Grimey - Saving Scully

McGrady came knocking this afternoon. He's a middle aged fella that's graying on top. Usually wears some raggedy dirt-stained denim outfit like he had on today. Lad works hard keeping up his ranch that extends from his house to the edge of the wood. It's just large enough sustain himself and market to some locals. He's got crops and some livestock, very simple.

Anyways, today the bags under McGrady's eyes were especially deep because the banshees have been giving him hell the past few weeks. Scully offered to help him out earlier. McGrady told me that the young hunter ventured into the woods and he's been gone ever since. I figured I'd go find him before he gets himself killed. After talking more with McGrady I learned that both Banshees and Deadlings have been attacking his ranch. Deadlings...damn furry critters.

Scully's a good tracker so I knew he'd be able to follow the small Deadling tracks from the ranch into the woods. Once McGrady left my cabin, I grabbed my axes and headed out. Didn't take long to find Scully. A little ways into the wood and I heard a commotion. I followed the noise and found a tall lanky lad flailing around, his long braided brown hair whipping around, with a crowd of critters surrounding him. Deadlings were at Scully's feet and they were trying to bring him down.

If you've never seen a Deadling they're cute as hell. Large ears, beady glossy eyes, fluffy fur, and their barks sound like friendly squeeky whimpers. Ya see, the damn ankle biters play friendly and when you let your guard down they bite. There's some sharp little teeth hiding behind those friendly whimpers. They're small things too so their bites are pretty damn irritating. One Deadling's a nuisance but if enough of them gather they can topple you over and bite the rest of ya. That's when they can take you apart.

Scully had Deadlings nipping at his heels and knees and he was losing his balance. His club and short blade just weren't doing the trick. I let a hatchet fly and took out a couple critters. I grabbed Scully and yanked him out of the deadly fur-ball. Then those fluffy ankle-biters came after me. It was axe time! A few swings sent the buggers running and left about a dozen dead.

Turns out Scully didn't kill any Deadlings, in fact he didn't even know what they were. He was following some tracks until he came across one. Thought it was so cute he went to pet it. And then it bit. Next thing, a whole flock was attacking him. Damn fool! Gotta know the monsters you're gonna be dealing with before ya go chasing after 'em. At the very least don't go petting things in the wild.