Head for the strange man
From Create Your Own Story
You walk over toward the strange man in the red jumpsuit and yellow cape. The man smiles and says, "You should not be here in the Outlands, stranger. Come with me back to the City."
"City?" you ask. "Which one?"
The man laughs. "Come. My name is Baradarab." You follow Baradarab across the mountains of socks. Occasionally, you come across another sock-worm-thing, but Baradarab is able to whisk you both to safety. After an hour or so of walking, you reach a high cliff. The cliff overlooks a deep abyss, swirling with white clouds. Out beyond the cliff's edge, you can see an enormous floating city.
"That is the City," says Baradarab. He takes you in his arms and jumps off the cliff, before you can yell in protest, he's carrying you through the air.
"You cannot fly, stranger," says Baradarab. "I could tell when I saw you. It is a pity."
You ask why, but Baradarab ignores you. Soon, you are standing in the middle of the City. The buildings here are tall and topped with crystalline spires. There are men and women in white jumpsuits and red capes flying all over the place. Children race bicycles in the streets, while happy moms cook burgers with heat vision.
"Wow," you say.
Baradarab brings you to a green park at the center of the City. There you see an older woman, with streaks of gray in her otherwise-black hair. But she is nonetheless quite beautiful. Her eyes are wrinkled, but her hands look strong. She's dressed in a yellow jumpsuit, and her cape is black.
"Mother," he says. The older woman walks toward you both.
"This is Ada," says Baradarab. "She is Mayor of the City."
"Baradarab," says Ada. "You have brought me a champion to defend us against the Raptoropticon?"
"Yes, mother," says Baradarab. One long, strange conversation later, you find out that the Citizens of the City live in terror of a giant bird-like creature which swoops down every other week and eats some third of the populace.
"The monster is genetically coded to us," Ada explains. "That's why we haven't been able to defeat the beast ourselves. It knows us...to well."
You nod because that kind of makes sense. If you ignore everything you've ever been taught about genetics, ever.
"Will you help us?" asks Baradarab.
You say:
