Atlas shifted his weight as he felt the new bulk of his body. The feeling was akin to bear walking back during athletics. It was definitely odd, but he thought he could get the hang of it.
“Whoa, you must be six foot tall at the shoulders in that form. Did it change your stats any?” PiousOne asked.
That’s a good question. Atlas looked to his stat sheet.
Name: Atlas
Class: Druid (Transformed)
Level: 9
HP: 220/220
Mana: 70/120
Experience: 106/1300
Agility: 6
Constitution: 7
Intellect: 2
Strength: 8
Spirit: 3
Combat Skills:
Charge
Brutal Swipe
Maul
Magic Skills:
N/A
“It looks like it cancels out my spell casting ability, but it also took the extra stat points from my casting skills and moved them to physical traits. Double my health as well,” Atlas grumbled.
“It’s good you can still talk, but now it sounds like a menacing growl. You trying to become a villain?” Jammin said with obvious glee.
“Bow down to your new bear overlord,” Atlas told her with a rumbling laugh.
“You should stick to that form while we return. You may get a chance to fight in it. Should be cool to see,” Quelin suggested.
“I think I will. Let’s head for town.”
“We not going to finish looting?” Quelin asked.
The group turned to look at him in confusion, and he motioned to the gravestones. They forgot about the party that wiped.
Checking the gravestones, they found a handful of other items. None were anything Atlas could use. They were all Agility and Strength items. The money was a different matter. They had a combined 4 gold and 40 silver on them. Each of them ended up with 55 silver from that haul.
The group gathered up their belongings, and all turned toward the city. They continued their trip in the most direct path they could. As luck would have it, not far away they ran into two wolves.
“Let me have the one on the left. You guys knock down the other. I wanna test this form,” he told the group.
Atlas activated Charge, and his body lurched into motion. The sheer power of his muscles astonished him as the distance closed to nothing. The image showed him head-butting the wolf as he charged. He was weary of the idea of charging head first into a creature with a mouth full of teeth, but he wanted the hit so he could continue his attack.
His head thumped into the shoulder of the wolf, and it howled. He barely felt the impact as he activated Maul. Following the images, he raised up on his hind legs with front paws extended. Both paws came down in a crushing blow as his claws dug into the sides of the animal. The second attack was a little harder to stomach as it forced him to come forward and bite directly into the wolf. Thankfully, he tasted nothing from the bite itself, although he felt the squish of flesh and the crunch of bones as his teeth dug into the skull.
You dealt 8 HP damage to Wolf with Charge.
You dealt 22 HP damage to Wolf with Maul. (Critical) (Crushing)
Holy crap. That was incredible. This form packs a punch.
The wolf snarled as it took its turn. To Atlas’ astonishment, no images showed up for him to block. The wolf dove for him and a claw raked across his snout. The sting of the injury took him by surprise, and then the wolf lunged forward and sunk his own teeth into his shoulder.
Wolf dealt 8 damage to you with Tenacious Bite.
What was that about? Can this form not block or dodge? Before the wolf could start another attack, he triggered Swipe. He followed the image, and he swung one paw in a wide arc, scratching across the face of the wolf before turning and swinging the opposite way with the other paw. They obviously designed this attack to hit multiple targets and piss them off.
You dealt 14 damage to Wolf with Swipe.
The animal whimpered in pain but returned to attack again. Atlas was helpless again as he took the two-hit combo without being able to respond.
Wolf dealt 8 damage to you with Tenacious Bite.
Roaring in frustration at not being able to block, Atlas activated Maul. The tremendous blows hit the wolf, and it crumpled to the ground as a limp sack of meat.
You dealt 18 damage to Wolf with Maul. (Crushing)
Wolf died.
You gained 10 total experience.
Atlas swung his head and saw the rest of the party watching the fight. The other wolf had already disappeared, showing they’d killed it quickly and looted it. He looted the one he killed and was at least happy that the items automatically stored in a pack for him, even though it wasn’t visible on his body.
“That was pretty fun to watch. Why’d you let him keep hitting you, though? You’ve been great at dodging and countering,” PiousOne said.
“This form has one big downside I’ve found. It doesn’t seem capable of blocking or countering, at least not yet. I can’t do anything but take the hits.”
“That explains the extra health it gives. It seems to pack on some damage if nothing else,” Jammin said with admiration in her voice.
The group continued on their way and when they were close to the edge of the forest Atlas activated his transformation spell. His body distorted as it shrunk. His form reverted fully, and he was back in his normal body on hands and knees.
“That’s still cool as hell to watch,” Quelin whistled.
“It’s a very odd feeling for sure. Let’s go get our rewards,” Atlas told the mage.
The group walked into town, heads held high. They strutted through the streets toward the registrar’s office. Almost no one looked their way as they walked through the city, but they didn’t care. These people didn’t know they were the champions of the event. They came to a stop in front of the building.
“It’s been an honor, ladies and gentlemen. We made a hell of a team.
