The next morning Bjorn is greeted by a shuffling sound around him. Opening his eyes he sees Medera moving around the cabin. Trying to pretend to be asleep, Medera looks over at him and says. “It’s no use pretending to be asleep. I heard your breathing change when you woke up. As for you, leaving your bloody pants in our bucket that we use for D R I N K I N G W A T E R, was an extremely dumb idea. Thankfully for you I saw you do it and removed it before the wood of the bucket soaked up the blood and tainted the taste of our water for the next few weeks.”

With a bit of a sheepish grin Bjorn replied. “I guess you were right, I went to a dark place for a bit there, and wasn't in my right mind. Thank you for taking care of that for me, speaking of which, what ended up happening to my pants.” Looking around he actually saw them, and the shirt neatly folded at the foot of the bed. Reaching for them, he also saw that Medera had bandaged his cut hand. “Thank you.”

“Not that I am going to complain, I haven’t seen many naked men lately, but I think you might want to cover up.”

Standing he got dressed. “Now what can I do to help you with dressing that deer, and taking care of those deathwarts.”

“I have the deer hanging outside on the back of the smoker, I cut its throat and the blood is draining, this afternoon we should skin it and debone the creature. It will be some grisly work but I’m going to have you do it because it, if i'm not mistaken, is your first kill. That is something you should take care of. As to what to do with the deathwarts, I already took care of them, 3 of them i replanted in the garden to go with the other 1 I had before, the other 5 I plucked the leaves off of them and I stored them in a pouch, the bulbs are actually hanging there.” as she pointed to the corner of the room. “Drying, they actually make a rather effective painkiller which I plan on turning them into in a few days. I’m surprised you were able to get them and didn’t die out there. Deathwarts actually grow and only propagate through consuming blood. They are a rather nasty plant to stumble onto, pretty rare. As you probably found out by the cut on your hand, their leaves are quite poisonous and have a powerful paralyzing effect. Its victims being none the wiser accidentally step on the plant, paralyzing it’s legs making the creature fall over onto the other bulbs where the other plants leaves also attack their victims and kill it through the combined poison of all the cuts. Then the plants then slowly start to absorb the blood from their kill and grow.”

With a shudder. “Yeah I found out their effects by reaching out and trying to touch the leaf. It mixed with my blood and formed a sort of orange red gel. I was able to get most of the poison out.” said Bjorn

“You're lucky it was a small cut, anything larger and you might have not been able to get the poison out yourself, once the poison runs through the paralyzed area it is a rather excruciating way to die. Also how did you find out to pick them by grabbing them by the underside? If you hadn’t been as gentle as you were you would have ruined the efficacy of the plant. Also another defense mechanism the plant has, if you had been rough to the underside of the plant it would have dropped one of its clusters of leaves near where it was being touched. The 3 leaf pattern is shaped in such a way that the leaves start to rotate as they fall, basically making a spinning blade as the leaves go rigid. I’ve seen that happen once, cut cleanly into the poor fellas wrist, almost severing his hand. There wasn’t anything I could do as I watched him die from the poison taking over his entire body over the next few minutes.”

Trying to not think about the leaves falling off and killing him. “It just seemed like the right thing to do.” replied Bjorn

With his response Medera’s head whipped up and turned towards Bjorn. “You are a dumb ass, and you are going to get yourself killed with that kind of reckless behavior. It would have been far smarter to come and get me to retrieve the deathwarts. But your reckless behavior seemed to pay off this time. Heed my warning, if you don't wisen up you are going to end up dead, and all that you’ll be good for then is feeding the wolves.”

After saying that final warning she turned on her heels and walked out of the cabin.

It was about an hour before Bjorn came to terms with his almost 3rd death in what was less than a month. Leaving the cabin Medera was nowhere in sight. Checking the other 2 buildings nothing. Not really knowing what to do he got back to digging and moving dirt in the pathway. Starting in going from shed to the storehouse. After a while Medera came wandering back into camp. Looking Bjorn up and down taking in his disheveled state.

“I see my words must have taken a toll on you someway.”

“Yes they did.” he replied. This time when he went back to work digging he had attacked the ground with such gusto and fury he had done more in that short time then he would normally do in one of his work sessions.

“You are coming along nicely.” Remarked Medera. “And on top of that you completed the first path from house to shed, nice work. Leave your tools, it is time to dress your first kill.”

They both walked to the back of the store house. There the deer's hind legs were tied together and, unnoticed to Bjorn before, was then tied to another rope which was threaded through a loop built into the back of the building where the rope was then brought down to a stone that was jutting out of the building and tied off.

“It’s a pulley system.” Remarked Bjorn.

Giving him the side eye. “Yes it is.” Medera replied with a squint. Walking forward she untied the rope attached to the stone and lowered the deer to the ground. She then began to drag the deer over towards the stream on the back of the clearing. There was a small area back there with a large flat rock that was big enough for the deer and both of them to lay stretched out on and still would be room on either end. The stone itself was set at an angle towards the stream. The surface of the rock was wet.

“Did you clean the rock?” Asked Bjorn. “Yes, if I didn't, that is a good way to spoil our meat. Let’s get to it.” pulling a short knife from her belt she handed it to Bjorn, and began to instruct him. First she led him through the process of cutting the deer open, and removing all of the important organs that left unattended could spoil the meat. Namely the intestines, esophagus, windpipe, stomach, and liver. Next she had him move up to the heart. As he got to the heart he could see his arrow had just nicked the heart.

“That was almost a perfect shot.” Said Medera. “But either way the deer was going to die, if you see there.” She pointed to the side of the heart. “Your arrow just sliced through the outer wall of the muscle. It was going to die, it was just a matter of time. You ending it’s life, although crude with the arrow in the eye, was still the most decent thing to do.”

They were able to retrieve his arrow head from inside the deer now that it was open. From there once the important parts were removed she instructed him how to skin the deer leaving the hide intact the best they could, and set it aside. Next they set about cutting the meat from the bones, and cutting the meat into usable pieces.

Finally she instructed him on how to remove the remaining gore from the inside of the pelt. Setting it aside to be taken care of later. All of the work was oddly calming, and methodical. It wasn’t as bad as Bjorn was expecting it to be. By hanging the deer up most of the blood had drained out of the animal, making it not as bloody of work as he was expecting it to be. It felt good to be able to say all of that meat is now ready to be cooked all because of the effort of his own hands.

The deer initially weighed a little over 120 lbs. Which explained how exhausted he was when he got back to camp. Bjorn’s stamina must have been close to bottoming out. After the deer was dressed there was roughly 55 lbs of usable meat. Looking at his work he smiled and looked over to Medera who was smiling back. “We aren’t done yet, we can’t let this meat spoil.” She then grabbed two bags that she brought with her and started filling one with meat. Kneeling next to her, Bjorn started to do the same. With all their meat in bags they took it back to the smoker, Opening the grate they walked into the small chamber and started to unpack the meat onto small shelves. With all of the meat on the shelves. They went back around outside and opened a small door set in the stone. They quickly built a fire inside the cubby and shut the door.

“We will have to check in on the fire every 15 to 20 minutes for the rest of the day to properly preserve the meat. That is your job, as for me. I have to build us a drying rack for the hide. The hide itself isn’t overly useful for us, but once it gets closer to fall I need to head into town to stock up for winter. We can take it with us and get it turned into leather.”

Nodding they both set to their tasks. That is when Bjorn decided to check his prompts.

You have gained the skill: Stealth. With this skill you become one with the shadows. Shadows become your play thing. There are reasons people fear the dark, they never know if there is a master of stealth in a dark corner preparing to take them out.

You have stuck a level 4 deer with a sneak attack. Extra damage is applied.

You have critically stuck a level 4 deer.

You are awarded 102 (base 82) Xp for killing a helpless level 4 deer.

Congratulations you have advanced your skill level in Survival, reaching levels 3 and 4. You are now more likely to see dangerous situations before you are in them.

The rest of the day was fairly boring. Standing around adding wood to the fire, and then waiting again. After a few hours Medera came around the corner and informed Bjorn that she had finished the drying rack and had set the hide to dry. After that they sat down and dove into another language lesson for the rest of the day.

As the sun was starting to set, Medera turned towards Bjorn, slapped her thighs and said. “Well I suppose.” and stood to head inside. Hurriedly following after Bjorn got up. That was when they heard a splash coming from the river behind them. Slowly turning around they saw a tall thin willowy creature standing in the stream. The creature had long crystalline looking limbs, 6 in total, with other smaller tentacles of dark crystalline structure moving around its body. The limbs attached to a large oblong ball in the center, in the front of the ball there was a gaping hole with a soft purple light emanating from it. There were 3 smaller pins of purple light ringing the hole. The creature had an unnatural way of moving, as it moved forward it pulled one of its legs back into its main body and the limb grew out of the front of the body and stepped onto the ground. The entire thing was around 4 feet tall. Its shape and movement reminded him of the aliens from the Tom Cruise movie The edge of tomorrow, which everyone called live, die, repeat for some reason.

The creature started to move around the large rock they used to dress the deer. “What is that thing?” asked Bjorn. Looking over at Medera, he could see that she was agitated, with a look of fear on her face she grabbed Bjorn by the arm.

“Get inside.” She said forcefully in a low whisper.

The creature moved over to the pile of bones that was left. As it loomed over the pile, it slowly lowered the front half of its body towards the pile. The purple light got more intense and the bones started to get sucked into its maw one at a time. There was an awful sucking sound, similar to what the movies depict mummies breathing. As the bones got into the maw there were snapping and crunching sounds of the bones being devoured. The most unnatural thing was there was no discernible movement from the creature. It was eating the bones but wasn’t moving.

Turning towards Bjorn “Go!” she said and pushed him with surprising strength. Stumbling backwards he turned back towards the creature and slowly backed away all the while keeping an eye on the monster. Medera followed after him.

Once they got around to the front of the building Medera directed Bjorn to the shed. Opening the door as quietly as he could, they both slipped inside. Once in there she said, “That is a small mauler, grab your bow and what arrows you have left, and your sword. If it attacks we could very well be in trouble.”

Nodding Bjorn quickly did as she asked, he strapped the belt with his sword to his waist, the quiver on his back and held the bow in his hand. Heading back to Medera, she grabbed a long bladed knife off the shelf and handed it to Bjorn. “In case you lose your sword and bow, this creature likes to get close, if it gets in close to you drop your sword and go for the knife, it will do you better than nothing.”

Reopening the door they slowly walk out back into the clearing. They started to make their way towards the well, all the while they were keeping an eye towards the stream. By this time the crunching sounds had stopped and it was eerily quiet. All of the normal sounds of the forest were gone. Almost as if the forest itself was holding its breath waiting to see what happened.

After a few minutes they both began to relax. That was when the creature appeared at the top of the smokers chimney. Looking down inside the chimney. Swearing softly, Medera said, “Alright we can’t let that thing get inside and eat all of our food, it has an insatiable hunger and will clean us dry. It is a Juvenile one so we might be able to take it down. If I fall, run, run as fast as you can, you have no hope of surviving without my help.” Nodding to show he understood she continued, “Now draw your bow, on the count of 3 shoot at it, if you can try and get your arrow down its throat. Ready? You count.” Nodding back again, Medera began to chant, as that familiar dark green glow started to surround Medera’s hands. “1” The green glow started to turn into green tendrils that were reaching for the ground. “2” Touching the ground they began to bury themselves into the dirt as the soil began to tremble around them. “3!” Bjorn shouted as he released his arrow. At the exact same time 3 stones long and thin burst forth from the ground flying towards the monster faster than the arrow. Turning towards the sound the monster reacted much too slowly. The first stone caught it on the side of its head, the second went down its maw, and the 3rd glanced harmlessly off the top of its head. As for the arrow it slammed into one of its legs and held fast. There was a scream as the monster turned and threw itself off the roof directly at the 2 of them.

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Medera didn’t waste a second and began to chant another spell. Bjorn on the other hand tried to remove an arrow from his quiver and the tip got caught. Trying to struggle to remove the arrow he wasted precious seconds, as the creature had already closed half the distance. Giving up he dropped his bow and drew his sword. When the creature was 10 feet away thick vines sprung forth from the ground and grabbed a hold of the mauler, 6 vines in total latched onto the monster bringing its momentum to a halt. 3 of the vines managed to get ahold of the body, while the other 3 got ahold of its limbs. The vines then began to constrict and pull downwards trying to pull the creature to the ground.

Moving forward for a swing the monster launched one of its tentacles at him. One of the limbs that was bound from the vine retracted into its body faster than Bjorn could react and the tentacle grew in length shooting straight for his chest. Trying to dodge the tentacle he dove to the side, but the tentacle was too fast for him to fully react to and its tip pierced his chest right below his collar bone.

The tentacle began to retract, pulling Bjorn with it. With a startled grunt of pain he raised his sword and brought it down on the tentacle. To little effect. His health bar dropped by a quarter going to 2/3rds and it continued to drop as the tentacle tried to widen inside his body. That was when another volley of the stones slammed into the creature. By now its other 2 legs had retracted back into its body then slammed back into the ground, and began to strain trying to free itself from the vines.

Raising his sword for another swing he bellowed out and swung down, the blade sinking into the limb, not doing enough damage to sever it. He began to swing down over and over again trying to free himself, but the angle at which he was swinging didn’t provide much purchase to deal damage.

There were groaning sounds as the vines began to give way. There was a snap, and then another. That was when dropping his sword Bjorn grabbed at his knife and slashed at the tentacle, this time there was a satisfying “slick” as his knife finished the job his sword couldn’t do. Finally free from the monster pulling him in he could feel the tentacle go limp inside his body. Not having time to worry about it, as he fell backwards.

One final snap could be heard as the monster turned towards the now prone man and lunged at his fallen form, going for the head. With a yell he moved the knife into the path of the creature as his arm sunk into its maw. There was a crunching sound as pain shot up his arm, it had latched onto his arm as the knife dug deep into its body. With one final convulsion the monster’s strength left it as it died.

Moving quickly Medera was at his side. “Are you alive? Please don’t be dead. I’d hate to have to dig a grave your size.”

Looking up into Medera’s concerned face with tears in his eyes Bjorn said. “Gesh, it’s nice to know you care so much about my well being.” laying back onto his back. That is when he felt the tentacle push back into his body. With a scream he moved onto his side.

Medera looked at his back, got quiet and said wait here, and scuttled off. Less than a minute later she was back at his side. She had a vial in her hands and held his head back, uncorked the vial and poured the contents down Bjorn’s throat.

With her other hand she presented a wooden dowel. “Bite down on this, I'm going to try to remove its limb from you. Not even really knowing what was happening, Bjorn bit down on the dowel.

Medera maneuvered him onto his side. Placed her knee right below the pained area and said. “On the count of 3, 1, 2…” on two she yanked hard on something on the other side of his back. With a scream he blacked out.

Coming back to his senses Bjorn was still in pain. Opening his eyes he hadn’t moved, Medera had a cloth pressed firmly into his shoulder front and back side. The corpse of the monster was still attached to his right arm around the biceps. Feeling his arm still enclosed in the belly of the monster.

Trying to move to remove his arm, Medera told him to stop. “If you keep moving like that this wound won't close and you’ll bleed all over the place, it doesn’t look life threatening, but I just cleaned your clothes. I'm not going to have you bleed all over them again. Settling in until he got the go ahead Bjorn reflected on the fact that he was still alive. With the way Medera had talked about this creature he thought for sure they were both going to die.

“You know we got lucky right? I especially got lucky.” Said Medera. “Without you here there was no way I could have won, I either would have died, or I would have had to leave my home.”

“Oh? Are you trying to say what I think you’re trying to say?”

“Don’t push your luck, boy.”

“A simple thank you would suffice.” said Bjorn with a grin, which quickly turned into a grimace as Medera pushed her finger into his wound.

“Oops, sorry my fingers just slipped.” Medera replied with a way too sweet tone.

Narrowing his eyes “Anyways, how long before I can get my arm out of this creature.”

“Just a minute more, the wound has almost closed over.”

“What did you give me?”

“A healing potion.”

Giving Medera a look of incredulity, “You’ve had healing potions this entire time and I’ve had to heal the slow way? Why not give me one sooner?”

“See if you can puzzle it out yourself.”

“They are rare?”

“Give me strength to deal with this dumbass.” Medera said under her breath. “Okay, healing potions take time to make, they are quite literally life in a bottle. Before I knew nothing about you, why would I spare my resources to save your life. The potion I just gave you could potentially have saved my life in the future. With how weak you are, that hole in your body would have killed you. If that tentacle was removed you would have bleed out before your wound could ever heal. It is also more efficient to let you heal on your own. That potion was the strongest one I owned. If you don’t feel the pain, how can an idiot like you ever learn?”

Pulling the cloth away from the wound there was unblemished skin where there had been a gaping hole. “Alright now let's see about getting that monster off of your arm.” Medera stood and walked over to the other side of Bjorn, taking a knee she placed one hand on either side of his arm grabbing the creature's jaw and began to pull. The pressure on his arm lessened but the pain remained. After a few seconds she let go, “Huh it doesn’t seem to want to let go. Give me that knife.” Looking around, not seeing it she held out her hand to Bjorn.

“Look, I’d love to hand it to you but there is one issue, it’s kind of stuck inside this creature.”

“Oh, duh, hold tight, let me go get that knife we used to process that deer earlier.” In a few moments she was back to his side with the knife. She looked at the creature and took the knife and inserted it to the side of its maw and began to slowly work back and forth. The knife slowly cut the mouth and the pressure lessened. “Stubborn little bastard, its jaw mussel is still clenched. Let me get the other side too.” After she cut the other side she set the knife down and grabbed the top and bottom of the maw again and pried. This time the pressure really lessened. Until there was an audible snap and the pressure went away fully.

Finally being able to remove his arm, Bjorn did so. As he retrieved his arm it was covered in a slick black fluid, and his arm still had puncture wounds. “Hey why didn’t the healing potion heal these wounds while it was at it?”

“Healing potions are wonderful, so is healing magic, but as wonderful as they are, they aren’t able to heal wounds that still have objects in them. At least the magic I’ve heard about, and my potions. I have heard of strong potions and powerful magic that are able to ignore those rules, but for now think of them as that. As long as there is an foreign object in the wound it won't heal. By the time we were able to get the mauler off of your arm the magic from the potion had worn off.”

“So life saving, but they aren’t the answer to all problems and injuries. Got it.”

“Also be of use and try to get as much of that blood on your arm into this vial, i'm going to go get more. The stuff is useful.” Returning with more vials ,they tried to get as much of the creature's blood as they could. In total they were able to get 23 full vials. The creature's blood had the viscosity of used motor oil, and a color of pitch blackness. “Go clean yourself off and go start dinner. I still have some dirty work to do. Oh also take this inside with you.” She handed over the piece of tentacle Medera removed from Bjorn's body.

At the tip of the tentacle it was barbed. When it had punctured through his body it had been a point. Apparently maulers have more control over the shape of their bodies than Bjorn realized. The barbed tip had 4 total sides to it, with the ends of the points hooked back on themselves. It was no wonder he wasn’t able to pull himself away from the mauler, it morphed its tentacle in such a way that it wouldn’t be able to be pulled out without considerable damage to his own body.

Going back outside with the pot to get water to boil Bjorn saw Medera standing over the mauler with the dagger in hand sawing the creature up through the middle. She was covered up to her elbows from the blood and gore from the creature. Getting his water he went back inside and set to making a stew of tubers and meat. That was when Bjorn decided to check his notifications. Gaining a cascade of prompts and a new sound which he hadn’t heard before, it was a monotone voice like the ones in cheap indie video games saying “level up.”

You have been impaled by a level 11 juvenile mauler, suffering 25 points of piercing damage.

You are bleeding you will lose health at a rate of 3 health per 10 seconds until the wound is closed.

You have been bitten by a level 11 juvenile mauler, suffering 8 points of piercing damage.

You have defeated a level 11 juvenile mauler. You have gained 2,996 (base 2397) XP.

Level up

Level up

You are now level 3, you have 6 (base 8) attribute points to distribute.

You have taken a weak health potion. You will gain 8 health back per second for the next minute.

The object you have been impaled by has been removed and your bleeding has worsened. You will lose 9 hp per 1 seconds for the next 7 minutes

The healing magic from the healing potion has reduced this bleeding damage to 6 damage per 2 seconds for the next 45 seconds.

You have gained the skill: Small blades. There are few things more deadly than a small blade in the wrong hands. With a quick cut to the wrong place someone will bleed out in seconds. Being small and easy to conceal, it won't do you much good in a battle, but they are perfect for back alleys and shanking some bitches.

Due to all of the wisdom you have been getting by letting yourself get hurt over and over again, you have gained 1 point in wisdom.

This mother fucker, “You know I am not letting myself get hurt thank you every much.” Bjorn said to no one at all. Finally, a level up. “Although I don't need a reminder about the weak demerit, those 2 lost skill points are really aggravating. Fuck you Charron.” Thought Bjorn.

A booming voice replied, “No one likes a whiner, you twat. You’ll thank me later.”

Jumping back in surprise, and looking around the cabin itself hadn’t moved, nothing was out of place. Poking his head out the door he yelled to Medera, “Did you just hear that?”

Rooting around inside the corpse of the mauler she yelled back, “Hear what?”

“Nevermind.” Ducking his head back inside he decided to let it go, no use dwelling on what was obviously an obsessed god like being who wouldn’t leave him alone. Pulling up his character screen he debated on where to put his points

Name:Bjorn Ward

Race:Human

age:18

Hp:92/100

Stamina:22/90

Mana:100

Strength:10

Constitution:10

Dexterity:9

Agility:9

Endurance:11

Intelligence:10

Wisdom:10

Charisma:9

Abilities

Increased growth

Skilling Prodigy

Disadvantage

Demerit: Weak

Synergy

Latent potential

Skills

Archery: 2: 47%

Construction: 1: 56%

→Road building:1: 47%

Cooking: 2: 41%

Healing: 1: 27%

Herb-Lore: 1: 89%

Small blades: 1: 48%

Stealth: 1: 26%

Survival: 1: 4%

Swordsmanship: 1: 90%

Looking at his character sheet he decided on putting 2 into dexterity, 2 into agility, and although it hurt him to do so 2 into charisma. A small part of his gamer side bitched about putting his points into something as weak as charisma, but this isn’t a video game. It is real life and he had to live in it. His interactions with Medera had literally saved his life more than once, and if he wanted to continue to live he would need the help of those around him to do so.

“Besides, I'm sure the points in charisma will help with the ladies.” Thought Bjorn, immediately he thought of the short old cranky dwarf woman he was living with. “On second thought scratch that last part.” With a shudder he went back to slowly stirring the stew he was cooking.

Not long after Medera came waltzing in, with a bit of a bounce, carrying a fist size almost round ball, Setting the ball down on the table, she asked “Supper ready?” She had cleaned herself up before coming in to eat.

“It’s ready, I was about to go tell you to go wash up to come eat. What’s that?”

“That ball is the heart of the beast. It will fetch us a pretty penny when we go into town to trade.” Slowing down when she was talking she looked Bjorn up and down. “You’ve leveled up, and you put some points into charisma. Wise choice. What else did you put points into?”

“Dexterity and agility.” Replied Bjorn. “I’m tired of being so slow to react, slow to move and feeling like a clumsy oaf in my own body.”

“Smart choice, I was going to suggest doing something along those lines. Those two attributes are hard to train in this environment. It will be a long slow process with a lot of slips and falls running through the forest. Strength, that one is easy for us to train, just keep working on your paths, it will work like a charm.”

Not quite in the mood to be lectured after Charron and apparently his prompts decided to make a comment about the way his life has been going he replied with a simple, “Yep” and moved on eating dinner.

They ate in silence and afterwards Medera took the bed and Bjorn sprawled out on the floor drifting to sleep.