We are at a standoff.
One waiting for the other to move.
The wolf-kobold scout versus the hero scout.
As scouts go for, we fight with information. Because we lack firepower, we only attack when the timing is right.
My invisibility, speed boots, and both my shooting daggers are on cooldown. Those are my three Aces in the hole, both for offensive and defensive measures, so I'm left without any good cards to initiate.
Well… I could try using my Ultimate Clone to create an opening, but using it in front of your enemy, especially not at melee distance, makes the illusion too easy to counter.
I need to be especially careful, I can't go full offensive against someone that higher level than me, plus he just used a skill I had never seen before. That blocking ghost thing. What class was that? Is it a race ability? I don't know what it does, what cooldown it has, or if he has anything else up his sleeve.
I have no following moves against an enemy I know nothing of.
The kobold deep breathes, one hand at his bleeding stomach and the other pointing a khopesh at me, a medium sword with the first third straight but the rest of the blade curved like a moon.
Nice choice, for what I remember it has increased stats when it's nighttime. I used to have a pair of those in my early days, but it was too much of a pain to upgrade two sets of weapons to use depending on the time of day, so when I realized ranged melee weapons existed I didn't think twice on switching my build.
Well… but besides that, his black cloak hides anything else he could have.
Before any of us could move a step, a bell behind me starts to ring. Someone is alerting the village to wake up.
My smile widens.
"You won't escape. If you drop your weapon, I might calm down the wolfkins enough so they won't execute you."
The kobold frowns in doubt, or at least of what appears to be a frown on a wolf's face.
Does he even speak the same language as me?
I start using my body to communicate, lowering my daggers slightly just enough for it to understand that I want to negotiate.
"But you need to give me some information in return. Nothing is free, after all. What if you show me who you are working for, how many men they have, and when they plan to attack. That's more than enough to settle the deal."
My speed boots just recharged. Two blinks, two shooting daggers, and my divine vision to top it all off, there's no way he can run away from my sight now. If he runs I'll cut his legs and attempt to capture him. Information is more important than killing it.
The wolf kobold growls in pain to open its mouth.
Guni: "Are you… not a traitor?"
"You can talk?!"
The kobold coughs out blood.
"That makes things easier then. Speak up. Who do you work for? I can give you a healing potion if you answer."
Guni: "…I see… my face must have misled you."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Don't change the subject, tell me who you are working for."
My entire body turns cold, my instincts suddenly sharpening against what was approaching me from behind in heavy steps.
Another one--?
I turn too late.
My attacker's sword was already sizzling against a blocking blade of another third party by my side.
Nate!?
The leader of the wolfkins had all but anger on his scarred face, fighting to push his dark blade toward my neck.
Nate: "I'LL KILL YOU!!"
And for the person protecting me… it was the kobold. Its blue ghost ran from where it was but a frame of a second ago towards my side as if trying to keep up with its own body's sudden change of position.
Nate: "GET OUT OF THE WAY, GUNI! IS HE CONTROLLING YOU!? DAMN HEROOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Guni tries to speak, but Nate pushes his sword down with all his strength, forcing the kobold to kneel. With a kick, the kobold falls and slides to the side, giving way for Nate to strike his sword against my retreating steps.
Nate: "I WON'T FAIL NO MORE! YOU'LL DIE TONIGHT!"
"Hold on a second!"
I blink to his back, quickly hiding behind a straw hut.
Nate: "WHERE DID YOU GONE TO, HERO? I'M GOING TO FIND YOU NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU HIDE. COME OUT AND DIE ALREADY!"
When did this turn into a horror show? What the hell is this??
"Nate, listen. I'm not your enemy. I don't know what you have against heroes, but this is--"
The collar of my cloak is suddenly picked up from behind, my body lifts in the air and I'm moved to the side in a dash.
I hear ghostly animal howls fade in and out, then the straw hut I was hiding on suddenly disappears with a moving shadow, it simply seized to exist in a second, even the gravel ground had its surface caved in a slide swoop.
Nate: "I KNEW FROM THE START YOU WEREN'T GOOD! YOU CAN CONTROL ANY CREATURES AT YOUR WILL."
Hah?
I look up, some sort of giant bird is grabbing me by its beak, carrying me like a dog moves a puppy, but the dog is the size of a huge horse, with brown fluffy feathers everywhere and four thick bird feet with metal talons piercing the gravel ground.
Nate: "IF YOU DIDN'T CONTROL ME YET THAN YOUR POWER HAS A WEAKNESS!"
He leaps to me, his face wrinkled in anger like a wolf growl.
Nate: "I'LL USE THAT WEAKNESS TO CUT YOU DOWN!"
The giant bird-like creature trots to evade.
Guni: "Nate! Stop, he's not an enemy."
But Nate ignores the kobold. Instead, his body suddenly flashes red, he reappears a few steps forward, then flashes red again, each step teleporting him a short distance towards me, quickly overcoming the giant bird's pacing and striking his sword diagonally to only attack me.
I teleport away with my second blink, a ray line of magic aiming out of his attack range and warping my sight in a quick trip within it. I pop on the other side and start running to the village without looking back.
Nate: "COME BACK, YOU DAMN COWARD!!"
"What the fuck????"
Why I'm suddenly in danger again? This is madness, I'm getting out of here!
As I run, a woman under a white veil comes out from the corner of the unfinished wall surrounding the village, like a priestess calmly walking to her duties with hands joined together in prayer, she quietly activates a skill of her own and I collapse with the brute force of atmospheric pressure. I hit the ground and a crater forms below me, it's so strong that I'm unable to move my arms to get up.
The hell?? What is this? Shaman's gravity area slow? This is way stronger than the skill I know of.
Vute: "You calm down, okay?" – The big brown wolfkin comes from the other corner.
My eardrums fight against the sound of the constant wind as if I was falling at high speed uninterruptedly. I only manage to look up with my chin pressed against the ground.
"W-w-h-y-y a-a-a-r-e y-o-u-u…"
Heavy steps approach me from behind.
Nate: "You captured him, good! I'll start the execution right away!"
The next one to fall is Nate, being stomped by the landing of the four-legged bird pinning him against the dirt street and making his sword fall away.
Nate: "DAMMIIIIIT!!!!! VUTE, KILL THIS DAMN BIRD, WE NEED TO KILL HIM BEFORE HE CONTROLS ANYTHING ELSE!"
Nate uses all his strength to try getting up again, but he ultimately fails as the brown monstrosity of a bird pierces its metal claws over his shoulders against the ground, using its own massive weight and strong muscles.
Vute: "I am the one controlling it, Nate." – The big brown wolfkin sighs. – "I knew something wrong was going to happen the moment the inn's barrier broke, so I sent it to capture Strider."
Nate: "Then why is it holding me then!? Kill him already!"
Vute: "I'm not going to kill anyone… and you should be in solitary. Have you forgotten the words of the Elder?"
Nate: "He was going to kill Guni! He is planning to kill everyone!"
"I-I-I-I w-w-a-a-a-a-a-s-s-s-n-'-t-t-t."
I mean, I didn't know the kobold was their friend.
Vute: "I'm in charge of security when you are not around, remember? I'll decide what to do with the both of you."
From the background, the wolf-head kobold staggers from behind the giant bird, one hand on his stabbing injury and the other on the kick he received on the ribs.
Guni: "Good, you stopped them…" – he weakly says in relief.
Vute: "Guni, what happened?"
A green glow resonates around Guni's body, healing his injuries and cleaning the blood stains.
Guni: "Thank you, priestess." – He nods to the white-veiled wolf-woman.
She bowls slightly in response.
Guni: "You can let Strider go. He mistook me for an enemy, he's not a traitor… unless it was all a play."
Vute: "Okay, Dilsu, release the hero. We need to hear his side of the story."
The priestess bowls one more time quietly, never separating her hands from a prayer.
The atmospheric pressure over my back suddenly dissolves with the wind and my lungs quickly grasp for air to recover myself.
"I wasn't tricking you. I thought--" – I cough the street's dust out of my throat as I try to stand with numb limbs. – "I thought you were a Shadow Army's scout."
Vute: "A Shadow--, why did you think that?"
Nate: "He's lying, don't hear him!" – Nate growls in the background, but the giant bird presses his back and buries his face into the dirt.
Guni: "I think we never met before, I understand why most people would get the wrong impression."
Vute: "Oooh, that's right, but I thought you were introduced already, Guni was the one who took Nate to his cell, don't you remember?"
I take a moment to think back, but nothing comes to mind.
"No, I never saw him. I would have noticed someone with a giant wolf head."
The wolfkins look at me with surprised faces, as if I had just said something extremely inappropriate.
Guni: "I don't usually eat at the dining hall," – his words cut the tense air. – "If something would come when everyone had their guard down our village would be easy prey, so I keep watch for monsters when everyone is vulnerable."
Vute: "Yeah, Guni doesn't like socializing, so we respect that and give him space."
The wolf-kobold flinches in embarrassment at Vute's blunt explanation.
And what was all that about "if you want to have a snack you need to gather everybody" part you said to me earlier? I thought wolfkins had the culture to never eat if not together at that hall. But again… the Elder and that other dude said something about eating fish hidden from the others, so I doubt that was ever a serious rule.
Guni's body stops glowing, now fully healed. He bows to thank the priestess in silence.
And Vute said another thing about this village, is this case just another exception?
"I thought there were only wolfkins in the village, but aren't you a kobold? or that's a weird mask?"
Again, Vute and the priestess look at me as if I had said the most impolite thing they had ever heard.
Vute: "He's not using a mask, and yes, he's a wolfkin. Don't talk like that, it's disrespectful."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
Guni: "It's okay, I'm used to it." – He scratches the fur on his chin's side. – "I was born with a curse, that's why I have a wolf's head. Nothing else really changes because of it, but most dislike being near me so I keep my distance to not bother anyone."
Vute: "You're not a bother, stop saying things like that."
Uhm… that's interesting, a curse, huh? I never heard something like that, it's probably Lore-based so I wouldn't care to know. But that's weird. It transforms your head into a wolf's? Is it like a genetic abnormality? He's considered to be wolfkin by them, so maybe he's just a little more of a "wolf" than a "kin" kind of situation. But is that a thing? I can't shrug off the feeling that I should have heard of this before.
"Hmmm…"
Maybe it is a status effect?
"So, can I touch you?"
Guni looks at me with a frown, weirded out by the sudden question. The atmospheric pressure suddenly threatens to fall on my shoulders as the intense stare of the priestess pierces the back of my neck.
Relax, I'm not seeing him as a freak's show or whatever, my intentions are pure.
"It's so I can see your stats. It worked with other things before, so I think I can see what abilities you have. I'm just curious to see what this curse thing is all about."
Guni: "I-I see. I didn't know heroes could do that, but as I said, it's a curse, not an ability."
He lifts his gloved human hand with hesitation and I grip his wrist. My eyes glow golden and his character panel appears hovering just above my hand.
[ Guni Dijegu (Level 100) ]
[Species: Black Wolfkin]
Huh… a wolfkin, like they say.
[Type: Thinking Beast]
[Power: {four stars out of five}]
[Class: Chrono Relict (Survivor-Scout-Temporalist)]
His attributes are most focused on Intelligence, with some on Agility.
Vute: "Can you really see it?"
The big brown wolfkin bulges in trying to see what my eyes are reading, but to no success.
Vute: "There's nothing there."
"I can… and it is really weird. I'm seeing something that shouldn't be here.
Guni: "What do you mean? Is it my curse?"
"No, it's your class. Do you guys know about subclasses and stuff?"
Vute: "Yeah, I'm a Master, isn't it? Guni is a Scout for all I know."
"That's only one of your subclasses, you have three in total."
Vute: "Sorry, I'm not really into the specifics of it, maybe Dilsu knows?"
The priestess quietly shakes her head in a negative.
Guni: "I don't know it either, I thought those things were like a fighting style or something."
"Not exactly. Subclasses change which magic skills you can have. For us heroes we can unlock all of them as we grow stronger and then we can change the skillset when we are not fighting, but for you people it probably only limits which powers you can learn or you're born with. That's how it works to every entity, no exceptions."
I place my free hand on my chin to think.
"But I've never seen one of your sub-classes before, and you have two skills I don't recognize."
There are eight icons of skills at the bottom of the Character panel, four actives and four passives. The first roll has a bright blue frame with white lines and the other a red-blood frame. Those colors generally show which subclass you got it from, but I never saw those styles before.
Guni: "…and what are they?"
I tap de blue one, and a detailed description pops up.
"The first is [Instant Relocate], removes any delay or distance from doing an action. That's your blue ghost thing, right?"
But Guni doesn't respond, probably because he doesn't know what it was himself.
For every two subclasses, you receive an intersectional skill tree, this one, in particular, was from a Scout-Temporalist combo. There's nothing wrong with it besides one major problem. There are only twelve subclasses in the game: Shaman, Arcane, Master, Survivor, Devout, Fighter, Gambler, Scout; and the special subclasses, which you can only choose one: Corrupted, Vampire, Trickster, and Necromancer.
Those work both for players and NPCs alike, so where does Temporalist fit? Unless the devs added it on the last update and didn't tell anyone, it shouldn't exist. Maybe it is an NPC thing? the curse, maybe? But I've played this game every day for four years, I should have encountered something like this before.
And what about this strange blood-like frame, is this one the curse?
I poke it.
"[Lycanthropy-wolf, Blessing of Rudaw]."
The three of them wide their eyes.
"Increase sense and range of smell and hearing fivefold, allows for the user to see visual warnings of such senses, and physically changes the character's head to one of a wolf. Huh, that's pretty good."
Well… if I wasn't the one living with a wolf head my entire life, I mean. But it's a pretty good skill to have in a character. I don't have any good passive skills, they generally change something very specific or add a minor percentage. But a five times improvement? And visually see steps and smell with no costs attached? That's too much. There are some skills like my Divine Vision that do that in the game, and they are very expensive to use. I would easily buy this if it was on the market.
Guni: "I didn't know… A blessing of Rudaw? I lived my entire life— No, I shouldn't…"
I look over Guni's character panel and I see his only eye break in tears.
Rudaw… Wait, Rudaw? Why do I recognize that name?
Vute: "Who would have thought? That's why you were always better at hunting! That's amazing news, we should commemorate."
I let go of Guni's wrist and open my own character panel, and there it was. My daggers are both named "Ribbon-tailed Rudaw Dagger" and not only that, but the shirt I'm using also has his name, which is the one that can burst a cloud of black smoke around me.
"Rudaw? Who is that? Is he important?"
To think that I, a full-out and anti-Lore person, would be interested in knowing something like that… this game is really forcing me into a corner.
Vute: "Ahm… Of course he is, --Ehem-- He was the Saint of Shadows, but he died at the Demonic Wars about fifteen years ago. Which means… he gave you this ability before his death, that's something to be proud of."
Uh-huh, so to sum it up, that information is useless.
The wolf-head couldn't process the news, his face being a mix of happiness and confusion.
Nate: "H-M-M-M M-M-M H-M-M-M-H-M-M-! H-M-M-M-!"
"Oh, and what about him? Shouldn't he be locked or something?"
I point at the growling angered wolfkin leader being stomped by the proud bird's talons.
Guni: "Yeah, I was supposed to watch him, but another problem came up and I had to leave my post. The thing I was going to check out before Strider stopped me."
Vute: "Huh? What problem?"
Everyone's expressions quickly change to seriousness, his nose picking something out from the air.
Guni: "A large group is coming this way."
Vute: "…An invasion?"
Guni sniffs the air two more times.
Guni: "They are too weak. I smell blood, filth… and tears."
All of us look at the forest his nose is pointing at.
"…tears?"
As the wolfkins woke up and gathered to see the commotion, strangers came from the side of the forest. First, there was only one staggering old fat man, curly horns growing out of the sides of his head. But then, many others followed, cutting a way through the trees and bushes.
It looked like there was no stop to them, as dozens and dozens came out and followed the dirt street. Women, men, children, and elderly, all of them were roughly in the same shape, their clothes ragged and dirtied by mud and bad-washed blood stains.
The males had a slightly different style of horns compared to the first, some were smaller, others bigger, curlier or darker, but all of them had the same light-grey hair and hopeful tears in their eyes. Their race was known as the sheepkin.
"Thank you so much, my God, thank you so much for saving us." – The old sheepkin leading the pack drops to his knees and almost kisses the dirt to pray.
"Hey. What happened? Where you came from?"
The old man hesitated to recollect himself, his throat building up a deep sorrow within his heart.
"Nepaty Citadel… it fell, everyone died."
"Huh? Wait… the big city at west?"
"Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Dark elves, they were all working together, they breached through the walls without being noticed by the watchguard and massacred everyone," – his voice crackles in fear just from remembering it, tears coming back to his eyes, his limbs shaking uncontrollably.
My hand goes to the sheepkin's collar, and I forcefully lift him to his feet and force him to look at me, face to face.
"Nepaty Citadel, is that Gonkdim's furthest city to the east?"
The sheepkin eyes tremble in fear, and he nods unsure.
"Yes, I think it is."
"Why the fuck did you come here?"
The old sheepkin quivers with sudden cold, feeling my anger rise into murderous intent.
"You ran from the frying pan to the burning flames of hell, dumbass. Why east? Why did you go toward the most dangerous region? Why are you leading whatever the fuck attacked you to this village?"
But there was no response, he never thought of that, he was only glad to have reached civilization. Trying his best to stay alive the way he knew, running away from certain death and embracing any kind of hope his hands could reach, never caring for proper planning or arranging his thought to rationality. For him, he only ran away from the danger, it didn't matter if he was trapping himself even further.