A journey through the wild

Like with any adventurer, mercenary or soldier, Khazun's inner clock seemed to work pretty perfect. Jay had of course woken up as well to see if there were any problems and would minutes later be woken up either way as a certain little cutie would demanded her late-night snack.

Just like he had anticipated, a minute after Khazun had left the somehow groggy looking Sira came walking in. She swiftly glanced through the room, Jay guessed to look what mess he made again, and then joined him on the bed.

While giving a short report that there was nothing noteworthy, she stripped down and then cuddled with him. She was still wearing her human disguise as the two of them made out for a bit until she was satisfied.

Once again the last shot got slurped up even though this time as well a good portion made it's way somewhere else. Sira had asked for as much XP as possible, so the blame was on her.

Well, not only the blame...

After cleaning up a bit, Jay and her laid down on the bed and used the remaining two hours to get some sleep. They didn't even switch to their normal bedrooms and kept sharing in the one for Khazun.

Glad that he had no problem with interval sleeping, Jay got up some minutes before his shift.

As he stepped out into the darkness, the female Orc got a bit surprised. It wasn't due to his sudden appearance but that he really took a shift himself. As he explained that he wasn't going to neglect his work and get rusty and also it was fact that the two women would need their strength as well, Khazun gave in and went back inside the tent.

As the curtain fell shut again and dimmed the light shining from inside, Jay glanced around once to make sure the women really hadn't missed something. As during the other two shifts nothing had occurred, chances were high it'd be the same for his.

Jay highly doubted the normal Gnolls would be so cunning to plan attacks out that much and wait for daybreak.

Like this he settled down in front of the tent and began to check the log for his gains. It wasn't just those of the night this time as the day had wielded quite a lot as well. Thanks to all the fighting Jay had amassed quite some XP, as well as risen his Fighter and Pyromancer Jobs another Level each.

For skills he gained, he started to check from the last one. He already had the [Common] language that seemingly only got mentioned as a skill when the races differed greatly or had normally no chance to learn the language at all. Of course gaining it anew brought him nothing.

Khazun's [Commanding LVL 1] had come with (Battle Shout) so there was nothing new to learn as well. But therefore the next skill called [Berserk LVL 1] had caught Jay's attention even before. Contrary to his wild guess, the effect seemed quite decent though:

Not only didn't it hinder movements or clear thinking in battle, it could possibly ease them. The skill blocked pain and a part of received damage for a short amount of time, as well raised ones attack power by a good bit. On the other hand, once the skill ended the pain, strain and some of the accumulated damage would resurface.

For the next three skills [Charge LVL 2], [Sword LVL 2], and [Shield LVL 2], they all did neither grant Jay new abilities nor raise his own skills Level. He simply had already reached completely different spheres in those, though the added points from a little bit of intercourse was something he'd never decline.

The only skill that he really could benefit from in the long run had been [Axe LVL 4]. It came with no new abilities as well, but to his own surprise had raised his Mastery to Level 6. Though it wasn't his preferred weapon, Jay thought there might be a time he'd switch to it in the future.

With this last skill he was mostly done with checking and reading through his log. The last thing that remained was the traits he gained directly after his fight with Gath'Ilzog, Khazun's racial traits:

***

Racial Traits integrated:

Orc:

Blood Fury: physical Damage dealt +5%, taken -10% (temp. Doubled 10s)

Gru'umsh:

Hardiness: VIT and STR +5%, stun effect duration -20%

[Ork'ud]

Orcish language

***

Those green-skins had totally unbalanced traits, explaining to Jay why their fighting styles had mostly relayed on melee combat. The bonus they got was quite nice though, resulting in Jay once again boosting his prowess.

After he was done checking his abundant gains, Jay one more time made a round to check his vicinity. While he could see fireplaces shine in the far distance, none of them was close enough for the naked eye.

In the area towards the northern of those two mountains they would travel to next, Jay saw the concentration of those light getting more dense.

Other than that, just like he had expected and hoped for, there were no troubles over the whole night. If anything, he wished the three hours would have gone by faster. He even tried to bury some of it checking his menu and tweaking the mini-map.

When the first sun rays illuminated the wide hilly plains, Jay went inside the tent and started to prepare breakfast. Both women woke up from the aromatic smell wafting out of the kitchen and came to look what was going on.

By that time Jay had long set the table and just came out into the main room.

Sira directly took her seat and thanked jay as she filled her plate while Khazun seemed unsure of what she had to do.

Jay had to have her sit down and eat after he and Sira had already started, as the Orc had remained standing to the side until then. Once she started to eat though, he had to wonder if what he had prepared would suffice.

Even as Sira had finished her share and kept praising Jay for his cooking skills, approved by grunts from Khazun, did latter continue to ingest every single leftover. There really might have been additional stomachs in her breasts...

Once they were finally done, the three left the tent and after Jay stored it away. Then they left their resting spot and like before rode with all of them on his magic mount towards the southern direction.

Their encounters with Gnolls were relatively sparse at first, even though Jay kept searching for more and steered in the corresponding directions.

To their all surprise, there really had been some casters within the monsters. It had been quite funny when the first one had targeted especially Jay in the back as the two women went to attack it. The result was the weak (shadow-bolt) returning to the Gnoll-shadowmage and wounding it, just to make decapitating it easier for Khazun.

Over the later encounters it turned out that the big one of his green women was quite good in defending. Jay gave her one of the better shields from his inventory and had her guard Sira while she attacked.

The reason was mostly that while the Orc had no trouble fighting and defeating those Gnolls even in numbers, his cute Hobgoblin struggled. She was somewhat able to fight them one on one even if she couldn't use sneak attacks, but more than that would have been risky.

That gladly changed when Sira finally achieved what Jay had hoped for: the (Dagger LVL 1) Skill. From the moment she gained it, not only her handling of her weapon but also the damage of her attacks skyrocketed. Instead of struggling with one monster, she had no trouble with two from then on.

Though more was still asked too much.

Like this they continued their journey towards the mountains in the south-west for over three hours. Thanks to the short breaks on horseback while Jay rode them to the next opponents, the girls held out quite long. Jay still decided to take a longer break once they got within sight of their targeted area.

While munching on some fruits he had pulled from his inventory, Jay asked how and if slaves could change their jobs or even gain one. But Sira answered she had no idea of this herself as she had been a Thief before and though she had progressed extremely well over the last days, she felt it was quite some time before she'd be able to switch.

All she knew was that it at least was possible. Her best guess was to ask at the Guild when suddenly Khazun blurted in that slaves normally don't require jobs.

The moment Jay retorted that she was a slave herself now, the orc had to swallow hard on her own words.

As they had resumed to their travel a couple of minuteslater, Khazun seemed a bit too eager to prove herself after her verbal mishap and butchered numerous Gnolls alone. Jay had to calm her down a bit, in order for Sira to gain some practice as well over the next hours.

After all together over five hours of travel, the tower they were riding to finally came within sight. It was an old looking structure, with a thick and sturdy built stone base and a timbered part further up. They couldn't see too much of it as it was surrounded by a light forest, but by Jay's estimate it was at least 6 stories high.

Before the three could enter it though, there was still a lot of Gnolls they had to get rid of. The monsters were guarding the whole area and Sira told them that not only would their numbers rise the closed they got, but there were even some of the strongest standing on watch inside the tower.

In the end it turned out that the strongest Gnoll they encountered was of a meager level 27 and not even a problem for Khazun. It still had taken them another half an hour to get there, even with Jay joining the fray.

Where they passed through, only a bloody and smoking trail of devastation was left behind.

After climbing the few stairs to the towers entrance, they found themselves in a wide and surprisingly dark round hall. Before Jay could take a good look around though, they had to take care of the three Gnolls attacking them.

While Jay once again ignored the Shadow-mage in the back, he left the Level 27 one for the females and took care of the strongest one they met so far. But a level more was by far not enough to even prolong the battle by a second.

With a clean cut the monsters head fell down yards from its body while Jay was already on his way to the caster.

Once the small welcome was done, he had the time to properly look around while the women finished up as well. Contrary to previous towers Jay had visited, this one had an open inner structure with high reaching wooden stairs leading though it up to at least the third floor.

As Jay saw movement up there, he turned to the powerful Orc and asked her to stand guard at the entrance. Chances were high that some patrols would return or come looking once a battle ensued further up.

Sira though was to follow him in safe distance as not only did she know the way, she had to later help Jay sort through the documents.

With everything set, the two left Khazun in the hall and ascended the first set of stairs that led in a semi-circle from left and right, up to a pedestal. There they activated their stealth skills and like in Stonewatch carefully proceeded to check out their surroundings.

From that pedestal led once again two more stairs in a semicircle. They took the right one and followed it up to a half round platform that was not even a third of the interiors diameter.

On the way up there Jay noticed numerous bones of different size hanging tied to seams or the ceiling.

To make the atmosphere even more eerie, one of the typical laughs from Gnolls sounded out from the platform ahead. The two Gnolls they found there looked like they were sorting through recently obtained loot or things they found.

At least they were distracted enough for Jay to silently sneak up and stab the first without the second even reacting before Jay turned to him. Without much thought Jay simply slashed at it and then kicked out to have the monster get out of sight. The direction he had kicked it was next to the stairs they came from, right down to the hall where Khazun was standing guard.

As it was more than five yards down and the Gnoll fell headfirst, Jay left finishing it to the Orc.

Together with Sira he followed the next shorter set of stairs, this time straight ones, up to another platform.

It was a lot bigger and with lots of shelves at the wall and crates on the floor. Though it was close to half the size of the towers width, there was not a single opponent waiting for them on it.

But contrary to the trash the Gnolls were sorting through, one glance around told Jay there were quite some precious materials stored there. Jay threw Sira another item-bag that he had looted somewhere and asked her to store all. If it was too much she should fetch the best things and inform him so he could take care of it later.

Then he proceeded up the stairs that led further up from where they reached the platform, making an arch to the right. The reason he had asked Sira to stand back was of course the numerous presences he had noticed up there, though he doubted Sira hadn't perceived them as well.

Either way, two minutes later he was sure the small Hobgoblin didn't perceive them anymore as Jay had obliterated them. The same was true for mostly anything on this floor as his arcane and lightning attacks had charred and broken pretty much whatever stood in their way and not only the five Gnolls.

In between, another monster came rushing down the stairs next to those Jay came from, but it lost it's head while still on the stairs. The rest of the body got blown over the handrail to that and fell down on the stairs Jay had climbed before.

As he looked down to it once Jay was done, he just then saw Sira check on its corpse and gave her a thumbs up.

The next floor he then reached was a ring platform with shelves taking up 90% of he outer wall. The only place left out was the small window there, opposite to a spiral-staircase on the side of where Jay landed.

Both two Gnolls there rushed at Jay from either sides, making it even more easy for Jay.

Grabbing the incoming crude sword after sidestepping, Jay pushed it on into the second monster that just then brought down its rusty war-axe. After looking for a moment at the resulting package, one stabbed Gnoll stuck onto the other in whose neck was buried it's axe, Jay kicked them over the handrail.

While he had intended to get them to the lower floor to slowly die, the two missed that one, fell down onto the stairs leading diagonally through the tower but ultimately bounced off from there as well. The two even hit on the arching stairs a bit further down until both monsters crashed onto the hard ground in the hall.

None of them had lived through that, one even died halfway through their fall.

On the other hand, if anyone in the tower hadn't noticed the small groups intrusion until then, they surely had done so by then. If not from the continuous crashing sounds, then at least from the roaring "Oi!" that came from Khazun as the dead Gnolls landed and splashed not two yards next to her!

After having followed his last victims fall with his eyes, Jay turned to the shelves and gave them a look. They were full of books, scrolls and some interesting gadgets, some of them were even magical items. While Jay had a feeling that most of them were either worthless or even some fanatical trash-reads, he guessed that there were some gems mixed within that he'd later had to find.

But for that moment he was going to check the remaining floors of the tower to find his cute Hobgoblin's previous owner and true culprit behind the cursed totems.

Taking another step, Jay began to ascend the spiral staircase on the opposite side of the tower…