Born a Monster

Although I have my suspicions, I know nothing of the three days that then passed, save that it was spent in madness.

When I looked down at the moon – wait, that wasn’t right.

Realizing I was on my back, my belly exposed, my initial instinct was to right myself. That was how I discovered that I was quite snared in webbing, suspended well above the ground between two trees.

My health was horribly low, as was my sanity, and my serenity. My physical and mental fatigue meters were drained. My biomass meter was actually at -2. If I didn’t eat something soon, I was going to start starving. I was already dying of dehydration, though not as badly as I should have been.

Some idiot must have been flailing about for days, badly tangling the webwork that supported me. It was in trying to cut the individual strands that I accidentally found an edge. An edge! I could unwrap myself – eventually.

I was in the early part of that when I was overwhelmed by a sense of AMUSEMENT that sent a curious owl fleeing into the night.

.....

“Well, that IS a tangle.” Eihtfuhr sent. “Are you sane now?”

“By about two points.”

“Enough. Let’s get you fed, then.” He had rigged one end of the webbing to come free, and the other ran all the way to the ground, allowing him to lower me gently to the ground. I did need his help to free myself; neither of us were able to figure out how I’d managed to so thoroughly entangle myself.

“The river is this way.” He encouraged.

While I submerged my head, filling my lungs and half my stomach with water, he retrieved a fish-catching net he had deployed. It only had three mudfish (level 1), but I greedily slurped down what my stomach could contain, reluctantly returning one to the river.

My belly bloated by its contents, I sighed, and waited for the normal processes that moved food from my stomach into my biomass meter. It still only had 240 max points.

“Better?” he asked.

I sent a wave of my SATIATION toward him. It probably contained undertones of HUNGER and THIRST, but I knew enough about how my biomass worked that I’d be there in an hour, perhaps two. Although my hydration meter was still negative, the countdown of Dying of Dehydration had stopped.

“I know you can use words.” He sent, “You should have a thousand development points for reaching level one.”

I checked. “I have zero.” I admitted.

Tik-tik went his mandibles. He sent a party invite, which I accepted. His mind gently probed my status.

The wave of his AMUSEMENT going to SHOCK was as cold and sudden as emerging from the sea into a winter breeze (not that I know of winter then). He left the party.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” he asked. “THIS IS – WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

“Thinking? I was insane. What did I do?”

His aura exploded with RAGE. “I. I. NEED. TO BE. ELSEWHERE.”

When I could no longer feel his presence, I moved out of the puddle of urine I had generated. What HAD I done?

I checked my status.

Rhishisikk

Level 2 Magical Beast, Protean (Lesser Titanspawn)

Character Level 1

Warrior Classes Unlocked: Pankratios: 0 (0 / 100 XP)

Stealth Classes Unlocked: Hunter: 0 (0 / 100 XP)

Arcane Magic Classes Unlocked: Water Adept: 0 (0 / 100 XP)

Divine Magic Classes Unlocked: Shaman: 0 (0 / 100 XP)

Gathering Classes Unlocked: Herbalist: 0 (0 / 100 XP)

Crafting Classes Unlocked: Cook: 0 (0 / 100 XP)

Social Classes Unlocked: Truthspeaker: 1 (100 / 300 XP)

Cultivation Techniques Unlocked

Combat (Level 0, 2/10 XP to next rank)

Crafting (Level 0, 0/10 XP to next rank)

Culinarian (Level 0, 0/10 XP to next rank)

Exploration (Level 2, 6/30 XP to next rank)

Gathering (Level 0, 0/10 XP to next rank)

Mystic Research (Level 0, 0/10 XP to next rank)

Omnivore: 2 (-2/240 biomass)

Physical Training Regimen (Level 0, 0/10 XP to next rank)

Political (Level 0, 0/10 XP to next rank)

Powers

Longevity: 12 (Innate, Always On)

Sin Ratings (Primary Sin: Vanity)

Effective Sin Rating: 2 (provides 3 points of resistance to Spiritual Corruption and Aura Taint)

Vanity: 2 (15/30 XP to next rank)

Wrath: 1 (0/20 XP to next rank)

Lust: 0 (0/10 XP to next rank)

Envy: 1 (10/20 XP to next rank)

Greed: 0 (0/10 XP to next rank)

Gluttony: 1 (10/20 XP to next rank)

Sloth: 1 (10/20 XP to next rank)

Elemental Attunements

Nature: 1

Water: 1

River: 2

Ocean: 2

All of my stats were now at one, except for my Insight, which was noted as 2 (modified from base 1). I felt – well, exhausted. Whatever had happened had brought me to the edge of death, and left me vastly improved.

I hadn’t gained any skills or traits, but in every other way I seemed to be much improved. My cultivation techniques – I just hadn’t considered them before. There were so many! And now that I thought about them, I knew there were a vast number more.

My entire body seemed filled with – okay, pain, but a new tingly thing. Potential, I realized. My thoughts raced, my emotions soared.

My mouth yawned. So sleepy, but so much to do. Those XP meters weren’t going to fill themselves. I failed my Resist Fatigue check, and passed out instantly.

#

When dawn shoved itself past my eyelids and forced me awake, not much had changed. Oh, I was no longer dying of thirst or dehydration, but my health, sanity, and serenity meters were all in the single digits. Nothing stressful or dangerous for me.

It took me three tries, but I was able to set the net in the river where it might (or might not) catch fish. After this, I carefully foraged, avoiding locations where I sensed animals.

Not surprisingly, breakfast was paltry fungus, gathered off the bark of trees. So was lunch. Darn it, there were animals at every spot that promised better food. Neither meal generated Gathering XP.

Nor did the two paltry fish I’d caught in Eihtfuhr’s net. It was clear to me that I’d have to take more extreme measures. I resigned myself to four or five days of meager fare, especially when I noticed that the condition of the fishing net was decreasing. Not fast, but I’d need a replacement.

Maybe I could craft something?

About the only thing sturdy enough and flexible enough were the layers of fiber under tree bark. Only for certain trees. That was going to be a major investment of effort, and I wasn’t sure I could get enough in a single day.

Eihtfuhr showed up shortly after dusk. “Sleep well, I’ve some things to show you in the morning.”

“Okay.” I said. I had only 4 health, 3 sanity, and 3 serenity out of a maximum of 15 each. Sheesh. At least I’d get back two of each when I slept.

#

Biomass: 0/240

Biomass consumption: 2 / day

Okay, at some point today, I’d have to eat something. Maybe I’d net a good fish today? Probably better not count on that. There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but the river was smaller.

“You do realize your run speed is linked to your Might, not your agility?” asked Eihtfuhr.

“No, but that’s good to know. My biomass needed per day seems to be Might times my beast level times my size modifier.”

.....

“Everyone knows that.” He grumbled. “Although most of us know it as food level or nutrition level. Ugh. Move faster!”

“I’m only at a third of my serenity, my mental fatigue meter plummets faster than I’m used to.”

“What? Didn’t you raise any of your statistics?”

“All of my zeroes got raised to ones.”

“They should be threes! Fine, take a short rest.”

I ended up taking four between each stop. I noticed all kinds of things; my perceptions seemed linked to my Insight, which was currently my strongest statistic.

“Stealth.” He warned when we neared the first. I tried to show off the stealth improvements my Agility had enabled, eliciting a dull aura of RESIGNATION from him.

“What do you see?” he asked.

At first, I saw nothing, and almost said so. “That frog looks wrong.” I said. For one thing, it was near three feet in diameter, easily capable of swallowing me whole. For another, it was capable of standing upright, and hunting fish with a spear.

“That is a Gordvork, or frog person. It is also what a warrior and a hunter should look like. Never come near here. It will gladly kill you and eat you.”

It looked neutral enough from here, but then so did my siblings until you invaded what they thought of as their area of space.

Still, that spear looked lethal. I wanted one. I couldn’t fashion a good one, but with twine, a sharpened rock, and just the right branch, I might manage to assemble one I could use.

But that had to wait, as we were quickly on the move. We moved to a lush area of the wood. Things seemed greener, more vibrant – I’d like to think I’d recognize it as a feywood without the aid of my mystic senses.

“Never be in this region of the wood at night. The fey spirits and windlings are both more numerous and more violent at night. There, beyond that ring of red mushrooms, what do you see?”

“I see nothing, but – is that a node of Earth power?”

[Earth node discovered; 10 XP awarded. After divisors, 1 XP is awarded.]

“Hey! Some inviable spirit called a divisor has stolen almost all my XP!”

He smacked me in the head for four points of damage; my scales absorbed half of that, but an entire day’s healing fell off my health total. “Idiot!” he said, before explaining to me what a divisor was. “You have seven classes, and therefore you will normally get only one of every seven XP you would normally earn.”

“But that’s – that’s horrible.”

“That is your limitation to live with. I have chosen to attempt to help you to survive, much as you seem determined otherwise.” After a short pause, “What else do you sense about the node?”

“It has a higher level than I do.” I sadly admitted.

AMUSEMENT. “That is the onead. She is a spirit of nature and earth. She never speaks to me, but she might to you.”

I realized this required a Commune With Nature spell that I hadn’t learned yet, and said so.

“A goal for a later season, then. Come on. It is past noon, and I’ve one more thing – don’t eat that!”

I backed away from the berries. “They look edible.”

“They are – for certain beings. Small swarms of beings, who nurtured those berries to eat for themselves. Are you prepared to fight a swarm of angry pixies or windlings?”

Somehow, he knew when I reached the decision to leave the berries to their growers. We took off. The wood became denser, darker – not wilder but more... random? It seemed to me that the ground thrummed with power, a power I could almost absorb. Almost –

[Chaos element discovered. Attunement: 0. 1 / 10 XP to next level. Chaos mana 1/1. Your defenses prevented one point of Aura Taint.]

[You have received 10 Mystic Research XP. After divisors, 1 XP has been awarded.]

[Cultivation methods unlocked: Malice (0 /10 XP), Rampage (0 / 10 XP).]

[Rage meter unlocked, level 0, 0 / 10 XP, 0/1 Rage. Rage may be charged at the cost of 1 sanity per point.]

Okay. Divisors were just going to be BAD. But – I wouldn’t get development points back for dropping the classes. That, and I didn’t want to accidentally cut off a cultivation method; I’d need all the XP I could get.

Well, I’d nearly gotten a point of Aura Taint... and that didn’t sound good. Maybe there were some of my potential cultivation methods that I just shouldn’t explore immediately. But I didn’t have much time to ponder that before-

“Stealth.”

I parked myself on a rock; Eihtfuhr beckoned me forward.

The satyr was short by human standards; it loomed like a giant to me. The gordvork had looked like a distended frog, but one whose form served function.

The satyr – didn’t.

It looked like – something – had been twisted, warped with the aspect of different animals. Flesh molded to mock, rather than resemble, a different form of life. It was nothing like natural, yet had been made of nature.

[Satyr, level 8 Beastman (chaos fey)]

“Never come here.” Warned Eihtfuhr. “This one is prone to madness. If you survive an encounter with him, you will wish you had died instead. He sometimes leaves this area of the wood. Avoid him during those times, at risk of even more divisors.”

“I don’t want any more of those.” I agreed. But somehow, instinctively, I knew that should I ever wish to explore Malice or Rampage, if I ever wanted to unlock the power of Chaos magic – I knew I could come to him for instruction.

We made it home well before dusk. “Only near here are you safe. Avoid the edges of the woods. Avoid the beings I have warned you about. Other than those areas, I keep this wood safe.”

“Some of these animals will kill me if they take a mind to.”

“Do nothing to put them in that mind.” He suggested. “I keep the wood safe from...”

“From?”

“Did you place the trap back into the river?”

“Yes.”

“Good, Good.”

“Who do you protect the wood from?”

“Heh. When you progress to where all your statistics are two or above, I shall tell you.”

“But that could take years!”

“Indeed.” He said. “You had best get started. Fall is not long off, and winter after that.”

“What are those?”

The images he sent back gave me my first concepts of fall and winter. Of hunger. Of cold so severe that animals fell dead from their tree branches, frozen into solid inedible lumps.

I swallowed. “You’ll teach me to survive that?”

“You have a good grasp on the basics already. Start early, and eat all the food you can while it is plentiful. But stay away from combat; you’re going to be exceptionally bad at it until you raise those stats.”

#

For three days, I did that. I didn’t always have fish, and I discovered berries were Fruit, a type of food that I just hadn’t experienced before.

I found several smooth stones, but recognized them as crafting materials. The best, I took to the embankment I thought of as home.

I had rolled a few rotting logs into a rough perimeter, and discovered that as long as I exhausted both my physical and mental fatigue meters over the course of an hour, it counted as a day of exercise for my Physical Training Regimen. There were no immediate rewards; it was a weekly method of cultivation.

It was crude, but it was home.

On the third night, Eihtfuhr came with a purpose, rather than to chat about what I had learned.

“Come.” He said.