Atlas lifted his staff to a ready position and walked into the clearing. Nothing stood out in any direction he looked. The barren expanse shocked his senses. Not a single blade of grass brushed against his boots as he walked. A slight tinge of death filled the air, but he didn’t see a carcass anywhere.
When he reached the center of the space, his boot thudded against something hard. Unsure what it was, he took a step back and looked down. A small piece of metal stuck from the ground. Bending over and grabbing it, he pulled. Dirt cascaded away from it as he withdrew a fragment of a gauntlet. Half of it was rusted, but the other half was intact enough for him to make out the general shape. The piece confused him until he felt the ground rumble.
He dropped the glove and looked around. The surrounding dirt seemed to crawl and undulate. A hand of pure white bone burst from the ground near him and scrabbled to pull itself free. Three more of these popped up around the clearing and, before long, he stood in the center of four skeletons. He inspected one. Haunted One - Level 7.
Wanting to get a head start on this fight, he ran at the nearest one and activated Triple Threat. His staff reverberated against the bones as each swing connected. Its dried ligaments flexed as he struck at the joints, but none of them snapped or gave way. The monstrosity remained standing and glared at him with glowing green eye sockets.
You dealt 20 HP damage to Haunted One with Triple Threat.
Its health bar didn’t shift as much as he hoped, but it was better than nothing. The monster lurched toward him and slashed with a skeletal hand. He followed the images and ducked under the swing and activated Counter. After the initial smack, he followed with Blade Chase and then another Triple Threat. The damage added up quickly, and the skeleton rocked backward.
You dealt 5 damage to Haunted One with Counter.
You dealt 20 HP damage to Haunted One with Blade Chase.
You dealt 20 HP damage to Haunted One with Triple Threat.
The health of the monster neared the end, but his turn was up. The next attack came for him and he began to block the swing when his vision flashed red. With a yelp, he tumbled backward just as another of the skeleton’s hand clawed through the space he’d been.
Too many to isolate them for very long. So much for my surprise attacks. Taking a few running steps to the side, he turned and cast Entangle on the closest enemy. The monsters were slow and clumsy, so when he entangled the lead one, it made the ones behind it stumble trying to get past. With the time he needed, he activated his Dire Bear Transformation.
His body flexed and grew as he fell to all fours. The transformation finished right as a skeleton finally came within reach of him. There was nothing he could do to stop the attack and braced for the impact. The hand swiped at him but bounced off his thick fur, doing almost no damage.
Haunted One dealt 1 damage to you with Bash.
A low grumble of pleasure escaped his throat as he activated Charge and head-butted his original target. As soon as his head hit the skeleton, Maul followed. His thrill climbed higher as he struck. When he clamped his jaws over the monster’s skull, the force of his bite shattered the skeleton and it fell apart.
You dealt 8 damage to Haunted One with Charge.
You dealt 28 damage to Haunted One with Maul. (Critical)
Haunted One died.
The rest of the fight that followed was simple. The creatures could barely damage his thick hide, so he literally laughed at their attacks. He alternated swiping at the group and mauling them. One by one, their bones crunched under his assault until he was the only one left standing. As the space quieted, he checked the area again. Something caught his eye in the dirt near one skeleton. A small stone that seemed to drink the light rested on a small mound. When he approached it, he saw the name of the item. Corruption Crystal.
The crystal went into his bag. As soon as it did, the quest changed and asked him to deliver the crystal back to the magistrate in town.
With that quest done, he returned to his wood elf form. While it was fun fighting as a bear, he was much quicker as an elf. It also made woodcutting and herbalism difficult in his bear form.
The next few hours consisted of him roaming the area near the city in search of his objectives. Eventually, he found all the Jumboroots and killed the last of the wolves. Not wasting an opportunity, he also killed most of the other animals he crossed paths with. Their skins were still useful to him. I also need to go see Master Trailia about my cut of our deal.
He turned in the two quests for the herbs and wolves near the gate as he entered. The final one he had to travel to the center of the city to turn in. The magistrate thanked him profusely for ending the undead threat before it spread too far to control. The man promised to have the Corruption Crystal destroyed or purified.
With that business out of the way, he looked at how things fared.
You gained 165 experience total.
You gained 140 experience and 80 copper for completing Extermination.
You gained 150 experience and 90 copper for completing Jumboroots.
You gained 160 experience and 1 silver for completing A Strange Occurrence.
Success! You’ve reached Level 10.
Finally, level 10! Now to go check with Master Trailia before I go get my druid quest.
He dropped one point into Constitution bringing it to 10 and the other into Intellect putting it at 11. This brought his HP to a maximum of 120 and
