Not long after exiting Felton proper, they came to a three-way intersection on the corner of which was a small red house with an attached red barn. Over the house was a sign that read Bigfoot Discovery Museum. Outside stood several wooden carvings of differing sizes depicting the legendary forest monster Bigfoot. Joe pointed out the sculptures to Rory, “Remember the wooden bear sculptures from yesterday? Here’s another example of a common theme.” As they passed the museum, Joe regaled the others with the legend of Bigfoot and the hunt for the elusive sasquatch all through the states. That in turn begat questions about the states and then Kier wanted to know about the country. Joe’s high school knowledge of American history was patchy, and he was sure that he confused the dwarves more than educated them.
The afternoon was getting on and they had to cross a few downed trees which made them all hyper vigilant about an ambush, but it looked as if the trees fell from natural causes. They passed several RV parks and Joe mentioned that when he was a kid, there was a rumor that one of the parks used to be a nudist colony. That got an eyebrow raise from Iona and a chuckle from Rory, who had a grand time espousing the virtues of being naked.
The road became slightly more winding, and the party came to a halt as Bixby, in the lead, had stopped and barked back at Joe. They came up to where Bixby was sitting, waiting for them next to a sign that read North Boundary Henry Cowell Redwood State Park. As Joe approached, he received a notification.
Warning! You are now entering a Level 50+ Zone.
“Damn.” Joe muttered. He turned to the others. “This road continues through this forest for at least another three miles before it opens onto the outskirts of Santa Cruz. If it had continued to be a level ten zone, I would have had no problem continuing, but with a fifty…” He let his statement trail off.
Kier stroked his beard, “Given the time of day, it seems to me that if we run into trouble, we may have to navigate into the night. I’m not too keen on seeing what a level fifty zone looks like after sundown.”
Joe was torn. On the one hand, he was only a short way away from his sister’s home and she would be coming back the next day. On the other hand, now that he had companions, he had to prioritize their safety over his need to get home. With a sigh, he said, “I agree. There was a house back a bit that looked solid. Let’s overnight in there and leave just after sunup tomorrow.” He looked around for any other comments, but only received confirming nods. With that decided, Bixby took the lead once more and the group back tracked a quarter mile and broke into the house Joe had seen earlier.
The house sat at the apex of a curve in the road, nestled in some trees with a feeder road running off of the main highway next to it. Without any real communication, they chose not to build a fire and attract any unwanted attention overnight. The mood was a bit subdued however, so Rory fell to telling amusing stories from their collective childhoods. Joe and Iona sat on the couch together laughing while eating dinner. It felt almost normal, but for the fact that they were in an unfamiliar home with monsters in the world that wanted to eat them or worse. Once everyone was bedding down for the night, Bixby licked Joe’s hand to get his attention and offered a few barks and yips. This made Joe narrow his eyes and he nodded. The dwarves looked on expectantly and Joe explained that Bixby would take first watch. The others nodded and settled down. What Joe left unsaid was that the presence that had been following them was in the house but did not feel like a threat. Joe got up and on the pretense of using the restroom, he surreptitiously placed the small knife he had found earlier on a side table close to the entryway between the kitchen and the living room. As he placed the knife, he whispered, “You may want this back. And thank you.” Satisfied that he had done what he thought was the right thing, he rejoined the others. From his position on the couch, it would only take a tilt of his head to see the knife there.
Later, as the rest settled down for the night, the dwarves fell asleep easily while Joe once again stayed up, sleepless. His thoughts swirled around his brain as the night deepened and Rory’s snores rattled the cabinets.
It was well past midnight when Joe, who had taken over watch duties from Bixby, heard the first howl. It was faint, but distinct. He glanced towards the side table and saw that the knife was gone. He smiled briefly and then nudged Bixby with his foot and the dog came instantly awake. Joe pointed to his own ear and the pair waited. Moments later the howl returned, closer this time. Bixby nodded and went to the window to listen. The sound was not a wolf howl, and it did not sound like the gnolls. If anything, it sounded more like a person imitating a wolf. As Bixby sat to listen; another howl sounded from a different direction. This one was even closer than the last. Bixby turned to Joe and yipped. “Yeah, I thought so.” Bixby’s yip was enough to make the others stir, but Joe was going to err on the side of caution, “Everybody up!” He called out. “We’ve got company!”
The dwarves came too without any pretense of a slow awakening. They were battle hardened adventurers and they came to their feet quickly. Iona, adjusting her armor asked, “What is’t?”
Joe just put a finger to his lips then pointed to his ear as another group of howls sounded. This time, he knew they were nearby and closing in on the house. The dwarves made themselves ready, adjusting armor and making sure their weapons were good to go. Joe brought them all in for a group huddle, “Do we wait and see if they attack or do we just assume they’re coming for us and meet them outside?”
Iona said, “Out on the road would be best. We can see them coming better. Inside is too close quarters for our way of fighting.” Kier and Rory agreed, and the party exited the home, made their way to the more open area of the intersection, and waited.
The night was dark without the illumination of the moon or stars in the overcast sky. Joe activated Darkvision and momentarily thought about releasing the Wisplight he had but thought better of it. He knew the dwarves were suited to fighting in dark conditions and all of them could see effectively well with their Darkvision ability. As they waited, they formed a loose circle. Rory needed room for his class skills to work best and both Joe and Bixby would probably end up flickering around the fight with Haste and Blink Step. Joe cast Mantle and watched as the golden glow briefly outlined his companions.
The howls grew louder and seemed to surround the party. Bixby crouched and laid back his ears with a growl as something moved deeper in the tree line. Joe tried concentrating to catch sight of whatever was coming, but only caught fleeting movement of something large. Why does everything have to be fucking gigantic? Joe thought. The howls increased in volume and frequency and then they stopped all at once. The forest was eerily silent for a minute that stretched into two. Joe let out a breath and at that moment, their surroundings exploded with movement.
More than a dozen large hairy creatures came howling out of the forest. Joe caught a brief Inspection of one.
Wild Sasquatch (50)
HP: 10000
Status: Enraged
Vulnerable to Fire, Vulnerable to Piercing Damage
You’re shittin’ me! Joe’s mind screamed as several eight-foot beasts bore down on him. Already Bixby had blinked away, and he heard Iona’s challenge shout behind him. He could also hear Rory’s yells as well. He focused on the threat before him and with swords in hand, he cast Haste and dashed forward to meet the first hairy beast. The thing had no weapons in hand, but with a huge Health pool and its claws and teeth, Joe presumed it would take some time to beat it. And with a dozen or so of this level against his five, he knew this would be a long battle. So instead of trying to blitz a single creature and kill it right away, he opted to fight a war of attrition and wear them out and bleed them.
He sped around the fight working to hamstring the apelike creatures and inflict any kind of debilitating effects that he could. He noticed that Bixby had the same idea while the dwarves stayed in a rough circle so as not to allow any beast to come up from behind. Iona’s taunt had drawn the majority of Bigfoots… Bigfeet? to her and she was making good use of Winter’s Bite although the effectiveness of the cold abilities on the Sasquatch was questionable.
The battle had a strange symmetry. The dwarves stood defiant in the center with the howling sasquatches surrounding them, determined to shatter their defenses, while Joe and Bixby orbited the beasts on the outside and harried them with damaging slashes and bites. The problem with this quickly became apparent as Joe watched his friend’s Health, Stamina and Mana steadily drop. The amount of punishment they were taking was causing them to use up their spells and abilities quicker than Joe thought. A healing wave of energy cascaded over the group as Kier cast his latest mass healing spell and Joe watched Kier’s Mana plummet.
Joe tried changing tactics. He focused on a single monster and used his swords to batter and slice the thing down, but it took too long. His superior strength and his blades were not doing as much damage as he needed. These things are tough. He blinked to the other side of the fight and grabbed one of the hirsute creatures and attempted to toss it back into the tree line, but it twisted in his grip, the hair sliding and making it difficult to grasp and the thing smashed him in the face, knocking Joe back a few feet, seeing stars. The beast rushed him while Joe was dazed and clamped its teeth on Joe’s shoulder. The armor held, but Joe could feel the pressure exerted by the Bigfoot’s jaws. The thing also had Joe in a bear hug which clamped Joe’s arms to his side, effectively taking his swords out of play. As he struggled, he saw Rory drop one of the beasts, as Bixby savaged its throat. Abstractly, he thought, Good job buddy. He heard his armor begin to crack and the pressure increased. He strained against the monster’s grasp and began to overpower it but thought that it would be a race to see who won. Joe’s strength or the beasts bite?
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Out of nowhere, a small figure appeared on the creature’s back, stabbing down with two blades. They sank deep into the monster’s back causing it to release Joe as it spun to dislodge its attacker. The small opponent was covered in leather with an oiled leather cloak and hood. On its face, it wore a leather covering leaving only its eyes visible. Joe only caught a brief glimpse of bright golden eyes before it disappeared. It was tiny, like a child. Joe took the break from being crushed and bitten to stab the monster in its side under its armpit. It roared and thrashed, and Joe blocked a wild swing while spinning out and away. He saw the tiny fighter return and jam its knives into the back of the beast’s knee and the thing fell.
Both Joe and his diminutive helper were so focused on this one monster that they did not recognize the threat of another looming beast. The tiny warrior was on the downed beast’s back, its knives easily penetrating the Bigfoot’s back when another of the creatures grabbed the little fighter in its meaty hands and began to crush it. The small warrior gave out a scream as Joe could hear bones crack. Instantly, Joe launched himself at the beast, both swords hammered down on the monster’s arm, shearing it off, but it was not enough to make the thing completely lose its grip with it’s other hand, the Sasquatch flung the petite body which flew limp to impact the ground twenty feet away.
The beast turned on Joe who, distracted by seeing the tiny fighter fall, took a hard hit to the chest as the beast began slamming him with its remaining good hand. Another blow caught Joe in the face and blood sprayed from his broken nose. He recovered enough to block the next few blows, then the beast relented as Bixby came and slashed it to draw it away from Joe. Joe took a second to wipe the blood from his eyes and that’s when, in what seemed like slow motion, he saw the dominoes begin to fall for his group.
One of Rory’s wild backswings clipped Kier in the shoulder, spinning him into the arms of a sasquatch. The beast took the opportunity to bear hug the dwarf and lift him off the ground. Its tactic was the same as the one that had held Joe earlier and it began to tear into Kier’s shoulder with its fangs. Rory, realizing his mistake, slowly turned away from his original foe, intent on saving his brother, when two beasts tackled Rory to the ground and began to pummel him. Meanwhile, Iona was hard pressed to damage her opponents as it was all she could do to keep them at bay with her shield and several swipes of her axe. The last axe blow was too slow on its recovery and one of the monsters grabbed Iona’s arm and yanked her off her feet. In an instant, two beasts held her, one by each arm and they looked like they intended to rip her in half. She screamed and that was what broke Joe from inaction.
Joe cast Haste again and reached inside and pulled on his Bestial Fury ability. His world went red, and he launched himself at Iona’s tormentors. Vaguely, he heard Bixby howl, but all that mattered in that moment was tearing Iona’s attackers to pieces. Joe slammed into the first one, his now doubled strength turned him into an unstoppable juggernaut. Amazingly, he held onto his swords and even through the haze of fury, his dual wield skill was active. Joe became a whirlwind of death and dismemberment. Each beast did not die quickly, nor cleanly and he was peripherally aware that more creatures had joined the fight. Wolves? He quickly put it out of his mind as he became swamped with monsters, all pounding on him and screeching and screaming. His own roaring voice added to the cacophony of sound and fury, blood, and pain.
What seemed like hours later, but in reality, was only a few short minutes, Joe snapped out of his rage induced fugue and dropped to his knees panting. He was covered in blood and his hands shook with Mana and Stamina burn. He had kept up the Mantle as well as used Haste and Blink Step to supplement his Fury. His Tireless Soul ability allowed him to maintain the Bestial Fury for a prolonged time, but now he was feeling the aftereffects. His limbs were like rubber and his head pounded with a ferocious headache. He looked around for his companions and first saw Rory lying next to him. Rory’s armor was soaked in blood and matted sasquatch hair. The sharp angled pieces of metal on his armor had bits of tissue hanging off them. Rory lay there, panting and his eyes snapped open. Wearily, he looked up at Joe and surprisingly, he smiled. Joe could not even muster the energy to smile back, and he swung his head lazily around to search for Iona and Bixby.
A mound of hairy bodies began to stir, and Joe’s heart began to race. In his condition, he could not fight a mouse, let alone a sasquatch. With a very feminine yell, the bodies toppled off to the side and Iona slowly sat up. Her helmet had come off at some point in the fight and her bright red hair was streaked with the darker crimson of blood, her emerald eyes were bright but full of pain. Joe began dragging himself over to her. It seemed like an eternity until he collapsed next to her. He felt her gauntleted hand rest on his chest, and she lay down against a rapidly cooling Bigfoot body. Joe could hear her breath begin to slow as she rested.
Pulling on reserves he didn’t have, Joe called out softly, “Bixby?!” He was met with silence. His heart began to beat faster, “Bixby?!” He called again, this time louder. Still no answer. Joe groaned to sit up and felt Iona shift next to him. He cast his eyes all around, “BIXBY!” He yelled this time, his throat sore and raspy. He spied a length of dark black fur partially obscured by a dead Bigfoot. Joe levered himself to his knees and crawled over to it. He placed a hand on the black fur but could feel no life in it. Fear replaced exhaustion as he roared once again, “BIXBY!” and he heaved the sasquatch body from his fallen friend, only to find a void wolf, its head shattered. Joe’s shoulders slumped in relief. He glanced around again to finally lock his eyes on Bixby’s body lying just outside of the main group of hairy bodies. Joe could barely see the rise and fall of Bixby’s chest. He’s still breathing! Thank God!
Adrenaline, weak and sluggish allowed Joe to rise to his feet and stumble over to Bixby. He fumbled his flask out and began pouring it over his best friend. His hands searched for wounds and saw several broken limbs and long gashes. Pulling the regeneration ring off his finger, Joe placed it onto Bixby’s paw. That’s when he saw the leather cloak peeking out from under Bixby’s body. Joe carefully moved Bixby who began to stir and whimper. Pinned under Bixby was the small warrior who had come to Joe’s aid. He turned the body over and pulled down the mask. The face was splashed with blood, but Joe could clearly see the beautiful face of a woman. Her features were slightly angular which gave her an exotic look, but Joe could not really place an ethnicity. He placed the flask to her tiny lips and carefully dribbled the life-giving water into her mouth.
Suddenly a wash of calm came over Joe and he felt his wounds begin to heal at a rapid pace, He looked over his shoulder and saw Kier sitting up with Iona attending him. He had managed to cast another mass heal. Turning back, he was mesmerized by the small golden eyes looking back up at him. If she looked exotic before, her eyes made her look downright otherworldly. The woman had a look of surprise, elation and fear all at once. Joe smiled down at her, “It’s ok now. You’re safe.” She sighed, nodded and closed her eyes again. A wet lick drew Joe to smile at Bixby who was on his feet. Unsteady, but standing. He licked Joe’s face again and wagged his tail. Joe hugged him and said, “Watch over her. I need to check on the others.” Bixby woofed and settled down next to the tiny woman, his ears up and eyes alert for trouble.
Joe scrambled over to his friends and sank down to the ground next to the trio who had grouped together. He passed the flask around and Iona poured a generous amount on Kier’s torn shoulder. While his mass healing spell was good, it was not as powerful as a single targeted healing spell. Everyone was back to at least enough health to begin healing broken bones and the more onerous open wounds. All of them were low on Stamina though. The fight had been brutal, and no one came away unscathed.
No one spoke for quite a while until finally Rory broke the peace. “What in the name of Mithra’s giant, hairy ballsack did you do?” He looked with wonder at Joe.
Joe stared back at the dwarf, not understanding the question. “I don’t know, what do you mean?”
Kier spoke up, “He means the berserk you brought upon us all.”
“What? What berserk?” Joe was now thoroughly confused.
“The berserk ability you used on the troll, you used it again here, didn’t you?” Kier asked as he slowly rotated his healing shoulder. He winced in pain but continued to move it. “I think you put your rage upon the rest of us.”
Joe sat staring at Kier as if he was speaking in tongues. “But I can’t do that.”
Rory smiled and said, “You can now, boyo.” He pulled out some jerky and ate it, offing some to Iona and Kier who turned him down. He shrugged and made his way over to Bixby. “I’d check me notices, if I were you.”
Joe blinked his eyes and opened his notifications.
Congratulations! You have earned the Legendary ability, Rage of the Pack. This ability allows you to share your Bestial Fury upon anyone in your Party provided they have the Stamina for the initial activation. This ability draws 200 Stamina from each party member to initiate Rage of the Pack. When active, this legendary berserker ability doubles the Strength, Constitution and Agility of each party member and adds an additional 300 Health Points to each. You will pay 200 Stamina for every extra minute of activation while your party members will pay 100 Stamina. If a party member’s Stamina falls below 100, they will be removed from the Rage of the Pack’s remaining time. Cooldown time is 6 hours of uninterrupted rest.
Achievement Unlocked! What Wrath Hath Wrought! You have survived a battle in which all of your party members were Berserk! Rage against the dying as they say. Rewards Unlocked! You and your companion gain +5 Constitution. Exp earned, 15,000 (Banked). Gold earned 5,000.
“Huh.” Joe closed his screens and looked around. “Sorry guys. I didn’t mean to.”
Rory, sitting and feeding jerky to Bixby chuckled, “We’re getting’ used to you pulling shite whatlike.”
Kier grunted and stood. “We‘re needing to get back into the house. Ror, you’re on loot duty. Take the corpses too.” He helped Iona to her feet and the two walked slowly back to the house.
Joe went to the quiet form of the woman next to Bixby and picked her up. She stirred and opened her eyes. Her voice was soft, “I can walk.” Gently, Joe set her down. She swayed a bit but took a steady step.
“Will you join us inside?” Joe asked.
She craned her neck to look up at Joe and over at Bixby who stood wagging his tail, his tongue lolling out. She smiled, “Yes.” By the time she, Joe and Bixby began walking across the road, Rory was looting and storing the last of the sasquatches.