As Yrn stared in shock at the prompt he had just received, the young gnoll's mind whirled. What could this blessing be? Clearly it was something incredible if the system was adding new options for him. What could they be? He frantically opened his status page.
[Hey quick note from me, the base value spots below are the stats gnolls have at level 1 in this story. Just thought I'd mention because I enjoy knowing details like that myself.]
*Yrn, LVL 3
Race: Gnoll, Class: Warrior
Stats per level: +1 to STR, DEX & CON, 4 unassigned
Unused stats points: 0
STR: 12 (Base value: 8)
DEX: 9 (Base vale: 6)
CON: 13 (Base value: 8)
AGI: 7 (Base value: 6)
INT: 5 (Base value: 5)
WIS: 4 (Base value: 4)
CHA: 4 (Base value: 4)
LUCK: 6 (Base value: 5)
New options: Spells list, unique quest chain*
None of Yrn's stats had been changed. However, he apparently now had a spell list available. He could use spells now?! But apparently he didn't know any yet since the list wasn't appearing on his status. But a unique quest chain? What sort of quest? He selected it excitedly.
*New quest: Unlock your potential pt 1!
Details: An unknown blessing has been granted to you by your deity Yalthos. This has caused a partial shift in the depths of your very being, and as such you now have greater potential for growth. To begin taking advantage, learn any 3 spells unknown to your tribe. You have 6 moons.
Reward: Next quest in this chain, 200 XP, +2 to wisdom.
Penalty for failure or rejection: The blessing granted to you will begin to fade and all related quests and rewards will be permanently lost to all beings. You may also receive divine punishment from Yalthos based on the circumstances of your failure.
Accept/Reject*
Yrn gulped. That was a very daunting task. Learn three spells his tribe didn't know within 6 months? How was he supposed to do that?! Still, it had to be possible, right? Otherwise the great Yalthos would never give him such a quest, much less punish him for failure. "Ask shaman, him know!" Mind made up, Yrn bolted off towards the shaman's hut.
"Yalthos bless you?!" Yrn whimpered at the shaman's roar, mistaking it for anger. But rather, Vyorz was confused. Young Yrn was still a pup in his eyes, but had never been a liar, and his faith in their deity was unquestionable. Yalthos was known for sometimes acting on a whim, so this may explain it. In which case, it was Vyorz' duty to assist him. "What does quest need?"
Yrn gazed at Vyorz with gratitude. "Learn three spells, but new to tribe!" He held up three claws to emphasize, as he still used them to count.
"New?" Vyorz groaned and rubbed his snout in exasperation. Not only was it spells that Yvorz himself didn't know, but three of them? The shaman knew less than ten himself! And those had all been passed down by his master before him. "Wait." He sat down on the pelt that covered the bottom of his hut, all that remained of a mighty bear he had slain himself as part of a hunting party in his youth. Learning a spell was not an easy task. Even with a master teaching you it could take anywhere from weeks to years for a single spell! A new spell entirely? That was no guarantees. It took years of careful research and experimentation that may still fail and shove you back to square one, as Vyorz well knew.
The shaman paused. There were other, riskier methods. To send Yrn into a dungeon and hope for him to not only survive, but also get lucky enough to either a grimoire, which teaches the user a spell, or be awarded one directly as a reward, which sometimes occurred after defeating the dungeon's boss. Sadly, this was the best option. And the most dangerous. However, there was no need for him to go alone.
"Leave. Return sundown." As the pup bowed and left, Yvorz stood, cracking his neck with a quick twist before seeking out the tribe's raiders. With any fortune, they would be willing.
"No." Yvorz' chest twisted at that one word. He growled and kept eye contact with the leader of the tribe's raiders, Yatu. The subtle contest was a clear challenge to the slightly larger gnoll. "Pup too weak. Weakling in dungeon make all dead."
Yvorz barked right into Yatu's face. "Then make strong! Six moons, Yatu! Only way. You obey! Or I kill and make witherling help him!" He held up his fist, his eyes darkening as he began channeling mana into a spell. Yatu was bigger, but Yvorz had been a raider himself before he was chosen as shaman, and he was the highest level in their tribe.
Yatu's hackles raised in response to the challenge, before growling and nodding. He wasn't eager to be the shaman's undead puppet. "Train. Pup fail, him fault."
"Of course." The shaman nodded and backed away. As he did so, the lifted hackles of the raiders dropped down and several breathed mental sighs of relief. None of the tribe wanted to see the two clash, much less those who looked up to Yatu. "I fetch. Leave soon." With that, Yvorz went to retrieve Yrn.
As the shaman left, Yatu snarled. "Foolish." He turned to his raiders. "Pup dies, certain. Shaman stupid. Blind to truth. No blessed." After all, surely such a blessing would have been given to Yatu or the shaman if it did exist! In Yatu's eyes, Yrn was simply a liar who would pay the price by dying while the raiders trained him up, or in the dungeon. There was no other way this would end.