Cedric woke groggily. His muscles were tight and stiff from sleeping semi-upright through the night on stone and dirt. He opened his eyes, blinking back the haze of sleep as he gazed out into a rich jungle outside of his little hollow.
Animal calls filled the air. Chirps, barks, and clicks echoed beneath the canopy as an ensemble of hidden critters greeted the dawn. The storm was gone, leaving behind that delicious fresh scent of nature that fit perfectly with the persistent clamor.
Cedric’s breath hitched, curling slightly as he stared wide-eyed at what he had been convinced was a dream. He swallowed and let out a shuddering breath, before taking stock of his situation.
He looked like a vagrant. His lab coat was shredded, with the fleece sweater beneath in not much better shape. His pants had faired better, but were heavily stained and entirely unpresentable. To his surprise however, his body was mostly recovered from the battle with the Stone Shelled Clinger. His injuries were still there, and bruises covered him, but they were vastly improved.
Health: 133/203
It was a suspicious degree of healing for only a single night unconscious, but not unheard of in video games.
Cedric scoffed, unable to believe that he was likening his new situation to video games of all things. Regardless, the nonsensical recovery had done nothing for his other needs. He was hungry and thirsty, only the latter of which had an easy solution if he was willing to drink from one of the rain pools littering the forest floor.
Something nudged against his foot.
Cedric yelped, jerking his leg back before he was able to identify the sleek body of his new companion. The spider looked fully recovered. All the cracks on its body were gone, and its bladed legs looked as if they had been sharpened during the night. An observation the system agreed with.
Stone Shelled Clinger: Life: 120/120
The Clinger rose up, rippling its legs clockwise and skittered at him with a chirp.
“Woah!” Cedric backpedaled, arms raised. “Back, back!”
The Clinger paused, bobbing up and down, and clicking its five legs on the dirty stone of their shelter.
“Ok, just...stay there.” Cedric said, holding his hands out in case the creature decided it wanted to hug him with those sharpened legs. It seemed it deflate, lowering its abdomen until it touched the ground.
“Ok,” Cedric said, feeling like he was saying that word a lot. The monster seemed to listen to him though, and it hadn’t eaten him during the night which was reassuring. He still didn’t like it much, mostly because he didn’t know what it was. In an effort to remedy that, he examined its status again.
To his surprise the thing had changed over night. Its stats hadn’t budged since the last time the crystal had flashed, but under each of its skills it had gained a single Augment.
Backstab
Tyrannical
Advanced Camouflage
Puncture
40
Well Rested
10
Second Wind
60
Whatever was buffing his creature had been busy during the night. He still couldn’t access the augments tab in his interface, but looking closer at his new...pet, he could get a definition of what the augments did.
Puncture: Augmented skill deals an additional 45% attack damage over 4 seconds.
So it was a bleed skill of some sort. In addition to dealing 225% of its attack damage on a backstab, it would leave its targets bleeding for an additional 45%. Some quick math revealed that with 63 attack damage, the Stone Shelled Clinger could deal up to 170 damage with a single attack. A frankly crippling amount of damage if used on him.
Well Rested: While augmented skill is active, recover an additional 10 health/hr.
The phrasing seemed slightly odd, but the Clinger’s status sheet reflected the change. It appeared since the augment was attached to Tyrannical — a passive skill — it was always on. It was a good augment too, increasing the Clinger’s health regeneration from 13.2 to 23.2, and likely to blame for it’s complete recovery during the night.
Second Wind: Augmented skill can store one additional charge.
Lastly, Second Wind granted Advanced Camouflage a second charge. Considering the longish cooldown of the ability, it was a powerful and effective choice.
Overall, it was a marginal, but significant improvement in the creature without any input on his part. Cedric wasn’t sure if he was grateful that some — more knowledgeable — force was handling this for him, or if he was annoyed that he didn’t get a choice in the matter.
For now he would see it as a boon, and try and tackle his more pressing concerns. His physical condition was ok, and improving by the hour. Shelter was also secured...for the most part. All that was left was water and food. And finding civilization of course.
Cedric eyed the water left behind by the recent thunderstorm. It pooled in the dirt and in ditches, stubbornly refusing to drain into the oversaturated soil. It was muddy, brown and looked vaguely brackish. In theory it would be a terrible idea to try drinking from it. Not counting the unknown particulate floating in the water, there could be all sorts of microbes eager to infect him after the first sip.
On the other hand, he was displaying a level of regeneration that completely invalidated most earth toxins and diseases. If the healing applied as he thought it did, he should be practically immune to any substance whose effects where gradual. Snake venom or concentrated cyanide could still kill him, but mercury vapors and alcohol might not even register.
On the other hand, this world might have different, far more capable microbes...
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Cedric shook his head to clear the thought. It was unhelpful and he was parched. Without further rumination, Cedric crawled out of the shelter and scooped some of the water in his open palms. Grimacing, Cedric lifted the brown gunk to his lips, and tried to ignore the texture and flavor.
“Gross,” Cedric spat, shuddering as sandy granules ground against his teeth and tongue. It did slake his thirst somewhat, but it was utterly miserable.
“I just want to go home,” He said softly to himself. Then louder at the heavens. “Take me home please, I’m sorry for whatever I did. If you just tell me what it was, I promise I won’t do it again.”
Minutes passed with only the forest’s noise for company. No response came from on high, nor did the system deign to acknowledge his request.
With a sigh, Cedric got to his feet.
Food was next. He had no clue how to gather food from a forest, having only been camping once in his life. An event that had included an ice cooler, propane grill and several shopping bags full of groceries. But he had to try, so before he could psyche himself out, he walked carefully towards the forest.
The spiny trees greeted him. Craning his neck revealed several pinecone like growths up in the canopy. There was no way he was climbing one of the trees, and a single pinecone might require more calories to collect than it would provide.
He continued, trying to recall what he knew about forests. Some roots were edible, but he didn’t have a shovel. He passed some shrubs and low vegetation, but the forest was old enough that the low lying plants were sparse and small.
He paused, making sure he would be able to find his way back began circling his little rocky home. It must not have been spring since none of the plants had fruit. At best his only option seemed to be leaves but he refused to try one in case of poisons.
He kneeled down, and gingerly lifted the thick moss that carpeted some of the ground. insectoids scurried out of the light as he lifted the roof of their home. He looked down on them in distaste. Bugs might not be poisoned, especially if they didn’t have bright colorations, but he really would prefer to eat something less...wriggly.
Pain erupted from the back of his neck.
Health: 125/203
He screeched, jerking up and back as a weight crashed into his shoulder. Tiny little teeth latched onto the back of his neck and he almost fainted from fear. What an idiot! Walking blind into a forest for a terrible predator to ambush you.
Panicked and hyperventilating, Cedric reached behind his neck and gripped a scally-furry body. Pain lanced down his neck as he pulled. The creature snarled, twisting like an eel as its teeth tore more flesh from his neck. Adrenaline and fear numbed the pain and with a yank he through the creature away from him.
It landed, spinning on him and baring its bloodstained fangs. It was small with four stubby little legs, and a long sinuous neck and tail that gave it a strange oblong appearance. Snakelike scales ran down the length of its back, but a thick furry brown undercoat made it look vaguely like a ultra furry rodent.
He blinked, trying to reconcile his crippling fear with the tiny creatures appearance. It was tiny. Much smaller than the Stone Shelled Clinger, and with his incredible regeneration he should be able to easily win a fight.
But he really didn’t want to...
Three more of the scaly rodents slipped down from the canopy on either side of him and snarled.
“Help!” Cedric screamed, sprinting back to his shelter.
He leaped around a thick trunk, narrowly avoiding impaling himself on the sharp spines before diving under the stone outcrop. His shoe crunched through old bone in his careless reentry, but he couldn’t be bothered. He fell to his knees and quickly scurried back to the entrance to watch his pursuers.
Instead of three terrible creatures chasing after him, he saw the Stone Shelled Clinger bobbing up and down over the eviscerated corpses of two of the creatures as if performing a victory dance.
“Huh,” Cedric muttered, his heart rate plummeting. His companion picked up one of the ferrets with its mouth and dragged it over to Cedric, dropping it before him and bobbing again in excitement. Cedric warily accepted the gift, with an uncertain, “thanks...”
The Clinger skittered back to the other corpse and sat on it. The surface scales on the rodent cracked easily under the Clinger’s teeth and it settled in to feed.
It seemed he was being stubborn. Silly even. The world was telling him to go certain path, and he was refusing thoughtlessly. The Stone Shelled Clinger was more capable than him in fights, and was even willing to protect him should he command it. Ignoring it and trying to set out on his own was the height of folly.
Cedric touched the rodent-snake corpse idly, noting the elegant manner the scales and fur transitioned on its flanks. Despite the strange appearance, it felt like meat beneath the surface. Considering how the Clinger was munching away, it was also likely safe to eat, but he would need a fire first.
His companion hadn’t attacked him yet, so it was safe to assume it wouldn’t. It’s actions implied it had his best interests at heart. Or at least possessed familial instincts of some sort. He needed to trust and use the creature more. It lived in this world, and it may be stupid, but he could certainly use it to help him survive.
“You still hungry, boy?” Cedric asked, as the Clinger rose from its meal. It bobbed exuberantly, nearly toppling over as it skittered toward him. Cedric suppressed a flinch and tossed the other rodent at it. “Eat up. You are going to need all your strength.”
Both Cedric and the Clinger paused as several loud snarls sounded from the forest. Six more rodent-snakes slithered down the side of the trees and approached the outcrop. They quickly spread out, blocking out all escape as they stalked closer.
The Clinger instantly rose up from its meal and two of its front legs started waving aggressively. It skittered in front of Cedric protectively, but its actions didn’t seem to scare the monsters.
Cedric stood as well, his mind racing to figure out what to do. The Clinger was clearly an ambush predator and wouldn’t fair well against these creatures. It would be best if it could slip past them and assault them from behind.
“Kill them from behind!” Cedric yelled. The Clinger bobbed once, then vanished in a rush. The six monsters paused as suddenly one of their targets vanished. Cedric didn’t let them gather their courage, and stepped forward and threw his hands up while yelling at the top of his lungs.
The pack flinched, snarling aggressively at his bluff, but not attacking. Cedric smirked. Classic stupid animal behavior. He took another step, roaring again while attempting to tame the nearest creature.
No target selected...attempting to tame nearest creature
Taming Hartebeast Behemoth...Failed, reduce distance to begin taming.
Blinking in confusion at the notification, Cedric almost missed the arc of red blood as one of the rodents was eviscerated. The Clinger materialized out of the ether, its claws bloodied and it instantly jumped on the next one. Claws flashed on both sides, before the rodent died to the Clinger’s superior weaponry.
That triggered the other four and they charged the Clinger. It instantly vanished, triggering Advanced Camouflage with Second Wind. Their enemy missing, the pack turned on Cedric. He screamed again, kicking wildly to keep them back and buy time for his minion.
Another died in a scuffle of claws as two jumped onto Cedric’s legs. He dodged the first, then winced as the second sank its teeth into his thigh. He punched it, ripping it off with a pained hiss, as he backed away.
The creature landed and snarled at him, then a gray blur lopped its head off.
The wind rustled the canopy, leaving Cedric gasping for breath.
There was so much to unpack in the failed taming message, but before he could, another group of snarling rodent-snake things fell from the canopy. A quick glance at the canopy revealed hundreds of the creatures prancing around in the upper branches.
“Where are these things coming from!” Cedric snapped. The Clinger spun on them, but all its cooldowns were down. There was no way they would survive this. “Never mind fighting them. We have to run. Clinger! Take us to a place safe from these monsters!”
The Clinger instantly spun around and ran into the outcrop. Cedric was about to stop it, confused why it was running to a dead end, when it began furiously digging. Curious, he approached, ready to call it off when he saw that beneath the dirt, bones, and muck, a black starless void stared hopelessly up at him.
Enter Dungeon Subdomain: Eldrathian Crypts?
“Ahh,” Cedric said, not sure if anything would surprise him at this point. “I guess there are dungeons here.”
The snarling rodent-snakes were fast approaching so without much more thinking, Cedric selected yes and felt his vision go dark.
Entering Eldrathian Crypts.
Augments found: (0/3)