Congratulations, after trials and tribulations you have leveled up! You are now level 16.
You have gained a level, as a human you gain 6 attribute points per level.
He put all in con since it was so close to being 100.
Congratulations! You have gained a new Feat.
Denser Than a Rock: Have 100 in constitution. This is the first milestone in stats. This is an upgradable Feat.
Healing effects and natural healing are increased by 5%.
On top of the level he had gained ranks in a few skills. Those were sneak, gunmanship and conjuration. He was excited about getting one to 5. If everything else stayed similar, getting a skill to five would have cool effects.
The three pushed through the mushroom filled tunnel. It surprisingly ended not far in. Xane was worried about the reasons the territorial species weren’t deeper in. It was like a clear cut off where the mushrooms didn’t grow. The group went deeper and deeper, not running into anything. It went back too the same old plain walls with a scattering of spikes.
They didn’t talk, not wanting to let the noise spread and alert anything. In stealth they wandered down. Another forking path was revealed. The room housing the paths was larger than the one they had seen with the mimic. He couldn’t even see the ceiling. This time it wasn’t just two it was 3 diverging paths. Luckily one was caved in so that left 2 . Unless they wanted to dig it out. Xane could easily start vacuuming the rocks but Von didn’t want to risk a collapse. “We really shouldn’t do that. I’m no expert but I don’t think randomly taking stones is a great idea. It looks ready to fall as is.”
“If the others are dead ends then we probably will need to dig it out.” Xane said unhelpfully.
“Why did you go and say that?” Von replied angrily,” Now it will be the path we need to take.
The first one they took was the one on the right. It was a smaller one getting narrower as they went. It got to the point where they had to push themselves inside. Garry was fine, his body seemingly a liquid that just slid through. Von was a taller guy and wasn’t as most would call skinny. He got stuck halfway in and just couldn’t get any further. And Xane had gained muscle mass since coming here. He wasn’t as big as Von and got farther in but not by much. In the end with a lot of squeezing and sucking in their guts they decided to instead try a different path.
“If anything we can either try again later or have Garry go in and just come back and do charades,” Xane said jokingly.
“He can do charades?” Von asked incredulously.
Xane had to hold in a laugh,“ No he can’t.”
“I knew that,” His face told another story.
“We should just head down the next one. We didn’t take damage or get tired from that.” He said this while already walking.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The next path was much larger than the last. And as boring as the previous ones. It snaked around going at a steeper angle. It did have a lot more stalactites and stalagmites. Xane kept an eye out and noticed something. It was a rope or at least what looked like a rope. He tossed in one of the few remaining on fire logs and lit the room.
He was happy he did that since it revealed a lot more rope like objects. And one moved away from the flame. Xane swore it did. Not wanting to risk it he spoke quietly. “We should move back a bit. I think there is something in there.” As they moved whatever it was either knew its cover was blown or was just dumb and attacked a guarded foe. A flurry of ropes launched out but was easily defended by Xane who was used to fighting this type of creature. Why does everything have so many rope-like appendages? Xane was getting a bit tired of them. Looking at the appendage he was able to scan the creature itself.
Stone Creeper
Level: 25
Important stats:
Strength: 51
Constitution: 49
Endurance: 48
Information: You’ve met the Jungle Creeper. This is the meaner and more rough around the edges cousin of the Jungle Creeper. The Stone Creeper excels at hiding in caves and tunnels pretending to just be a stalagmite or stalactite…which one goes where again? Nevermind the Stone Creeper has no eyes but can sense vibrations and use its tendrils to ‘feel’ the area. They usually wait for an unexpecting traveler to wander in and grab them by the waist and do a tango of death. In where it squeezes the life out of you. Stone creepers themselves are rather slow and usually root themselves into the ground or ceiling. Don’t be fooled by this for their range is quite far.
With that information in mind they started to back up. At least Xane did. Von tripped on a hidden limb and fell over. The Stone Creeper took full effect before Von or even Xane could react. Von was grabbed and violently pulled. He was slammed into stone after stone getting ever closer. It was a miracle that he didn’t bump his head and was knocked on conscious. Even being conscious he wasn’t able to do more than scrambled to hold onto something.
Xane reacted to late but he did react. He jumped forward and tried to snatch Von’s body, arm, hair, anything. He missed completely and smacked into a stalagmite. His speed and mass actually cracking it and dazing Xane for but moments. Garry for his part wasn’t really useful in this fight. He was able to bite down and through an appendage but it was mostly futile.
Xane quickly got back to his feet and sprinted towards the fast disappearing Von. His yells echoing in the small cave system. Xane did the only thing he could do. He aimed and fired. This entire sequence was but a mere 3 seconds of time. Stats and adrenaline making it all feel like forever. He took an entire real second to aim, not wanting to hit Von.
BANG. The newer rounds might be quieter but at that moment he could hear everything, see everything, feel everything. He heard the sounds of Von sliding away and the retort of his gun. He saw Von slowly disappear out of view and the round soar forward. And he felt the kick of the firearm and the pain of what was about to happen. He missed. Xane didn’t miss entirely though. The bullet went from slow motion to regular speed as it tore its way into the rope arm and into Von’s thigh. Both limbs took damage with the Stone Creeper fairing worse. Von’s inertia wasn’t hualted and he came to a stop hitting a rock.
Xane didn’t have time to make sure Von was ok as more limbs started attacking. The sound of his colt rang as he didn’t miss this time. Five shots and five destroyed limbs. Quickly he recast his ammo spell. The staccato of bullets started after. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, slight pause and flash if light, repeat. Xane was quickly draining his mana and a headache was setting in. But he did care.
The creature was dead one clip ago but in Xane's panic and rage he didn't notice till the click click of no shots left and bottomed out mana. Xane rushed towards Von, almost tripping in dizziness. "Von are you ok?" Xane knew he wasn't dead and tried to shake him awake. It took a moment but Von eventually woke up dazzed.
"Quit shaking me Boy. I have a nasty debuff called dazzed. Thought processes are reduced as well as other effects. I have 2 minutes left. May I ask what happened? But slowly please." Von said the last bit hiding his eyes in his hands.