Triple Strength

29. Shadow Predator: Tabitha

I went out again that night. I don’t know if it was the increase in the level of Shadows Embrace that meant I got within touching distance of almost all the animals I tried it on, or whether it was just being clean. I slit the throat of a big rabbit type creature and stashed it to collect on my way back. I did that with another three and a fox. I thought the fox fur would make a nice nest for Pip. That was enough for tonight. Stealth levelled and small blades. Time to up my game tomorrow night.

We started the morning with a swim / bath and then sparred to warm up. Wiremu cleaned and skinned the Hares and fox and set the pelts to dry.

I needed to think about another sensory skill. I had definitely gone away from Sensitive Skin due directly to our morning dips in the stream. They would be unbearable with Sensitive Skin. Wiremu did say he could adjust his Hearing Aid to account for loud noises and Sensitive Skin would probably be the same.

I had seen how useful his Hearing Aid was and the fact it had a general usefulness was enticing. If I saved up for the Skill that let me see through objects, it would only be useful in town and in very specific situations. Hearing Aid was useful everywhere.

Keen Sight was something I had not thought about till Wiremu said the Investigator had it. That would add well to Dark Sight. I must talk to Wiremu as It will probably go well with his Far Sight as well. Do I want to double down on sight Skills?

Identify was telling me Keen Sight would enhance all my detect skills, which were mostly Detecting Traps at the moment. Actually it would also enhance Appraise, Identify and Detect Spiritual as well. That was a lot of my skills that it would boost.

Shit I don’t know. There might be something else out there too that would be good. “Hey, Wiremu, have you considered getting Keen Sight? It might mesh well with your Farsight?” I said.

“I am several Class levels away from being able to get another sensory ability,” he replied. “Have you decided what to get?” he asked.

“No, though I am thinking Keen sight will go well with Darksight.”

“It would,” he said. “Have you thought about your shadows? Shadows are an absence of light. It is like they are a negative skill. Your Shadow’s Embrace also negates sound and smell, so your affinity seems to be something that negates or counters others.”

“How the hell does that help?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” Wiremu smiled ruefully. “But I think it is worth thinking about in terms of skills.”

“Do you know of any predators that negate senses or skills?” I asked.

“Not in Animal or Mineral Lore that I know so far. You might need to try to get access to Elemental Lore.” Wiremu replied.

“Not much chance of that around here” I sniped.

I guess that didn’t need a reply. Wiremu had his pants making and fishing. I needed something to do. Seriously, one day and I am bored.

“I am going to take Dusk for a run,” I told him. He acknowledged me with a wave. I saddled her up, I felt like going fast.

I headed downstream which was the way we came from to get here. The trees were fairly open so I let her have her head and offered general guidance. This was fun. We were flying through the trees. I think Dusk was having fun too. Then I saw movement from the corner of my eye. I looked and it was a wolf keeping pace with us. I looked around and it was a whole pack. I couldn’t tell how many. Dusk had sensed them too. I leaned forward, “Come on girl, let’s race them.” We picked up the pace.

They were trying to herd us to the right, by darting in from the left. I wasn’t having any of that, we would weave through the trees and take the unexpected angle, jumping logs and sometimes wolves. I was looking for somewhere to be able to make a stand as this couldn’t keep going. One wrong move and Dusk would have a broken leg, or I would go flying. Dusk was also starting to tire. I needed something to put my back to so we couldn't be surrounded.

I glimpsed a clearing through the trees with what looked like a cliff behind it and headed that way. I was right and I pulled Dusk up by the cliff dismounting and drawing my sword and shadows. It was the middle of the day, so Engulfing Shadows wouldn’t be as effective as at night. The clearing darkened, but the main point was that I could sense where things were in my shadows, so I knew how many wolves there were and there would be no sneak attacks on me. I also had to keep aware of sneak attacks on Dusk. There were fifteen and wolves were not the same as hyenas and I had no back up.

Let's do this. I used Shadow manipulation to move a shadow to catch the eye of the nearest wolf and he glanced over. I ran him through and it was on. This knowing what was around me was great. I could dodge or parry or attack without looking. I heard a smack of flesh behind me and a horse snort and a wolf whimper and knew Dusk was giving a good account of herself. I had a few bites that had penetrated the light leather leggings I wore, but most scratches were deflected. Then I sensed a wolf starting to pounce toward my upper body to bring me to the ground. I kicked one wolf away and sacrificed another bite on my thigh to bring my sword up and skewer him.

Unfortunately, momentum is a bitch. The body carried on and ripped the sword out of my hand. I gave everyone a pause with a flash of my Intimidating Aura, while I grabbed my knife. I whirled around and stabbed a wolf who was about to hamstring Dusk as I also drew my truncheon. I could still break bones and I had Knockout Strike that I had never used on a wolf before. It was pretty frantic for a while then a wolf landed on my back driving me down, but I was ready for him and rolled with it, coming back to my feet by Dusk, while the wolf slid along the ground. Momentums a bitch ah? Dusk's hooves came down on his head and the last two wolves took off. I aimed my aura for the first time and gave them a blast to keep them running.

I sank to my knees exhausted, knife in one hand and truncheon in the other. A wet nose jostled my head. Right Dusk first. I rose and inspected her. She had some scratches and a couple of bite marks, but generally looked Ok. A couple of wolves were still moving. One was trying to get away, her hind legs dragging behind her. I put them both out of their misery. I collected my sword and cleaned my weapons. Dusk looked OK to ride so I mounted up and we slowly made our way back to camp.

Wiremu immediately rose to help when we came into the camp, with questions written all over his face. He helped me unsaddle Dusk and wipe her down, checking her wounds at the same time. It didn’t look like anything needed stitching, so we would just have to monitor her for infection. Not that we could do anything about it. For the first time I was regretting not getting something like Herb Lore. I think Wiremu was thinking the same.

Then we did the same for me. I had gotten heavier chest armour, so all my wounds were on my legs and one bite mark on my arm. We washed them and they didn’t appear to need stitches. My armour would need some attention. Once Wiremu was happy I wasn't going to pass out. I told him where he could get thirteen free wolf pelts. He saddled Rocky and they followed my trail back to the site.

Time to review my status. Shadow Predator levelled, no surprise there. What was a surprise was I got a base attribute in Mental Agility and two in Spiritual Perception. Identify was indicating it was for my use of Engulfing Shadows to be aware of what was around me. Engulfing Shadows levelled twice and was now needing that bump to Journeyman level. Swords, Small Blades and Blunt Weapons all went to Apprentice and that was a jump of two levels for Small Blades. Intimidating Aura, Knockout Strike, and Unarmed combat all went up a level. Animal care also went to the Apprentice level, I assume from my care of Dusk’s wounds.

Riding had got to the Journeyman level in that wild ride. A smile spread on my face. I enjoyed that ride. I had a new class available to me. Rider. It was the most basic mounted class and only gave four attribute points per level. I used Identify on it and it only had two requirements, the Skills Animal Care and Riding. I had heard rumours you could get a class without training if all the skills were at apprentice level and one was at Journeyman Level, but this was only if you were very suited to the Class. I was very suited to Riding and I grabbed it. I wasn’t going to try and wait and train for a better class. This was mine and I earned it.

Rider assigned two attributes, one to Physical Agility and one to Physical Perception with two free points. With Shadow Predator levelling and the previous two free points, I had six available to me. Identify was telling me if I assigned four points to Spiritual Perception to bring it to 25 and one point to Mental Agility to bring it to 20 I had done something to unlock an advanced Skill.

Oh hell yeah! This bastard was mine! I unlocked a new Perception Skill called Spatial Awareness 1. I became aware of everything in a 10m radius of me. A complete sphere, including underground. The distance I could sense would grow with each level and from the Apprentice levels I would get increased penetration into solid surfaces. From Journeyman level I get increased penetration into masked statuses. The radius awareness was passive and would grow. The penetration aspects require me to concentrate and act to make it happen. Oh yeah! Nothing will be hidden from me! And all because of the way I used Engulfing Shadows. Awesome. You are forgiven for not getting to Journeyman level. I still had a free attribute point, which I was going to keep for now.

I admired my status for a bit and then started looking at what I needed to do to repair my armour.

Tabitha Carter

Class

Thief

Merch

SPred

Rider

Total

Type

Attribute

Level

10

4

4

1

Constitution

Physical

Strength (PS)

9

1

1 4

15

74.0

Agility (PA)

12

2

10

4

1

29

Perception (PP)

11

4

10

4

1

30

Mental

Strength (MS)

8

2

2

12

57.0

Agility (MA)

12

2

1

4

1

20

Perception (MP)

10

1

10

4 25

Spiritual

Strength (SS)

9

0

6

3

4

22

69.0

Agility (SA)

10

0

5

3

4 22

Perception (SP)

10

4

5

2

4 25

Totals

91

16

50

20

20

3

200

Free Points

0

0

0

1

Resistances: Cold +2

Skills:

Novice:

Rampage 4, Parry 4, Knockout Strike 4, Trapping 1, Sewing 4

Disarm Spiritual Traps 2, Detect Spiritual Traps 4, Spiritual Traps 1,

Confuse Status 4, Shadow Manipulation 3, Spatial Awareness 1

Apprentice:

Intimidating Aura 6, Distract 8,

Appraise 6, Bargain 7, Identify 8, Cooking 5, Animal Care 5,

Lock Pick 7, Detect Traps 6, Detect Spiritual 6, Disarm Traps 5,

Unarmed Combat 6, Swords 5, Small Blades 5, Blunt Weapons 5

Shadows Embrace 8, Engulfing Shadows 9,

Journeyman:

Stealth 13, Dark Sight 11, Riding 10

Affinity: Shadow