"I'm going on ahead," called Klaw, "Don't… uh, die."

Klaw witnessed Anath jump into the hole with a look on her face like she was ready to take on the world. And her new form… it was entirely, and utterly, badass. Metal scales accented by veins of burning magma. Eight cat-like eyes that glowed with an inner fire. Her new metal horns wreathed her head like a crown.

She raged fairly often, but not like this. Was it the potion? The girl had ripped and tore her way through the goblins without mercy, and was now dueling several goblins that, technically, should be stronger than her.

That was something Klaw was picking up on. Strength, real strength, not the stat, wasn't dictated by levels, traits, or skills. Those were just tools to use to show how strong you were. It was about the willingness to win, experience, and planning. Klaw was strong, but not because of his twenty-two strength he had at the moment, which was impressive in its own right.

No, he was strong because he knew how to use his strength. How to apply it at just the right time. Too little, and you were weak. Too much, and you broke things. The trick was to hover just enough to be threatening and let loose when they didn't expect it.

If your first strike is at 100%, then you won't have any surprises when you go all out when the enemy is vulnerable.

But Anath was just running at 100% without thought or care of the damage she was causing. That was a type of strength too, he decided.

Klaw jumped over the pit and into the tunnels. Elyndris was on his shoulder, gripping tight with her wings.

The first goblin they came upon was ready for them. But, it was not ready for the gout of fire that Elyndris spewed at him. Neither was Klaw, to be fair, but he was currently fire-proof.

The goblin reeled back in pain, covering its face but exposing its throat. Klaw jabbed a palm at it like how Skiz taught him. With a quick flex of his burning claws, he ripped out the goblin's throat. It fell to the ground silently. Unable to even gurgle due to the cauterization of its throat. Klaw kept moving.

The tunnel twisted and thinned. At one point, he had to crawl like a badger to keep up the momentum. Another goblin was before him, waiting on the path. Elyndris blasted this one with another gout of fire, followed by a beam of heat that melted a small hole in its chest. It fell, dying, so Klaw continued.

Soon, he came to the chamber where Anath was fighting the goblins. Their corpses littered the floor. Two tunnels led away from this chamber, and based on the screams, they knew where Anath went.

"Worm, go help out Anath. I think she's in pain." Klaw said.

"Very well. What are you going to do?"

"Each goblin boss has twelve squaddies. There's more than twelve here, so I'm going boss hunting."

Elyndris nodded and flew off after Anath. In truth, he didn't want Elyndris's fire to get in his way. He cracked his neck, then followed the other tunnel. These halls were emptied of bones, just like the others. Tasted and then taken to the pile outside.

Without warning, the ground in front of him burst upwards. A goblin-like creature poked its head out, then sliced his leg with long, wide claws. It disappeared back into the hole it made.

"Hey, get back here, you little shit," Klaw growled. The creature was like a goblin, but with scaled, earth-like skin. Its eyes were large and the claws reminded him of a pair of shovels.

It burst out from the dirt again, only this time from above. It slashed him on his upper back before it disappeared again. Fuck this, Klaw thought. He ran ahead, trying to get out of this tunnel and into somewhere he could fight fairly.

Then his leg broke through the earth, and he tripped. If his bones weren't double-reinforced, then he would have broken his ankle. Instead, he rolled once and landed on his back. Just in time for a hidden goblin from above to jump down on top of him.

It stabbed at him with a bone dagger, but Klaw caught its wrist. Saliva dripped onto Klaw's chin. The goblin looked like it had already won, given the look of glee on its face. He almost felt sorry for it.

He extended his claws, wrapping them around the goblin's wrist. Then he squeezed. The bone plating began to crack and splinter and smoke. Klaw held on tight as the goblin thrashed and squealed.

Sitting up, Klaw forced the weak creature back, then snapped its arm. His other palm slammed into a vulnerable section of its belly, and then he ripped a fist full of flesh out of the monster. A couple more slashes and the goblin died.

Next, he wanted to deal with the digger. Klaw was too pissed off to lure it into the open. He stood and waited. His eyes closed, and he listened. A faint crumble gave away the creature's location.

It burst from a wall just in time for Klaw to grab it by the shoulder. With a sizzle, his claws dug into its flesh. Ignoring the screams, he pulled the creature from the hole and then slammed it into the wall. Again and again, he brutalized the monster.

[You have slain - Kobold, level 12. Experience Gained.]

Ah, so that was a kobold. Klaw made a mental note of how to kill them.

Beyond this tunnel was another chamber. This one was somewhat larger than the others. It had supporting columns and some of the walls still had bones stacked within. More importantly, the room contained a groveling goblin. Bit.

It was still bleeding from where Klaw had ripped out some of its bone armor. Klaw grinned at him.

"Found you." He said.

"Look, what do you want? I can give it to you! Just let me go."

"I kind of want your experience. And an ear." Klaw approached the goblin with menace.

It shrunk away from him. Then, somewhere else in the barrows boomed the collapse of a room. It triggered the ceiling above him to crack and a piece fell onto Klaw. It hit him directly on the top of the head with a loud thunk.

It was enough of a distraction for the goblin to rush him, and then slam a shoulder into a rib. Despite the reinforcement of his bones, a rib snapped.

Klaw grunted in pain and staggered back.

"You fool! You dare challenge me? The hex, they call me. Curser, the unlucker. I am Bit, goblin boss! And no lizard could defeat me!"

Klaw growled, "Don't need the luck to kill you." And lunged.

The goblin tripped. Stumbling on the same stone that had fallen earlier. It was enough to save his life.

"Gah, you're annoying to kill," Klaw growled.

"No more annoying than you! Whoever… you are." The goblin threw a stone at Klaw, who simply ignored it.

He took a moment, then observed the battlefield. The floor was covered in debris, things to trip over. The walls were equally unstable and apparently, rocks could just fall from the sky. If he moved anywhere, he was likely to be unlucky. What could he do to minimize that weakness? What would Daggat do?

Then he cursed himself for thinking that. He could handle this without his brother's help. Imaginary or not. Still, Dag would probably argue his way out of the situation. That did give Klaw an idea.

"Hey, bit, do you think torture is dishonorable?"

"Uh, what?"

"Torture, you know, slicing someone open… but slowly."

"I don't… think so?"

"Let's find out. Look, I am a lot more capable than you. That's clear. But, you've got this hex on you. Makes it a pain for me to kill ya. So here is the deal. Every time something unlucky happens, I'll count to ten."

"Count to ten… and then what?" Bit was glancing for a way out. He was just as hesitant to attack Klaw.

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"No, no. Ten is when I stop cutting, you see."

Bit swallowed. There were no warnings of any dishonorable actions. That was good.

"I don't know how your ability works. But, if I don't get unlucky, then that means a quick death."

"You're bluffing," Bit said shakily.

"Nah, I don't really do that. So, what do you say," Klaw lowered into his preferred fighting stance, "wanna get started?"

The goblin ran for the tunnel. Perfect. Klaw tried to slash at him on his way past, but unfortunately, he only grazed him.

Just as Bit was closing in on the tunnel entrance, Klaw swiped the air twice with an air slash. He threw a smite in for good measure, even though it wouldn't do anything. What Klaw didn't expect, was for the air from his attacks to become superheated. Right, the fire affinity. He had forgotten about that skill. Six lines of glowing air raced down the tunnel.

The tunnel was straight, and no matter how unlucky Klaw was, there was no way he could miss. However, if the goblin's ability was an aura, bonus points for being out of its reach before he attacked.

The goblin screamed and stumbled forward. Klaw threw another air slash at it, cutting further. Maybe he didn't make a mistake with this skill, he thought.

Bit tried to crawl away. One of its tendons had been sliced, and it couldn't run. Klaw grabbed him by the back of the skull, and he froze.

"Hey, looks like I did get unlucky. I was looking forward to the fun we could have." Klaw said.

Then, he unsheathed his claws, burying them into the goblin's skull.

[You have slain - Goblin, level 13. Experience Gained. You have gained one paladin level.]

Klaw whooped in victory, then continued his hunt. He would spend the skill point when things were safer. Suddenly, his Drakeheart form faded away. Well, good things couldn't last forever. But, now he realized how dark it was.

Gathering a bone and some of the goblin's clothes, he fashioned a crude torch, then lit it on the smoldering remains of Bit.

Misfortune struck him again when he couldn't find any more enemies to slay. Instead, he found Anath and Elyndris in a hole.

"Hey, you two alright?" He called. Anath was trembling. Her skin was red and patchy, and she looked cold.

"I'm okay," Anath called back.

Like hell she was. Klaw dropped into the hole and looked around. This chamber was different than the others. The architecture was cleaner and the walls were lined with coffins, rather than stacks of bones. Markings that had to be text were inscribed onto plaques on each one. The symbols were unfamiliar, but Klaw couldn't read them anyway. At least, not well.

"I think we got them all," Klaw said. Anath just nodded.

"She's been through an ordeal," Elyndris commented. "Anath needs rest."

"I'm FINE. I just need to sleep it off in front of Hunter's fire." Anath stood and they looked around the room. "I can kill a goblin or two more."

Curious, Klaw grabbed the lid of a coffin and dragged it off. It hit the ground with a satisfying thud. Inside was a corpse. Bones disintegrated with time but blackened as though chared. Its skull had two large golden coins covering its sockets.

"Be careful not to touch the bones with your hands. They are infused with the power of death. But do gather them, Daggat can make some deliciously deadly poisons from them."

"Gold?" Klaw asked as he picked up the disk. It immediately faded away in a mist of light.

"No, tokens!" Anath exclaimed. "We can use them to buy stuff for the party. Daggat wants a lot of them."

"Well, let's get to opening coffins, then," Klaw said.

Systematically, the two opened each coffin. Aside from the tokens, which they had gathered 32, they found one other item of interest.

Each skeleton had eroded clothing, armor, and jewels. But one had a necklace that showed no signs of erosion. It was simple but eye-catching. A black tear-drop gem on a white chain.

"It is magical, I can see that. No death. I think it's… water? Life? Kind of looks like an eyeball. Something along those lines." Elyndris said as she examined it.

Anath took it from the corpse. As she pulled the stone away from the corpse, its color faded to a dark gray. She moved it back, and it returned to the black color.

"Corpse detector?" Klaw asked.

Anath shrugged and put on the necklace. It returned to a near pitch black. "I don't know, but It's pretty. I like it."

It was an ordeal getting out of the hole. Klaw had a bag with them for goblin ears, which he filled with bones and threw them upwards. He ended up tossing Anath up the hole, and then jumping and grabbing onto one of her spider legs.

They then spent the next hour systematically cutting off goblin ears. Anath also retrieved goblin hearts for him. She did it with a speed and precision that made it quick work. He swallowed each heart whole. Goblins had small hearts. Each one gave him experience for devouring a goblin as well. Klaw didn't realize he could double up on experience. Anath and Hunter too, he supposed. Anath also gathered small, bone-like orbs from each goblin. They had what looked like metallic veins running through them. Cores. Twenty-three of them went into the sack.

[Feat achieved: Life Eater. Cause: Ritualistically devour fifty hearts from recently slain foes. Reward: Biotrait, Beast Core.]

"Eh, got the core. About time, I lost track of counting, to be honest." Klaw had mostly eaten deer, squirrel, and rabbit hearts. They had retrieved the orc hearts as well. Though, he wasn't sure he would stop eating them. There was that rush they gave him. Different than when he ate a creature whole. A tingling feeling swelled in his chest after receiving the core. Now he felt a new kind of hunger, the hunger of a core not yet filled with magic.

"Good job. I think that's the last of the ears. Let's go check on the humans." Anath said.

Klaw tilted his head at her use of humans but said nothing as they moved to the exit.

The three halted in their tracks when they noticed the mound of earth blocking the exit.

"Shit. Tunnel collapsed." Klaw said. "Well, I'll start digging."

"Wait," Elyndris said. "I can sense something beyond the dirt. Ten humans. Waiting, encircling the entrance. Wrath gathers around them."

"What does that mean?" Anath asked.

"Ambush. Fucking humans." Growled Klaw. "I was wondering if they were going to do that."

"Oh… that kind of sounds like fun," Anath said, grinning.

Klaw

True Name: Klaw Soul: Mortal/Monster Genseed: gremlin [ 3 Str, 4 Dex, 3 Con, 2 Int, 3 Wil, 3 Cha; Regenerating Teeth, Rot Resistance; Tiny Size] Genbloom: Bugbear [ +3 Str, +1 Dex, +2 Con, +1 Int, +1 Wil; Rough Fur; Small Size]

Monster Level: 8 Paladin Level: 4 [+2 Str, +2 Con, +2 Wil; Smite, Righteous Aura]

Attributes (0/6): Strength: 21 (22, +1 belt) Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 13 (14, +1 belt) Intelligence: 8 Will: 11 Charm: 8

Feats: Knowledge: System Knowledge Act: Devotion [Layered feats] Ability: Mighty Strength Act: Arsonist Act: Life Eater

Skills(1/5): System Aptitude: 1 Burst of Strength: 1 Attribute Boost: Strength (+2) Flame Affinity: 1 [Source: Arsonist] Smite: 1 Wind Slash: 1 Savage Attacks: 1

Notable Natural Skills: Savagery: Apprentice

Biotraits (0/8): Base size: Standard [Source: Gremlin] Regenerating Teeth [Source: Gremlin] Enhanced Night Vision [Source: Gremlin] Disease Resistance [Mutations: Rot Resistance; Source: Gremlin] Claws [Mutations: Forged, Retractable] Dense Muscle Fibers Rough Fur [Mutations: Insulating Fur; Source: Bugbear] Dense Bone Cardiovascular Control Beast Core [Source: Life Eater]

Transformations: Drakeheart Form: +2 strength +2 constitution Fire-proof Scales Claws [Mutation added: Burning]

Night Stalker form: +2 strength +2 dexterity +2 constitution Dark Vision

Notable Gear: Belt of Last Stand

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