The Land: Founding

Chapter 6

The two of them walked through the forest, both wrapped in silence as they dealt with their own personal demons. As they moved forward to the last place the wolves had been seen, intending to pick up their trail, Richter noticed a small icon along the left side of his vision with Sion's face. Focusing on it, a translucent window popped up.

Name: Sion
Age: 34
Level: 7, 47% to next level
Health: 160 Mana: 194 Stamina: 120
Strength: 17
Agility: 18
Dexterity: 44
Constitution: 16
Endurance: 12
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 9
Luck: 12
Abilities:
Wood Craft
Forest Concealment
Skills:
Herb lore Lvl 10, 3% to next level, 64% affinity
Alchemy Lvl 3, 14% to next level, 88% affinity
Archery Lvl 41, 71% to next level, 74% affinity
Imbue Arrow Lvl 28, 45% to next level, 88% affinity
Focus Lvl 25, 45% to next level, 82% affinity
Tracking Lvl 12 37% to next level, 77% affinity
Small Blades Lvl 18, 56% to next level, 73% affinity
Light Armor Lvl 25, 64% to next to next level, 82% affinity
Marks:
None
Resistances:
Life 10%
Earth 10%
Light 10%
Race: Wood Sprite
Reputation: Lvl 1 "Who are you again?"
Alignment: +2
Languages: Sprite, Common

Interesting. Now that they were Companions, Richter could see Sion's status page. He wasn't sure what else being a Companion meant, but he was sure the information would reveal itself in time. Most of the skills seemed self-explanatory. He had received the Light Armor skill himself after he had donned the wood sprite armor. Sion's advanced Archery would most likely be invaluable. Richter was also extremely interested in the Imbue Arrow skill, whatever that was. Focusing upon the skill brought up no further information. Resolving to ask the sprite about it later, Richter continued on.

They walked through the forest as the sun moved across the sky. When it began to approach the horizon, Sion stopped and examined an old spoor on the ground. Making eye contact briefly, he motioned and then led Richter deeper into the forest, leaving the river for the first time. After moving for only ten minutes, they heard snuffling and growling noises up ahead. Slowly making their way through the trees, they climbed a hill and discovered what looked like a small cave opening. In front of it were three wolves. The largest was sleeping while the other two fought over a bone with a few scraps of meat upon it.

You have found: New Cave.

Reacting to some unknown stimulus, the larger wolf looked up and stared in their direction. Richter froze, his heart beating wildly as he prepared to fight, but the wolf simply continued to scan the woods before laying its head back down. The concealment properties of his new armor seemed to be coming in handy.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Stealth. Use your surroundings to avoid detection. Attacks made while stealthed can cause extra damage.

Huh, Richter had been wondering when this skill would show up. Back to business though, the prompt had said it was a 'New' cave. In the game, dungeons had been divided by age. New dungeons were less than a year old. The progression was New, Young, Seasoned, Mature, Old, Timeworn, Ancient and Primordial. After Young, each stage was ten times as old: a year, ten years, a hundred years and so on. The age was how long the creatures had been there. It was usually a marker of the difficulty and loot that could be gained. It wasn't exact though. A new cave inhabited by a grand lich would be more difficult than a seasoned cave filled with rats.