Don listened to the group stomp away and didn’t relax until they were out of earshot again. An end of battle prompt flashed but Don waved it away. He wanted to get away from here in case Celia doubled back. He wasn’t about to trust their words, especially when they knew he was nearby. Don made his way back to the stream and downed his last for doses of health potion. Once he got far enough away he checked the results of the battle.

AGI +

Dodge (beginner) has increased from level 3 to level 5, 9% increase to speed when dodging.

Brawling (beginner) has increased from level 4 to level 5, 9% increase to unarmed attack and reaction speed

Stealth (beginner) has increased from level 6 to level 8, 12% increase to sneak and sneak attack

Forest Walk (beginner) has increased from level 1 to level 2, 12% increased movement speed and 6% increased concealment in forests, duration increased to 2 minutes

Manipulation (beginner) has increased from level 8 to level 10, range increased to 10 meters and duration increased to 55 seconds

Shadow Cloak (beginner) has increased from level 4 to level 5, 23% increased visual concealment in darkness, duration increased to 5 minutes

You have created the illusion spell Bloody Simulacrum by misleading a pursuer Due to your red skin, it is possible to make a convincing decoy from your own blood

Cost: 5 HP and 5 mana

Cast Time: 3 seconds

Duration: 1 minute

Range: Range of Manipulation x2 (20 meters)

Effect: Double is 5% more convincing

His eyes grew wider and wider as he reviewed his skill increases. In just a few minutes he increased his skills dramatically. He knew fights were good for skill growth from his fox hunts but this was way more than he got from foxes. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Don was outclassed and outnumbered but he wasn’t going to dive into another battle like that to test his hypothesis.

The new spell would definitely come in handy too. The health cost was unfortunate, Don would have to be careful not to use the spell too often or he would end up wasting all his health potions.

Next, he checked his status and found the poisoned status effect Celia talked about. He was also bleeding.

Status Effects: Poisoned: 3 HP every 7 seconds Bleeding: 2 HP every 5 seconds

As he watched, the bleeding effect lessened but the poison remained unchanged. His health was still rising slowly but the potions would soon wear off and his health would start dropping again. Don picked up the pace after a quick calculation showed that he only had a few minutes before his health would empty out again. To Don’s dismay, when he sped up the poison effect changed from draining 3 hp every 7 seconds to taking the same amount of health every 6 seconds.

Don slowed again and the poison effect reverted back to its previous damage rate. He called out to Kat through the tribe-chat in a panic.

“Kat, where are you?”

Kat responded from overhead “You need to be more sneaky. They almost got you there”

Without any time to waste, Don plowed ahead “They did get me, I’m poisoned. I’ll die in just a few minutes. Help me.” Don shook the little scoutmaster in his panic.

“Poison?” Kat asked, “What’s that?”

Don’s stomach sank. He was doomed.

“Why don’t we ask Sik?” Kat asked after he was released.

That’s right! Sik and Grey knew a lot more about status effects than the other gobs.

“Sik!” Don shouted through the tribe-chat “I’m poisoned! Help!”

Sik replied immediately. “I’m on my way. If you have any silkweed start chewing on it.

Don opened up his inventory and quickly found a slot containing a few clumps of silkweed. He summoned one in a green flare and shoved it into his mouth. He gagged at the bitter juice which was released but kept chewing as the poison effect changed. It now only damaged Don every 17 seconds. The roots had bought him another five minutes of life. He put another clump of silkweed in his mouth and kept chewing. His cheeks bulged but the extra root didn’t decrease the damage any further.

He was losing health too quickly to make it all the way back to the cave still but a little green dot was speeding toward Don’s position on the tribe-map. Don hustled towards Sik as fast as he could without making the poison worse. Kat seemed entirely unconcerned as he rattled off all the things Don did wrong during the encounter.

Don ignored his tutor, watching his health bar dip a few times a minute and imagining what Jack would do to him if he died from the poison and returned to the crypt. Sik caught up with Don when he had only 18 health remaining. The pale gob tossed him a gourd.

You have found: Antidote

Quality: Trash

Effects: reduces damage factor of health poisons by 1 point

Don downed three doses and the poison effect faded from his status. The bleeding effect ended early during Don’s run towards Sik. Now that he was no longer dying, Don sank to the ground. He was overwhelmed by the frantic fight followed by the creeping fear brought on by the poison.

“Thanks Sik” Don said with a weak smile “I owe you one”

“You owe me more than one” Sik replied while holding out a gourd of healing potion.

Don took it gratefully. His entire body ached and burned from the poison. The potion barely helped, only bringing Don up to 43 health but the worst of the pain faded. His large health pool saved him today but it was beginning to require more and more potions to restore his health after fights. Those daggers were no joke. Each attack did far more damage than the foxes could. He examined the dagger he took from Celia.

Bronze Throwing Dagger

Quality: average

Damage: 14-17

Durability: 23/27

Effect: +5% accuracy when thrown

Don expected a higher damage value. Celia must have some skills which boosted her damage with the daggers. A sense of accomplishment flooded through Don. He finally got a real weapon. He escaped the trespassers and he found out why they were in his territory. His fists clenched. He would get Sam away from them. Then he would keep getting stronger until he didn’t need to be afraid of Jack and whoever else he brought with him. With a new goal in mind, Don rose and headed towards the cave with Kat and Sik in tow as he laid out his plan to his friends.

Once he made it to the cave, Grey fussed over him and brought him back to full health before beating him around the head with her spoon for doing something so stupid. Don set to work immediately after. The kills from the night were piled in their usual spot and a few gobs were scraping and tearing away the skin with rocks and claws. Don sat and pulled a mostly intact rabbit from the pile. He then took out his new knife and set to work. He used the general shape of the pelts he looted as a guide and after a few tries, he managed to get a usable rabbit skin.

Rabbit Pelt

quality: trash

Durability: 3

Congratulations! You have learned skinning beginner 1

5% faster skinning

5% increased durability to items crafted from animal pelts

Don kept skinning the animals until there were none left, gathering a small pile of trash rabbit skins. By the end of the session, Don started getting more familiar with the knife and he managed to make a few pelts of crude quality with 5 durability each. He also gained a level in his new skill. Now he wouldn’t have to choose between the meat and skin when he killed an animal.

Next, he pulled apart his bracer. It was pretty chewed up and the rabbit skin layer was tattered. He set to putting together more bracers with the trash quality rabbit skins before taking them apart and starting over. After his twelfth bracer, he managed to get the other skill he wanted.

Congratulations! You have learned Natural Crafting beginner 1 The natural world is filled with materials just waiting to be combined in useful ways 5% increased durability of creations

Don pulled apart his latest trash bracer and created a pair out of his crude quality pelts. He took his time, trying to make the armor as sturdy as he could. He was rewarded with much better defense than he had managed to achieve without the skill.

You have crafted: Ironbark Bracers of Minor Healing

Quality: crude

Defense: 6

Durability: 10/10

Effect: heals 3 hp for each durability lost

With his new armor, Don felt better prepared but he now knew that the defense value of his armor was pitiful compared to to the damage of even the average dagger he picked up. Ideally, he wouldn’t need to use them but Don was determined to do all he could to prepare for the next night.

Don headed over to the alchemy alcove next. It was empty and he set to making a new batch of healing potions.

You have crafted: Healing Potion x5 Quality: trash

Doses: 5

Effect: Heals 6 HP over ten seconds

Don really needed to get better alchemy equipment. The trash potions weren’t going to cut it for much longer. He then carefully pulled a fire-root from his inventory. He used his new dagger to scrape the orange hairs off of the root. They stuck to the dagger and Don scraped them into a gourd. He then filled the gourd with water and examined the result.

Congratulations! You have created the potion Firewater Quality: Dilute

Effect: Causes an intense burning sensation on contact without damaging the target

Don was happy that the results ended up like he expected. Apparently, the dagger was considered a higher quality tool than the stone implements he had been using until now because potion wasn’t trash quality. His alchemy skill even improved from the experiment.

Alchemy (beginner) has increased from level 9 to level 10, 14% increase to potion effectiveness.

Don noticed that his dagger also gained an unexpected effect of causing extra pain for the next ten minutes. He logged that bit of information away for later. He was sure it would come in handy later on. Don stopped his work after preparing two more gourds of firewater to eat a quick dinner. He didn’t have an appetite but he couldn’t afford to get hungry in the middle of the town so he choked down a greasy piece of rabbit, barely tasting it.

His last task for the night was to fix a problem he wasn’t aware of until his fight with Celia. His items wouldn’t come out of his inventory in the middle of a fight. He looked around the cave floor until he found the discarded remains of the rope he was tied up with on his first night in the forest. It was stamped into the dirt but Don managed to find a few pieces long enough to knot around his waist. It didn’t register as an item but he was able to hang a couple of gourds off of it. It started sliding down his hips when he walked so he slung one end over his shoulder. He couldn’t put more than one on the rope now, any more and the gourds would knock against each other. He made another makeshift bandolier and now had a gourd of firewater hanging at each hip.

Don spent the rest of the night going over the plan with Sik and Kat. They didn’t have as much endurance as Don and started drifting off. Don couldn’t sleep. He knew he needed to but all he saw when he closed his eyes was Jack torturing Sam.

Grey wobbled up to Don with a gourd and an understanding look.

“You have set yourself a dangerous task. I won’t stop you. It’s clearly too important to you. If I’m being honest I’m glad to see how much you care for your family. I hope that devotion will extend to your tribe. Take this with you. It might be helpful tomorrow night but it will definitely be of use tonight.”

You have received: Sleeping Potion Quality: Dilute

Doses: 5

Effect: Causes target to fall asleep

Restriction: only effective if ingested

“Thank you, Grey. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to me if it wasn’t for all the help you’ve given me. I swear I’ll repay you. Those apes won’t know what hit them.”

Grey smiled in response as Don took a dose of the potion. Before the potion did its work, he had time to hear “I know you will. But don’t try to do everything yourself. We are the forest, only together are we strong. Take care of the tribe and the tribe will take care of you.”

Spoiler: Don's Stats Stats: STR 18 AGI 19 DEX 15 INT 12 WIS 18 CON 27 END 18 Vitals: HP 133/135 STA 90/90 MANA 53/60 EXP 95/100 Spoiler: Don's Skills Category skill Rank Level Effect cost range duration Combat Punching Bag Apprentice 2 17% unarmed resistance Brawling Beginner 5 9% increase to unarmed attack and dodge Dodge Beginner 5 9% increase to speed when dodging Utility Training Dummy Apprentice 3 19% training increase Goblin Language Special 7 Advanced complexity Night Vision Beginner 9 13% increased light Focus Senses Beginner 10 14% increase and decrease 1 stamina self 1 minute Stealth Beginner 8 12% sneak and sneak attack Forest Walk Beginner 2 12% movement and 6% concealment in forests 1 mana + 5 stamina self 2 minute Support Diagnose Beginner 4 assess the targets visible injuries 1 mana touch instant Crafting Alchemy Beginner 10 14% potion effectiveness Forage Beginner 5 9% ease and effectivness of resources Illusion Magic Manipulation Beginner 10 Manipulate light to form intangible constructs 1 mana 10 meters 55 seconds Shadow Cloak Beginner 5 23% increased visual concealment in darkness 10 mana touch 5 minutes Bloody Simulacrum Beginner 1 5% more convincing 5 HP and 5 mana 20 meters 1 minute