Micky grew enraged and [Enraged] over seeing Squishy get smashed aside like that. He turned to see the blur pass by him. He couldn’t see what it was, but he was pretty sure it was a who, not what. The blur disappeared into the shadows melting away from sight. But this was no normal disappearance it was a [Skill]. This furthered Micky’s impression that this was a person attacking him, but he did not know why.

Mags screamed into the woods, but it didn’t help. Whatever was attacking him was not going to take the simple provocation of a monster. Micky turned at a noise and then it struck mags behind the head. As Mags fell Micky screamed again. He charged it, her, and smashed her down. She rasied her white hand in front of her face as Micky [Error] sliced through her arm.

The [Error] hit Micky and he paused, it was too long. She ran past his guard and smacked him across the face and he blacked out.

Pagebreak

Micky groggily woke up to a glowing campfire. He found himself untied and not under duress, though his clothes seemed to be more scruched up then he remembered. Micky remembered Squishy and Mags. They were alive, but not ok. Mags was simply unconscious, knocked out from the blow to the head. Squishy however, was still reforming. He outer memberain had ripped and she was losing slime as she was regaining integrity. Micky ignored the irregularities and immediately went to find Squishy. He was relieved that she was ok for now. He decided to put her into his sack he kept on his back, gently. He also gathered up as much splattered slime, good and litter as he could find to help her regenerate. He didn’t know where his potions were, he would have to find them.

He went over to mags only to only to find that he had been ignoring his ‘guest’ for a while now. This left him feeling awkward and vulnerable, though he didn’t know which one to truly feel right about now. He turned to see that she had been roasting what looked like a giant chicken wing over the fire. He didn’t know what to make of it. Where had she gotten a bird creature like that, and why would she be eating a bird creatures wing?

The reason Micky was feeling so surreal about her eating wings was because the creature that had attacked him, because he could get a good view of it now, was some type of bird kin. It was not abnormal, but it was kind of like humans eating primates, just strange. She was short, squat really, only about half Micky’s height if that. She had a figure though. It had the right curves and proportions, but it was squashed down onto her short frame. She had a duckbill and green feathers running down the back of her head in a sort of short mohawk, but the sides of her head were completely lacking in feathers. She had human, or well a dwarven face otherwise. Her arms, arm, was a bird wing… about the size of the wing that was currently roasting on the fire. Micky suddenly had a feeling of where the wing had come from.

Micky cleared his throat before asking the obvious. “*Cough*, so… why did you attack me?” He said to the silence, the silence did not answer him.

“You were so aggressive before, and you did this to Squishy and Mags. Yet you build a campfire and leave me here unattended, and untied up? And what the heck are you doing with your own freaking arm?! What the hell! Just… just what is going on?...” Micky started out strong working himself up, but then he quietened down. It was obvious that this shadow, assissen person could have killed him instantly. She had been playing with him, or at least intent on capturing him, but he knew not to what ends. And what the hell was she doing cooking her own arm? Was she cremating it? Then why did it smell so good. Obviously, she put spices on it. If he didn’t receive an answer he might never be able to eat chicken, or birds again.

She just sat there and stirred the fire some more. She was obviously thinking what to say, and Micky was not helping, getting antsier as time passed. “I had planned this out so many times you know? I, I give you this sacrifice. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go? I wasn’t supposed to actually lose and arm either...” She said.

“Sacrifice? You can’t possibly expect me to eat that? And where the heck is all my stuff? Where are my potions? I always had potion… Shurely not all of them could have smashed, I keep most of them in glass to preserve them but I have some dry potions and a water skin for a reason!” He said. She pointed over to his bags laying beside Mags. They were the same color as her fur so they blended in, though that’s not really an excuse. Had he paid attention to Mags like his original intention he would have noticed them by now… Nobody ever called Micky observant though…

Micky quickly found his potions and they were all actually fine save for one. He was about to get mad, but he remembered that the one that was broken was because he tripped and fell and had nothing to do with the fight. He was still mad though, but for completely different and currently undefined reasons. He would figure those out when he tabulated them later.

Micky fed a potion to his favorite pet slime. It wouldn’t do as much for slimes as they were not humanoid, but it would still help as some of the low tiered healing came form magic and not the herbs themselves. After that he figured that it would be best to feed Mags a potion when she woke up, he didn’t want to choke her. He did apply some potion to the back of her head, carefully. It wouldn’t be as effective as drinking it, but it would be more concentrated.

Having done the best he could for his [Bond]s for the moment he turned back to the problem at hand, or maybe the problem hand. “Seriously, what is with the hand, arm, thing?” Said Micky.

“I told you, I give you sacrifice. It is for you to consume, as the winner.” Said the duck person.

“I’m not eating that, that’s disgusting!” Said Micky.

“Then I will just have to eat it myself! Not like that’s anything new...” Said the duck person.

Micky considered having to watch that and realized that may actually be worse. Then he realized that he didn’t know her name and it would be a good way to change the subject. “What is your name anyway, and do I really have to eat your hand?” He said.

“I am called green speckled eggs, but you may call me KuxCwaque, or Kux if you prefer. And would you turn down a lizardman’s tail if they presented it to you?” Said Kux.

Micky considered that for a moment. He knew that lizardmen presented their tails as a sign of humility to those they negotiated with. It was a sign of great respect and humility for them to present their tail to the other party. It was also a great dishonor for them to go home “Eating their own tail”. He realized that he would need to eat a lizardman’s tail, thankfully not raw as they didn’t mind you cooking it, supposedly it was actually a delicacy though he didn’t see the appeal, and he realized he was going to need to eat the arm.

“If it bothers you I regenerate them like a lizardman. When we lose them it is best to consume them for the nutrients, and we also go into a state of great hunger to regenerate them. We can stave off the hunger with stamina and nutrient potions though. Luckily it will only take a few days. I also won’t force you to eat the bones either, whatever you don’t want I can eat.” Said Kux. Sure enough her arm was already regenerating. A small bird wing was poking out from her shoulder. Micky had assumed it was just the stub from where he cut through, he had [Error]ed to achieve it afterall. Micky wasn’t really comforted by her statement either.

He took a bite from the presented ‘Chicken wing’ and was disgusted to find that it was absolutely delicious. It was juicy and had fats and spicy he could sink his teeth into. It annoyed him to no end. He quickly took a few bites and returned to travel rations.