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Chapter I: Another Day With Them

 

Wilson woke up from his slumber to the familiar feel of a slightly lumpy, yet comforting spring mattress. He sat up, and looked around, a bit confused. It was his old bedroom, back at the....well, others wouldn't call it a mansion. But Mister Higgsbury often referred to it as such.  All the familiar things were there. A few blueprints lying on a wooden stool next to the bed, a bureau with a childhood photo of himself displayed in a wooden frame, a small metal toolbox with certain supplies.

 

It all seemed so strange. What had happened...who knows how long ago? He looked at the wall facing his bed, where there was a rather old-looking calendar. By the looks of it, he had only been gone for one day. The days certainly seemed a lot longer. How could that be?

 

He looked out his bedroom window, at the road leading up to the decrepid mansion. The twisting road and gnarled, leafless trees seemed so very unchanged. The skies were clear for a change. Wilson stepped back and shook his head in surprise. Was it all a dream? The man on the radio, the machine, the strange hands?

 

All the things he had made in the strange wilderness were gone. Maybe it was all a fever dream of some sort.

 

He hurried downstairs, and headed into the "living room", where the machine had been. It was gone, as if it had never existed. A thick line of static came from the radio. All the scientific equipment and lab animals were there, with an almost uncanny level of organization. Wilson stopped and shook his head even harder, the idea of it actually all not being real having trouble sinking in. A relieved sigh escaped the scientist's lips. He left the living room and headed into the main hall. On a golden stand was a fine black jacket and top hat.

 

After what had just happened, maybe a break from science was in order. A bit of socializing would do the mind good. He put on the coat and top hat, and put his hand on the knob of the front door to leave, when suddenly, he heard something from the radio, just barely. A single, solitary, "Hey."

 

Against better judgement, he walked back over to the radio.

 

"Say, pal..." came the radio's voice. It was the exact same one from his strange dream. A wave of dread overtook Wilson. He slowly started to back away.

 

"Hey! Pal, where do you think you're running off to?"

 

Wilson couldn't bring himself to answer. He bolted back into the hall and out the door. He didn't want anything more to do with that voice. All he really wanted was to be as far away from that place as possible, for a while. Unfortunately, he didn't even make it down past the porch before he was stopped by two familiar, shadowy claws, transparent, yet visible, waiting for him. He barely had time to scream before they grabbed him, choking him and slowly pulling him into darkness. He could hear a loud hiss.

 

He awoke again with a scream, this time returned to the smell of a fire pit that had just gone out, a spear at his side, and the cawing of a crow. That was a dream, instead.

 

This land is Wilson's nightmare, one that is all too real.

Edited by Silentdarkness1
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Chapter II: Mundane?

 

Wilson groaned. He hadn't gotten much sleep at all. His head was still hurting somewhat. He got up and refamiliarized his eyes to the light and the surroundings that were his base. Everything was laid out on the thick, bushy, tan grass of a savannah. The fire pit made up the center of the camp, with a familiar cube-shaped machine with a lever next to it, the old Science Machine. Opposite the Science Machine was a circular machine on wooden supports, an Alchemy Engine. A short distance away, just within range of the fire pit was a row of wooden chests where he kept all the stuff he had gathered. Knick knacks found in graves, grass tufts, sticks, a few rabbits here and there, rocks, gems and more.

 

A bit to the left of the Science Machine were a set of 4 racks with ropes on them for drying meats, and a stone crock pot, as well as an Ice Box. Wilson walked past all of it, however, heading past another machine. A strange box of some sort with arms, holding a top hat and shaking it gently. He left the camp, a bit weary, and headed to a nearby pond. He knelt over, took some of the nasty pond water in a hand, and splashed it in his eyes to wake himself up.

 

How long had it been? To Wilson, it felt like a year, according to the passage of the seasons, but everything seemed ever so slightly off, so it could have been less or more. Honestly, he couldn't be bothered to keep counting. His beard, now a bit wet, had grown down to stomach level, practically. Not that he had a reason to shave it, anyways. It helped keep him warm during the cold months and was a nice fidget tool if anything else. A new habit he had developed during his time in the harsh, unforgiving wilderness that wretched man had thrown him into. Wilson quietly thought to himself, "If I ever run into him again...." then sighed to nobody in particular. He knew as well as anyone that it wasn't going to happen.

 

Each day was beginning to not send promise, but rather, another assault on his confidence in his abilities, in the possibility of ever getting out of this place. As if all the science in the world wouldn't save him, now. And maybe that was the case. Suddenly, his thoughts were again interrupted by a rumble from his belly. Wilson headed back to camp to get some breakfast.

 

Meanwhile, far off in the distance, a dapper, quite tall man wearing a black striped suit and a tie held up a crystal globe, and looked into it. He could see Wilson heading back to camp. A grin lit up across the man's face. Today was another day in the wilderness. And it was about time to play with the latest puppet some more. "What will we do today, pal?", the man said in an overly cheerful tone.

 

--------------

 

Wilson headed over to the ice box, and looked inside. There was several clumps of berries, a few haunches of meat, some long strips of beef jerky, a carrot, and a large, blue-specked egg. After a moment, he took the egg out of the ice box, set it down, and laid a couple of logs inside the fire pit, before using a piece of flint and a sturdy twig to start it up again, flicking it a couple of times before it burst into flames. He walked over to the chests, and opened the leftmost one, rummaging around for a bit before getting a stone slab out of it, closing the chest firmly, and walking back over to the fire pit, placing it atop the fire. He set down another log next to the fire pit before getting the egg again, firmly seating himself on the log.

 

He hit the egg firmly against the stone slab twice, and cracked it onto the stone slab, a blue yolk visible in the center. Wilson took out a forked stick, and waited. Eventually, the sizzling started up. He would be eating, soon enough. His thoughts inevitably turned back to his failures.

 

Actually, that wasn't quite true. Only as of a "week" ago, did he finally have time to start thinking about his failures as a scientist. As a man of science. "I should have thought things through. How could I have forgotten to double-check EVERYTHING?", Wilson practically spoke to himself, mumbling quietly instead. Even though there wasn't really any point in pondering the past, he couldn't help himself.

 

"A real scientist would have had the ideas peer reviewed. Doublechecked all the findings...no. Triple-checked, at least! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

 

Wilson stopped himself. He needed to try and focus on the task at hand. He poked the cooking egg with the twig. It was about half done. He moved it around ever so slightly. Each day brought a fresh round of challenge and misery. And each day it took more and more of a toll on this man of science. Maybe the science was the problem, not the solution. Although, on the other hand, it's kept him alive in more ways than one.

 

"I deserve this, somehow, right?!", Wilson said out loud, to nobody in particular. He had forgotten, in his musings, that he had no company. Or, at least, none that cared a wit about him. Wilson sighed in a defeated manner. After another minute or two, the egg was thoroughly cooked. Wilson moved the stone slab off of the fire quickly, before he got burned too badly, and skewered the cooked egg on the forked stick, eating it up.

 

When he had finished, he looked around, satisfied, but in no way relieved. Something was starting to dawn on him as he walked over to the Alchemy Engine. He had clipped some papyrus onto the device with a note scrawled on it. A reminder of what to do next. It read:

 

" []-Put more meat on the drying racks

  []-Shave?

  []-Get more gold for experiments

  []-More wood for the fire

  []-Explore to the northwest"

 

Wilson went over to the ice box, took out a few haunches of meat, slammed it shut, a bit frustrated, and headed over to the drying rack, hanging the meat up to dry out. As he headed back to the Alchemy Engine to cross that item off the list, a full realization of how alone he was truly crept in.

 

It had never genuinely bothered him before, before the incident. He would lock himself away with his experiments for weeks, sometimes. But now, faced with an eternity alone in this unforgiving world, he recognized something else. He should have tried making some friends for a change. Wouldn't have been so lonely then. Maybe then, he wouldn't have ended up here after all.

 

Maybe that was it. Maybe this place is less torture and more of a purgatory, Wilson pondered. He headed over to the chests again, and suited up, putting on a large sack made out of stitched-together pig hide and rope, with a log suit, a few spears, and more of the most basic materials to make whatever he might need on the fly. He put a makeshift helmet on his head and checked a compass before heading out to the northwest.

 

He stopped at a large patch of forest, and took out an axe, starting on the biggest one, hacking away at it until it fell over. He quickly chopped up the fallen tree into small logs, and put them into his pack. The sun started to rise up into the sky, gently bearing down on Wilson. After picking up a few pinecones that had dropped off, he moved on to the next big one, and then another.

 

Unfortunately, his work was swiftly interrupted. Not by the sun beating overhead, nor his own weariness catching up with him. One of the nearby trees rustled and changed size, growing quite tall. Then it transformed, growing arms and legs, a bristly face suddenly breaking through the pine needles. It was ghastly, sunken in with intensity and fear. It looked down at Wilson, and stomped the ground, approaching him.

 

Wilson had never seen a creature such as this, in the time he had been in the wilderness. He almost didn't manage to get out of the way in time, just narrowly getting out of the way of the treeguard's massive foot, which would have easily crushed him. He tried to run away, but tripped on a tree root just as he turned to run, fell and hit the ground face-first. By the time he scrambled back up to his feet, the tree-monster was bearing down on him. The scientist, in somewhat of a panic, instinctively drew his spear.

Edited by Silentdarkness1
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Yay! Will other survivors be introduced as a response to the loneliness of Wilson, or will he start having tea parties with a meat effigy?

Hehe. Honestly, both are gonna happen. Once he gets around to having a shave and making an effigy.

 

He's really gotten no work in on that Prestihatitator. At this point, he's survived for a ingame "year" but has by no means explored everything like he should have.

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Hehe. Honestly, both are gonna happen. Once he gets around to having a shave and making an effigy.

 

He's really gotten no work in on that Prestihatitator. At this point, he's survived for a ingame "year" but has by no means explored everything like he should have.

 

Oh that makes sense. He is not even tier 2 magic, correct? Yes, I was wondering was a treeguard would end up being a new surprise. Also, looking forward to part 3. ^.^

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Yes, pretty much. The only part of the camp you haven't seen is where all the grass and berries and stuff are :3

 

Also, I intend on trying to make the chapters a bit longer. I think I see the silliness of my ways that was making these chapters so short before.

 

The first entire half will be Wilson fighting the treeguard :D

Edited by Silentdarkness1
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Yes, pretty much. The only part of the camp you haven't seen is where all the grass and berries and stuff are :3

 

Also, I intend on trying to make the chapters a bit longer. I think I see the silliness of my ways that was making these chapters so short before.

 

Bah, don't worry about it. Better a short yet detailed and effective chapters than a long, dull extraneous one.

 

Just write was you feel like and don't force anything. You could mash two short chapters together to make things longer, it can make things easier. Or, have a select scene in mind you want to tell--like a tea party.

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I always have trouble deciding how many of what scenes to put in :razz:

 

Yeah, that's a toughy. Usually think of a major event in an episode, or a tv episode as a whole. Write a conflict or crafting montage, I don't know. Um, just plan things out like a show and cut it up. Like, do you know how it ends? Sometimes that can help. 

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IT HAS ARRIVED!

 

Chapter 3 is out! Also, have a poll.

 

CHAPTER III: More Than Science
 
Wilson backed away from the tree-monster as it slammed it's foot down again, following up with a swipe from it's massive 
 
arms. He drew an axe, shaking a bit in fear. The tree-monster was a massive behemoth, thick and covered in a natural sort of 
 
armor all over.
 
The tree-monster approached again, and swiped down at Wilson. He  took a hard hit, and was knocked flying into a tree, the 
 
axe falling out of his grasp. He struggled back up onto his feet, and started running again, hiding behind one of the more 
 
docile trees, sweat beading up on his forehead.
 
Suddenly, a large limb of one of the trees somehow broke off, and fell on top of Wilson. It had to weigh twenty or so pounds, 
 
at least. By the time Wilson managed to get out from under it again, the tree-monster was less than an inch away from him. It 
 
tried to stomp him again. This time, Wilson managed to sidestep it, and, getting a backup axe from his pack, drove it into 
 
the tree-monster's leg as hard as he could. It got stuck in the creature's leg, but Wilson pulled it out of the leg at the 
 
last moment.
 
Just in time to avoid another swipe. But not the one after that, which knocked his head into the ground, hard. It raised it's 
 
arm to crush Wilson, but he managed to roll out of the way, a rush of adrenaline coursing through. He started chopping into 
 
the tree-monster's leg again, in the exact same spot. He got in a few good chops before the monster  got Wilson again with 
 
it's other foot, landing a strong hit in his chest, throwing him into another tree. He didn't get up too quickly. That was 
 
going to leave a bruise. Wilson tried, again, to run off, but was quickly stopped by a shooting pain in his chest. He 
 
groaned, turning to the tree-monster again. It started to advance towards him again.
 
Thinking quickly, Wilson took out a torch and lit it up. "Trees are made out of wood..", he thought to himself, moving his 
 
arm back.
 
"And wood is flammable...maybe!", Wilson finished that thought, as he chucked the torch straight in the tree-monster's face. 
 
The torch got caught in the tree-monster's pine needles, and quickly lit the monster on fire. It let out an agonized yell, a 
 
bit stunned. Wilson ran at the tree-monster again, working on the chop wounds in it's leg again. After a few seconds, the 
 
flames went out, and the tree-monster flattened Wilson yet again. He could hardly manage to get back up onto his feet, blood 
 
on his lips, his hair ever so slightly frazzled.
 
The tree-monster approached Wilson one more time, but failed. The tree-monster's leg had been badly wounded by the chopping, 
 
and under the now unbearable stress of the monster's own weight, it's leg snapped and broke off at the knee. The tree-monster 
 
fell over with a scream, in a great deal of pain. Wilson watched, a grin starting to spread across his face. The tables had 
 
turned. In a hurry, he headed over to chop off the other leg off. The tree-monster swiped at Wilson, several times. He ducked 
 
the swipes, and chopped off the tree-monster's other leg.
 
It squirmed and screamed and shouted for half a minute, before finally reaching out to the sky with it's arms, and dying, the 
 
face disappearing altogether. Wilson nearly collapsed, utterly exhausted from the ordeal. A million different thoughts burned 
 
through Wilson's mind. What was that thing? Why was it after him? How could such things be?...Ghosts were one thing, but the 
 
trees turning into monsters?
 
After a minute or so, he turned to the remains of the tree-monster, and chopped it up. As he gathered the logs, he could see 
 
faces in the individual slabs of wood. There was definitely something strange about the wood from this monster. It had a 
 
slight aura, that Wilson could feel. It was something....different. A phonomena that needed to be explored. Wilson made his 
 
way back to camp for a rest. After a short while, he walked over to the magic hat machine, the Prestihatitator, according to 
 
the blueprints.
 
"I guess this is science.", Wilson thought to himself, as he put a couple of the logs into the hat, and pulled the lever. The 
 
top hat vibrated, then the logs disintegrated with a loud yell, fire covering the hat but not consuming it into ashes. Wilson 
 
had to cover his face with his arms to avoid getting burned. When things settled down, the logs were gone, and in their place 
 
were several small, black seeds. Wilson reached into the hat and took the seeds out, thinking to himself. He walked a short 
 
distance outside camp, and started to plant the seeds, using a pitchfork to make small holes in the ground. Not long at all 
 
after he did, flowers sprung up. But they were unlike normal flowers. Twisted and thorny, with blood-red and garlic-grey 
 
petals seemingly teasing Wilson.
 
A bit baffled, Wilson backed off. He could feel his head starting to ache a bit. Something was wrong about these flowers, 
 
beyond a reason of a doubt. Something evil. However, curiosity continued to draw Wilson closer. He picked the petals off of 
 
the flowers, the twisted, thorny stalk dying instantly. He could feel something radiating off of the flower petals. Something 
 
unnatural.
 
"Maybe..." Wilson thought out loud, walking back to the Prestihatitator and throwing the petals in before throwing the lever 
 
again. This time, the machine didn't burst into flames for a change. Instead, there was a pulse of some sort of energy, 
 
teeming and black. When it had finished, Wilson put his hand into the hat, and pulled out a sample of some sort of 
 
transparent gel. He didn't quite know what to think of this. It was warm, gelatinous yet flowing. He could make out faces of 
 
some sort inside it, torn with agony. Wilson quickly cleaned all the leftover gel out of the hat, and put it in some jars he 
 
had in his chests.
 
He wasn't quite sure what this stuff was, but it reeked of genius, of promise.
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The tree only wanted to stop you from murdering its friends. Wilson, you horrible, horrible beast.

 

But anyway, great writing! I love how you portrayed the crafting mechanics. Wilson not knowing what he's doing fits in to the mystery of Don't Starve well, in my opinion.

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@MeingroessterFan Taking it from a narrative point of view, there's no way to think of it as a Treeguard the first time you meet one. Thank you, though.

 

Nah, that's not what I mean. You just used the exact term "Tree-monster" in the same line, where you could've just replaced the second mention with "it". It's just something that bites my autism, not a big deal.

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