//This actually ended up a bit longer than I was expecting.
[x] Ignore it. Come up with a plan of action with the rest of the team before any Grimm show up.
-----------------------------------
While you do have an urge to poke this weird slime thing with a stick there are more pressing matters to attend to, so after a few moments of observing it hop along, you turn back to your teammates.
"Right..." you say, "Anyway, I think we should figure out where on Remnant we are... You guys said something about climbing?"
***
After a few minutes of discussion, the team decides that their best vantage point would be a nearby hill a short hike away. Therefore, you now find yourselves trekking through the forest with Ruby taking point while Blake brings up the rear. As you walk, you keep an eye out for any Grimm that might want to get the jump on you, but surprisingly enough you haven't seen a single one yet. Not even a lone beowolf.
You do, however, see another one of those blob things. This one is slightly bigger and colored blue, and, much like the first one, seems rather indifferent to your team's presence as it absentmindedly hops forward.
"Seriously, what are these things?" you question, "Are they some kind of new animal?"
"It's plausible." Weiss answers, "Considering that Grimm tend to leave animals alone outside of territorial disputes, there could be many undiscovered species out there in the particularly Grimm infested areas of the world. Though if that's indeed the case with these... things... then that raises even more questions as to where on Remnant we ended up."
"Speaking of Grimm, don't you find it weird that we haven't seen a single one yet?"
"Yes, I did find that odd. I figured we would've seen at least a beowolf by now..."
"Maybe someone cleared them out?" Ruby suggests.
"Maybe, but that begs the question of who did it." Weiss frowns.
"By the way, are any of you getting a signal yet?"
You quickly check your scroll, "Nope." you say, popping the 'p'.
"Unfortunately, I'm not getting one yet either." Weiss replies.
"Same." Blake adds.
With a light sigh, you stretch a bit, idly glancing through the treeline. It's at this moment that something catches your eye: Through the tree trunks you spot a clearing, at the center of which appears to be a brown haired young man in a beige shirt and blue pants just standing there. You stop in your tracks and rub your eyes. Sure enough, the person still appears to be there.
"Yang?" Blake questions as the rest of the team stops to look at you, "Is something wrong?"
"Is it just me, or is there someone over there?" you answer point at the person in the clearing.
"...That's definitely a person." Weiss confirms.
"Come on, maybe he knows where we are!" Ruby exclaims, before speeding off into the clearing.
"Ruby! Wait up!" you exclaim as you run after her.
"Hey! Excuse me!" Ruby shouts as she gets closer, drawing the man's attention, "We're a bit lost, can you tell us where we are?"
"Certainly." the man nods as the rest of you catch up, "You're on an island in the middle of the ocean... Though some people would refer to it as a continent. It really depends on your interpretation."
The group falls silent at his unhelpful answer.
"O-kay... " you speak up, "Do you know what continent or island this
is...?"
"As far as I know it never received a proper name. I'm sure it had one at one point, but it was likely lost to history." he shrugs.
Silence overtakes the group once more, before Weiss clears her throat. "Excuse me, Mr..."
"You can call me Brian. Or you can refer to me by my title: Guide. Either of those work."
"...Mr. Brian--"
"Oh, please. Just Brian. I insist."
"--Right. Anyway, I believe what our leader wanted to know is where the closest kingdom or settlement is in relation to us. Would you happen to know?"
"Kingdoms?" Brian gives her a bemused look, "Well, there was the Lihzahrd empire that used to inhabit the jungle on the western side of this continent, though most of them are savages these days and seclude themselves in their temple. Aside from that, there's an old dungeon on the eastern side of the continent, but that's been long abandoned."
"...Does the kingdom of Vale ring any bells?" Blake asks.
"I don't believe there has been a kingdom with such a name in the history of Terraria. Why?"
Once again, a silence falls over everyone.
"Could you excuse us for one moment?" Ruby asks, to which he nods in reply.
In an instant the entire team forms a huddle.
"Okay, this man is obviously insane." Weiss says immediately.
"While I wouldn't put it as harshly, I kind of agree." Blake nods.
"I mean, he seems nice though, right...?" Ruby asks, "Oh! Maybe he has a village nearby? If he does we could ask someone there if they know where we are."
"It wouldn't hurt to ask." you shrug.
"That's assuming he doesn't point us in a random direction." Weiss frowns.
"We could still try."
"Insane or not, if it does work we'd at least have something to go off of." Blake adds.
"It's settled then." Ruby nods, "Team meeting adjourned!"
The team breaks the huddle and turns back to Brian -- Which you personally note is a weird name, considering it doesn't follow the color rule -- who cocks an eyebrow.
"Sorry about that." Ruby fidgets, "So do you live around here? We're trying to get back in contact with civilization, so if you could take us to your village or settlement that would help us a lot."
Brian shakes his head, "Sorry, but I don't live anywhere around here. This continent is mostly uninhabited, after all. I actually traveled from far away to meet someone here." he examines the four of you curiously, "Now that I think about it, I believe it might be you four that I was destined to meet. You clearly aren't from around here, after all."
"You can say that again..." You roll your eyes.
"Okay, where did you travel from?" Weiss questions, "Surely you could take us there, right?"
"As I said, far away, as in a few months trip across the ocean as well as couple days of walking to get to the center of this continent." says Brian
"I honestly find that hard to believe. If it took that long then you'd have to fend off who knows how many Grimm, and, no offense, you don't look like a huntsman."
"...Grimm?" he asks.
You all exchange glances, before staring at Brian incredulously. He hasn't heard of Grimm and yet he's standing in the middle of the wilderness!? Either he's trolling all of you or something isn't right with him.
"...What? Do I have something on my face?"
"You really expect the four of us to believe that you haven't heard of Grimm." Weiss speaks up after a moment.
"I haven't heard of such an entity, though." Brian shrugs, "Unless that's your term for Slimes, though the kinds you find on the surface are harmless unless you touch or provoke them..."
"No, Grimm aren't slimes..." Blake frowns, "In fact, we haven't even seen slime creatures until today."
"Ah, I see... Perhaps Grimm refer to Eaters, then? You know, the flying, many-eyed swarms of The Corruption?"
"I don't think whatever those are are Grimm either..." you blink.
"Ah, well I'm sure I'll understand what that is eventually... Collecting and preserving knowledge is one of the two principles of my order, after all."
"Your order?" Blake asks.
"Yes. The Order of the Guide. An organization dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and using said knowledge to guide others." he smiles, "In fact, I have the feeling that you four may be in need of guidance. You indeed seem quite lost, as you've said. But don't worry, if anyone can tell you how to survive in this land, it would be me."
"That doesn't inspire much confidence..." Weiss mutters.
"Weiss!" Ruby hisses.
"What? Like I said, he's obviously insane!" she whispers back.
"Well uh, thanks for the offer, but I think with how things are going that we're going to keep looking for civilization on our own..." you say as Ruby and Weiss break off from the group to continue their argument.
"You won't find much, believe me. It would be better just to build a settlement yourself." Brian advises, before sighing, "Well, if you four won't accept my guidance, then at least let me leave you with a warning: I highly suggest building a shelter before nightfall. It's dangerous to be out at night."
"We'll keep that in mind..." says Blake.
"Oh, and take this as well." Brian states as he pulls a bag out from behind a nearby rock and handing it to you, "It will help you on your journey."
"Uh... thank you?" you say as the bag is shoved into your grip. It feels somewhat heavy in your hands.
"Sorry about that..." Ruby says as she and Weiss return, "What's with the bag?"
"Consider it a gift." Brian answers, "Anyway, if you're leaving I'll be right here if you need me. Do take my advice to heart, though."
"Yeah..." you say.
"Well, let's keep going..." Ruby starts walking away, "Thanks for the help, Brian."
"No problem!" he replies as the rest of you follow.
***
"So what did he give us?" Ruby asks as she glances at the bag.
"Probably junk that his delusional brain felt would be useful." Weiss snarks.
You turn the bag over and jump back in surprise as an axe, a pickaxe, and a sword clatter to the ground. Curiously, it seems that they're all made of copper.
"...Or it could be tools and weapons..." the Schnee heiress blinks, "It's not like we actually need them, though."
"The sword could be a good fallback weapon if one of us gets disarmed, I suppose." says Blake as Ruby begins to examine it with interest.
"Not really." Ruby grimaces, "The construction is somewhat crude and the edge isn't even that sharp. Plus it's made of copper, which isn't very sturdy and likely to bend... The poor little thing wouldn't be of much help..." she frowns, before perking up a bit, "But what if... we could make it better!"
"I highly doubt we'd have access to that kind of equipment out here, Ruby..." Weiss shakes her head.
"We don't really need the tools either." You say, "If we wanted a tree cut down or a rock broken I could just punch it."
"Should we just leave them here, then?" Blake asks.
"I dunno. What do you think, sis?"
"I mean, they
were a gift..." she says as she slips the copper sword into her belt, "Let's just hold on to them for now."
"Alright." you shrug, before taking the pickaxe and axe under one arm and continuing along.
***
You eventually reach the top of the hill, passing a few more of those weird slime creatures along the way. Unfortunately, you find no familiar landmarks nor signs of a town or city in the area. You do, however, see a large desert off in the distance.
"Hmm... We could be in Vacuo." Weiss surmises, "Though the utter lack of Grimm so far doesn't really instill much confidence in my guess... Do you see anything, Ruby?"
Ruby looks up from Crescent Rose's scope, and shakes her head, "No... Just sand, grass, and trees. Not even a town..."
"Blake?"
Your faunus teammate, currently perched in a nearby tree, looks down and shakes her head.
"Great..."
"So now what?" you ask.
"We could keep walking?" Ruby suggests, "Or maybe we could turn back and find that Brian guy..."
"You want to go back to him?" Weiss questions, "Even after he proved himself to be crazy?"
"I mean, even if he is crazy, he at least looked like he knew what he was doing... Plus we haven't seen a single Grimm yet and a whole lot of those cute blob things... Maybe he's, I don't know... actually more sane than we think?"
"Ruby does have a point..." Blake frowns, "It does seem really weird that we still haven't seen a single Grimm out here, plus there's absolutely no sign of civilization..."
"There could still be a perfectly logical explanation for all of this." Weiss frowns, "Yang, back me up on this. It would be better if we kept looking, right?"
[] Weiss has a point. You could just be having bad luck right now and with a bit more walking you might be able to find civilization.
[] Support your sister. Maybe that Brian guy isn't as crazy as you thought?
[] (Write in)
] Hug it!
