Divide and Conquer

The sight of the onrushing mob of goblins nearly convinces you that maybe this time discretion is the better part of valor. As you prepare to run however the thought of Nire’s words come once again. Her admonishment that you would have to do better and gather every bit of experience that you could gives you a moment of hesitation. Show them fear. The phrase resounds in your mind and you decide that this is not the time to flee.

There’s still time before they reach your ambush spot to relocate, so you do. Taking advantage of the darkness and the racket that the goblins themselves are making you slip away, circling around once more and waiting for the right moment to strike again. Goblins are no tactical geniuses after all, they would make a mistake.

It doesn’t take long for that mistake to come. The goblins begin to disperse into the dark woods, fanning out and searching for the aggressor that had disturbed their night. Stealthily you follow the closest as it strays from its kin. “Just a little further, prey.” You mutter to yourself applying the designation before you slip up behind the stupid bastard and tear its throat out with deft flick of your claws. In the time it takes for the now limp body to slump to the ground you once more fade away in the darkness. Again and again you trim the goblins numbers, each ding of experience causing you to curl your lips in a feral snarl of a grin. It felt good to be the hunter instead of the hunted. Soon enough all that remained was a duo of warriors along with the now scared-shitless chieftess.

“Coward! Show yourself!” The curvaceous little broodmother cried at the surrounding darkness. The two with her held torches in hand, ready to use as makeshift clubs. You suspect that the chieftess had some special skills of her own to be leading as large of a band as she had. A shaman maybe? You ponder as you watch the trio bring their back to a large tree. Three at once without any strong advantage of surprise would be no easy trick. Although… You notice that you've gained enough experience to level once more.

Come to think of it you really hadn’t glanced at your character sheet since your previous level. Doing so now your jaw drops a little when you read that you now have 10 attribute points and 20 skill points to spend in addition to apparently having your stats increased just from leveling. That would have been useful knowledge before charging into this fight. You guessed then that you received 5 attribute points and 10 skills points each level. Nifty.

You consider briefly how to spend the points. You could max out your dexterity and dodge and slip through most dangers but… You remember how Sylvana had nearly crushed you between her thighs and decide that it couldn’t hurt to add some to your strength. You pump all of the extra points into strength to balance out your sheet a bit and then distribute the skill points. In the end you’re left with this:

Fade, Warg Runt, Level 7

Monster, Wolf, Humanoid, Explicit, God Touched

Experience to level up

100/700

Attributes:

Strength: 25 | Dexterity: 44 | Endurance: 14

Charisma: 17 | Manipulation: 17 | Appearance: 14

Perception: 36 | Intelligence: 29 | Wits: 34+9

Favor: 10

Skills:

Athletics: 10 | Awareness: 25 | Brawl: 30

Dodge: 30 | Occult: 10 | Resistance: 10

Stealth: 30 | Survival: 25

That seems much better and you feel less threatened by the group before you. It also seems like your Hunter’s Cunning feat is really starting to come into its own. Though you aren’t entirely certain how much of an increase 9 points is. Anything is better than nothing right?

You consider the goblins as they gaze desperately into the gloom, hoping to see any threats before it’s too late. It would be easy to just leave, to let them live and come back for them another time. You weren’t going to do that though. One way or another you were finishing what you started tonight. The only question was how.