Upon waking, Richter quickly obtained his 25% XP buff from the Pool and left the glade. He decided not to place the points of his new level in any one area until he knew more about the world around him. He also decided that he would follow a small river that he had crossed yesterday. With his stomach rumbling, he wished he could have cooked the animals that he had killed. Since he lacked the ability to make a fire though, he had simply tossed the carcasses a small distance from the glen for the local wildlife to consume. His hunger had not gotten to the point of eating raw meat. Getting the trots from some weird, alien bacterial infection was most definitely not on his to-do list. After collecting and cleaning them, he left the pelts to dry on a rock outside of the glade, in full view of the sun.

Making his way to the river, he quickly started walking upriver. It wasn’t overly large at this point, only about a dozen yards across. After about half an hour of walking, he found a bush with large bluish berries. Hunger outweighing caution, he took a handful, and placed them in his mouth. Upon swallowing he received the notification.

You have eaten Blue Forest Berries. Concentration increased by 5% for the next four hours.

He quickly placed another handful in his mouth, hoping for a cumulative bonus. Nothing. Well, he thought, that would have been the cheat to end all cheats. Watch out dragons, I have a magic bush! Chuckling at his awesome joke, he kept moving. He didn’t really notice any kind of difference, but what would an increase in concentration feel like anyway? Richter was sure that a couple of his ex-girlfriends might be able to tell him, but they were all in another world now, so who cared? With the edge taken off of his hunger, he continued walking forward.

Keeping an eye out for small game, he killed three more foxes until he heard the voices. At first he had mistaken them for bird song, but the more he listened, the more he could make out faint words being spoken ahead of him.

“Get ready.”

“I’ve been ready. I’m always ready!”

“Quiet now, he’s almost here. We need to stun him so he can be questioned.”

“I know what we need to do!”

“Quit arguing,” a third voice said sternly.

Not quite believing that he was hearing an argument about what he was pretty sure was an impending attack on him, Richter stopped walking.

“Why did he stop walking?”

“How should I know?

“I didn’t think you would know! I was just wondering out loud!”

“As opposed to wondering in quiet? That would be better.”

“Shut up! Should we just attack him?”

“Yeah, let’s attack!”

Still feeling that he was being punked in some way until that last musical statement, he quickly shouted, “Wait!”

Suddenly all was quiet.

Slowly backing up, Richter cast his gaze around, looking for the speakers. He didn’t see anything though. Either way, downriver was suddenly looking like a much better option. He was backing up until he heard a musical voice behind him.

“How do you know what we are saying? Humans never know what we are saying. Even most elves don’t know sprite speak.”

Quickly turning around, he saw nothing except the scrub hugging the banks of the river.

“I asked, how do you know what I am saying?”

The voice came from the bush directly in front of him. As he focused, it seemed that the air blurred in front of him, and the leaves became green clothing for a small man. He stood three and a half feet tall. He had an almost childlike smoothness to his olive skin. The features were Asian in appearance, and the eyes had no whites. They reminded Richter of an owl’s eyes, all bright color and pupil. What really captivated his attention however, was the fully drawn bow pointing at his face.

“He can’t understand us. Let’s just kill him and be done with it,” Richter heard from behind him.

“No! I can understand you! I’m sorry if I trespassed into your territory. I’m new to this world, and I’m just trying to survive!” Richter finally heard himself after the long statement. He was speaking in the same melodic language as the small man in front of him.

The arrow still pointed at Richter’s face, the creature in front of him said, “We have never found a human that understood us before.” Silence reigned for a short while. “We will take him to the Hearth Mother.” Staring Richter in the eye, the small man lowered his voice menacingly, at least Richter thought it was supposed to be menacing; hard to tell since it all sounded like bird song. “Don’t think we can’t hurt you. We may be smaller than you, but believe me when I tell you that we know how to defend ourselves. Show him!”

And with that statement, a small blue blur flew by the right of Richter’s head and struck a fallen log in the river with a large bang! Wood chips and splinters flew in all directions, and Richter quickly covered his eyes and turned away.

“That was only one arrow,” the small man warned menacingly, “and you will never see the next one coming!”

“I understand,” Richter said to the Napoleonic figure in front of him. “You’re in charge.”

“Don’t forget it, human. Now turn around and keep walking.”

Richter continued moving forward along the bank. The two unseen sprites kept up their conversation, a near constant bickering taking place in front of him. Looking back, he could just make out the form of the small creature behind him, bow no longer drawn but arrow still nocked.

After several hours of walking, there was a break in the forest canopy. Richter could see that the sun was more than halfway across the sky. The trees suddenly parted to reveal a large meadow with golden, waist-high grass. A humongous hardwood was situated in the middle of the shining sea. Richter hadn’t even thought it was possible for a tree to grow so large. It was easily the size of a forty story apartment building, massively dwarfing all other trees in the forest. The river continued along several hundred yards to the right of the golden meadow. The river Richter had initially been following had apparently been only a side channel. It had joined another, larger branch, which they had continued to follow upstream. Though the river was not far away, enough trees had been in the way that he hadn’t been able to see the meadow or the huge tree in the middle until he was almost on top of them.

“Stop, human,” the creature behind him ordered. Speaking in a more normal voice he said to the others, “Go ahead and tell the elders what we found. We need to see the Hearth Mother. No stopping for grog or gossip!”

Still grumbling, the voices grew fainter as the others went off. Richter still couldn’t catch sight of them, but he thought he detected two small parts in the sea of grass ahead of him moving towards the giant tree.

Richter did not have to wait long for a response.

The limbs of the tree rustled as if in a strong wind, although the grass in front of him did not move. Suddenly, a four-foot-tall woman appeared. Wild red hair was bound up in a nest above her burnished olive skin. A stern mouth sat beneath bright green eyes studying him with obvious intelligence.

“Well met, traveler,” she said in a smooth melodic voice. “You stand before the Hearth Tree of the Wood Sprites of Nadria. I am the Hearth Mother, protector of our people and keeper of our secrets. I am known as Hisako. What may we call you?”

“Richter. I am pleased to meet you,” he said respectfully.

She looked at him, nodding slightly to accept the respect paid. “Never before have one of the tall folk seen our home and lived, and yet, you speak our language and do not… feel like other humans. Why is this?”

“I am not from here. My home is called Earth. Specifically, ATL, Georgia shawty! No…?” Richter heard crickets. “Okay then,” he gave a nervous laugh. Nothing like having a four-foot-tall Celtic druid appear in front of you to knock you off your game. It also doesn’t help when she insinuates that you won’t make it out of here alive. If the pain that horrid wasp had caused him was any indication, then he wanted no part of those mini missiles the sprites seemed to be able to fire.

“Hmmm, Richter of Georgia.” She said, tasting his name. “Very well. I sense no evil in you, though I also sense little good. You seem to be a blank slate somehow,” she said speculatively as she continued to gaze at him. “I will give you the opportunity to prove yourself. The forest wolves have been encroaching on our territory of late. They all seem sickened somehow. If you cull their numbers, we will allow you to keep your life. We might even find more use for you than simply watering the roots of the Hearth Tree.”

You have been offered a Quest: Cleanse the Forest I. Diseased animals have been threatening the wellbeing of the wood sprites. Kill five wolves to show that you can be relied upon. Reward: Safe passage through the lands of the Wood Sprites of the Forest of Nadria. Yes or No?

Somehow he was sure that “watering the roots” didn’t mean setting up a crude irrigation system.

“I accept,” he said.

“We will observe you on your task. Do not attempt to leave the forest,” she warned.

“I do have one issue though,” Richter said hesitantly. “I only have three arrows left and little other gear to speak of.” The other arrows had been lost or broken during his day of hunting.

She gave a short, melodic laugh, “Always true of a human, looking to take as much as you can. So be it. Accept this gift of the wood sprites.” She then closed her eyes and began to chant softly as a green glow surrounded her. Only a few seconds later, she held in her hands human-sized arrows of dark wood with green tendrils tracing down the shaft.

You have been given: Sprite Arrows of Nature. Quantity 20. Durability 4/4. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Accuracy +1. Damage +1.

Now that’s an upgrade, he thought with a smile. “Let’s go hunt some wolves!”

Link two independent clauses to connect closely related ideas.

implied [it was]