Red and the wolf

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A loud screech erupted near John. He woke up naked with his cloak somehow missing. There was a bright red light coming from the scrying orb and with it he saw what looked like teeth closing infront of him but something was stopping them from closing. He dove through the gap and rolled into the clearing. He stood up and tried to get his bearings. Standing on the balls of his feet ready for a fight. Something flew at him through the air and wrapped around him. He struggled at first but then it settled on him. It was his missing cloak. John stopped fighting the cloak and looked around to try figure out what the hell had just happened.

The scrying light had turned back to blue, good sign. The mouth he had jumped from appeared to be the tree hollow he tried to sleep in. Now that he looked at it, it was clearly a mimic sprite or a carnivorous tree. Not much difference when it's trying to eat you. He felt the faint magic coming off of it. He realized there were two slits in the bark that formed the eyes. Earlier, he had ignored them and assumed they were just cracks in the bark. There were now some scorch marks from the tussle with the cloak.

He grabbed a handful of the fabric of his apparently living cloak. Even if it had just saved his life, it's always best to know why your inanimate object is suddenly animate. The helm had dimly glowing runes that could be seen through the fabric. Little runes were sown into the hem and seemed to have activated when he was in danger. His sister, Jess, had insisted that she sew his cloak instead of buying one or making it himself. Now he realized why. She hid tiny amount of magic in each rune so the Elders wouldn't detect it and it could help in a pinch. Some of the runes were already fading a little. He would have to thank her profusely once this was over. The cloak had snagged in a few places but for the most part was no worse for wear. John had a had precious little sleep but he needed to move immediately. There was no way the noise and light didn't attract some being or another. He grabbed his foraged supplies and crammed them into the small pockets of the cloak. He held out his hand and the scrying orb scooted towards him like an excited puppy. the orb settled and started its bobbing search motion looking for a clearing. Just to be careful, John summoned two smaller orbs to look for danger. He attached one to each foot so it would warn him if he was going to step on anything harmful.

The three orbs formed a triangulation matrix. By using the three points they could find things far more easily but it took a bit more mana. John had recalibrated the search to look for a safe shelter instead of food. He also added a rune for detecting mimics. Just in case. He followed a sort of path he had found. It was clear that someone had walked this route somewhat often but it wasn't exactly cleared of the under growth. There were some dog tracks and some boot prints that looked to be fairly recent. Not many things that could survive in these woods wear boots. The forrest was a bit far from the next village but it isn't inconsivable that a hunter and his dog walked through here recently. Maybe there was a small settlement that his people had yet to come across. John's heart quickened slightly, maybe there were witches deep in the forrest who could train him! He picked up his pace, monitoring the scry-orbs intermittently. The rough path soon turned to cobble stones! That means someone had to live here.

Ignoring the scry-orbs now John broke into a full sprint across the cobbled path. His cloak fluttered around him, flashes of his pale skin exposed as the wind dragged it in his wake. the cobble stones started getting bigger and the path was now wide enough to walk two horses through side by side. He came to the end of the path and stopped dead. There was a small cottage, covered in moss. It looked a hundred years old easily. Moss and vines covering it made it easily mistaken for a large boulder that hadn't moved in centuries. He approached cautiously, scanning the surrounding for any sign of people, be they friend or foe. There were no lights in the windows. The small vegetable patch was overrun with weeds. He looked for the door among the moss. The door was dark and strong wood. It was smooth as glass with runes cut into the wood. He recognised a few of the runes but most were foreign to him. They were definitely from his coven's lore but warped or forgotten.

There was a sound behind him in the surrounding woods. Footsteps. A twig breaking. He swiftly cast a new set of scry-orbs and scattered them around himself. There was a deep growl and all the orbs turned red. John shouted an unlocking spell at the door and pushed on it with all his might. It gave way and he quickly shut it behind himself. There was a large plank that seemed to fit into a bracket on the door as a barricade. He slotted it into place and head something heavy hit the door. A loud howl erupted from the other side. John grabbed every piece of furniture he could find and piled it infront of the door. He couldn't see any windows in the dark cabin so he hoped that was the only was in...or out he now realised.