Chapter
3: The Kitten
Level 0 Displacer Beast
Kitten 'Nebrayles' has agreed to your soul bond
There
were several things to unpack there. First of all, what the heck was
a Displacer Beast? Second, Nebrayles. This little Kitten had a name
already? Then of course, the third one, the one where I definitely
noted the kitten staring up at me. This little Displacer Beast
Kitten, agreed to the soul bond. They were intelligent enough to
understand what was going on?
I smiled very gently,
and waved at the tiny kitten. They quirked their head, and I sat
gently on the ground, tucking my tail out of the way. I took a deep
calming breath, and decided to look at what I'd fully unlocked with
this class. First, the name was different than either Tamer or
Trapper. It was a bit confusing, and I tore off a bit more of the
fish right behind me. I took a hunk for myself, and tossed another
hunk to the kitten. They stared at me, with their eyes half lidded. I
realized they hadn't touched the other two pieces I'd previously
given them yet.
“Sorry, I'm nervous
and adjusting to things. I figured out you can understand me a bit,
but does that mean you can speak with me.” The kitten laid down on
the ground, and quirked their head hard to the side looking as
confused as I'd ever seen a cat. I laughed a bit, and thought about
it. It said I'd unlocked class skills, maybe there would be something
in that list that could help me?
“Class Skills!'
Current Class Skills:
Spend one skill point to obtain
Trap apprentice: Gain
innate knowledge to make several simple types of easy to assemble
traps.
Enforce Will: able to use
will stat to further enforce commands of tamed companion.
Thought Projection:
Ability to communicate with tamed companion over a limited range via
telepathic bond.
Lesser Pathfinding: gain
innate ability to know cardinal directions, and start to form a
mental map of your surroundings.
Natural armorer: increase
the resistances provided by hides and furs you wear as
armor/clothing.
Develop this class to
obtain additional skills
And
there it was, right in the middle of the class skills. Though many of
them were extremely tempting, I needed to be able to talk to this
adorable little one. I chose the Thought Projection Skill with … a
thought.
Did you wish to spend a
skill point to learn Thought Projection Level 0? You have 2 Skill
Points Available.
You've learned Thought
Projection Level 0. You're now able to share psychic communication
with your tamed companion within a 3 meter radius. To further develop
this skill you may spend a skill point to reach level 1. You have 1
skill points available.
I
didn't know about spending a skill point on this particular skill, at
least not yet. But maybe with as many skills as I now had, it
wouldn't hurt to spend that last point to level up one of my skills.
Which one deserved that honor though? Lesser Draconic Scales was
giving me some innate damage resistance, if I leveled that I guessed
the resistance would increase as well. My Assessing Eye was currently
telling me how big of a threat to me something was, if I gave it the
skill point would I get more information then that? Then there was my
new Soul Bond. I wasn't even sure what that was doing for me.
Soul Bond Level 0: You're
able to bond yourself to a tamed companion. At this level you'll
share experience awarded, and grant your companion additional
abilities.
I
was granting the cute little kitten additional abilities? I looked
over at the tiny form, and focused on them. I just felt the knowledge
innately in my brain telling me how to use my new Thought Projection
ability.
“Hi
there! My name is Ki'jit, its a pleasure to meet you … Nebrayles?”
The
tiny little thing stirred a bit, and looked directly at me. Those
piercing emerald green eyes lit up a bit, and I felt the gentle
tickle of … … her warm thoughts responding to my own.
“That's
what my mom called me. Nebrayles of the Morning Dawn. That's me. She
told me to run when da scary thing came from the sky. Me and my
brudder, and my sissa! We all ran away, but the scary thing scratched
me. It hurt my eye!!” She
meekly pawed up at the jagged looking cut running from her forehead
over her right eye to mid cheek. Her voice in my mind was soft, and
flowery. It had a very child like lilt to it, and I could just feel
how young she was. “Can
we go back, and find my mom and my sissa. My brudda is smelly and
steals my food, but I wuv pwaying wif my sissa. Maybe you can play
with me?”
She
sat up a little excitedly at the thought of playing, she was
definitely easily distracted like many small children I knew. I
nodded at her, feeling a deep sadness at everything that had just
occured. I needed to think about a few things, but for now I had a
playful kitten who was in need of distraction from her stress of a
missing family. I began to piece together one of the two Kaiju that
had been fighting, was most likely this tiny innocents mom. The saw
like growling roar, it definitely could have belonged to a large cat
creature.
“Sure
thing, what kind of play did you have in mind? Also did you learn
anything special when we bonded?” She
flopped back onto her rear again, the six legs making her splay out
at an odd angle while she sat. She seemed to be thinking about
something, and then she looked back up at me. The emerald eyes were
sparkling, almost a soft glow emanating from them.
“I
don't know. Ummmmm how bout I show you my stats, while I think of a
game we can play!” I
blinked in surprise at that, and a warm sensation similar to when I
activated my own stats popped up.
Name: Nebrayles
Race: Displacer Beast
Evolution: Kitten Level 0
Experience: 20/100
Hit Points: 6
Stamina: 5
Physical Stats:
Might: 4
Agility: 5
Vitality: 3
Mental Stats:
Mind: 3
Will: 3
Charm: 3
Stat Points: 0
Skills:
Level 0 Pounce
Level 0 Scratch
Level 0 Bite
Level 0 Soul Bond
Skill Points: 0
Traits:
Cave Vision: Able to see
in Darkness in a grayscale hue.
Natural Weapons: Teeth
and Claws are sharpened, and resistant to breaking
* TWO TRAITS PENDING *
Boons:
Natural Illusionist: You
have innate illusion magic, and full knowledge to understand how to
use it is imparted on you as you learn new tricks and abilities.
Bonded Companion: You
gain stat points and skill points every level as if you had a class.
“Stealth
and Stalk!!! We play Stealth and Stalk. My Sissa, Brudda, and Mom
are currently stealthing, so we should be on a team and stalk!” I
looked away from the notification to see her hopping in place on all
six paws. She jogged around in a slow circle, and I could just see
the joy on her features. She made finding her family into a game, and
I'd agreed to play. I couldn't just hurt her feelings, so I nodded a
bit and pulled free my little tiny knife.
“Okay,
we'll go find those stealthy family members of yours.” With
the fierce battle being over, and no sign of Rictus Gloomy making a
reappearance I decided it might be a bit safe to go investigate the
area. I just hoped we wouldn't find a scene of carnage, and maybe
actually find the kittens siblings if anything.
I stayed close behind
the six legged ball of energy as she bounded into the woods in the
general direction of the previous battle. As we walked, I thought
back to the notifications that I had waved away before. I went back
over them now, hoping to learn more.
Tamer
Core has reached 100%, Trapper Core is at 99%. Fusion option
available.
You've
unlocked the Level 0 Mori Wayfarer Class. +1 Vitality, +2 Charm
You've
unlocked starting skill: Level 0 soul bond
You've
unlocked Weapon proficiencies : Whips, Bells, Daggers, crossbows,
short swords
you've
unlocked armor proficiencies: cloth, hide
you've
unlocked new class skills!
you've
earned 1 skill point
You've
earned 1 stat point
trophy
obtained: My First Class! You've obtained your first class in the
world of Deszeld-Eir. 10
Experience Points awarded. Please choose starting magic item.
Whip of enforced command:
adds 4 to charm when ordering a tamed companion to do something
contradictory to its nature. +1 Charm, +1 to Might.
Trainer's Bell: rewards a
tamed companion with a feeling of contentment when they follow an
order you give. +1 to Charm, +1 to Mind
Trap weavers spinneret: A
hand crossbow firing giant spider thread. (uses 1 stamina per 10 ft
of thread). +1 to vitality, +2 to Agility
So
I'd obtained the class Mori Wayfarer. I knew the word Mori in
Japanese translated to something like forest. Interesting that my
class name had a splash of Japanese in it. Wayfarer on the other
hand, was a bit confusing. From some Renaissance fairs I'd visited
before it mostly just meant someone who traveled from one place to
another on foot. So I was a Forest Walker? That wasn't all that
exciting sounding. But I got the idea it somehow was fusing the ideas
of being a trapper and a tamer, while I was attempting to survive out
here.
I watched the little
black kitten bounce onto an insect that was slightly larger than I
was comfortable with. She batted it around between her paws like one
of Jinx's jangly balls. I snorted a soft laugh, and watched her grow
bored of her temporary toy when it stopped moving, continuing onward
toward the area the two monsters had fought. I smiled a little, and
resumed going over the information provided.
So
unlocking the class, had also awarded me a lot of little things. A
bonus point to my vitality score, which I felt had boosted my general
feeling of health and stability. Then two additional points to Charm,
I wasn't sure exactly what Charm did. I hoped it would make me more
convincing, or persuasive when preventing things that wanted to eat
me. Then it looked like I had gotten both a Skill Point, and … a
Stat Point?
I was aware of
spending skill points to gain new skills, could I spend this point on
increasing one of my stats? I pondered for a moment, and watched the
little kitten bobbing, and jumping about as we worked our way toward
her home. I noted she had so much more Agility then I did. So
dexterous and evasive, with so much energy to burn. With a determined
thought, I focused on improving my own Agility. Sure enough I was
rewarded with a notification.
Did you wish to spend a
Stat point to increase your agility? You have 1 stat point remaining.
And there it was, a
confirmation of my assumption. I smiled happily, and gave a warm
mental nod in affirmation. The sudden rush of something almost
electrical coursed through me, and I felt a lot more limber, and
loose. My breath which had been a little hitched up to this point,
eased up a bit. I felt a bit more … sturdy wasn't the right word,
but I felt a lot more alive, more active.
I bounced a little in
place, feeling out the increased feeling of stamina and limberness.
Then a sudden sharp pain drew my attention downward, where I found a
small black kitten playfully nomming on my ankle area. I giggled, and
reached down petting her, as that black tail whipped back and forth
behind her. My clawed hand brushed over those odd growths on her
back, and my eyes drifted to the scratched over eye.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Are you doing
okay?” It was such an innocent sounding question, but even I
knew how loaded it could be. She sat back on her haunches in that odd
splayed pose with four legs around her butt area, and the front two
keeping her upright. She rubbed one of those fore paws up over the
scratch, and made a sharp hiss noise.
“My
eye really really hurts. But the bit of fish you gave me helped.
We're close to the den and mom will know how to fix me all better!
Dis one time, my brudder got two aggressive when we were playing and
scratched me with one of his tentacles! Mom, gave it lots of licks
and stuffed some moss from our den walls on it. She said it'd stop da
bleeding, and help fix it fast. AND IT DID!”
I
blinked at that statement, and broke down a few things from it. One;
she had just casually mentioned her brother had scratched her with
one of his Two; her mother was intelligent enough
to know how to treat wounds, and even medicinal properties it sounded
like of local fauna. And of course Three, SHE JUST CASUALLY
MENTIONED HER BROTHER SCRATCHED HER WITH ONE OF HIS TENTACLES????!!!
“I..
um.. yeah, we'll find your mom and maybe some of that moss to help
your scratched eye. But did you say your brother scratched you with
one of his tentacles? How many tentacles does he have? Why did a
tentacle scratch you?”
Nebrayles stood
up tall and started to strut a bit back and forth in front of me,
lifting her shoulders as she pranced. Her tail was flicking eagerly
from side to side, as she joyfully explained.
“He's
got two tentacles like all good Displacer Beasts. When I get to level
1 mine will fully grow in! Right now dey are just nubs. But they'll
be huge and long, and have sharp pads on the end, I just need to
level. But I'll keep pouncing, and scratching at all the bugs around
the den, like mom has been teaching me. Eventually I'll be able to
level up, and get my tentacles and learn how to hunt like my brudda
and sissa! And when we're level 2!!!! Den we'll learn how to not be
where we are, like mom does! Its because of her, I agreed to bond wif
ya!”
So
Displacer Beasts were a form of large cat with 6 limbs, softly
glowing eyes when they weren't scratched up, and apparently two
tentacles on their shoulders tipped with sharp pads? I watched her
stalk another bug, and pounce on it scratching at it with sharp
looking claws. I casually rubbed at the tender scratches on my own
arms. They were in fact very sharp claws.
I also pondered what
could she have meant when she said her mom was the reason she chose
to bond with me. It was surprising she understood the language I was
speaking. At first I thought I was talking in english, but I realized
when I actually thought about the words I was saying, they weren't
the words I knew. It was like my mouth and brain were automatically
translating the english I was trying to speak, into whatever the
local language was. Then I was hearing it in english in my brain.
I looked up as she
finally finished smashing the bug down into a fine paste, and turned
back to look at me. I could swear there was a smug look of
satisfaction at play on her feline features. The eye was definitely
bothering her, but the way she held herself, she was a very happy
kitten. I smiled at her, as she turned and started to lead us onward
while talking to me.
“Dere,
another one down. It's only a single point of experience, but every
little bit helps. I just need to get to 100! Which is a lot! Mom, and
Sissa, and Brudda, and Me! Dats four of us. And we need like ten of
my family worth of bugs till I get leveled. Now come on, I can smell
my mom! She'll make everything better! And she'll give us tips about
dis bond thing!”
And
there it was again, another casual mention of her mother having
something to do with our bond. I was getting curious what she meant,
as well as deeply apprehensive about what we were about to walk into.
I steeled myself to have a serious discussion if I was correct, and
we'd be walking into a slaughter.
“What did you
mean when you said your mom was the reason you chose to accept my
bond? Or what you mean when you say she can give us tips?” She
stopped walking for a moment, and turned her head to give me a steady
gaze.
“She
was a bonded companion to a very powerful person once! She doesn't
talk about it, but I fink she said it was her and papa bonded to da
same guy. She occasionally tells story of adventures dey used to go
on, and powerful monsters dey beat up! And all the strength she and
papa got! The stronger the bond skill, the stronger both of them got!
So when you offered me a chance to bond, and get stronger so I could
help my mom! Now I'm bonded, I'mma help her beat up that bad
monster!”
I stewed on that as
she resumed walking, we were a bit further than when I'd discovered
her running through these tress. It was only another 20 meters or so,
and the thick foilage gave way to a clearing next to a rocky hill,
with broken bits of stone and boulders strewn about. A pair of stones
had collapsed one on top of the other near the top and it formed a
natural tent like shape. It was there, the massive dark behemoth of a
fully grown Displacer Beast was laying.
Her breath was coming
in fast hard gasps, as she raised her head limply to look down at us.
Nebrayles sprinted away running up the hill, making so many painfully
adorable tiny mews. I slowly followed behind her, rubbing a paw over
my scaled arms nervously watching the tiny kitten run right up to her
mother.
I'd been walking with
Nebrayles for some time, from haunches to head, she was about a foot
long. Add in maybe another foot or so with that excitable black tail.
From pawtip to eartip? Maybe ten inches, definitely not a full foot
tall. She wasn't even a third my height. As she ran up to the huge
monster I figured to be her mother, she was dwarfed by the adults
head alone!
This Adult Displacer
beast was completely covered in sharp jagged bleeding wounds. There
were deep gaping hole like wounds in several places, and there was a
slight green tinted fluid mixed in with the blood escaping with her
life. I marveled at the sheer size of the creature that lay before us
both. I was only around three feet tall myself! I pondered at how big
Nebrayles' mother was actually, and figured I'd take a rough guess as
I crept bit by bit closer.
I'd say the massive
mother was nearly nine feet long, and despite laying completely
sprawled out on the ground, I could tell she was probably around five
or six feet tall from pawtip to eartip when she was standing tall.
But the most terrifying thing, as I got within about ten feet or so
of the mother daughter reunion, was the 6 foot long chords of muscled
tentacles with a spade shaped pad filled with pure white, insanely
sharp barbs. They rose up wavering into the air as I drew near, and
seemed to motion threateningly.
Nebrayles began to mew
in earnest, and they halted before slowly lowering back to the ground
where they laid completely limp. The massive beast raised her head,
and shocked me as she spoke out loud in the same language I
understood in this world. Her voice was eloquent and flowery as the
kittens was in my head, but carried a deep rumbling bass to it.
“My
Daughter tells me you rescued her when I ordered her to flee from
this place. That you carried her despite her violent protests to your
camp nearby. That you're a tamer. You've … tamed my daughter?”
The head lilted to one side, as if thinking deeply about this
curious kobold, and if maybe he tasted good? “
My own experiences were varied on this subject, and I'm not pleased
to find you chose your first bond to a two month old kitten.”
She
sucked in a sharp raspy breath, and Nebrayles began to mew in earnest
once more. The larger female, leaned down and gave several warm
looking laps of her tongue over the smaller kittens face. She turned
her attention back toward me, and shook her head slowly for a moment.
“I'm
dying. The creature that attacked me and my family , was stronger
than I. I collapsed from my wounds, and it must have thought it
achieved victory. The fact it attacked … defeated me, then left
without attempting to eat me? It makes me think it was simply sent to
kill me. My children were playing when it arrived. It attacked them
first. I screamed at them to run. Nebrayles was the first to hear my
words, and act. She only caught a claw to her precious face. I am
pleased she found someone to care for her.” Again, she
seemed to take in a deep very pained sounding breath as she steadied
herself to continue.
“I
want you to promise me something. You will take care of her, for the
rest of your life. You took the responsibility of bonding her. You
are now in charge of making sure she flourishes and grows!” Another
voice suddenly crossed the wind, and surprised me.
“I'm
sure you'll follow those instructions quite well, for as long as you
live. I've only known you a day and you seem the type to be willing
to care. I'm just waiting for this one to cross the black curtain …
then I'll be taking her.” I felt the chill course through me
as Rictus whispered directly into my ear again. I thought maybe I
wasn't the only one to hear him, as the large tentacled panther like
monster also sat up quick.
“There's
another's scent on the wind. I've been catching whiffs of whatever it
is out there. I want you to take my daughter, and go back to your
camp … “
Nebrayles began to mew in earnest, and rubbed her head
multiple times against the larger beast. “Take
her, and get her to safety. I'll be dealing with this thing that
suspects I'll be an easy meal. I'm saving my strength for when it
arrives. Then I'll show him that Nii'sha of the Night's Wind will not
cross into death's domain so easily!”
“Amusing.
I could flicker my finger and end her before she could think to raise
one of those tentacles. But rules are rules. I will wait for her to
die of her wounds. Go, follow her instructions. I'll return to your
camp in a few hours time. I've already secured the other two kitten
corpses. Congratulations by the way. I'm very pleased you've gotten
your class.”
His
voice, heard only by me, faded away to nothing. I bit down on my lip,
thinking over what he'd said. He had the power to kill something as
massive and powerful looking as … Nii'sha, but couldn't because of
some rule? I'd have to ask him about it later. But more disturbing
and I felt a bit of guilt admitting this, relieving, he'd already
taken the bodies of Nebrayles' two dead siblings.
On one hand, it was
horrifying that whatever that kaiju had been, it had killed two
little kittens. But on the other, I didn't want Nebrayles to see
either of her siblings murdered bodies. I gingerly reached forward
and pet over Nebrayles reassuringly as she continued to nuzzle at her
mother. She turned her head toward me, and gave me the softest little
mew. Then she tried again between our minds.
“We
can't just leave her like this. We gotta make her better!”
I shook my head very gently, and gave her another tender petting. She
squirmed, and mewed at the larger female Displacer Beast one more
time. The mother cat in turn leaned down, and gave her daughter
another warm lick. I watched in deep sadness, as I saw the chest of
the massive creature rising and falling faster and faster. She was
panting up a storm, and seemed to have less and less energy for
anything else.
“C'mon Little
One, she gave us specific instructions. Lets go back to my little
tree root hideout. We'll finish off that fish, and think of a plan of
where to go from here?” I could feel her mind sink a bit, but a
general feel of acceptance crept across. She mewed one last time, and
nuzzled the large black monster that was her mother. Then she very
slowly, and gingerly turned about and headed down the rocky terrain
back toward the forest. I nodded at the large creature.
“I'll protect her. I
promise. I'm new to this world, and just a little Kobold. But I
promise more than anything else, I'll try and do right by her. I'm
sorry we didn't get to talk more. You're very brave, and I'll help
your daughter become all that you dream for her.” It was the most
sappy schtick I could think up at this point. But I wanted to try and
give some last comfort to a dying mom.
“Good.
Now go, I must retain as much strength as I can for when the thing
that is stalking me finally makes it's move. I want my final moments
on this world, to be in battle.”
And
with that, she closed her eyes and laid her head down. The rising and
falling of her chest slowed a bit, but I could tell she was in a
great amount of pain. The hole like wounds, were crusty and still
bleeding fairly steadily despite every other scratch on her body
seeming to have caked over with rough looking scabs. I knew despite
her firm claim, she probably would not last much longer.
I made my way back
down the hill, and joined up with the tiny sad little kitten. I gave
her one more reassuring petting before we started to walk back into
the forest toward the area I'd pretty much claimed as a temporary
home. I was a Kobold now, and I needed to learn what that meant. I
had a class, and so much to learn on that. Now I had a very sad
kitten who'd lost everything. I tried to think of something I could
do to help matters out, and fulfill my promise to … Nii'sha of the
Night's Wind.
I'd at least remember
her name properly, in respect for her. Nii'sha of the Night's Wind,
mother to three kittens including Nebrayles of the Morning Dawn. My
bonded companion. And that was it wasn't it. One of the things I'd
promised, was to grow and strengthen the bond.
Did you want to spend a
skill point to improve Level 0 Soul Bond? You have two skill points
remaining.
“Yes.”
I spoke aloud. Nebrayles paused to look up at me in curiosity.
Level 1 soul Bond
acquired. To further improve this skill, you may spend 2 skill points
to bring it to Level 2. You only have 1 Skill Point.
New feature added, Shared
power. Shared power allows you both to obtain a version of the others
best talents.
Acquired Level 0 Illusion
Magic
Learned Cantrip Ghost
Light
Nebrayles has Learned
Level 0 Scan
“I
just learned a new Skill!! And da Bond Skill leveled too!” I
nodded and chuckled weakly. I was guessing Scan was her version of
Assessing Eye? That was my best talent? It was kinda worthless
really. But then again, it was only Level 0. I could spend a skill
point on that, and see what Level 1 brought me. Also, I noted it took
two points to bring a skill from 1 to 2 now. Did that mean it'd be
commensurable that each level was an equal amount of points? 1 cost
1, 2 would cost 2, then 3 would cost 3, etc?
I shook my head, and
boggled at the sheer growth that would need to happen to get anywhere
in this world. Also it taught me, I needed to be very careful of
skill bloat, or be mediocre at a lot of things. If I only got a point
every level, then I could expect it to take a long time to grow even
one skill to a viable place. The idea of bringing every one of my
current skills up to level 3 each for instance?
I now had 4 skills,
only one of which was level 1. That meant for starters it'd be three
points to get all of them to equal out, then I'd need 8 more points
to bring um all to level 2. Then 12 more to level 3. 16 for 4, and
then 20 more points for level 5! I sucked at math, but a little bit
of mental calculation with lots of head scratching later … and yup
56 Levels to bring the 4 skills I had right now, to level 5 each! It
numbed my brain trying to fathom that, I wasn't sure at what
experience the levels arrived.
Nebrayles said 100
for her to reach one. Was this also commensurable? Then would she
need 200 for two? And she was only getting a single point a bug.
There had to be better ways to get experience, levels, and skill
points. More questions I'd attempt to get answers out of Rictus
Gloomy tonight when he came to our camp. Hopefully whatever he did
with Nii'sha, he would at least keep to himself. I gulped again, and
tried to distract myself as we walked.
I
had felt a warm buzzing in my brain, and realized yet again that I'd
been 'taught' the necessary information required to use my new skill.
I now had access to magic! I could use Illusion Magic, though I was
left with only a single spell. A Cantrip, I guess was the most simple
type of spell I could learn. It didn't seem like I had mana bar like
in some games, but rather I could cast this whenever I wanted.
I cupped my claw tips
up, barely an inch or so apart from each other as I held my paw palm
side up. Then I focused on the spell itself, and soon a little
flickering greenish white flame barely a centimeter tall appeared
floating above my coiled claws. I felt nothing coming off it though.
There was no heat, no feeling of energy, it wasn't burning anything.
Just a little green flame hovering in mid air over my palm. I reached
over with my other paw and tried to touch it. My claw tip slid right
through, with no sensation of touching anything.
I'd created an
illusory fire, that gave off real light. A pathetically small amount
of light, barely a small birthday candles worth. But I was able to
create it, and I felt of I put some thought into it … It flickered
for a moment, then darted toward the ground, and flicked about from
side to side. I extend my paw toward it, and felt the control there.
Soon enough I had Nebrayles giggling in my mind, as she chased and
pounced at the flitting little green candle flame.
We played like this
for several minutes as we ever so slowly now, worked our way back
toward the camp area. I puppeting a little flicker of fake flame, and
a six legged, one eyed kitten attempting to pounce on it. But we'd
apparently been making to much noise, and we did not have Rictus
Gloomly around to be our natural spooky deterrent. From behind a
thick cluster of bushes, stepped an enormous wolf.
This creature is a mild
threat to you.
I noted almost right
away, the deep looking cut marks all over his body, the limp to his
step, the froth at the lips, the ragged way he breathed. This wolf
was barely on his own last legs, and might actually have been the
first forest creature I ran into when I arrived in this place
yesterday. He'd been wounded however, and I finally had a class. I
drew out my tiny little blade, and gulped.
“Get
behind me, up against that tree so he can't come at you from the
sides very easily.” I
pointed back at the tree I was indicating, there was a natural
crescent barrier erected from the odd way the roots grew into the
ground. I watched the little kitten follow my directions without so
much as a fuss. They knew the situation we were in, was dire. But we
both knew if we were careful and thought rationally about this we
could come out on top.
I extended my left
hand, spreading my fingers out. Someone had once told me, if you do
that, it would make you seem bigger slightly, more of a threat. I'm
not sure if that was true or not, but I was hoping to make use of any
kind of advantage I could get my hands on. I looked back at Nebrayles
and winced. I had promised to keep her safe, for the rest of my life.
Turns out that wasn't even going to be half an hour! Dire morbid
jokes aside, I wasn't sure exactly how we were going to be getting
out of this situation.
I kept my left hand
outstretched, and gripped the tiny two inch blade tightly with my
right. I was ready if things didn't quite go as well as I'd have
liked, to try taking a stab or two before I got eaten. I watched it
prowl closer, but not going in for the attack just yet.
I hoped that signified
it saw me as a threat, and maybe I could startle it away. Hoping with
every part of my tiny scaly body, I lunged my self forward and
screamed with all the draconic fury I had in me. I tried to make
myself sound absolutely ferocious, waving my hand right in it's face
hoping it'd spook and bolt. Instead what I got, I should have
expected.
It opened its massive
jaws, turning its head to the side as it lunged forward, a bite large
enough to engulf my entire head. Instead it went up my arm to just
past the elbow and clamped down. I didn't really feel real pain,
there was a very sharp electrical sensation, then it got very very
cold. My mind grew so numb, as I stared at the beast latched over my
arm. Some part of me knew, it was gone, my left arm was no longer
there. This filled me with a very powerful and intense anger like I'd
never felt in the forty years I'd spent as a human.
I wasn't human anymore
though, I was a Kobold. I had to survive! As it chewed its way
through the dense scales and toughened hide of my left arm to rip it
free. My right arm, still holding that pathetic little knife, lunged
toward the new easy to hit target. I pushed the knife into the eye of
the great beast. When I say into the eye, I meant that in the most
literal sense imaginable. I pressed the blade so deep into the soft
spongy gel of its eye, my wrist and part of my right arm vanished.
Then … I twisted and
drove it through the little resistance I still felt. I drove that
tiny, nub, of a blade deep into the creatures brain. I then felt all
tension, anger, anxiety, and fear wash out of me. My body finally
going as numb as the nerve endings in my left hand. The beast fell
away and pulled both of my arms free. The stub of an arm on my left,
and the blood and ichor covered arm on the right. I collapsed back,
hearing a warm flowery voice shouting in my head. But a peaceful numb
sensation was overtaking me all to fast.
Enhanced Death ward has
activated. Half Hit points restored.
“Please
stay wif me. I don't want to lose you too! I just met you, and we're
going to have adventures like mom used to have. Stay here, I'll be
wite back!!” I blinked a
few times, and took in the surroundings for a moment. I was alive,
the 'gift' Rictus Gloomly had saved my life. I felt a softer pain
behind me, it would appear I had collapsed on my own tail in an
awkward pose. I rolled off of it on my right side, and glanced down.
A few inches down from my left shoulder I saw it, the grisly shredded
remains of my arm. A tattered bit of loose scales and flesh hanging
off a bleeding stump, drips of blood dribbled from the dirty wound.
And there was a notification it would seem waiting for my full
consciousness.
Level 5 Dire Forest Wolf
Defeated. Mori Wayfarer has received 20 Experience Points per level
of defeated opponent. Mori Wayfarer has reached 100 Experience.
You've attained Level 1. 1 stat Point Awarded, 1 Skill Point Awarded.
