Chapter 8: Alley Cats

Berlioz opened his mind’s eye to the system space and stared in awe at the immense experience blazing in the distance. He had taken each of his kin out at least twice now, gaining them enough experience and essential skills to be of use to their fledgling settlement. He loved the experience gains, but he was becoming bored of killing boars. There was no challenge in it and apart from the mentoring and arbalist skills he had picked up the previous night the only thing he was gaining was experience he had no use for. With a thought he filled his new skills and checked his character sheet.

Arbalest: (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Str 2

Mentoring (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Wis 2

Name: Berlioz

Monster type: Sapient Beast

Species: Panthera

Level: 5

Attributes.

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 33

Constitution: 16

Intelligence: 26

Wisdom: 18

Charisma: 16

Luck: 1

Status conditions: None

Resistance: None

Weakness: Fire

Core quality: poor

Picking up the drums and alchemy skills were fun and a good start to matching Oscar in stat growth. Playing along to Lachi’s stories at the party last night was uplifting, especially as Chef had discovered a way to draw out the paralytic effect of the vitalaberries and alter it causing everyone to feel giddy and just a little bit numb, but no matter how popular he had become or how high his stats rose, the stain of a poor core on his character sheet would always remind him of his place in the system.

Opening his eyes to the real world, Berlioz knew his human wouldn’t be resting in the hammock adjacent to his. The foolish black-haired man hadn’t slept in the last two days, instead he swigged at the rejuvenation potion that Chef had concocted any time he felt tired and kept working on the ridiculous fort. Berlioz had to admit the building that hung at the northern tip of the oasis was impressive, but was a three-story fortress really needed, it would have been enough just to help each Panthera build their own homes.

“We should check on him.” Said Berlioz patting Anansi’s back.

The spider made Berlioz tremble with concern.

“Yeah, his behaviour is worrying me too, you creepy little bug, but there’s no need to compound that feeling.”

Anansi pulled back the concern and lightened the load causing the Panthera to let out a nonchalant sigh.

“That’s not what I meant.”

While Oscar worked on the fort Berlioz improved their house, hoping to bring some comfort to the obsessive human if he ever came home. the spider silk hammocks were comfortable enough and needed no adjustments, but the rest of the abode was uncomfortably sparse. Berlioz began by crafting a wooden couch padded with boar hides, then moved on to making a small table to rest plates and mugs upon and eventually crafted a kitchen in the corner, with a little chimney that poked out of the side of the tree house. Even with the small luxuries, Oscar still didn’t return home, which lead Berlioz to cut out a window that looked out to the fort. Looking out the tinted resin cast window, the Panthera couldn’t see his human anywhere.

He opted to climb to the top of the tree house and there he saw movement above. Copying the weird hand sign Oscar liked to do, Anansi let out a web and they zipped to a branch that hung over the roof of the tree fort. Looking down he saw Oscar erratically spreading Dreadwood resin over the layered slats that made up the roof. Not wanting to get stuck in the rapidly drying adhesive, Berlioz attached a web to the branch, hung upside down and lowered himself until he was eye to eye with the human.

“I’m not kissing you.” Said Oscar with a chuckle.

Berlioz grimaced at the thought. “What? Why would you even say that?”

“It’s an iconic scene from a movie. This guy saves his love interest from a mugger or something, and then drops down like you are and they share a passionate kiss.”

Berlioz scratched his brow. “How can you kiss while one person’s upside down?” he looked at Oscar’s lips. “Oh, you’re weird meaty lips could do that. I think kissing a Panthera like this would just hurt.”

“You could always try it with Kali.” Said Oscar pushing Berlioz, causing him to swing gently.

“Ah, you fucker.” Yelped Berlioz, releasing the web and landing next to Oscar. “I didn’t come here to talk about kissing, I came here to check on you.”

“I’m good.” Said Oscar scratching behind Berlioz’s ear. “Once this lacquer is on, I can get started on the stairs and then we’re done.”

“You’ve been at it none stop for two days now.” Berlioz pushed Oscar’s hand away. “You need to sleep, so we can go east.”

“Are you sure you’ll find a mana source there?”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? there’s healing berries to the west, stamina sap dependant boars to the north, fuck all but a mountain to the south, so…”

“Mana to the east. I get your reasoning; I’ll tell you what, why don’t you grab a couple of reliable Panthera and head out on a scouting mission?”

Berlioz threw up his paws. “Who would I even take?”

“What about those guy’s you were playing music with last night? The leopard and the maine coon.”

“Spurting out earthling nonsense doesn’t help describe them, but I get who you mean.”

“Fine, we’ll call the fluffy one that played the war horn, Armstrong and the spotty one that played that weird piano thing, Monk.”

“It’s called a bonechord and I’m guessing these are human references again.” Berlioz rubbed his brow. “Are they at least prestigious names? You named that last guy Cid, what does that even mean.”

Oscar feigned offence. “Hey if this is my final fantasy, I’ll be fucked if I don’t have a Cid.” He shrugged when he didn’t receive a knowing smile and continued. “To answer your question yes they are prestigious, Louis Armstrong and Thelonius Monk were pioneers of the jazz scene.”

“Wait.” Berlioz looked his human in the eye. “Didn’t you name me after a jazz cat?”

“Umm, kinda.” Oscar replied looking to the sky for an escape.

A spotty one climbed to the top of the closest supporting turret and waited for Berlioz and Oscar to finish their conversation.

“Oh, hey it’s the guy that got the Forman skill last night.” Said Oscar turning to address the Cheater. “Hey, what’s up George, did you rank up that skill?”

The cheater went wide eyed for a second. “Is th, that my name?” He practically shook with excitement and when Oscar gave him a confused nod, he actually did vibrate as he called out. “My name is George.”

Oscar pinched his nose. “I can’t let him know his name is a pun about a grill.” He realised that Berlioz wasn’t there to hear him. “Hey, where’d you go?”

Berlioz was excited to finally see what was out to the east. He returned to his tree house and grabbed his bag, scrolling through the list of items he had been working on he made his choice and transferred them to the large pocket of his coat. There was a lot of pep in his step as he weaved through the crowd of Panthera that made their way to work on the fort. When he reached Chef, he was annoyed to see that the sandy furred Panthera had packed up his cooking space.

The growl in Berlioz’s stomach matched his tone. “Where’re taking the stove I made you?”

“My brother’s and I have almost finished building the kitchen on the second floor of the fort.” Chef patted the bag of holding. “It’s going up with us today so we can finalize the plans for the mess hall.”

“Is there anything fresh to eat?”

“You still have hot roasted boar in your pouch from yesterday.”

“I want it fresh.”

“The pouch keeps it frozen in time.” Chef screwed up his face. “It’s as fresh as the meat I just put in this pouch. In fact, we have so much freshly cooked meat now, with everyone learning the cooking skill, that I won’t need to prepare anything for at least two more days.”

“Forget it.” Berlioz pulled out a slither of boar meat and said. “Have you seen the fluffy guy?” Before stuffing his face.

“He’s by the stage they’re building for Lachi.” Before Chef could finish Berlioz had taken off. “Hey, what’s the rush?”

Berlioz found the big fluffy Panthera practicing his horn playing, while two stripy ones tapped their feet as they worked. The black furred Panther eyed the nearly finished stage curiously, noticing that his war drums were sat at the back organised by size.

“Hey, fluff ball what’s with the set up?” asked Berlioz.

“You don’t hear me calling you blacky, so why you gotta put me down like that?”

“Oscar told me your name just now, by the way.”

“Are you pulling my tail?”

“Nope.” Berlioz adopted a sly grin. “I’ll tell you but you’ve gotta promise me something first.”

“You know I’ll do whatever it is anyway.”

“Yeah true. Alright, your name is Armstrong.”

“But my strength stat is only eighteen. Why would he call me that?” Armstrong asked prodding his fluffy biceps.

Berlioz face palmed. “It’s a musician from his world. I think you impressed him with your horn playing.”

“I do like performing for everyone, I like it.” said Armstrong with a smile. “What was it you wanted from me?”

“We’re going east with spots.” Berlioz looked around to see the leopard by the basin and took off. “come on, I’ve got some new gear for you guys too.”

“Hold up, he ain’t going nowhere.” Called Armstrong hurrying after the Black Panther.

When they reached the leopard, they found him cleaning boar bones in the basin.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Asked Berlioz.

Armstrong answered for the leopard. “He wants to make a larger bonechord with more range.”

“But I can’t cut the bone, it’s harder than steel.” Said the leopard, placing another bone in his pile.

“Have you tried smashing two bones together?” Tried Berlioz. “I think I’m getting a tingle from the artificer skill.”

The leopard did as Berlioz suggested and one of the bones chipped off. “It worked, it actually worked.”

Berlioz started pulling out weapons and armour “Now that I’ve done something for you, it’s your turn to do something for me.”

The leopard looked up. “What’s that?”

“We’re going east.” Said Armstrong. “And Oscar named us.”

“I’ve got a name.” The leopard perked up at the revelation.

“It’s Monk and before you ask it’s not referring to the class, it’s an earth name that belonged to a jazz player.” Said Berlioz laying out a two bows and a couple of arrow pouches.

Monk picked up a bow and plucked the string. “What’s a jazz?”

“it’s a kind of music, I think.” Berlioz withdrew a long-jagged sword made of ant parts and mantis arm spikes. “This one’s for you.”

“do you think he wants us to learn the Jazz?” asked Monk

Berlioz sighed. “I give you two epic weapons, and you ask if Oscar wants you to play jazz.”

“But does he though?” Asked Armstrong.

“Yeah, he’d probably fucking appreciate it.” Berlioz pulled out a double headed axe and handed it to Armstrong. “Now focus on the exciting news of us heading into uncharted land.” He grabbed Armstrong’s arm as he was about to touch the blade. “Be careful with that the blade is corrosive.”

“It’s heavy too. Imagine the damage I could do with a drop attack.” Said Armstrong eyeing the tree line. “What’s with the new armour?”

“It has acid resistance and looks way better than the generic shit I made for everyone else.” Berlioz handed the two musicians a pouch each. “There’s health and stamina potions in there. Now equipped the gear I gave you and follow me.”

The three Panthera hurried to swamp land that held the zones second waterfall basin. With the river Oscar and Berlioz had created, the swampy ground was more a marsh with reeds of holding sprouting out of the soggy soil.

“Hey Monk.” Said Berlioz lowering himself down to inspect a reed. “Get one of Lachi’s lot to transfer these to the basin over there when we get home.”

Monk gave a nod, and they moved on. Berlioz took the lead, following the river out of Oscar’s zone of authority. The rapidly flowing water had cut the ground before it, flowing further than the three Panthera could see. Swinging through the trees in the uncharted territory they used a leapfrog manoeuvre, ensuring that at least two of them were surveying the land at all times.

After thirty minutes of slow cautious travel, the forest changed. The dreadwoods that made up the majority of the trees were replaced with shorter thiner trees that had more vines hanging from them. Armstrong and Monk were glad for the plentiful vines that posed an easier mode of travel through the forest, but the change made Berlioz uneasy. Holding up a paw, the black Panthera signalled for his followers to come close.

“What is it?” Whispered Armstrong.

Berlioz withdrew his bow. “Get your bows out and keep your eyes open.”

“What did you see?” Asked Monk, knocking an arrow.

Berlioz gestured ahead of him. “Nothing yet but the terrain has changed.”

“So.” said Monk.

Berlioz frowned. “What did it mean back home if the terrain changed?”

“That only happened when you entered one of the elder’s zones.” Said Monk.

Armstrong’s jaw dropped as he made the connection. “The terrain changes to suit the elder’s abilities.”

“I don’t get it.” Said Monk.

Berlioz wanted to hit him. “For fuck’s sake Monk. The trees are suited for monsters to swing through.”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing. Isn’t it?”

Armstrong shook his head. “There’s going to be monsters that get around the way we do.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you say that.” Monk said at first and then finally catching up he said. “Oh shit.”

With Monk up to speed on the looming danger, they moved on. They continued their leapfrog manoeuvre but kept the distance between them at a minimum. Each time one of them stopped, they would reequip their bow, knock an arrow and wait for the Panthera at the back to take the lead. They went on like this for a while until they stumbled upon a large broken web swaying in the wind.

“Anansi, tell me there isn’t more of you out there.” Said Berlioz, feeling his spine freezing over at the thought.

Anansi made Berlioz shed a tear at the loneliness he felt but quickly replaced the feeling with curiosity.

“Ok, buddy.” Berlioz stroked the spiders back. “As long as we’re not up against more like you, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

They were not fine. The further they travelled the more webs they came across, that mixed with the light restricting canopy overhead, made for a foreboding sight. If their nerves weren’t frayed from the ghastly gloom of the web strung forest, they were torn to shreds by the echoing howls that came from the dark horizon.

“oo-oo-aa-aa-a.” came a cry from the left.

From the right responded. “aa-a-oo-oo-a”

“What is that, Berlioz?” Whispered Monk nocking an arrow.

Berlioz did the same. “Fuck if I know, but if you see anything, kill it.”

Armstrong fired at a shadow and called out. “Over head.” When he realised.

They aimed up and one of the things went down from an arrow in its shoulder.

“Anyone notified?” queried Berlioz.

The two cats replied. “Nope.”

“Alright.” Said Berlioz scanning above him. “Armstrong eyes down, Monk middle distance.” He zipped up higher. “I’ll take the high ground.”

A screech came from behind him, and he twirled as he nocked, caught a glimpse of the five limbed figure and let loose. His arrow flew true, but so did the web that halted its flight. Berlioz fired again at the shady figure. Hitting only the tree, he cursed his luck and zipped closer. Swapping his bow for his spear, Berlioz flew through the air, zipping from tree to tree without landing. The figure kept away leading Berlioz around the trees, trying to catch him in one of the webs that were spread between them. An arrow missed Berlioz by an inch when the figure circled back and confused Armstrong.

“Focus on the other one.” Called Berlioz.

Armstrong called back. “My bad.”

Berlioz caught up to the thing, expecting it to be some kind of spider but it looked more like Oscar. The hairy human looking monster, paused in mid-air and Berlioz realised it had shot a web from its tail. The thing let out a mocking howl as it threw a sharpened rock but stared in shock as the projectile bounced harmlessly off of Berlioz’s emerald coat.

“My turn.” Growled the Panthera.

With one arm he threw his spear and the other let out a web line. The monster tried to evade but Anansi’s web caught its foot and Berlioz’s spear punctured it’s chest, pinning it to a tree. Berlioz didn’t get the notification right away, first he had to get closer and push his dagger into the things heart.

Congratulations, you have slain spider monkey and have gained the following: small experience.

“So that’s a monkey.” Berlioz said pressing his hand on the corpse and storing it away. “Hey, I got it. Did you get the other one?”

“We didn’t see it, but Monk got the kill, it must have bled out.” Called back Armstrong.

Berlioz dropped down to the same branch. “We’re heading back. Same manoeuvre as before. it gave small experience, which tells me it’s a pack hunter.”

“So, we better hurry then.” Said Monk.

With their swift evacuation the surrounding trees blurred, the rushing river guided, and the marshland welcomed them home. A capybara lost its head when Monk caught it nibbling on a reed causing its spurting blood to mix with the leaking swamp water. Once they swung through the tree line and made it back to their oasis, the bonechord playing leopard broke formation.

heading towards Lachi’s stage Monk called out. “I’ll see to getting those reeds moved, see you guys at the show.”

“Good job today, Monk.” Called Berlioz, smiling wide. “Get the new bonechord crafted and I’ll bring Oscar over to inspect it.” Noticing Armstrong’s glum appearance Berlioz asked. “what’s the matter Fluffles?”

“I didn’t get to use my axe.” Said the maine coon hopelessly. “I think I might go back and kill some capybaras”

“If you do, make sure you collect their remains.”

Armstrong wandered back east, swinging his axe with excited anticipation. Feeling a little bit lost, Berlioz looked up to the massive fort for any signs of his human, failing to see him, the Panthera shrugged and made his way home. he was a few feet away from his ladder when Kali’s voice floated on the wind, pleasing his ears and swelling his heart. Turning to see her stood with her little hunting party, he smiled gladly knowing that they had a successful hunt thanks to his artificed gear.

“Hey, Lioz.” Called Kali, throwing a pouch his way. “We managed to find those blade ants.”

“Any orcs out there?” asked Berlioz.

A red furred lion spoke up. “No signs of orcish activity, but we think we might be close to finding the ant colony.”

“Cid, we discussed this.” Reprimanded Kali. “Anything that happens on a mission is confidential.”

Cid stroked his red main. “Aren’t you going to discuss it in the meeting later with the black one.”

“I had a name before you, dick head.” Berlioz felt his anger rising.

Cid clapped back. “Poor cores don’t receive names, if Oscar new what your people did.”

The two tiger sisters grabbed Cid and dragged him away at Kali’s signalling.

“I’m sorry about him.” She said, her eyes watering.

The sympathy only hurt Berlioz more. “You epics are all the same.” He turned his back on her and began to walk away. “If Oscar knew how the poor are treated, he’d be ashamed.”

Berlioz didn’t know why he let it get to him, he knew once the higher quality Panthera received a name he would be back to being seen as just another poor core, expected to do as told without complaint. That shouldn’t have mattered to him though as there were only four epics in the oasis, granted he was the only poor one present but there were a majority of common and uncommon Panthera and the five of them that lead his people were a mixed bag.

“There’s a monkey leading us.” He laughed as he climbed the ladder to his tree house. “There’s no way things will go back to how they were.”

Popping his head through the hatch of the tree house, Berlioz was pleasantly surprised to find Oscar using the kitchen he had built.

“Hey bud, you had lunch yet?” asked Oscar fussing over a sizzling pan.

Berlioz couldn’t his smile. “I was just about to snack on some rations.”

“Save them, I made bacon.” He brought over two plates. “Now if only we had some flour for pancakes.” Crashing down on the sofa he remarked. “I love what you’ve done with the place, it really feels like home.”

“I only did the things you described.”

“Are you alright.” Said Oscar, stuffing his face. “You look down.”

“it’s nothing.”

They ate the small meal in companionable silence and when they were finished Oscar took the plates to the sink. “This reed tap is ingenuous.” He checked under the sink. “And the waste trap underneath, you thought of everything.”

“It was the artificer skill.” Berlioz laid back and stared at the ceiling.

Seeing his cat bro looking hopeless Oscar pushed. “Seriously bud, what’s up. Did the scouting mission go badly?”

“We hit a snag.” Said Berlioz with a sigh. “There was a couple of pack monsters called spider monkeys. If we went any deeper, we would have been overwhelmed.”

“Did you bring the corpse?” Berlioz nodded at Oscar’s query. “Get it out then.”

The Panthera pulled a rug to the centre of the floor and placed his hand over it, with a thought the spider monkey materialized before him.

Oscar’s eyes glazed over as he scanned it. “Level eighteen, high dex and strength but everything else is unimpressive, although it’s charisma is ten.”

“Shit, they’re probably semi sentient.” Berlioz traced his hand over the corpse. “it’s fur is weird.”

“It’s defined as an arachnomorph, so that’s not fur it’s called setae. Spiders use it as a sensory organ.”

“It’s just a shame that I couldn’t find the mana source I was looking for.”

“didn’t you suspect that the monsters out east used it as a food source?”

“Yeah, but how do I stalk something that uses the trees better than me.”

“You don’t need to stalk it to find what it eats.” Oscar handed Berlioz his dagger. “Just cut it open.”

“What?”

“A dissection will show you it’s last meal. I’ll analyse anything you don’t recognise.”

Berlioz cut open the monkey and wretched at the grim sight. With the corpse still warm and the heart being punctured blood flowed from the cavity, luckily Anansi was hungry, and the spider leapt off of Berlioz’s wrist and tucked in. once the blood was gone it was easy for Berlioz to identify the organs. First, he pulled out the punctured heart, then the kidneys and liver and finally he detached the intestines from the stomach and opened it up. When he did, he delighted at the notification he received.

Congratulations, you have successfully performed a dissection and have gained the following: Analyse.

“Fuck, yeah.” Cheered Berlioz. “I just got analyse.”

“From a dissection?” Oscar grinned. “Do you have the little eye symbol that I do?”

“No but, the organs are highlighted and the information I know about them is clear in my mind. Let me cut open the stomach.”

Berlioz took the monster’s stomach over to the table and placed it in a metal plate. Oscar hovered over him as he made the incision, and they found a mix of chewed up plant matter inside. Berlioz washed away the stomach acid and discarded the organ. Leaning on his novice analyse skill, he picked out the pieces of chewed up plant matter and arrayed them before Oscar.

“That one’s a common vegetable.” Said the human pointing at an orange mess of mushed up matter. “The green stuff is some kind of algae and.” He bumped Berlioz’s shoulder. “You fucking did it, bud.”

“it’s glowing blue now that you’ve confirmed it.” Berlioz gathered up the slimy grey half-digested remains and tried to make out it’s shape. “But what is it?”

“The System calls it a mojopaya.” Oscar pulled out some parchment and charcoal and began sketching. “Sounds like it’s based on an earth fruit that looks like this.”

Berlioz pocketed the parchment and returned to the spider monkey’s corpse. “If it only ate plants, why does it have these fangs.”

“There was a lot of coagulated blood in its stomach, I think it only drinks it’s prey.”

“Makes sense.” The black Panthera inspected the tail next. “Here look at this.”

At the base of the tail was a rock-solid ball the size of Berlioz’s thumb. When he pressed upon it the this absorbed a slither of his mana, and a web shot out of the monkey’s tail.

“What the fuck.” Exclaimed Oscar.

Berlioz laughed. “It’s a web generator.”

“I get that but how did you activate it?”

“Oscar, you have artificing, you should recognise a magic organ. Your mandible club has an acid generator in it’s handle.”

Oscar scratched his head. “I kinda zone out when I craft.”

Berlioz shook his head, ignoring the comment he cut the web away storing it and the corpse of the spider monkey. While the Panthera worked Oscar climbed into his hammock.

“We’ve got a meeting after the show tonight.” Said Berlioz pushing Oscar’s hammock causing it to swing uncomfortably. “Make sure you show up at both, everyone wants a chance to see you away from the fort project.”

“Can you hold the hammock still. I’m getting motion sickness.”

“Promise you’ll be there.”

“I promise”

The cheeky Panthera pushed the hammock harder and delighted at hearing Oscar yell out his name as he dropped down the hatch, exiting the tree house. Berlioz planned spend the rest of the day crafting, so he situated his workspace with a clear view of Lachi’s stage in case he lost track of time. Playing the drums in front of all the uncommon and common core Panthera that frequented Lachi’s shows made him feel like part of the clan. It didn’t matter that he was in the back, his rhythm guided the entire performance, without him Armstrong and Monk would be lost in a cacophony of discordant noise.

Arrayed around him were the corpses of the monkey, several silver blade ant workers and one big blade ant soldier. He started with the worker ants, extracting the thin sharp blades from their hard shiny mandibles and forming them into four large knives, using Anansi’s webbing to attach them to handles he formed out of the incredibly durable boar bones he had wasting space in his spare pouch. The amount of mana that was consumed crafting the knives was negligible and he quickly stowed the worker ants away and moved on to the large soldier ant.

The blades he extracted from the soldier, were thin, flat and the length of his arm, from the tip of his fingers to the top of his shoulder. Their sharpness and durability weren’t as great as Oscar’s mantis blade machetes but with Anansi’s webbing altering the blades properties, they were damn near close. Berlioz leaked mana with every motion he made. His head ached as he shaped the blade, his vision blurred as he grinded the bone handles and as he formed the D-guards out of spare mantis parts his world span. When the Panthera looked down at his creations he knew them to be two of the greatest butterfly swords that would ever be crafted. He then promptly passed out from mana exhaustion.

Waking in the system space like this had become a habit over the last couple of days and Berlioz took his time to prepare for the consequences of depleting his mana. At least he had a skill to rank up this time.

Analyse (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Wis 2

With his wisdom stat a little higher, he knew that his mana supply would grow a little and hopefully take the edge off of the coming headache. Opening his eyes to the real world he found that he was half right, his mana supply did grow but his blue bar stayed low enough to cause the sounds of chatter and the waterfalls endless crashing to make the core in his head feel like it was about to implode. If the pain wasn’t enough, he found that the fur on his cheek had become sodden and itchy from the drool he lay in.

“Did you burn out your mana, bud?” Asked Oscar.

Berlioz groggily sat up to see Oscar holding out a small vial of shimmering blue liquid. “Is that?”

“The quality is poor, but it might help with the headache.”

Wordlessly Berlioz grabbed the potion and necked it back, his mana bar shot up by half and instantly the pain and nausea dissipated. He stowed away the ant and monkey remains and watched Oscar as he admired his creations.

“Pretty good, ay.” Said Berlioz

“is this Boar bone?” Asked Oscar.

“Yeah.” Berlioz spotted Monk by the basin trying to craft his Bonechord. “I got the idea from Monk over there.”

“The Leopard?”

“We spoke about this Oscar. No one knows what these animals are” Berlioz rubbed his matted cheek fur. “Stupid monkey.”

“Oh, so you know what a monkey is.” Laughed Oscar.

“I literally just discovered it.” Berlioz paused with a thought. “Wait do you just have things like that swinging around where you come from?”

“That monkey was the size of an ape, monkeys are much smaller than that but yes, depending on the country you’re in.”

“Apes are bigger than monkeys. Is that what you are?”

“Technically yes, Humans are great apes.”

“I don’t see what’s so great about you.” Berlioz stood. “Come help me fix Monk’s bonechord.”

The ape and the cat took over the crafting much to the leopard’s delight. Monk watched as the two worked in companiable silence. With Oscar taking the lead, Berlioz spent minimal mana and the two were finished in a matter of moments, however what hey crafted wasn’t a bonechord.

Monk eyed the silver monstrosity made from ant carapace, Anansi’s webbing and Boar bone. “What in the name of Meowmere is that?”

“It’s a piano.” Said Oscar blankly.

Monk didn’t want to seem ungrateful but still he said. “I don’t know how to play the Piano.”

“I didn’t know we were building a Piano.” Added Berlioz.

Oscar shrugged. “I don’t know what to say.” He pulled a stool out of his inventory and sat before the piano. “How about we all get the skill together. We’ve got time before the show, right?”

It turned out that gaining the skill was as easy as tapping out twinkle twinkle little star and that lead Oscar to crafting a few more earth instruments, which then lead Armstrong, who wandered out of the eastern forest, to request a lesson in jazz music. One thing led to another after that and before they knew it Berlioz, Armstrong, Monk, an uncommon cored female Jaguar and a common cored male Lynx, were all playing simple nursery rhymes on every instrument Oscar had made in the tree house.

“That Bass looks good on you, Mingus.” Said Oscar to the lynx.

“Did you just?” Asked Mingus elated at the sound of his new name.

The Jaguar piped up in excitement. “I want a name.” She rushed to Oscar’s side grabbed his hand and gave him the most innocent stare she could. “Please, boss.”

“Well, that’s easy like a Sunday morning.” Oscar quipped to a room lacking laughter. “Fine, your names Simone.”

Simone looked up at him. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

“It’s a song your namesake sang.” Replied Oscar, getting an idea. “a song I know by heart. Let’s see if you can all get the singing skill at the same time.”

Together they sang echoing Oscar’s notes as well as they could and although the song was easy, the sound that filled the tree house was hard to listen to. At the end of the impromptu jam session, everyone present had gained enough skills to warrant a boar genocide.

“How many skills can you guys rank up?” Asked Oscar.

Simone answered. “I can do three.”

“Five.” said Monk.

Armstrong gave Monk a curious look. “don’t you need to rank up long swords.”

“Ok four then.” Corrected the Leopard.

Armstrong patted Monk on the back and said. “Same.”

“Only one.” Said Mingus quietly.

Berlioz let out a sinister chuckle. “All of them.”

“Alright then Ally-Cats, get a nap in, rank up and i’ll move the instruments to the stage.” Oscar swayed from the light headedness caused by his low mana as he walked out.

Berlioz let Simone sleep in his hammock while he cheekily jumped into Oscar’s, Monk took the sofa and Mingus and Armstrong curled up on the floor. There wasn’t a Panthera in the oasis that hadn’t learnt to sleep the second the opportunity arose in their ten years of enslavement, so within five minutes the tree house was filled with soft mews and roaring snores.

Double bass (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Clarinet (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Guitar (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Piano (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Trombone (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Trumpet (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Singing (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Violin (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Char 2

Berlioz watched his blazing ball of experience diminish into a small dim orb of insignificant proportions. He had to laugh, back in his dungeon it would have taken him a few weeks to gather a small amount of experience and twice as many to gain enough to level up. Stunned at the Charisma gains he had to check his character sheet.

Name: Berlioz

Monster type: Sapient Beast

Species: Panthera

Level: 5

Attributes.

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 33

Constitution: 16

Intelligence: 26

Wisdom: 20

Charisma: 32

Luck: 1

Status conditions: None

Resistance: None

Weakness: Fire

Core quality: poor

Waking first and seeing everyone still snoozing away Berlioz adopted his signature grin.

“I just doubled my charisma stat.” He yelled, to the dismay of his moaning Alleycats. “Alright you lot, we’ve got a tiger to upstage.”

When they got to the stage, they saw that Oscar had pulled George, the cheater foreman, and the rest of the Panthera from working on the fort to transform the once unimpressive stage into a stunning theatre. Each of the Alleycats picked up their pace in excitement as they spotted their preferred instruments arrayed at the back of the theatre and Berlioz had to stop as his ears betrayed him.

“So even if you speak quietly, as long as you’re standing in this spot you will be heard from the back.” Explained Oscar, marking the spot with an X.

Lachi stood on the spot and spoke out. “Acoustics are amazing.”

“Oh, hey Berlioz.” Called Oscar. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“This stage is surprising enough.” Responded Berlioz hurrying to his human’s side. “How did you get all this done so quickly?”

Oscar chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. Gather your band together I wrote some songs for you to perform.”

With the Alleycats stood shoulder to shoulder, Oscar handed each of them a few sheets of parchment. “Look, I did my best to display the rhythm you should follow but it’s jazz so as long as you all support each other it’s ok to interpret the lyrics however you like.”

“I wish I had more XP now.” Said Mingus bowing his head. “Everyone can sing except me.”

“That’s nonsense.” Oscar patted the Lynx’s head. “You’re behind the bass; that’s the soul of any performance.”

“I’ve got to sing this one.” Said Simone showing the parchment to Armstrong.

The Maine coon showed one of his to her, saying. “After that, we should sing this wonderful world one together.”

The Alleycats worked out their setlist while Oscar joined Kali, Chef and his brothers in the gathering crowd. Before long the benches that had been taken from the fort’s mess hall were full and the twenty-five audience members sat in near silence as Lachi took the stage.

Watching the tiger take his position, Oscar whispered to Kali. “The meetings cancelled tonight.” He laughed. “Something tells me the party is gunna be the wildest one yet.”

“Shh.” Hushed Chef. “It’s starting.”

The Alleycats took their positions behind Lachi and Berlioz started the show with a crash of the silver blade ant symbols on his drum kit. As the symbols rang out, Mingus strummed his bass and Simone set the scene with her clarinet.

“Allow your ears to twitch with joy.” Announced Lachi. “For tonight I shall recite a tale of the human gods.” Berlioz’s drum roll added anticipation to Lachi’s words and as the tiger spoke again, Monk tapped a smooth rhythm on the keys of his piano. “Odin watched the Norns from his seat in Asgard and envied their powers and their wisdom. And he bent his will toward the task of coming to know the runes.”

Oscar perked up at hearing one of the stories he had told Lachi while they worked. He listened on while the band added notes of mystery and intrigue, soon enough he found himself wondering about the enchanting table he had seen and cheered at the end of the story, partly for a tale well told but mostly for the story making him realize that the trick to enchanting was runic symbols.

Lachi moved on to a tale about Thor and Loki facing challenges set by the giants and eventually retold the Panthera’s favourite epic about their white lion scion and his battle against the evil grey lion. The tiger played with the emotions of the crowd with tale after tale and when he was done, he welcomed Berlioz to his spot on the stage.

“We’ve got a special treat for you all tonight.” Announced Lachi. “Everyone give it up for Berlioz and the Alleycats.”

While the tiger exited the stage and joined the crowd, Simone took over on the drums and Mingus played out a soft rhythm.

“This one goes out to the human that saved us all.” The drums rolled behind Berlioz, and he continued. “Oscar, your little brother would be proud of the hero you have become.” He summoned his guitar and sang. “Everybody wants to be a cat, because a cat’s the only cat who knows where it’s at.”

The band played with all the might of their expert skills and by the middle of the song the benches disappeared into Somone’s storage. Chef and his brothers passed around his special party potion and with a few sips the crowd started dancing. By the end of the song, the band had to play on to allow the audience to sing the outro as they partied hard.

“Everybody, Everybody, Everybody wants to be a cat.” Sang out the crowd.

Simone swapped positions with Berlioz and Armstrong wandered over with his trumpet asking. “Lioz, I gotta ask man. what’s a cat?”

“We are, Fluffles. we are.” Answered Berlioz gearing up for a drum solo.

The black Panthera gained the crowds attention with his dazzling display of dexterity, cued in the rest of the band with a tapping rhythm and crashed his symbols bringing silence to the theatre.

Just as the crowd were brought still Simone sang out. “Birds flying high, you know how I feel” the bass rolled in. “Sun in the sky, you know how I feel” Armstrong swapped his trumpet for a violin. “Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel” Berlioz and Monk waited patiently for the drop. “it’s a new dawn it’s a new day it’s a new life for me,” the band paused for Simone’s vocal solo. “ooh, and I’m feeling good.”

Simone headlined for the rest of the party, occasionally swapping out for Armstrong to sing in her, place while she downed a stamina potion. They played on and on through the night eventually ending the set with the promised duet performed by the maine coon and jaguar, and even though the music came to an end the party raged on, with almost everyone jumping into the basin with as much excitement as they felt the day they claimed their freedom.

The only Panthera that didn’t join in the late-night pool party was Berlioz. The leader of the Alleycats had a much more important task, seeing fit that Oscar had gone to bed. When he popped his head through the hatch of their treehouse, he found the silly human sleeping on the sofa, surrounded by pieces of parchment covered in odd sketches. Not wanting to wake him, Berlioz relied on his sneak skill and gathered up the sketches before laying a blanket over the snoring human.

While Berlioz smiled in his hammock, he listened to the excitable Panthera splashing around in the shallow basin and sang to himself. “What a wonderful world.”