'Ok...this is weird. How did I go from being shot to being in a land of giant monster people?'

Through sheer shock and panic Krenko watched as the others around him continued about what they were doing prior to him falling. It took some time but he learned their names and the fact that they had all been someone else before their arrival here. Looking down at his hands it also became supremely aware that he himself had become a goblin, like thise fantasy creatures from the west. A large sigh escaped him as the cruel cosmic irony hit him that in his past life he was small and insignificant and in this world he had become just as small...literally. As Lin, the dragon-man (still a strange thing for him to think of) he gave a scouting of the land around them. None of them seemed to have any experience in survival and certainly Krenko was no survivalist but he knew towns and cities. He was able to sneak around them and scope out the most useful, and lucrative, aspects that they held. If he was going to be useful then that was going to be his best shot at being so.

"Hmm, well if theres a town near by I can scout it out to see what its all about. We need to know who and what were dealing with when it comes to people. Cause I don't know about you guys but I'm not sure people will look too kindly on us."

The knowledge of the fact that they party as a whole were considered monsters and humans may not look too kindly to people that look like them, and they had to know who and what they were dealing with.

Were she capable of actually blushing, Ashewell's actions would have made Glaive all too red. But instead, she simply seemed to be stoicly taking the matter in, all while in reality, the human Jasmin Carson was freaking out. And yet, somehow, it didn't show on her face, as Glaive instead allowed Ashewell to study her, starting slightly upon being poked in the rear, but otherwise took the matter in stride, shifting, allowing for Ashewell to see the entirity of the Warforged, even with the lute on her back hiding part of her form. But once Ashewell was done there, and with the hug, Glaive smiled slightly.

"It's alright, I wouldn't want to damage you if it turned out your body couldn't support my added weight. But yeah, definitely an Android. Whose past life involved death by a musical instrument. Pretty sure its A2 I'm resembling. Never played her game...but had friends who adored the character." Despite the relaxation of Ashewell's grip, Glaive remained motionless, allowing the drider to hug her tighter if she so wanted. Once Lin spoke up, Glaive's head turned in the other's direction, considering the options. While north to the mountains would mean resources that could help them survive, as it was apparent now they were all probably once human, as afterall, why would so many different monsters be working together? But as he spoke, she came to her own decision, in part helped by the small one mentioning scouting.

"If I may, we should probably at least scout out the village, determine how it is, then decide about direct contact. We should also look into constructing temporary shelter, somewhere we can easily defend...like in Minecraft, I guess? Who knows what comes out at night around here..." Despite the concern Glaive was showing, her tone didn't convey concern so much as pensiveness, as she considered options. While splitting the party up could go badly, especially at the start of their adventure...it seemed to be needed. If this world had a thing against monsters, most of them would have issues...Though that made Glaive glance down, only to pause, realizing she couldn't see her lute. Instead, she was looking at Ashewell's...well we all know. Quickly her head came up.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't get your name earlier...Ms...?" Clearly fishing for Ashewell's name, it was clearly now that Glaive was flustered. "I uh...Name's Glaive, just Glaive." There went a poor attempt at a Jame Bonds impression. Overall though, it seemed Glaive's opinion was to divide and conquer. Presumably after securing a base of operations, no matter how temporary...

One wonders how poor Gorilla man was faring.

Aries chewed on her lip with a sulky exression as she listened to Lena, although she wanted to stay with the spider, checking out the town sounded rather fun. Although she wanted to enjoy herself, she also understood she couldnt pass for human as well as some of the others did.

After listening to the others for a bit, her lips had turned red and she looked towards Vladlena. "I-is it possible for me to come to the town, or do I look too much like a monster for that...?" Although calling herself a monster hurt a little bit, it was the truth now. If she had been reborn into a more human body like Lena or Glaive it would have been better.

She couldnt really change anything though, she was stuck in this weird sheep-like body for now. She would have to live with it and hide her inhuman appendages whenever she wanted to enter a town.

---

"Mhm, might be best for you to stay here, little adorable ovets." The doll replied to the Sheep. Deciding she had sharpened the axe enough, even if it wasn't polished to perfection, the doll started making a hole in the branch she had found. Cutting into the wood was simple enough as small as it was. Next, was securing it with the thread. It wouldn't be amazingly strong, but it should do, at least so she could use it to make something better. Small steps and all that.

"Anyways, I shall get going to the town then, hm? Lin, want to come with?" Lena gave the axe a few test swings. Seemed to be stable enough. "I'll leave the ones staying here so you can use it to get started, da?" She said, leaning the axe against a nearby rock and enthusiastically walking in the direction Lin had mentioned he saw the village.

Despite his own wariness about the situation, it seemed that more than a few others were more inclined to check out the small settlement he had mentioned than establish a base of their own. In a way, he could understand that sentiment—working to build off of something that already existed was a far easier job than starting from scratch—but given most of their current forms, that wasn't an option.

With that in mind, though, leaving the doll to explore on her own would only raise further questions, and with that came the possibility of a multitude of other problems arising. Deciding that the safety of his newfound peers was worth more than his own desire to build a stable foundation first, Lin simply sighed and rose from his seat before turning to Ashewell.

"Make sure to keep anyone who stays behind safe, and make doubly sure that anyone who wouldn't pass for a human stays behind. Survival is a top priority right now, after all," he said, nodding his head before following off after Lena.

"So, do you have an excuse in mind for why we are traveling together?" he asked, using his newfound ability to walk on air to avoid having to trek over the uneven ground in the first place. "A cover story would do us well."

Ashewell looked down at the Warforged in her arms. "Name? OH, yes. Name. You may call me Ashewell, if you would please." The Drider was wondering at this point if this Glaive girl had heard of Yuri Monmusu before. Well, that much was fine. "Worry not, we are all friends here." With a smile, she paid attention to Aries.

The sheep girl wanted to go, understandable... Well, maybe. Ashewell herself had no desire at the moment. Well, unless it turned out to be a village of monster girls or something. She let go of Glaive to set the sheep girl down on the ground.

"Let me tell you this. I am, without a doubt... Most likely a monster." The spider said. "On the outside at least. That said, what really makes you a monster is the inside." She poked at the sheep girl's chest. "Regardless of that outside appearance may say... The inside of you is still human. As long as you don't let that much change, you're still you. You're not a monster." She gave a slight sigh at this though. "Well, keep heart in that. We don't know much about this world." She recited a... Mostly word for word speech from a heroine from Yuri Monmusu. Then a thought fell upon her. "One think to think though, friends. What if this world isn't run by humans but rather by monsters? Could be nothing but food for thought though."

"Regardless, I shall stay here and watch over those who would stay behind." One way or the other, she stuck out like a sore thumb. "Maybe make the place more pretty."

The path towards the village was at first uneven, The ground itself was very lumpy as a result of complex root systems that spread across the forest floor. The root ls which connected to each other tree, like a great organic network... the focus point would be in the center. But that didn't mean the information passed through could not be monitored.

As the village comes further into view the first thing you band of folks would notice was that the village gates had been shut, and given the very recently disturbed leaves it was obvious it had been shut just prior to your appearance there.

Particularly peculair is that the parameter surrounding the village had no noticable garrison, however, the trees that encircled this space appeared to be much more twisted and warped then the trees from just a moment prior. Long thick root structures extended from these trees towards the wall creating a conplex lattice of above ground roots that further connected the village to the forest at large.

Inside the village it was almost dead quiet. As if it was a ghost town. But the door movement before had proven otherwise and yet a most eerie silence had taken ahold of the air.

Indeed given where you were standing, able to see the entrance but not quite at it yet, perhaps it might be best to proceed cautiously.

---

Those of you that had chosen to remain in the forest, perhaps out of fear, or perhaps out of the fact that you were just too monstrous to even consider the possiblity of being envoys certainly had a task ahead of you. Obviously you'd need to set up shelter, collect food and water, and perhaps a source of heat may be worth the effort.

Indeed the local flora was wildberry bushs and strange mushrooms not native to earth, given that they had soaked in the rooted soil, rich in manner and blood, both the berries and the mushrooms were all a shade of red to yellow. Scavaging these may prove fruitful.

The local fauna on the other hand, Indeed deer would populated this wood, alongside the more infestative population of wild rat, and common slime. All could be a tasty morsel given enough effort.

---

SKILL UNLOCKS

@Rune_Alchemist
Basic Sharpening
You have shown aptitude with sharpening rocks, now you things are less likely to break when you sharpen them, but only by a marginal amount.

The walk over to the settlement that he had mentioned was not by any means difficult—particularly not to the dragon whose ability to simply cross over the troublesome terrain trivialized the task by a considerable amount. Both he and Lena had come to a quick conclusion on how to for a coherent alibi—namely, passing themselves off as a young lady and her escort (though their well-kept and relatively new clothes would likely bring about more questions than answers if others were more caution)—and given that only the goblin had chosen to follow, it was quite possible to simply play off of the idea that they were the only two present.

An analysis of the area as the group neared their destination, of course, caused Lin to extend an arm in front of the pair and shake his head 'no'. Even without any sort of experience, he could tell that there was something supernatural at play in front of them.

Not that it would be strange at all by this point, but if anything was to happen, they were ill-equipped to deal with anything other than an attempt at bargaining with anything but words.

"By the looks of things... The trees are a natural fortification for that village? No, they seem to be manipulated to do so... " he said out loud before retracting his arm and glancing at those with him.

"Should I lead? I feel as if they are expecting us to be hostile, given this... Welcoming atmosphere that they have laid out for us..."

---

This forest was certainly pretty, and as utterly alien as one might expect. The trees roots tore through the ground, creating a fairly difficult path. As they walked, they came to the conclusion that it might be a good idea to have a coverstory. She wasn't too particularly keen on trying to pass herself off than anything other than what she was, but it was a smart thing to do regardless. She had hoped to see some lively, friendly going ons when they arrived, and indeed had been excitedly humming as she walked, arms outstretched like she was balancing on some beam. When they got to the village proper, however...

"...Zhutkiy." She said simply upon seeing the rather ghost town like village in front of them. Something felt...wrong about all of this, but she passed it off as her imagination for now. Where would be her friendly russian hospitality at if she was to go start being suspicious of everyone, hm? "You are my escort, so it would likely be best for you to do most of the talking, yes? Besides, you seem to be better at this whole thing than I would be."

Only for a few moments Glaive watched the others depart, before coming back to her senses, glancing over to Ashewell and the small sheep. Plus anyone else who had remained. She thought to herself about their surroundings. Food, water, shelter. All important. But at the same time, where to set up camp? Right where they were, on the edge of the water, where any passing craft could see them, or further in? Were there dryads or other forest spirits who would take offense to their actions? What if there were...if Ent were around they would have noticed by now, probably. Right? Regardless...

"Ashewell...charmed. Shelter is important. Anyone got an idea for how we can make something to store water in? Fire's going to be important. But we'll need flint and tinder for it." She mused to herself, considering what they'd need. Shelter was probably fine, Ashewell could use her webs to create basic shelter...maybe above ground areas in the trees to rest? "Hey, anyone got a way we can erect shelter, either here or up in the air? Tool making aside, while I do not require food, the rest of you will. If we're lucky, deer should be around. And they're an invasive species...so killing them is fine, right?" Glaive wasn't ordering or doing anything too commanding, she just seemed to be more curious than anything else. Being a Warforged, even if not a Titan...did have its perks.

"Maybe if we take some sticks, and turn them into spears, we can hunt? Its that or we find some way to make traps...." Looking down at her hands, the thought of...snapping an animal's neck immediately made Glaive shudder. They needed to do something. She glanced around some more, then knelt, picking up a stick if one had fallen nearby, examining it slowly, looking to see if she could...use it for something, anything. If only one of them had spawned in with a survival ability or something...

Ashewell watched over the flock of sheep before her. They were her charge weren't they? Well, obviously she couldn't let anything happen to them. Aside the doll and the robot, everyone else would need to eat. Glaive suggested she make shelter. Not a bad idea, though she considered it might be better to hunt for food. Ashewell thought that she might have an extra easy time preparing traps for that. "I don't mind hunting. I'm starting to feel hungry. Might have to do with not having ate for some time before I died." She looked around. "Alright. I should go get a lay of the land. Anyone want to go with me? I have room on my back still."

If she hadn't hopped off of Ashewell's Abdomen yet, Ashewell would set down Ravy. "If you want to join, come along, else-wise I'm going this way! I'll be back soon. I have a good sense of direction." She figured that there would be enough with some of them trying to figure out how to make shelter... Not that much was needed for a nights rest. The area was temperate so some leaves for a bed and a fire at night should be enough. Food was more important in her opinion... But that could be the building feeling in her stomach.

As the group discussed and planned out their next move Krenko followed Lin and Vladena on their journey to the village mostly keeping quiet and to himself. No matter how calm.and collected he was this was still a shock to him and he wasn't sure how to react to everything although it seems that for the time being he would have to deal with being a goblin. The route to the village was a great deal more difficult that he had thought not only because of the roots but his small stature made it hard to keep up with his long legged companions. When they arrived an eerie feel crept over Krenko as the whole thing felt like a ghost town. Lin, being the protective leader type, held up a signal for the party to wait while the situation was being assesed. As discussions took place Krenko climbed up on Lin's shoulders to get a better view of the area and discovered that the roots were considerably thinner around the north side of the walls.

"Hey check it out! The roots are thinner over there. We can at least move there and not worry about messing with whatever these trees are. I'll go check it out and see what were dealing with."

As quickly as he climbed up Krenko slid off and seemingly disappeared into the thick of the forrest. Finding the fastest and safest route to his "safe zone" he moved surprisingly well and it felt natural to him to slink through the enviroment, a side effect of his previous life he figured. Once there Krenko to a quick survey of the area to ensure that there were no enemies that would easily kill him or his companions and once satisfied he signaled through a whistle. Upon a closer inspection the walls were solid and high, good for defending. When returned to his friends he gave them a report,

"The walls are solid all the way around. With enough know how we COULD scale the wall. I also saw some trees that we could climb to get over the wall. I can sneak in and see if I could find a thingy to get the door open, whaddaya think Dragon Boss?"

They say life flashes before your eyes as you die. For Andrew, what flashed before his eyes were the rock, the sky and the water, as he spun around falling to his death into the sea. He didn't think much, not of how he wasn't careful or how he was going to be missed by his family and friends. All that ran in his mind was horror.

And then he felt the splash, and it was all over.

Or not quite.

For Harano found himself still conscious, though drowning. Luckily the worst panic was gone and he could clearly see the sun through the water. Quickly he swam out of the water and grasped a stone. Holding to it, he gasped for air. He thanked his luck that he had managed to survive the fall. After calming down, Harano rose to the river bank and sat down.

Harano, why had he called himself that? Harano, no, Andrew, looked down at his hands in shock.

"My hands!" he exclaimed. His hands were scaly and green.

"My face!" Hara... Andrew exclaimed again after feeling his face, long and just as scaly as his hands.

"My...tail?" He queried after realizing that a lizard's tail was now attached to his butt. Pondering just what else had changed in him, H... Andrew looked into the river. Although the water's movement made the image blurry, Andrew could see that the reflection showed no human. Instead in front of him stood a lizard, no, kobold. Somehow Andrew knew that the being was a kobold. Granted, he wasn't exactly unfamiliar with mythological creatures, especially those used in games, but this realization was like from within, like and identity.

Identity... That was when it hit Andrew. He had died as Andrew from the fall, and was now Harano. Had he been born and lived as Harano and only now remembered the truth? Whatever the case, it seemed that this was how he was going to roll.

But first things first. Andrew... Harano, had to determine where he was and where to go from there. He seemed to be in a forest of some kind, like straight out of a fairy tale.

"Hello!" Harano shouted, "Hello!?"

He could hear the echoes of his voice, but not much else. Perhaps he could find more if he got a higher viewpoint. Finding a large tree, Harano began climbing it.

At the goblin's own assertion to scout ahead, Lin simply paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. As much as he wanted to scout out the area directly, opening the gates if there were still others inside would likely lead to issues. There was another path ahead, though; one that would probably lead to far less risk to the three of them, all things considered.

"If you want to scout the area a bit further, I won't stop you," he began, picking up Lena in a princess carry before staring up at the towering walls in front of them, "but don't go so far as to directly open the gates for us. Gather information, try not to agitate anything, and run if things get too far out of hand. Since this is faster, I'll bring Lena up to get an aerial view past the walls."

Without waiting for anything within the realm of agreement from the doll, Lin began to 'walk' upwards, slowly circling about as the two rose higher and higher into the air. It wouldn't take too long to see inside, at the very least; a steady pace would make sure of that much.

"Can I go out and play?" A young red-haired fox girl no more then 4 years of age would ask an crouched man with skin of bark and hairs of leaves clad in naught but the cheapest loincloth in order to appear at least civilised.

"No my child. My fallen brother and sisters seem insistent that there is still individuals outside our village" He said as his palm remained spread on an exposed root within the largest building his brow would then proceed to furrow in abject confusion. "strange my brothers and sister are expressing confusion as it seems some of them have vanished" His voice would take on a hushed tone as he took his hand off the root for a mere moment, opening his eyes to reveal bright gleaming orbs of solid amber. "One of us will need to go out and check." He said turning to the larger group and 14 pairs of eyes stared back at him, the 15th individual merely turned her head and nodded.

The entire village's population had been couped up in the town hall. A building that grown out of the natural growth of trees, bark moving over bark as the trees and branches crossed over in a weave to produce a shelter.

"Well. Would someone like to volunteer? They'll recieve an additional cut from the next hunt." The Treeman rasped for he knew that commodity was worth more then money out in these parts.

"I'll volunteer." The Father of the young fox girl said, His bristling muscles and natural huntsman like build made him look like a stereotypical fantasy hero. His Fox ears flecked a bit. "Does anyone have a weapon?" He asked looking at the the crowd, his things were passed along between them towards him. His Yew bow and leather quiver, as well as a small hunting knife.

he thanked the crowd and headed outside, noticing the cast of a shadow he immediately looked upwards.
"By the gods" He swore under his breath as he immediately began to notch an arrow, moving to the center of the village to get a better shot.

---

As the two of you raised up and above the trees, clearing the roots and the wall, and slowly peering inside the village. Yes you'd notice the buildings once again and everything within, but this time the dragon would realise that there was indeed people inside the village, as a stacked fox man would look at them for a half seconds locking eyes with the dragon. Before immediately beginning to notch his bow...

It wasn't as if I knew what else to do. After taking some internal issue with how I had, once again, been so easily picked up, I stood there for a few moments. While I had a distinct impression I could get kidnapped at any moment around Ashewell, at the same time I didn't exactly know what else I could do. I had the body of an eight-year-old girl(at least, I thought so judging by my stature. Did it really make a difference if I was off by a year or two?), which wasn't exactly suited to any sort of labor. Let alone hunting. My tail swished back and forth behind me as I frowned to myself, shifting my feet slightly where I stood.

"... I guess I'll just... go and gather firewood or something..." I half-mumbled. We needed firewood, didn't we? I remembered how to identify it from when I was a... well, when I was a human child in my original world. I'd gone camping before, after all, with my parents. So I remembered the qualities of good firewood. I couldn't really cut anything down myself, but I could at least collect dry sticks to use as kindling.

Or something.

With my mind set on a particular task, I set out to accomplish it. In no way was I going to stray far.

@Suneli@Pyromania99

---

"I concur! Do be careful though, friend!" Lena replied to the goblin on her own. This whole place was spooky, it made her extremely curious as to what was inside, but that didn't mean she was a fool. Well, not a reckless one anyways! Obviously the gates were shut for a reason, and that was to keep people in...or out. Protective measures and all that. "So how do we get in, Lin, hm? The walls look to difficult to blow-eeeh?! W-wait what are-?"

Just as she had turned to ask Lin how to go about this, she found herself being hoisted from the ground, lifted in Lin's arms.

"Ey, ey, what are you doing!?" She was more genuinely surprised than any sort of embarrassed. "I've got two good legs of my own! You saw earlier!" Emphasizing this by once again, sticking out one of her legs as she wiggled a bit, adjusting her body slightly as she was carried. "...this is an excellent solution though, ahaha!" Peering down towards the ground, she took note of the buildings. So people did live here? It still seemed rather deserted though, save for a single man she could see walking out of one of them.

"Nechetnyy...there's a man down there with something on his head?" She leaned over further, almost trying to lay on her side now, ignoring any protests from the dragon as she tried to get a better view of the ground below. "Ah, Lin, Lin, he has something...I think is that a bow? He's reaching for something - WAH!?" Trying to sit up just a bit too far, Lena lost her balance, falling out of Lin's arms and plummeting to the ground below.

"Net! I'm too smart and pretty to die agaaaaaain!~"

Lin simply sighed at Lena's own assertion regarding her own ability to move about before motioning towards the ever-shrinking objects beneath them as he continued to ascend.

"If you could fly on your own, then we could do without. This is simply a faster way to get us both the information at once," he responded, slowly moving over the walls of the settlement before glancing downwards.

As things were, the locale seemed fairly barebones at best, and completely primitive at first. Of course, this was itself no indication for what the grander world was like, but it would function well to place into perspective how to put their current existence into question. Given their current equipment (or lack thereof), there were a variety of options to be taken in how to present themselves, each of which was worth consideration.

Of course, that was before his companion promptly decided to get a bit too curious and slipped out of his grasp. After a second of realizing what had just happened, Lin moved to cancel his 'platform' and fell after Lena (in a far more controlled manner), regardless of the person that was aiming for him. An arrow wound, at the very least, was easier to manage than letting an ally die in front of him.

Hopefully, he would be able to catch her before anything too unfortunate occurred.

Harano looked around, but didn't see much else besides the forest, although in a distance there seemed to be a village of some kind. The Kobold wondered whether or not to go there. He was technically a fantasy monster, and he didn't feel like getting slaughtered as one.

It was then that he noticed a young girl in a dress of some kind, gathering firewood. Perhaps he could determine from her reactions how people treated kobolds here. The girl probably wouldn't try and kill Harano immediately, but she might run back to the village to get a mob. Then it was a matter of finding a hiding place. Nonetheless, the kobold decided to get closer, jumping down from branch to branch to get down faster.

Harano might have landed with too much force on the next branch, because all of a sudden it broke underneath him, sending him as well falling to the ground. Terrified of dying again, Harano grabbed the branch, useless as it was, but then his fingers started glowing. The branch suddenly went back up, pulling the Kobold with him.

"Umm... what just happened?" The confused Harano thought aloud after discovering himself holding onto the branch, now reattached to the tree.

@Pyromania99
The forest itself while usually silent, had its silence broke by the movement of the spider within it, As the arachnid would move crunching leaves underfoot and your travels would eventually reach a rather lucky clearing due to the natural jagged formation of a a few angled rocks of about 40ft extending out of the ground at a 45 degree angle. Indeed this looked like a spot most suitable. Though in order to use it, you'd have to throw out its previous occupant.

Laying there under the ridge of rock was a bear, Not just any type of bear mind you, but a bear that looked like its muscles were about to burst out of its skin... Its four 'forelimbs' looked like they could break a tree in half with a mere flick of the wrist. Indeed the spider had quite the problem to deal with. Especially if the beast were to follow them back to the others and they didn't have a suitable means of dealing with it.

---

For those of you that remained in the forest. The subject matter would likely be brought to food. Mostly because the foolish entity or mechanism that brought you to this world had neglected to feed all of you. And with the hours trailing on as you would work to gather supplies, Hunger and thirst would be things that would start to take effect. Even in the body of monsters only those with truly artificial bodies were exempt from the natural need to eat and drink.

Lucky for the war-forged whom was eager to hunt and the band at large, With a bit of digging, perhaps from collecting the firewood, The Young Demoness would discover some animal tracks akin to hooves of a equine. This was made all easier by the fact she was much closer to the ground.