Standing in front of the collapsed cave entrance marveling at the fact the cave crushing the undead bear is the only reason he is still alive still shaking from everything that has happened to him in such a short time he decides he wants to be as far as possible from the cave and continues on walking hungry and tired from todays adventure. Choosing to continue walking for another hour Raven comes to a small flat patch of ground at the base of a fairly large red wood tree with some rock cover just open enough to set up his tent for the first time. Once he sets his camp he collects a small amount of dead fall to make a fire to keep himself warm just in case the suns go down and the nights get dark and cold, most of all the fire will make himself feel safer from predators like bears… or the undead variety. Settling down for the day he goes to lay down in his tent but realizes he doesn’t have a bed to lay on or blankets just a tent a bag and some supplies so laying his gear on the ground using the bag to cover his chest from the cold he tries to go to sleep even if just for a few hours.
Waking what feels like minutes later peaking out the tent flap he sees that the suns have in deed gone down and the night is supremely dark and cold almost to the point of ice forming over surfaces. Collecting some of his gear he gets set to start his fire to keep him warm and to help light the area so he can keep watch, he has a feeling he wont be sleeping anymore till the suns come back up. Listening to the forest ambiance sounds he notices the insect hum has gotten a fair bit louder but deeper as well and much much closer. Grabbing his dagger and putting it on the belt loop of his pants to keep it close he finds his hand constantly going down to it checking if its still there as he sits in the poorly lite area that is his camp. Sitting next to the fire feeding it listening to the crackling wood he hears a snap in the trees near by looking around he cant make anything out but the sound of a low deep growl makes its self known above him in a near by tree.
Drawing the dagger and backing away from the direction of the growl he tries shouting out “stay back, I don’t want to hurt you please just leave me alone!” Grabbing a stick from the fire the tip burning and glowing red he raises it as a makeshift low light torch towards the sky to see if he can see anything at all, when he notices a glint in the trees a reflection of the light on a set of eyes… to many eyes. Dropping from the tree but not touching the tree or ground hangs a giant spider the size of a compact car deep purple in color with black limbs and zig zags on the rear of the spider.
Eyes shining in the light also seem to have a purple hue to them as the giant insect stares at Raven not moving just hanging there looking at him as he's frozen in fear. “Why did it have to be a spider, id rather fight the bear again.” The spider moves at the sound of his voice slowly lowering its self to the ground raising its head up looking him in the eyes and growling. Raven panics and throws the fire stick at the spider while backing away slowly, the stick flies past the spider missing it completely but draws his dagger ready to fight. Trying hard to remember anything he might have to fight this monster with he remembers seeing a spell on his sheet, create water *hero modified* and tries with all his might to cast it first shouting “create water” but nothing happens, so next he focuses on the spell and what he thinks it does forming water in a ball above the spider he sees nothing happening but as he focuses he can feel a drain on his very being like he just ran a mile with butterflies in his stomach a screen pops up in front of him stating “casting successful how much mana would you like to put into the spell out of 16 MP” mentally selecting 16 mana and hitting accept the drain to his mental capabilities is staggering dropping him to his knees as he starts panting and feeling the need to vomit. The spider hisses and starts to slowly approach Raven as he's kneeling in front of it when a loud crack sounds from above the spider, before it even has a chance to look up water comes crashing down from the tree top in a dense sphere the size of washing machine crashing dead center on the spider knocking it to the ground with a loud pop coming from each of its legs. The rush of water pushing Raven down and washing him a few feet away as well as putting out his fire soaking him and the ground all at once. Crawling to his tent to get away from the spider he can hear it behind him slowing giving chase every step it lets out a hiss of pain. Raven gets to the tent crawls inside and readies his dagger to protect himself when the mass of the spider comes crashing down on top of him stabbing up and through his tent he thrusts his dagger over and over again not stopping, screaming the whole while. After a few dozen thrusts the spider seems to stop moving and gives up releasing its last breath of air as it dies. Stuck under the spiders mass and wiped out from the spell casting Raven slowly passes out to the voice of what he thinks of as “the system” “congratulations you have slain a level 5 Brood spider and gained 150 EXP Level up!”
Waking up several hours later to the stink of the spider on top of him crushing him and coating him in thick purple blood, trying to get out from under the spider he finds his tent wrapped around him preventing much movement and the body of the spider pinning him in place. With a loud groan he grabs the dagger laying next to him and starts to cut the spiders body from inside the tent a slow and oh so gross mission to free himself. After about 20 minutes of cutting and pushing and wiggling he manages to get the corpse off him and frees him self from the bloody mess ruining the tent and leaving it heavily damaged, the suns are up and shining birds are chirping and the insects humming. he rolls up what's left of the tent and packs it away collecting all his gear looking himself up and down and seeing the truly horrifying image of gore all over him and his gear he decides to cast his create water spell but only putting one MP into it and focusing It above his head. A bucket sized ball of water appears above his head dropping down soaking him and washing some of the gore off but no where near all of It. Raven sighs resigned to the fact his cloths are ruined and will never be clean after that. Looking at the spiders corpse it appears the water was strong enough that it shattered all but its front two legs and it dragged itself on top of him to eat him and died there. After packing up Raven starts walking in a random direction still lost, walking hand on his dagger eyes darting towards any and all noises and movement.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
A few hours of walking in the random direction he finds himself at a river cutting through the forest, kneeling at the rivers edge he takes a drink from the water and refills his water skin. The river is a slow moving river hardly seems like it would reach his hips if he were to try and cross but as he has no reason to try at the moment he decides to stay where he is, utilizing his fishing line and hooks he puts a small piece of spider on the hook pulled from the folds of his cloths. Using a basic stick as reel and a small stick as a bobber he throws the line out and lets it float while he sits down bathing in the sun coming through the clearing caused by the river. Sitting there letting the nights horrors and tension leave him as he watches his bobber floating down stream gnawing on the hard bread from his kit when the bobber suddenly sinks and the line goes tight, pulling on the line and rolling it in on the stick he feels something fighting the line something small but at this point hes not picky food is food. Reeling the line in and brining the fish to the shore line he pulls it up and out of the water revealing what looks like an eel with no eyes and a large mouth on its bottom side filled with row after row of teeth, it squirms around trying to get free so Raven grabs his dagger stabbing it in the head it slows its movements and coils around the daggers blade twitching as it dies. Getting his camp fire ready he puts a stick through the eel and cooks it on a spit over the fire slowly rotating it while eying it curiously thinking “ I wonder if I can actually eat this or if ill get sick. I really don’t want to eat that hard tack so I’m going to try this anyways but man does it look ugly… please don’t make me sick.” After cooking the fish he quickly eats the fish surprisingly it doesn't taste horrible it sort of tastes like slimy chicken.
After his meal he decides to continue on packing up his gear and following the river down stream as his survival skill tells him settlements generally will settle along water tributes and also draws in game that can be hunted and is a free fresh water source and fishing could be useful. Following the bends of the river and from time to time having to climb over obstacles like fallen trees or small cliff faces he is making good time on the rough ground and starting to feel a little chipper for the first time in the world, the scenery is beautiful the area smells like sweet grass temperature is nice and warm like a pleasant day on a beach with a cool light breeze.
As he walks he remembers what he heard as he passed out under the spider he gained a level what does that mean? Bringing up is stats screen he sees he has 1 stats point to spend an 2 skill points. Looking at his stats he puts a point in Strength as being trapped under that spider was horrifying and he never wants that to happen again. For the skill points he looks over the list but decides he needs a skill point in dagger and decides to get parry as well so he has some kind of combat skill. Looking at his skills the Dagger skill gives 10% bonus damage per skill point and Parry gives you a better chance to parry a declared attack by 5% per level once per combat.
>>>>>>>>>>>stats block<<<<<<<<<<<<
Name: Raven Hex
Race: Kobold
Class: not selected
Level: 2
Skills: dagger 1 10% damage per level, parry 1 5% parry chance per level once per combat, Survival 1 various crafts and knowledge as well as a 10% per level resistance to weather, Running 1 10% bonus to speed and a 1% bonus to duration, basic crafting 1 stone age crafting with 10% quality boost and 20% chance to make a masterwork item at level 10, Sneak 1 10% bonus per level to hiding in full cover, Physiological resistance 1 reduces damage taking by 2% per level as well as increasing your save chance from disease poison and illness. Affinity double resistance *2 hidden affinities*
spells: create water Hero modified Level 1 1 MP generate 5 gallons of water, repel undead major knock back on undead creatures *from item*,
Stats: Strength 9 Endurance 12 constitution 10 Dexterity 12 Wisdom 12 Intelligence 10 Luck 2. HP: 12 MP: 12+4 from magic item
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>chapter end<<<<<<<<<<<<<<