Of course a dungeon monster as simple as a regular goat can’t become scared. Rather that was what Doyle had ordered the goat to do. As the group goes to fight the goats in the next room, it lines up a charge with the person at the back of the party which is of course Daisy. Not making a sound the goat takes off and rams into her back, sending her flying into the room.

She slides across the dirt, knocking up clovers as her nice white sundress gets messed up. The room goes silent as all the guys turn to look at what happened. As Daisy gets up Doyle can just barely see a shimmer in the air next to her skin as she spits out dirt. There is a fire in her eyes as she shouts to, “KILL THEM! They ruined my dress! If it wasn’t for that idiot Jay giving up his free weapon for this defensive ring I might have been hurt.” and she holds up her hand showing off a copper ring with small runes inscribed on it.

With a vengeance they butcher the goats in that room and the next two. Then they come upon the kobold rooms. With a cocky swagger the guys enter to weapons drawn. The kobolds hiss at the group but hold their ground. Jerry rolls his eyes and shoves his dual wielding minion at them starting the fight. Of course the poor guy that just got shoved isn’t doing too well. One of the kobolds gets a good shot on his head before continuing on. This might not have finished him but both the mage kobolds send a spell his way. Maybe with the right skills and stats someone could survive an ice spike through the heart and a rock through the eye but that wasn’t an option here.

Jerry sighs in mock disappointment, “good help is so hard to find these days!” And he takes a swing at one of the charging kobolds bringing it down. Despite the group now being down to only three people who can fight things aren’t going badly for them. The mage, having had a lot of practice with it, is slipping the kobold mages left and right so they can’t get another spell off.

John and his axe are even worse as one shot bisects the kobold coming at him. This is too much of a cakewalk for them and it activates one of Doyle's earlier rules for the leader. Since the fight was too one-sided, the kobold charges out of her room with her two goats and joins the fight.

This addition throws a wrench in the works. The groups mage gets distracted by a charging goat and misses his timing. Suddenly not being slipped up the left kobold mage is able to get his second spell of the fight off. Daisy screams as a fist-sized rock shoots at her head. Jerry who had been covering John's side rushes back and blocks the shot but isn’t strong enough to stop it. His shield crashes back into Daisy causing her to fall and twist her ankle.

All the while one kobold gets in and sinks a claw into John’s side. Then another spell flies their way. One goat shouldn’t have stopped the mage so Jerry glances over. He is just in time to see the leader bash the mage's head in. All Jerry can do is scream for everyone to retreat.

Daisy is the first out of the room, reasonable as she had already retreated when she first got knocked down. Jerry is next leaving John to bring up the rear. Not that John has much of a choice. The wound in his side stops him from using his axe and forces him to retreat slowly or be hit again.

Once everyone is out of the room they don’t even regroup, instead just hoofing it towards the entrance. Soon though Daisy’s twisted ankle causes her to fall behind and she curses up a storm at the two guys for abandoning her. The fear of death, even if temporary, though is enough to keep their heads forward as they act like they can’t hear her. With their greater strength and body size in general the two are through the portal before Daisy is halfway through the vine room and that is when disaster strikes.

The assassin vines might not be able to move fast but that isn’t the same as not moving at all. While the group had been fighting further in the assassin vine that killed Jay had decided to move. Slowly but surely it moved to the side of the room that John had cleared. When the two fighters had ran past it wasn’t able to make a move at them as it wasn’t secured yet and they had run by too fast. Daisy on the other hand was slowed by her ankle. As she limped past the still vines coiled up around her and dragged her to the ceiling. The guys already through the portal didn’t even have a chance to hear her call for help and so there she died, another victim of the assassin vines.

In the core room Ally has fallen off of Doyles core as she laughs. Doyle shakes his core, ‘Well I don’t mind killing people like that. The only sad thing is someone like her wouldn’t be caught dead in a dungeon. That and she isn’t actually dead. I feel bad for the two victims but not much we can do about. There will always be people like that who let themselves get walked on. Though going by what we just saw the population of them might end up shrinking at an astonishing rate.’

Ally gets herself back under control. ‘That stuck up shrew got her just deserts there at the end. Even better, we just cleared the tutorial with room to spare. Going from having a hard time killing two to almost getting a party wipe. Wow, what a thrill. Anyway, now that we have finished the tutorial the system will give us 30 hours to prepare. Guess what that means!’

Doyle doesn’t even pause, ‘I can get a new path?’ Just as he says that Ally chimes in, ‘You can get a ne’, and she stops. ‘Yes, a new path. How did you know?’ Doyle bobbles, ‘well the tutorial is over. The limits on paths was only during it.’

Ally rolls her eyes, ‘fine, ruin my fun. Now let’s take a look at your status. More specifically if you want me to keep seeing it you will have to share it with me now. Once again the tutorial is over so I can’t anymore.’ Doyle doesn’t find the request unreasonable and closes all the open screens before reopening status with the intent to share it with her.

{Name: Doyle Huxley

Race: Dungeon Core (Strange Caverns)

Soulbond: Ally Huxley

Paths: [28] Dungeon Core 1/1

Level: 0

[2] S[8] A[7] C[10] I[12] W[9] P[5] D[14] K[20] L[16]

World Energy(/R per hour): 1000/1000(250)

Skills: Territory Control lv4, Dungeon Rules lv5, Universal Deconstruction lv4, Dungeon Pattern Database lv10, Creation(Energy Powered, Pattern Based) lv5}

She whistles, ‘doing fine there. You even got the database up a level though now that, once again let me restate it, we are out of the tutorial things should speed up. Anyway, you have 28 path points to use and two stat points. The stat points you can just keep for now as there isn’t any urgency to upgrade something except maybe to get presence up.’ Doyle nods his core, ‘yep, fine for now. Though lets see what I have earned path wise. [System, show available paths]’

{Points: 28

Class: Dungeon Core I 1/1

Completed:

Started [0/3]:

Available: Dungeon Core II 1/10, Goat Herder 0/10, Kobold Community 0/15, Vine Warper 0/15, Goat Supremacy 0/20, Kin Slayer 0/100, Voidborn 0/250}

Ally claps, ‘that’s impressive as well. Though I guess I should explain a couple things. The class and available sections are self explanatory. Completed is for any path you completed except your class. Started are the paths you currently tread. You can have three at once. Though few people make full use of it. Most have a special path they want to walk but costs too much, such as your Voidborn path, which they will occasionally put a couple points in. About the only other use I know for it is if you start down a path but can’t or don’t want to continue it.’

‘Now as for your paths in specific I have no clue what they do or mean. The unlock requirements are at least guessable. Your class can obviously advance and you have at least one path for each monster. Kin slayer probably comes from killing humans which you still identify with even if you aren’t one anymore and of course voidborn because you got reborn in the void. But don’t let me cloud your thoughts. Paths are quite personal so what do you think of them?’

Doyle reads each available path again. ‘I don’t want kin slayer. Whatever it does or means has little to do with the current me. Even if it gave me a boost to attacking humans, it isn’t worth it as far as I am concerned.’ He pauses again. Kin slayer was the only one that stood out to him as negative to him.

‘After that? Well, I do want to see what voidborn has to offer but it costs too much. This early on I need to be finishing paths. Maybe in the long run voidborn might be better but I have to live till then first. I want goat supremacy but it costs too much. With 28 points I should be able to complete my class path and another path. Actually, that raises a question. Can a completed path remove available paths?’

Ally nods, ‘they can yes. For instance, a lot of god based paths are mutually exclusive with each other. Your fear that taking goat herder might remove goat supremacy is valid.’ Doyle sighs, ‘then adding to my goats can wait. Instead, I think completing the class path and kobold community is what I will do. [System, put 9 points into dungeon core two and 15 points into kobold community].’

{9 Points applied to Dungeon Core II path...

2/10 - You have earned +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Constitution

4/10 - You have earned +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Constitution

6/10 - You have earned +2 Stat Points

8/10 - You have earned +2 Stat Points

10/10 - Path complete, You have earned +9 Floors, +1 Wisdom/Level

15 Points applied to Kobold Community…

5/15 - You have earned +1 Karma/Level, Kobolds get +1 Karma/Level

10/15 - You have earned +1 Wisdom/Level, Kobolds get +1 Wisdom/Level

15/15 - Path complete, You have earned minor Information on Kobold communities, +1 Agility/Level, Kobolds get +1 Agility/Level}

{Kobolds as a species are focused on the finesse stats. This has caused their communities to flourish. Greater karma leads to sentient kobolds gathering others and their boosted wisdom makes sure these gatherings tend to avoid notice. Compared to other monster communities like goblins their leaders are more likely to become sentient in general. Rumors of a completely sentient sub-species of kobolds while exaggerated are not without basis.}

‘Huh, hey Ally, is there anyway to see how many points in a stat you will gain per level?’, Doyle asks. Ally nods, ‘You just have to ask the system. Basically anything about your status can be queried. Now you might not be able to, for instance, ask it when and why you gained a specific addition to a stat but the overview is possible. Not that the info isn’t stored in the system somewhere but it does at least a minimal amount of work to obfuscate how everything goes together. For instance a path, as far as anyone can tell, will give the same rewards to anyone that takes it. Except of course when it doesn’t.’

Akhier

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