Second Skin- Fractures

by M Damon Baker

  Suspecting the worst, I nocked another arrow and turned around to face back up the tunnel, prepared to meet the reinforcements that were sure to come. But after a few moments, when those anticipated reinforcements failed to show up, I relaxed. With no threat of a horde of kobolds arriving to slay me, I proceeded to loot the bodies before taking a brief look around the room.

  The loot from the dead kobolds was exactly what I expected—a few coppers, and some odds and ends not even worth taking—pitiful. The room, however, contained several crates of ore. It looked like iron, but I was certainly no expert, and even if it was, it didn’t matter. Whatever the ore might be, it was too heavy for me to carry. But I did take a moment to mark the location on my map. I might not be able to take advantage of it now, but the ore could be worth coming back for at some point.

  I backtracked warily and approached the door at the end of the second tunnel. It was poorly made, and the large gaps between its boards allowed me to peer through and glimpse at what was on the other side.

  Nothing.

  The only thing I could see was another short passage that ended in an abrupt turn. At least it wasn’t a troop of guards... I opened the door cautiously and then made my way down the tunnel. When I reached the sharp corner, I peeked around the bend to get a look ahead.

  In front of me was another small dead-end cavern, but unlike the other one, there were three kobolds, and they did not have the look of miners.

  Two of them were dressed in pieces of what looked like scavenged leather armor, all of the various elements of which were worn and ill-fitting, and many of the sections even appeared to have been cut down to fit their small forms. In addition to their armor, each of them carried a long blade and bore scars that attested to their familiarity with using those weapons in combat.

  The third kobold was clearly the leader, and over his assortment of leather armor, he wore a full shirt of chain mail. He was also armed with a matching pair of short swords, and several daggers were strapped in various locations around his body. Taking these three on would not be like the easy fights I had been having up until now, but I came up with a plan and decided to use the kobold’s own tactics against them.

  I stepped back and made my preparations before boldly striding around the corner and firing an arrow directly into the chest of the kobold leader. Enhanced with Ignore Armor, the shaft passed through his mail and sunk deeply through his muscle and beyond, finally lodging in his lung. Grievously wounded, the kobold fell to his knees and was out of the fight, at least temporarily.

  His two companions drew their blades and rushed at me without hesitation. I got off a single follow-up shot, grazing the leg of one before I turned to run back up the passageway. The kobolds ran after me at full speed, but they fell headlong into the ground and tumbled in a heap when they tripped over the wire I had stretched across the tunnel.

  I had been waiting for this opportunity and quickly fired a single Stun arrow into each of their prone bodies. Then, I took a calculated risk—despite my success so far, I knew that I needed to develop my skill beyond ambush attacks, so I drew my blades and closed in on their prone bodies.

  I had my short sword in one hand and a dagger in the other as I approached the stunned kobolds. I hoped to advance my skill with both of the weapons as I plunged the two blades into the body of the closest one. I withdrew them quickly and then repeated the two-handed strike on the second kobold before jumping away from them. I was not yet an accomplished close-up fighter, and at this point, I would be better off letting them bleed out rather than pressing my luck. It was only short while before their lifeless eyes confirmed that they were indeed dead.

  The leader was still back in the dead-end cavern, but knowing he was alone and grievously wounded, I took a moment to loot his subordinates’ bodies. As I pulled up their items, a sudden thought came to me. What if the leader had a healing potion or crystal? If he did, he could be returning to full health right now. In a panic, I took everything without looking it over and hurried back to the chamber.

  Fortunately for me, the kobold leader didn’t seem to have any healing magic on him—he was still down on one knee, just as I had left him. The kobold gasped raggedly as blood flecked his snout, and he looked up at me bitterly when I entered the room.

  “Fucking... humans,” he rasped.

  I was surprised by his speech, and at first, I didn’t respond. Then after a moment, I spoke to him.

  “Fucking kobolds,” I replied to him flatly.

  He stared back at me and then smiled ruefully as he slowly nodded his head, acknowledging my retort. Then he let out one final, harsh breath before he collapsed to the floor lifeless.

  It felt odd sharing that final moment with the kobold; bitter foes who’d joined in one final ironic jest. Humans and kobolds were enemies—as societies, and in groups, we would kill each other on sight. But as individuals and under the right circumstances, we had been able to bridge that gap, even if it had been for just a short time. But my brief philosophical moment passed quickly, and I looted his corpse.

  He had the pair of short swords I had seen earlier, and several pieces of decent leather armor—but nothing better than what I already wore or that was worth carrying around. The chain shirt was fair, but it wasn’t just heavy; it was also made in an odd size. Since it would probably be difficult to sell, I decided against keeping it.

  I had been forced into making a lot of bad loot decisions, and my options were severely limited due to the need to keep a low profile. If I were adventuring normally and basing myself in a town, I wouldn’t hesitate to load up everything, knowing that I could sell it all quickly and easily. But right now, I had no town to call home and had no idea when or if I would again. Therefore, my options were extremely limited, and I had no choice but to leave a lot of the heavier, lower-value loot behind. As I looked over the loot menu, I weighed my options and took only the swords and a small coin purse from the leader before closing the window and then surveying the room.

  The chamber was clearly serving as both an office and makeshift barracks for the guards. There was not much of note save a small table and chairs that were cluttered with various objects. Among the junk, was a small scrap of parchment that appeared to be a map. When I looked closer, I could make out the location of the cave I was in—it was marked with a pick-axe symbol. It seemed that the kobolds had indeed intended to make this their mine.

  There was also another location that was marked on the map, and I estimated that it would take a full day for me to get there if I traveled slowly as I had been doing. But I had no idea what it was… Was it a village? Maybe an outpost? It wasn’t far off the path I had intended to travel, so I thought that perhaps a little investigation might be in order.

  The only other objects of interest on the table were a small lamp with a bottle of oil and a little wooden box. I placed the lamp and its fuel in my backpack since they might come in handy. When I opened the small box, I found that it held a handful of raw, uncut gems. While I had no idea what they were, they probably had some value, so I tucked them in my pack as well.

  When I was done with my pillaging, I felt relatively safe knowing that the caverns were now clear, so I sat down and took a look at my notifications.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  You have reached 20% proficiency in your Bow skill. Proficiency gains slow after achieving 20% proficiency. Note that combat skills cannot be self-trained beyond 20% proficiency. Any proficiency gains beyond 20% can only be obtained via actual combat, through training with a mentor possessing sufficient mastery, or by certain magical means.

  Unlocked skill discovered! You have discovered the Subterfuge sub-skill Find Trap.

  Unlocked skill discovered! You have discovered the Subterfuge sub-skill Disarm Trap.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experi
ence gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Unlocked skill discovered! You have discovered the Subterfuge sub-skill Set Trap.

  Unlocked skill discovered! You have discovered the Blades sub-skill Short Sword.

  Unlocked skill discovered! You have discovered the Two-Handed skill. Note, without sufficient proficiency, severe penalties may apply when engaging in two-handed combat.

  Experience gained – You have gained 78 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 78 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 103 XP.

  Wow. That was a lot more than I had been expecting to discover. Not XP-wise, but the skills I had gained were awesome. I had to take a peek at my sheet right then.

  Dreya Dae

  Human Female

  Level - 2

  2546/2700

  Health 130/130 Aura 290/290 Endurance 130/130

  Class – Warden – Wardens gain a 10% bonus to skills associated with nature or which have natural effects

  Specialization –

  Mastery –

  STR - 13

  CON - 13

  DEX - 15

  INT - 13

  WIS - 12

  CHA - 17

  Abilities

  Ignore Armor – Your next arrow will ignore a portion of the target’s armor. Cost – 20 Aura. – 7%

  Stun – Your next arrow has a chance to stun its target on hit. Cost – 20 Aura. – 18%

  Block – You may attempt to use your bow to parry a single melee attack. Cost — 20 Endurance. – 1%

  Spells

  Skills

  Bow – 20%

  Critical Hit –17%

  Blades – 9%

  Short Sword – 6%

  Dagger – 11%

  Critical Hit – 6%

  Two-Handed – 3%

  Armor – 7%

  Medium Armor – 9%

  Perception – 20%

  Environmental – 21%

  Identify Enemy – 7%

  Identify Person – 3%

  Subterfuge – 11%

  Stealth – 15%

  Find Trap – 3%

  Disarm Trap – 4%

  Set Trap – 4%

  Manipulation – 7%

  Persuade – 9%

  Barter – 8%

  Survival – 10%

  Tracking – 7%

  Identify Creature (Beasts) – 3%

  Skinning – 5%

  Field Dress – 4%

  Alchemy – 1%

  Herbalism – 1%

  I was very happy with all of my progress—not just with the skills I had gained, but with the growing proficiency in the ones I already had as well. It seemed that 20% was a threshold of some sort, and I had reached that mark in several skills already. Perhaps it was the boundary for real competence? I had no way of knowing, but it seemed logical.

  In addition, I was getting really close to gaining another level. A couple more good kills would probably do it for me. This cave had been a very fortunate discovery for me, and speaking of fortunes, I wondered what my loot total was.

  Coin pouch, Soul Bound:

  47 Silver Marks, 49 Silver Bits, 230 Copper

  If my math was right, and that was always in doubt, I had gotten 2 Silver Marks, 8 Silver Bits and 42 Coppers in coin, but I didn’t really care since I had nowhere to spend any of it. Right now, money was only a side benefit in my quest to gain XP and get stronger.

  I needed to open the tab for my backpack to check on the items I had looted, and I was about to do that when I noticed the change in my bow’s Encumbrance requirement. It should have been (50), but it was now (45).

  Shit! Had I damaged it? My bow was my main weapon, and I would be in deep trouble if I had ruined it. But when I examined the weapon both from the Inventory screen and in my hand, I could find no apparent signs of damage.

  Then I remembered something. I had just broken the 20% proficiency mark in my Bow skill… Could the explanation be that simple? Did reaching that milestone with a skill come with some hidden benefits? I had no wiki to verify if it was true, but it made sense. Decreasing the Encumbrance hit with increasing proficiency was not a bad benefit, actually. I wondered what other potential bonuses I was blissfully unaware of. When I was satisfied with the answer I had come up with, I returned to inspecting my recent acquisitions.

  The only new items were the five daggers and two short swords I had looted from the guard kobolds, the tripwire I had recovered, a small arrow trap kit, a tribal totem of some kind, and the leader’s coin pouch.

  I took out the coin pouch and dumped out the contents into my hand. I expected only a few more coppers, but I was surprised to see an elegant rose carved out of something that looked like ivory. But instead of being white, this was pale pink in color, with streaks of darker red running through it—it looked like it had once been part of a larger piece of jewelry but was now was simply strung on a leather cord that was long enough for it to be worn as a necklace.

  While the cord was basic, the carving was beautiful. It was far more skillfully crafted than I thought kobolds would be capable of producing. I could only imagine that it had been taken as loot from some unfortunate victim of theirs. Perhaps the original piece had even been damaged in the former owner’s vain attempt to fight off the kobolds, leaving only the carved rose behind for plunder. On a sudden impulse, I placed it around my neck.

  I regretted my rash action instantly when the item revealed its identity.

  Minor Token of Grace – This charm increases the wearer’s Charisma by one point. This effect is permanent until the token is given away freely or sold willingly.

  Fuck! I had to go and do that… And it just had to be a bonus to Charisma. I was trying to hide and stay low-key, but now I was stuck with an increase to the one stat that would get me even more noticed and make me stand out that much more. Just when things seemed to be going well for me too. I couldn’t even throw the damn thing away it seemed since the only way to get rid of it was to sell it or give it away. With the damage of my actions already done, and with nothing I could do about it at the moment, I sat down heavily and considered my next move.

  With the urgency of combat over, exhaustion finally hit, and I practically collapsed into the kobold leader’s chair. I had been traveling through the woods for hours, the last bit of it through mud and rain. Adding the strain of battle on top of that left me almost completely fatigued, and when I looked at my Endurance bar, I realized that it had stopped regenerating, despite only recovering approximately half of its value. Obviously, I needed to rest before I would be able to perform any more strenuous activities.

  It was still raining outside, and the woods were a wet, muddy mess, but the cave was dry and now empty of enemies so it seemed that my best and safest option was to stay there. I went back to the first chamber and cleared the bodies from it before I set up a small camp in one corner.

  Once I had my camp made, I went a short way back up the narrow passage that led outside and set up the trip wire and arrow traps. I was sure that I had gotten all the kobolds in the cave, but if the map I had found was correct, the kobolds also had a small village or camp not too far away. I definitely wanted to be prepared in case there were any unexpected kobold visitors.

  Since the cave had surprisingly decent air flow, I built a small fire and cooked the remaining meat I had—even after using a portion of it to bait the wolf earlier, I still had a lot of it left over. Once I roasted it over the flames, I finally had some decently cooked meat I could actually eat, rather than a bunch of raw, bloody hunks sitting uselessly in my pack.

  When I was satisfied that I had done all I could, I finally settled in for a good night’s rest.

  20

  It was still dark when I was awakened by a crashing thud, followed by a loud yip that I recognized as a kobold cry of pain. Something had obviously triggered the traps guar
ding the mine entrance, and I was relieved that my foresight had seemingly saved my life. Regardless, I was also anxious, since I had no idea how many of the creatures were out there.

  I hadn’t bothered removing my armor and weapons while I slept, fearing just such an emergency, so I snatched up my bow and nocked an arrow as I carefully approached the entryway.

  Peering around the bend, I saw a single kobold slowly getting up off the floor. To his misfortune, he had not only fallen over the tripwire but had also managed to trigger the arrow trap as well, and I could see the small shaft of the trap arrow jutting out of his thigh.

  I couldn’t understand his speech, but as he muttered to himself, the kobold’s tone did not seem to be one of alarm—rather, it sounded angry and a little bit... embarrassed? He probably had no idea that his fellow kobolds in the mine were all dead, and I figured that he hadn’t expected traps in this area and wasn’t looking out for them. His sense of frustration seemed appropriate if he thought he had stumbled into a trap set by his own people in an area that was supposed to be clear of them.

  But the confused and distracted kobold provided me with the perfect opportunity to work on some of my new skills, so I put away my bow and drew my short sword and dagger. With my blades drawn, I charged at the helpless creature, hoping to overwhelm him.

  The kobold finally noticed my approach just as I reached him. He managed to raise one hand in a desperate attempt to fend off my attack before my sword came down across his forearm. The wet smack of the blade slicing through his flesh echoed through the tunnel before my sword struck bone and became lodged in his arm.

  With the sword firmly wedged in the kobold’s bone, I swung the dagger in my other hand and I felt the blade as I sliced neatly through flesh—unfortunately, that flesh was my own. As the pain lanced up my arm, I remembered the warning about two-handed fighting and severe penalties. Apparently, it had been a serious precaution, and I jumped away from the wounded kobold to gain some space as I recovered from my shock.