Tier 4 Offensive Skills ? Only One May Be Chosen
{50pts} [Devastate] Strikes dealing more than ten percent of the target’s health do double damage.
{50pts} [Overwhelming Presence] Causes a {Terror} type debuff that causes affected targets to become paralyzed for 5 seconds, plus 10 seconds per Rank difference between caster and target.
{50pts} [Rampage] Every time an enemy is damaged by the Beast Master or a bonded beast, increase the damage done by the Beast Master or the bonded beast for one minute.
There were over a dozen greyed out attack skills, which were only available to an attack specialist Beast master, but there were three core skills that Karl could use.
[Rampage] Cara and Remi demanded at the same time.
[Devastate] Rae insisted. She hit hard, and double damage stabbing sounded better than slowly stacking damage.
[I want to see them pee themselves when they see us.] Hawk recommended.
That did have a certain appeal to it. Making them too terrified to even move as they were slaughtered could be interesting.
The real problem was that they could only choose one, and it was fifty points. Karl probably didn’t have that many.
They could most likely get [Trollish Regeneration] from the defence skills tree, though. That would be a fun skill to have.
Bodyguards and Golems with Trollish Regeneration seemed like it would be a most excellent prank to play on people. Even after the barriers broke, and the enemy hacked a limb off, they could just pick it up and let it reattach itself.
It would be hilarious.
Karl did his best not to laugh at their antics as they settled in for dinner with the Trollish farmers telling stories of mundane events on the farm. It actually made the trolls feel much more relatable, with the same concerns he had at home. Earth Mice getting into the cupboards, stoves that didn’t heat evenly, long hours and insufficient pay. Even if you were a troll, a worker was a worker. They didn’t have any of the technological items that Karl was used to, but it wasn’t all that different in lived experience.
The older man had his boys seated slightly behind him, a precaution in case Karl’s group wasn’t actually friendly, and the trio smiled as Lotus and Tessa began adding chunks of meat and cheese from their inventory into the rice and bean stew.
The pot would normally be too much for just the eight of them, but Trolls should have a big appetite after a long day of travelling.
The pot that Tessa had chosen was a pressure cooker with a locking lid, and while the whistling was a bit annoying, to the trolls it was the sound of good things to come.
Cheesy rice and beans didn’t sound all that great, Karl thought. But Lotus was happy to add spices to anything, and it came out much better than anticipated. It made a moderately spicy gumbo style stew, short on meat but thick and filling.
The church kitchen would never serve something like that, but it proved to be a huge hit with the trolls, and Karl could see the wistful looks that those further away were giving them.
With the stone pile around the fire pit and the Naga Warriors on guard, everyone settled in to sleep near the heat.
Trolls were rather flammable, but they were also fond of being warm. It was a tradeoff that had to be made for comfort.
Karl’s team paired up for warmth, with Ophelia and Tessa sharing, while Lotus and Cara shared a sleeping bag.
If anyone had noticed Cara leaving her space to join the little cleric, they hadn’t said anything about it. It would solve their wandering Lotus issues, as even if Lotus was eager to explore, Cara didn’t like moving until morning, and she would keep the inquisitive one locked in place.
There were dozens of merchant wagon caravans outside this small farming town, one of many along the main road, all with new cultures, stories and experiences to share. But sleep was more important, and everyone was more interested in being well rested for tomorrow’s long day than staying up all night telling stories. A commotion just before dawn caused the Naga Warriors to wake Karl and the others. They weren’t at the edge of the camp, and it didn’t sound like an imminent fight, but Karl got up and dressed anyhow, just to be safe.
The commotion seemed to be a handful of humans with lizardmen in tattered armour who had staggered into the camp covered in blood and fading fast.
“Tessa, come lend a hand. I think something attacked the merchants along the road.” Karl whispered.
By Tessa’s estimation, attacked was an understatement. These few survivors were merchant’s guards, and they were all horribly maimed and barely hanging on to their lives when she began her healing work.
It was more difficult than she was used to, as some were monsters out of favour with the Dragon Gods, but that was more in the nature of her not receiving the bonuses she was used to than the Gods actively preventing her from healing them.
The spells closed their wounds, and stopped the internal bleeding, but most of these men would never work as caravan guards again. Some were missing limbs, one most of a hand and both eyes. But that didn’t answer the question of what happened to them.
“They should be stable now. They might not be able to tell us much until they have calmed down, but there is a troll among them, and he will be fine in a few minutes, as long as his eyes heal properly.” She explained.
The half troll gave them a weak thumbs up, and blinked his newly regenerated eyes.
“They will be fine now. I had to scoop them out so they would heal right, and that takes time to grow back naturally. Everything was going well, and we had cut around the city to bypass all the traffic and the road pirates exacting tolls to get to the gates.
But there was some sort of massive battle going on in the middle of nowhere, and they just attacked us without warning.
Some massive Orc calling himself Dora The Destroyer annihilated our entire caravan. We fled, and we were over five kilometres from the main battle, but they still chased us down.” He explained.
“So, it was the nomadic Orc tribes fighting?” One of the farmers asked.
The merchant shook his head. “They were there, but there are Orcs, trolls, dragons, Minotaur herds, and I swear I saw an entire Spellblade Clan. It’s hell, they’re going to tear the whole region apart at that rate, and it’s still spreading. I saw five more portals open as I crawled to safety.”
One of the humans laying near him laughed.
“You got lucky. We weren’t even trying to get near the city. We were going cross-country from the coast and got ambushed by a Demon Clan. Same thing, they just came out of nowhere and started killing everyone.”
Karl nodded. “Whatever is going on there must have riled them up. I heard rumours in the city that it was a Dungeon opening, but both Orc tribes that I have met with this week were pretty reasonable.”