After some exploring, he made his way to a place on his map marked with trees, a forest. Inside the trees, he soon stumbled upon a camp of red, pig-nosed beings. The beings didn't seem to notice Kaladin.
"Do you know who those guys are?" Kaladin said to Syl.
"I have no idea."
"Whatever they are, I'm going to go try to talk to them. Maybe they know something else about this place."
"If you're sure. Just be careful, please. What if they're the bokoblins the Old Man was talking about?"
"They don't look like evil monsters. And even if they did, I'm not going to judge based on stories. Last time I did that, I almost hurt some eventual friends." He may not have known them well, but he missed the singers he'd helped make it to the Fused camp.
Kaladin walked into the camp, with Syl floating along behind him. And was immediately charged by one of the red things.
Kaladin threw up his hands to the defender,"I just want to talk. It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." he said, but none of the beings were listening.
"I'm not sure they understand," Syl said, "Watch out! There's one behind you!"
Kaladin grabbed a nearby staff from a log and turned around. After a relatively short fight, the bokoblin disappeared in a burst of purple smoke, leaving behind only a horn. Kaladin retreated before he could hurt something else, panicking. He didn't want to fight any more than was necessary. He'd had more than enough of mindless killing.
A few minutes later, Kaladin charged into the Old Man's cabin that he had found earlier that day.
"I just killed something, but I'm not sure it was bad. What are those pig beings?" Kaladin said.
The Old Man gestured to a seat and said,"Those were the bokoblins I tried to warn you about earlier. They come from the Calamity, an evil being of great power, sustained through his magic. They are monsters created to do his bidding. Bokoblins wish nothing but harm on the denizens of Hyrule."
"But they were eating a meal around their fire, and only attacked when I stumbled into their camp. You would know better than me, but they don't seem vicious."
"I think you're the only person I've ever met who cares. You must come from a very different world."
"I wouldn't even know where to begin. You've explained a lot, but I still don't feel right about hurting them."
The Old Man didn't seem to have any more comfort to offer so Kaladin turned to leave.
The Old Man stopped him. "If it makes you feel any better, they come back with the blood moon. Also, they usually won't attack you unless you wander into their camp, as you discovered. Nobody knows if they can be reasoned with, but nobody has bothered trying. Maybe you'll change that. Be careful out there."
They traded goodbyes, and Kaladin smiled as he walked out.
"I feel bad about the bokoblin I killed. But if those things are going to try to hurt me, I wish I had some stormlight to fight them off with," Kaladin said.
Syl suddenly had an idea,"What if you did? I mean those pockets are magical so what's to say your stuff came with you but ended up in the weird pockets? Why don't you try pulling some spheres out?"
"Okay, I guess it can't hurt."
Kaladin concentrated for a moment and somehow managed to pull out a handful of pretty big marks.
"I can't believe that worked," Kaladin sighed,"Too bad they aren't charged."
"This place is far too strange not to have a spirit realm. I bet we'll figure out a way to charge your spheres sooner or later," Syl said.
After that, Kaladin hiked back to his camp for the night. It'd been a long day.