For Bríathar Rann, there was something inconceivably exciting about being this far away from home.
He was a twenty-eight year old man, for gods sakes, but the farther away he travelled from the Draconi Forest, the better off he felt he was – in spirit, in mental health, and especially in heart. It seemed like, no matter how old he got, or no matter what became of him, there were still little pleasures he could derive from life, like being so far away for his usual surroundings that everything was fresh and brand new to him. And so, just like a child who enters a brand new toy story for the first time, Bríathar was amazed by this lush, foreign jungle.
The dungeon diver had spent naught but a few days here, after travelling across the desert for quite some time. Granted, he was not some tourist here to marvel the scenery – no, the man had heard through word of mouth that there was supposed to be a hidden dungeon here, right in the heart of this jungle, which contained strange druidic artifacts. It was quite sad, really, how Bríathar would jump at the mention of 'druidic' and 'artifacts' in the same sentence – and, like the slave to science he was, he just had to travel here to find the dungeon, no matter how long of a journey it had been.
Now, armed with a map that may or may not lead him to a dungeon filled with druidic treasures, the only task at hand left was to actually decipher the damned thing. Bri sat up in a tree, holding the map this way and that – frontwards, sideways, upside-down, rightside-up, you name it – but the thing was ancient, and was written in a language that made it impossible to cipher. The map itself, however, might be usable if he could recognize some of the landmarks that it was trying to describe to him. He groaned a little, at his horrible luck, but was interrupted – by the sound of a feral growl, and a scream, coming from over yonder.
A good archer has good eyesight, so as a rule, Bríathar's eyes easily spotted the issue right away – a large, territorial feline, perhaps a tiger of some sort, was chasing after something. Bri squinted, and climbed a bit farther up onto the tree branches, in an attempt to get a better look at just what was going on down there. Whatever was going on, the feline was chasing its prey in his direction, and, upon further inspection, the big cat's prey just happen to be... a girl? A girl who obviously did not want to become lunch.
Without hesitation, Bríathar drew his bow, positioned safely atop his tree, having a perfect shot at the feline down below. "Sorry, friend," he muttered, saying a quick prayer to the spirits, hoping for the big cat's soul to return safely back to the earth. He cocked his bow, positioned it quickly, before finally, letting the arrow fly. Swiftly, the arrow flew straight toward the cat's neck, taking it out in one clean, efficient shot.
It went down with a strangled roar, before plopping down towards the earth, defeated. The druid in him could almost see the soul leave the cat's body, and he closed his eyes, muttered another prayer once more, before finally looking down at the girl, waving down to her, in an attempt to get her attention.
"Hello down there!" he called out, waving, giving her a friendly smile. "You're not hurt, are you?"