A two-headed Ogre (CleverImp)

You blink and blink again with the second set of eyes. Well… this is new. At least you’re pretty sure you’ve never had two heads before. They both look like the one head you remember always having: bald, with a strong brow and jaw, same large pointed ears. You just have two instead of one. Quickly you check for more unexpected changes and are relieved to see that the rest of your anatomy appear unchanged.

You were always a physical powerhouse, with wide shoulders and a thick chest, and there was more than enough space available to put a second neck and head there. Your arms and legs are still just as strong, muscle visible through a healthy layer of fat and thick tanned skin. There isn’t a hair to cover your body, and the simple loincloth barely covering your manhood is here for censorship purposes more than modesty. Eight feet tall and all physical power, you’re one of the feared higher level miniboss of this area of the game.

On paper, at least. Because aside from the fact that higher level players can easily be far stronger than you, there’s the sad truth that you’ve ended up as Imporne’s most popular grinding spot.

With some bitterness you grab your club and lumber toward the entrance of your cave, mulling over the failure of your design. You’re strong in melee, but your club’s reach is limited, and you are slow. That last part is probably the biggest problem. Even low level adventurers can defeat you, all they need to do is use ranged attacks and keep their distances and sooner or later they’ll whittle down your health bar.

You pause at the entrance of the cave, looking gloomily at the forest in front of you separated from the rock wall by a small clearing. There’s a gap between the trees where a trail snake through the vegetation. You’re so popular that players have created a path with their constant visits. And as soon as they’re done with their update you can be sure that they’ll be coming once again.

This moment of boredom might be the only peace you get until the next update, but it does not make the boredom any more enjoyable. So to pass the time your attention goes back to the mystery of your second head. Did you respawn as some sort of rarer variant? You vaguely remember one time where you had red skin and horns for some sort of event. Perhaps your character sheet would shed some light on this?

You fumble a bit, trying to bring up your stats. Now that you think about it you can’t remember ever looking at your character sheet before. But after just a moment writing appears in the air in front of you and you carefully read the thing.

Level 5 Ettin
Monster, Ogre, Explicit
Experience to level up – 500

Attributes
Strength 30 Dexterity 20 Endurance 30
Charisma 25 Manipulation 20 Appearance 35
Perception 19 Intelligence 15 Wits 15

Skills
Brawling 20
Melee 30
Athleticism 25
Presence 20
Lore 10
Throw 20
Stealth 10
Dodge 10
Crafting (Stoneworking) 5

Feats
Bicephalism – You have a second head, making you less to critical attacks and doubling your effective mental attributes
Monstrous Appearance – when attempting to use Appearance in a positive way on creatures without the Monster subtype, count it at 20 points lower until the target gets used to you.
Heavy – Your thick frame and solid built gives you natural armor against physical damage. However your speed is reduced.
Strength of the Ages – gain a constant, passive buff to your strength based on the time since your last .

You stare at the words for a moment, shocked by what you read. There’s a lot of information to process and even with your (apparently new) intelligence you have to take it bit by bit. Have you always had a Throw skill? That would have been so useful to deal with all those low levels players! Sure you don’t have a ranged weapon but with your strength you could throw some decently sized rocks. Were you just too dumb to realize that before?

Apparently you’re an Ettin, but your subtype is still Ogre. Does that mean that if you die you’ll go back to being a regular ogre? Your blood almost freezes in your veins. You don’t know much, but you know that all of your mental stats are below average. Would you even be able to read your character sheet without your second head? This might be your only opportunity to break the cycle, to finally be free of the constant deaths at the hand of adventurers.

But… how? Everyone know you’re here, and you can’t just flee. You’d still run the risk of running into an adventurer. Or you might encounter another monster. There’s no kinship between mobs, they might kill you just for the Experience.

Which leads you to the second way to stay alive. Leveling up. The more powerful you would become the less player could beat you. But on the other hand you would attract more powerful players. It would be another cycle, endlessly trying to become more powerful to safeguard your life. Still, it was better than running away. And you already had an inkling on how to do it. Adventurers would be coming for you, you just had to be ready for them.

What you need is stones. You know there are resource nodes somewhere nearby. With a lumbering step you start to walk forward, resting the club on your shoulder.