Welcome to Sterling Woods

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PLEASE DO NOT POST! THANK YOU <3

all art is by me unless noted otherwise!

This is a choose your own adventure-esque story. Click the links at the end of the post to advance. Scroll or read ahead and you risk spoiling something! Enjoy your time in Sterling Forest.

entry post

forest theme

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wings by Vampiric

There’s a legend behind Sterling Woods.
Although a rare occurrence, keldines who
enter these woods never return. Some say the
keldines that go missing enter with bad intentions.
But others say the forest has malicious energy.
Recently, the townsfolk have received word of a new
entity in the forest but no one dares to go looking...

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You are Kunal, a young winged keldine. You live in a quiet town and go to school with the rest of the younger keldines. You are very smart, but also have a sour attitude towards many things. You think you should be the king of the school.

Pick a fight.

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“Hey numskull!” Kunal, a young, winged lavender and blue keldine yells across the courtyard at school to his rival, a keldine in the grade above with a yellow coat.

“Are you talking to me?” The blonde keldine whips around and marches towards Kunal. Kunal puffs his chest ready for confrontation.

“Who else has such a tiny brain to fail biology? I heard you aren’t doing so hot, but I just aced it. I’m even younger than you! Why don’t you just get held back already?” Kunal smirks, thinking he just served the sickest burn of the century. Kunal often flaunts his smarts, especially to get a rise out of the lighter kel.

The yellow keldine snarls and growls through gritted teeth, “Who did you hear that from?!” He tackles Kunal to the ground easily with his larger build and pins him. He hisses to Kunal, “You know what? I know you’re so smart and all but I’ve heard that Sterling Woods are haunted. They’re not too far from here and I bet you could use your vast biology knowledge to go pick the rarest plant in the forest to prove you could make it out alive. I took a walk there once and made it out alive, no big deal. How do you think I became such a legend at this school? I’m the only one with enough guts to go anywhere near Sterling. I doubt you ever could.” The older keldine releases Kunal and trots off to join his friends, snickering. Kunal gets up to brush himself off, embarrassed at how his confrontation went.

Accept the challenge.
Deny.

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Kunal considers this dare, but decides it isn't the best idea... “Sterling Woods… that’s too dangerous he has to be lying! I can be just as popular without going there…” He begins to walk home. "But..."

Reconsider.

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“Tch... but no one thinks a nerd is cool…” he thinks to himself, “I’ll show him!” Kunal sprints home with excitement. This is the opportunity that will make him king of this school!

Do some research.

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After a bit of research on native flowers to Sterling Forest, Kunal set off on his way the next day. He was on the hunt for a Korneopsis, or Sterling Red orchid, a rare cultivar of ground growing orchid with nearly silver petals and dark maroon leaves. Surprisingly, this plant grew in dense shade, so Kunal knew he had to travel deep into the forest to find it. He found a map, although it was outdated, of some trails to make sure he didn’t get lost, and a compass in case he did. And most importantly, he packed some snacks.



Go to the forest.

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Kunal was so frustrated from the previous day that he didn’t even care about the rumors. They were stupid anyways, a keldine hadn’t gone missing in those woods for years. He figured the keldines that went missing were just unprepared and stupid enough to get lost or something. Kunal reached the edge of the woods after passing through a peaceful meadow buzzing with insects passing between the wildflowers.


by Vampiric

Enter.
Turn back.

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Kunal glanced up at the towering wall of trees before him. He gulped. The forest really did look gloomy.... almost haunted! Maybe he shouldn't go through with this. He turned to leave but something was calling him, drawing him to the forest.

Continue.

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He sighed in relief, thankful for the shade of the towering trees that had probably been there for nearly a century. No one really knew how old the forest was because all the research keldines were afraid to do anything but look around for new plants. No one ever dared tap a tree to count the rings for years or bring back specimens from the forest incase the rumors were true. “Pansies… This forest just looks spooky because its so old” Kunal thought. “Literally everything has a rumor or is deemed haunted these days… hell! They call me a demon from school just because I got some sweet wings. Kels are just jealous…” He chuckled to himself and began his search for the orchid.



Head east.
Head north.

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Kunal heads north to begin his hunt. Fifteen minutes into walking in the cool shade, he encounters a massive fallen log."Geez... how big are these trees?" he thinks. The trunk seems to extend forever in either direction blocking the path. The bark is too slippery to climb and vines and branches block a flight path over it. He rethinks his direction.

Head east.

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Kunal had been walking for an hour or so, frustrated that he hadn’t found a single species of orchid yet, let alone the one he was looking for. His paws hurt and were dirty, and his stomach started to growl. It was snack time! He opened his knapsack and grabbed a granola bar. “That’s odd…” he thought, “I swear I packed more than this… guess I’m just not thinking straight from being hungry.” He shrugged the odd occurrence off and enjoyed his snack on a cool, mossy rock. Once satisfied, he began on his journey again fueled simply by the need to get back at his rival and to be the cooler keldine. After another half hour or so, something glimmered out of the corner of Kunal’s eye. A faint sparkle a ways off the path. “Could it be?” Thinking it may be the light hitting the silver petals of the flower, Kunal took off nearly sprinting in excitement to find his coveted orchid. Carelessly, he tore past shrubs and trampled delicate groundcovers kicking up the dirt behind him. Although he could’ve flown, the undergrowth was too thick to spread his wings in. Suddenly, a piercing pain shot through Kunal’s paw causing him to trip face first into the ground. Frustrated and now caked in dirt and leaves, Kunal realized he had stepped on a rather large thorn that had embedded itself into his front paw pad. “No way!” He exclaimed, worried about how long of a walk it was going to be to get back out of this stupid forest. With a grunt, he shook off his worries and ripped the thorn out, yelping with pain. His eyes watered and paw throbbed, but he knew he had to get this plant and get out of the forest. He was so close! With the adrenaline coursing through him, he pushed past the pain in his paw and looked around for his glittering flower. However, this time he didn’t see anything silver or red or… orchid-y. Were his eyes just playing tricks on him? He shook his head in disbelief and kicked the ground hard, throwing plants and dirt everywhere in frustration. Was this plant even real? Was this even worth it? He could’ve sworn he saw the silver petals of this damned plant.

Keep searching the area.
Leave the area.