Water droplets clung to the wide leaves adorning the undergrowth of the forest, and vines wrapped around every tree, hanging and twisting like green, prone snakes, waiting to bite the unwary traveler. It was midday, and humidity was heavy in the air, so thick that anyone wandering through the jungle would soon find their clothing soaked, as if they had jumped into a lake. At the far end of the jungle stood Luke, blonde-haired and freakishly tall, studying a book held out in front of him. It was his novel, and every once in a while he would scribble something in it, nodding, or shaking his head in dismay, erasing what he had written. A green cape hung loosely from his side, and helped him blend in to the foliage around him. He stood in a clearing near the edge of the jungle. He was going to enter and write about his exploits afterwards, but found himself stopped just after entering.

He knelt and stuck his hand out, examining a pretty red flower, flat against the ground with yellow tendrils sticking up from its center. “Ah.. Just as I thought. Maiden's kiss. I didn't think there would be such rare herbs so close to the jungle's entrance.” He mumbled to himself, happy. He plopped on the ground in front of the flower and began writing again. After a moment he plucked the flower from the jungle floor and stuck it in a pouch on his belt. He stood up again, and was immediately seduced by another splendid herb, which he approached and drew in his book.

Something lurked near the knight, crouching in a naturally formed cave half filled with water, and laden with algae and slimy insects. The creature moved, bringing its long, skinny green body into the light of the jungle, two bulbous eyes sticking out from it's tiny head. It crept up behind the knight. Luke was too busy to notice it approach him. He reached out to touch the flower, daintily, when suddenly a bee crawled out of it. The knight jumped back, knocking over the green creature in the process, and alerting the knight of the thing behind him.

He dropped his book, twirled around, unsheathed his sword from his back, and wasted no time, bringing his sword down on the prone creature and severing it's body in half with a mighty blow. The monster squirmed, and grabbed it's lower end with it's long arms, and pulled it closer. The two parts began to mend together.

Luke lifted an eyebrow. “A troll, huh?” He said eyeing it. Lifting his sword, he proceeded to cut the thing into a mess of severed pieces, leaning on his sword when he finished, panting. “Goddamn.. Trolls...” He said with a sigh. Little did he know more of the creatures lurked nearby, in the swampy tunnels that made their way through the depths of the jungle

A small creature flew through the humid air creating a small buzzing noise as it beat its tiny wings. It hurried along its path tracking the intruder. There were certain things that didn’t belong in the forest, and from past experiences, the bug-like creature knew humans were one of them. They were either unable to take care of themselves and needed rescuing, or they were able to take care of themselves rather well and had tendencies to harm nature. Humans were just too meddlesome.

The buzzing creature stopped landing on a branch facing a gap within the forest. Sure enough, a human was in the small clearing picking flowers off of the ground. The human seemed to have a respect for nature, but it needed to admire it from a distance and not stick its rotund nose straight up in it.

Sure enough, as always happened to these “nature freaks,” nature stepped out of a hole in the ground and slowly approached the human who was unaware of his peril. The tiny creature tried to call out to the human, but he had forgotten that his voice was not strong enough to reach them. It was like yelling from a top a mountain to someone down below.

The human suddenly turned to realize the danger that he had gotten himself into. He grabbed his sword and split nature in two, but the beast would not be defeated by a single blow. It pulled itself together using unknown magical properties that mortals could not begin to fathom.

Suddenly a wooden boy appeared in mid air between the two. It had a strange dangling from a finger on his one hand and a vile of perchlorate clenched in the fist. He chucked the glass jar, without releasing the precious necklace, at the monster as he landed softly on the ground. The jar exploded on contact sending the brute tumbling over backwards.

“You should not be here,” the puppet, whose name was Willow, said without turning around to look at the human.

The knight stepped forward, watching the creature once again. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, a being appeared and tossed a glass vial at the troll, connecting the projectile with its head and sending it careening backwards in an explosion of glass and flames. The Troll flew back, hitting a tree, and slumping against the ground, its body covered in burns. Trolls carried the ability to regenerate most injuries they sustained, except those caused by starvation, some magics, and fire. This troll had received a substantial amount of fire damage, and wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. Luke turned his head just as the newcomer spoke.

“You should not be here,” it said, staring off into the forest. The knight tilted his head at the... thing. He couldn't determine what race it belonged to. It was much shorter than Luke, a tiny little thing, with little blue buttons for eyes, and hair that didn't look real at all. In fact, the creature itself looked to be made of wood. The knight gawked at it for a moment. A magical construct? Something like a golem? But it looks like a puppet. How strange. He thought to himself, looking the creature over. He kind of wanted to pick it up.

He stood straight up again, and rested his sword on his shoulder. “And why shouldn't I be here, little creature?” He asked, trying to sound polite. “I can handle myself.” He tapped the sword on his clothed shoulder, smirking. “My name's Luke Duke. I'm a writer.” He said, smiling. He bent over and extended a hand. “Who might you be?” He asked with a bright, gleaming smile. The knight was somewhat too trusting, and a little daft at times, but he was friendly and polite, if nothing else. That, and he was always looking for interesting people- or things- to share their stories with him. He was currently writing a novel, after all, and needed as many stories as he could get his hands on.

As usual, nor completely miserable year could ever be complete without a visit to the Taurerosa. Polgara hated the rainforest for a myriad of widely ranging reasons, starting from the constant string of insects, to the fact that it is consitently humid year round, and Pol absolutely hated places where the air is chewy. Her white lock of hair stuck out very much in the green hell of a rainforest. There was a slight layer of mist, or steam, in the forest due to the immense rainfall and equally immense heat. Pol's usual blue cloak had been discarded due to the heat and it was swapped for a blue dress with white trim. Her preferance for bare feet was also completely out of the question and was therefore replaced by a very firm appreciation for good sturdy boots. She swatted negligently at a large bug that seemed to think she would make a good good fource. The bugs in the rainforest were world renowed for being largely disease ridden. When the offending bug came back for a second attempt, Polgara made a brushing motion with her hand and muttered a single word. A sizzling crackle announced that the bug had succesfully been zapped. The terrain was rocky, and more than a little damp, but Pol didn't make too much noise as she moved. The sounds of the rainforest were perpetualy dismal, a solid wave of buzzing and rustling and the vocal cries of the various creatures that dwelt there. Pol shook her head clear of the annoying forest sounds only to be greeted with something out of the ordinary; the sound of fighting filled the air.

The noise was coming from the general direction she was traveling and she had hence sped up a little but stayed her course. The sound of steel leaving scabbard and then a deep guttural grunt hit her ears.
"Ogres," she muttered, but then a strange, foul odor struck her.
"Or Trolls..." she derived from the stench. So she was in Troll territory. Nevertheless she decided to go and see if she could be of any assistance. There was a loud report from the area of the fighting, and then a voice, the words undistinguishable at the present distance, reached her position. By the time she got there, there were four beings in her line of vision. A strange puppet-creature, a man, and two trolls, one conscious, one slumped to the ground, the acrid smell of cooking troll skin reeking off of it. She muttered a word and gestured again and sent a large ball of fire at the conscious troll that was edging its way over to the scene.

Willow turned and looked at the human. He seemed jovial and upbeat despite the fact that he had nearly just lost his life. He didn’t seem to understand how much trouble he had just gotten himself into. He simply laughed at the puppet for telling him he should leave. Humans always seemed ignorant about nature.

“Do you not realize that you just entered a troll den? You’re kind have no business messing with nature if they are going to choose to remain oblivious about it. Please leave this place before you get yourself into more trouble!” Willow temper was rising, and the human’s lack of desire to leave wasn’t helping. If he didn’t go soon the whole tribe of trolls would be upon them.

Sure enough another troll came racing out of another tunnel. It was glaring at the two with a blinding fury. It raised a wooden club ready to strike down the intruders, but it was blasted in the head by a raging fireball. Willow looked to see who had cast it, and heaven forbid, he found another human.

“What is it with your cursed race!” He shouted at the both of them. “Why is it you find a need to intrude on nature? Then when it gets mad at you, you try to destroy it for being the “evil” one. These trolls have done nothing to wrong you; please leave them be.” Beads of sweat rolled down the wooden face. Willow never wanted to hurt anyone, but if they tried to start a battle here, he would be forced to intervene on nature’ side.

The knight put down his hand, as the doll-like thing was obviously not going to shake it, or tell Luke his name. The creature appeared to be quite upset, as a matter of face, and yelled at the knight about not having an business here, and that he had stumbled unwittingly upon a troll's den. He told him to leave. Luke continued tapping the sword on his shoulder, looking at the puppet. He had done research on this area and the creatures that lived here, and knew that trolls lived in this area. He hadn't known that this was home to a tribe of the creatures, but wasn't too worried all the same. He was going to be trekking deeper into the jungle in order to obtain more precious herbs that only grew here. He had only stopped because he had found a Maiden's Kiss flower, known for its ability to cure frog-like diseases.

A rising creature caught the knight's eye, and he turned just as a troll was about to swing- but found that he didn't need to defend himself. The troll was struck with a fireball launched from somewhere else in the woods, and knocked the creature off its feet, plastering its melted and burnt body to a nearby tree. Luke turned to the creature that had yet to introduce himself, and obviously wasn't going to.

“What is it with your cursed race!” The diminutive puppet shouted, upset over the destruction of the troll. “Why is it you find a need to intrude on nature? Then when it gets mad at you, you try to destroy it for being the “evil” one. These trolls have done nothing to wrong you; please leave them be.” Luke lifted an eyebrow at the comment. Done nothing to us..? He echoed in his mind, staring at the now dead creature in flames on the tree. I was sure that trying to extinguish the flame of one's life with a fell swoop of your club was 'something wrong', but perhaps this creature doesn't understand that he was almost crushed to death by a troll. He could be dead if it wasn't for... Luke turned his head to where the fireball had come from. “I wonder who the mage is..?” He whispered to himself, looking for the ally that had yet to show itself.

He turned to the puppet. “I don't seek to harm your forest or nature, little creature.” He started, staring down at it. “I'm writing novel on this land. By doing so, I'm educating people about the different environments and the dangerous creatures that live in them. You could say I'm helping nature.” He said, smiling.

Willow’s jaw dropped at how obtuse the knight was. “How can you educate others about the forest when you know nothing about it? You will end up misguiding them. They will then think that they know everything about nature and will try to follow in your foot steps making journey’s deep with the green realm. You will end up hurting nature with your book. I will not allow you to travel further into this world.” The puppet was done trying to persuade with the humans. It was time for action.

Suddenly smoke rose from the ground as Willow silently cast his ‘Smoke’ spell. The battleground was quickly shrouded in a hazy cloud that only Willow with his ability to see heat signatures could penetrate.

The puppet tucked his precious magical necklace into his traveling pack. With his hand free, he grabbed another bottle. This one, although no one could see it through the smoke (not even Willow, but he could tell which it was by the shape of the jar), contained an amber liquid. Willow drank it quickly and sprouted a pair of angelic wings. He threw the empty bottle to his feat and drew his sword ready for a fight.

Now turning to attack, he quickly teleported behind the first heat signature which he knew to be the knight. His sword burst into flames as he leapt at the fool who thought he knew more about nature than a puppet. He swung his sword with tremendous focus on the knight, aiming to take off his arm, as a phoenix had once done to Willow.

The puppet's answer to Luke's statement made him lift an eyebrow, once again, interested in the strange creature. Apparently the little thing thought that Luke knew nothing about nature, or this jungle, as it were, and claimed that he would be misguiding his reader's. Luke didn't answer. He had dealt with ignorant, assuming people before. Of course, this was some sort of ignorant, assuming puppet-monster type thing, but all the same, he didn't like people presuming that Luke didn't know anything due to his frivolous nature, and friendly attitude. He had studied under hermits in the woodlands for years, and even acted as a part-time ranger near his father's castle. He knew more than enough about nature and Liara's teachings. But there was no convincing this being.

Suddenly smoke began rising from the ground, and Luke looked around him, puzzled. Was the unseen mage casting another spell, he wondered? He turned to the puppet and saw that he had sprouted wings, and had an empty bottle in his hand, and a sword drawn. And then he couldn't see him anymore. His vision was too obscured from the smoke. Luke took a few steps forward, wondering if the creature was trying to fend off another troll, and then noticed the smoke around him had turned bright. He twirled around to see a shady being in the smoke, wielding a flaming sword. It swung at him. The knight was no amateur with a blade; indeed, he was a master, especially when it came to defense, and parrying the attacks of others. He gripped his sword with both hands and struck the blade in the air. Luke was strong, and let the flaming sword slide off his own which he held motionless in the air, successfully parrying the attack. He back up quickly and emerged from the smoke, looking around him. Had the puppet been his attacker?

The puppets sword was deflected effortlessly by the so-called friend of nature. Willow did not worry though. He may not have the same physical strength that the human did, but the puppet did have magic to aid him. And with magic he could acquire the physical strength.

Wordlessly he cast the spell over himself in the cover of his smoke. He immediately felt strength fly into his body. Everything became much lighter than it had just been. It was as if he had just injected himself with 1,000,000 cc of steroids but without the horrid side effects.

Feeling as if he were untouchable, a smile spread across Willow’s wooden face. Let’s see you parry me now. Willow watched as he waited just beyond the smoke’s edge. Well obviously I won’t just come running out. He chuckled to himself as he thought.

Let’s see you handle these. Willow tapped the point of his sword on the ground and three monster that were about his own size. They were also made of wood, but they appeared even more demonic than the puppet. They looked like gnarled stumps of fallen trees. They turned and slowly began to walk toward their prey, the foolish human writer.

Willow used them as a distraction and teleported behind the human. He sat on a tree above them watching. He waited for the right moment to attack. The moment when his minions would emerge from the haze catch the attention of the human. Willow would then be able to catch him off guard.

((I have only one hand))

The knight watched the smoke with a frown on his face. It was the puppet attacking him- he was sure of it. He shook his head. Usually the knight could tell if creatures were evil soon after he met them. He could sense their movements, and detect flaws in their speech, if they were trying to fool him into thinking they were good. But this puppet had done a good job disguising its nature, and now Luke was worried he might not make it out of here.

“Come out, evil beast!” He yelled into the smoke, determined to go down proud and fighting, as a knight should. Suddenly, the knight could hear grinding from inside the mist cloud that stood in front of him. He gritted his teeth, and took a few steps back, preparing himself for whatever it was making the horrid grinding noises, like limbs being snaps and wood pieces splitting in two. Out of the mist came... three walking stumps. Luke tilted his head.

“Walking.. stumps? Of evil?” He asked himself, looking at the comical creatures. He knew they were tougher than they looked, though, and continued backing up, his sword in hand. He knew better than to swing his sword at the wooden constructs; doing so would undoubtedly get his blade caught in the wood, and then he would be weapon-less. No, he stopped, and watched the creatures. What to do, what to do... He thought to himself with a grimace.

“Don't you have bigger fish to fry, evil guardian of this jungle?” Luke called out to the creature he couldn't see. “Or is it that you get off by killing innocent strangers, that come to these woods only in search of medicinal herbs to cure those they hold dear?”

Pol was contemplating the little wooden creature. It was a very interesting little being and she wanted to speak with it personally. Dimly, she noted to herself that it had only one hand. The man however, seemed to be interested in the medical properties of the medicinal herbs around the rainforest. One of the reasons Pol had entered the dismal area in the first place. Just before she were to engage them in conversation and introduce herself, however, the Puppet blew up.
“What is it with your cursed race!” The little wooden doll shouted at the both of them, taking note of Polgara. “Why is it you find a need to intrude on nature? Then when it gets mad at you, you try to destroy it for being the “evil” one. These trolls have done nothing to wrong you; please leave them be.” Pol looked at the Puppet as it spoke and realized that it was actually perspiring.
'Curious' she thought to herself.
The man, whom she had reasoned was a Knight, was smiling even as he delivered his gentle response. But the Puppet would not listen. Dropping it's jaw in disbelief, it went back on a massive tirade about how humans, particularly the Knight, knew nothig about nature and existed solely to destroy it. The Puppet shunned peace attempts and took a drink from some kind of bottle. That was the last thing Pol could see from her point of view. A thick layer of smoke had decided to rise up from the earth itself. Pol listened to what was going on and heard wings, fire and steel ringing against steel. That would not do. If the Puppet was angry at the Knight, he would be angry with her as well, and she would rather have her sense of sight to benefit her. Concentrating on the smoke, she began to draw in her will. With a flick of her wrist, Polgara muttered the word, "Dispell."
If the Puppet were so nature-loving and respected all of nature so much, it ought to have realized that humans, no matter how stupid they could be, were just as much a part of it as the other animals that had life. They were just as much creations of the God's as anything else.

Evil guardian! Willow’s mind raced. How could he call him evil? If I were to break into his house looking for medicine, he would kill me and ask no questions. This puppet was Astalderea, Liara’s own servants. How could he be evil and serve good?

“Tell me o holy one,” Willow called out from his hiding place in a mock voice, “if you poke a lion with a stick and it bites you, do you curse it for being a lion? Do not curse me for being a guardian of Liara. I, first, saved you by killing an innocent creature that had done you no harm. I then pleaded with you to leave, but you refused to even acknowledge me. If your will not respect nature then I must remove you from it.”

Willow stopped speaking because he noticed the smoke failing. The mage was using her powers to quench his. “No!” he yelled and the trees around the mage immediately began to swing there branches at her by his command.

“Now then,” he continued turning his focus back to the man, “let’s enjoy my minions.” Wordlessly his minions turned from wood to iron as there slow march continued. “Have fun trying to cut through them now.”

At the end of his long speech he pointed his blade at the human. Mana flowed down his arm and through his sword coming out the tip in the form of a shard of ice flying toward the human. Willow the teleported to a different branch to keep his location hidden.