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Assignment:
Points to distribute: 0
Powershot: 0
Rapid shot: 1
Focus: 1
Shadow bow: 7
Shadow warp: 1
Shadow shot: 7
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He had spent his points. He had split the points and distributed them to shadow bow and shadow shot. He figured that since he couldn’t buy arrows anymore, nor buy a new bow, this would be invaluable for progressing as an archer.
He activated the shadow bow ability, his tattoos strained themselves. They had gotten a lot closer to his bone, perhaps they got closer as they got more proficient. A beautifully carved black bow appeared in his left hand. The edges looked heavier than the grip, they had weight and form to them, he could seriously hurt someone with them. The string was ghastly, it moved up and down in a string like form. It was slightly lighter than the rest of the bow.
He activated a shadow arrow through his mind. The grip of an arrow appeared between his thumb and index finger. He pulled back the arrow, back and back, until he wasn’t physically capable of pulling any further. He began releasing it. Whoosh! The arrow hit the tree before he realized he let go. This bow was a huge upgrade. He deactivated the bow and it disappeared, the same for the arrow. His arrow also faded away.
Shadow barked! His tongue was out in the air, he shared Arne’s enjoyment. Arne, to celebrate, took his bow and bashed it against his knee, breaking it. He threw away the quiver, he had fully captured the skeleton look.
He wandered into the forest, Shadow following him closely behind. He felt a new confidence, they'd beat the living shit out of these pitiful goblins. Before he could kill them however, he’d need to find them.
He began jogging, he knew he had a limit to his stamina but since he couldn’t feel himself approaching the limit he made sure to be conservative.
Goblins love blood. They’re scavengers by nature, where there’s blood, there’s scavenging to be done. A single scent of blood would draw them drooling. Unfortunately, Arne had lost all his blood.
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But, he didn’t have to be the bait. The dead deer he had shot could be.
Shadow was digging into the deer. Arne walked to a tree and sat down, waiting. It didn’t take long. 10 or so minutes, and he saw dripping drool and glinting teeth.
Scavengers meant they rarely fought and when they did, it was always against something at it’s last stand. Didn’t mean it was easy. There was seven goblins. Different arms missed, some had wooden peg legs, others had a missing eye or ear. Scars over their bodies. The one in charge of the group had an eyefold.
They had ragged scuffed weapons. Makeshift bows, sharpened wooden spears. The leader, goblin 1, had a shiny axe, certainly not bought. Shadow growled loudly, he had grown, when standing on fours he was roughly the size of one goblin.
The goblins began spreading out, trying to circle Shadow. They hadn’t seen Arne yet. Suddenly, goblin 6 fell on his knees. He spat out black blood. It seemed as if an arrow had pierced through his chest, but there was no arrow. Froosh! Another arrow flew by, barely missing the neck of goblin 1. They realized there was an archer. The leader panicked and started running back.
Arne hadn’t been the only one who’d become lighter through changing his race. Shadow ran at them, and leaped over them, landing on the other side and growling. They hesitantly backed off. They were now the ones surrounded.
Goblin 1 pushed goblin 7 the weakest at Shadow. Goblin 7 hesitantly stumbled forward, he said something to goblin 1 which pissed him off. Goblin seven continued hesitantly walking forward. Whoosh! Another arrow, it hit goblin 3 in the knee.
The other goblins felt restless. They couldn’t sit still. They all charged at Shadow before it was their own turn to be shot at, goblin 3 hunched forward. Shadow used his newly gained skill, chomp, and took a clean bit off goblin 7’s neck, making him fall down in the dirt, spasming.
The other goblins stopped. Goblin 1 kicked their backs, telling them to continue. They wouldn’t. Sweat formed on their bald heads. Whoosh! Another arrow hit goblin 3, straight in the chest. He fell down.
Heck. Goblin 1 didn’t have a lot of honour, but he had a lot of pride. He realized that Archers were weak and charged backwards. The axe that was too heavy for him, balanced high in the air, was the first to hit the ground. All he saw before passed out was a skeleton. He died confused, he’d never seen a skeleton archer before.
In total.
“70+ Xp”
“Bow mastery 39/1000”
“+2 Perception”
Shadow didn’t like goblin, it tasted like cold dull meat. The black blood was a shitty sauce. However, Shadow found ripping them limb by limb, really enjoyable. Arne realized in that fight that he could hide his position well if he utilized his skill properly.
He needed to kill three more goblins. He’d have to search for the last three, nothing detracted goblins like goblin blood. Especially spilled in such volume. After Shadow had finished ripping them to parts, and Arne had rested they set off.
It was little more until the moon would fall down. They jogged in the direction the goblins had come from. When the moon had disappeared, they stumbled upon the entrance to a cave. It was a small opening. Arne would have to crawl through it to enter.
Shadow was excited to enter. His bone tail was wagging all over, it was clear he fantasized about goblin ripping. Arne was hesitant but didn’t have much time to contemplate before Shadow began moving through the hole. He got down on all fours and crawled through. He barely fit.