World Tree MUSH

     In the Darkened Branches, one might be surprised to find a world as lush and green as this one. Apart from the occasional small village or town, this world is covered in tall grasses and thick forests, colorful flowers blooming in the fields and woodland creatures frolicking amongst the branches. The sparse population of humans live and dress in an eclectic mixture of Eureopean and Asian styles, their villages built from relatively primitive materials and protected by weaponry that indicate a feudal medieval society.

But then there are the ruins, scattered pieces of technology of all shapes and sizes that indicate that once, a very long time ago, society was much more advanced here. Be it contemporary modern pieces like watches or firearms, or things as advanced as fully-functional androids, one can find signs of a lost golden age of science either among the marketplaces or lost in the wild. The largest settlements have sprung up around areas with high concentrations of such technology, and most of the wealth and commerce can be found in these upscale areas, flashy and catering to every vice imaginable.

Most of the people in charge, however, seem to be those who wield tremendous physical abilities, the martial artists who can demolish buildings with their bare fists or shape the landscape in climactic duels. Although they are few in comparison to the average working person, their presence can always be felt in the mixture of dread and excitement from the commonfolk, only matched by the awe brought by wandering monks and shrine maidens who wield magics that bend the natural forces to their will.

Today, however, we are focusing on the forests surrounding a small town called St. Aimery, which has its own local legends of a bear who yearned to become a man, learning to speak and fight and lead other men. Or at least they would be legends, if that very bear and his gang of bandits didn't come into town on a weekly basis to rouse some rabble at the local tavern. Today, however, the town is quiet, the farmers and other outdoor workers having called it quits early due to a heavy shower late in the morning, which has since become a pleasant light drizzle.

The surrounding forest, thus, shares this silence, as its own residents have taken shelter from the rains as well, and only a few have dared to come back out for a drink. The only sounds are those of the water dripping from leaves and branches, splashing on the grass below.

     In wandering about the different worlds as she often does, Diantha finds herself in this very forest, rather enjoying the cool misty drizzle as it strikes that happy medium of feeling cool on her skin but not soaking her fur. As she strolls through the forest, that vined staff in one hand, she wonders where she's ended up today, as this is certainly not a forest she has walked before. Of particular note were the remnants of technology, apparently very old, as the forest has grown over and seemingly reclaimed an area that used to be bristling with technology. It made the dryad smile a bit, perhaps more of a grin. 

     "Hah, man clings so tightly to his beloved technology, trying to shape the land to his liking, but nature endures, and triumphs in the end." She mutters happily to herself as she continues on, passing a tree that has grown to engulf a strange machine of unknown purpose. "Though I wonder if anything growing from these mighty trees is safe to eat.. I'd rather not poison myself on something that these trees are much more able to deal with than I." She ponders as she looks around for any signs of fruit or berries. "I guess I could find someone to ask, or try a small amount and see if it makes me feel ill."

     It seems Diantha isn't the only one enjoying the cool drizzle and the pleasant atmosphere of the forest, as a rather large black-furred bear steps out from the other side of that very tree with the machine of unknown purpose stuck in its trunk. The strange thing is that this bear is wearing the clothes of a man, including a changshan-style shirt and baggy, pleated pants, as well as a single armored shoulderpad and an eyepatch over his left eye, all a uniform purple in color.

"I don't recommend anything from this part of the forest. The animals have stomachs of iron around here, but you look human enough it'll probably just poison you." the bear speaks, just as a man would, his voice tinged with a slight French accent. He's carrying a large iron club over one shoulder, studded along its length, but his stance is relaxed and his good eye holding no malice within it. Scratching at his chin, he continues, "Then again, never seen any human with a deer bottom. What exactly are you, anyway?"

     Diantha turns to the approaching bear and raises an eyebrow as he speaks to hear, apparently having overheard her question about the flora here and confirming her suspicions. She looks more interested in the fact that a bear is wearing clothes and talking to her than insulted that he just called her human. 

     "Really more elvish, but maybe you don't have those here, so I'll forgive the mistake. Really I'm neither to fully answer your question, I'm a dryad. Our heritage is... somewhat complicated. Thanks for the tip though. Fortunately, I'm not exactly starving yet, was just planning ahead...." She pauses a moment, then looks squarely at Drogo. "Do most animals talk here? Or are you a special case? You remind me of the gnarlpine from the forests I come from, though they aren't usually too interested in having a conversation with my kind."

     The bear gives her another curious look, arching his eyebrow at her explanation. "Never heard of any of those. You're pretty unusual around here, unique I'd even say. I saw a snake with a woman's head once, but that might've just been a dream from bad sake..." he muses, glancing off into the trees as if expecting such a creature to suddenly slither out of them. At her question, he lets out a loud, booming laugh before answering.

"All animals talk, lady. Speaking /human/ though, that's a different thing entirely. Most don't bother to learn, so I guess I'm a special case like you said. I've heard tell of creatures that blur the lines between human and animal though, wielding strange magics that deceive the senses. Kitsune, tanuki, kappa, things that hide from civilization but carry the will of the gods... or something. Never seen any of 'em though, and honestly the whole thing flies right over my head." he explains with a slow, lazy shrug.

     Diantha nods as he confirms not hearing of any such beings as elves. "The ones who live among the same parts back where I come from are called Kaldorei, and I resemble one from the waist up, though they have more traditional hair. We're both ageless beings, or we were, they sort of lost their immortality when the world tree was destroyed, but that's a long story. As for the animals talking, you are right of course. Some dryads are actually quite skilled at talking to animals, I'm so-so at it." She admits as she makes her way closer to the tree and indulges her curiosity to look at the strange machine the tree has grown around. 

     "So this world has magic and technology hmm? I can certainly relate to hiding from civilization... The Kaldorei are kind to us, but there are somewhere I come from that would rather hunt us, something about our hair having magical properties... I think I even heard of dryad blood being used in some sort of potion or another."

     Drogo scratches his head as he tries to follow what she's saying, but eventually he just shrugs and goes along with it. "Technology... Oh, you mean these big metal things? Yeah, they're everywhere. No clue what they're for or where they came from, but they don't taste good and the places with a lot of them are where you'll find most of the poison plants, so I think there might be some connection there... But hey, the humans love 'em and pay top dollar if you can find the right buyer, so if you can dig one like this out, you'll be rolling in cash."

He winces at the mention of being hunted for hair and blood, grumbling, "I've heard tales of human hunters who take the pelts of my kind and use them to make luxury rugs. Clothes I can understand, but /rugs/? Killing someone just so you can step on their corpse all day is seriously disrespectful!"

     Diantha laughs a bit and shakes her head. "Where I come from, it's the gnomes and goblins that are really into technology, though there are exceptions in the other races. But it does seem like humans on most worlds are of the technological sort. The poisoning of areas around them is also something I've noticed. As for the rugs, I've seen such on my world and I agree. I prefer a 'rug' of fresh grass anyways." She says with a smile. 

     "So what are you doing out here? Just wandering like me?" She asks before suddenly turning to the west as her tail twitches a bit. "I hear someone coming..." She says with a voice dropped to a whisper. Sure enough from the sound of the footsteps, there was a group heading their way.

     "Huh, gnomes and goblins, those sound familiar..." Drogo remarks as he leans against the tree, casually enjoying this conversation. "Glad to find a kindred spirit, though. It's nothing but humans around here to talk to, at least when it comes to things that aren't food or weather. Hell, even then..."

Diantha mentions someone coming though, and Drogo's ears pick up the sound as well. "What? But I didn't give-" he starts to say, but abruptly cuts himself off and grumbles as he trundles over toward a particularly thick patch of grass, easily tall enough to hide both him and Diantha. Making some sort of agitated gesture with his free paw, he whispers at her to join him, so they can watch what's going on from the safety of the grass. "That sounds like a lot more company than I was expecting today..."

     Diantha was enjoying the conversation as well, happy that Drogo was a somewhat civilized bear and didn't just try to eat her like most bears back home that weren't a shapeshifted druid. However, it doesn't take much convincing to join Drogo in the tall grass, though she does hope they don't accidentally agitate a snake or some such deadly creature hiding in the grass as they go for cover. 

     She then watches as a group of humans who certainly were not trying to be quiet, particularly as they saw that huge bit of technology sticking out of the tree, exclaimed as they had just found a pile of gold. "Oh boy, we really found the big one this time. That'll be worth more than all the rest of our finds so far today combined!" Says one of them, before together with axes and handsaws and pickaxes, they start hacking away at the tree to try and free the tech from the tree, without any apparent care for whether they kill the tree in the process. Diantha holds back and stays with Drogo, but her tail twitches with agitation.

     There was a snake, as it happens, but it just slithers away from all the noise and the two intruders, searching for somewhere more quiet. As the group of men enter the small clearing, Drogo growls quietly and whispers, "As I was saying. I don't take kindly to people digging up /my/ home though, even if it's for piles of cash. Especially my favorite napping tree..."

Before the men can get too much farther with their destruction of the tree, the bear re-emerges from the grass with a jovial tone in his voice as he addresses them. "Ho there, fortune seekers! Before you go taking that machinery, you should know that this land belongs to the Laughing Bear of St. Aimery! That's me, if you couldn't tell." he greets them, then lets out another hearty laugh to demonstrate while planting his club firmly in the ground with a wet THUD.

The rain seems to have stopped entirely now, and sunlight filters through the leaves in green and yellow streams, causing the grass around them all to glitter. Somehow, Drogo seems to have found the perfect spot for maximum accumulation of both effects, making him seem almost magical himself. Now if only his eye weren't slowly reddening with fury...

     Diantha follows Drogo out of the grass, smiling for a moment at how much they agreed that these humans should be stopped, though her expression promptly becomes serious as she regards the humans. She lets Drogo say his piece, as he was doing such a good job as it was, but as she stands next to him and plants her staff upon the ground, she channels a bit of magic into it, causing a yellow glow to appear around the tip. She watches, curious to see what these humans decide to do. 

     They look surprised at the sudden appearance of Drogo and in some ways even more so of Diantha, particularly with her glowing staff. Of course, as there are eight of them, and they are armed with tools that can very easily be used as weapons, they charge at the bear and dryad duo, aiming to hack at them as they were hacking away at the tree just a moment ago. Diantha first casts entangling roots, willing the roots of that very same tree to ensnare a few of the humans, and then she blasts them with a bit of solar magic that had been making her staff glow.

     Drogo glances aside at the staff as it starts glowing, surprised momentarily. "Magic?" he asks, but doesn't get to say anything more before the group of tech hunters charges the two of them, not even bothering with words it seems. "Hmph. Looks like they have more greed than brains. COME ON OUT, BOYS!"

With that mighty roar, the bear swings his club at the ground in front of him, causing it to explode in a shower of dirt and grass, and flinging a couple of the charging men in the air. At the same time, heeding his call, /another/ group of human men with scraggly beards and filthy clothing emerge from the grass, behind trees, among branches, any hiding place that could conceivably hold them. There are somewhere between ten and fifteen of them in all, armed with primitive weapons yet joining the fray as fiercely as Drogo himself, yelling and screaming as they clash with the invaders.

     Diantha blinks and shields her eyes as Drogo's club makes its thunderous impact with the ground. When she pulls her hand away from her eyes to look again, planning to follow up her attack, the tech hunters are already being overwhelmed by the men that heeded Drogo's call. She grins and just watches for the most part, though when one man with a pickaxe is about to swing it at one of Drogo's men, she slings another blast of solar energy toward his hand, causing the man to drop the pickaxe. She turns her gaze back toward Drogo. "Brought friends I see? Also yes, magic. I'm glad you're on my side though, that slam of your club probably would break me in half." She says with a bit of a shudder.

     Drogo gives Diantha a big, toothy grin... and considering he's a bear, that's /quite/ a grin. "Heheh, believe me, I'm going easy on 'em..." he says, then barrels into the fight to ram straight into the guy with the pickaxe, making sure he has a really bad day from the dual-assault. Backhanding another assailant hard enough to send him careening through the air, the bear glances back at Diantha and aks, "Magic is usually the domain of the religious around here. What's your faith?"

     Diantha catches one man with an ax who is dumb enough to try and attack her from behind. She shifts her weight and kicks him square in the belly with both of her rear hooves, then turns around and gives him a nice whack to the head with her staff for good measure. She laughs a bit at Drogo's question about her faith. 

     "Well, not all magic where I come from is tied to religion, mostly holy based magic of priests and paladins. However, you could say that mine is a gift from the goddess as well. You see, the Kaldorei worship Elune, the moon goddess. The first dryad, who goes by Lunara, as the story goes is basically Elune's grandaughter. She doesn't like to talk about it though. I am much younger than she is, but we are all considered 'daughters of Cenarius', who was the son of Elune and a sort of god-like stag. Like I said, it's complicated."

     Drogo picks up another of the attackers and simply hurls him like a sack of potatoes out of the field, then catches another two with his club in a sideways swing with a worryingly audible crunch. "Mm. Sounds complicated. Too complicated to keep up with. We'll just call it the Elune faith, I guess." he responds to Diantha's explanation, then rejoins her side to take a short breather while he lets his own men take over.

"Phew, there seems to be a lot of them here. Must be a rival gang trying to muscle in on my turf- er." he blurts out, then stays awkwardly silent for a few moments before mumbling, "Ignore that. We're definitely not bandits, just peaceful forest dwellers. Ahem-hem. Uh..."

     Diantha grins and nods. "Well it does seem a little strange to say you worship a deity that is an ancestor of you, but I suppose I do follow much of her 'teachings' just as the Kaldorei do." She admits, actually pondering the thought a moment. She then laughs as Drogo tries to backpedal and say that he and his men aren't bandits. 

     "Well, you don't have to be bandits to have territory, and you seem to share a respect for nature as I do. So thus far you seem alright to me." She says with a smile, taking a moment to knock the end of her staff against his club. "In any case, it looks like you and these humans that fight alongside you are more than able to defend said turf."

     Drogo lets out a big sigh of relief as it seems the deer woman has bought his little white lie. "Haha, well, yeah, this place is our home. Someone comes and tries to rough it up, we'll rough 'em up right back. These guys must be new to this area though, if they're gonna be /this/ bold." he says with another wide grin, then barks some advice at one of his men who seems to be having a little trouble. The guy, some scrawny teen by the look of him, shouts back his thanks as he performs a rather ungraceful- yet effective- judo throw on his assailant.

     Diantha watches along with Drogo as his men clean up the remaining tech hunters, of which apparently a few more appeared from out of the woods when they heard the fighting. She is pretty curious of their fighting style, it was interesting to watch even if much of it was not terribly compatible with her body style. "So people don't challenge you and your men like this often? Most of them know to leave you alone? That must be nice. Dryads tend to be fairly peaceful, so some think we won't fight back, but the truth is we will fiercely defend our forests if provoked."

     It looks like the fight's pretty much over as Drogo's men send the invaders packing, and the bear laughs again before nodding to Diantha. "Hahahahaa! Yes, most people know not to mess with us or our turf. And the ones that do..." He gestures toward where one of his men is patting a downed enemy's pockets, then gleefully pulling out a purse full of coin and dancing with it over his head. "They go poor. It's the price they pay for the damages they've caused, heh."

     Diantha laughs along with Drogo, finding his laugh rather infectious. "Well it serves them right, reaping their riches off such greed and destruction. I generally didn't have much need for money until I started traveling the world tree. I have found it can be quite useful when in strange lands, particularly where food is more scarce. Speaking of food, that fight sort of worked up my appetite. I'd ask if you know any good place to eat, but I doubt we share the same taste in food as I don't eat meat."

     Leaving his men to their work, Drogo plants his club in the ground and leans on it, nodding. "Yeah, we usually spend this money over in St. Aimery. It's a pretty small town, but good people there. I mean sometimes I get a little too drunk and trash the place, but the money helps with that too, hahaha!" As Diantha mentions food, the bear's stomach rumbles and he sheepishly admits, "Actually, I'm hungry too. I guess we can buy something to eat in town with the haul we got here, and maybe a drink or two. Don't gotta worry about the selection either, they've got a booming farm business going. In fact, I know this great bar we can hit up..."

     "Oh, that sounds nice." Diantha says with a smile. A small town with good people was much less intimidating than a huge city with far too many people and more enclosed buildings than she could count. "I don't think I've ever been to a bar to tell you the truth, I'm honestly not quite sure how people would react if I went to one back home. I guess the humans and dwarves would likely be surprised to see a dryad in a city, much less a bar. But anyway, if they have food we can both eat, then by all means, lead the way my ursine friend. Oh, and I'm not sure if I ever gave you my name, though I meant to earlier. I'm Diantha Windsong."

     "It's pretty nice!" Drogo agrees, picking up his club and slinging it over his shoulder again as he starts to tromp off away from the battlefield, the wet grass squishing under his feet. He gives her an odd look at the mention of dwarves though. "Are short people not considered humans where you come from? I am a little confused." Then, as she introduces herself, he blushes in embarrassment as he realizes he hasn't done the same. "Haha! Oh, I'm so sorry. My name is Drogo Peaudouce! I should have said earlier as well. Since you're new around here, I'll pay for your food and drink, Ms. Windsong. It's the least I can do after the help you've given us here, hahaha!"

And to think, she'd come so close to being robbed, too... not that she needs to know.

     Diantha laughs at the question about short people not being human. "Well no, they're not just short humans. They are a totally different race of people that live in the mountains and from what I've been told, they were derived from a race called the earthen, who were creatures of living stone. They are taller than gnomes, but shorter than humans, and much more stout and muscled. Anyway, it is a pleasure to meet you Drogo, and I appreciate the offer to cover my meal."