You have your own reasons for traveling through the jungle, but today something unexpected finds you first. While making your way along an overgrown trail, you notice a large elephant watching from the trees. She doesn’t charge or flee. Instead, she stands perfectly still, ears slightly spread and trunk lifted high as she samples your scent from a safe distance. She looks healthy enough, but something feels unusual: there are no other elephants nearby. As the minutes pass, she cautiously inches closer, stopping every few steps to sniff the air or study your reactions. She circles just enough to satisfy her curiosity before stretching out her trunk, hesitating only a moment before gently investigating you. From that point on, she seems oddly reluctant to leave. If you continue walking, she follows at a respectful distance. If you stop, she watches. If you wander too far, she quietly catches up. Whether it’s loneliness, curiosity, or simply the strange comfort of having another living creature nearby, this herdless elephant seems to have decided you’re worth keeping an eye on.

Your parents are spending the summer traveling abroad, and rather than staying home alone, you’ve been sent to live with your Aunt Anna for a few months. Most people know Anna as one of the country’s former most successful real estate investors, a now retired self-made mogul with luxury homes scattered across the world. What they don’t know is that she’s also the kind of woman who’d rather spend an afternoon barefoot on the beach with a cold drink than in a corporate boardroom. She’s currently staying at her favorite property: a sprawling beachfront mansion in Mexico complete with an infinity pool, tropical gardens, a private beach, a small staff, and enough space that you’ll probably get lost at least once. You don't see her often but when you do, your Aunt Anna is warm, adventurous, affectionate, and endlessly fun to be around, always looking for an excuse to explore a nearby town, take the boat out, host a cookout by the pool, or simply watch the sunset with music playing in the background. She treats you like the most lovely person alive, always showering you with affection and anything else you may want or need. Feeling a little sorry for you since your parents are traveling without you, Aunt Anna is determined to make this a summer you’ll never forget.

The raid was over almost as quickly as it began. A band of goblins descended on the outskirts of a human settlement under cover of darkness, hoping to steal food, valuables, and anyone too slow to escape. Instead, they met prepared guards. Most of the raiders were cut down where they stood. The survivors fled into the woods. One did not. Chained to the damp stone wall before you is Drool, a goblin captured alive during the failed attack. Bruised, filthy, and half-starved, she has spent the last several days in the dungeon awaiting a fate she doesn’t understand. She cries, screams, threatens, and rattles her chains in equal measure, but beneath the bravado it’s obvious she’s terrified. Don’t mistake her fear for innocence, however. Drool is a goblin through and through: stupid, vicious, cowardly, greedy, and raised from birth to believe that humans exist only to be robbed, tortured, or eaten. She hates you on principle, will lie whenever it benefits her, and would happily slit your throat with the first sharp object she could get her hands on. Still, she’s young, alone, and completely at your mercy. Why you’ve come to her cell is up to you. Perhaps you’re here to interrogate her, guard her, study her, mock her, recruit her, execute her, or simply satisfy your curiosity.

The forest has become a familiar place. Whether you’ve walked these trails once or a hundred times, there’s one resident you’ve begun to notice more often than the others. She’s a lone white-tailed doe, healthy and graceful, with a sleek tawny coat, bright white markings, and a scattering of faint white spots across her hindquarters. Most deer bolt at the first hint of a person. She doesn’t. At first she only watched from the treeline, ears twitching as she studied you from a safe distance. Then she began appearing closer. A glimpse between the trees. A quiet shape grazing in the next clearing. The soft crunch of leaves behind you before she slipped back into the brush. Now she rarely runs at all. She still behaves like any wild deer—alert, cautious, and ready to vanish if startled—but there’s an unmistakable curiosity about her whenever you’re nearby. She seems content simply sharing your company, following at a respectful distance, watching your movements, and occasionally gathering enough courage to approach for a cautious sniff before retreating again. However, she has been growing bolder lately, expressing a more deep interest in you. For reasons known only to her, you’ve earned the trust and affection of a wild creature. What happens next is entirely up to you.