Generally speaking, it was always the first dive that was the toughest getting into any new game. She'd figured it would be the hardest here, after doing her own little bit of digging into things. A game where you could feel pain was tricky enough to think about, but one that people said it was impossible to tell an NPC from a player? That could roughly mean everybody was her enemy, at least until things were figured out. She fully expected to be in a fight as soon as she showed up. Instead, Kat found herself in a dimly lit forest clearing. It looked to be just about sunset, and yet there was next to nothing stirring in this place. Just the occasional drift of snow and leaves fluttering to the ground in the cold wind. Popping up her collar as a gust smacked her in the face Kat - no, she was Eyas here - took a moment to get her bearings on things. She could smell smoke, which meant that somewhere downwind was a fire. It smelled like wood, or about what she knew to be woodsmoke, which probably meant a fireplace somewhere. She'd need to get out of the cold before the night came, though. "Move your ass, Eyas." Looking around and promptly finding a big stick, she picked it up and tested the stoutness of it. Not something she could use as a weapon, but easily a good walking stick. So off she went, moving at a brisk walk until she came across a well-worn path towards a town off in the distance. Well, it fit the bill of generic starting town, so off she went down the path.
"Look, this is really simple. An alchemist living in those woods back there needs some herbs or whatever as quick as possible, right? The closest place he told me I could pick them up was this town." The guard at the gate remained stoic, his steely gaze locked on the witch. Madison produced a small slip of paper with some faded scribbling on it and waved it in front of his eyes. "I have directions to the friggin' place right here. Twenty minutes, in and out, just like that. I promise." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. Curfew begins in ten minutes, I can't let you through the gate if you are not a resident or travelling with one." She was going to scream her head off. What the hell kind of game gated you off from quests just because the sun was setting? In every other game she played, you could take your damn time with fetching things for NPCs and show up whenever you pleased. Middle of the night? It's okay, door's unlocked. Come on in, drop off the Thing Of Necessity, and collect your money and experience. Wake the kids and spouse, sure. This is more important than them. Tired, cold, hungry, annoyed, and most importantly, bored, Madison turned away in a huff. That was an entire afternoon trudging through the snow, wasted. What made it worse, was the alchemist needed those ingredients by the morning, for whatever stupid and arbitrary reason he had. Dammit, and she was this close to leveling up another one of her Masteries. Now she'd have to wait even longer. Whatever. Log out, get a drink, and find some new utterly simple and meaningless tasks to complete in the morning. Madison was about ready to jump when another traveler popped into view. Long, brown hair, simple clothing, maybe a couple inches shorter than her. There was a sense of purpose and urgency in her step as she drew closer to the gate. This was her chance. With any luck, this woman would be someone who could get her in so she could do her stupid effing starter quest. "Hey," she called out, frantically waiving her hand in the air. "Hey, you!" Madison half-walked, half-jogged up to the woman before she had a chance to avoid her. "Can you give me a hand here? That asshole isn't letting me through, and I absolutely need to see someone in town."
"Hey, Hey, you!" Ripped from her focus on the walk, Eyas turned steely grey eyes to this loud stranger. Either this was another player, or some elaborate quest that she'd have to deal with now, rather than later. Whatever, she had time. Tossing her stick aside, wiping the dirt off her hands, the newest addition to TerraSphere stopped cold, letting this person come to her. Gameplan? Go with it. Either way this went, she could at least put whatever she got towards a weapon that wasn't a stick she picked up off the ground. Cocking her head to Madison, that resting bitch face of hers never really changed, sans a cocked eyebrow. Couldn't get in the town? Outlaw, maybe? Eh, didn't matter. She needed a starting point. So her mind went to work, turning from Madison to the gate to Madison. "One guard. He can't be everywhere. Can distract him, if you want." Right? That was a plan. Maybe. "Or, you know. Can always just run through. Bet you can outrun him." Also a good plan. Now, could this random person be smart enough to make that work? Maybe. "I'm good with anything, just need to do it fast. Don't want to stick out too long."
“Hmm,” Iván moved his hands about, observing them in front of him. Eli brushed through all the things he could read, wanted to read, about the game, and at the first chance he got, he jumped right into it, a little annoyed that he had spent more time in character creation, developing Iván’s aesthetics, than he had planned. He narrowed his eyes, blaming the customization for being too amazing. Iván smirked under his hood, “This is pretty impressive.” The sound of two women talking caught Iván’s attention. He looked around him, and through the foliage, spotted the pair. Carefully, Iván approached them from the other side of all the green. He had missed the first part of their conversation, if there was even a first part, and only heard the part about the one guard and running. Iván gave them both a quick rundown, noting how they looked and whether they could be hostile. He remembered that in this game, differentiating the Players from the NPCs would be hard. The AI would be that advanced. Iván wondered if these two were actually Players or just really good NPCs. “Only one way to find out,” Iván whispered to himself before coming out of the brush. Starting with a fake cough to announce his presence, Iván pretended to look as disinterested as he possibly could. He turned from the long-haired girl and then to the short-haired girl. They could be hostile NPCs, bandits, maybe? What kind of good NPCs run from guards? Maybe they’re actually Players, but why would they be running from the guards? Bandit Players? Criminals? Hmm. That would be quite interesting. “So,” Iván deadpanned. “Trouble with the guards?”
Madison eyeballed this new arrival, who either must have spawned on top of them without anybody noticing, or who had Unremarkable Appearance as their Awakened Mastery. He was dressed like a dollar store hoodie ninja, either way. But at least he had some manners about him. "Yeah," she confirmed to the man. With a flick of her finger, she signaled herself and the first person she flagged down, realizing at that moment she didn't even know her name. "We're trying to get in, but the guard won't let us through if we don't show proof of residency or something. Apparently there's a curfew going into effect here in a few." She tore through her pockets, trying to find the alchemist's shopping list. "I'm on a bit of an urgent mission here, and I need to get this shit and get back tonight." Finally finding the slip of paper, she flashed it for the others to see. "If you can help me get in--and possibly out--I'd be more than willing to split some of the rewards I have comin'."
“Oh,” was all Iván could muster. He narrowed his eyes as he began thinking of possibilities surrounding this pair’s identities. They could still be NPC bandits trying to get in, with their so-called urgent mission the assassination of a key official inside the town. Or they could be criminal Players, still with the same assassination mission being applicable. Hmm. It’s a tough predicament. This game is really advanced and--- Wait, did she say rewards? “I see,” Iván kept his distance while browsing the slip of paper the short-haired girl showed him. The scribbling wasn’t easy to read, considering how most of it was already fading, but Iván used his powers of context and made do with what he got. It seemed to him that most of it were herbs. Probably a grocery list of ingredients. Will one of the rewards be food? That would be interesting. Quite interesting indeed. Iván thought about the pros and cons of helping the girls. It could be dangerous to him. He could be branded a criminal. Wait, was that a con? It was a game, after all, and that could be an interesting path. Besides, those rewards could be pretty impressive. Iván crossed his arms and heaved a sigh. This sounds like the perfect opportunity to test himself and get acquainted with the game. “Okay,” Iván shifted his gaze from the short-haired girl and towards the direction of the guard. “I’m in.” One guard? Easy. Iván didn’t know what powers the other two had and he honestly didn’t really care. Or rather it didn’t dawn on him to ask or check. The first thing that came to mind, his first idea, was to use his illusion magic to get past the guard. Maybe he can alter their appearance to look like other guards or even a pack of dogs? Maybe he can trick the guard into looking the other way while they sneak in behind him? Either could work, though it wasn’t up to him to decide. Iván turned to the damsel in distress again, “What’s your plan, short-haired girl?”
While they were converting, Eyas found herself moving, kicking up a rock into her hand. There was a simple elegance to a fistfight, and worst came to worst, she would be able to outrun any single guard, especially if they were weighed down in armor. The odds of this working? Pretty low, but hey, she had an idea and wasn't about to wait around to see if they agreed with it or not. No, instead, she formed a tight fist around the rock, filling her hand with its weight, and approached the guard. There was something about ten minutes before curfew. If nobody were there to enforce curfew, then there was no curfew. Point A: All of Newark. Point B: Most of Detroit. The dark-haired female took her time, cracking her neck for good effect. Calmly, casually, she walked up to the guard, a stiff wind blowing her hair back and revealing the small mark just under her left eye. Already, there was a fury to her that seemed to come further loose with every passing step, until she was almost on top of the guard. There was one path to victory here - through this person. Here was hoping it wasn't a quest boss. Taking a breath, Eyas went to go punch the guard full in the face with the rock in her fist.
Madison watched in confusion and then in awe as the other girl wordlessly picked up a rock off the ground, casually walked up to the guard, and then slammed it square into his face. "The plan," she said to Iván, "is that." Sliding a card out of her deck, she started after Eyas. A small aura of purple energy flickered to life, engulfing the card. A thin smile creased her face. "I like her," the witch said to herself. Especially since she never agreed to take part of my reward. With Iván at her heels, she waltzed up to the gate. The guard, still clutching at his face, trying to staunch the flow of blood oozing from his busted nose, made an weak attempt to block her. The only thing he could do was stumble in front of her. Madison flicked the glowing card into the air. It spun towards the guard, coming to a stop inches from his face and revealing itself to be the Nine of Wands. The aura around the card exploded in a flash, and the poor man was overcome with a fresh wave of blinding, electric pain as the hex kicked his nerves into overdrive--just for good measure. Madison retrieved the card, shuffled it back in, and pushed her way through the front gate. Eyas was waiting for them on the other side, a look of boredom etched on her features, and maybe a hint of smugness in her eyes. No need for fancy tricks when plain ol' fists get the job done, right? Maddy felt a twinge of embarrassment that she hadn't done the same thing in the first place as they caught up to her. The first thing she noticed that it was... eerily quiet and barren. The town itself wasn't much to write home about, a mix of generic houses crafted from wood and stone with dirt paths stringing them together, like she'd read about in high fantasy novels a million times before. Probably only home to a couple hundred of families, etching a living farming the land and tending livestock. But, even with this stupid curfew ten minutes off, there wasn't a soul in sight. Carts abandoned, curtains pulled shut, doors bolted from inside. Not even a guard on this side of the gate. Completely, utterly empty. Pressing two fingers to her temple, she kicked into Investigative Mode--only to confirm seconds later that nobody was around. She pushed any nagging suspicions she had out of her mind. She had a task to do, after all, and only a few minutes to do it before the guy outside recovered from his injuries and came in after them. "Right, now that that's sorted..." She produced the alchemist's shopping list, turned it over to look at the directions he scribbled down, and started down the road towards the shop.
Iván narrowed his eyes from behind his tinted goggles. He was unimpressed with the brash act of violence, what he believed was a lack of finesse, although he couldn’t deny that it got the job done and with little time wasted, too. Sighing, Iván followed the short-haired girl, the only thing he could do at this point. This was her quest. He was just here for the reward. Okay, maybe he was also here to satiate his curiosity about the grocery list. Still, that was secondary to whatever benefit, or more appropriately benefits, this little group was going to give them, him. Iván carefully made a mental note of the guard who was still conscious, his face drenched in crimson thanks to the long-haired girl. His eyes darted from the bloody man to the glowing card that the short-haired girl suddenly held. Iván was about to warn, rather casually remind her about the guard when her glowing card flew into the air and right at the man’s face. What followed next made Iván smirk under his hood. “So she does have a few tricks under her sleeve,” Iván whispered to himself. “I like that.” Once they breached the gate, and after Iván took a quick a look at the long-haired girl to acknowledge her existence, he surveyed what he could of the place they had infiltrated for a grocery list. There wasn’t much out there. It looked and felt abandoned. Iván turned to the short-haired girl, a little bored, “No one’s here.” Iván turned to the long-haired girl again, curiosity fuelling his thoughts, before gesturing with an outstretched arm for her to go first. “After you.” Well, right after the short-haired girl. Iván did not want to keep either of them out of his sight. Besides, the place looked too empty for anything to surprise their group from behind. At the very least, Iván could just use his illusion magic to disappear into safety. Both of his new companions seemed skilled enough to defend themselves anyway.
With the guard down and just about out, Eyas took a moment to consider the idea of searching him guard as he was downed. The downside was the possibility of whatever magic was keeping him down affecting her as well. Pros and cons. The need for a weapon in general was a pretty big pro, and even though they were SUPPOSED to be moving, she decided that if they were even moderately friendly, whatever weird magic shit was going on could be stopped. Or she could trust herself to be moderately tough and withstand some magic. Taking a precious few seconds, she went and rifled through the Guard's pockets and took whatever she could find that might've been worth the time: money, notes, weapons, anything. Then, up she was, taking her new favorite rock and joining the crew, falling in behind Madison with a light step, noting the cards she seemed to use, but not doing anything about it. Not her business to judge who used whatever they were fine with. Even if she tended to distrust the so-called "Mage Pures". Whatever. This place was deserted, and she didn't need some fancy investigation sense to know it. Even the air felt dead around here, and silver eyes swept wide, always on her guard, even if she remained a few feet away from the two mages. Even the slightest provocation had her ready to shift and engage or flee. Her stance was volatile, though steady. Even if she was a newcomer to this game, this brawler seemed to have previous combat experience, and made no effort to hide it. "Let's just find this person and get out of here. I don't like this." Well, she was certainly not afraid of voicing that opinion. Otherwise, she remained quiet, moving quietly as she could.
"Hang a left, Fourth building on the left. Has a sign, we can't miss it." By Madison's estimation, with the hurried pace and complete lack of foot traffic, they had made it to the alchemist's place in seven or eight minutes. It was enough time for her to start worrying. The fears came in tiny slivers at first. A "hey, innit odd" here, a "this is definitely weird" there. These little thoughts grew and grew in intensity, until her imagination was running wild with potential possibilities. Bandit raids? High-leveled monsters? An overly-strict baron who'd put to the sword anyone found disobeying his word? Her knuckles rapped against the front door quicker and harder than she intended. Nothing but silence greeted her, as the trio stood on the front steps. So, she knocked harder. The raps cracked like thunder, echoing down the street and in her mind. Finally, a harsh whisper responded on the other side. "Who's there? Don't you know curfew is in two minutes?!" "Just a couple of go-fers here for a pickup," she replied. "A pickup?" The person behind the door mumbled to themselves incredulously. "It's two minutes 'til curfew! Did nobody at the gate tell you to wait until tomorrow?" Madison inhaled sharply, casting a brief glance at Eyas. "This one can't wait until then. It's for--" The witch paused while she scanned the shopping list for a name. "--for a Mr. Numinor? Funny old dude with a bubbling cauldron fetish in the woods outside town?" More mumbling laced with curses made it to her ears, along with the hurried and distinctive sounds of dead bolts cranked and latches unlatched. The slab of wood swung open, and a reddened arm burst from the darkness and grabbed onto her collar. With a quick yank, the alchemist pulled her inside the shop and left enough time for Eyas and Iván to sneak in after her before slamming the door shut. "Give me that idiot's list, Now." Madison obliged. In the soft glow of the setting sun that leaked through the thick ivory curtains, there wasn't much she could make out of her surroundings. It appeared to be an alchemy shop, alright. Dusty bottles filled to their corked brims with various reagents lined the walls behind the counter, while the main space was lined with tables containing various bundles of plant life waiting to be pounded into pulp and have their magical properties extracted. Behind her sat a few counters containing glass apparatuses that she recognized from trying her hand at alchemy in Elder Scrolls VI: Black Marsh for all of, like, five or six minutes. The shopkeep had disappeared in the back. The black-haired witch could hear him cursing his head off between the distinct sounds of shit being thrown everywhere, some of it breaking on impact. What the hell is going on here? "Everything alright," she cautiously called out. The man nearly screamed his throat hoarse shouting from the back. "I only have forty-five seconds to find this fucking glowworm extract and powdered eye of cave salamander--ah, here they fucking are!" Bursting from the back, nearly tearing down the curtain in the doorway in the process, the alchemist cut across the floor towards the trio. His arms were full with bags as he tried to stuff all the ingredients into them. It was a wonder he didn't lose anything, making those bounding and almost graceful leaps around table corners. "Twenty seconds," he growled as he threw everything at Madison. She barely got a hold of the ingredients before she felt his hand clamp down on her shoulder like a vice. The pain shot up through her neck, eliciting a strained whimper as she was forcibly spun around and pushed towards the door. "Tell that asshole I'll put it on his account. Now get the hell out of here before--aaaahh, aaarrrrrghhh--" Hoarse commands turned to almost animalistic snarling as the three of them were ushered out of the shop. She craned her head around to say something at him, something probably unbecoming of a woman, and in the dying light of the afternoon she could make out something mildly terrifying--the whites of his eyes and his skin had turned red, as if every blood vessel in his face had exploded. The door slammed shut behind them. One deadbolt was cranked before the screaming began. So much screaming. Loud and clear through the walls of the alchemist's shop. The screaming, the howling, the sounds of upturned furniture and breaking of bottles. Madison's jaw hung slack. One after another, she heard the residents of other nearby houses join in, their howling joined together in a cacophony of unending rage. "You heard the man," she softly spoke, her eyes glued to the door. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Iván let the girls lead him. The short-haired girl was the one who knew where she was going, where she needed to go, and the long-haired girl could probably take anything out that tried to attack them in front. That left him at the rear. He could cloak this group, turn them into harmless rats or spores or wind, should the surprise attack come from behind them, buying them enough time for the long-haired girl to knock the attackers out with a couple of rocks to the face. From there, short-haired girl could use her card magic to incapacitate their antagonists further. Based on how everything seemed dead at the moment, Iván wasn’t counting on getting attacked from any side. Still, he made sure to pay attention to anything and everything just in case something did manage to surprise them. It was odd, Iván thought, for an entire town to be this deserted. He wondered what had happened, if it was still happening. It didn’t take long for their group to arrive at their destination. At least it seemed to be their destination. The short-haired girl confirmed Iván’s suspicion by knocking at the door, which sounded louder than it was meant to be, the entire street, area even, as empty as a graveyard in the middle of the night. The person who answered, did so rather rudely and did not even open the door for them. That was, until the short-haired girl made mention of a name, which found her getting dragged inside the makeshift house. With both preoccupied, including the door, Iván held the latter for the long-haired girl and quickly went in after her. The man’s rudeness continued, even after “welcoming” the group inside. Everything was dusty, old, lost in time. Iván raised an eyebrow under his hood, taking notes of what was inside the place. It looked like she practiced some serious alchemy based on the bottles and reagents and glass apparatuses that were everywhere. Iván found it odd, the way he was counting down by seconds. “What’s going to happen?” Iván mused to himself, but before he could come up with all sorts of crazy ideas, as he and the two girls were unceremoniously kicked out of the shop. He didn’t have time to narrow his eyes and scowl intently as well because the man started screaming right after he got back inside. The crashing and smashing that followed gave Iván the impression that something was wrong with the man, and when the entire street started to sound the same, Iván’s internal concern was elevated to the highest degree. The short-haired girl didn’t need to give the order. Iván wasn’t going to stay in this place. He let the two girls lead him again, knowing that at any time, he could just make himself vanish should it become necessary.
Through the streets, Eyas stayed relatively calm. Slightly twitchy, true, but that was more the atmosphere. Even she wasn't immune to it, as much as she wished she might be. Then, they were at the house. Immediately, something felt... off. A nagging in the back of her mind. If everybody was hiding in their houses, and there was a curfew, something had to be wrong here. Force of habit had her reaching to her side, where she was used to her sword being sheathed. Oh, right, it wasn't there. Well, only way past this was through. Keeping her rock prepared, she gave a shrug to Madison as she was practically interrogated. This guy's got a secret. She was probably reading too far into this, but Eyas stayed in the corner, arms crossed, watching and waiting. Anybody who was this freaked out about people showing up had something to hide, and he was formally on the shit-list until she had it figured out. So she kept a keen eye on him, watching his movements and the force things were thrown around with. That was definitely weird. He was definitely stronger than he looked, and faster too, unless they were just dealing with a somehow above-average man. Or a player in disguise. There might be the hardcore roleplaying sort, which would make some modicum of sense, though getting them involved in a quest seemed odd. Taking note of the whimper from her shorter-haired comrade, her own eyes narrowed sharply as they were rushed out of the shop, the hint of a snarl on her face as she was sharply forced out, but dug her foot in and sharply spun as the door slammed shut in her face, mere inches from breaking her nose. She was about to go to kick it right back in and find out what the hell this guy was hiding, then... screaming. Roaring, even. A small voice at the back of her head told her this trip was a mistake. About face, move. They needed to get clear, especially if this entire town was dealing with the same problem. This kind of thing reminded her severely of Canifis, except much more uncontrolled. If they came after them... well, she was still unarmed. Even if she could hold her own in a fistfight, she didn't fancy an entire town of what she guessed were some sort of werewolves descending on them. Especially since that meant they would be able to outrun their own small group, and standing and fighting meant an imminent death. And yet... Slowly, a smile broke out on her face as she walked down the steps, arms wide. "So. This is the hot water, huh?"
"Yeah," Madison snapped at her companion, quietly glad that her mind was now occupied with what that comment was supposed to mean. Was it a metaphor of sorts? A local colloquialism? Or was Eyas not a native-English speaker? "This, uh, this is definitely the hot water. Boiling hot. Let's go." She shifted the bag of ingredients in one arm, grabbing for the directions she had written down on the shopping list. It took them how long to get to the store? Seven or eight minutes? If they kept at a brisk pace--and if the howling of these assholes stopped ringing through the walls of their houses so she could concentrate on reversing the directions so they could find their way out of town--then the trio could be back on the path to the forest in six. Which, of course, suited her just as well. Quietly, they began to walk down the road they came from, the otherwise eerie silence cut to ribbons by the occasional bloodcurdling scream. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the shadow of a figure darting past a window. Seemed human, still... What the feck is wrong with this place? Her imagination began to wander, against her wishes. Lycanthropy? Hysteria? A curse, perhaps? As someone who had so far dumped all of her Mastery Points into Black Magic, Maddy was incredibly interested in all the effects that curses, hexes, angry words and middle fingers could have on people and creatures in the game. Man, cursing someone with Lycanthropy would be pretty neat, she thought to herself as she hustled towards safety. Assuming it's a curse and not a disease in Terrasphere. I'll have to look into it further once I power up enough to leave Brisshal. The sound of breaking glass brought her back to reality (within the game, anyway). Madison turned to see two figures, both men, both plainly dressed, tumbling out of a window and onto the stony path. The words they shrieked at one another sounded like what you get if you smashed your head against a keyboard and ran the results through a speech synthesizer. Fists were flying, a blur of flesh as the two pounded away at each other. The older looking bastard had a clear advantage, and landed a haymaker against the other's temple. He was stunned long enough for the first one to tap into something primal. With a cry that rattled Madison's bones, the older of the two men went in for the kill. Had she not been absolutely stunned by the sight, she would have thrown up. Rising to his feet, picking chunks of torn flesh out from between his teeth, the lunatic looked at his victim. The younger man was still, a river of dark, sticky liquid flowing from the hole in his jugular. It pooled by his shoulder, the blood spreading out in the cracks between the stones in the road. Madison glanced at Eyas and Iván, hoping that they hadn't gotten the hell out of there while she watched on. A sigh escaped her lips as she frantically considered what to do next. It was enough noise traveling on the breeze to catch the old man's attention. Bloodshot eyes set in a mask of crimson darted up to meet her gaze. He regarded the witch for a split second before deciding that she would be dessert. "Shit," she snarled as she reached for the tarot cards nestled snugly in her vest pocket. With a scream, the crazed man bolted towards the trio.
Eyas didn't quite stay in lockstep with their supposed quest-giver, but she stayed close enough to the rear to be well aware of anything trying to come up behind her in this ghost town of a place. She was definitely alert. And then it happened, the shattering of glass. The tangled mess of people. A fight. Good. She turned to watch from her spot in the street, shifting the rock in hand. Even now, she was analyzing, watching what worked, what didn't. They were feral, obviously, and strong. Fast, too. She watched with little sign of fear or concern, even as the younger man's jugular was ripped out with the man's teeth. Well, if it was that kind of game, she'd play. It was just their luck he chose to charge the group. More accurately, he desire. She wanted to test her fists on the flesh of some poor sap and stay well away from any other players in the process. Well, she got half of that anyways. Her eyes narrowing, she immediately went into the fray. A good friend told her long ago that at close quarters a fist is better than any magic. And she would apply her fists liberally here. A dull red glint coming into her eyes, Eyas went charging in, no fear or hesitation in her step - it was obvious, despite how new she might be to the game, this was a hardened combatant at work as she stepped up. The rock still in hand, the young warrior gave a laugh of her own, a thrill in the rising fight. Running at a dead sprint, she waited until she was too close to miss. She wasn't going to just punch somebody stronger in the face, that was a death wish. Instead, she chucked the rock underhand at the man's face and dropped into a slide to get behind him and test just how fast he could respond, or to see if he was just some wild animal.
