Limits

The Dead Forest that was part of the Dense Wilderness, stretched for a while before I cleared it. I met some Corpse Dogs and Black Sludge on my way but I had no issues with them. I already knew how to deal with those opponents. When I cleared the Dead Forest, my new map indicated that I was closing in on the Vulture Cliffs. The Black Sludge factory that was always on my right, disappeared after I cleared the Dead Forest.

I could proceed north but I decided against that. 'That guy Crow said, not to go there under any circumstances. I do agree with him, I can't take on a whole city of creatures and if some of them spot me, they may bring reinforcements. I will head to Vulture Cliffs first and find out what it is about. I can decided where to go next, after that' I thought and continued heading west.

After a few more "days" of walking, I finally noticed a change in the environment. There seemed to be a huge swarm of something in the sky, as well as the towering cliffs that protruded from the earth. 'So, this is my destination. What is that swarm of things in the sky anyway?' I thought. When I got close enough, I received my answer. 'So, those were birds. No wonder this place is called Vulture Cliffs. Those birds must be Vultures' I thought.

When I got even closer, I noticed some of the birds leaving the flock and coming my way. 'This can be bad' I thought and prepared myself. The few birds that left the flock, landed about 50 metres away from me and stood there. They were quite big, at least 2 metres tall when they stood there. Their feathers were grey and gloomy looking. They had long necks that were red and no feathers on them. Their heads were a bit elongated, with short beaks that were also grey. Their legs were quite long too, about ⅓ of the whole body size, the colour was also grey. To finish it off, the creatures had sharp looking talons, probably to catch their prey.

I didn't know the name of these creatures at the moment, so I decided to call them Grey Vultures. I stopped moving as I didn't know what those birds wanted. Although I didn't move, the birds started to walk towards me. I waited for them to arrive, the further away I was from the flock, the better. Their speed was not fast at all, they seemed to be much more adapt to flying than walking on the ground. Some birds could skip or walk quickly on the ground but these were quite slow. 'This must be their weakness. They are probably very good at flying and can stay in the skies for a long time but walking is something they don't do very often' I thought.

This was my guess but it was a solid one nevertheless. The vultures were getting closer, while I stood in place and waited. 'If they don't attack me, I have no problems with them' I though and waited. After a while, 8 Grey Vultures stood about 15 metres away from me. They started quite intensely for a bit and then, one of them spoke? "What is it that you want here, human?". I was surprised to be honest but I already had a fair share of shocking encounters. I asked anyway "You can speak?".

The leading vulture said "Of course, We are the owners of the Vulture Cliffs, do you think that stupid race could be its master?". I shook my head and said "That is not what I meant. I never saw a talking bird in the past, so I'm just surprised". The vulture got a bit angry and said "Of course you morron, we are not birds! We are Avians! Those primitive birds are to stupid to know how to speak!".

'So, this is another race that lives in the North. I wonder what the Crow guy's race is called. I should've asked him that before I left' I thought. As I was lost in my thoughts, the vulture or rather Avian, asked again "What is your purpose in coming here human?". I snapped out of my thought and replied "I'm going wherever the road is taking me, I don't have any other purpose to come here, than to explore this place. Your race is quite interesting, would you mind if I look around the cliffs? I'd like to see the home of Avians".

The Avian I spoke with turned around and started speaking to the others, in a language that sounded pretty much the same as bird's noises. After a while, the Avian turned towards me and asked "Why should we give you permission? What do we get in return?". 'I knew it wouldn't be that easy but fighting them is not an option. If that whole swarm goes after me, I'm dead. But I have nothing to offer them in exchange…' I thought.

After some more thinking, I replied "I don't have much I can offer you. Perhaps you need something done? I can do it for you and you let me visit the Vulture Cliffs. How about that?". The Avian turned towards his colleagues and started talking again. 'It seems that these birds don't follow the rules of "one leader says all". This guy is clearly a leader but he still asks for opinion of others. This structure in society is much more different, compared to humans' I thought.

The Avian turned around and said "We can accept that. There is something that needs to be done. If you do it, you will have the permission to walk around the cliffs and do whatever you like, as long as you don't slaughter everything and don't harm any of the Avians". I asked "What is it that you want me to do?".

The Avian said "We want you to clear out the underground den of those Corpse Dogs. They are annoying us. They know very well, we can't get them underground but you can. If you do it and come back with a proof, that their leader is dead. We will let you in and do whatever you like, as long as you follow the previous rules". I asked "Is the den very big?" to which the Avian responded "We don't know. We estimate it to have at least 1000 Corpse Dogs. Their leader should be much stronger as well".

'Hmmm, that is quite a lot of them. I could try and infiltrate it. First assess the risk then deal with it. I'm also curious what is inside the Vulture Cliffs' I thought and said "Alright, I will give it a try. Can you show me the location on this map?" and handed them my map. The avian took it and seemed surprised. He said "You don't have much on it".

I said "I doesn't matter, I just need the location of the den". He said "There are couple entrances that we located. Those damned dogs, they dig underground and make new entrances pop up, every once in a while. I will mark all the entrances that we know of, the rest is up to you". I nodded my head and waited for the avian to finish.

What happened next, surprised me as well. The Avian placed its wing on some feathers and what looked like ink appeared. Besides the ink, a quill for writing appeared as well. I decided to ask "Do you have some sort of storage item on you as well?". The Avian looked at me and said "Of course, how would I carry all that stuff around? Although it is different from yours, by a lot. We make them from the feathers of our King. The King would lose a feather or two once every other day, so we make those storage items from them". He then continued to draw on the map.

After a while, he finished and handed the map back to me, then said "Those are all the known locations of entrances to the den. Whichever you go through, I believe they are all connected. Either way, we will see you when you return and if you return human". Then, they spread their wings and flew into the air. 'Damn, I had more questions for them. I guess those will have to wait, until I'm done with the task' I thought.

I checked the map and saw 6 new marked location. The Avian was even nice enough to number them. 'Right, I should check out all the locations first and assess what I'm dealing with. I can then plan out my course of action' I thought and headed to the No. 1 entrance on my map.