The morning after the hunt, Acerglyn sat on the edge of the stone ridge eating her morning loaf while staring at the remains of yesterday's campfire with fascinated horror. She had been trying to be responsible when she doused the fire with several mugs of mead last night. The line of spider-beetles marching with army precision from the edge of the rock to the soaked pile of cinder argued that she had made a mistake. Their rounded shells were the size of her thumbprint, thankfully much smaller now than before. They had eight hairy tarantula-like black legs, which doubled their footprint. They used the front two pedipalps to grab chunks of the sticky sweet char, then tucked their prize under their shiny blue-black shells, turned, and marched back to the hell from whence they came. Still, it wasn't the spider-beetles themselves that held her in rapt distress. It was her first thought on seeing them. Crunchy.

Would the Acerglyn who left the shrine yesterday morning have considered eating a spider-beetle for breakfast? Clearly, her mind had been just a little bit fucked by yesterday's adventure. Worth it, though. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Yesterday was the most fun I've ever had.

>> Set grace and freedom through motion as your source of wonder for The Path of Magic and Wonder?

That

Yes. Do that.

Crown: The Path of Magic and Wonder

"You came to me a pathetic crawling thing with no magic, and in my beneficence, I have set you free" - Uchawi Na Ajabu.

Path Progression: Onboarding

Progression goal: Run defiant against the possible.

Your reward for the discovery of the path:

• You have been granted saint-level access to the Divine Creation Shop.
• A one time gift of 20 Divine Points (DP)
• A stipend of 1 DP per day.

Your reward for continuing the path and starting to learn its ways:

• Your vessel already dances lightly with reality. You can transform, teleport, and walk out of existence at will. Combine your lessons. Jump through shadows. Blink from here to there as your fancy strikes you. Smile as you walk towards your foe, then stab your arm through reality and bite them in the back. Continuance has learned that its rules do not apply, and your being is just the suggestion of a greater will.

With a blink, Acerglyn was transformed and teaching the spider-beetles the meaning of horror. It was only fair. She was sure the spider-beetle elders would be telling the story of the titanic phasing hell beast attack for generations. She had been right. They were crunchy.

Massacre complete, Acerglyn checked her map to get her bearing on the human town. She was thirty kilometers south of the shrine. This mini-map has been super helpful. I'm only half again as far from my goal as when I started. Still, running to the hamlet included, she figured she traveled fifty or so kilometers yesterday, and she hadn't even really been trying. That was way further than she had been expecting when she set out. If she put her mind to it, she should reach Kaidian tonight with no problem. After a teleport back to the pear apple orchard, she was off and running north.

Acerglyn was focusing on staying focused. She kept her senses sharp to keep from running into any danger as she made a beeline towards the town. Is it a spider-beetle line on this world? Am I allowed to break the fourth wall like this? Acerglyn decided that jumping between realms was a fox spirit's prerogative, then took a moment to stare you in the eyes and dare you to leave an angry comment.

The vixen got back to running. Tonight, she would get to Kaidian, sit in an inhabited tavern with actual seats, and drink a beer with a meal that wasn't bread or charcoal. She would not be distracted from her goal today. 

BIRD! She lunged at it and, as usual, caught nothing but air. Not this time, bird! With a blink, Acerglyn was up in the air after it. She snapped again, and the bird was gone in a single bite. Acerglyn did not have time to bask in her victory. She was falling. She teleported again and scrambled until she was sprawling over a nearby branch. Foxes were not meant to fly.

Acerglyn considered it for a moment. She couldn't fly, but she could keep herself falling for as long as she liked. Do I run across the tops of the trees like a ninja for style points or jump up to the clouds then teleport as far as I can see?

The four-footed nine-tailed white ninja blinked from tree to tree, gleaming in the sun and terrorizing the local birds. It may be the slower option, but a fox in the tree was a bird in the belly. You are not the only ones who can do ancient wisdom, Aunties.

The ninja did manage to keep herself heading in mainly the right direction and, though she had been eating birds, she made it to the edge of the woodland in time for a late lunch. Acerglyn landed on the forest floor in her human form and brushed herself down. The damn needles had stayed with her.

Acerglyn figured stumbling out of the wilderness broke and covered in twigs and crap was probably par for the course when it came to followers of Kuchachusha. Still, this was not going to work. Wait, when did I get so much concern for appearances? Did it tag along with the desire to eat small animals? Na, I would have taken a shower before meeting new people when I was Jack. Wait, Comic Con. So yeah, the pride thing is new.

Acerglyn switched back to fox form and padded off towards a nearby pond. She could already smell that she wouldn't be there alone. After a short hike, Acerglyn's snoot broke through the treeline. She glanced over the tranquil pond that had had its serenity destroyed by a group of splashing children.

The little pond was really just a bend in a lazy stream that fell asleep and quit flowing. The kids were on the opposite shore. There were six of them. That big one has a black rat tail, and the littlest one is purple with green flecks. They all have two arms, two legs, and regular faces. Let's go with humans. Acerglyn didn't detect any adults watching over them. She figured she would be safe enough if she slipped into the pond and waded around a bit to get clean.

It didn't take rat boy long to notice that the floating white log on the other side of the stream had fluffy ears and far too many tails. Rather than run away screaming, he came over to investigate. Don't you know that curiosity killed the rat, young one? He stopped ten steps or so from the nearby shore and crouched down. He reached into his pocket, then spread something on the ground and stepped back. Are those berries? I take back every mean thing I thought about you. Rat boy, it is clear that you come from a long and noble line of rodent people who have raised you well and taught you the proper way to a girl's heart. Acerglyn warily swam to shore, then dashed in and gobbled up the berries.

>> You may now combine rodent-berries into your summoned food and drink.

Now you are just fucking with me because of the ancient wisdom crack. I see how it is, Aunties.

Acerglyn snapped her attention back to rat boy, who was now slowly approaching. She shook off and drenched him with water. He laughed in delight.

Rat boy was named Johan. He was the only one of the children who formally introduced themself to the random nine-tailed canine that had shown up to splash in the pond and steal treats. It had only slightly blown his mind when she introduced herself back, the translation layer from The Path of Eternal Nature working just fine in fox form.

The other children seemed to think introductions were a waste of time that could be better spent chasing her and trying to catch her tails. That is not happening. There will be death before dishonor. The children were quick and packed up on her, but she was more than willing to cheat and blink behind them. So what if she came in a little high to bellyflop and splash them? It was survival of the fittest.

A few hours flashed by, and soon the children needed to head back home. Johan invited her to come along with them. Acerglyn thought that might be a bit much for a first date and argued that she needed to get going. Johan said he would ask mom if she could have some dinner. Acerglyn gladly tagged along.

Johan was maybe twelve, and the purple kid was six soaking wet, so Acerglyn didn't figure they had far to go. Five kilometers later, she was lamenting that the six-year-old was harder than she had been in her previous life. Two kilometers after that, the forest had broken, and a tidy-looking farmstead was in sight. The field they walked through to reach the children's home was already harvested and covered in stubble.

Mom was named Lucy Chalmers, and she was more than happy to take in a stray for dinner. The six children were hers, all adopted. One more mouth wasn't going to make much difference. Lucy had neither rat tail nor green flecks. She looked like Julie Andrews in Merry Poppins, except she wore dark brown moleskin jeans and a charcoal long-sleeved brushed flannel shirt.

Lucy took the talking fox thing far better than Acerglyn expected. The Golden Griffon had been right about inclusivity, even if Acerglyn had yet to pay any taxes. She did summon up some pear apple bread with rodent-berries and honey drizzled on top for dessert.

Lucy took summoning dessert with a little less aplomb. Summoning food from nothing was, even with magic, apparently not something common folk could do, which, in retrospect, explained the farm. When Acerglyn explained that she was essentially an envoy for Kuchachusha, she needed to offer Lucy a glass of rodent-berry wine to settle the poor woman's nerves.

Dinner was a laid-back affair, though the prayer to Kuchachusha and Mavuno was maybe a bit more enthusiastic than would typically have been offered. Lucy served a Sheppard pie casserole that put to shame Acerglyn's old favorite meal of burned bird on a stick. The Aunties seemed pleased as well because she unlocked potatoes rather than gopher-tubers for her summoning.

Acerglyn excused herself and beat a hasty retreat after dinner. Lucy had offered to let her stay the night, and the kids were not happy to see her go, but the humble reverence Lucy was showing her was grating. Acerglyn decided she was going to have to come up with a better plan starting in Kaidian. Unless Kuchachusha or the Aunties badly needed something, she just wanted to fit in. 

The road from the farm went right to town. Once Acerglyn had it in sight, she went into her pocket dimension and lay in bed. Going in tomorrow would be soon enough. She'd had enough adventure for one day, and she would need to think about how to handle things from here. She gave her quest tracker a quick check before falling asleep.

The Path of Magic and Wonder: Run defiant against the possible.

The Path of Logic and Reason: Find your reason.

The Path of Eternal Nature: Find your community.

The Path of the Wandering Heart: Walk on, wanderer.

The Path of the Absentminded: Get the Element Identification app.

The Path of Kuchachusha's Entourage: Impress Kuchachusha.

The Path of the Immutable Soul: We have no idea.