It didn't take Alyx long to find both the [Lance of the moon] and S.A.A.T. The two items hadn't fallen very far from one another, and the shallow water next to the temple was clear enough to make finding them a relatively simple process of remembering where he dropped them.

You dropped me! In a lake! Don't do that! Do you have any idea how many spirits of intellect get lost forever because they fell into some obscure crack in the world, and no one bothered to recover them?!

"Relax, S.A.A.T. I'm sure the elves who were attempting to murder me at the time would have recovered you. Or did you not realize I was fighting for my life?

Y-yes well, I suppose I can overlook a simple case of the butterfingers once in a while. You simply must understand my worry, though, yes? I'd be doomed, trapped forever under the mud of all things.

"Sure, S.A.A.T. I'll keep you in my thoughts next time," Alyx replied with only a little sarcasm. His thoughts turned more toward the two elves who had attacked them.

The lance once more slung over his shoulder and dagger in hand, Alyx returned to his default form, which was, of course, no longer human. Slightly taller now at five foot eight inches tall, with the grey skin of a Draugr, long pointed ears, and black sclera and teal iris. He looked a little bit weird in his own opinion. Not that it mattered really, he was a changeling now. Alyx could look however he wanted.

He approached where he left Julius to find Andrea had left the area, abandoning Julius to his fate. "Well, bud, it's just you and me now, come on, upsy daisy." Hoisting Julius onto his shoulder, Alyx began walking into the forest, unsure where he was going. But it was decidedly in the opposite direction of the elven village.

Alyx's shape-shifted slightly, the color of his skin and eyes changing to a more normal color, and his body became slightly more lithe, hoping to pass for an elf this time if he found his way into the path of more elves.

Julius didn't wake till nightfall. In fact, he had been so still on Alyx's shoulder that Alyx stopped several times to make sure the elf had not died. When he finally came around, Alyx was just starting a fire, having used a tinder box he found in one of the elf's pouches.

"W-what? What happened?"

Despite his initial stutter, as Julius looked around and caught sight of Alyx, his gaze seemed focused." Ah, I take it you defeated us. Is...is Andrea alive?" Julius's voice gave credence to his worry, the ordinarily stoic elf letting a little emotion drip through.

Alyx gave the elf a nod as he stood up from the fire and walked over to the [Lance of the Moon], not pointing it at Julius but holding it ready just in case.

"Yeah, she's alive. Probably should have killed her. But the fight was effectively over once I knocked you out. My thoughts on only killing in self-defense aside, as I realize that may be a fool's philosophy in this place. You have something I want. If you can answer my questions, I'm going to let you live. Even though, and I can not stress this enough, I should not let you leave here alive. You have assaulted me, kidnapped me, forced me into a life or death scenario, betrayed me, and attempted to kill me."

Alyx let his little speech drift off into silence for a moment listening to the crackle of the fire. "The reason you shouldn't be left alive isn't personal, by the way, it's just apparent that you can and likely will do this kind of thing again. Probably to the next poor stiff who wanders into your forest by accident."

Shaking off his growing anger and the urge to hit his captive, Alyx tossed Julius a stick.

"I need a map of the area. I want out of this forest and away from your people."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julius caught the stick out of the air with nimble fingers. Almost as if he wasn't suffering from a concussion and the worst headache of his life. He starred at Alyx for a few moments, trying to gauge whether or not it was better to help him or to die at his hands. Finally, concluding that putting this shifter farther away from his people could only be for the best.

Julius wasn't exactly an artist, but he had a steady hand and decent knowledge of his home's geography. So it didn't take him too long to draw a rudimentary map of the forest and the surrounding nations.

Still holding onto the holy artifact of his people, the [Lance of the moon], the shifter Alyx used it to point at the kingdom east of the forest.

"Tell me about this one?" It was a question, not a demand. Which made it rather evident to Julius that Alyx wasn't used to being in charge, let alone having a hostage. But he'd seen the shifters speed first hand, and having been knocked unconscious in a single blow, wasn't about to call him on it.

"That is the kingdom of Lyria, the largest of our neighbors. It is mostly plains, filled with crops and cattle. Lyria is known as the land of milk and honey because of how easy it is to cultivate crops."

Alyx nodded but frowned, clearly wanting more information. "What can you tell me about their culture or system of government? What races do they allow? Oh, and are adventurers and adventures guilds a thing in any of these kingdoms?

"Julius almost laughed. Somehow Alyx didn't know anything about the world outside the forest. 'How did this person even end up near the village in the first place?' Julius thought to himself.

"Lyria is a theocracy, run by the churches of the Gods, War, knowledge, civilization, and Honor. They abhor mental magics such as telepathy and the like. I've no idea what races they allow, indeed not elves. As for Adventurers, yes, there is a guild present in most kingdoms." Julius only knew that from the badges he had collected off the corpses of those who had wandered too far into the forest. But he felt like mentioning that part might lessen his chances of being let go.

"What about the other two territories you drew?" Alyx asked as he crouched down over the map, looking at it carefully.

"To the north is Volodunct. A mountainous land that Draconians rule, they are said to be the spawn of dragons. And they certainly seem as such with both wings and breath weapon. They are masterful merchants, willing to trade even with us elves. I don't know their governance system per se, but it is rumored to be ruled by a council of elder dragons. I can tell you they do at least have an adventurers guild."

"And to the west, we have Sitharian, the home of the dwarves. Or at the very least, the entrance to it. Two grand stone doors and a great many guards block the passage down. Though dwarves seem free to come and go, the cost of entry into their underground home is an excessive 100 gold per level of the person entering. Beyond that, I know little of them. Rarely do they bother to come to the surface in great number, and I am told even then it is only to defend their territory."

Alyx, of all things, looked excited by this information. As if the idea of draconian and dwarves had sparked some imagination or whimsy in the shifter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Fuck yes, dragons. I want to be a dragon. I'll need to find an evil one first. And get more powerful forms, probably going to want another class evolution. Maybe even go up another tier just in case. I mean, they are fucking dragons.' Thoughts having gone into full-on A.D.H.D. Mode Alyx had to ask Julius to repeat himself when it came to the dwarven kingdom.

"Alright, I think I get the gist of the local. Kingdoms, none seem that bad to me, but then again, I'm not in a bloody war with humanity. Well, that about sums up the information I needed out of you, Julius. I can get information on good places to hunt monsters from the adventurers guild in Lyria."

Stepping forward, Alyx shifted his form, forsaking the crinos wolf form to become a crinos Owlbear instead. Slower but oh so much more powerful. Alyx grabbed Julius's hands and wrists in his massive paws and squeezed. The elf's hands shattered in Alyx's grip, the snapping of bones making small popping sounds that were soon drowned out by Julius's screams. When Alyx released the elf's hands and stepped back, they had been destroyed, hopefully, beyond repair.

Shifting back into his Changeling form as Julius curled up in a crouch over his ruined hands, Alyx stood over the man and then stepped back, shaking his head.

"Now you can't hurt people anymore. If they have a way to heal your hands after what I've done to them, and I find out your murdering people in this forest for no reason, I'll come back, Julius. And next time, I will kill you."

Julius only let out a groan of pain in reply, still surprisingly stoic despite his shattered hands. Alyx sighed, being squeamish about the whole thing and hating himself for having done it. But he just could not leave Julius able to go back to murdering people at random in good conscience. If anything, he wished he had taken the opportunity to do the same thing to Andrea.

Turning to the east, Alyx changed his shape yet again, taking the true shape of his lunar wolf form for the first time. His clothing and gear, the dagger and lance seemed to meld with his form. It seemed so long as he didn't have hands to hold anything with the items he was carrying would just fuse with him. As he found himself Falling forward as his legs twisted and changed, he caught himself not with his hands but his forepaws and took a moment to shake out his new fur coat before padding off into the forest, leaving Julius alone by the fire.

The elves more or less dealt with or at the very least no longer a constant obstacle in his way. Alyx took up a swift loping pace through the forest. Able to run at a comfortable 25 miles per hour without really tiring, Alyx began to actually think about what he was going to do with himself in this world.

First and foremost, Alyx wanted more forms. Shape-shifting was fun and could allow him to do all sorts of things; he never could with just a human body. To do that, joining the adventures guild in Lyria seems like the best bet, so long as he avoided the churches, he should be alright. Besides, he only had one god that had earned a place on his' I'm going to fucking eat you' list.

More'noctum Goddess of death, at least he was shooting for the stars.

Alyx grew himself a proper set of vocal cords and changed his muzzle's shape so he could talk as he loped through the moonlit forest. "Hey S.A.A.T, any good recommendations on flying and burrowing forms? I was thinking a drake or a wyvern personally for flying, and maybe a bullet aka the mighty land shark for my burrowing form."

One moment as I pull up their files. DEE DEE DONK DEE DEE DONK doo doo doo. Ah yes, Drakes, elementally attuned dragon spawn, two great leathery wings, long necks and tail, taloned feet on powerful rear legs. Oh, and let us not forget the breath weapon. They would make an excellent flying form. However, I recommend you get something smaller as well. Perhaps a Wind Hawk for speed, something you could use to dive between the branches of trees when trying to escape a foe more powerful than yourself.

"Hmmm, alright, that makes sense. So far, most of my options involve face checking my opponents with little ability to escape if things go wrong."

A common weakness of classes with regeneration is that they often build themselves as a powerful solo, and in doing so, tend to lack escape mechanisms.

A Bullet is a good choice for the burrowing form, but not, in my opinion, the best one. Several insectoid forms burrow quite swiftly and spawn drones to take down opponents. Should you get a chimeric evolutionary option that could prove quite decisive in combat.

"Speaking of Chimeras, add them to the list too. That's a must-have. Not sure how I feel about insects, but everybody who's seen starship troopers knows you don't mess with the bugs!"

Your pop-culture references aside, I must ask, do you want a manticore or the goat, dragon, lion-headed chimera with a snake for a tail. Both qualify as a chimera.

"Both is good, but honestly, whichever one we find first will probably be what I go with. Any recommendations? I mean beyond what's been given so far."

Unce Unce Unce Unce, welcome to hip hop party pop. We are going to jam while S.A.A.T. Files load! Ah, here we are. If this world has them, I would like to recommend the cockatrice, a chicken that can turn people to stone with a peck of its beak!

Alyx was fairly certain that S.A.A.T "Pfft, a chicken? Who'd beware of a Chicken?"