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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizWrm" data-source="post: 1647016" data-attributes="member: 13568">Velbrik steps softly through the depths of an emerald-green forest. Around him, the towering trees seem almost oppressive, and a strangely pungent odor permeates the air. The forest is silent - here, no birds are chirping, and no squirrels scamper underfoot. He turns his head and sniffs to either side, trying to determine the source of the tainted aroma, but cannot. Velbrik shrugs and continues walking, unbothered by the scent.As he turns around a bend (what trail am I following? Velbrik asks himself), a splotch of color in the distance - deep blue - is starkly visible against the greens and browns of the forest. As Velbrik comes closer, he recognizes it as a person, and still closer, he notices that it is someone familiar. From a distance of a hundred yards, Velbrik calls out, "Uncle! So you've become lost, too. Tell me, what is this forest we have found?"The blue-clad person makes a sudden flurry of movement and vanishes from sight. Velbrik opens his mouth to speak, but is interrupted by a deep and guttural roar. He whirls to face the source, only to discover his uncle perched upon a nearby tree, wearing a torn blue tabard over ragged peasants' clothing. On the tabard is the crest of Medibaria, but it has been ripped through the center."Uncle, what are you...." Velbrik trails off as he suddenly notices large, reptilian wings sprouting from his uncle's back. They blend in so perfectly with the background vegetation that he hadn't noticed them. He steps back in shock, staring at his uncle. Now Velbrik notices two other things: cat-slitted eyes (or reptilian, perhaps? thinks Velbrik), and sharp claws, which his uncle is playing with, extending and retracting."I warned you, remember!" he says in the same voice that Velbrik recalls so vividly. It's low-pitched but somewhat nasal. "While you've been gallivanting around the countryside, fighting orcs and ogres, getting hopelessly lost....look what it's done to me!""What are you talking about, Uncle?" asks Velbrik. "Who did this to you?""Who do you think? Who could have done it? No petty wizard, certainly. Do you remember what I said to you?" He pauses as if waiting for an answer, but suddenly a look of horror suffuses his face. "THERE! YOU HAVE IT!" Velbrik's uncle points an accusatory finger at Velbrik. "I SEE IT!" Before Velbrik can respond, his uncle breathes in deeply, then exhales sharply, almost as if he were spitting. A green cloud of gas quickly fills the air around both of them, and Velbrik doubles over, choking on the acidic vapors. His vision blurs and he feels intensely dizzy, but Velbrik suddenly recognizes that the gas has the same odor that he'd noticed before, the one pervading the entire forest. Before falling into unconsciousness, a memory floats across his mind.Velbrik sees his uncle, younger and entirely normal; untransformed by 'it.' He's visiting Velbrik's family in Tharol, eating at the dinner table and chuckling merrily at some joke. Suddenly, he turns toward Velbrik, his face serious. "I forgot to mention this earlier, but I'd think it might be good for you to do a little research about your family history. Always good to know one's ancestors," he says, smiling. "Though I see how that may not be so exciting for a lad of your age. I really think it'd do you well, though. You could even make something of a project out of it, and while you're in the library, you could spend time reading about something a bit more interesting. Maybe some monstrous creature, perhaps...dragons? Now there's a fascinating subject!" He grins and pats Velbrik on the shoulder. A teenage Velbrik nods and smiles nervously, glancing over at his parents. His mother's expression seems to indicate a lack of interest, but he is startled to see his father scowling deeply at his brother, Velbrik's jolly uncle. The vision fades into blackness.</blockquote>

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