image [https://i.imgur.com/ztntkrz.jpeg]

Once again, Will chose to skip over the merchant Space. While he had enough money to upgrade his armor with, he still felt that a visit to Bob and a new aspect were slightly higher on the priority list. Even if he wasn’t sure which was the more immediately important one.

Ruined Town

The once-great city of Boardenville has fallen into ruin. Deeper into the ruins, the scavengers are bigger and more dangerous, but so are the secrets to be found.

Cluster rank: 2

Variant enemies may now appear. Chance of variants increased.

Just like the Ruined Outskirts, where Will met the kangaroo, whose name he still hadn’t learned, for the first time, his current Space was shaped like the street of a wrecked and burned down town. The buildings had been bigger when still standing, and the streets wider, but there were certainly more similarities than differences.

Main quest

Slay 10 Ravenous Hyenas.

Reward:

Space rank-up

100 XP

1 skill shard

The hyenas were, in Will’s opinion, fairly pathetic. Fighting them was almost the same as fighting the wolves had been. They were slightly bigger and slightly stronger, individually, but came in packs of two or three instead of five or six.

But the difference amounted to very little, against the armored murder wombat. With the cluster at rank two, there were enough variants to give the fights a little interest.

Will found himself facing a Desert Hyena, which had the ability to turn to sand. It was resistant to Will’s claws, and even his nose horn charge. But it was extra weak to Thunder Ball.

The Hyena Howler, on the other hand, could inflict a disorient debuff, which had Will stumbling about for a few seconds, unable to catch his balance.

After that came something called a Bone Crushing Hyena. Which might have caused some serious damage if it had managed to bite Will, but it never actually got the chance.

By the time he felt the need to move to the next Space, Will killed eighteen of the various types of hyenas, and three Crankscouts. Which landed him a whole bunch of hyena pelts, most of good quality, and the usual brass cogs.

The most memorable thing about the whole Space was getting to four hundred XP and pushing it all into Passive Defense, to bring it up to level three.

The skill drop from the quest was kind of a mixed bag.

Skill shard: Bite Proficiency

Tier: Basic

Type: Beast

Level 1

XP 0/100

Increase the damage of all bite attacks by one category.

The jaws that bite!

…Because on one hand, it would certainly merge with Claw Proficiency, so it won’t take up any skill slots. And it would boost one of Will’s natural attacks. It will also let Will add an advanced aspect to the merged skill, which will boost his claws as well as his bite.

But on the other hand, Will barely used his bite attack. He’d used it a few times when he’d first become a wombat, but found it to be both less effective than his other attack methods, and somewhat disturbing. And on occasion, really disgusting. And since he wasn’t going to start biting things, the increase in XP cost for Claw Proficiency would actually hurt his damage output.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

In the end, Will decided to keep the skill in his inventory until he actually had enough aspects to justify pushing Claw Proficiency up to advanced.

***

image [https://i.imgur.com/N0wpuip.jpeg]

North Arena

On the middle of the northern side of the Board lies the North Arena. One of the Four Arenas, the North is known as the Gauntlet Arena.

Will found himself in yet another arena waiting room. Stone walls, a stone bench to sit on, and a single door leading out. It could have been in either of the arenas Will had been to before, and would have looked completely the same.

As has become usual in the arenas, Will had been in the waiting room for just a few minutes before the door opened to let the event manager in.

This one was, as far as Will could tell, an anthropomorphic goat person of some kind. He was, as far as Will could tell from comparing him to the size of the room and the height of the ceiling, about a meter and a half tall. But only if you didn’t count the horns.

The twin corkscrews twisted up from the top of his head, adding fifty more centimeters to his height. The damn things must have had a diameter of ten centimeters at the base, and looked strong enough, and massive enough, to drill for oil.

A massive grey mane covered his head, and an equally impressive beard covered his front. His legs where big, hairy, and terminated in cloven hooves the size of Will’s head.

He was holding a clipboard in one hand, and scratching at his beard with the other.

“Greetings, contender. I am Pirooz, Event manager for the bronze tier of the North Arena. What name are you known by in the arenas?”

Will the Wombat.

“Ah! I have you on the lists here. You’ve won fights in both the East and the West so far. It’ll be good to have you compete in the North as well.”

Thank you. Can you tell me about the North Arena? All I know is that it’s also called the Gauntlet Arena, and that it’s the only one that isn’t centered around combat.

“That is true. The North Arena is unique among the four. Come. I will walk with you to the seats. It will be easier to explain if you can see the floor.”

The walk wasn’t long, and five minutes later, Will found himself in the spectator area of the arena. The seating area was extremely bare-bones. Backless stone benches, lacking any cushions, ran all around the arena floor, broken only by the stairs needed to move between rows.

Like the other arenas Will had been to, the North Arena had only a handful of spectators watching the floor.

Does it ever get more crowded around here?

“Not for the bronze tier. Silver gets more interest, and gold or up are always completely packed. The only people who watch the bronze are the gamblers, looking for early information on new up and comers.”

I guess that makes sense. But it’s kind of sad, isn’t it?

“It is what it is. Everyone has to start at the bottom, but the bottom is rarely very interesting.”

I guess that’s true. So. About this arena?

“Yes. Take a look at the floor, and I will explain.”

Will looked, and did not like what he saw.

A monkey wearing leather armor was swinging hand over hand from a horizontal ladder stretched over a pool filled with water. Behind him, Will could see a small forest made of hanging ropes, still swinging from when the monkey used them to cross. Ahead, the horizontal ladder ended at a platform, from which a very tall climbing wall rose. Other obstacles were lying both behind the monkey, having been traversed before Will got there, and ahead of him, waiting.

And if all of that wasn’t enough, there were a number of towers dotting the course, where men and women with bows were standing, waiting for an opportune moment in which to fire an arrow at the swinging primate.

Will really really hoped the arrows were padded, or at the very least blunt.

“The North Arena is known as the Gauntlet Arena, and here before you lies the Gauntlet. Each contestant, in turn, has to traverse the course in the fastest time possible, while avoiding the arrows shot at them by our Sentinels. The winner of each even is the one who crossed the Gauntlet in the shortest time, while avoiding as many of the Sentinels as possible.”

As Pirooz was talking, the monkey was hit by one of the arrows. The arrow didn’t stick in its target, instead falling immediately into the water. It did, however, knock the monkey off the ladder. Somehow, the contestant seemed to jump off of absolutely nothing, as if the air itself was solid, and grabbed the ladder again. The monkey went back to moving across the ladder, and Will could see that the arrow left behind a spot of blue paint, marking very clearly where it hit.

Soon after, he’d reached the end of the ladder and started to scramble up the climbing wall, zigzagging randomly to avoid more of the paint arrows being shot at him from behind.

There is no way in hell I can pass that course.

“Do your best. There is no penalty for failure in the North Arena.”

Look, man. I literally have no hands with which to hang from that ladder. Or the ropes.

“We’ve had contestants in your exact situation pass the course, and even win events. There are skills that can easily overcome such limitations.”

That may be, but I don’t have any such skills.

“You shouldn’t have entered the North Arena if you can’t compete in it, Will the Wombat.”

Easy for you to say. But it’s not like I had a choice in this. Random movement is, well, random.

“Ah. You come from one of those worlds. I’m afraid there’s not much I can do to help you in that case. You can always forfeit the contest. But I do suggest that you invest in some of the acrobatics and athletics related skills. If you’re going to get here whether you like it or not, you may at least put yourself in a position to gain something from it.”

And that also gets you a contestant who can actually contest, right?

“That too. I will admit that finding contestants for the North Arena’s bronze tier can be difficult, at times.”

I can understand that, I guess. OK. I will forfeit this time. Thank you for the explanation, and for showing me the floor.

While Will and Pirooz were talking, the monkey had managed to reach the end of the obstacle course, and was standing proudly on a raised platform near the edge of the floor. Pirooz, holding a hand up to get Will to pause, spoke again. This time, however, in a voice that carried to every non-existent corner of the oval arena.

What a wonderful showing by Chee-Chee! Out next contestant is a newcomer to the North Arena, but an old hand at the East and the West! Spectators, please receive him with applause. Our next contestant, Jeremy the All Devourer!