Frank and Mia were using her Tracking ability to find another small group of bugs for Mia to train on. She felt confident enough with Frank at her back that she got a little lost in thought.
The talk with Frank made Mia realize some things. Her friends had to carry much more than their fair share of the burden and it cost them. As a result Mia resolved to pick up her slack and be as much help as she could. Her determination was also fueled by the guilt she still felt over their misadventure near the nest, now seeing the consequences more clearly. She would get stronger and protect them next time, instead of being the one that needed saving.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a skittering sound. Mia signaled to Frank to fall back down the corridor so that she would have the best possible sight lines on the centipedes.
Once they were in position she considered saying something witty, but that was more of a Frank’s thing so she just shared a look with him, prepared her bow and stomped as hard as she could.
Knowing that her True Shot was her strongest skill she prepared that and released her arrow even before the first bug rounded the corner. The arrow struck a moment later straight into the gaping maw of the first centipede. It didn’t even slow down the other monsters that rushed over their dead allies' corpse.
Mia shot as fast as she could and didn’t bother with Double Shot this time. The result was three more dead Aberrations before the remaining two reached them.
With the corner of her eye she noticed Frank dash forward. He was a blur, she saw him take a step on the wall and jump higher than should be possible. Using the momentum of his run and fall, he struck, almost severing the first bug's head. Mia thought that if his blades were longer he would take it clean off. She watched as Frank, never losing his speed, bounced from the floor towards the second centipede. The bug was ready for him this time, Mia opened her mouth as she wanted to shout, but instead watched as Frank turned his body midair to dodge the claw strike and after getting into the monster's guard stabbing both of his daggers into its skull from below.
It was over before she could blink. Mia just stood there for a second, her mouth still open. Last time she saw him throw his daggers, but this was something else. She knew that Frank and Diana killed a lot of centipedes but knowing and experiencing turned out to be a totally different thing.
“You mentioned a big fight, right Frank? How many bugs was that?” He mentioned getting hurt. She couldn’t imagine how many it would take to scratch him if he was able to move this fast.
Frank pulled his daggers with a wet sshhluck and turned towards her.
“Too many to count, they looked like a damn river. Diana might have a better idea but at a guess I'd say about a hundred.”
Mia felt her jaw drop a second time. There she was getting all serious about protecting others, while they were so far ahead of her that it wasn’t even funny. She needed to step up her game.
“We… I need to kill them faster if I'm ever supposed to catch up.” Mia said.
“This was actually pretty quick, when we looked for them before it was kinda random. Your Tracking really speeds this up” Frank shrugged.
“This is not good enough. How about we set a trap?” Mia said, thoughts running through her head. If they could use dead bugs to lure more, she could just snipe them from afar and recover her arrows, rinse and repeat. What would be even better is if they had a ledge they could sit on and kill bugs from relative safety. Oh, that would make picking up the arrows harder so scratch that idea.
“We could use a dead bug in the street to lure more, right? They followed us thanks to it so they must have a good sense of smell” She asked Frank.
“Yeah but what about the Shriekers, we would be exposed if we hunt in the streets” Frank countered.
Mia just lifted her eyebrows and her bow. “I think I can take care of them. Normally hitting something darting around that fast would be hard, but my True Shot should take care of them pretty neatly”
“Damn, stop it, I'm getting envious. I might ask for a bow of my own sometime soon” Frank quipped. “I agree, but let's hide near an entrance to a building so we have a secure escape route.”
“Sure, let's do that. Do you think we take parts of these?” She kicked the dead bug at her feet.
“Nah i’m not carrying that around, lets just try to track some in the open.” Frank said and turned towards the corridor leading to the exit.
They went out of the building and started looking for centipedes in the streets. Once they found a group, they disposed of them easily. The range advantage Mia had was too much for the bugs to handle. After Mia pulled the arrows from the corpses they looked nearby for a place to wait for more Abominations to come.
They located a rubble pile that combined good sight lines, being really hard to notice from ground level and a nearby entrance to a building.
“Mighty convenient place” Frank commented, and laughed to himself.
“What's so funny?” Mia asked
“Just imagined a bunch of centipedes building this place to set a trap for us” Frank shuffled trying to find a comfortable position.
Mia chuckled when she imagined a monster in a builder hat. She shook her head and focused. When she found a good spot she activated her Camouflage and looked around. The street wasn’t any different than the rest of them. Sheer walls of the surrounding buildings had a familiar feel to them. She had a good view of the nearby crossroads and the street they were on. She settled in to wait.
She didn’t have to wait long. Within ten minutes she heard the easily recognizable sound of claws on stone. A group of five centipedes was making a beeline for the corpses. Mia waited for an opportune moment and fired five True Shots at the bug.
“Nice one Mia, one shot, one kill!” Frank exclaimed, “I'll go grab the arrows”
Thanks to the arrows being basically straight sharpened pieces of bone, as long as they didn’t break, they were easy to recover. The rest of the hunt went in a similar fashion with additional groups of dead bugs appearing around their pile of rubble.
“We will need to go back soon, I'm almost out of arrows.” Mia said after she sniped another small swarm.
“Honestly im glad, this got kind of boring.” Frank said.
“Yeah, hard to believe we had trouble killing one of those things with four of us” Mia mussed.
“The problem is not that were fucked its that we’re starting to be at home here” Frank said, with an air of a quote.
“Where is that from? You really think we’re getting too comfortable here?” Mia said as she adjusted her position on the rock she was sitting on.
“Nah, don’t think so, just something I remembered. No idea where it's from tho.” Frank responded, playing with his dagger. “Did you gain any levels?”
In response Mia raised her fist.
TODO
YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 3.
YOU HAVE 5 UNASSIGNED STAT POINTS.
YOU HAVE LEARNED A NEW SKILL, EAGLE EYE - GIVES THE ABILITY TO FOCUS YOUR EYESIGHT AND SEE SHARPLY OVER GREAT DISTANCES. YOU CAN ALSO MEASURE DISTANCE PRECISELY USING THIS ABILITY.
“Well that's kind of meh?” Mia said.
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“You got enough overpowered skills, i just wonder if I out all my points into Dex is it actually going to change the damage of my bow”
“Only one way to find out,” Frank shrugged.
Mia put three points into DEX and two into STR, the memory of her broken legs still fresh on her mind. A sudden shriek made her close her sheet instantly.
“At least its not boring anymore, be careful what you wish for, I guess” Frank said, more to himself.
The Duskshieker didn't seem to notice them, it was circling above one of the corpse piles, then with blinding speed it dove down and, much more slowly, flew back up carrying most of a centipede. The monster landed on a ledge and a lot of crunching sounds followed.
Mia used her Eagle Eye ability and almost threw up, the level of detail at the distance they were at surprised her. She instantly deactivated her skill.
“You OK? You went white all of the sudden.” Frank asked with concern.
“Yeah I'm fine, just got a bit too much information on how a Duskshrieker feeds”
Frank's brow wrinkled for a second before his eyes opened wider in understanding.
“Ooh I get it. What should we do about that guy?” He said pointing to the Shrieker.
“Nothing we can do, it's too far, we will wait till it feeds and hopefully it will go away”
“Or we could lure him closer and you can try to get him with that fancy bow” Frank wiggled his eyebrows.
Mia was unconvinced, a centipede was one thing but a Shriker was another. They were extremely mobile while outside, and if she couldn't finish it then Frank wouldn't be much help.
Noticing her hesitation Frank said “Come on what's the worst that could happen, we can always escape into the building and inside I can deal with him.”
“I can't believe you just said that” she shook her head “ but yeah I want to try it.” She needed to push herself and danger was the fastest way to strength.
She prepared an arrow and at her signal Frank started making a ruckus. The Shrieker rose its head, an unidentifiable piece of a centipede still worked on by its mandibles. With a burst of speed it flew up and started darting around them, looking for a moment to strike.
“Mia how about you let that arrow fly?” Frank crouched and prepared himself to either jump away or to protect his friend.
Mia followed the monster with her bow, but it was moving too fast. She had activated her True Shot but still didn't get that feeling of rightness that overcame her and let her know to loosen her arrow.
She felt a drop of sweat running down her forehead, the muscles in her back were knotting painfully, a cramp now would kill any chance of shooting. Just when she didn't think she could hold the draw anymore, the Duskshireker decided to dive for her. In that split second she felt it was time and released her arrow. She watched as it flew right into the flying monster's mouth, its wings turning from a shining blur into twitching useless.
She watched a second too long as she realized that thanks to the momentum the monster was still going straight for her. Mia felt herself jolted sideways, unexpectedly colliding with the ground. The impact took the breath from her lungs, leaving her disoriented. As she tried to make sense of what happened, Mia saw Frank beside her, his expression tense. It took a moment for her to register that he had tackled her. Despite still being unable to breathe, Mia felt a mix of gratitude and mild embarrassment, it was dumb to watch her arrow fly.
“Thanks” she managed to croak out.
"Don’t mention it. Saving someone's life from dive-bombing monsters? Totally normal Wednesday for us. Classic city life." Frank said with a smile.
Mia looked at the mangled remains of the half-scorpion monster. It lay broken right on top of their hideout. Mia shuddered when she imagined what would happen if she stood still. The relief and gratitude were overwhelming
“Thanks again and sorry for being so dumb and having to be saved again.”She said, once she was able to.
“It's really fine, just remember that if you ever need someone to pull you out of the way of monster projectiles, you know who to call.” Frank quipped. Mia thought he looked a bit embarrassed about her thanks.
Once the high of surviving ended Mia's frustration boiled within her, tightening her jaw. The taste of her own insufficiency was bitter, and she clenched her fists in frustration. The idea of needing someone to save her again triggered a surge of self-directed anger. A complex mix of emotions churned within her, leaving her caught between resentment and a begrudging acceptance that she wouldn’t get where she wanted to be in a day.
She took a deep breath, she needed to use that frustration to fuel her resolve. Channel her inner Diana, when she failed, she picked herself up, she learned and tried again. That's what she was going to do. Today’s lesson was quite simple, don’t stand around like a moron watching if you’ve hit your target. It was one she was going to remember.
“I’m almost out of arrows, I'll need to make more at home. And there are probably more Shriekers on the way” Mia said, there was always tomorrow to try again.
Frank nodded and they took off. On their way back home he signaled her to stop and pointed to a group of regular bugs in the distance.
“I was wondering what's your maximum range, Think you can get them from here?” Frank asked.
She shrugged, “ How should I know it's not like I practiced any archery before today, but let's check.” She was curious herself how her archery abilities would perform in such a scenario. The bugs were about three hundred maybe three hundred fifty feet away from her. She used Eagle Eye, yeah, it was three hundred and ten. She notched the arrow, drew the bowstring to her cheek and activated True Shot. The familiar feeling coming after a couple of seconds, she released.
They both watched as it flew in a large arc, the targets were at the very limit of the range of her bow. They held their breath as they lost the arrow, it was too small at that distance, then one of the centipedes looked like something struck it. The abominations started milling about agitated not knowing from where the attack came.
“Looks like i hit, but didn’t kill it” That was a first for her True Shot, it has reached its limits with a shot like that. “Let's go finish them. I want to know how far off target I was.”
Frank nodded and they disposed of the bugs easily, the arrow struck the centipede in its back, about half its length from its head.
“Not bad,” Frank commented. “It was probably as good a shot as you could expect.”
“Hoped for more, but guess we’re not all powerful. Even with our abilities” Mia mused.
“Yet” Frank said with a wink.
After that they returned home. Afterwards Mia and Frank went out on routine hunts. They used the strategy they developed on the first day with great success. Centipedes slithered to them and died en masse as Mia's arrows struck with precision. The grind of combat became even easier after she got to level four and got the Bottomless Quiver, that let her replicate her arrows at the cost of mana. It was a great time saver as she didn’t have to craft arrows any more.
Over the course of the week she learned both True Shot and Double Shot took mana and that she could run out of it mid combat so she put some points into her WIS. She also buffed her STR so she wasn’t so easy to kill and dumped the rest into DEX. Her skills grew nicely but she had to drop the Animal Bond with sadness, she hoped she could relearn it in the future.
The hunt continued, Mia felt she was growing stronger with each encounter, every day a bit closer to her goal.
MIA EVERWOOD
CLASS: RANGER
LVL. 4
STR: 10
DEX: 17
INT: 7
WIL: 10
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
SKILLS:
- TRUE SHOT LVL. 6: TIME YOUR ATTACK PERFECTLY TO TARGET A WEAKPOINT.
- TRACKING LVL. 5: LOCATE HIDDEN OR FLEEING TARGETS WITH EASE.
- CAMOUFLAGE LVL. 4: LAY DOWN IN A WAY TO SURPRISE YOUR ENEMIES. THE LONGER YOU WAIT THE HARDER YOU ARE TO NOTICE.
- DOUBLE SHOT LVL. 3 - MAGICALLY CREATES A COPY OF YOUR ARROW AFTER IT LEAVES THE BOW.
PASSIVES:
FORAGING LVL. 2 - GATHER MORE RESOURCES WHEN FORAGING. (ADDITIONAL BONUS IN FORESTS)
WILDERNESS SURVIVAL LVL. 5 - ABILITY TO THRIVE AND ENDURE IN NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS, UTILIZING KNOWLEDGE OF SHELTER, FOOD, WATER, AND NAVIGATION SKILLS TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE IN THE WILD. DECREASES ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
CRAFTING LVL. 3 - KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL OF CREATING NEW ITEMS FROM RAW MATERIALS.
SPEAR MASTERY LVL. 5 - PROFICIENCY WITH SPEARS, INCREASING ACCURACY AND DAMAGE OUTPUT WHEN WIELDING THESE WEAPONS.
EAGLE EYE LVL. 3 - GIVES THE ABILITY TO FOCUS YOUR EYESIGHT AND SEE SHARPLY OVER GREAT DISTANCES. YOU CAN ALSO MEASURE DISTANCE PRECISELY USING THIS ABILITY.
BOTTOMLESS QUIVER LVL. 4 - PLACE A SINGLE, NON MAGICAL ARROW IN YOUR QUIVER AND IT WILL COPY IT AT A COST OF 2 MANA PER ARROW, INDEFINITELY. TO CHANGE ARROW TYPE PULL THE ARROW OUT OF THE QUIVER OUT OF COMBAT AND REPLACE IT WITH ANOTHER.