I woke up to the sound of whistling wind, rising and falling. I cracked an eye open to see it was before the crack of dawn and wondered why I could hear the wind so vividly. I turned to my side and heard it again, shaking the mountain of blankets. I kept looking around trying to find the source until I looked over Lin’s sleeping form and saw Snowflake shake in tandem with the wind. The ram girl also either had a case of bed head or her hair had doubled in size since last night.

“Heh, she does snore a lot,” I smirked.

I laid back down in the bed and cuddled up to Lin again, stroking her side. She melted into my body, rubbing up against me while she purred in her sleep. It was rather enjoyable, but I felt like I could use this quiet time to look over my talents and unspent skill points that could help us out. I spied an option at the top of my skills and talent page allowing me to filter my settings. I clicked it and selected only new talents that had cropped up so I wouldn’t be overloaded so early in the morning.

Unallocated Skill Points : 2

Martial Momentum - Rank 1

Requires 2 skill points

After landing a melee attack on an opponent you gain a minor buff to your strength and dexterity. Landing additional attacks further improves your strength and dexterity until reaching a maximum. Once fully stacked this buff duration lasts for an amount of minutes equal to this talent's rank.

Maximum boost to Strength and Dexterity - 2

Martial Cadence

Requires 2 skill points

After landing two melee strikes on an opponent you gain a buff that lasts up to one minute. Your next attack will deal additional damage and has an additional chance to critically hit. Damage and critical chance scales with strength or dexterity, whichever is higher.

Additional Damage - +4

Additional Critical Chance - +2.5%

Improved Elemental Strike - Burst

Requires 2 skill points

Enhances the Elemental Strike Ability

When using your elemental strike the target now suffers additional magic damage equal to your casting levels. You also place an elemental mark on your opponent that explodes after a short amount of time, dealing the same elemental type damage to them. The potency of this explosion is based on your caster level and deals damage in a small area of effect. (The caster is protected from this area of effect damage.)

Improved Elemental Strike - Enduring

Requires 2 skill points

Enhances the Elemental Strike Ability

When using your elemental strike your weapon becomes surrounded in elemental energy. Every attack you make will apply this elemental energy as additional damage. This bonus lasts for one minute, plus an additional minute per mana point expended during the initial hit. The potency of this elemental damage buff is equal to half your caster level.

Now those were some interesting choices. Something to really bring to light my sword skills and step up my melee style. I looked at the elemental strike improvements and realized I never really double checked how the ability worked.

Elemental Strike

Costs 1 + X Mana points

The caster may make a melee attack with either an unarmed strike or a weapon they are holding, and spend mana points to deal additional elemental damage. The type of elemental damage is chosen from spells known, or any elemental affinity on the weapon they have. Once a type is chosen the caster then spends mana points (a minimum of 1) to deal a burst of magical damage.

Damage scales equal to caster level and gains a bonus in potency for each additional mana point spent.

I perked up at the ‘elemental affinity in the weapon’ part. I had taken the wight captain’s sword with us and it meant if I could recharge the weapon I would have the option of ice or fire now. The improvements to it were tempting, having the choice of either a damage nuke or a way to boost my damage over a long fight. The enduring version even rewarded me for dumping more into the initial hit too.

However the two martial talents were fantastic. They were passive style buffs requiring me only to fight like I usually did to benefit from their abilities. The martial momentum would push my stats higher allowing me to hit hard like Lin and even gain some cat-like speed to add into the mix. It also started at rank one, meaning over time it would get better allowing me to perhaps even reach or break what could be a cap on my stats.

It didn’t say how long it would take to ramp up, and that worried me. In long fights it would be great, but in quick scraps it would only be a gain of a single point of strength. Still, better than nothing.

Martial cadence was a different beast. It excelled at short trades but might push me to over commit to that third hit. I also didn’t know how great of a boost four damage was, or if a measly two and a half percent crit chance was good.

Or I could follow Sten’s advice and save my points for a rainy day. There were so many questions running through my head with what if scenarios. So far one solid strike had been enough to end gnomes, stag hares and zombies. Those were cannon fodder though, they were meant to be dissipated easily.

Tough opponents were a different game altogether. I didn’t even kill the wight captain, he just happened to slip into the keeper pool. The only tough opponent I had fought was Lord Gastov, and the undead knight had actually killed me.

Lin shifted and turned around, nuzzling into me. She let out a soft grunt and cracked open an eye, looking at me in a daze. She slowly looked towards the closed tent door and then back to me.

“Josh, it’s so early, why are you up?” she asked.

“Looking at my new talents, want to see?” I asked.

She mumbled something and I sent it over to her. She slowly woke up as she read and by the time she finished she was wide awake. I could see her ears flop around her head as she looked at the talents, calculating their power.

“Damn, I might want one of those two martial talents. When did you get them?” Lin asked.

“I think…when we were sparring and figured out my sword from Rodney’s shop was cursed,” I said, scratching at my chin. “Do talents have a set way of appearing?”

“No, not at all. They can be pretty random, but as long as you're around I can copy one of these and use them when I level up,” Lin said.

“Which would you go for?” I asked.

“Don’t know. I’m pretty used to fights lasting a while, but then again since I’m a rogue type my crits can be devastating. I’d have to talk numbers with Rolada and skip over that talent she wanted me to get,” Lin yawned.

“What talent would that be?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s going to be for a later surprise, don’t you worry,” Lin quietly laughed.

Snowflake yawned and flopped to the side, bumping into Lin. She reached around with her hands, touching Lin’s stomach and chest before opening her ruby red eyes. I could see the ram girl’s head trying to come to terms with what she was seeing and what she remembered.

“Oh, sorry,” Snowflake yawned, letting go of Lin’s boobs. “Good morning, ready to gear up for an adventure?”

“Do we get breakfast first?” Lin asked.

Snowflake grinned. “For you two, I’m more than happy to try.”

We sat at her dining table inside the magic tent, watching Snowflaking cook in her underwear. She wore a matching set of white panties, long thigh high socks, and some kind of corset that was enchanted, but one I couldn’t identify. She merrily hummed an upbeat tune that made me think of a marching tune, and brought over a plateful of eggs, bacon and fried squash. It was an interesting combo and I could never pass on bacon, even if we had been eating it every morning since the siege.

“Is your hair longer?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Snowflake said, tugging at the ends of her hair. “It’s some kind of blessing I got when I was a little girl. It grows a lot every night, and I trim it as much as I can. With a bit of work it can make great fabric, I made all my clothes and bedding out of it.”

Lin reached over and pet Snowflake's head. Her face lit up and she cooed. “Wow, it’s really soft today too.”

“Best wool around!” Snowflake smiled. “Feel free to pet me any time.”

“Oh don’t tell me that, otherwise we would stay in bed all day and never get adventuring done,” Lin grinned back.

We shared a laugh and I took a moment to look around the room. All the fabrics in the room were mostly plain white. They all seemed to be made of similar material, and a closer look at Snowflake’s hair showed me it was a match. It was strange, but also extremely useful. I rather enjoyed the warm mountain of soft bedding we had enjoyed last night.

We ate in silence, chowing down as fast as we could since we had precious time before the sun rose. I had a distinct feeling we would be heading out soon and I didn’t want to get caught flat footed. I rubbed at my eyes and tried to wake up, but couldn’t shake my grogginess, I wasn’t a morning person.

“Covee?” Snowflake asked, heading to a cabinet.

“Covee?” I mumbled looking at her.

She opened the top of a metal can and held it out to me. It was filled with little familiar smelling beans and my body instantly woke up, knowing exactly what it was. A tried and true old friend that helped me survive my ill fated years at school and work at Dan’s store.

“Oh, coffee. I’d love a mug full,” I said. “Where do you get it here?”

“Is it called coffee? Weird. I got it from some traders in town with a strange accent. They grow it in the east and ship it over by huge loads. It’s a bit pricey, but you can’t beat its potent powers in waking you up,” Snowflake said.

She took out a small machine with a hand crank and crushed the roasted beans. She put on a pot to boil as she did the manual labour and when I offered to help she sat me back down. She patted my shoulders and told me to eat, going back to getting the beans ready. By the time the pot was boiling she poured in the coffee beans, stirred it and served it.

“Got any milk or sugar?” I asked.

“If you were hoping for fresh milk I’m sorry to say I’m out of potions for that,” Snowflake said, going to a tall metal box by the stove. She opened it up and I felt a waft of cold air come from it. “Someone likes their coffee sweet I see.”

I blinked in confusion and turned to Lin, whispering so only she could hear. “They make potions for that?”

Lin started to laugh and put a hand up to her mouth. She waved me off and I had to sit back wondering why Snowflake would bring up such an odd thing. Maybe it was a cultural thing I was missing.

“Here you go,” Snowflake said, putting down a glass bottle of milk and a small tin with sugar cubes inside. “Hope you like it from cows.”

“That’s what I’m used to, thank goodness,” I said.

I made up my coffee like I used to back on earth. Two milk, two sugar, a good stir and drink it while it's hot. As I sipped on it I was taken aback by how gritty it was, but seeing how Snowflake prepared it, it made sense. I was still super happy to have the familiar taste of home in my gut, and I was now alert. Alert enough to see both girls were cackling to themselves and looking my way.

Perception : Success!

+1 XP gained.

I saw they were looking at the bottle and I slowly turned it around. I drank the rest of my coffee and saw the front of the bottle had a beast-kin on it. A cowgirl beast-kin.

I looked at the empty mug for several long seconds, my mind putting together the information. Once it dawned on me I slowly set down the mug, sat back and pretended that didn’t happen. I didn’t really know how to feel about that relevant bit of information.

“So, you like milk Josh?” Lin asked.

I closed my eyes and prepared for the storm of teasing. “Sure do. Have something to say about it, big sister Lin?”

“It’s good for you. That’s a very popular brand around here. She domesticated a special breed of wild animal cows, and bred them for their milk. It’s healthy and gives you a boost to your constitution,” Lin said, pouring a glass for herself.

“It does?” I asked, looking at my sheet.

Cow milk - +1 to Constitution for 4 hours

Coffee - +1 to Perception and +1 to Dexterity saves for 2 hours

“Sweet. I have to say, I love milk,” I said, drumming my hands on the table. “What other foods can give us a boost?”

“Rare and specially cultivated ones. Something that’s a treat or out of our budget,” Lin said. She tipped her ear to the side and looked at me with a ferocious grin. “I can think of one way, but you're going to have to wait for that one.”

I was about to push the issue, but I heard a call outside the tent. Seeing how I was the only one not in their underwear I went to investigate and poked my head out the tent. I saw the three others getting ready, with Grannul at the edge of the tree line taking a leak.

“Glad to see the three princesses are up. How about you get dressed and we can go,” the dwarf shouted over his shoulder.

I turned around and found them cleaning up and getting geared up. Lin was the first to be fully dressed, all she had to do was bind her chest, toss on her clothes and zip up her coat. Afterwards she tugged on her new soft rabbit fur cloak and started helping me get into my dragon scale armour.

Snowflake on the other hand had quite the affair to get into. First she got into a comfortable set of clothes, then tugged on a different pair of heavier boots. These ones had steel plates on the front and hobnails on the sole for reinforcement. She wrapped thick layers of cloth around her legs to protect them and moved on to dawning a thin shirt made of stiff material.

I noticed the clothes were layered and had silver glowing threads. Collecting on the surface were a few droplets of water that froze and I started to see the patterns. She had frost runes in the thick layers, probably so she didn’t over heat. Next she donned the plate armour, the straps slithering like snakes to attach themselves as she pulled it on.

She pulled on the surcoat over the top, and pulled on a thick cloak with frayed ends. She clipped on a set of pauldrons to protect her shoulders and neck, their shiny appearance making her stand out like a beacon. Finally she grabbed a flat top great helmet, like the old crusader knights had. It was topped with a brass crown and when she brought it towards her head the metal glowed, reshaping itself to move and accommodate her horns. The helmet had a series of small holes in the front like a roman gladiator helmet, giving it a creepy appearance.

She grabbed her shield and a heavy headed flanged mace, standing a few feet ahead of me. With her thick soled boots and armour on, Snowflake was about my height and I had to admit, she was terrifying.

“How do I look?” Snowflake asked, her voice perfectly clear despite the heavy helmet on her head.

Lin blinked a few times and whistled. “Terrifying. Heinekia’s tits, you're not wrong when you said you could beat the others.”

“Can’t stop evil with hugs sadly,” Snowflake said, lifting the mace and resting it on her gloved palm.

I had a flash of a vision in the back of my mind. Snowflake taking the mace to my crystal and obliterating it in a single blow. She might be strong enough to take on Yara even, and I prayed it never came to that, I was rather fond of Snowflake.

We exited the tent and Snowflake slapped the side of it uttering a word I couldn't make out. The tent shot into the air, snapped its anchors together and rolled up into a tight roll. It was barely bigger than a ballpoint pen and Snowflake tucked it into a pocket on her belt, tying it closed.

“We need to get one of those Josh. Maybe we can get one from Rodney,” Lin said to me.

“And then it will have something wrong with it. Like teleporting rats or ghosts that steal your left socks,” I said. “If we can find one thats good and we got the money I’m totally for it, even just for convenient storage on the road.”

Snowflake stretched and faced us. “It’s a lifesaver. It was a gift from my matron at the tree den, and it's given out to questing paladins. Sadly I’ll have to return it when I get home.” Snowflake’s shoulders sank as she let out a long sigh.

The others had packed up their tents and I saw they were not the crazy fancy magical ones Snowflake had. Just cheap tents they had tied extra blankets to for warmth. They did shove them all into a small satchel Cidean the wizard had. A magical bag just like Rolada had.

“I could use one of them too,” I said.

“Saw one at Rodney’s for a hundred gold. Then again…” Lin said, wiggling her fingers. “I could get it at a discount.”

I threw snow down the back of Lin’s shirt and she let out a shrill cry. She danced around the campsite, tugging on her jacket and shirt trying to dislodge the snow. I crossed my arms and waited until she had gotten it all out. Once she had calmed down she returned to face me head on.

She got the message and put a hand on her heart. “I promise to be a good kitty. I will keep being a good kitty as long as you never do that again.”

It was a promise and a threat. I shrugged and held out a hand. After we shook hands we saw the others at the end of the clearing waiting for us to follow. Lin and I jogged over and fell in line at the back of the group with Snowflake.

“Can you see out of that crazy helmet?” I asked.

“As if it wasn’t there. It’s a tier six enchanted item and made by the martron herself. It can filter the air so I’m immune to poison gas, it lets me see in the dark and it has a few mana points to cast spells. I can detect magical items and traps, shine bright like a lighthouse and even summon a healing aura for a short amount of time. It's great!” Snowflake said bubbling with cheerfulness.

“How much enchanted gear do you have?” Lin gasped.

Snowflake slowed her pace until we were out of earshot of the other three. “Remember that corset I’m wearing?”

Garments of Physical Perfection

Magical Clothing

This garment provides the wearer with a +2 buff to all physical stats while it is worn. It is also enchanted to repair any tears, self clean and resize itself to fit the wearer perfectly.

“That’s not fair,” Lin pouted. “It fits your boobs perfectly and gives you a huge buff?”

“I’m almost tempted to wear it,” I said, making the girls laugh.

We reached the frozen river and a stone's throw away I saw the ice was heavily disrupted. With a soot covered crater, frozen ice sticking up into spikes and blood. We crossed at a spot where the ice was thick and the crossing would be safe. We continued towards the cliffside. Where the ancient ruins hugged the rocky mountain side was a tight twisting road.

Instead of taking the road, they led us away from it, heading towards a spot under the cliffs where the runoff from the mountain flowed into the river. There we spied in the rocks a metal grate that had been pried open and a massive metallic tube went right into the mountain.

Grannul leaned against the natural rock wall and slapped the grate, causing the rusted metal to crumble to dust. “Ladies, gentlemen, and wizards, welcome to our way into the dungeon. And just to warn you, we might have a keeper inside.”