First Encounters

There was a monster camp southeast of the cabin. Emmet had spotted them while scouting after first light. When he reported back, the rest of the group joined him in checking it out.

"There's four of them," Noah said, observing the camp from a distance. "That probably means we're in the outskirts of the dungeon. If we were farther away, they'd only show up solo or in pairs."

Emmet whispered, "It's no longer possible to determine the direction of a dungeon based on the layout of generated structures. They added more randomness to the algorithm in the Steel and Soul update. But it's likely to be South of here, towards the valley between those peaks. I saw more movement that way when I was scouting."

Sawyer tilted his head and squinted. "Uh, what are they?"

The monsters in the camp looked like giant birds. They were tall, skinny, vaguely humanoid, but with bright orange wings tucked against their bodies, huge eyes and long bony bird legs.

"Squawkers," Noah said. "They're bird-kin. Sort of like flying goblins. They can't fly indefinitely, but they can cross distances in no time flat. If one sees you, they all rush. We'll have to play it stealthy so we don't end up fighting them all at once."

"Couldn't we just go around? Like bypass them completely and go straight for the dungeon?"

"Hold thy tongue," Mark said, "There's an adventure to be had here! Besides, there's loot in that camp, and we aren't geared-up enough for the dungeon methinks!"

"He's right," Noah said, "We should take this chance while we have it. Emmet and Mark, you go around the east side, I'll take Sawyer on the west. If we can split them to take two each, that would be ideal."

"W-wait," Emmet said, "I don't have ammunition for my weapon. Wouldn't it be better for me to stick with you, Noah, and Sawyer take his Barbie umbrella and go with Mark? You do have the best weapon of all of us right now."

Noah thought for a moment and seemed to come to the same conclusion. "That does make sense... Alright, yeah. That's a better distribution of resources. Sawyer, go with Mark. Emmet and I will take the west."

Sawyer was a little annoyed that 'Barbie umbrella' was allowed to go uncontested, but he guessed the potential loot was more important than his pride at the moment.

The monster camp was just three makeshift tents with a crude wooden wall built around them. There was one entrance on either side of the encampment, and each team took position behind the wall, waiting to ambush as soon as they got the chance. Mark leaned over, waiting with bated breath while Sawyer did the same, clutching his umbrella.

Finally, they saw Noah's saber wave on the other side, flashing in the light.

At once, both teams rushed into the open, yelling. The squawkers turned, caught off-guard and confused just as they'd planned. They dashed in different directions, just as Noah had hoped.

Unfortunately, three of them went towards Mark and Sawyer while only one went after Noah and Emmet.

"Ah, fuck!" Mark said, breaking character for the first time. He brought his axe up and screamed, waving it around wildly. The birds were on them in a second. Noah hadn't been kidding when he said they could cross distances. They glided across the ground with great flaps of their wings and shot towards their prey with a burst of wind launching them forward.

Mark's axe cleaved some feathers off of one, but another dug its talons into his leg. He bellowed, and Sawyer would have gone to help, except the third cut him off before he could even move.

Sawyer gasped and fell back, holding his umbrella up like a spear in front of him. It spread out on its own, opening to block the bird's beak as it pecked viciously at him. He kicked at the beast's legs, but it stepped back and forth, bouncing around nimbly to try to get to him.

There was chaos as the party fought. Sawyer couldn't see what was happening but he could hear all three of his companions yelling along with the screeching of the bird-folk.

It was all he could do to watch the bird's feet and move the umbrella around to block it and keep it from pecking it slashing at him. He felt like a coward on his back hiding behind his weapon, but there was nothing he could do. If he closed it for even a moment the bird would be on him like micro transactions on a mobile game.

He grit his teeth and held tight to the umbrella, but his hands felt slick after a while and his grip began to loosen.

Just when he was about to lose it, Sawyer heard a scuffle, footsteps, and finally the monster attacking him let out one last horrendous squawk, and exploded into dust.

He took down his umbrella and saw Noah holding his saber, and Mark and Emmet behind him panting.

"GG, guys," Noah said, "That was a little tricky, but... loot's ours now!"

Noah helped Sawyer up, and the team went about raiding the contents of the encampment.

Altogether, they found some more leather armor, a wooden sword, a healing potion, and a wooden shield. Mark got the leather armor, and Emmet took the wooden sword and shield since Sawyer's umbrella had good defense already.

"What's this?" Sawyer asked picking up a strange token from inside the last chest they found. It was a blank token with a picture of a wig on it.

"That is a hairstyle," Emmet informed. "It changes your cosmetic appearance instantly."

Noah looked at the token and said, "Hey, it has a stat attached to it! Plus one Strength. That's basically free DPS unless you choose a different style override later. It doesn't even take up an armor slot. Nice find!"

"Really?" Sawyer rolled the token over in his hand. Every point in a stat was significant. Even just one could make a difference in a fight, especially early on. He didn't want to be useless again, so there was no reason not to. He made the mental gesture to redeem the token. It disappeared from his hand and he felt a rush of wind from below him.

As soon as the wind dissipated, he felt something off.

Emmet and Mark burst out laughing. Even Noah had trouble hiding his smile.

"Wh-what is it? What happened?" Sawyer asked, blushing. He could already feel it. The hair. His hair. It was long... and silky! He pat around his head and groaned. He had bangs! His hair flowed down his back, the front was cut into neat bangs hiding his forehead, and there was even a white bow tied into it on the back of his head!

"How do I undo it?" Sawyer asked, frantically going through mental menus to find a cosmetics slot or someplace where he might find the token and remove it.

"You can't!" Emmet howled. "It isn't an item once you redeem it - it changes your avatar directly! You can't undo it unless you get another hairstyle override!"

"So I'm stuck like this?!" Sawyer turned red and crossed his arms, in total dismay over the fact that he had to deal with long girly hair potentially for the rest of the game.

"D-don't sweat it!" Noah said, stifling a laugh. "It um... suits you!" he couldn't hold back a snort and had to turn his head away to keep from busting out laughing.

Sawyer fumed. Saying it suited him did NOT help. If anything it made it more embarrassing.

"Let's just go." Sawyer stomped away out of the encampment. He hated how his hair bounced and swwayed as he walk, each step making his long locks swish over his back.

"Of course. After you, m'lady!" Mark teased, holding his arms out like a gentleman guiding a damsel to safety.

Sawyer groaned. That plus one stat better have been worth it.