Tales from the Creature Keeper Episode 1: Trapped in Town

Tales from the Creature Keeper

Episode 1: Trapped in Town

By Matthew Stone

Copyright 2013 Matthew Stone

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. I know, I can't stop you from doing whatever you want with it, but what you don't realize is that my family and I live as a clan out in the boonies, and without decent money we may end up having to shoot all the squirrels, raccoons, and deer out here and cook them over bonfires just to survive. Oh sure, you may think that sounds funny, or even romantic, but it's actually a really tough way to live. So if you didn't buy this copy, make sure you buy your own copy in the future. And if you're going to post this on The Pirate Bay or something, I admit that I will appreciate the free advertising and publicity, but remember that a proper sharing society involves sharing everything about a creator, not just their works. That includes sharing where downloaders can go to buy a copy whenever they feel so inclined. So if you're going to share this file, at least don't be so gosh darn lazy about it.

Table of Contents

Preface

Cast

Encounter 1 – Jerry's Journey

Encounter 2 – Troy's Report

Encounter 3 – Ivan's Orders

Encounter 4 – Chris's Reception

Encounter 5 – Razz's New Shoes

Encounter 6 – Xylia's Discovery

Special Thanks

Preface

The launch of a new project is always filled with eustress and distress. Will people love what I have done, or will they hate it? Probably both, given the breadth of people in the world, but such facts don't do much to ease anxiety. Will it make me money so I don't have to work in grocery store lanes anymore? I hope so, because I sincerely want to keep writing and bring joy and meaning to those who are stuck working the kinds of jobs I secretly dread. But I also want to write something that will make people think, and when people start thinking, they don't always come to the same conclusions. They may even twist their conclusions into new prejudices, and then they may take what I've done and use it as a weapon, a means to start conflicts and wars with others. But I suppose that's always a risk no matter what one produces. Thus, armed with hopes, dreams, and a robust sense of humor with which I armor myself and slice at the fears and concerns that prey upon my psyche, I release this work into the world with all the best of intentions. My role models are Steve Smith Jr., John Cleese, Markus Persson, Keiji Inafune, and God himself, and I hope to join the ranks of legendary creators alongside them.

Please be advised that I am not the Matt Stone that is best known for producing South Park. I actually tore myself away from him years ago through sheer force of will, like what happened with Nei and Neifirst in Phantasy Star 2. It's a pretty plain name, so be careful not to get us confused. Besides, if I am successful enough, I may yet meet my evil twin face-to-face, and I'd like him to be somewhat surprised.

Cast

Visit here to see high resolution versions of everyone!

Rasmus Razz Oreon

Tribe: Dwarf Rollede Chimera

Trade: Escaped Slave, Indomitable Worker

Temperament: Cleanly Domesticated

He strives to be objective by just focusing on whatever task needs to be done. By using his work ethic to punch through hardships, he actually found a number of nice people and even a couple nice masters during his enslavement. However, his current master, Zack, doesn't seem to be one of them. Razz is quite the oddity thanks to his body proportions, which are unheard of even after taking into account the breadth of the tribes in his world.

Jerry Jaspers

Tribe: Purebred Whiptail

Trade: Escaped Slave

Temperament: Alarmed Feral

Lacking a mature perspective on the world, partially due to his youth and partially due to cruel circumstance, Jerry has always just wanted to escape enslavement. There's a whole world of wonder waiting for him beyond it, but he may be ill-equipped to handle its special brand of hardships as well.

Zack Tyler

Tribe: Purebred Heatfang

Trade: Gopher Punk

Temperament: Forcedly Domesticated

Zack has always wanted to escape enslavement of a different kind: the sort his highbrow family tried to force upon him. He ultimately rebelled against his society and religion, dragging Razz and Jerry behind him as he fled.

Troy Spencer

Tribe: Spiny Hydroad

Trade: Firefighter, Mariner, *CLASSIFIED*

Temperament: Courteously Domesticated

A creature of great accomplishments, though he's not allowed to brag about most of them. His role in the town of Timber River technically isn't his real life, but he's turned it into one anyway, partially to stave off homesickness.

Mason Hornblower

Tribe: Tiger Zealeye

Trade: Mayor of Timber River, Critic, Data Delver

Temperament: Ruthless Domesticated

By bucking family tradition and instead embracing all the new ideas that were coming from the Data Delvers, he's carved out a unique place for himself in the world. In the end though, he got more than he bargained for, and all the discoveries he's made or assisted with have somehow made him ever more thankful for human extinction.

Ivan Light Jenner

Tribe: Starry Nightwalker

Trade: Roboticist, Bag of Frayed Nerves

Temperament: Raggedy Domesticated

He always seemed somewhat stressed even before he opened a tech support business in Timber River. His neighbors says he's very helpful but ought to get out of the house more, just for his own good.

Fred Cain Yates

Tribe: Canopy Nightwalker

Trade: Geneticist, Bag of Jittery Nerves

Temperament: Reluctantly Domesticated

You'd think a guy who enjoys cutting into biological machines and studying how they work would be able to stand the sight of blood, but such isn't necessarily the case with Fred. He seems much calmer when he's going about creation and not dissection.

Taylor Harvey

Tribe: Steelbeast

Trade: General Assistant, Marshal-in-Training

Temperament: Dutifully Domesticated

Ivan's assistant and brainchild. He doesn't seem to have much personality of his own and it's unclear whether that's intentional or not. His present body design is also somewhat lanky and clunky, but Ivan thinks he's fine the way he is.

Ryann Harvey

Tribe: Steelbeast

Trade: ???

Temperament: ???

She's supposed to be Taylor's wife in the not-too-distant future. At least one person is hoping Ivan outsources her body design after how Taylor came out.

Chris Drakin

Tribe: Purebred Vanisher Chimera

Trade: Innkeeper, Organizer, Test Subject Having Second Thoughts

Temperament: Unhappily Domesticated

So far all anyone knows about his past is that his hometown was razed by ferals. Pooky found him in the rubble and dragged him to Timber River so he could set up a new life. His competing urges for peace and adventure tend to make him restless; building the Wander Inn may have been an attempt to reconcile that conflict.

Pooky P. Andrews

Tribe: Polar Grizzly

Trade: Party Animal, All-Purpose Assistant

Temperament: Hopelessly Domesticated

Probably the greatest mystery surrounding him is how his lack of survival instinct never got him killed in the wilderness. One can only assume that even wild, hungry tribes are not immune to his carefree charm.

Genevieve Zola

Tribe: Purebred Prairiemaster

Trade: Farmer, Professor, Coach

Temperament: Accomplished Domesticated

A retired school teacher who settled in Timber River to finally try her hand at farming, the job her tribe is famous for. She has high standards for herself and others, which can make her seem like a cruel taskmaster.

Strawberry Burd

Tribe: Charcoal Polarwool

Trade: Nurse, Collector

Temperament: Experienced Feral

She may not know the best methods for dealing with her fears, as a mild paranoia of children (Pooky included) being nearby when she works helped inspire her to take self-defense classes. But at least her ghosts have encouraged her to become a stronger, more productive person, able to inflict wounds just as well as she can heal them.

Robin Unwin

Tribe: Purebred Grizzly

Trade: Student, Aspiring Astronaut, Unaccounted Factor

Temperament: Domestic Feral

Instilled with a love of mechanics and discovery by his parents, Robin wants to build his own megarocket someday, though it may not be because he wants to be a real astronaut, but more so he can better roleplay being a defender of Earth, as his mortality rate in Kerbal Space Program is shockingly high. He even attempted to land on the sun once.

Xylia Higgins

Tribe: Purebred Nymph

Trade: Wilderness Survivalist, Hatter

Temperament: Lonely Feral

She's a wanderer partly due to circumstance; Nymphs are widely shunned in the world as incomplete tribes since they don't look like much more than aqueous humans. Some even call them false fairies because their wings are actually strong fins for swimming and paddling. The only person in the world who seems to genuinely care about her is Zack.

Nyx

Tribe: Purebred Terrafoe

Trade: Oh, sure, but she's good at haggling

Temperament: Randomly Feral

Being of what's generally the most despised tribe before or after the nymphs (it depends on where in the world you are), she plays up her kind's reputation for all its worth. Maybe it's because the ability to fly away from danger makes trolling a relatively safe hobby?

Isaac Foreman

Tribe: Purebred Treehopper

Trade: Beekeeper, Aspiring Aviator

Temperament: Territorial Feral

It may be that the only reason he lives in Timber River is because Nyx controls more of his life than he's willing to admit. It's as if his goal in life is to be a hermit, but he's constantly thwarted in his attempts. He may also be bad at keeping pets.

Encounter 1: Jerry's Journey

It must have been close to midnight when Jerry Jaspers finally collapsed in the tall grass. Razz Oreon was on hand to catch him, and for a moment the tall wheaten grass submerged both of them. Razz had to struggle to the surface of the plains to call for help.

Hey, he began.

Razz patted Jerry softly on the shoulder, then passed him a canteen without taking his large sharp eyes off the tall crimson person he was trying to hail. He should have heard Razz the first time, but his swagger suggested he didn’t care.

Hey! Razz tried again.

Razz Oreon was a Dwarf Rollede, about five feet tall and