only a third of the original 10,000 players were still on board.
"I guess we're next." River said, resting her free hand on her hip while the other clutched her staff. The ship began to retrace its path, circling around to the other side of the southern territory, even passing the royal city a second time as it did so.
By the time they arrived, River was surprised to find that this docking place did not have a settlement that she could immediately recognize. In fact, it was just a dock leading into a dense forest, with a single individual standing on the docks awaiting their arrival. Soon the voice came over the speakers again.
"Last stop, the Sacred Grove. Home of the Nymphs, Satyrs, Unicorns, and Ents. Would the appropriate races please disembark, your guide will lead you through the forest!" it instructed. The last of the players remaining all belonged to the aforementioned races and began to step off the ship.
The Ents probably had the most difficulty . There were only 10 of them in total from what River could tell, but they were also quite huge and moved with a sluggish pace, as if their muscles were under the effects of tranquilizers.
River followed Pan down the walk way to the docks and soon realized that his loin cloth didn't cover his backside, just like her own sash. His fur covered ass was bare to see, along with his stumpy goat tail wiggling in anticipation. She felt her lust starting to flare up and forced her gaze away from him in an effort to force it back down. She already felt the heat building within her,but was quickly brought back to her senses when the loud fog horn sounded and the ship began to pull away, the last of its passengers having disembarked.
"Greetings, I will be your guide to the Sacred Grove." the stranger on the docks spoke loudly for all to hear. "I am Forest Walker, a member of the Druid's Circle and adviser to the creatures of the forest." he introduced himself, keeping in character as they had been told.
Forest Walker, for that is the name he addressed himself as, held a staff in both hands that seemed to have been carved out of white wood and had roots branching out as the head piece. His clothing was simple and plain, consisting of little more than a brown robe with the hood drawn up, hiding the upper portion of his face beneath a cowl. Only his mouth was visible to the light. He seemed to be human, as far as River could tell, but with only his mouth being visible, it was too hard to tell.
"The Sacred Grove has a training facility for whatever your profession demands of you." the Druid spoke up, tapping his staff on the docks, "Once we arrive, I will show you to each training hall, and the instructors who will guide your studies." and with that, he turned and beckoned the players to follow as he headed into the forest.
There was no path or walk way to show where they were supposed to go, so it was likely they were supposed to follow the guide if they wanted any hope of getting properly situated. The Druid seemed to move with a slow pace, allowing the Ents to catch up. But this also had the draw back of making everyone else lag behind. Still, River and Pan had time to take in and admire the scenery that had been created around them.
Although the forest was dense, light still trickled through the branches, creating beautiful sun beams that illuminated the area. The grass felt lush and soft under River's feet without too much dirt, mud, or rocks. The air smelled fresh and clean of any pollution as the scent of many flowers reached her nose. She didn't know how much work they had to do to keep this place as beautiful as it was, but it surely cost a fortune.
"The Sacred Grove is a holy place, free of the influence of civilization." the Druid spoke as they walked, providing some backstory while they waited to arrive. "Long has it been the favored habitat for creatures such as you. But few know how to reach it on their own. Most outsiders get lost without a guide, so you will not have to worry about being threatened by unwanted visitors." he continued.
River did not know how long they had walked. The pace of the Ents dragging their feet along made it seem like a few hours, and by the time they finally arrived, she was hungry and tired. Even Pan seemed to be growing agitated. But finally, they arrived as the trees cleared in front of them to reveal an enormous sized meadow large enough to fit an entire town inside!
"Behold, the Sacred Grove!" the Druid said, pausing in his step and issuing towards it with a wave of his staff. The players approached to look at the sight before them and were understandably impressed by what they saw.
Although there were no actual buildings, there were training camps throughout the meadow. River could see a patch of dirt with training dummies set up near the edges, as well as sparring rings to test one's skills against live targets. It was clearly the training facility for those interested in physical combat. The magical training fields were on the other side of the meadow and were quickly recognizeable by a robed figure holding a white staff much like Forest Walker.
The magical training grounds had podiums with books placed upon them, as well as training dummies and bulls eyes lined up for practicing their magic. There was also another training facility which looked to be a medical ward where Priests and Priestesses could practice their spiritual duties.
"The teachers here are all members of the Druid's Circle." Forest Walker said, "It is our duty to guide and protect the creatures of nature, such as yourselves. You need only ask and if it be in our power to do so, we shall aid you as best we can." he instructed.
"Meals are served at the feasting tables over there." Forest said, pointing over to the right to reveal a row of lengthy tables that had plates of fresh food enough to hold a grand feast. "Alcoholic drinks are served at the festive grounds." he pointed to the left revealing what looked to be a stack of wood piled up for a bon fire. There were musical instruments and kegs of what River suspected might be various kinds of drinks.
"The bathing pool is located to the north, just a short walk beyond the trees. Listen for the sound of rushing water and you'll come across it easily enough. Also, if nature calls in more private ways, please take care of it outside of the Sacred Grove." he continued to explain, but as he cleared his throat, it was obvious he was about to finish up his tour. River couldn't hide a look of surprise at the realization he had just told them they would have to shit in the woods!
"Now then, Soldiers, Rogues, and Minstrels will be learning the ways of martial combat from Stone Fist, over there." he pointed to the melee training field. "Minstrels will also be learning the ways of music from the Festive Grounds." he added before turning to the magic training area.
"Sorcerers and Sorceresses will learn to wield the elemental forces by training with Monsoon. And finally, Clerics will learn the healing arts in worship site under the guidance of Soothing Light." he pointed to both the one near the books, and the one near what looked to be a medical ward.
"Now you must all be famished from your long journey across the distant lands, so why don't we get you some food?" the guide said, much to the relief of other players who's stomachs began to growl.
The feast was noticeably plentiful and three more druids served to bring more food out to eat for those who wanted more helpings. The players crowded around the tables and were treated to largely vegetarian meals involving fruits and vegetables. Apparently the creatures of the forest were supposed to shun eating meat. However, there was plenty of fresh baked piles, succulant apples, buttered corn, hand picked carrots, and so on.
River and Pan sat next to each other, and River was surprised to find that her bare ass was not as uncomfortable on the bench as she had expected. While it was made out of wood, it seemed to have been finely carved and polished to make it smooth and reduce the chance of splinters or irritation.
She looked around to see that the Ents were being presented with enormous pitchers of water, which they gulped down as easily as though it were bottled water. Within seconds, the pitchers were drained, and they were being filled again for the next drink.
Ents were creatures who resembled living trees, so it made sense that they would require large amounts of water to sustain themselves. But River was still awed by the speed with which they were able to consume it. She actually tried to record their time in her head and they had sucked down three whole pitchers of water in under a minute!
"I trust you are all satisfied?" said Forest Walker, coming to stand in front of the tables as he attracted the attention of the players, "Your first day of training will commence tomorrow. But for now, you may take this day to become oriented with the Sacred Grove. We encourage you to take in your surroundings and admire what you see." he explained as the three serving druids began to clean off the tables, apparently feeding time having been over now.
River leaned back, feeling full as she took a moment to digest the food. Pan yawned and patted his stomach before rising out of his seat and offered a hand to help her out as well, which she accepted.
"Well you heard him, let's explore around the place." Pan said, waving his arms slowly as if to present the grove around them.
Elsewhere, Lord Valmese was already at work checking the left over applications he had received from players. Unlike most other blood sports, Monsters and Fairy Folk did not become a closed event once they game started. Every month, another 10,000 players would be accepted, and shipped to the fields to serve as reinforcements and he had to get started on all the many, many background checks that were needed before they could be approved or denied.
There were some drawbacks to the reinforcements, however. They did not receive as much training as the first applicants. Indeed, those who joined halfway through the game had practically no time to grow accustomed to their new powers before some invading army ransacked their homes and villages.
Yet despite this, it was part of Valmese' plan to instil more realism into the war. The older and more experienced players who survived the longest held positions of leadership and status because they were powerful enough to warrant it. Raw recruits were too inexperienced, and so they couldn't be trusted. It was also why later on in the game, he adjusted the machines to create less and less magic users, as magic was supposed to be a rare gift and those who possessed it were deserving of respect or fear. Sending a Sorceress with the power to hurl lightning from her hands out into the enemy lines the very moment she received her modifications was extremely foolish if anyone expected her to not fry a few allied squads in the process.
"Hmm, this one looks good. And this, and this, and this, not that one, this ID is obviously forged." He muttered to himself as he sorted through the stacks of applications. So far, he had approved 300 applications, and rejected 72 others and it was time for a break.
Or at least what constituted as a break for his point of view. Going over paperwork was grueling and tedious. The real fun was testing out his experiments to see if they could be used for future installments of the game. Yawning as he rose from his desk and stretched, he decided to pay a visit to his beta testing labs and see how his latest projects were coming along.
The testing labs were filled with various noises, some of which were not pretty. There were the gasping, moaning, and screaming of patients who had been improperly spliced with new abilities or species. It didn't matter, they were all condemned criminals who had been donated to his labs under the pretense they would die in his show. They very likely were going to die soon, but it wouldn't be on the field of battle. It was here, in his labs, with their genetics being toyed with in the interest of public entertainment.
As he passed by one testing lab, he saw a creature inside who looked to have been properly augmented. The creature was tied to a vertical table, restrained at the ankles, waist, and neck. It's arms were turned into a large pair of feathering wings. The hair on the top of its head also morphed into feathers. It's torso was bare naked, but its thighs and pelvis were feathered. From the knees down were a large set of bird-like talons. The figure had been a woman, as evident by her heaving breasts that bounced as she tried to catch her breath from her recent transformation.
"It seems my Harpy serum is nearing completion." Valmese said into a speaker, connected to the inside of the lab.
"That's correct sir." a voice said back through the speaker, as the scientist inside turned to see the host of the show checking on the progress. "We just plucked one of her feathers and managed to cut through a plank of solid oak with it. We've given the test subject a heavy dose of tranquilizer to prevent her from thrashing those wings around, but I'm confident we'll have the model up and functioning by next season." the scientist boasted.
Valmese nodded and moved onto the next testing lab. This one was clearly not going as well as the one next door, because Valmese was greeted to the sight of what looked to be a trauma ward. The was the shadowy image of a figure hidden behind a thick curtain and strapped down onto a hospital bed. It tried to thrash about, but only succeeded in waving an arm around feebly.
Valmese paused and was glad for a moment that he couldn't hear what was going on, because it was obvious the sounds coming from the experiment would have been unpleasant. Still, he had to find out what went wrong so he could adjust the next serum, and pressed a button on the speaker to address the scientist within.
"What... happened with my Selkie?" he asked. Almost immediately after the scientist pressed the reply button, the loud, pained wails of the test subject washed over the speaker. The scientist paused before she could answer, went over to the creature and administered a heavy tranquilizer, which soon quieted the moans before she returned to give her report.
"We followed a similar procedure to creating the Naga as you instructed." she began, "We replaced her legs with a large seal's tail, and kept her upper body humanoid in design. But then we ran into complications. It seems making her upper body into an anthropomorphic seal is harder than leaving it as a normal human. " she explained.
"The enhanced pheromones have also proven to have an adverse effect on the test subject, inducing a state of nymphomania and sex addiction that has her writhing on her bed without a constant supply of tranquilizers to keep her sedated." she finished. Valmese sighed before pressing the button to reply.
"Very well, send the reports to my office and I'll see what I can improve." he instructed, "If I can turn people into living trees and dragons, I'm sure I can handle something as simple as a seal." he boasted as he moved onto the next facility. He had many more races and classes to review before the day was out.
To Be Continued.