Bodies of dead Soldier Beetles piled up around Aisha, Elle, and the dwarves. There were only a few beetles left but Elle was out of arrows and the dwarves had grown weary. Even Aisha looked tired and it appeared that she couldn’t give an endless stream of the Gargoyle’s Embrace like Malik had thought.

Charles, Sigrid, and Naveck were finishing up with the last of their beetles when they spotted Malik carrying the unconscious Milly. Charles’ roar echoed throughout the valley. With one adrenaline-infused swipe, he crushed the back of the last Soldier Beetle and charged toward them.

“A stinger passed through her leg completely with no resistance,” Malik said as Charles approached and took Milly from his arms.

“Good, that means it missed the bone. Sigrid! The herb syrup!” Charles roared, panicked. Sigrid ran off without a word, moving as fast as only a worried mother could. “Malik, get some water please.”

Malik wanted to help Aisha, but it appeared they had it under control. These dwarves had tasted battle before and it showed. Grazel was retrieving arrows and handing them back to Aisha, who then fed them to Elle. Naveck was even racing over to lend them his skills with a pickaxe.

“Quickly!” Charles urged.

With a quick nod, Malik raced toward the water, emptying his blood bottle on the way.

Even in his hurry, he couldn’t help but think about how to distribute his Free Points and check his skills. If it came to a fight between either Themo or Sam, he knew that pumping all five points into Strength still wouldn’t be enough to overpower them. Vitality might help him survive a little longer if they got ahold of him. All in all, it was an easy choice. Dexterity would continue to be his greatest asset. Before he could doubt himself, he dumped all five points into Dexterity.

Reaching twenty in Dexterity gave his legs a boost. Everything about him felt lighter. The world seemed to slow down around him. Something else felt different too so he checked his stats, finding a load of upgrades.

He was interrupted from checking the upgrades thoroughly as he approached the water and began to wash the bottle out. Once clean, he filled it and ran back, knowing the clock was ticking for Milly. It didn’t stop him from trying to simultaneously check his upgrades as quickly as possible.

Name

Malik

Race

Gargoyle

Class

Founder

Level:

7

Vitality:

12

Strength:

7

Dexterity:

20

Energy:

5

Skills:

Camouflage II (Active):

15% chance to remain undetected.

Traits:

First Child

Racial Skills:

Stone Skin II:

55% faster skin regeneration 10% piercing damage resistance

Rake IV:

20% piercing damage with claws

Nightvision:

75% increased visibility in low light

Gargoyle's Descent II:

Absorb 35% impact damage from aerial dive. Release damage on target with next attack

Class Skills:

Founder's Bloodline

Transfer knowledge and strength to hatchlings through blood sacrifice of self. Effects determined by amount and freshness of blood.

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Founder's Imprint

Directly contribute to the construction of buildings. Add blood sacrifice for a chance at a unique building characteristic before construction is complete

Kill Tax:

Get 5% credit for any kill by a Civilian on your territory.

In addition to his Dexterity hitting twenty, he received upgrades in Rake and Gargoyle’s Descent. The most notable addition was the Kill Tax under his Class skills.

Thinking back, there was a nearly imperceptible feeling in his chest of becoming full as he ran back holding Milly while the Citizens battled. Originally chalking it up to adrenaline, he didn’t pay it much heed.

Between the Kill Tax and the boost he would receive from the settlement growth, he should be able to advance faster than his enemies, hopefully catching up to them in raw stats.

There was no more time to think about the possibilities as he reached Charles and Milly at the same time as Sigrid.

Sigrid held a glass jar filled with herbs soaking in a thick brown juice.

“Malik! Water!” Charles roared, lips trembling.

Malik tossed the bottle over, Charles caught it in one hand and ripped off the pant leg covering the wound with the other in a quick yank. It was hard to believe how much blood the young girl lost. Malik thought back to when he had spilled his blood for the Incubation Chamber and started to doubt that the girl would make it.

Charles emptied half the bottle with a trembling hand over the wound, washing the sticky blood away. The hole in Milly’s leg quickly pooled with more.

Sigrid began stuffing the soaked herbs into both sides of her leg. Malik caught a whiff of a pleasant, earthy smell. Something within his mind stirred at the aroma of the concoction. Was it his own core reacting? Malik wondered. There was a strong sense of Energy in the jar that his core craved.

Sigrid began to speak the answers to Malik’s unspoken questions as she gently put more of the concoction in Milly’s leg, “This is an old Corlish family recipe. See, my family is full of Herbologists. Over the years, we found a mixture of herbs and juices that reacted with one another. You might call this Alchemy, but there wasn’t a single alchemist among us. The syrup will draw the Energy from her core, repairing the inside of her leg. It will take time, and my little girl still needs to fight through it,” Sigrid’s voice cracked.

At the very least, the concoction stopped the bleeding. Malik could see the girl’s chest faintly rising and falling. This had been his fault, but the worried parents didn’t seem to blame him. His throat felt as if it constricted for a moment, but he shook it off.

“I’m sorry. She’s a strong girl. She’ll make it,” Malik’s stilted words came out before he dashed off to check on Aisha.

Malik was well aware of how long battles lasted in the minds of the combatants while fighting, but how short they lasted in reality. Still, he was surprised to see that the beetles had all been dispatched and the dwarves were now removing beast cores.

“Give all of the beast cores to me when you’re done,” Malik ordered, drawing looks of wide eyes beneath raised eyebrows from the dwarves.

“You heard him, they’re Lord Malik’s beast cores,” Themo said to the group.

Malik narrowed his eyes at Themo. The other dwarves clearly listened to him. Did he have more sway than Naveck? It was hard to tell. Either way, this wasn’t the time. Malik planned to catch him unaware and alone to question him. Depending on his answers, he would question Sam similarly. He was getting his egg back.

“Aisha, are you ok?” Malik asked, pushing thoughts of Sam and Themo away.

“Yes, Elle is amazing! She said that she will teach me how to use a bow just like her. I gained a level as well.”

Malik smiled, “Ah yes, and you can shoot from the skies if Elle teaches you to shoot.” Oh, Elle. She doesn’t know about her sister yet, does she?

As if on cue, Elle cried out in horror and ran toward her family. Malik noticed that even Sam had emerged and joined them. He also couldn’t help but notice that Sam’s arm was sticky with the herbal syrup. What was his story to Charles and Sigrid about his arm? He wondered.

“Aisha, I have some bad news I need to tell you,” Malik said, putting his hands on her shoulds as he began to retell what happened in the Incubation Chamber. He made sure to whisper so that others wouldn’t hear the conversation, but she was less secretive.

Aisha hissed, baring her fangs, and had to be restrained from attacking both Sam and Themo.

“Relax. We will find the egg and the responsible party. Whoever did this will pay with their life.”

“I’m never leaving the eggs again,” Aisha hissed and strode toward the building.

Malik sighed, understanding her anger, but hoped that she wouldn’t actually hole herself up in there for days. Malik wandered over to Naveck who was collecting beast cores from the corpses.

“Sorry, I should have asked ya how you wanted to use them. This is your settlement, after all, I’ll make sure ta be more thoughtful.”

“It’s ok, Naveck. We have other problems,” Malik glanced around. Themo was dragging one of the beetle corpses to the fire pit. “How much do you trust Themo?” Malik whispered. Malik began to resent the fact that he needed to speak so guarded within his own settlement, stoking a fire within him.

Naveck’s face twisted in thought, “Ah, he means well. But, sometimes he acts impulsively. Part of the reason we ended up in this mess.”

“Impulsively enough to steal one of my eggs?” Malik shot back.

Naveck rubbed his temples, “Oh, Dargun’s balls, I hope not. I’ll see what I can do ta find out.”

Malik nodded, “Keep it quiet for now.”

“Aye, still tongue keeps a wise head.”

Malik smiled. He needed to cool off. This could turn into a witch hunt if he wasn’t careful, “Thank you Naveck. You have proven to be my most trusted ally. Go find out what you can and get some rest. You can bring the beast cores to the Incubation Chamber once you’ve collected them. Just be careful with Aisha, she’s understandably very upset.”

“O’course. I’ll be very careful,” he said with a wink and went on his way.

Malik decided to calm down by going to check his Founder’s Log. He was overdue in speaking with Zahid, but both Charles and Naveck would be busy for now and he wanted them there.

With a sigh, Malik did his best to clear his head as he arrived at the Altar and opened his Founder’s Log. He flipped to the Map section. It had grown to numerous pages now. Since Naveck had become a Citizen, there was a detailed section outlining the tunnels beneath the settlement. Caves and trails had also been exposed by Charles and his family, but further from the settlement, the details diminished.

There was an odd icon on one of the pages that made Malik grimace. The icon was a red axe that seemed to be pulsating with the name, “Garok Grimfury”, scribbled above it.