Last night, I posted a very crunchy mechanical update about possible rules for Quest. Today, I want to contrast that with some more story. Here's the concept of the character Kralls, the boy who transforms into a dinosaur.
Kralls grew up in a vast, tropical forest. He was born before the dawn of magic, but from the time he was old enough to know the difference, magic had been there, twisting the world. And also as long as he could remember, he had known no other humans, but his great tyrannosaur friend had been around taking care of him.
As he came of age, as with any young boy, he became curious of the world beyond him—of the broad, civilized world beyond his jungle. He would watch from the edge of the trees as other humans—like him—traveled in caravans and lived in the small nearby town full of people, and while he loved his home, he craved adventure. But with his beloved dinosaur companion, he couldn't leave the protection of the trees.
One night, as Kralls slept on the back of his dino friend, a soft rain started, and Kralls pulled a large leaf over his face so he could sleep through the storm. But the rain grew heavier, and the smell of magic came across the wind. The raindrops became stronger and sharper. The leaf blew away from atop Kralls, and the trees began melting. Branches bent and melded into bushes. Animals sunk into the ground, crawling to escape but sunken halfway as though every inch of earth were quicksand.
Kralls tried to spring up and escape the rain, but his hand was stuck—in the flesh of his tyrannosaur. He pulled and pulled, and the side of the dinosaur stretched, but he couldn't extract his arm. He felt his feet sinking into the dinosaur's body as well, and as the rain fell harder, he could see his own flesh melting away and dripping into the dinosaur's unperturbed body. It slept soundly, apparently unbothered by the caustic, magical rain. Within moments, Kralls was completely submerged in his companion's flesh, and he let himself drift away into death.
When he awoke, he did so in his own body on a smooth, unnatural surface with a shining sun and the bright blue sky above him. The surface was the ground, melted into oblivion by the rain. No plants or animals remained, but the greens and browns of the jungle had melted into a flat expanse for hundreds of feet around him. He could see spots of color in the smooth surface that he expected were the remnants of bright fruits and berries—or perhaps poison frogs and tropical birds.
At the edge of the smoothed area where the rain had fallen hardest, bumps emerged where the vegetation had been less affected, and farther out, the jungle returned to less-melted status. Kralls went to the human village that was nearby, to peer at them from a distance as he often did, and discovered melted homes and people with their human amenities—and even other people—melted into them. They shambled, confused and cursed by their fate. Kralls turned and ran into a less affected part of the jungle, and emotions swelled over him as he wondered what had happened to his dinosaur companion.
As he ran, he felt his legs becoming heavier. The thin hair on his arms sloughed away, and scales grew. He continued running and crying, and he felt his back stretch as he went higher and higher from the ground. Within a few seconds, he found himself inside his tyrannosaur's body again, but instead of having melted, his body had become the dinosaur's, and Kralls existed only within the beast's mind, looking out from its eyes. The dinosaur went about its day, hunting, eating, and resting, and Kralls was happy to experience his friend's safety, and a half-day later, the dinosaur shrunk away, leaving Kralls in control of his own body again.
Within a few weeks, Kralls had gained some semblance of control over the change. He wished he could hold onto his friend again and be with him, but he took comfort in the knowing that his friend still existed and lived within him—and sometimes the reverse of that. Now able to take his friend everywhere he went, Kralls ventured out into the wilds of civilization, looking for adventure.
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