7

Climbing down the surface of the crag proved to be far easier than it had looked from above. It was as if someone had sprinkled it with well-placed handholds and footholds. By the time he had reached the ground, he had barely even broken a sweat.

The view from down there was strikingly different. There was no sunny sky and rejuvenating warmth beneath the thicket of the pines and firs–just cool shadows, only now and then broken by solitary rays of sunlight. Still, it was teeming with life. From crickets to birdsong to the occasional rustle in the undergrowth, the sounds of the forest’s tenants were everywhere around Hunter.

Finding his way among the trees proved to be considerably harder, but he still managed to orient himself. That netted him another two ranks in Survival, taking him to a grand total of 3. Not bad for a few minutes’ work. Hunter suspected improving his skills would get progressively harder fast, of course, but this did not detract from the satisfaction he felt every time he got a notification.

He’d been wandering in the woods for the better part of an hour when he stumbled on something peculiar. Just as he moved closer, he got another notification:

You’ve stumbled across an unusual place or occurrence. Your Serendipity quality is now 0.

At first, Hunter mistook the tall mound for a misshapen tree of some sort, and almost passed it by. Then the glimmer of sunlight on steel caught his eye, and he decided to take a closer look. It was a… thing, for a lack of better word; it stood in the center of a small clearing, a thick and overgrown mass of old bones and antlers almost eight feet tall. It looked like an elk and a human had died wrestling each other, and a column of briars had grown around them to preserve their mortal struggle for eternity. Lodged throughout the mass and still held tight in the dead man’s hand was a long polearm, most likely the weapon with which he’d slain the great beast just as its raised hooves were cracking his own skull.

What was weirder still was the polearm itself. The remains of both the man and the elk looked weathered, almost ancient. The weapon, however–a long, single edged blade on the end of a pole–looked unmarred, as if it hadn’t spent a single day out in the open.

Now, Alex had spent the vast majority of his life consuming pop culture by the truckload; books, movies, games, you name it. To any genre-savvy person, the whole scene screamed “cursed”. Alex, however… Alex was a special kind of foolhardy. They had a running joke back at his raiding party, one about what his gravestone should read one day: “My dumb ass knew better, but my dumb ass did it anyway.”

Case in point, his dumb ass did know better. There was no way in hell something bad wouldn’t happen if he decided to pull that weapon free. And still, to prove that silly witticism right once again, his dumb ass did just that; he grabbed it by the shaft, near the base of the blade, and pulled.

In all honesty, he didn’t expect to be able to free it from the mass of bones and branches. Not so easily, at least. The moment he touched the shaft, it was as if the whole mound came alive and shifted its gnarly parts to let the polearm go. It wasn’t so much a matter of strength, rather than pure will. Hunter willed the weapon free, and the mound barely resisted.

Acquired Huntsman’s Glaive x 1.

He’d never held anything more menacing than a baseball bat before, but Hunter could immediately tell this was a fine weapon, sturdy and perfectly balanced despite its huge size. Its pole was a seven-foot staff made of polished dark wood, and the single-edged steel blade on its end was almost another foot and a half. In short, it was big.

He had hardly held the glaive for a moment when a chill ran up his spine and he got yet another string of notifications.

You have become aware of murky things beyond the ken of normal men. Your Insight quality is now 1.

Make Contact allows you to tap into your Insight quality and commune with a supernatural being or place of power. Higher ranks increase the chance of success and reduce risks.

Mystic’s Eye allows you to tap into your Insight quality and glean information about an item, a creature, your surroundings, a piece of lore, or even a game term. Higher ranks reveal obscure knowledge with increased rates of success and less intense side effects.

Conjure Familiar allows you tap into your Insight quality and form a bond with a spirit of aether, which takes the form of an animal companion. Higher ranks strengthen the bond and allow the use of more advanced familiar abilities.

Eldritch Power allows you to tap into your Insight quality and attack your foes with eldritch magic. Higher ranks grant access to additional forms of magical attacks.

Now we’re talking, Hunter thought, dazzled by the ton of new options splayed before him. A new weapon and a bunch of new abilities to choose from? What was this, early Christmas?

So absorbed was he into reading the new ability descriptions, he almost missed the towering mound of briars, vines, and bones that was about to bash his head in. More out of pure luck than anything, he managed to dodge just out of the thing’s reach at the last possible moment, tripping and falling flat on his butt in the process.

Your Evasion has increased to 1.

With a cacophony of creaks and cracks, The shambler started shifting into a vaguely humanoid form. It tore its roots out of the ground and braided them into makeshift legs, which made it stand over ten feet tall. The skeletons of the man and the elk twisted and shifted, too, forming long, briar-covered limbs. The two skulls somehow melded into one, forming the shambler’s antlered head. In its empty eye sockets, Hunter could swear he could see two pinpoints of cold, primal rage.

Hunter rose back to his feet and picked up the glaive, which he’d unceremoniously dropped to the ground. His first instinct was to get the hell away from the shambler as fast as possible. Other games had tutorials filled with rats and slimes to ease the players into the experience, but Elderpyre? No siree, no rats for you, take a huge bramble-skeleton-nature-golem-hulk and be glad it’s no goddamn dragon. How was he supposed to fight this thing? He hardly even knew how to hold his weapon.

Not willing to get smashed to jelly, he headed for the treeline, hoping that the trees and thick undergrowth would slow the creature down. He had barely managed to cover thirty feet, however, when he realized that running through the woods with a nine-foot pole in his hands would be pretty much impossible. Still, he wasn’t about to give up the first piece of equipment he’d gotten his hands on–and his only weapon, at that. Dodging behind a tree, he hazarded a glance at the shambler.

The thing was closing in on him, a towering mass of briars, roots, and bone ready to smash him to bits. A fairly slow towering mass of briars, roots, and bone ready to smash him to bits. Just looking at it made him wonder… could he take it, if he really tried?

Hunter’s mouth twisted in a lopsided, impish smile.

He was about to have another of his dumb ass moments.

The glaive had a fairly long reach; he could probably attack the thing from a more or less safe distance, but he’d need room to maneuver. That meant he should probably circle back to the small clearing where the thing had stood in the first place.

Careful not to get his new and oversized weapon caught in some shrub or low-hanging branch, Hunter moved from tree to tree, always trying to keep at least one thick trunk between him and his pursuer. The shambler itself followed as best as its hulking mass and low mobility allowed, which was not exactly breakneck speed.

So far, so good.

Hunter stepped out in the open, and the massive thing followed, slow but steady. As soon as it cleared the treeline, however, it changed its tune real quick. With no more tree trunks to impede it, the shambler charged straight at Hunter, taking him by total surprise and almost trampling him. He managed to step to the side and let it harmlessly barrel past him, but it was close. Too close. Still, its now unprotected back–if it could be called that–presented an opportunity Hunter wasn’t about to miss. He hefted the glaive and stabbed the thing with all his might.

You attack the Ancient Shambler for 0 piercing damage.

Your Close Combat has increased to 1.

Your Polearm Mastery has increased to 1.

New skills or no new skills, his attack dealt the thing absolutely no damage. It didn’t even flinch. That was… disquieting. He pulled his glaive free from the thing’s back–he should be more careful not to get the blade lodged or stuck in all the vines and bones, he noted–and took a few steps back.

The shambler turned around, covered the distance between them in a couple of gigantic strides, and swung a massive limb aimed straight at Hunter’s head. Testing the thing’s reach, he scampered backwards and evaded the attack completely.

Your Evasion has increased to 2.

Seeing another opening, Hunter took advantage of his glaive’s long reach and stabbed the shambler again, this time in its exposed flank.

You attack the Ancient Shambler for 0 piercing damage.

Your Close Combat has increased to 2.

Your Polearm Mastery has increased to 2.

Again, no luck. Maybe the thing had a high defense stat, or a damage immunity passive ability, or something of the like. He couldn’t tell–he had not the slightest idea about how combat and damage calculation worked in Elderpyre.

Then it hit him; he’d been trying to stab a mass of briars and old bones. How effective could he expect piercing damage to be against such a creature? Or any kind of physical damage, really?

Hunter backstepped even further, risking another charge attack from the shambler in exchange for a bit more time to study it and try to find a weak spot. Quite predictably, the hulk charged him again, aiming to crush him with the pure force of its mass times its speed.

As Hunter’s brain worked furiously, it almost felt like time slowed down. What could he do, besides sticking the pointy end of his glaive into the damn thing? He could trip it with the shaft–except he couldn’t, the shambler was too large and heavy for that. He could aim for some vital part, like the eyes, or the brain–except, again, he couldn’t. The shambler had none of those. He could at least try to hamstring it–but it didn’t have any tendons or muscles either.

Or did it?

Bones didn’t move by themselves; maybe it was all that plant matter that moved them, like the vegan-friendly equivalent of a muscular system. Still, what could he do–try to spear each vine and briar separately?

No, not spear, you numbnuts, Hunter scolded himself, and the solution suddenly became obvious to him. You don’t spear plants–you cut them. And this glaive you’re holding? It has a blade as long as your goddamn forearm!

He dodged to the side, and the shambler hurtled past him harmlessly. Another notification popped up, informing him that his Evasion skill had gained another rank, but he barely paid it any attention. He hefted his glaive, aimed at the roots that held the shambler’s knee together, and slashed at them with everything he had.

Critical hit! You attack the Ancient Shambler for 33 slashing damage.

You stagger the Ancient Shambler.

Your Close Combat has increased to 3.

Your Polearm Mastery has increased to 3.

Tiffany’s tits! That’s more like it!

A low, rumbling moan echoed from somewhere within the mound of bones and briars that formed its torso, and the shambler flinched. It turned around to face Hunter again, but its injured leg almost collapsed under the creature’s weight.

Already feeling bolder after the successful attack, Hunter didn’t waste any time. He followed through with another slash, this time aimed at the vines that lined the shambler’s elbow.

Critical hit! You attack the Ancient Shambler for 31 slashing damage.

You stagger the Ancient Shambler.

Your Close Combat has increased to 4.

Your Polearm Mastery has increased to 4.

Judging from how the whole arm went limp–and the quite obvious “critical hit!” part of the combat log’s message–the attack was another success. The shambler let out another moan, took a big step back, then tried to charge Hunter again. With half its limbs more or less out of commission, though, the most it could do was a slow, awkward shuffle. Hunter almost felt bad about it.

Almost.

Even so, downing the shambler ended up taking Hunter a couple more minutes of hitting it with one debilitating strike after the other. The thing could really take a lot of punishment. It was a good thing it was so slow, or he could have been in serious trouble.

In the end, it was a powerful slash to the tangle of vines that formed the shambler’s spine than finally put it down for good. Hunter poked it a couple more times, just to be sure, and turned his attention to the notifications that had been flooding his vision during the fight.

His Close Combat and Polearm Mastery skills had both increased to eight. Not bad at all. Come to think of it, handling the glaive had gotten progressively less awkward the more he used it, though he still had a long way to go before he could feel proficient with it.

Gaining skill ranks was all well and good, but getting distracting notifications during fights and the like could prove to be dangerous. Wasn’t there some kind of option menu, or at least a way to turn them off?

Falling back to Faux-Grimm’s advice, he simply willed the notifications to not appear before him anymore. Instead, he just wanted a small, subtle exclamation point icon somewhere near the edge of his vision. Or maybe a news ticker kind of thing. Anyway, something decidedly less intrusive than billboard-sized cluttering up half his field of vision.

He had barely completed his thought when the same icon and ticker he’d envisioned popped up in the upper right corner of his sight. Intrigued, he willed his newly configured notification window visible.

Notification text will now only appear on the upper right taskbar of the Heads-Up Display.

Perfect. Hunter could really get used to this kind of intuitive controls.

As he closed the notification window, his eye fell on a number of distinct items peppered among the remains of the shambler. Loot? Hunter felt his stomach lurch with excitement. He hadn’t gotten any experience points or anything for defeating the creature, so some loot would be nice. Yes, alright –the skill ranks and the glaive he had gained were technically rewards in their own right, but experience points and extra loot drops were always something to be excited about. He picked through the weathered bones and torn brambles and gathered everything and anything that seemed interesting in a little pile on the ground beside him.

Acquired Ancient Bone x 7.

Acquired Ancient Antler x 2.

Acquired Blackbriar x 9.

Acquired Essence of an Ancient Shambler x 1.

The bones, antlers, and even the briar plants were self-explanatory; they were parts of the creature’s body, and if Hunter knew anything about video game items–which he was pretty confident he did–they were probably crafting materials of some sort. The essence, though… that was something else entirely.

For starters, Hunter wouldn’t have the slightest idea what it was supposed to be, had he not read the item’s name in the notification text. It looked like a brown-colored wisp of cotton candy, lighter than air, barely even solid. As for what it actually did, that would have to remain a mystery for the time being.

Hunter pocketed everything–although trying to fit the two Ancient Antlers in his tunic’s pockets proved hard–and tried to reorient himself. The sun was already making its way past its zenith point, and roughing it in a cold and dark forest wasn’t exactly how he envisioned his first night in Elderpyre. If he wanted to be anywhere near that log cabin by nightfall, he had a lot of ground to cover.