A Carpenter It Is

Food and supplies were easier to come by in the forest. The trade off was that trees gave the same ambush advantage to everyone. But he couldn’t just stay In the small cave all day.

He avoided the main switchback trail that lead up the mountain and followed a more hidden path instead. This path down the mountain was narrow and long, and unfortunately the hike back up the slope would be even harder, but the air was already starting to warm and the longer he waited the more competition there would be for supplies.

He kept alert on his decent. Adventurers weren’t common on the mountain but they were always a possibility. More likely were tribes of goblins or kobolds or swarm of some other low level mobs. Worse there were also a disturbing variety of high level monsters roaming the mountain with impunity.

Today he was lucky and the trip was uneventful. He made his way to a small grove of trees near the edge of the forest. These trees were somewhat unique in that they were a cluster of resource gathering points. Finding the spot had been a boon as opposed to randomly stumbling upon resource trees in the forest so he had made it a point to memorize this location. He quickly found the familiar sparkling dot on one of the tree trunks. Tapping it lightly he was surprised by a pop up window.

Harvesting: Skill Penalty, Tool Penalty, Dexterity Penalty

That was new. However the thin bar that appeared with a sliver of green filled in was welcomely familiar.

The pop up informing him he was being penalized might be new but he could only do the same as always. He pulled back one of his meaty fists and punched the tree. The pain in his hand was rewarded by a surge in the green bar. He pulled back again. Right punch. And again. Left punch. Punch the trees. Get the wood. It was a good warm up from this morning’s respawn and almost meditative in its simplistic repetition.

After more time had passed he now had a large stack of Pine Wood in his inventory as well as several units of Creeping Moss. Checking the description of the latter the pop up window simply displayed

Creeping Moss - (uncommon) ???

Well at the very least it he could use it as bedding or to help when he needed to start a fire. The group of trees also now had new pop ups floating around them.

Resource node depleted 7:59:45

Unfortunately repeatedly punching inanimate objects had taken a toll on his health bar. Even with his increased stamina his HP bar was down by nearly a quarter. That was also new. He’d need to be more careful in the future. It would be a bad time to be ambushed. For that matter could he actually kill himself by expending all his health punching trees.

How would he explain that one at the next respawn?

1 “How did you die?”

2 “I was swallowed whole by a dragon when it caught me stealing from its hoard! You?”

1 “Oh you know... Just punching trees...”

2 “Da Fuck?!”

Best not to think too hard about it he finally decided. His health would regenerate soon enough and since he was already in the forest he might as well take advantage of the opportunity and fill his need for food. There was plenty of game for hunting. In **** times there were also plants to eat. Chewing a mouthful of healing herbs might not be the most filling of meals but it was better than starving.

Today however he was after more than grass. Even a simple bow and arrow would have made hunting much easier but with his only weapon being a gnarled staff he’d have to be smarter to earn his meal. One would think magic would make hunting a trivial task. Unfortunately he had found the Dark Energy spell was completely unsuitable for the task.

Any living animal that could sense the charging ball of **** would flee for some reason. The spell also had a rather limited range before it simply evaporated back into nothingness. Finally, in the rare case he was able to sneak up on a creature and hit them with his dark magic, the result left a smoking ruined carcass that wasn’t fit for its meat nor fur. It was however quite entertaining. Especially when their furry little heads exploded.

That meant he was back to using a tried and true hunting method. Step one of which was to gather a certain grass with a thick root bulb that released a pungently sweet smell. Appropriately enough named Sweet Grass

Sweet Grass - (common) ???

It was unpleasant to his refined senses but the local wildlife couldn’t seem to get enough.

Once he had gathered a bundle of the grass, the next step was to find a somewhat open area for the smell to permeate and a tree tall enough to hang the bundle from to keep it away from the smaller critters he wasn’t interested in hunting. Beneath the bundle he stopped to concentrate and lay the first part of his trap. Then he retreated a fair distance to sit in the shadows of the forest, making sure to leave himself a line of site to his trap.

Now was time to wait. And while he waited he could rest and restore his health. Even with the time spent walking and harvesting, it wasn’t yet midday. Game would still be moving, searching for their own food. It would take time for his unnatural presence to fade and animals to feel comfortable enough to come near but he was patient.

And patience was needed. Slowly but surely as his health returned the small animals came out from hiding. Birds resumed their annoying chatter. Some of the small critters investigated his tempting bundle, but as he planned most couldn’t reach. One enterprising squirrel dove from above and worked a bulb free but then had to fight off other less agile creatures on the ground for his prize.

He was contemplating giving up and trying a different day when his patience was finally rewarded. The soft quiet crunch of something else walking carefully into the small glade. A deer and a decent sized one at that. Eyes alert for danger. Ears scanning side to side. It took one cautious step at a time. By the time the animal reached the sweet bundle, the Orc was tense and waiting for just the right moment.

First it tried to crane its neck and lick. But the bundle just swayed away from its reach. Not to be deterred the deer reared up on its back legs attempting to bite and pull the bundle free. Now was the time to finish his magic. Dark Energy might be an incompatible spell for hunting but he had another.

The mostly formed summoning circle snapped to completion and a skeletal hand shot out of the ground beneath the deer l, grabbing hold of the animal’s exposed leg. In an open field a clumsy lumbering summoned skeleton would have no chance of catching such an agile creature. But that was only when the deer could sense the coming danger. In this ambush it had no chance. The animal screeched, kicked, and scratched as the skeleton pulled itself from the ground. Unfortunately its efforts meant nothing to the unfeeling summon.

The deer’s first hind leg broke with a snap. Then the other. It fell to the ground defenseless, unable to flee, bleating in pain and terror until the skeletons hands wrapped around its neck and all sounds and movement finally stopped.

His own inventory was mostly full of wood. Thankfully summons had many benefits.

“You carry it!” the Orc ordered the skeleton.