He snuck through the bones, and again the bear stirred but settled without becoming alert. This time he walked up to where the great arms of the monster hugged the chest and bent so his eyes could look at the lids of [Iron Tooth]. Without further ado, he took a femur bone in either hand and drove them simultaneously into the bear's closed eye lids.
It took [Iron Tooth] a few ticks to respond. In that time, he grabbed the hatchet from his belt and drove its edge into the soft, squishy, black tip of the bear's nose.
Something flashed before in the upper right corner of his vision, but he didn't understand it. It went away. Now [Iron Tooth] was aroused. Its paws batted at the femurs gouging out its eyes. It opened its mouth to howl. He lobbed the poultice into the monster's mouth. It gagged and clamped its mouth shut. It was torn between vomiting and roaring. It gagged some more.
"Child beware-"
"Shut up and deflect this," he said, running forward under [Iron Fang]'s arms, swatting at the bones in its eyes. One of those arms swung down at him, as he stepped onto the treasure chest. Ankou bunched up and around the blow, and he took no damage. He turned and brought the hatch down again on the bear's nose.
[Iron Tooth]'s health was plummeting. The poison was making it both vomit and stumble around. It was blinded. Blood poured from the two whacks at its nose, but it was still alive.
He evaded another wild swing and skipped back off the chest and into a corner of the cave. The problem was, the bear was now vomiting everywhere and rolling around crushing bone and trash. He waited. He stepped around the thrashing bear, but the cave was small making maneuvering difficult. Ankou intervened once more, the last his cloak was able to. Still he waited.
[Iron Tooth]'s head raised, slick with green bile and bits of its last meal. Blood poured from the split nose and oozed around the shards of bone still splintered in its eye sockets. One of its arms flailed out and struck the chest like a mallet.
He darted forward, hopped onto the chest lid just as the bear's arm was leaving it. He shifted his grip and wrapped his other hand around the haft of the hatchet and brought the rusty edge down in an arc across the bear's snout. The hatchet got notched in the jaw beneath the bear's nose. He let go and rolled across the ground beneath the bear's wide swinging arms. He came up to his feet and ran for the front of the cave screaming now at the top of his lungs.
[Iron Tooth] wavered, gathered itself, and charged after him. There wasn't much life left in the monster from what he could see, but he needed an open space to work with. He sprinted into the open air and the sloping path along the spine of the mountain. [Iron Tooth] heaved chunks of bile from its mouth mixed with rabid white foam, but it didn't stop now. Its head swung from side to side, crying rivets of blood from its sockets and nose hole.
He dove off the trail and slide down the side of the path into a scree of rock and twigs. The noise he made was less than he'd expected. Instead of broken bones and torn skin, his pants ripped along their seams, and he got wet. He felt the damage attempting to be applied to him, but nothing exceeded his [Hardness 2]. The sensation passed. He kept tracking the progress of [Iron Tooth]. His muffled descent off the path had been noticed, but the bear had overshot by a wide margin.
Now it was grousing around making pitiful croaking sounds. He [Considered] [Iron Tooth], and although he didn't understand most of what he observed, he did get a reassuring sense that much that was sustaining the monster was shutting down. As [Iron Tooth] wandered off the path and over the side of the mountain, he slither through the snow as quiet as a snake. He took his time, even when he was back on the path and the sounds of the bear grew faint. He went back into the cave and retrieved his hatchet.
Several things happened that confused him again. His vision was awash with light and color. Weird shapes danced through the air.
"Ankou, does this have to do with the [Path]?"
"Yes, child," Ankou whispered from behind him.
"I don't understand any of this."
"If you should like, I can translate and ensure incomprehensibility does not thrive."
He grunted, staring at his hatchet. Floating through the air from the entrance was the same golden motes, he'd extracted from his father with the hatchet. Instead of all of them rushing into his chest, they split between the hatchet, Ankou, and himself.
"As you walk the [Path], you will not walk it alone. Some items take a portion of your burden, and so are rewarded as to continue rendering their aid."
He scratched his head. The crimson blood had seeped into the metal. "It has ascended?"
"Yes, although it cannot rise far. It is carried by its significance to your ascension. It has reforged itself with [Iron Tooth]'s essence and blood. It is now a [War Forged Hatchet], stained with the blood of your victims. We have also consumed a portion of the allotted essence, although it will be some time before we can offer an additional [Boon]."
He hefted the hatchet. It felt sturdy and true. It wasn't top heavy anymore. It'd go further with less effort. Its damage was unchanged. "How many more must I kill before I ascend again?"
The edges of Ankou undulated without noise. "This encounter was both challenging and significant, but it was split between all that rendered aid in its resolution. You will find that more aid will slow your progression just as it speeds it up." The edges of the cloak twisted around in the air like an unseen breeze was playing with the fabric. "You are illiterate. Do you have any command of basic algebra? Numbers?"
He held up his ten fingers and wiggled them. "I count to ten. That's all da ever said was needed. Not much cause for paper in the hills. I seen some sheep skin rolls Rhea keeps once when ma got sick, but that's been awhile."
Ankou undulated silently for a time, before its quiet voice once more whispered behind him. "There are many yet to be consumed before either of us ascend further. Your choices did unlock a new ability called [Sneaking Strike], your damage is tripled if your victim is defenseless and unaware of your intent. It is a talent associated with us."
Staring down at the crimson metal of his hatchet, he said, "Is that the path I now walk?"
"Our presence has unlocked branches and locked others. This is one taken when you joined us. Not many walk along this path but some arrive by different directions."
He shrugged and walked over to the chest. It unlocked with a click when he placed his hand upon it. The lid slid back on its own. Within was a vial of what looked to be blood, but was actually a [Vial of Healing]. There was a small pile of 20 [Silver Bitcoin]. Real silver bits in such quantities he'd never seen in his life. The silver he dumped into the bag holding the remains of his father's passing. He didn't trust himself to hold that much coin. Greed blossomed the instant his hands hefted the weight and smelled the metal. Should he really give all this to his ma? Hadn't he earned it?
He considered the vial. It was a small miracle nestled in his hands. He couldn't help but twist the stopper free and breath in the scent of raw vitality and health. It was like a warm spring day when the grass was fat with seed and the crickets chirped. He dabbed the tip of his tongue into the fluid and felt a warm tingle transfer to his tongue and wash out along his face and neck. He had to put the vial away into [The Nothingness] before he drank it all to see if it could heal his heart. With its contents gone, the chest burst into a handful of golden motes that floated towards his body, split and entered his equipment in equal measures. This felt like a pale version of what he'd gotten from the death of [Iron Tooth]. He refused to remember what he'd gotten from his father. He wanted that memory dead.
Tracking the mad dash of [Iron Tooth] over the side of the trail and into a gully was challenging, but not beyond him now. He wanted another opportunity to burry his hatchet into the face of the monster that had caused all of this. He liked thinking that it was entirely the monster's fault, but with the monster gone that was hard to do. There was a pile of wrapped meat in individual portion sizes. If his family doled it out, it could last for months. There was also a long coat of bear skin.
"[Iron Skin Coat]," Ankou said, "Is an exceptional coat of leather armor with the added boon of being resistant to cold. The effects do not stack."
"I'd sooner die than wear that thing." He kicked it off to the side.
"You need armor, and you will not find better for sometime along our Path."
"No," he said, "Put it into [The Nothingness]."
Ankou did as commanded, black tendrils of shadow slithered out behind him, washing over the [Iron Skin Coat]. When the tendrils receded the offensive item was gone.
There was one final item resting on top of the snow. It was a sinew wrapped, finger-sized iron fang. "This I can carry as a testament." He nodded, fingering the length of the fang.
"At least you are keeping some of your bounty. [Iron Fang Necklace] is an exceptional necklace, allowing its wearer to gain two abilities immediately with several more to be gained along its Path. First is [Feral Rage], an ability that doubles your damage and allows you to ignore your own health but reduces your accuracy and morality. Second is [Scent the Wind], an ability to track prey by scent."
"It'd be nice to blame my actions on animal rage." He put the necklace on and played with the fang while he considered his next steps. He was tired and retreating into the Nothingness had not relieved him of that.