Jacob

The change, as magic surged back into the world, took us all by surprise. Granted, it struck some of us more by surprise than others, mostly due to the changes. Often among family lines, so when the whole family save my oldest brother turned into dragons? Oh, sure, there were some exceptions among the extended family, but generally speaking, if they traced a connection to my paternal grandmother? Yeah, a lot of a country suddenly got scales. There were plenty of other peoples who changed, but thing is, we had thought that would be the most dramatic, or at the least the least terrifying.

Which is why my elder brother was an oddity. I mean, yeah, mother turned into a basilisk, which was not actually all that surprising, but he seemed to be human. At first. But there was this sort of weight to him, a heaviness to his tread that was far greater than whatever his bulk would suggest. And he smelled of magic, of books and lore and secret things, all bound in ways that were hidden to the waking mind. But, there was no sudden great stature or expression of power or might. Nothing that could explain things.

Nothing except that he was passing into the woods and hills behind the house with greater regularity, doing something out there that they were not able to uncover, despite the fact that as dragons, they could watch him from the skies. Except that he passed through the woods with a grace and a ease that was almost unnerving to see before he vanished, slipping between trees or boulders, his scent (a sort of stench that mixed dust, rot and burning wet sod) vanishing into thin air. Even his magical traces vanish, though there were no portals or gates or even just caves close at hand.

The entire family was checking, as we circled and snapped at each other, dragons in close proximity finding it... straining. So the fact that there was a mystery at hand to distract us was a good thing! Sort of. Most of us just wanted whatever trick or secret Matt was using for ourselves. Though as the weeks passed and the only sign that he was even returning to his room was that things of his were vanishing? It was becoming increasingly obvious that whatever he was becoming, it was somehow less social than dragons.

Which is maybe why we missed it, the woods changing, becoming darker and gloomier, the roads breaking through the trees now having a canopy of trees as often as not. And all of then seemed to exude a sort of quiet and sullen menace. But, aside from it probably having something to do with why he was vanishing into the woods? There was little that we could tell for sure. If only because he had gotten surprisingly good at hiding and as the seasons turned... well, we had more important things to turn our minds to. Even if some of the family mentioned that it was surprising that we had not noticed any bands of looters coming for us.

Albert Urns

He wanted to whimper, as they were trying to get out of ITS hunting grounds. They were not actually sure what it was, even as it hunted them, as it struck them and kept them racing in the maze of the forest that had grown even more wild and grim since magic came back into the world. They had planned on hitting the rural rubes and taking what was needed to survive, and yet it seemed that the greatest monsters awoke out in the countryside.

Or maybe, as some of the men suggested, that this WAS the countryside, awoken in its own right? The hills and the trees hungry for blood and flesh as they stalked and crept? It was something that they had to think about, no matter that they were terrified out of their minds about it. Still, they had survived the initial blooding, and they would do well, would they not? To be sure, some would say that the dragons or fiends or angels or others like that (who resembled more some pathsomething versions according to the nerds) had an advantage, but all needed conflict to grow.

Which is why they volunteered to go on the looting run. To take the farms and the small villages. Except... except there was something massive in the roots, in the leaves, in the rustling wind. Something hungry as another of his men gave a scream that vanished into silence as rapidly as it started. No warning. No sign of attack. Merely the scream, and another, and another, and another, vanishing into thin air. They needed to get back to safety, but the path through the trees kept changing, laughter in the distance as they were boxed in.

And then he saw it. And he screamed, his mind unwilling to take it in.

Authors Notes

Just a little brainfart. Everyone gets a monster class, MC got a gestalt... went Ent and Elder Titan instead of dragon. As for his stealth? Well, assuming he is level 10, he would have taken 10 levels of Elder Titan on one side and 8 Treant and 2 Titanic Creature to get access to an ability that makes Hide and Move Silently Con based and removes size penalties to Hide checks. Hell, so long as he is in a forest and someone is not directly observing him for a moment? He is just a part of the landscape.

With a 360ft move speed that benefits from Freedom of Movement, Silence and Pass Without Trace. Basically, he is a massive sneaky boi when not pretending to be human.