“Down!” Tara shouted. Cassian dove into the soft grass as a flaming arrow buried itself in the head of the horse-sized wolf charging him down. Keaton tore past him in a sprint toward Kit, who was engaging two of the wolves with Wavemaker near the treeline. Jets of water forced the wolves back, giving him room to breathe until the cleric could reach him to patch his wounds.
Their journey had only just begun, but within an hour of leaving Renfield, they’d already been ambushed by wolves. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to be in any real danger yet. Spinning back to Tara, Cassian shot past her to reach the last wolf. As Tara peppered it with arrows, Cassian ducked out of the way of snapping teeth and razor sharp claws. His jagged amethyst knuckles split the hide of the beast over and over again in a flurry of attacks.
Before Cassian could finish it off, a vicious bite toward his face forced him to abandon his attacks to catch the maw of the creature. Its fangs dug into his hands as it pressed its advantage, snarling angrily. It was stronger than him. They both knew it. As he felt his strength fail him, he heard the sound of rushing water close behind. He turned just in time to see Kit, ten feet in the air after blasting Wavemaker toward the ground, activate his charge mid-air. Kit rocketed downward, smashing into the skull of the wolf with the tip of the trident and freeing Cassian’s hands with the death of the creature.
“Shit,” Cassian huffed. “Thanks. Sick combo there.”
Kit ripped the trident out with a wet squelch. “Thanks. You were in the way so I decided to go over you.”
Cassian Identified the wolves around them.
Dire Wolf - Lvl 5 Beast
Dire Wolf - Lvl 4 Beast
Dire Wolf - Lvl 5 Beast
Dire Wolf - Lvl 6 Beast
No wonder that one gave me so much trouble, he thought.
Level Up!
New Monk Skill Choice
Five free stat points gained. Total: 5
“Hey guys,” said Cassian, “It looks like we get some skill choices with this level.”
“So what,” Tara mused, “we get skills every five levels?”
Cassian shrugged. “Not sure. We’ll probably have to wait and see.”
Propulsive Strike (Activated, Combat)
Channel your Ki through your body during an attack, sending foes reeling backwards. Knockback strength determined by Dexterity and enemy type.
Not a terrible skill to start with, but Cassian generally tried to keep his enemies close. His fists only reached so far, after all. Cassian shrugged and looked at the next skill.
Ki Shield (Activated)
Generate a tough membrane of Ki around parts of your body. Can be used to reduce damage from incoming attacks.
Shatter (Activated, Utility)
Pour your Ki into an inanimate target, forcing the target to break or splinter. Shatter strength based on Dexterity and target type. Receives a minor boost based on Strength.
Now this is something, he thought. This could be really handy in the right situation. Cassian thought over his choices. Propulsive strike was good, but didn’t fit his fighting style. It was a weird skill for a monk to take since it blasted enemies away. He was sure it was useful, since battlefield control was always important, but it just didn’t call to him. Ki Shield also sounded useful. He definitely could have used that against the Dire Wolf when he had his hands in its mouth. He wasn’t sure if it helped against magical damage, but if it did, that would be a fantastic defensive asset. Shatter, though… Shatter was just so cool. Breaking shit with his Ki sounded great. Could he use it against armor or weapons? Maybe. Even if he couldn’t, he felt sure it would have some kind of effect. Cassian mentally confirmed Shatter, resigning himself to picking up Ki Shield sometime down the line if he got the option.
Now, he thought, let’s see about our stat points. Obviously Dexterity needed something, but his lack of Strength in the last battle made him wary of neglecting it. Stamina hadn’t been an issue so far. He didn’t want to let Vitality or Toughness lag behind, but Keaton had kept them all in good shape. Assigning three points to Strength and two to Dexterity brought his stats to the following:
Vitality - 15
Endurance - 15
Toughness - 15
Strength - 15
Dexterity - 22
Perception - 15
Intelligence - 10
Cassian closed his menu with a thought. Turning to the rest of the party, he saw they had already made their selections.
“Anything good?” he asked.
Tara nodded with a grin. “Check it out.” Emerald green energy crackled around her legs. She began to move around the battlefield, each step launching her dozens of feet. After a few seconds, she stopped, panting to catch her breath. “It’s a bitch on my stamina, but it lets me move really quickly as long as I can hold it. It’s called Hunter’s Stride.”
Kit laughed. “That’s awesome,” he said. “This one’s just called Earth Stomp.” Kit raised a leg and brought his foot down in a thundering stomp. The ground in front of him churned as a wave of energy suffused it. “It does some damage but its focus is unbalancing enemies and making openings.” He turned to Cassian. “What did you get?”
Cassian flexed his fingers and activated Shatter. “Check it out. Shatter.” He turned to the nearest tree and smashed his fist into it, sending out waves of Ki into the tree’s core structure. A web of golden light covered the tree trunk before exploding in a mass of splinters and forcing the tree to topple. “It’ll vary how much mileage I get out of it based on the object, and it doesn’t work on living creatures,” he explained. “Keaton? What about you??”
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Keaton grinned and pointed to Cassian’s still injured hands. “Vitae,” he said. Cassian’s hands sealed shut and the dull, throbbing pain faded. “I picked up a ranged heal. It’s weaker than if I were to touch you with the other spell, but it’ll work when it needs to.”
“Nice! Thanks for that, by the way.” Cassian said. “That’s awesome. Well, if we’re ready to move, I’m all healed up now.”
“Wait up,” said Tara, “I want to see if I can skin these Dire Wolves. The hides you got from tailoring specified that they were prey hides, so maybe predator hides will come in handy.”
“That’s a good idea,” agreed Cassian. “Do you actually have any idea how to skin an animal?”
Tara shrugged noncommittally. “I feel like I do. I’ve got some basic information my class gave me. I’m sure it’ll get a little better as we go.”
Tara spent the next half hour skinning the Dire Wolves, earning several groans of disgust from everyone else. The smell of blood was already heavy here, and opening up the bodies only made it worse. By the end, all Cassian could smell was blood and exposed flesh.
“There!” she announced. “All done.” She passed the skins to Cassian, who deposited them into his inventory.
Predator Hide (Common) x4
“Thanks,” he said. “Why are there even wolves out here? The forest seems too small to warrant big ass wolves running around.” Cassian looked around him at the plains stretching out, interrupted only by the seemingly random small forest. Kneeling down to get a closer look at the ground, he saw that the grass was also different as he got closer to the forest. It was slight, but it was definitely distinct. The grass from the plains was shorter and less soft than the grass closer to the forest. It felt out of place. Standing, he turned to his friends.
“I think we should go deeper into the forest here,” he said. “Something is weird about it. See the grass here? It’s completely different as you get closer to the forest.”
Tara knelt and examined the area. “You’re right. Weird.” She looked at Keaton and Kit. “You guys wanna go deeper?”
“For sure,” said Kit. “Maybe there’s some kind of forest boss deeper in.”
The next while was spent stumbling around the small forest, only managing not to get turned around thanks to Tara’s survival skills. After around two hours, the party reached what seemed to be the center of the forest. At least, that’s what Cassian assumed, given the towering, house-sized tree they found themselves in front of. Easily a few hundred feet in height, it dwarfed every other tree around it.
Cassian whistled as they approached. “Damn. Think of the cookies they make in that thing.” He could practically hear the eye rolls from his friends.
Tara sniffed. “Do you guys smell that? And no, it’s not cookies.” She looked pointedly at Cassian. “It’s sweet, though. Fresh.”
Cassian focused his senses and took a deep breath through his nose. “You’re right,” he said, catching the faintly sweet, clear smell. “It’s sap.” Cassian approached the massive trunk cautiously. Reaching the tree, he stretched out a tentative hand to rest it on the bark. At his touch, the wood groaned loudly and previously unseen doors swung inward, revealing nothing but darkness inside.
Would you like to enter this Survival Dungeon?
Recommended level: 8
Cassian smiled broadly. “Guys,” he said, “we have to go in.”
Tara frowned. “We’re not even at the recommended level. We’re three short.”
“Exactly!” Kit responded. “This will bump us up a few for sure.”
Tara didn’t look convinced. “I get it, but this isn’t a game, guys.” She looked at the three men seriously. “This is life and death. Just because we have levels and classes doesn’t mean we’re invincible. There’s no respawn. We can’t just come back. I know we all want to get stronger and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun to shoot flaming arrows and stuff, but we have to be smart.”
Cassian looked at his feet, feeling more than a little shame for how nonchalant he had been. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right.” He pulled his head up and looked back at her. “We can come back later.”
Tara shook her head. “No, we can go in now, I just want us to play it smart. We can do this, I know it, but we have to give it the proper thought.”
The three men nodded in unison. Cassian took a deep breath and looked back at the system message asking for his confirmation. “Everyone ready?” he asked.
At their nods, Cassian mentally confirmed the message and his vision went dark.
Cassian’s vision returned to him slowly. Blinking away the darkness, he found he was back in the forest, albeit without the tree that had served as the Survival Dungeon entrance. Night had fallen over the forest, and with it came a hush, like all of the wildlife was holding its breath. “Huh,” he said. “The tree’s gone. What do you think we’re supposed to do?” He turned to face his friends as his Low-Light Vision kicked in, but… they weren’t there. “Guys?” he called. “Shit. It separated us.” What did it want them to do? Had it scattered them around the same forest or were they all in their own trial?
Think, think, think. It was a survival dungeon. Are we just meant to find food and water? Or something else? A snapping branch to his side pulled him out of his thoughts. Slipping into the shadows of one of the trees, he crouched and listened.
Skill Gained: Stealth (Common)
The most basic form of the Stealth skill, allowing you to blend into shadows and avoid detection more easily. Gains a bonus from Dexterity.
A welcome gain, currently. Cassian felt the shadows wrap around him like an embrace as the skill activated. Slowly turning his head to face the direction of the breaking branch, Cassian clenched his jaw to stop from gasping. A massive wolf, easily three times as big as the Dire Wolves they had faced earlier in the day, was sniffing along the ground.
Injured Dire Wolf Den Mother - Level 20 Legendary Beast
Shit. This is supposed to be a level eight trial! Why is there such a strong monster? And what’s up with the name? It looks fine to me. Not good not good not good not good. Cassian wrenched his thoughts out of the spiral. You can do this, he thought. It’s a dungeon. A Survival Dungeon. All he had to do was survive. Mentally, he reached out to the others to send them a message.
Messages unavailable.
Cassian controlled his breathing. His friends were smart. They could figure that out themselves. They would all come out of this okay. Thay had to… right? He shook his head. This wasn’t the time to think about that. He had to focus on survival. As if the wolf had heard his internal monologue end, its truck-sized head snapped toward him, hot breath fogging the chill night air. “Shit.”
Cassian bolted away, thankful that he had some sort of head start. Among his party, he was also the fastest by a fair margin, provided Tara didn’t use Hunter’s Stride. Taking full advantage of his increased Dexterity, Cassian’s legs pumped like never before, each stride taking him further than ever in his previous life. The dull, pounding thuds of the Den Mother’s paws thundered behind him, but didn’t gain on him. After a few minutes of running, he allowed himself to look back at the beast. She was running as fast as she could, but every step on her forepaw came with a limp, slowing her enough that she was just keeping pace with Cassian and not overtaking him.
Injured. Of course. Cassian’s lungs burned like fire from the running as his mind raced for solutions. He couldn’t run forever. Seeing that his stamina was nearly empty, Cassian fished a stamina potion from his inventory and quaffed it as quickly as he could. Feeling rejuvenated, he stole another glance behind him. As he did, his foot slammed into something hard on the ground, sending him toppling to the forest floor. A moment later, he saw the culprit. A root covered by loose foliage. Scrambling to his feet, Cassian regained his footing just as the Den Mother’s paw crashed into him, throwing him dozens of feet through the air.
His body exploded with pain like he had gotten hit by a truck. Whatever ribs didn’t break from the strike gave way when he smashed into a massive tree. Cassian’s health plummeted as he gasped for the air that had been knocked out of his lungs. Sitting with his back to the tree, he watched as the Den Mother approached him with a vicious snarl on her face, teeth bared for her next meal. “Come on,” Cassian groaned. “Don’t taunt me now, I had a pretty good showing.”
The Den Mother stopped short of him, inches from his face. Cocking her head to the side, her face was illuminated by a golden scattering of energy working its way across the enormous tree trunk behind Cassian. “Good thing I have the stamina to spare, huh?”
The tree trunk erupted in a shower of splinters as Shatter detonated, bringing the tree down on both of them. Cassian’s stamina bottomed out from the strain and his vision went dark as he began to lose consciousness. After a split second, the tree connected with the Den Mother with a crunch!
Survival Dungeon Cleared!
Extra rewards gained for defeating the Dungeon Boss
Extra rewards gained for defeating a Legendary Enemy
Level Up!
5 free stat points gained. Total: 5
Monk Skill gained
Ki-Charged Body(Active, Utility)
Charge your body with Ki to enhance your body. Raw Strength and Speed are increased proportionally to Stamina Drain. Allows you to move along vertical surfaces as long as you continue moving.
Level Up!
5 free stat points gained. Total: 10
Level Up!
5 free stat points gained. Total: 15
Level Up!
5 free stat points gained. Total: 20
Level Up!
New Monk Skill Choice
5 free stat points gained. Total: 25