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They remembered. Dying that is. It wasn’t the least bit pleasant, they didn’t have any intention of doing that again. They didn’t know why they were back, or where they were, nothing here reminded them of how things should be. The hills were the first thing, these weren’t like the hill where they were from, these were older, had been enacted by the elements more. The forests were another, back where he was from hill snakes were a real problem, hadn’t seen a single one yet. 

The sky was the same, but little else. The trees were similar enough, that was a good bet that the winter would be as harsh as back home, wherever this was. Perhaps it was the far east? They had heard strange tales from the east where the trolls lived. Maybe that was why he was back. 

At the same time that didn't quite make sense, there were river people here. They wouldn’t survive out east. They remembered that from back home, while there were always a lot of river people they were shorter and less prepared than proper highlanders. Always so many river-people.

They had spotted trails through the forests, they had waited and seen strange river people, they wore strange clothes and even [i]rode[/i] the Elk instead of hunting them like one was supposed to. Regardless they were river people still, they had stayed away from them, you could never trust river people. Still, they made spears and a bow, stronger than they needed for hunting proper. It was easier than it should be, they were much stronger than they had known. This new body still surprised them sometimes.

They had fitted stone heads to their spears, sharpened and fitted with resin and twine. They knew a trick or two, they knew such things several times over at that. They had been proper highlanders, now they were a proper highlander alone if they could be named that. They had located water, seen food, although they never got particularly hungry, they still chewed and ate occasionally. Still-water had been found easily enough, gave a good idea of what they looked like, they were larger than they had been. 

It wasn’t that big of a surprise as things had gone. Now they sat cleaning their tools and trophies, after all, they hadn’t much to do but what was needed. Perhaps they would find a river person's place and see what they knew. After all the river people did know much, that, and their numbers, always made them dangerous. They had come across another bunch of the Elk Riders the other day. It was a foolish thing perhaps but they had come out to talk if they could.

Unfortunately, they spoke only river gibberish. Also unfortunately they were most aggressive and unreasonable. That was strange, after all, river people usually only got scared when you came upon their homes. They supposed their form was disturbing, it did come across as rather grotesque they had to admit. 

They had fought, had little choice, the elk riders had come at them with throwing spears. That was when they learned something else, nothing much hurt them. Oh, it did penetrate their body, but it didn’t hurt as much as it should have. They had been stabbed before, plenty of times. These didn’t hurt right, beyond that their body healed far faster than it should, didn’t even bleed properly. Although what was appropriate for this body was a rather bit different.

It was rather fun to use their new body they had to admit, wrestling an elk to the ground was not something they had experienced before. Of course, they killed the riders too, river people always tried to come back if you let them. They had some interesting things, beyond the cloaks and good goatskins with beer. They had known metal before, the river people were fond of it in excess they knew, they knew how to work copper well enough themselves. This was different, better. The throwing spears were tipped with it. They knew not what it was but clearly, it helped explain why the river people here did so well, to have such a metal. They had made knives and axes and even little plates to protect themselves.

River people were fairly ingenious in making such things, they needed to be, after all, they weren’t as good as proper highlanders and these were no different. It had taken a bit of doing but they had managed to patchwork the cloaks and armors together to fit themselves. It wasn’t as difficult to wear as they had expected, and the knives were very useful too. It took some time to find a good stone to sharpen them on as the one they had been using for their knives wasn’t good enough.

They did find one though, and being able to properly sharpen them they had cut up the elk riders’ belts to keep the pouches and loops to connect for their own kind of storage vest. One needed to be properly prepared in all skills to survive. River people didn’t know that, they liked to make their women do some work and their men do the other, it made both lesser. 

The skulls they had taken from the elk riders were still red with blood and would have to wash those again later. Regardless, they had spotted a river person village and hoped that they might find someone who could talk properly there. Else their plan was just head northeast, try to find a druid as they always knew well and might be able to help them. Or might even know what had happened.

It was a plan at least. They kept sharpening their knives, for now, they would need them later when they went to the village after all.

[hider=Summary]We come upon White Skulls musings of general things, what they have been up to while hiding in the forest, an encounter with ‘river people elk riders’ as they put it. And their general plan to go to a village and then from there generally search for a druid should that fail to enlighten them. They have found difficulty communicating with much of anyone and are confused about where they actually are. Speaking often of being a true highlander in comparison to river people.[/hider]

[hider=Prestige]Start: 3
+3 for 5.4 k Characters
End: 6[/hider]