Name: Natasha

Race: Mandrill lvl 7

XP: 110

Size: 70

Type: Beast

Faction: Unaligned

Armor: 0

HP: 28/36

Strength: 5/Speed: 10/Endurance: 5/Magic: 2/Plasticity: 1/Luck 6

Senses: Vision 3, hearing 4, smell 2, taste 1, touch 2

Abilities: Balance 2, omnivorous 2, aposematism 1, innate magic 2

Skills: Bite 1, strike 2, grapple 2, throw 1, climb 2, sneak 3, hide 1, dash 1, dodge 1, block 1

Spells: Bluster 5 MAX, windfury 2

As soon as the skeletons began pouring out, I dashed over to where the first one was while it was still waking up, and quickly bowled myself into its knees. If I can get one down before the rest get up then that’s one less to worry about. They gave way pretty easily as my weight overshadowed them and as it hit the ground I hopped up onto the chest and grasped the skull via the eye sockets and smacked it down against the stone with a rough crack, and then again, and again, watching it finally shatter.

50 XP

One down, but how many more are there? I raised my head as I looked around the periphery of the room, and just within sight I could see seven. Meaning there was at minimum twice that. This day just keeps getting better. All seven of the skeletons raised their bows and I ducked behind the nearest pillar. The sharp sting of pain ran up my forearm as I moved too quickly. Exerting myself too much risks actual injury. I stood there for a moment to take two good deep breaths before the skeletons came into view again. No rest for the wicked.

I kept my bad arm tucked to my chest, clutching the unlit torch as I tried to get them to cluster together like I had the spiders, however the skeletons, simple as they were, had the sense to not gather too closely. Whether this was because of some tactical instinct or simply the circumstance of having bows and trying to spread out so they could just shoot me and not each other, I couldn’t tell. Either way means something bad for me. Either way it means I’ll be constantly ducking and bolting about with no stopping.

So that is what I did. I saw one round a corner, bow already drawn and fired it at me. I however am a small monkey and shrunk down smaller as the arrow flew over. From my near cinnamon roll posture on the floor, I leapt forwards, bounding in two steps over to the skeleton, hoping I could get a good hit in, but the sound of an arrow swishing over my head quickly dispelled that illusion. As bad as I wanted to reduce the numbers, I can’t just go around attacking like some berserk barbarian. I tried to rack my brain as I dashed for the nearest pillar, nearly tumbling over myself. I wanted to use my torch as a club again, but with this bum arm just carrying it around was too cumbersome. So I set it down and started to reach down for the knife again when I spotted the skeletons circling again. This was getting annoying.

I circled the pillar but two more came into view as I did, and I dashed again to the next pillar over, hearing the clattering of three more arrows behind me. There really was no time to think here. Guess my only option was to fall back on my old reliable method here. I circled the pillar again, this time seeing three skeletons come into view and took in a deep breath shunting it back out again as I saw the arrows loose. The blast of wind threw the arrows out of the air and I closed the distance in a heartbeat, tackling into the boney shin and sending it end over tea kettle to the floor. Now, I can’t use the bow, but I can use it as a club, so I snatched the bow as I passed, and went for a swipe at the second skeleton’s knee. It bucked but didn’t immediately fall over, which was disappointing.

The third was drawing back the bow for another shot, and I could hear the clackity foot falls of the other skeletons trying to position to do the same, so I did the only thing I could think of and climbed up onto the skeleton who’s knee I just bashed, letting the arrows sink into him instead. Luckily he didn’t seem to mind. Arrows don’t do much to skeletons. They did come poking out the back of his armor though so that saw close. Holding on with my good arm, I quickly threw my elbow into the side of the skeleton’s head, but that didn’t kill it either. Nor did two more arrows to the side as I dodged again. Who knew skeletons were so tough? Or maybe it’s the fact I’m monkey sized.

I hopped off the skeleton, scampering away and towards the third one as it was drawing another arrow. I again pounced up to climb him, grappling onto his belt and hoisting myself onto his chest. I could practically feel the eyes of the other skeletons burrowing into my back, so I vaulted over his shoulder just soon enough for those arrows to burrow into his armor. I’m really not getting anywhere like this. I really need to figure out a way to do some real damage to these things with one bum arm. Which was when my mind turned to a skill I hadn’t really used yet to this point. Brought myself up to his neck and opened my maw, biting down into the vertebrae. My jaws and teeth aren’t strong enough to crunch bone, but rip them apart, maybe?

50 XP

My bite must do more damage than I thought, as with one good twist, the head was severed from the neck and sent tumbling over. Which was good news. I had something I could do. Though my mouth really hurts. Biting down onto a bone was not fun. I'm pretty sure my gums were bleeding since I can taste that iron tang of blood on my tongue. Still better than dying. The body started to fall and I rode it down, leaping off at the end and tumbling forwards. Now I could see seven aiming at me. Crap. The next volley fired at me and I tried to dodge but there was no way I was going to avoid them all, so I brought my bad arm up in front of my body. Guess it’s time to test out the block skill.

-4 hp

The arrow sunk into my arm, spearing through the makeshift bandage. I grit my teeth at the pain, but I lived. No clue how much damage blocking managed to reduce it by, but I’m glad I did. On the upper end I was thinking it might half the damage, and if so, then that would have been really bad. I ran to the nearest pillar again, thinking to hide behind it but didn’t realize how fat the arrow was sticking out, smacking against it as I passed and letting out a loud SNAP as it broke, sending a jolt of pain through me, and my mind going blank for a full second. I looked down at the arm and now there was only about a quarter of an arrow left inside it.

I really need to think of something. This situation is only getting worse now. I’m going to need to move quicker, hit harder. This looks like a job for windfury again, if I can get to where I can actually hit them. Though no time to think as another skeleton came into view. I dashed again, moving from this pillar to the next and trying to spot where all the other skeletons were as I passed. There looked to be one pack of eight all nearby but not clustered together, no that would be too easy wouldn’t it? Another dash moved in their direction as I heard an arrow wiz past. All eight of them were drawing their bows back and I waited for them to fire before dashing again, this time to the side before charging headlong into the first one. As it reached for another arrow, I zipped up his leg, a harsh huff out as I felt the air rush from my lungs and surrounded my teeth. Suddenly lunging for the neck was like I was gliding along rails, almost bashing through rather than biting, and in fact even more so, as the head tumbled away and I was still flying ahead.

50 XP

I felt like one of those videos of a shark leaping out of the water and grabbing a bird, and with just about as much control too. After the hit, I simply fell out of the air and scrambled forwards for the next one. I only had a few seconds of windfury and I needed to make as much of it as possible. Though as I ran for the next skeleton I was less a monkey than a missile. With the windfury on my teeth, the air parted in front of me and pushed me along. So I was already on to the second skeleton as the next set of arrows clattered against the stone behind me, and jaws opened for a second lunge. I didn’t so much climb his leg as I did launch off of it. This time I did get a bite however as I snapped around the spine, and ripped it away with a hearty snap.

50 XP

It was a nice swift pull as I leapt off the body, going in for what I was hoping would be one last use of the windfury before it died. Though as I shot forward, another twinge of pain bit at my arm again. I only glanced down, but there wasn’t a new arrow in my arm. It must have been the skull or vertebrae that hit the shaft, but either way it threw me off, tumbling forwards and plapping down onto my feet and good hand. I felt the windfury die out as I was looking down at the ground, flecks of red hitting the ground with my breath. Yep, my mouth was bleeding. I could hear the tensing of a bowstring and knew another shot was coming, and I couldn’t wait.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Running straight for the closest skeleton, I dashed between his legs hearing the sound of arrows cluttering across stone and some sinking into cloth. There were six left directly near me, but the rest, I couldn’t tell from a glance. There must be at least four more. I circled a pillar to put it between me and the six, sparing a glance around when I saw one behind me in the process of aiming. Dodging a single arrow isn’t too difficult, at least when you have the dodge skill, but dodging a bunch at once was the difficult part. I ducked under the arrow and felt another sting in my side.

-6 hp

This arrow had hit right about where my kidney was and passed right through me, and out the other side. My mind went static for a split second but as I looked to my left I saw the culprit, one skeleton had already been aiming before I rounded the corner. On the bright side I now know that blocking reduced the damage by 2, not by half. So there’s that. I think I have 20 hp left but I don’t want to check. I circled back around the pillar to the group I’d been close to and previously hoped I would have the time to wait for windfury to come back up but now that’s not an option.

-1 hp

And I’m bleeding again. I jumped up to the nearest skeleton, bowling it over at the thigh before I swung my fist up in passing, clocking the underside of the jaw, which snapped off. I could hear the tensing of the bowstring to my left, and dashed towards it before even looking, grabbing the nearest skeleton’s leg and throwing myself upwards again. The arrows peppered into his frame from his back, all but one which sailed wide past the shoulder. I grabbed with my bad arm to hoist myself to the skeleton’s collar, snapping at its would-be jugular and wrenching to the side.

50xp -1 hp

Two things immediately caught my attention after that. Firstly a white flash of an item dropping, and secondly my wind lung was full again. I will just have to worry about the item later, I really don’t have the time for it right now. As soon as I had a breath in, I cast windfury, sheathing my teeth in a twisting gale again, now seeing the red splash outwards I imagine this must look terrifying from the other side. I shot forwards and jumped farther than I thought I would off the skeleton’s shoulder. The propulsion from windfury was still unnatural feeling that I’d need to get used to, but it did get me right next to the closest skeleton, which I was able to launch up like a crocodile from the water, not even climbing him this time. Though I did miss the neck, my jaw clamped around his mandible, and as quick as I could think I bit again, shearing the head clean off… as well as one of my teeth.

50 xp -1 hp

I didn’t even feel the tooth coming out, must be the adrenalin. Still two more skeletons in front of me, and at least a couple more around the room. That idea proved true when I heard the arrow flying in from behind me and flying past my shoulder. The two in front of me were already drawing again, determined to never give me a break. I suppose that this dungeon is intended for a group after all and not someone alone, much less a monkey, but still. I used the last of the windfury’s charge to throw myself forwards before dashing, kind of like a pseudo dash and a half to make some distance, coming up to the wall and using it to clock how many I could actually see are left. There’s the two there, there’s one that just shot at me, one by the far wall, that’s four. Another look around the pillar as I give them a second to reposition and I see four more near the entrance of the room. So eight. Eight more skeletons… fun.

-1 hp

I snarled at the notification, reminding me of my bleeding abdomen, as if I couldn’t feel it. Though that’s hardly fair, better I know via notification than passing out from blood loss. Still I need to figure out a less self destructive way to take down these skeletons before I get made into a pin cushion. I thought for a second as I circled back around the pillar again, knowing they were getting closer. Wait a second, windfury propels the strike regardless of weight, so if I use it on the torch then it should swing like a breeze right? I peeked around to where I’d dropped the torch and nodded, giving another moment, saving the dash for when I was going to be shot at. Which wasn’t long, given in my periphery I could clock all eight of them aiming for me.

-1 hp

I zipped forwards hearing half a dozen arrows swish by, and I simply dashed away from them, grabbing ahold of the torch and feeling my wind lung refill. I knew my targets were the four clustered together, but they were probably the furthest away, and carrying this thing around is not easy. I tucked it under my injured arm, another aching throb shooting through me as I made for another dash, though I didn’t stop at the pillar as all the other times before, still trundling along and feeling how much slower I was without my other arm and an injured gut. I ducked again to dodge another two arrows before I came into a dash’s distance of the clustered four.

-1 hp

I hid behind the pillar, hearing them circling around to try to get a bead on me, and I took a breath in. I exhaled and windfury surrounded the torch. As soon as the leg of the skeleton came into view I lunged, and I had actually underestimated the power of the weighty club, the windfury catching it and carrying it more than it did me. I heard the femur snap in two from the swing, and had to redirect the momentum of the strike as I sailed forward, coming in for a second, accidental attack on the next skeleton before it could even turn to face me. The makeshift club arched upwards between the legs, impacting and pulverizing the pelvis in a way that would make any man cringe on pure instinct. Both collapsed and I golf swung at the two noggins on the ground, shattering both in one swing.

50 XP 50 XP -1 hp

The next swing around, I could see the two beside me starting to level their bows, but I was already swinging again, this time in a downward arc aiming right for the sternum of the closest, almost throwing myself more than I was jumping. The chest, which was covered in a simple cloth shirt, bent inwards and almost disintegrated as the body flew backwards, and into the other skeleton. They crumpled into a heap, the uninjured one trying to wrestle the injured one off to stand, but the injured one was trying to aim from the ground. Its shot flew way over, calling it wide is an understatement. And I throw myself forwards again, this time hitting the collarbone of the one on top, and then through one on the bottom, and then the ground with another loud CRACK.

50 XP 50XP -1 hp

Only four more, though as the windfury dies down again, I start to feel light headed. That might be the blood loss, which is not good. I threw myself back against the nearest pillar, looking around for any of the remaining skeletons but seeing none. I took a few deep breaths in, trying to steady myself and get rid of this floaty feeling to my head. In reality though, I knew that it was really just a matter of time. I checked my stats as quickly as I could manage. 10 hp, that’s bad. Even if my windfury is able to take out all of the rest of the skeletons in this next go, I have less than a minute left before I reach 0. I peeked around the pillar again and I could see one, but the other three I couldn’t.

-1 hp

I couldn’t wait, and started the dash before the cooldown was finished, running for the one skeleton I could see. Then one more came into view from behind a pillar, both loosing arrows towards me. I couldn’t really dodge well with the torch in my hand, or run well for that matter, but I brought it up to block the incoming arrows, both landing with an audible thunk. So blocking with the torch means no damage, should have guessed that, but good to know. And only after I could feel the cooldown end, did I see the last two skeletons revealed themselves with arrows from behind. Both were together, so luckily both missed when I paused to breath windfury onto the torch again.

-1 hp

Now before I was throwing the torch around like a club, this time I put both hands on it, the pain of my bad arm helping fight through the lightheadedness. I swung it like a baseball bat, my diminutive monkey form being flung with the weight of it as I was launched forwards. The strike plowed through both legs, throwing it onto its side as the bow clattered across the stone. My torch was already wheeling around as I spun fully and impacted the face, watching it turn to white shrapnel.

50 XP -1 hp

I then carried the momentum of the spin, wheeling around to simply throw myself at the nearest skeleton again, like Thor being carried by the momentum of the swing. Though as I did I could see the arrow nocked, and I was already in the air. I couldn’t dodge, and if that hit me, then that was 6 damage I did not have to spare. I Watched the arrow fly, and it was headed right for me, but in my lightheaded, bleary thoughts I still managed to think of one thing I could do, letting go of the torch mid swing. The windfury died immediately but the momentum did not. The heavy stick slamming into the face below the nose, buckling in and becoming lodged into the head.

50 XP -1 hp

I fell into a roll, sharp stabbing pain rippling through my arm in staccato bursts as I righted myself, letting out an involuntary shriek as I crumpled into a heap on the floor. Two more. Two skeletons left. Then this was all done. I grit my teeth, forcing my eyes open as I spotted the last two, walking out from behind the pillar to aim at me. Move! Move! Move! I shouted internally, pushing my legs up under me into the limpest dash I had ever managed. Still, the sound of shattering wood told me they missed. I looked at the torch, lodged into the skull and decided I had better not. I could barely handle it before, I had better just go for the bite again. I don’t have the time to waste.

-1 hp

I felt the wind lung fill again, and psyched myself up for one last push, getting onto my feet and casting windfury again, dashing right for the skeletons again, the wind pushing at my jaw and sailing forward quite literally. I watched them drawing their arrows and I knew I’d get there first, throwing myself at his belt and grabbing with both hands, my teeth sinking into bone with a crack that was most certainly from my teeth, but with the head flying off I knew he was dead before the notification popped up.

50 xp - 1 hp

The last one was wheeling around, trying to aim at me, but I was faster. Very thankful for my high speed. I jumped from one shoulder to another, biting down into an eye socket and thrashing my head to the side like a dog until the skull came loose, and I tossed it aside, riding the body down to the floor as it fell. I sat there in the silence, panting loudly before letting out a cathartic and obviously wordless shout into the echoing room.

50 xp -1 hp

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/405848858556629032/1060953175936471160/baboom8.png]

Tony and Lao