"And where do you think you're going?"

You pause at the voice, turning slowly to identify its source. It's a kartyn'dyryso doe, grinning wickedly in your direction. The spotted coat, the fluffy tail, the red design on her back...

"Sarnah? I didn't know you had a dyryso form!"

The doe cants her head, expression amused. "Sarnah can change into whatever she wants, human. Shapeshifters tend to do that. Shift shapes, that is." She smirks. "Though I suppose I wouldn't know, since I'm not Sarnah."

You blink. "Not Sarnah? But--"

"My name is Alterego," she interrupts, slowly rising to her paws and yawning. "Don't worry about it, though. Happens all the time. I happened to need a safe home, and Uny saw that I looked just like Sarnah, so she sent me over here. Not bad, though. I get lots of respect, even from the most ferocious carnivores." Her smirk turns into an impish smile.

"Even a black dragon can be cowed at the thought of his meal suddenly transforming into another dragon five times his size. Not that Sarnah would ever eat a dragon, even if 'e'were evil. She's a vegetarian, y'know that? Something else we have in common."

"You mean you don't eat meat?" you ask her, eyeing her fangs suspiciously.

"No," answers another voice, decidedly more masculine than Alterego's. You blink at the chuckling buck. When did he get there?

"We have the capability to eat meat--the teeth, the stomach--but we'd really rather not. Just like you could technically eat grass if you had to, but really, why would you want to? We eat nuts and berries, mostly. Er... what are you looking at?"

You quickly shake your head and apologize for staring. He, too, seems familiar, though you can't quite place him. He seems to guess what you're thinking, though, and rolls his eyes.

"Remember what Alterego told you? Well, Sarnah's favorite drink happens to be Vanilla Coke." He lets the sentence hang for a moment to make sure it sinks in. "M'name's Thirstquencher. Apparently," he drolls, "such a name seems to attract dyrysose of the... vampiric sort, so I'm definitely a qualifier for realm-hopping. There aren't any vampires on the island that I know of." He glances over to Alterego to verify the information, and she rolls her shoulders in a shrug.

"How would I know? I'm telling you, I'm not Sarnah. I don't know the names of every creature on the island and what he's allergic to. I just live here, same as you, okay? Sheesh."

Thirst wisely holds back a snort of laughter, though he does mouth the word "females" to you, accompanied by rolling eyes.

"Thirst, behave," warns another voice, female again. At least your overlooking this doe is understandable; her natural camoflauge is obvious, the stripes on her coat letting her blend in perfectly with the clover and shadows. She smiles shyly at you after reprimanding the buck, and sets about grooming herself like a cat would, tongue rolling across her forepaw.

The brightly colored buck sighs dramatically. "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Say, what are you doing out this far, anyway?" You explain your tour with Coastsparkler and Snowflake, and he nods sympathetically.

"Does are easily distracted--flibbertigibbets, you could say." He smirks as he says this, though his words are quiet so his companions won't hear. "You're relatively safe with the kartyn'dyrysose, but just watch out for the renegade denn."

Renegade denn? That sounds familiar. Wait--didn't Snowflake tell you that Ghostcaller served in the renegade denn at one point?

"You mean... they're on the island?"

"Well, yeah. There are seven of 'em all total, and some of the females are relatively good natured with humans, but I know the lead buck is just an all out psychopath. Oh, and if you do run into them, make sure not to mention runners."

"Runners?"

"Just trust me, okay? They usually don't prowl out this far, though we are on the outskirts of BrokenShards' territory. Ghostcaller and Bloodbath steer clear of each other when they can help it, so you likely won't run into Bloodbath out on a patrol. That's a good thing. Bad news, though, is it means that you'll likely run into Undead or Backstabber if you meet them at all." The buck regards you for a moment.

"For your sake I hope you don't meet any of them. Just... try and retrace your steps, okay?"

You nod slowly. Bloodbath? Backstabber? Undead?! Certainly not encouraging titles.

"We need to get back on the patrol," the zebra-striped doe intones, ears flat and eyes darting around the clearing. She seems uneasy, and this doesn't help your confidence any. Thirstquencher nods in agreement, whistles to Alterego, and lopes off into the clover. The black and white doe is quick to follow, but Alterego pads over to you, sniffing your knee.

"You would make a tasty snack if I were a carnivore," she muses wistfully, sliding her tongue across your kneecap. You take a step back away from her, startled, and she winks at you before sauntering off after the others.

Well, that certainly was an odd encounter. Thirstquencher said to retrace your steps, so you must've taken a wrong turn somewhere. Oh well. You've no choice but to try and go back.