Uneventful

You can't help but be relieved when the Lair comes into sight. You hadn't headed straight for home, leaving the path early as soon as you recognized the woods around you. Safer, but far more tiring. You limp through the Wall of Thorns to be met with an anxious Dana for the second time that day. "Dear Anari! What did you do?" She says it like it's somehow your fault; that's only partially true. You know she's only asking because she's worried for you, especially after last night, but you're tired and not in the best of moods. You can't help yourself. I went for a walk, you remark flippantly. Dana's not amused. "Look at you. You're bleeding. I didn't think it was even possible for you to bleed." Now that hurts, you say, I'm a plant, not dead. The comment goes right over her head. Or maybe she deliberately misunderstands you. "Of course it hurts, you dip-wit, you've got great heaping chunks of torn out of you." Now that's not fair, it's not that bad. In fact, you're already feeling much better. You barely even ooze. Eh, tis but a scratch. Well, a series of scratches. Besides, you should've seen the other guy. Although, now that you think about it, he'd looked pretty good after his last respawn.

This new information sets Dana off. "Other guy?! OTHER GUY!?" Words seem to fail Dana for a moment. When she starts speaking again she is deathly quiet. Maybe she's trying to stay calm "So let me understand. Deciding last night's ordeal wasn't enough excitement, you go out AND PICK A FIGHT!?" Somewhere along the line, Dana must have forgotten she was trying to stay calm. Not exactly, you protest, tone slightly wounded, I went looking for the spiders and got lost. I found a cave and there was this thing inside. We fought, I killed it, and then it ran away. See? Nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, everything starts to spin. This is new. Have your eyes stopped working? For moment, you can't tell which way is up or down. You're not even sure if you're standing. You don't exactly lose consciousness, but the world sort of loses meaning for a while. There are sights and sounds, but they don't really mean anything to you. Eventually, the meaningless swirl of colors resolves itself into Dana faces kneeling next to you, peering down at you with a worried frown. Huh, you could've sworn you were standing. "Are you feeling better now?" Dana asks, the anger gone from her voice. Uh huh. It's about all you can manage. "Good. You just sort of went stiff and toppled over. I think you were hurt worse than you thought" Her tone is soothing and she runs a hand gently down your face.

"Why did you go in the cave?" she asks patiently. I've never been in a cave before. Though it might make a good home for the spiders" you explain, "I didn't know that creature would be in there. "This creature, what did it look like?" Dana inquires. You describe it to her. She nods her head thoughtfully. "Sounds like a Cave Troll," she says. "I can't believe you killed it. Usually, their almost impossible to kill without a party. They're practically minor bosses," Dana elaborates. "Did you get any loot?" Loot? "Yeah, usually Cave Trolls have a bunch of really rare and expensive loot. Did you see any?" You shake your head. "Must've been in a stash somewhere. Pity. It'll probably mostly be gone by the time your able to head back to check." Oh hell no! That loot is yours. You killed/ran off that thing fair and square. That makes all of its treasure yours.

You think quickly. It's worth a shot. Dana? you ask, You said they spiders visited earlier. Did they happen to tell you how to find them? She pauses for second, then nods. Could you go find them and ask them to come here for me please? She opens her mouth to protest. Please Dana? It's important. You try to convey every ounce of pathetic need in your voice. Her mouth closes and she nods. Thank you, Dana, you say, your relief evident in your tone. You lie back in the sun, as Dana gets up to go fetch the spiders.