Strength is perhaps the most straightforward of the seven attributes. If you o hit something harder or pick up something heavy, this is your attribute. As the saying goes, if strength doesn’t solve the problem, you probably don’t have enough.- Excerpt from The Adventurer’s Guide, Third Edition

  Mato “I’ll go first,” Mato said, standing at the threshold. He leaned back a bit to gaze at the giant arched doorway high overhead and the remains of once great doors past which he could see nothing but darkness. Hundreds of bone creatures fled with an eerie, skittering chorus of tapping cws as he picked his way around the rubble and through the giant arched doorway, dragging ’s magical light behind him as if it were a balloon on a string attached to his back. Harsh shadows turned and shifted, and as he walked, he wondered how long it must have been sihis pce had seen any light.

  ’s mote of light rose, pushing back the boundary of the vast darkness, yet never reag the edges. Bone-encrusted lumps that may have once been desks or chairs y scattered haphazardly about. strus that may have been shelves were now covered with the thick gray-white of bes and protruding spikes, clear evidehat the Spitter Drones had holed up in here. If Ali had not called it a library, Mato would never have guessed. Iing the walls and the floors were hundreds of small white worm-like creatures crawling over everything, some as big as his outstretched hand. A muted, tinuous g sound welled up in the dark as if something were chewing – the kind of ermites made if you listened closely to a dead tree. Only, this was louder. Much louder.

  Bone Worm – Elemental – level 1

  More creepy creatures. They looked like oversized tipedes but with a segmented bone carapace, making them more simir to their giant Spitter Drone cousins. As he examihem more closely, he could see that many of them retreated into holes burrowed into the encrusted bone.

  He ventured further in, making room for the others to follow. His feet ched on the bes c the ground, no doubt weakened by the burrowing Bone Worms. raised the light orb further, illuminating the ossified remains of shelves, bookstands, and desks strewween them and a distant railing encirg a dark yawning hole. He couldn’t see the other side, but by the way the railing curved away into the distance, he could tell that the dark space – an atrium – was vast.

  Large pilrs supported a spiral stoaircase that circled the outer rim of the atrium, leading off beyond the reach of their light both far above, and into the darkness below. Much of the visible staircase and the pilrs were covered with stactites or icicles of hardened bone. Every avaible spa the s outer walls was crammed with tiny walkways, the remains of dders and shelves, mostly covered with boending up well beyond his visible range.

  “How is this pce so huge?” he whispered, feeling small, dwarfed by the vastness. It was clear that some powerful magic was involved, but the fact that it still stood amazed him even more than the sheer scale.

  “This was the most important library in the world,” Ali answered, her hushed voice hitg.

  Mato g her, saddened by the visible pain piched in her wide-eyed stare at the remains of the library.

  A flicker of white and a fsh of movement from behind the shelves on their left and Mato was instantly transf into his Bear Form. What emerged from behind the bone-encrusted shelves could only be described as a nightmare – a mohat existed for no other purpose than sshing, stabbing, and killing.

  The creature was a broad, fifteen-foot-long, bone-white scorpion. It walked on six razor-sharp segmented legs that sliced deeply into the bone floor making a grinding ch with every heavy step. In pce of the usual pincers for fs, this monster had two segmented bone spears that gleamed in the dim light, held up in a way that reminded Mato of a praying mantis. Arg gracefully up from the back, its tail rose way overhead, ending in a wickedly serrated, sword-like bde.

  The mandibles clicked together as it turs head and fixed far too many dark, gleaming eyes on him. The moment it caught sight of him, it let out a pierg hiss and charged.

  Piercer Scorpion – Elemental – level ??

  Mato roared to draw its attention away from his friends and charged toward the monster. His cws tore up a spray of bone dust and shards from the force of his skill’s acceleratio his momentum carry him past the moaking a powerful passing swipe at its mandibles as he shifted it sideways so that it was no longer fag his friends. The creature lunged, stabbing with its raised frontal spear legs. They darted forward in a blur, moving so fast Mato could barely register the attacks. The left missed, tearing a furrow through the bone-encrusted ground as easily as stabbing butter. Shards sprayed his legs to the sounds of loud g. The right spear drew a long slice of burning pain down his left fnk, sending his blood spshing crimson onto the gray ground. He swiped again, emp his attack with Brutal Restoration, but his cws bounced iually off the dense boe armor. Only his nature magietrated at all. He felt the soft pulse of his restoration, but his skill was depe on the amount of damage he did, and he hadn’t done a great deal with that strike.

  A blur and a subtle flicker were all the warning he received before the monster’s tail shed down, impaling the serrated bde through his back. The pain threateo overwhelm him as the bloody bde burst from his belly, pierg through his entire body and embedding itself into the stone below his feet. He struggled helplessly, pio the floor by the monster’s tail. With a flick, the Piercer Scorpion pulled its tail back, flinging Mato over teo crash into a shelf, knog it over and sending his blood spraying across the floor and the wall. Desperately, he struggled to his feet, fighting against the pain of his grievous wound, but his legs were not w correctly. The creature blurred again as it rushed him, spears flickering as it aggressively pressed its attack.

  Mato was knocked down again, his legs twitg untrolbly from the damage to his spine. He couldn’t even feel pain in the lower half of his body. Suddenly, Malika stood beside him. Seeming fused by the appearance of a sed target, the Piercer Scorpioated, and the burning rush of Malika’s healing magic surged through Mato’s body. He twitched and spasmed as his damaged flesh and punctured ans were forcibly restructed. Sensatiourned in a rush, and all he could do was groan in fresh agony. Malika dodged two spear strikes as the monster switched tiving him just enough time tain his feet. He growled, sshing with the cws of his right forepaw. The monster shed out toward him again. Malika backed off, but Mato’s attention was fully focused on the scorpion.

  Thanks, Malika. He knew she couldn’t hear him, but he had been mere inches from death. If she hadn’t stepped in right then, he k would have been over. He could only imagihe ce it must have taken to see him crushed, and then to step into harm’s way to help him, knowing that she had signifitly less health and armor than he did. If she hadn’t dodged, she might have been on the floor dying beside him.

  I still o get stronger. He roared his frustration and nded another Swipe attack, doing pitifully little damage to the heavily armored monster, p mana into Brutal Restoration in a vain effort to build up his healing in case he took another hit. The Piercer Scorpion shed out again, spear limbs moving so fast he couldn’t evehe strikes that sshed his shoulders. But he did see something.

  The bde tips blur before they move!

  It was the smallest tell. He would o dodge preemptively, guessing where the strike would nd, but it was something. His wary eyes locked onto the ever-threatening tail-bde that hovered high above, curved to strike.

  There!

  The twit the tail and blur from the bde was the only warning he had, and he immediately dodged sideways, brag himself. More deadly than anything he had seen so far, if he allowed that tail to nd, he was likely dead. The tail bde whipped down, slig deep, juddering across his rib bones and causing a gout of blood to shoot forth, yet another spsh of crimson against the gray of the bone floor. As deep as the wound was, it failed to limit his movement, and he blocked the follow-up crisscross sshes from the frontal spears. He dumped more mana into Brutal Restoration as he struggled to do enough damage to power his healing skill.

  Twin thundercps and brilliant fshes told him the shamans had arrived. The Piercer Scorpion screeched as shards and splinters of bone fountained from a blinding impact against the left side of its thorax, some even drawing blood as they buried themselves in his fnk. The sharp stench of ozone and scorched bone hung heavy in the air. A shiny gleam and k told Mato precisely where the shamans had dropped their totems. Mato shifted sideways, drawing the Piercer Scorpion a little closer just as the two steel totems began to pulse their Lightning Novas.

  Mato deflected one of the blindingly fast spear strikes, missing the sed and taking a deep gash to his shoulder. He caught himself before he stumbled – a death sentence against this monster – and spent even more of his preana to attack again. The bright red of Ali’s Fire Mages, a barrage of her golden magid the bright fshes of ’s arrows lit the side of the white bone creature. With everyone engaged now, and the volume of magical damage keeping the regeion of the boe armor at bay, Mato finally nded a big Swipe powered with his Brutal Restoration, feeling the strong upti the power of his healing magic.

  Finally! Damn, I hat.

  He shifted to a more defeance, l his ter of gravity and prioritizing blog. He rationed his dwindling mana, fog only on strikes that could build his healing, rather than filing against the heavy ptes of bone armor c much of the scorpion’s body. Attentively, he studied his enemy, alert for any edge on anticipating the deadly attacks. The tail blurred and Mato blocked, taking a deep wound to his left shoulder. Bad, but not debilitating.

  Suddenly, the creature’s tail reared up and poioward him, the frontal spears held crossed in a defensive guard. Qui the uptake, Malika unleashed a powerful sequence of kicks from behind the back legs, impag the left side of its abdomen.

  “Magic!” Ali’s voice echoed through the library.

  The tail fshed with light and a spear of bohe length of his arm appeared out of thin air, shooting downward and pung through his leg before Mato could eve. He wrenched his leg, snapping the spear, and burhe st of his mana for another Brutal Restoration-powered Swipe taking advantage of a minuscule gap in the monster’s guard. Malika darted in, giving him a clutch heal just in time for him to avoid the strike. Her aggressive healing magic spat out the remaining shards of the bone spear from his leg as it repaired the wound. He was alive – for now – but he had spent the st of his mana. There would be no more Brutal Restoration. This was turning into one ugly scrap.

  He braced, blog a spear strike, and taking a shallow wound across his left shoulder. He terattacked, but his cws barely peed the regeing armor. The tail twitched, blurring and he blocked, but it, too, left a gash across his right fnk that dripped blood down onto the floor beh him. Mato roared, using his atta a ot just to ehat the monster would not turn around aroy his friends. It was only a matter of time and luow. Sooner or ter, he would fail to defle attad take a wound that would hamper his movement – and then it would all be over.

  “Mato, heal!” Ali yelled.

  Sorry, I’m tapped out.

  The Piercer Scorpion lunged forward, both spear-arms blurring with attacks. Both of which Mato misread. Razor-sharp spears of bone punctured his body through the ribs oher side causing him to stagger. I guess it was sooner, not ter. His fatalistic thought was interrupted by Malika stepping up to him. She quickly dodged a tail strike and backed off, but not before he felt the burning rush of her healing magic tearing through his body to repair the wounds.

  “Is he out of mana?” sounded worried.

  “I think so,” Malika answered. “I’ll keep healing him.”

  “Ali, you get some fireballs in there without hurting anyone?” called. “We o kill this thing soon.”

  “Yup, I’ll move the rogues and shamans.”

  In respohree roiling balls of fire lit the entire side of the library with their intense red glow. A few moments ter, the fireballs shot forward impag the back of the scorpion with deafening explosions. Even as far away as he was, Mato took damage from the cussion wave and flying gobs of fme. Twin Lightning Bolts fshed across the room, tearing scorched ks of armor from the monster’s carapace. The scorpion reeled back, briefly stunned.

  Malika dodged in and healed him once again, using her agility to dodge back out before she got attacked. As Mato’s eyes and ears recovered, the tail shot up again and the spear legs retracted defensively.

  Not again! How tough is this thing? He coiled in readiness.

  “Magic!” Ali called again.

  It came to him then, in a fsh of inspiration. Perhaps, if he had not been so low on mana and pressured by this creature, he would have discarded the idea as crazy, but Mato suddenly realized he had a couple of seds while the monster summos magic. He dropped his Bear Form, retrieved a mana potion from his ring, and dowhe ehing in one gulp. Theriggered his transformation bato Bear Form and luo the side, trying to block the ining bone spear.

  Fortunately, his transformation was quiough, and he avoided being impaled by a whisker. The spear smmed into the ground, cutting a deep gash along his hindquarters. As he felt his mana tick up, Mato shed out, building up his Brutal Restoration once again.

  That was stupid, even for you, Mato. He had no idea if that had been a smart idea, or critically stupid. If he had been struck while in his Beastkin form, he would undoubtedly have been killed. He barely had any armor in that form – but it had worked, and now he had just a little breathing room to heal himself again. A bright arrow whizzed by and cracked against the bes an inch above one of the scorpion’s many dark eyes.

  It took two more rounds of fireballs and lightning bolts before one of the fireballs peed through the carapad detonated ihe creature. Boes flew everywhere, some even stabbing through his armored hide. The elemental moumbled. There was some yelling in the background and a stream of magical attacks, and a breath or two ter the creature cttered to the ground in a heap of bony legs and shattered armor.

  His chime sounded, but Mato ig for now and shifted back to normal, breathing a deep sigh of relief. He was almost out of mana agaie having used the mana potion with his risky mid-bat shift trick. He sat right where he was, breathing hard, and looked up only when Malika stopped by to che him.

  “You saved me.” He stared at her for a long moment. “Thank you.”

  “Any time,” she said, spping his shoulder lightly. “Your potion trick was crazy.” She grinned. “Crazy good.”

  He grinned back. It was crazy. Now that he thought about it, so much could have gone wrong, but if he hadn’t done something, he would have been so far up the creek he wouldn’t have been worried about paddles.

  His attention drifted inward to his notifications. Time to see if this was worth it.

  Yroup has defeated Shield Warrior – Kobold – level 20.…Yroup has defeated Piercer Scorpion – Elemental – level 28.

  Druidic Shapeshifter has reached level 20.+10 attribute points.

  Oh, twenty! Finally! Guess I should’ve paid more attention to my notifications. Quickly he spent three points ea vitality and wisdom, and then sidering the dangerous battle he had just survived, he spent two ea endurand perception. Hopefully, he would be a little tougher and maybe he could get better at reading the tells in bat.

  Swipe has reached level 14.Bear Form has reached level 12.Bestial bat has reached level 14 (+2).Natural Prowess has reached level 10 (+2).

  Identify has reached level 7.

  Mato bit his lip, trying to tain his risiement. This has been a while ing. Now, let’s see…

  Css skill slot unlocked.

  New skills are avaible for Druidic Shapeshifter.

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 20.Ear least 15 skill levels with Shapeshifter trait skills.Experienced extensive bat in a shapeshifted form.Panther FormStamina: Shapeshift into a panther. You gain Bite, Rake, and Ambush attacks. Your attack speed is increased in Panther Form, and you use stealth. Reserve: 20%Nature, Shapeshift, Buff, Dexterity

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 20.Wisdom has surpassed 35.Healed more than three different allies in the same fight.HealMana: el your mana to heal your target. Range: 60 feet.Nature, Ranged, Healing, eled, Wisdom

  New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 20.Perception has surpassed 20.Survived magically enhatacks while enduring impaired senses.Survival InstinctYour natural senses of sight, hearing, and smell are signifitly enhanced. You have a sixth sense about ining attacks, how much damage they will do, and how to move to mitigate the most damage. Range: SanctuaryNature, Physical, Perception

  Another form? Mato got up and slowly limped over to where the others were gathered, taking a sed to re-read his notifications and the descriptions of the new skills he was being offered.

  “Get anything nice?” Ali asked.

  Mato said, “Uh, how did you –”

  “Grin about this wide.” The little Fae spread her hands with a chuckle.

  Unsurprisingly, his perceptive friends had noticed his level almost immediately. “Yes,” he said and shared all his skill choices with them – the three new ones, and Wrath of Nature and Primal Rage which he had previously passed over or discarded, but were still avaible for him to choose if he wanted.

  He had his favorite, but he wao hear what the others thought. If it were entirely up to him, he would pick based on his gut instinct, but the others often thought of reasons he would never have sidered.

  “Seems like a pretty easy choice,” Malika said. “I would go with Survival Instinct. You don’t seem to do much fighting from the back, so Wrath and Heal wouldn’t be your style.”

  “You ran out of mana in that st fight,” Ali said. “Do you think Survival Instinct would have helped with that?”

  “Yes,” Mato said. “Definitely. If I could have avoided more of those attacks, I wouldn’t have been in such a desperate o heal myself. When I just let Brutal Restoration keep me topped up, it’s much easier on my mana.”

  Mato looked over to . “What do you think?”

  took a moment with a furrowed brow before speaking. “I think it depends on what you want to do. Your css seems to offer you an enormous amount of versatility. You have choices that allow healing or damage from melee ed. You swits for a whole variety of roles. How you choose should depend on how you want to grow your css – specializing will make you stronger, but less versatile. Survival Instinct is only useful if yetting hit. So, if you want to stick with tanking, I agree it’s the best choice. Oher hand, variety would require spreading your attributes out more and being less focused on any one role.”

  As usual, had to be prompted to share his opinion, but his ideas were well thought out. Mato sidered the versatility of the ranged healing and the stealth of the Panther Form. What do I really want?

  “Do you like tanking?” Ali asked him.

  “I think so, why?”

  “Don’t you have a Wolf Form that you barely ever use? Maybe you like tanking more than you think? I mean, I see that Wolf’s kind of a useful backup form for different situations.”

  She’s right. I pretty muly ever use my Bear. Mato sidered. But I do like my Wolf Form… Survival Instinct had been his intuitive choice. He hadn’t even sidered that it wouldn’t be used at all while he was in his Wolf Form – a form he used for scouting, or occasionally damage when he wasn’t being hit. Well, the passive sense enha would be nice. Might be good to use Wolf a bit more so it doesn’t fall behind. At least, that’s what would say.

  was trying to get him to think about his long-term growth, rather than just pig whatever felt right. The problem would be pig a role and a specialization that suited him.

  Do I really want to be a tank? It was the right role for the team. But if he made his choices based on this team, and they ged groups ter, he might find himself far too ied to ge. This kind of thinking hurt his head.

  “You pick it now, and if you want to ge your role, you s out the skill. You just lose the skill levels.” Ali reminded him.

  Just like when he had sed Primal Rage for Bestial bat. It would be a setback if he o ge, but right now he didn’t see himself in any other role, and it felt right. As long as he didn’t go too long before itting to his decision, she robably right.

  “Ok, I’ll give Survival Instinct a try.” I guess now I o i in perception more often. He already wanted vitality and endurance for resiliend survivability, strength for power, and wisdom for mana aance against taunts. Attributes are hard, he thought, switg to his Bear Form to check his status.

  Name: Mato BahrRace: BeastkinActive Buffs: Bear Form, Natural Prowess

  Css: Druidic Shapeshifter – level 20- Arboreal Sanctuary – level 11- Swipe – level 14- Brutal Restoration – level 12- Bear Form – level 12- Wolf Form – level 4- Bestial bat – level 14- Natural Prowess – level 10- Survival Instinct – level 1- [Locked]- [Locked]

  General Skills- Identify – level 7- Cooking – level 5- Wilderness Lore – level 6

  Aptitudes- Languages: o- Mana (Affinity): Nature- Strong (Racial): +7 tth- Tough (Racial): +10 to Endurance

  Attributes- Vitality: 138 (+48)- Strength: 80 (+28)- Endurance: 97 (+34)- Dexterity: 8- Perception: 22- Intelligence: 9- Wisdom: 43

  Armor: 481Physical Damage Redu: 46.2%

  Health: 1380/1380Stamina: 776/970 (194 Reserved)Mana: 430/430

  timewalk