1.5 – Trial of Destiny III

Just as Rika stepped through the cleft leading out of the kobold den, another tide of class information swept over her. This time, it was an update to her existing Strike skill.

Class Skill – Strike has gained expanded functionality. It can now be used with equipped weapons and shields.

• Strike – A basic attack with equipped weapon or shield. Average damage, no special properties. 12 second cooldown.What will you make of yourself, Aspirant?

Well, that was interesting.

“Chryson, is there anything you can tell me about this? Like should I expect more of these sorts of changes to my skills going forward?”

“Skills may expand through use. Likewise, one may acquire new skills in a similar fashion. Otherwise, there’s nothing I can tell you at this time.”

She’d expected he would simply stay silent as he had in the past. Still, the answer was about what she’d expected. But she’d already pieced together the most likely reason she’d gotten this expansion to her Strike ability. In the previous room, she’d used her shield to shove back kobolds when she’d been at risk of being overwhelmed, and she’d also used it as a bludgeon a time or two. If she were to guess, that was the reason she could now activate the skill with her shield in addition to her weapon. It was also nice to get something without having to give up other options. Only seemed fair after losing her Basic Crafting ability, even if she didn’t have any idea of how she’d have used it, anyway.

With the healing poultice ticking down ever closer to zero, and the fatigue following the previous fight now mostly gone, she pushed through the passage. At the far end of this passage was another opening, this one much the same as the first. While she couldn’t yet see what lay beyond, the unmistakable flickering warmth of firelight danced off the rough-hewn crevice walls.

Reaching the end after only a couple of minutes, Rika was greeted by a most unwelcome sight. She stood once more in the entryway to a natural cave of sorts, filled once more with kobolds. Only these were clad in armor fashioned of bone, along with their makeshift weapons. And even worse, they noticed her immediately.

A cry went up from the closest of them before Rika could move on it. Its fellows took up the war-cry, and nameplates flickered into view.

Kobold Outcast Warrior – Level 1

Several of them had two or three stacks of Fury of the Horde. That would change soon enough, as they all took up their axes and spears and clubs as they moved toward her. Rika had no time to take stock of her surroundings. No time to take a proper count of her enemies. All she could tell was that this chamber had more than the last.

She sprang into action, letting the years of drilling under Captain Marin take over and trusting the instincts those drills had forged. The kobold warrior that had roused the pack already had its axe drawn back, readying an overhand attack. Rika didn’t give it the chance.

Strike: 12 seconds

The rim of her shield cracked against the bleached skull the kobold warrior wore as a helmet. Bone splintered and crumbled under the blow, leaving the creature’s head vulnerable. It took a backward stumble under the force, leaving it open for a follow-through. Rika’s blade found its throat, and it died gurgling as it sank to its knees. She stepped back and raised her shield to take the swing of a bone club. The rest of the pack was closing in, and they were already far more aggressive than the regular kobolds.

Fury of the Horde x18: Minor damage increase for every ally within 5 ft.

There were more than eighteen of these things, she was certain. But the range of the buff was only five feet. A quick sweep of the pack confirmed her hunch. The individual kobolds showed different numbers, most in the seventeen to twenty range. However, she did notice one important detail. Those warriors at the very edges had the lowest amount of stacks from the buff. Some as low as ten.

She couldn’t find anywhere in the cavern that could serve as a good defensive position. Her plan from the previous chamber wouldn’t work again here. But she saw another path to triumph. Backing away while also circling around to her left, she tried to keep the bulk of the pack on her shield side. She probed the mass of lizard-dog flesh with her sword, striking at those kobolds furthest on the edges.

If she could use her shield to hold the bulk of them back and pick off the ones at the edges, she could hopefully whittle them down safely enough. The last thing she could afford was to take another wound to the leg. The still-healing gash on her hip wasn’t helping things, but at least it was on her shield side. She could protect herself well enough.

Immediately, her plan hit a snag. The first cut against a breastplate fashioned of bones lashed together in a sort of external ribcage glanced off almost harmlessly. Her second attempt didn’t yield any better results. As weapons crafted from stone and bone thunked against the thick wood of her shield, she had to rely solely on her footwork to keep her from getting cut, bludgeoned, or stabbed by those attacks that made it past. And to keep herself from getting surrounded once again.

When a small opening presented itself, she went for it. Guided by Finesse and powered by her Might, she slid the tip of her arming sword between the bones of one warrior’s makeshift armor. Blood welled up from the wound, thick and red, and the creature howled. An answering cry arose from the rest of the pack, and their fury redoubled.

Blood Frenzy: 6 seconds

The buff popped on every single kobold warrior’s nameplate at once, right next to the Fury of the Horde. Although she couldn’t see a description of what it did exactly, she could guess well enough. The pace of the warriors’ attacks picked up, and the strength of the impacts against her shield likewise increased. For now, it seemed, her Resilience was enough to weather the assault, but now she clearly had a problem. Well, two if she were honest.

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First, was this Blood Frenzy nonsense. Why it hadn’t triggered when the first had died, she could only guess. Likely, they had to be close enough. She wasn’t anywhere close to familiar with how all these class and stat and buff things worked. Hopefully she’d have time to figure it out once she lived. If she lived—she still wasn’t fully certain whether she could die here. Given how much her hip hurt, she was leaning toward a yes.

Second, slashing attacks were clearly ineffective against these enemies. If she could find a good angle, she could slide a thrust between the bones and into vulnerable parts. Her Finesse, even at two, was more than enough to keep her aim steady. It was just finding those openings that would be the tricky part. Her shield slam had shattered the first one’s skull helmet, but using her shield as a weapon would open her up.

She decided on a test. Strike had been particularly effective against the regular kobolds in the previous room, often killing them in a single use. Her “regular” attacks had taken two, sometimes three attacks to send a kobold outcast to the ground in a pile of bleeding and dying flesh. Whatever “average damage” meant in her skill description, it was clearly more than what her normal, unskilled attacks dealt.

Lashing out with a Might powered swing, the edge of her arming sword shattered the bone breastplate of a kobold warrior who had the misfortune to get too far from the rest of the pack. The gash she left on its now exposed chest was far from fatal, but it was clearly injured as it stumbled back, fear unmistakable in its wide eyes staring up at her from behind its skull helmet.

Strike: 12 seconds