ushernet Chapter 16: First Hunt
Chapter 16: First Hunt
Chapter 16: First HuntMato Mato paced back and forth, his excitement growing by the moment, while Calen and Malika hashed out the details of their plan. He was going to test his skills in a real battle.
“So, Malika is our tank and healer, me and Mato are damage dealers, and Ali is our support mage?” Calen asked, confirming their final arrangement.
“Sounds right,” Malika answered. “I’ll go get us some wolves.” And with that, she sprinted off past a rather enormous pile of bones to where they had spotted the roaming pack.
Mato’s adrenaline surged at the piercing howl that echoed through the darkness and the sight of Malika sprinting back to where they waited with the entire pack of wolves bearing down on her. Quickly he switched forms, his body twisting and warping into the form of a wolf, pleased to find that he was larger and heavier than the oncoming Starving Wolves. Only the Alpha was bigger than him.
With a creaking groan and a strong scent of fresh oak, thick, gnarled roots sprang from the ground, reaching for the paws of the smallest wolf bringing up the rear. As they tangled around its feet, the wolf yelped and was suddenly jerked to a painful halt. He glanced approvingly at Ali.
Reaching a clear patch of ground, Malika stopped running, wheeled about, and confronted the remaining wolves, lashing out with punches and kicks that flickered with short bright flashes of light as they struck.
Rising battle fury surged, a near palpable emanation coming from Ali’s pair of Sewer Rats as they rushed across the mucky ground to separate a second wolf from the pack. Their intentions popped into his mind as clear as day: a complex combination of visible body language, direction of charge, scent, tone of hissing, and a strange extra-sensory perception for their emotional state that culminated in an intuition that had to be a blend of his Pack Tactics and the Beast Language aptitude provided by his Druidic Shapeshifter class.
Mato howled and charged. The plan called for him to pick a wolf, and Calen and Ali would help him take them down one at a time. But the wolf pack had already encircled Malika and they were darting in and out, chipping away at her whenever her back was turned, or she was flanked. They would weaken her slowly, taking advantage of their numbers and speed.
The strategy flowed naturally through his mind – an instinct like he had been born to it. His pack was stronger, and he would turn their strategy against them. Mato picked the weakest of the three right as it dodged back away from Malika and snapped at its hindquarters with his sharp teeth. Mana and stamina flowed through him in a rush as he wove Brutal Restoration into his Hamstring skill and ripped through flesh and tendons. The wolf yelped in sudden pain as warm wetness and the metallic taste of blood exploded into his mouth.
The wolf stumbled, its movements suddenly hampered, and Mato’s lip curled back in a savage grin as the rhythm of the wolf pack’s attacks began to crumble. The gentle slow pulse of soft spring warmth, new growth, and shoots reaching for life-giving sunshine filled his body as Brutal Restoration infused him with continuous healing.
But the rich flow of new senses pouring into his mind was not limited to his understanding of beasts or pack fighting. Mato’s mana flowed outward across the battlefield like an extension of himself, establishing his territory, his domain. It was small, barely more than ten feet in all directions, but through it, he could sense the life energy of Malika, the two rats nearby, and most of the wolves.
As the Alpha wolf lunged in, fangs bared, Mato knew it would strike. Malika was already forced to block the other two wolves, and their attacks had forced the opening. As the jaw snapped shut on Malika’s shoulder, Mato fed a tiny pulse of mana to his skill and substituted his life for hers. Like a ghostly apparition, unseen teeth tore through Mato’s shoulder, ripping through skin and muscle with ease and sending his blood fountaining outward to flow down his side and mat his fur.
Malika, however, was entirely unharmed.
As the pain of the stolen attack tore through Mato’s mind, a simultaneous rush of power and new energy surged within him.
He snarled, baring his fangs.
A dim red mist swirled around his face, coloring his vision, and he lunged forward to sink his fangs into the wounded wolf before him. Magic surged within him as he instinctively unleashed his skills, and bone snapped between his teeth with a satisfying crack. His enemy wheeled about and bit him instead of Malika, finally acknowledging his power and ripping another wound in his leg.
The soft pulse of his healing steadily knit the wounds together, slowing the flow of blood – and the thick red mist began to ebb along with the diminishing of the heady rush of power coursing through his body.
Eager for the rush, he stole the vicious bite that snapped down on Malika’s wrist. Again, pain and power surged through him as he bled on her behalf. He had no idea how it worked, nor did he care. He ignored the incessant buzzing of golden bolts and the annoyingly bright arrows shooting past his head and bit down savagely, eager to unleash his power and he gloated with fierce satisfaction at the sight of the weakling collapsing at his feet.
He growled,
Apart from his mana issues, and the conflict between his light magic and his stealth, the biggest problem he could see was his defenses. His dodge rating now that he had reached level three had dropped from thirty percent to twelve-and-a-half. Technically, it hadn’t dropped – he still wore the same leather armor – but the effective dodge rating was relative to monsters his own level. And he was basically three times higher in level, now.
But he still noted that replacing his armor with something higher-level was an urgent priority.
***
- Radiant Archery – level 3
You are proficient with a bow and ranged combat.
Stamina: Attack with your bow. Your damage and accuracy are increased by +80% .
Physical, Attack, Ranged, Dexterity
- Arrows of Brilliance – level 2
Mana: Imbue your arrow with additional Light damage.
Light, Ranged, Intelligence
- Motes of Light – level 2
Mana: You can summon up to 1 motes that emit clear light and can dispel stealth effects. You can freely control the motes of light anywhere within your range. Duration: 12 minutes, Range: 530 feet.
Light, Area, Intelligence
- Explorer – level 4
You have enhanced spatial perception and perfect recall for places you have explored. You can discern important details about the places you are exploring and the creatures that inhabit them.
Stamina: Use your enhanced perception to track your prey.
Knowledge, Identify, Scouting, Tracking, Perception
- Blessing of the Dawn – level 2
Mana: Your Dexterity, Perception, and Intelligence are increased by +43.7% Reserve: 20%
Light, Buff, Intelligence
- Eclipse – level 3
Mana: You have stealth in shadowy or dark places.
Light, Stealth, Illusion, Intelligence
Even though he was struggling a little with mana and regeneration, Calen had still not turned off his Blessing of the Dawn since he had first earned his class. It was simply far too powerful to pass up the improvements to his primary attributes: dexterity, perception, and intelligence. Even though his blessing reserved a whopping twenty-four mana at this point, he knew it was far too good to ever turn off. Already he found himself regularly using the improved dexterity to outrun wolf packs and improve his accuracy with his bow.
He grinned to himself. Still, it did so much more than that. Dexterity improved his reaction speed and his damage too. Intelligence improved the damage he did with his Arrows of Brilliance light magic enchantment, and any improvements to his perception attribute fed directly into how sensitive all his senses were – and improved his Explorer skill.
Happy with his improvements today, he carefully laid out all the arrows he had retrieved on the moss in front of him, studying them carefully for damage, and settling in to repair the ones that needed some work. His general skill, Bowcraft, looked like it might just be his most financially savvy skill investment ever – certainly if he regularly needed to fire the sheer number of arrows he had today.
Aliandra
Ali sat on the moss with her companions at the end of a long, but surprisingly productive day hunting wolves. She had been careful to choose a relatively dry spot, hoping to avoid dirtying her awesome new brown pants and beige t-shirt. They were both clearly too large, but she didn’t care. Rolling up the legs a little and tying a knot in the shirt had worked perfectly.
Initially, fighting the monsters had been just as terrifying as always. But after so many fights, her fear had finally accepted that Malika and Mato would prevent the wolves from eating her – and, for the ones they couldn’t catch, she had her roots and her rats. She had barely needed her barrier the entire day, and even when she had, it was mostly precautionary; a backup in case the rest of their team’s defenses proved shaky.
With the way the others had spoken of the town of Myrin’s Keep above their heads, Ali had been less than excited about visiting it, but now, as she was wearing the high-quality craftsmanship of her comfortable clothing, she had found a reason to go.
Simple as her outfit was, the fabric felt soft and yet strong to her touch. While her combat skills were progressing well, she sorely missed having her closet and clean clothes every day. With such a skilled tailor within reach, if she could secure a few more outfits, perhaps her life might return to something a little more normal. Just the fact that such a thought might even cross her mind was still so unfamiliar, she might even call it shocking.
When Armand had told her he had reached level seven in his warrior class, she had been impressed. And rightfully so – he had earned it quickly. But her progress, by comparison, was nothing short of unbelievable. She felt so much more capable today than she had been when she had first received her class – and there was no comparison to her weakness when she had been unclassed.
Her barrier no longer cracked after a few good hits – if she even needed to use it. Arcane Bolt could burn down a Starving Wolf or a Sewer Rat so fast that they could easily take on groups of five or more monsters at a time.
She had known this notification waited for her simply by the pressure in her mind. It was with great joy and anticipation that she committed it to her Grimoire in the usual flurry of light and magic.
“Starving Wolf,” she said, answering the curious looks from her companions in reaction to the light show.
Given how the fights had gone, she decided she could ease up on vitality a little, so she divided her attribute points among wisdom and intelligence. Compared to the first couple of fights, Ali felt like she was in little to no danger now. Whether this was because they had four of them now, her skills growing, or simply more familiarity with combat, she wasn’t certain.
Certainly, their teamwork seemed to be improving. Malika was every bit as strong as Ali had expected, taking a bit of a leadership role in their rag-tag band, and doing most of the tanking. It was incredible how tough she was. Despite being bitten and mauled by multiple wolves, she easily kept going.
Calen was definitely shy, even introverted. The Half-elf didn’t often speak his mind unless asked, but Ali could already tell he was remarkably smart. His magic archery was as beautiful as it was effective, and it was quite useful to not have to use her barrier magic merely for light. she thought, recalling how he would leave to track through the darkness by himself, protected by nothing more than his speed and his stealth skill in a cavern full of monsters, coming back with an entire pack every time.
She glanced over at Mato who was sitting off by himself, looking a little subdued. Well, subdued compared to when she had first met him. He had seemed so excited about his class when they had started, but then there had been that little fight where Malika had yelled at him, and a lot of the life and energy had drained out of him.
While she hadn’t known her companions longer than a couple of days, they were the only people she knew, and she found the lingering awkwardness bothered her much more than she expected.
“So, Mato…” she began. His head snapped up at the sound of her voice as if expecting a rebuke. . Ali suppressed a grin, trying hard to keep a straight face. “Where do your clothes go when you shift?”
“I…,” he started, trailing off as he looked surprised and confused all at the same time. “I have no idea?”
Suddenly, he chuckled, and as if it was a trigger, everyone started laughing at the absurdity of the question and the fact that none of them had any idea of the answer.
“Good thing you keep them, eh?” Malika teased.
Mato reddened. “Er, yes. Right.”
Ali much preferred this mood to the prior one. “Do we have any food?” she asked after everyone quieted down again.
“I got you,” Mato said, upending his pack onto the moss, his mood seemingly much more relaxed now. Several apples, wrapped bundles of what looked like packed food items, and some equipment fell out, and suddenly Ali’s eyes widened in surprise. Tumbling out of his pack came a thick, green-bound book.
“You have a book!”
One of the things Ali truly missed, to the core of her being, was everyday access to her favorite books. Impressions and memories flitted through her mind – the pure joy of sitting down to read in one of those comfy recliners large enough to almost swallow her up, the smell of the library, leather-bound books, old ink, and the soft rustling sound when she turned the pages. The flights of imagination she might embark upon, carried by the words of the story, or the new knowledge she might uncover waiting for her within the covers …
“Mato? When did you get a book?” Calen asked, obviously surprised.
“Oh, yes,” Mato answered, “My mom gave me a book on Druidic magic as a gift for earning my class.”
“May I see it?” Ali asked excitedly. Her hands yearned to touch it, and her curiosity about what it contained was almost unbearable. It didn’t matter that it was a Druid book.
“Sure,” Mato replied easily, placing the large book on the moss in front of her.
She opened the cover, excitedly anticipating the words that might be revealed.
“Oh,” she exclaimed in dismay, looking forlornly at the unintelligible script on the pages. “I can’t read Common yet. That is Common, right?” Ali hadn’t had a chance to even try reading, and so her skills had not helped her learn it yet. The frustration of having a book right there in front of her and not being able to read was excruciating.
“It’s Common. Why don’t you read it for her, Mato?” Calen said, as he got up and walked over carrying another book. “Here, you can read this, too.”
Ali wanted to hug him, her heart immediately filled with the joy and excitement his suggestion had sparked. “Would you? Please?” she asked, trying to convince Mato despite the dubious expression on his face.
“Ok, sure,” Mato answered, “I’m not much of a reader, though. I never unlocked a specific skill for it or anything.” He sat his large frame down next to her, opened the book, and began to read, pointing at the words as he did so she could follow along.
The words on the page slowly began to resolve into meaning as her memories – and her hard-working Sage of Learning skill – began to connect her understanding of the Common language to its written form. More and more words popped from the page as her mana drained to feed the disconcerting sensation of Sage riffling through her mind.
She had to ask for numerous clarifications, given the technical nature of the book, and Calen stepped in to explain usage and interpretations. However, to her surprise, Malika often had answers and further perspectives to offer. Despite being a Street Rat, she had clearly received a decent education at some point in her earlier life.
She expected that Mato would tire of reading after just a bit, but he didn’t. After what must have been nearly an hour, something within her mind seemed to click together and her notification chime sounded.
She glanced surreptitiously at Mato, but he seemed to be enjoying reading to her. She found she quite liked the low, peaceable rumbling of his voice, too, so she simply let him continue. Even though she could now read most of the page in a glance with her Reading skill.