Don stood at the threshold to his new life. He dipped into a crouch, testing his legs. It was as if the crippling injury had never happened. He rolled his neck and shrugged his shoulders. He bounced on the balls of his bare feet and ran out of ways to stall. Light shone down through the uneven cave entrance in a beam. It wasn’t overly bright but when compared to the gloom of the cave, it was a spotlight. Don leaned forward and pulled himself up the loose slope of dirt and fist-sized rocks. it crumbled a little at each step, sending puffs of dust swirling through the shaft of light. Even with the sliding, Don made steady progress towards the top. It was a tight fit, squeezing through the entrance. Don had to drop to his knees and turn his torso sideways in order to get his shoulders through. A few grunts and scrapes later, Don was outside.

He put a hand on the lichen speckled boulder concealing the entrance and stood. It was the most beautiful and tranquil scene Don had ever seen. A gurgling brook sliced it’s way down the hillock behind don and curved to pass close to the entrance before winding back away into the trees. Ferns coming up to don’s chest lined the waterway, partially concealing it and advertising its presence at the same time. Away from the water, smaller tangles of bushes covered the ground in clumps. The unclaimed land was littered with the abandoned limbs of trees and carpeted in their leaves. Don craned his neck taking in one of the old sentinels of the forest.

Gnarled roots cradled stones and gripped the fertile, black soil. The tree’s iron colored skin was wrinkled and rough. He followed the body of the tree up into the air with his eyes and took in the graceful sweep of its branches. The air was permeated with the gentle applause of thousands of leaves, joined in approval of the forest wind. Beyond the leaves, an orange sky bleed through, piercing the darkness under the canopy with slanting beams of twilight which appeared and vanished with the movement of the leaves. Don took a deep breath, his chest inflating and eyes closed. A sense of, correctness, washed over him as the fresh cold smells of nature infiltrated his nose. The slightly sweet smell of tree sap. The earthy aroma of decomposing leaves. It was invigorating after so many days in the stale cave.

He was in his element here. It was an element he had never seen before but like a fish doesn’t need to understand the ocean to KNOW it belongs, Don knew. This forest was right. A missing piece of him had returned.

Everything under the shifting leaves was still, right up until Kat smacked Don in the back of the head. Kat was standing on the boulder next to Don and had an irritated expression on his face.

“Stupid! Don’t close eyes. animals will eat you. You hear them with tiny ears? You smell them with stubby nose?” Kat pointed to each body part as he mentioned them. Don’s skill with the language was still growing but they used a cobbled together sign language to assist with communication. It was still more pantomime than anything.

“Now jump in stream” Kat commanded with another point.

“Why jump in stream” Don asked, partly out of curiosity and partly to try out the new word for water.

“You spend too long in cave, animals will smell you. Water will wash off smell.”

Don never expected to get a lesson in hygiene from the mud-spattered gobs. He sniffed under his arm and decided his little guide was right. He needed a bath. He followed Kat to the edge of the stream and was surprised when the little gob jumped into the water. Kat quickly scraped the caked mud and leaves off his body before splashing out of the stream. He immediately dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt, coating himself with mud and leaves again.

“Hurry up” Kat called from the other side of the water.

Don looked at the moving water skeptically. Crystal clear water only distorted the rocky bottom. Occasional stones broke the surface and trailed wakes of foaming turbulence. He lowered himself into the stream carefully, standing on one of the rocks which broke the surface. He slipped and fell in with a splash. The stream wasn’t very deep and he hit the rocky bottom but that was only a secondary concern at the moment.

“Cold!” he exclaimed, bursting from the water. He never expected water could get so cold. If it wasn’t moving it might be frozen. Don climbed out of the steep channel as fast as he could. Kat stood on the bank above him with his arms crossed.

“I say wash. You wash or I leave you”

“It’s way too cold” Don protested

“Yes it cold, it come from mountain where everything cold. You so stinky I can’t smell danger, wash” Kat wrinkled his nose and glared at Don who returned to the icy water grumbling. The little tyrant had made Don promise to follow all his orders while they were in the forest. That was the price for Kat’s lessons. It seemed like a good deal at the time but Don was beginning to suspect he had made a huge mistake.

He took a deep breath and plunged back into the icy torrent. He only got halfway under the water. He had to squirm and roll, banging his elbows on the rocks before he had rinsed off his entire body.

“Good, now roll” Kat demanded, pointing at a messy patch of dirty leaves on the ground. Don didn’t bother arguing this time. He got onto the ground and rolled, leaves and dirt caking onto his wet skin. He sat up, eye level with Kat and glared.

“What was the point of washing off if you were just going to have me roll around in the dirt!” He couldn’t help but shout by the end of his complaint. It earned him another smack.

“What is rule one” Kat admonished holding up a single claw inches from don’s face.

“Be quiet” Don replied in a subdued voice almost as loud as his grinding teeth.

“Yes, be quiet, always” Kat didn’t bother to acknowledge Don’s anger

“You stupid, I smart, you listen, I teach” He continued “Roll for same reason as wash” He sniffed “we smell like forest now, nothing can eat forest, if we are the forest, we are safe”

Don didn’t believe a little dirt was going to keep him safe but he had watched Kat bring back more plants than the other gobs every day. Those results were proof enough that Kat knew what he was doing out here. Don nodded to himself as much as to Kat.

Kat seemed pleased by this “Good, forest no speak, forest is safe. Now we find plants” The gob turned and hopped to a nearby stone, next, he leaped to an exposed root which springboarded him another step along his crazily nonlinear path. The gob continued hopping from one solid foothold to the next, keeping off of the open ground.

Don started following him. A rustling sound caused Kat to look back and he caught Don kicking happily through the piled leaves. “Stop” he squeaked “Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, too stupid to breathe” Kat stomped with each insult as if to drive them home. Don stopped in his tracks. That was rule two after all. Kat hopped back to him before pointing behind don.

“Look”

Don followed his command, looking behind himself

“What?” He had no idea what had the gob so irate this time. There was nothing behind him but the stream.

“You leave tracks”

“What are tracks?”

Kat smacked Don’s leg, being unable to reach his head this time. “Stupid! Tracks is moved leaves, broken branches. Tracks is sign of where you were”

Congratulations! Your Goblin Language skill has risen from Apprentice 5 to Apprentice 6!

You can understand moderately complex ideas

Finally, Don’s goblin language skill had been stuck at level 5 for a long time. Each time a skill rose, it took longer for him to reach the next level.

Kat continued his lesson, unaware of the increase “Tracks let dangerous animals find you, maybe even follow you home.” He was instantly more eloquent. With a shock, Don realized the stilted language Kat and the other gobs used was a result of his low skill, not their inherent stupidity. He looked behind himself again, inspecting the ground more closely. He had left dark gouges in the dirt where he had disturbed the top layer of leaves and revealed the rich soil beneath. Kat showed him how to cover up his tracks. It wasn’t perfect. Even in the fading light under the canopy, he could make out traces but it was no longer the obvious sign pointing back to the cave that it was.

The next time they began to move Don tried to follow Kat’s example, bounding from one solid foothold to the next. It went well at first. Don planted a foot on a large rock which let him reach the base of a nearby tree. He clung to the tree before making another move towards a rock but it shifted as he landed. The rock which could hold steady against Kat’s small body was shoved roughly aside by Don’s efforts. This was worse than the tracks he left before. He tipped the rock back into the depression it had started in and did his best to replace the soil which was pried loose around it.

To Don’s dismay, Kat directed them back to the stream and told Don to walk along the streambed.

“You are too clumsy to move right, we need to get far from the cave before you can practice.”

Kat showed Don how to step slowly, distributing his weight evenly and shifting from one foot to the other without scraping them. This allowed Don to move across the soft earth while keeping traces of his path to a minimum. Kat followed behind, concealing the markings as best he could. There was still a path leading from the disturbed dirt by the river, into the woods and back but it was hard to spot unless you knew where to look.

Kat hopped down to a stone poking out of the river.

“Hurry up” he said again before turning and hopping from one exposed stone to the next, occasionally running along the steep bank where there was a span without any footholds. Don tried to imitate him again but had a hard enough time keeping his balance on a single stone. There was no way he could hop from one to the next like Kat. The memory of the water was enough to make him try anyway.

He remembered how slick the stone was last time and instead of relying on traction, he angled his foot so pushing straight towards the rock would propel him forwards. It worked but his aim was off and he landed to the left of the stone he was aiming for. There was no way to catch himself so he splashed back into the frigid stream.

“Stop playing, you are too slow, just walk in the water” Kat chided from further downstream. Seeing no other way, Don resigned himself to trudging along through the water. His feet felt like they were being stabbed, then they felt like they were on fire, then they didn’t feel at all. He could still tell when a stone shifted under him but the cold only affected him where the water met the air and his legs hadn’t numbed yet. This went on too long for Don’s liking but he was rewarded with a stat point.

+ END

Finally, Kat decided they had gone far enough and they both climbed out of the riverbed. Don was hidden by the ferns along the stream as they walked and didn’t notice how the trees were getting smaller and growing closer together. He was more focused on his footing and the cold. Now he saw a forest which looked completely different. Many more plants grew on the ground here and Don was excited to pick them. Everything was painted in shades of grey. The sun had set during their walk and if it wasn’t for Don’s night vision skill and the large moon peeking from behind the trees, he wouldn’t have been able to see anything.

Kat led him through the trees, away from the stream. As they left the noisy water behind, other sounds emerged. Kat stopped, crouched low and closed his eyes. His large ears twitching from time to time and nostrils flaring.

“You said don’t close eyes” Don reminded him

“I remember telling you to be quiet” He replied in a hushed voice. He continued to sit still and don decided to imitate him. Keeping his eyes open he focused on his ears. The stream was still audible but it had backed off to be a whisper in the distance. The air had stilled during their walk and the leaves hung motionless and silent. Other noises caught his attention. A short scratching, A soft hoot in the distance, His own breathing. He really was loud, He tried to quiet his breath and heard more of the forest. It was as if the wood was holding its breath and any sound stood out as well as a shout. Something scampered across a branch overhead. Footfalls and a snuffling were barely audible off to his left.

Congratulations, continuous effort has manifested a skill

You have learned Focus Senses basic 1

5% increase to one sense 5% decrease to other senses

Cost 1 STA / minute

Kat led them away from the snuffling and deeper into the forest. Don tried his best not to leave tracks and followed Kat as he crept along, keeping low and sniffing the ground occasionally. Don paused from time to time, using Focus Senses to increase his sensitivity to smells. He was able to smell things other than the dirt from time to time but they meant nothing to him yet. He had to stop when he smelled or used the ability to boost his hearing because when he did, the shadows expanded, creeping back out of their corners to cover the ghostly plants and trees. It must have been the side effect of decreasing the senses he didn’t focus on.

Kat stopped. He straightened up and turned to Don. Don focused on his sight and the gobs face came into view while the smells and sounds of the forest faded.

“Silver frond is here, try to find it” he whispered

Don knew what silver frond looked like from his lessons with Sik. It was an unassuming small leaf, green on top like most of the others he had seen in the forest, but when seen from below, it reflected the light from the fire. The reflective waxy substance on the bottom of the leaf was used in some of the potions he had seen Grey preparing. The problem was, the scant light only came from above in the forest and he would have to find it in this near darkness.

Don crept forward and started taking leaves and flipping them over, checking their undersides. While he searched, two of his skills increased.

Focus Senses has increased to basic 2

6% increase to one sense 6% decrease to all others

Night Vision has increased to basic 4

8% increase in ambient light

With the cumulative boost of 14% to his vision, he was able to spot the telltale glimmer of faint moonlight reflecting from the underside of a leaf. He checked the other leaves on the same plant confirming he had the right one. He turned to gloat at Kat but didn’t see him anywhere. A soft whump in front of him exposed Kat. As far as Don could tell, he had appeared out of nowhere.

“Now take one” he said

“Why not take them all?” Don asked

“Try it” Kat replied

Don reached out and pinched the stem where the leaf sprouted from a larger stalk. He knew to take it from there from all the sorting he had done over the last few days. He plucked the leaf.

Congratulations! Your actions have manifested a skill

You have learned Forage basic 1

5% increased ease of locating resources in the wilderness

5% increased effectiveness of resources you procure

You have found 1 silver frond leaf

Would you like to place it in your inventory? Y/N

Out of curiosity, don thought ‘yes’. The leaf dissolved into motes of green light which flowed into his hand. A small area was momentarily illuminated by the light making the look of surprise on the pair's faces obvious.

“What did you do?” Kat asked

“I think the plant went into something called my inventory” He had to use humie for the new word and as he finished his statement, a new prompt appeared. It looked like a row of boxes. They were all empty except for one which had a tiny picture of a shiny leaf occupying it. He examined it with the thought that he really wanted that leaf back and the motes returned. They flowed from his hand and formed into the same leaf he had just harvested. Kat’s eyes were wide.

“When did you learn more spells?” he demanded, his voice rising with excitement

“I don’t know, it just sorta happened.” Don replied lamely “It looks like I can store some items though.” He thought about the leaf going back into the box it had just vacated and it dissolved into light again. The picture of the leaf returned and Don dismissed his inventory screen.

“I taught you status, you should teach me this spell” Kat demanded

“Okay, all I did was say inventory” the screen appeared again and Don dismissed it.

“Inventory” Kat tried. He scowled and tried again. Apparently, there was something more to it than just the words. While Kat was chanting the spell without success, Don tried to take another leaf. It came away easily enough but dried up and crumbled into dust. It looked like there was a limit to the leaves that could be taken from the bush.

Now even more irritable than he had been before, Kat led Don deeper into the forest. The hours passed as Kat spotted more herbs for Don to search for and harvest personally. It was much easier now with the forage skill. Don didn’t have high hopes for the skill but it turned out to be invaluable. The plants he looked for glowed ever so faintly. Activating his focus senses didn’t affect the intensity of the glow but in the darkness of the forest, it was as good as a beacon. Don’s inventory filled with useful plants. Each new type occupying its own box. Anytime he added a plant he already had collected, a small number in the corner of the box would increase.

Kat stopped on occasion to listen to the forest and change their course accordingly. They hadn’t run into any of the dangerous animals yet and Don was enjoying himself thoroughly. His new skills grew quickly. And a few old ones benefitted from sneaking around the forest at night.

Night Vision has increased to basic 5

9% increase in ambient light

Focus Senses has increased to basic 4

8% increase to one sense 8% decrease to all others

Forage has increased to basic 3

7% increased ease of locating resources in the wilderness

7% increased effectiveness of resources you procure

Don's constant use of his focus skill eventually drained his stamina. The yellow bar had been reduced to about half its original size and Don stopped using the skill to let his stamina recover. His arms and legs were feeling heavier than normal and he didn’t want to find out what the more extreme side effects of low stamina were in the middle of the forest. He took the chance to gauge his recovery speed. It took nearly a minute and twenty seconds for him to recover a point of stamina. It looked like every point of CON provided 2 points every hour. The math was much easier this time with a full mana pool.

At one point Kat led Don to a bush of sweet red berries. They paused to strip the bush and fill their bellies. Rabbits were satisfying in a way the berries couldn't’ match but Don was captivated by the sweetness, the way they popped into slightly tart juice that made his gums tingle. He could have screamed when the eleventh berry he pulled from the bush crumbled into dust. He reactivated his Focus Senses ability and smelled the berries, doing his best to memorize the faint scent so he could find more later on. When the stars began disappearing from the gaps in the foliage and the sky took on the steely grey color of pre-dawn Kat pointed out a small path in the undergrowth. Don would have never seen it on his own. It was low, winding under bushes and only visible as a small tunnel of depressed leaves, torn grasses, and nibbled bushes.

Careful not to disturb the path, they backed away. Kat turned to Don, breaking the silence for the first time in hours.

“That is a rabbit path” he whispered “You are bad at hiding, You need to be far away”

Don agreed. The little gob had impressed Don throughout the night by moving like a ghost appearing and disappearing without warning. In comparison, Don crashed through bushes and might as well have been singing.

“Rabbits are stupid, they don’t look up. We surprise them from trees” Kat pointed up and Don followed his gaze. He gulped. The branches suddenly looked much farther away. A trill of birdsong filtered through the trees from far away.

“Quickly, birds wake up the rabbits” Kat said before gripping the bark with his sharp little claws and scampering up the side of the tree. Don shielded his eyes from the bits of bark that rained down on him. Kat was already at the crook between the trunk and a low branch.

Don looked at his hands. There was no way he could climb the same way as the nimble gob. Instead, he circled the tree until he found a low hanging branch. He still couldn’t reach it easily but he spotted a jutting knot low in the trunk. He backed away a couple of steps and charged the tree. He hopped at the last second, placing his foot on the knot and shoving for all he was worth. He flew upwards and just managed to get his fingers around the stout branch. It bent under his weight and swayed with Don’s swinging but came to rest soon enough. From there it wasn’t too different from climbing around using the rungs in his pod.

He walked his feet up the trunk and hooked a leg around the branch. A short struggle later had him on top of the branch and settled into a crook like Kat.

As soon as he saw Don looking he wiped the look of interested amusement off his face, replacing it with his scowl. “Too noisy, stay here and watch, and be quiet”

Kat scampered down the length of his branch and hopped to the branch of another tree. He continued like this until he was crouched directly over the rabbit trail. Then they waited. Don’s stamina had regenerated and with the sun coming up he didn’t need to boost his vision. He activated focus senses and strained his hearing. The light seemed to dim immediately and the treebark seemed less rough. He could however, make out sounds that were at the edge of his ability to hear them before, chief among them, his breathing. Don did his best to slow and smooth his breath. Another shrill bird call broke the morning silence, then another. Before long the trees were filled with birdsong and an occasional bird would flit down from the sky to alight in a nearby tree. Don watched the forest wake and forgot about Kat until a whump brought his attention back to his lesson. The gob had dropped right onto the back of an unsuspecting rabbit. The rabbit screamed in a high pitched way Don wasn't expecting. Don was stunned. It hadn’t occurred to him that the rabbits were actually alive until this point. The sudden barbarism of his meals until now struck him. Kat grappled and scratched the screaming animal until it fell still. It didn’t take long.

While he was contemplating the philosophical ramifications of killing in order to eat a light rustle in the bushes beneath him caught his enhanced attention. He looked down. An animal with a sharp, angular face crept out of the thicket. It was much larger than the rabbits Don had seen. Its black nose twitched as an equally black paw moved forward. Black tipped ears and beady eyes shone from an otherwise red body streaked with occasional patches of white. Don recognized its description from some of the stories Kat shared with him.

The fox growled. Kat jumped, dropping the rabbit and spinning to face the fox. The look of terror in the gobs eyes was clear. Something came alive inside Don. Something he hadn’t felt before. He would not let this fox hurt his friend. He leaned out over thin air, keeping one hand on the trunk of the tree for balance, and let go.

Don didn’t land with a soft whump, he landed with a sharp crack and a keening yelp. He crushed the fox beneath his bulk which had been nothing but a nuisance until now. The fox scratched at Don and clamped its teeth around his left wrist with a wild snarl. Its hind legs lay misshapen and crooked, bending in the wrong direction but it continued trying to savage Don as best it could. It drew bright red lines wherever its claws landed. A glance at his health bar told Don that this fox was doing a lot more damage than Gat and his small gang ever did. If he didn’t do something this fox would kill him. Panic gripped him as he thought of what awaited him back in the town.

He tried to pull away but the fox kept it’s firm grip on Don’s wrist and continued to maul every part of don’s skin he could reach. All his retreat accomplished was to drag the fox along the forest floor, sweeping a small section free of leaves. Left with no other option, Don balled his free hand in the same way he had seen so many of his victims do and pounded the fox with all his strength.

The brutal exchange didn’t last long and when the fox fell to the ground, limp and glassy-eyed, Don kneeled over it. Chest heaving, small rivulets of blood running down his front and pat-pat-patting softly on the ground as he pried the foxes jaws from his wrist. The pain was bad but Don was accustomed to pain at this point. He checked his stats and found himself with slightly more than half of his stamina and slightly less than half of his health missing. Then he looked to Kat. He was gone again. The little bastard sure liked to run away when the cards were down. A small figure collided with Don. He got ready to fight again when he realized Kat had jumped from a nearby tree and was wrapped around him in a hug.

“You killed a fox!” he exclaimed “No one ever kills foxes, I’m sorry I called you stupid and noisy and useless”

Taken aback by the sudden show of gratitude don latched onto the last part of Kat’s apology “When did you call me useless?”

Kat immediately stopped trying to smother Don and hopped to the ground. He turned around and kicked at a root. “Well, I didn’t say it to you”

Before Don could take offense Kat whirled around with one finger raised to explain. “That doesn’t matter, daytime is coming. We have to go back to the cave.” He trotted over to his rabbit. Don wasn’t about to let this go but he also wanted to get back to the cave. His wounds stung and he was in no shape to meet another animal like the fox. His focus sense skill timed out and the stinging intensified slightly. He decided his questions could wait and bent to scoop up the fox when a sequence of prompts obscured his vision.

Exiting combat, calculating results

For attacking from concealment you have manifested a skill

Stealth basic 1

5% more difficult to detect

5% increase to sneak attack damage

You have killed “Young Fox”

You gain 15 exp

Would you like to claim the loot? Y/N

Don felt like skipping! He finally got some EXP! He was still pretty far away from the 50 he needed to level up but it was a start. He agreed to the question about loot hoping for something as good as the inventory he got during the night. The fox dissolved into red motes, pale in the growing light, before disappearing into Don’s chest.

You gain “fox pelt”

Don opened his inventory and sure enough, he had a new item. Kat caught his eye and motioned for him to follow. He hopped off with the rabbit slung over his shoulders. Don followed, trying not to leave obvious tracks. It didn’t take long before Don heard the familiar sound of moving water. His heightened spirits sank. They had traveled in a loop during the night, bringing them back to the stream and Kat mercilessly commanded Don back into the water for a long and cold walk upstream.

Spoiler: Don's stats and skills Stats: STR 10 AGI 10 DEX 13 INT 12 WIS 12 CON 21 END 11 Vitals: HP 58/105 STA 26/55 MANA 55/55 EXP 15/50 skill Rank Level Effect cost range duration Punching Bag Apprentice 7 17% unarmed resistance Training Dummy Apprentice 4 14% training increase Alchemy Apprentice 3 3% potion effectiveness Goblin Language Apprentice 6 Moderate complexity Night Vision Basic 5 9% increased light Diagnose Basic 4 assess the targets visible injuries 1 mana touch instant Focus Senses Basic 4 8% increase and derease 1 stamina self 1 minute Forage Basic 3 7% ease and effectivness of resources Stealth Basic 1 5% sneak and sneak attack