Emerging from a strange, lucid dream, I sit up quickly, prompted by Zionn. I take a note that my heart is beating and look around quickly. The first thing that hits me is the fresh, earthy air of the forest and the wetness of mud on my clothes. I then notice the multitude of dogs crowding around large, wooden statues.

"Zionn, what is going on? Where are we?" I say quickly, but hushed. The dogs worry me, so I mentally will myself to stay still as I await a reply from Zionn. I'm guessing this is not what Zionn had planned when he asked if I wanted to go see a boxing match.

I follow Taylor's example and try not to move, "I wish I knew..." I mutter back to him almost off-handedly as my eyes swept the surroundings analysing the canine's intentions, I had to imagine that if they were hostile we would never have woken up in the first place.
Steeling myself I begin to slowly edge my way towards the campfire, if the dogs thought to attack us I could at least grab some fire wood to to protect myself with, not that it would do much good against their numbers. "Got any ideas?"

Two of them pad out, one to each of you while the others sit, looking on interested mostly, although a few of the gray haired ones seem to be yawning, and going to sleep.  Many of them are paying close attention to you both.

You're able to get up close to the fire.  But the dog seem not to be bothered by it, and comes up to you anyways, Zionn.

Taylor, the one coming up to you is a dark russet, and has numerous scars in its short fur.

Putting my hands behind me back to signify I do not pose any threat, I note the scars along the dog. I glance over at Zionn and notice he is reaching for the firewood.

"This is not a good position we are in. I'm guessing they are trained, or else they would not be so nonchalant about our presence. They don't seem to be aggressive, so I don't believe they are on guard." I had to pause for a moment and wonder how the greyhound before me got those scars."Don't make any sudden movements or run. They might activate their prey instinct."

I sit up tall to show myself as big as I can as I wait for the dog to approach me. I glance around slowly to see if anything is near me, but always keep the dog in my field of vision.

Scar reaches out slowly, and grasps your pants leg pocket with its teeth.  It then tries to pull you, gently at first in one direction.

The other dog looks at Zionn and at the stick, woofs, and Zionn, you feel as if there is a buzzing noise that hums through you.

The moment the dog barks I stop, putting a hand to my head in confusion as the buzzing echoes through me. I stare the dog in the eyes questioningly and slowly lower myself down to one knee, they didn't seem agressive and looking at the scarred dog tugging at Taylor's pants it seemed it might have the intention of showing us something.

I re-scan the environment, the large statues surrounding the patch of earth seem to indicate some sort of ritualistic location, giving off a stonehenge or easter island vibe. I don't want to take any chances, so I wait to see what the dogs do next.

Woof reaches out, grasps your sleeve, and the two of you are conveyed over to an elderly dog.  Its hair is half-gray, and its eyes are misty.

Old One pushes himself to his paws, and Scar and Woof gently pull the both of you to the ground.  Old One then touches each of you, forehead to forehead.

First there is a buzzing that shakes through you, and then as if from a great distance you hear...

...hear me, hear me, Moon.....Hear me....

It comes in plainer and the buzzing seems to fade a bit.  And you realize you're hearing this in your minds.

;;;;;come to....garbled.....the Bine Gods....

Being as it is, surrounded by dogs that are acting suspicious, I let myself get dragged about by the dog and waited patiently but cautiously as the old dog pressed his face against mine. Suddenly, a voice echoed through my mind, causing me to pull back in shock. The dog takes another step, once again pressing his face against mine, and I hear a muffled directive. Come to the Bine Gods?

I look to Zionn, confusion painted across my face, and say, "Are you getting this too? What are the Bine Gods? What is going on?"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:16, Tue 14 June 2016.

.....Sigh....Moonsent Hero, called....the.....of....Nine, not Bine, Nine Gods....

Then Old One looks up at the statues and barks at each one.  Nine barks.

...Help us....

I nod to Talyor letting him know I also hear the words in my mind. The Nine Gods, so this was a holy place.
"How are we supposed to help you? Where are we? Why do you call us Moonsent?" I couldn't hold back my deluge of questions, none of this made any sense, none of it should be possible. To be perfectly honest, psychic dogs were the least of my concerns at the moment.

The Old One speaks again in both your minds, and its getting clearer.  The buzz is less.

"We do not know, only that in great need.....the Nine Gods, on the night of the Triple Moon Passage/ We live on the Great Island.  You have come from your world to ours by the power of the Nine Gods across the Bridge of the Moons, thus you are Moonsent.  A Hero, both.  Our pups go hungry, our wives hate us, the game in the woods is scarce, and even the ....."

The connection is seemingly cut off as the old hound is giving his explanation, prompting me to pull back and look questioningly at the dog, half-expecting the voice to continue. Not getting anything, I inquire, "What can we do to help?" I take a second to think almost jokingly of my situation. I am sitting here surrounding by dogs and dog statues alike, talking to a dog and expecting an answer. I could only guess how Zionn was dealing with the situation.

Old One licks your hand, and then sits down.  Scar steps up, and he 'talks' with a rougher, younger voice.

.....the Old One is tired, he led the seeking of you as you fell between worlds.  Come with me, and I will show you both what our problem is.....

He walks away, and looks back. A short bark, and four other dogs join him.  He gives a bark each, pointing his head at Taylor and Zionn individually.  Then he paws the ground, and looks out to a small trail that you just notice that leads away into the darkened woods.

Fell between worlds? I couldn't believe any of this, I still thought the most likely scenario was that I was simply in an elaborate dream, but it felt way to real. I stand to follow the dog towards the trail, I wanted some answers but I wasn't sure how much the dogs could tell us, hopefully things became clearer soon. The dark woods loomed over us, looking mildly intimidating, I hoped the scarred one knew where he was going.

The scarred one who spoke to us mentioned how the Old One "pulled us" of sorts through the worlds, causing me to wonder just how powerful these dogs were. I followed the dog alongside Zionn, meanwhile thinking of this "specific thing" that the scarred hound could possibly show us. With all the other bizarre things that have happened, monsters or demons were right up there in my list of possibilities. Then my mind started to slide towards how this illusioned monster must be powerful if it was causing even these god-dogs to panic and seek outside aid.

The woods are dark, but the path is well-worn, and you both have a dog guide right in front of you.  The others keep a close watch out.  Occasionally you feel buzzing, and once in a while a word slips into your mind.

Clearly, you're both getting more receptive to the 'dog-pathy'.

And then they come out of the woods to a small rise that looks over a wide valley about a mile square with a river running down the midst of it.  And out there you see dozens of other dogs stalking some small prey animal.

...the Fang Tribe, we do not have enough food. They eat it all. We used to share this valley of Small Fluffy Morsels, butnow they tell us, they kill any of ours who come here....Scar says in your mind.

As we reach the rise I crouch down to observe the dogs in the valley below as the hunt.
"I understand your situation, but how do you expect us to help? I know this is your home but if you cannot cohabitate couldn't you migrate elsewhere?" I still didn't know what the dogs expected of us. Did they expect us to help them retake the valley? To defend them from the Fang Tribe? This was all so odd, I just couldn't come to terms with being stuck between to warring canine factions.

He draws with his paw, making a crude map, to scale he informs you. On it, the area that is controlled by the Old Tribe is about a fourth of the land, and the Fang or New Tribe controls about 1/2 of the Great Isle.  If he is accurate, the land is about ten miles by five miles.

Scar wants you to lead them to war.  Another one of the group, a gray-eyed hunter says that the calling was only for help, so who knows what that means.  But they all agree that you two are the Moonsent Heroes here to save them from starvation.

And you feel a sense of something you lost in the direction of the Fang Tribes land.

My head was spinning. We stood upon a great cliff, looking down into valley. AS the scarred dog told us the situation, more  questions kept popping up. And beyond everything, the scarred hound seemingly refused to let us in on why or how they expected us to change the dynamic. What had we ever done to prove ourselves worthy of this following?

"Excuse me, but I have a few questions. I'm not sure how you expect us to lead you in war. We are not fighters, and we would be standing sheep in a fight. Also, you described how 3/4 the land is controlled by your clan and the 'Fang Clan,' but didn;t talk about the other 1/4 of the land. Is it uncontrolled, or is there another clan?"

...There are several families of not speaking Lions and Scalies who live in the southern rocks along with the goats they eat.  They use to have the whole island, but when our tribe came long generations ago, we could best them in the woods, so they retreated to the rocks....

And you notice he starts replying before you finish with your words.  You're carefully thinking, and he's responding to your mental words rather than your physical now.

....perhaps you are here to kill the Lions....

I consider his words, "Let's say, for a second, that we will aid you in your battle, will you be able to return us home?" I pause, "We come from a world where we are fortunate enough to live in peace and I'm sure you can understand that being ripped from that world, our families and our friends will be a very difficult obstacle for us to overcome. Not to mention we are not trained, nor equipped to battle beasts regardless of whether or not we are moonsent." As I spoke I could feel a tugging at me, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that belonged to me deep within the valley, but I couldn't discern what it was.

...there are more like you??....   It is clear that Scar finds this to be an incredible notion.  Its weird enough to meet two Moonsent Heroes, but so many of them?

....It must be a world of awesomeness with great heroes on every side....

The other four dogs find this idea fascinating as well and gather enthusiastically around.

When you ask your question, Scar looks puzzled and then he hangs his head.

....You ask so many questions we do not know.  Indeed questions which we had not even thought of.  Perhaps this is your great Wisdom that makes you heroes.....but we can teach you to fight....

There is clearly much to consider. I wasn't quite sure how well a clan of dogs could train us "Moonsent" to fight. Without the tools the human civilization needed to rise above all other animals, this place had us at its mercy.

"Where do your propose we start?" I ask cautiously, wondering what bizarre plans the clan had for us. I dreaded hearing a "We don't know", or something to that effect. Perhaps we could find something to help us help them.

In reply to Taylor (msg # 27):

Scar thinks for a bit, and then smiles with a touch of malice.

....First we sleep, then we run.

He takes you to a jumble of rocks in which there is a wide and dry cave, and bits of glowing moss to provide minimal light.  He shows you to 'a pile' of a dozen dogs, or offers you a a quiet' which is space for one dog, and space enough for you, if you crunch up.

You can hear dozens of dogs sleeping, a few yawning, and one very loud snore.  At the cave entrrance a pair of sturdy fellows keep watch.

I follow the dog to their 'sleeping-cave', I suppose we can sleep on all this and see what happens tomorrow morning. Maybe this is just all a dream I think to myself. I head towards the more quiet spot, no offense to the dogs of course, I just wasn't interested in sleeping in a pile of them. I undo my ponytail and remove my collared shirt, leaving me in a black designless tee, and try to prop it comfortably under my head.
"Well... good night... I guess."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Sun 19 June 2016.