Weathering the Storm of Life

[Tobias Stalt]

In the distance, thunder cracked and brilliant flashes painted the black clouds for seconds at a time. The telltale raindrops began to patter at his feet as he walked, and Tobias took a moment to glance about for shelter. It had been several miles since he crossed the border into Concordia, but his directions had begun to fail him. "At the first copse of trees where the path splits..." he thought absently aloud, then hissed out a heavy sigh. "Bury these directions," he cursed. "I don't know up from down in a forest like this. 'Copse of trees,' she said. What the bloody hell is a copse!?"

His discontentment subsided into a muttered laundry list as he progressed, careful to stay toward the middle of the path. Tree branches overhead invited lightning strikes, he well knew, and he preferred not to be a primary target for nature's wrath. Those hellish clouds had rolled in faster than he liked, but the rain was still relatively light. "I wonder if there's shelter close by," he stated. He looked in either direction, but saw only the lush greenery indigenous to the forest. "Of course not," he chuckled.

Tobias had been victim to enough bad luck in his life that he could simply laugh at it now. "I suppose if I just follow the path, I'll end up somewhere. Somewhere beats nowhere, and at least someone can give me directions." It was a crude method, but effective. His priority was not to find any specific place, but to avoid calling attention to himself. The Concordian wilds suited his purposes just fine for that. If the Crimson Hand sent someone for him in this place, they would lose weeks at the very least in the effort.

His glanced over a deer in the distance, spooked more by thunder than his presence. If he had a bow, he would have hunted and supped on proper meat that night. As it stood, he deferred to his knowledge of edible flora (which was, admittedly, limited) to procure a meal of small mushrooms. Their taste was bland more than anything, and the texture less than appetizing. If nothing else, the meal dissuaded him from thoughts of eating any more.

The rain had broken into a downpour now, and Tobias let his hood keep the water from his face as he lit his pipe and sat on a rock beside the path. "Less than a day's trip into the forest," he mused, "and I already hate living like this. Doesn't bode well for me," he laughed. It was a stunning truth, though. He was a competent survivor, but he was miserable at every turn. He needed to turn his back on that lifestyle if he hoped to survive the coming trials.

He blew a plume of smoke off his tongue and closed his eyes. When nightfall came, he would sleep. In the morning, he would teach himself to adapt to this environment. He needed to blend, and if necessary, to employ the art of surprise. His enemy was dreadfully better at disguise and infiltration than he was. He doubted, however, that they would fare as well if the odds were evened.

When the rain stopped, Tobias hoisted his soaked cloak over a branch to dry. He followed with his tattered uniform, right down to his smallclothes, then sat once more on the rock. It seemed few people took this path through the forest, evinced by overgrowth on the sign that marked his next destination. Many miles in the distance, a township would offer him a warm bed and a hot meal. Before that, though, he would need to survive the night.

Tobias welcomed the challenge.

[Tobias Stalt]

Dawn broke through the trees with uncaring swiftness. The heat pricked Tobias' into wakefulness, and when his eyes opened, he pulled the cloak from over his body. The dirt provided little comfort for sleeping, but he had made do. When he draped the cloak over his shoulders once more, Tobias glanced up at the cloudless sky and smiled. "Good morning," he said to himself. It was the kindest interaction he would get for some time.

Awkwardly, he hefted himself into a tree next to him, and he began to climb gracelessly. The presumption he made was that he would gain a better view from the canopy, and perhaps he would be able to get his bearings. Generally Tobias preferred to make his plans ahead of time, but he was learning to adapt on the fly. He hoped that this exercise would give him an idea of which way to go.

At the top of the tree, he felt as though he could see the entire world. Corone was vast, and the sea of trees that was Concordia was all the more impressive for it. He saw the outline of buildings that blended almost perfectly into the tree line, and he knew where he needed to go. "Two days walk," he mused aloud, "maybe more, maybe less. No telling what sort of dangers line the path."

Navigating the branches proved a test of not only skill, but endurance as well. As he descended, Tobias acutely noticed that many of the trees intersected one another, and a masterful climber might be able to walk along them without ever touching the forest floor. It was beyond his own abilities, he was certain, but it made him wonder whether he was the first to have the idea. Marks along the branches confirmed to him that this was not the case. Carvings that looked almost primitive depicted directions for moving to some destination, and Tobias assumed from what he had seen that they meant the town ahead of him. "Concordia is home to the Rangers of Corone," he recalled, "this may be one of their pathways."

The Rangers were elite woodsmen, so the concept of tree to tree movement did not seem at all farfetched to Tobias. He took a careful step and balanced himself with a hand against the limb. He could feel the fear of falling in his brain more than anything else. "Concentrate," he said, and he took another step. He still shook, but this time, he moved a bit quicker.

He jerked to the left on his next step, and both his hands flew to the branch. "Gods below," he cursed breathlessly. Balance like this took practice. The speed would come with time, and the agility with it. He had resolved to master this art of movement before he made it to the next town. After all, he had all the time in the world.

[Tobias Stalt]

"W-woaaaaaahhhhhh!" Tobias let out a cry as he fell without grace from the branches. The ground was as hard the sixtieth time as it had been the first, but now, his hands were bloody and his bones ached. "Bury me," he hissed as he forced himself once more toward the tree. Stinging pain bit at his palms when he clenched the bark, and the rough surface offered him no reprieve. "I will get the hang of this," he vowed, and he slowly scaled the tree for the umpteenth time.

Balance on the limbs had gotten simple. When he stepped up once more, he stood without much issue, and he surveyed the forest floor below him. This, at least, he had learned to do from having to relax. His muscles had a hard time adjusting to holding up his weight over a smaller surface area. It required him to distribute his body weight in very precise ways. The added mass of his weapons seemed negligible, thankfully, due mostly to the hearty nature of the Concordian forest. Its larger trees were ancient, thus extremely durable.

When he moved at walking speed- except when he did so for long intervals- his balance seemed normal. He attempted short bouts of running, but never for more than a few yards. Tobias had become used to catching himself when he fell either with his hands, or in more drastic cases, with one of his daggers.

He had come some twenty miles from where he began his personal training when he finally felt the pangs of hunger. "Bah," he said as he placed a hand on his stomach. "I can't eat any more mushrooms. I'll starve if I can't get to that town tonight."

Tobias knew that such a feat was beyond him. The town was at least another day out, and he lacked the energy to push for that long. "I should have taken the shorter route," he said. "Bugger it all!" There was a scuffle in the brush below, and several birds took fearful flight when he cried out. A frustrated sigh escaped him.

He continued along the path for several hours, careful to watch everything beneath him. Thus far, there had been no sign of another human (or humanoid), but he was more thankful for that than annoyed. He skimmed the deeper areas of the forest for movement. When his eyes found another deer, Tobias smiled a devilish smile.

It was time to hunt.