The clattering of heavy coins striking wood sounded through nothingness. A gentle lapping of water on the gunnels of a boat repeated. Formless thoughts.

Pressure built in the small log cabin and a cracking tore through the small enclosed space. Cire fell out of thin air onto a fur-covered floor.

As expected, he was bare ass naked, but no glacial chill lashed out at him. Opening his eyes he looked around blearily. Eugene and Stacy’s cabin... his cabin. Crap! I changed resurrection locations.

“I told Selene and Durg to go find me on the eastern ridge.”

Sitting in the middle of a bear hide, he palmed himself in the forehead. Then Cire started laughing, he couldn't help himself. Launching into a shrieking fit of high pitched laughs – Cire did not giggle – it took him a long moment to calm himself down. Maybe there were some nerves being bled off there, maybe he was just happy to be alive. He wasn’t sure.

Clearing his mind, he stood and arched his back. Several loud pops sounded out. Dressing in a spare set of Eugene's clothes and putting on the remnants of the linen armor gave Cire some protection. He belted the old steel longsword on for good measure, no sense wandering about unarmed.

Grabbing a full pack of gear on his way out the door, Cire began his jog back across the valley. Muttering under his breath about what a moron he had been. He finally had a few moments for self reflection.

Pulling up his status page, he almost missed a step. It felt like the same time of day outside as when he had gone down the tunnel. How long did it take for him to come back? On the first occasion, he had absolutely no frame of reference. It had been dark and cold, a shiver crept up his spine unbidden.

Pondering these implications, he made his path veer towards the center of the valley, back towards the entrance to the cavern. If it only took a few moments for him to come back, then he could run into his friends before they got too far away. Maybe while they were still climbing up.

Shaking his head a bit, he stopped looking past the opaque information in his vision. Cire refocused on his status, drawing in a sharp hiss.

Dying had not been pleasant. Pain was one thing, being reborn had felt like his psyche was reformed from broken shards filtering through lava. Losing stat points really hurt though.

His constitution score had fallen by one. That had big ramifications long term. That was at least one HP per level that he would no longer be receiving. Not to mention the countless other ways that stat impacted him.

Having no series of notifications to explain what had happened during the battle was frustrating. After checking, he confirmed that he only had the results for reference. He had gained a level during the last fight, at the minimum. But dying had caused his experience to reset at the beginning of level twelve.

Focus on the positive, Cire, you gained a level overall. Besides, dropping all of those points into Martial Combat and Fluid Motion right before you went down into the cavern really seemed to pay off. Rage vampire Cire made mincemeat out of those duergar. You helped put down another threat to the valley.

Cire had put ten points into each of the skills after he had explained his plan to Durg and Cire. They had both agreed that if there was ever a time to spend skill points in an emergency that the duergar incursion certainly qualified. He had boosted the skills that synergized best with his vampire form. It had worked out, for the most part.

Biographical Information:

Name: Ciresil

Level: 12

Experience: 78,000

Race: Vampire – Sun Elf

Class: Unavailable – Requirements not met

Alignment: Neutral (+1 Chaotic, +1 to Good, +1 to Orderly)

Languages: Divine Elvish, Common

Stats:

Health: 146/146

Mana: 132/132

Armor: 6

Dodge: 14%

Strength: 14

Dexterity: 19

Constitution: 13

Intelligence: 13

Spirit: 9

Charisma: 19

Luck: 9

Resistances:

Immune to Electricity

25% Enchantment

20% Weather

5% Mental

5% Physical

-50% Holy Magic

Aspects:

Indefatigable

Trustworthy

Favored Enemy:

Gnolls

Skills:

Wilderness Survival 3, Natural

Martial Combat 23, Natural

Sub-skill: Fluid Motion 23, Natural

Blades 14, Natural

Sub-skill: Large Blades 15, Natural

Scavenging 3, Natural

Adventurer 3, Natural

Meditation 3, Significant

Armor 9, Average

Sub-skill: Light Armor 9, Average

Herbalism 1, None

Lore 4, General

Communication 3, General

Sub-skill: Persuasion 2, Natural

Sub-skill: Oratory 1, Significant

Abilities:

Shapechanger, Bite (4), Regeneration (3), Blood Rage

Traits:

Child of Night: Vampiric abilities, Darkvision. If noticed by others, your true nature may have drastic consequences. Other elements of this trait may reveal themselves over time.

Child of Heaven: You have retained a divine soul. Reduced susceptibility to Holy Magic, vampiric light vulnerability negated, vampiric hunger reduced. Other elements of this trait may reveal themselves over time.

Elven Heritage: 25% Enchantment Resistance.

Inventory:

Basic Set of Clothing (Body)

Light Linen Armored Cuirass (Chest)

Light Linen Armored Pants (Legs)

Simple Shoes (Feet)

Steel Longsword (equipped)

Upon review he noticed that he even had a new skill, though he doubted he had gained it during the battle. Best bet for when he had gained Oratory was when he had sworn his oath to the town. Grumbling, he looked over his stat sheet and an unpleasant thought manifested.

Why in the hell had he not transformed into a bat to scout out the tunnel and cavern? He had no reason to hide it from his companions any longer. They knew about it after all. He had told the group when he had been released after the gnoll attack. In retrospect, it seemed so clear what he should have done.

He had to remember, he was not an avatar. No one was helping him think through his decisions. No outside mind could compromise the validity of his boneheaded moves. Cire was responsible for his decisions and the impact they caused. To that end, he held onto the paltry amount of remaining unused skill points.

Carefully making his way to the large, oddly perfect, circular hole in the dead grove of Twin Pines, he scanned the area. The walk was much easier now that he knew what to keep an eye out for. No evidence of his friends stuck out.

No ropes remained attached to nearby ruins. Nothing else moved, he was surrounded by silence and mushrooms. Cire headed back out the way he came. He hated backtracking, but it beat finding a new route through killer 'shrooms.

Setting into a paced jog, he moved towards the eastern ridge. Falling into the rhythm of his steps, he finally got a true point of comparison for his growth over the last month. Pushing his speed faster, he hardly felt winded. Covering the same ground that had taken him a little over a day and a half to traverse previously was accomplished in half the time.

Warm with movement and a profound sense of accomplishment, he sped up the mountainside. Sparse brush, gravel patches, and the occasional wild animal were minor inconveniences. He brought up the skill description for Oratory, easily multi-tasking.

You have gained a new sub-skill: Oratory (Rare)

Communication Tree.

“Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.” - Homer

At initiate rank you receive a +1 bonus to your public speaking checks.

Finally, Cire felt like his talents were starting to come together. He may not have appreciated his Charisma score properly so far, but Cire was starting to see how it was one of his strongest assets. His party members status sheets had made him realize the need to develop more variety. Tunneling on leveling would leave him vulnerable. If I am going to go to Selene’s home in the Shadowed Forest, or track down whatever attacked the gnolls from the swamp, I’ll need tools to get out of tough situations.

Nearing the treeline, anticipation drove him faster. Seeing his friends again would be the best gift life could offer. Yearning to see them and expecting a warm greeting propelled him, suddenly he was panting. Sure enough, he was at a flat out sprint, racing his shadow to the snow.

Coming around a scrub oak, he saw them. Huddled under the branches of a small tree around a meager fire. With darkness about to fall a fire seemed rational, but their haggard expressions spoke to it being more than a luxury. Slowing to a walk and working to regain his breath, he was not exactly sure what to say to them. Once he had traveled half the distance, they had risen and come to meet him. Wrapping him in a tight warm hug, Selene practically crushed his ribs.

“It has been over a year! We never thought you were coming back!”

Selene gave him a tragic look and swooned in his arms. She lay limp, apparently having fainted. Cire had to actually support her, otherwise he was pretty sure she would have fallen.

She had delivered the line with a straight face and serious tone. But before too long had passed she lost her self control and burst into laughter.

Durg stopped a few feet back shaking his head, a huge grin on his face.

“Tis only been a day boyo. But ya did get us worried for ya. Me an’ the lass rushed up here with not a bit o' food. She took that a tad worse than me.”

Looking back to Selene, Cire beamed and squeezed her back. “I brought supplies! Sorry about the wait. Good try at the joke.”

Stepping back from the embrace, he looked between his two Party Members. He appreciated their attempt at levity, it had been a rough day. They were probably anxious about his return.

“I come back at the cabin now apparently.”

Moving his hand back and forth over the back of his head, he had a sheepish look on his face. “Actually, I had no idea how long it would take me to come back... it is good to have an idea now though.”

Taking in a short breath he whispered the next line. “You know... in case it happens again.”

With that last utterance, Selene punched him squarely in the stomach. Sputtering and gasping, Cire doubled over.

“Cire. It will not happen again.”

Settling down around the fire, the party decided that camping on the ridge was better than traversing the valley at night. Durg and Selene caught Cire up on what had taken place during the fight from their perspective. Selene kept fidgeting, demonstrating her unease with the topic of conversation.

So, Cire shifted it. “Did you two get a chance to search the cavern much? The duergar bodies? Find out why they were here?”

Selene and Durg got serious very quickly. They each took in a long, slow breath almost in unison.

“We actually did manage to find out the answer.” Selene spoke with gravity to her words.

“We did not do much exploring. The leader you killed last had an object of great potential. It is most likely what drew them to the valley, the ruins in specific.” She moved a hand towards Durg in a gesture for him to continue.

“Ya see Cire, duergar be hearin' the same ancient tales o' other dwarves through history.” Spitting once into the fire and letting a curse free, he went on.

“They be takin' different lessons from 'em than the rest o' us. But one thing be true more than most. An unclaimed territory be one o' the most significant items ya can come across. The potential be boundless. The danger too. Ambient mana in this area is higher than most places cause it hasn’t been directed. Means more and bigger monsters. Maybe even explains what drew the gnolls here.” He gave one last meaningful look to Selene before nodding.

“Seems the tales o’ this place being the center o’ an ancient kingdom be true. This musta coalesced recently.”

Durg held out his hand to Cire, a small gray stone of the local granite rested in the middle of his palm. It sparkled in the fire light despite its matte finish. Elegant rune script wove across the surface. White and black swirled along the lines as if living ink, captivating.

The reverie broke as the dwarf spoke. “We both agreed that we all be havin' the same need. Ya be the most suitable, well when ya are in control o' yourself.”

Holding his hand out to Durg, Cire's eyes grew to the size of saucers. Closing his fingers around the stone as Durg let it drop into his hand, he looked up to his party members.

“You are both sure about this?”

Rolling her eyes, Selene actually scoffed at him. Durg chuckled and slapped his back. Cire shrugged, guessing that was the response he should have expected.

He unfocused his eyes and centered on the stone.

You have received a Territorial Runic Bonding Stone. Would you like to claim the area? Yes or No?

Focusing on the “Yes” option, he received another notification.

You have claimed this territory. You are now Ruler over the Chimera’s Mane and it’s surrounding areas. Your territory is Level 0.

Waves of force emanated from his hand. With each pulse, the runestone shimmered a rainbow of colors. Reverberations of energy moved across the land around him in ripples. The vibrations continued long past his sight. Cire felt like a rock dropped into the center of a dead calm lake.

Suddenly Cire’s awareness exploded. All the flavors of the earth coated his tongue and filled his nostrils. A cacophony of noises rang in his ears.

Adrift in an ocean of sensation.

Time stopped.