text: [Themes: fantasy]
  
  You sleep like a rock. It's been a very long day, that's for sure. You've hardly stopped since waking up in the forest last night. But of course, it doesn't last. You awake to Merk staring down at you, poking your side with his foot.
  
  "Wake up, human," he says, "It's time to go."
  
  You sit up, blinking back the sleep from your eyes. The sun is just beginning to rise, but by all accounts, it's still pretty dark outside.
  
  "Shouldn't we wait a little longer?" You ask, "until it's lighter out?"
  
  "By the time we pack up camp, the sun will have risen a little more."
  
  You take one last longing look at your sleeping bag, then roll it up and start getting your stuff together. In a half hour's time, you're on the trail again, Merk leading the way with his tracking skills.
  
  "What's the plan when we if we do find them?" You ask.
  
  "We don't know what we're walking into, so we'll have to improvise."
  
  "Oh..."
  
  For a while, the two of you walk in silence, Merk stopping every ten feet or so to check for new clues. It seems people have traveled this way before, and relatively frequently. There is a faint trail, if you really look for it, where other Oalkwardners have gone before.
  
  "These beaver markings are getting more and more frequent," Merk says after you've been on the trail an hour, "I think we're headed right into the heart of their territory. What on earth were they thinking, coming to a place like this?"
  
  "Listen," you say, "I'll deal with any beavers that come our way. All I need to do is wave my hands in the air and make a loud noise."
  
  "You're either a lot stronger than you seem, or an arrogant fool if you think that."
  
  "It's a beaver! What harm can it do?"
  
  Merk doesn't respond. Instead, he stops short, and you nearly trip over him.
  
  "Why are we stopping?" you ask
  
  Merk puts a finger to his lips and points down the path. You look and see something big and hairy laying just to the side of the trail. It's some sort of creature, about the size of a bear, and it isn't moving.
  
  "It's a beaver," Merk whispers, "If you really know what you're doing, go deal with it!"
  
  "That's no beaver," you whisper back, "I'm not sure what that is, but it's not a-"
  
  "Shut up and take a look, will you?"
  
  "Fine!"
  
  Quietly as you can, you walk closer, crouching behind trees at every opportunity. But it never moves. You're not even sure it's breathing. Then, you notice the blood staining the ground around it. Whatever this creature is, it's dead.
  
  "Merk, I think it's dead!" you say.
  
  "Are you sure?"
  
  You walk right up to the creature and take a closer look. It has a gaping hole in it's stomach, and multiple puncture wounds in various places. Looking at it up close, it occurs to you that this thing really does bear an uncanny resemblance to a beaver, right down to the teeth and tail. The only thing that's different is the size.
  
  "Yeah," you call, "I'm pretty sure." Just to prove it, you give it a good kick in the side.
  
  "My goodness," Merk says when he gets closer, "Never in all my days... Those look like spear wounds. And that big hole in it's stomach looks too clean to have come from some kind of other animal."
  
  "Are you saying an Oalkwardner did this?"
  
  "Possibly. And a powerful one at that. I certainly hope we never have to fight them, should we ever meet."
  
  The two of you stare at the beaver corpse for a few minutes. Finally, Merk breaks the silence.
  
  "We should keep going, the trail continues this way."
  
  Unnerved, you follow him. Something about that corpse put you on edge. Every random snap of a twig has you checking over your shoulder, searching for potential threats. For another two hours, you walk in silence. Neither of you dares say a word, in case whatever killed that beaver is somewhere lurking nearby. The trees are growing thicker now, the beaver markings more numerous. Then, Merk stops again.
  
  "Do you hear that?" he whispers
  
  You stop and listen.
  
  "What is it?" you ask, not hearing anything,
  
  "Shhh!"
  
  For a few minutes, you're completely still. Then, you hear it, ever so faintly in the distance. The sound of voices.
  
  "Let's go," says Merk, and takes off towards them on silent feet.
  
  As quietly as you can, you follow behind him. The voices grow louder as you get closer, and soon you can make out snippets of conversation.
  
  "...Hold her still..."
  
  "...better be quick..."
  
  "...somebody help!"
  
  The last voice is louder than the others, more clear. Merk stand up straighter when he hears it.
  
  "That's my daughter," he says in a low voice, "If they hurt her, I swear I'll..."
  
  He doesn't finish the sentence, but instead speeds up even more. You follow as closely behind as you can, worried that he might do something stupid. Suddenly, the trees give way to a clearing, where a large group of Oalkwardners in green cloaks gather around something at the very center.
  
  "It's almost finished!" one of them says, "I'm applying the branch now, everyone back off!"
  
  The group spreads out enough that you can just see what they were gathering around. A small Oalkwardner is strapped to the ground, drenched in some kind of green substance.
  
  "Please stop!" She cries, struggling against her bindings, "I don't like this, let me go!"
  
  The cloaked Oalkwardner ignores her and tosses something on top of her struggling form, then takes a few steps backwards as fast as he can. The girl, Pila, begins to scream, and the earth begins to quake.
  
  "NO!" Merk cries, and runs into the clearing before you can do anything to stop him. (How he manages to do so without tripping is beyond you). All the cloaked Oalkwardners turn and look at him in shock as he runs towards them. They draw their spears and get ready to fight, but instead of charging them, he leaps into the air, sailing over their heads, and lands right next to Pila.
  
  But while all this is happening, Pila's skin begins to give off a faint blue glow, growing brighter every second. By the time Merk reaches her side, she's too bright to look at.
  
  As Merk reaches out to touch her, a bolt of lightning flashes up from the ground, and the sound of thunder resonates throughout the forest. A split second later and the light is gone. A moment later, the earth stops it's quaking. You turn and look at the place where Pila once was, and gasp. All that's left of Merk are a few scraps of Paper-Mache skin and a pile of ashes. As for Pila... what on earth is that? A strange lump of wood lays in the middle of the clearing. It takes you a few seconds to realize that it's an exact copy of Pila. What the heck did they do to her anyway?
  
  Presently, about half the Oalkwardners head over towards a contraption over on the other side of the clearing, (you can't quite make it out from here), while the rest mill about, chatting nervously among themselves about what Merk did. If you're going to try anything, now might be the time to do it. You might be able to save Pila and Merk's remains, at least...
  
  > wait and follow them.
  You stay where you are and watch as they pick up the contraption and carry it to Pila's remains. That's when you realize, it's a cage. They set it down right beside her and put her remains inside it. Then they close it up and lock it tight. Four Oalkwardners pick it up by the corners and lead the way into the forest. You follow at a distance, careful not to be seen. The brush is thicker than ever here, branches scratch your face and you nearly trip several times. Luckily, you manage to keep your footing in the end.
  
  As you walk, you begin to notice something strange about the wooden remains of Pila in the cage. Every once in a while, they shift a little, as if of their own accord. Is it just your imagination, or did one of her arms just twitch? The Oalkwardners glance up at it every time this happens, and you notice a few of them gripping their spears, getting ready to draw them in case... well, you're not sure what.
  
  All of a sudden, the whole procession stops. Something's going on at the very front of the group, but you can't quite make it out from this distance. Then, you see it. A wooden hatch opens up in front of them, about four times their size, and they begin to descend down it, carrying the cage somewhat awkwardly between them. Then, the rest of them follow. Soon as the last one descends, the hatch falls closed. You rush over to it and find that it's camouflaged to look like part of the landscape, though, if you really look hard enough, you can just see the outline of it in the grass.
  
  You wait about five minutes before you try to open it. (Just to make sure no one's lingering by the door when you come in). A good tug on the handle, (cleverly disguised as a tree root), confirms that, as expected, it's locked. As you stand there, trying to figure out a way to get inside, you hear the muffled sound of footsteps coming up, getting nearer and nearer to the surface. Quick as you can, you back away and duck behind a bush, just before the hatch comes open. A single Oalkwardner climbs out, leaving the door open behind him. He grumbles something about "Bathrooms" and "Relieving himself," and heads off a little ways into the woods.
  
  Now's your chance! Thanks to that Oalkwardners carelessness, the door is wide open in front of you. You slip inside as quickly as you can, pulling the door shut behind you. It clicks when it closes, probably locking itself automatically. Good, now that Oalkwardner won't come in from behind and surprise you.
  
  You find yourself at the top of a spiral staircase, which descends about twenty feet before stopping. When you reach the bottom, you find yourself in a dirt tunnel with three paths branching off from it.
  
  > The tunnels
  You are at the bottom of a spiral staircase, leading up to the surface. Three, hard packed dirt tunnels branch off from here, each with a sign that tells where it leads. A notice board full of announcements hangs on one wall. You glance over it and notice one in particular reminding the whole facility of a mandatory meeting at this very time. This is perfect! You'll be able to explore the whole place without being caught!
  
  The first tunnel is marked "auditorium," the second says "Lab," and the third, "Containment."
  
  > go down the path labeled "auditorium"
  You slip down the hallway, trying to be as quiet as you can. This must be the way to their meeting place. It's probably where everyone is right now. Sure enough, you begin to hear the faint sound of voices echoing down the tunnel, growing louder as you go further. Soon, you come to a round wooden door, blocking the way. From behind it, you can hear the voices, or rather, one voice, of someone giving a speech on the other side. You press your ear to the door and listen...
  
  "As you well know," the speaker says, "The order of the broken chalice has spent years upon years preparing to liberate this land in which we all live, by slaying the tyrant in our midst!" The crowd cheers at this, sounds like only a few hundred Oalkwardners. Are they really planning some kind of uprising with such a small amount of people? As if in answer to your question, the speaker continues, "Though we are few in number, the king cannot begin to anticipate our secret weapon: The Oalkfriers! Thanks to the dedication of our resident alchemists, we have perfected the art of creating fearsome beasts, made of the strongest substance known to our kind: the wood of a simple oak tree!"
  
  "The day of the uprising draws nearer and nearer. Just a few more Oalkfriers and we will be ready to estate our glorious new order. Allow me to go over the plan once again. We begin by releasing our Oalkfriers into many of the current order's key locations. This includes their military bases, ambassador homes, and the palace itself. They will wreak havoc, destroying everyone in their path. Once they have done their job, we will move in and neutralize them, leaving no-one to prevent us from taking the throne ourselves!" The crowd cheers once again.
  
  You've heard enough. Whatever this is, it can't be good. You've got to do something about it, or else there's no telling what might happen!
  
  > charge into the auditorium and take out as many as you can!
  There's nothing else for it. You fling open the door and rush into the room, screaming. The entire auditorium turns to look at you just as you reach the Oalkwardners nearest to the door. Before they can react, you start kicking as many as you can. They go flying, your foot leaving dents wherever it lands. Compared to these papery creatures, you're like some kind of superhero, with ten times the strength of any of them.
  
  Unfortunately for you, however, there are about five hundred of them, and they're not about to let you plow through all of them without a good fight. Many draw their spears, and leap at you all at once. You try your best to fight them off, but there's just too many! They latch onto you wherever they can, driving their spears into your arms, your legs, your stomach. The pain is overwhelming. Those spears may be small, but they still hurt pretty bad. You fall to the ground as the world fades away around you. Who knew you'd be killed by a pack of midgets?