Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Tactics (Part 2)
Further within the forest at the base of the cave, a patrol headed by the vicious Hobgoblin Fulbash sped back towards their tribe. They all knew that though Fulbash was the strongest of them all, he had been outwitted by whoever killed the group within the cave. Strength meant nothing against an enemy that couldn't be found.
By disregarding the warning of the tribe's shaman, he made a complete fool of himself in front of his followers. The look in their eyes showing clear disdain and arrogance. It even led to him being challenged by a particularly unruly group of said followers.
But through his failure they seemed to overlook the level of his strength and an enraged Fulbash easily slaughtered them all, cementing him once again as the leader of the group solely through fear. Even though this failure made some question his ability regardless of his strength, namely, the shaman of the tribe.
Unlike the Hobgoblin, the shaman was no fool. He knew that the ones within the cave likely fled shortly after waking, but his warning fell on deaf ears. He could tell that the ones inside the cave were likely ones that escaped from the last Gnoll tribe that they destroyed.
But what even he didn't suspect, was that the two from the cave hadn't ran away. Instead, they were stalking them through the forest, waiting for the right time to strike.
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Wulfarth was following at the back of his Master about 20 metres away from the Goblin patrol. They were able to stay this close due to the idiocy of their leader. If they had placed any scouts on the outside of their group, Faruth would have likely been found, even with his [Stealth]. They were lucky that the mysterious voice of reason wasn't in control.
But Fulbash, being the thick-headed monster that he is, didn't put any of his members on lookout, leaving the duo free to a certain extent.
As they were sneaking through the dense plots of foliage, they would discover Goblins that had wandered off from the main group, most likely to flee in their cowardice.
By killing these groups consisting of mostly a single Goblin, they managed to entice fear in the hearts of the main group. Weakening them numbers wise and tiring them out mentally.
Though as to not arouse suspicion, the Beast Master set his spirit animal on the gashes created by Faruth's sword on their bodies. Masking their death to a pack of wild animals. Due to these strings of deaths, not only did it weaken the Goblin band, it strengthened the sneaking duo.
Along with this, the Gnoll pair levelled up once each. Faruth had risen to level three and Wulfarth rose to level two. Along with him, the wolf, Alice also levelled up. It was as Wulfarth explained, the Spirit Animal grew with its owner.
Faruth decided to put this skill point, along with the one that he had gained from the previous level, into [Bestial Strength] and [Instincts], raising both to level two. Along with these results, he put the 5 AP into Strength and Agility again. Three and two respectively.
Levelling up [Bestial Strength] allowed him to gain 3 points in Strength, Vitality and Endurance per level, rather than only two. Whereas increasing [Instincts] simply made the search radius larger, but it was extremely useful nonetheless.
In Wulfarth's case, Faruth decided to put the skill point into [Beast Control], allowing him to summon and control another beast. When he gets one that is.
As he used [Appraisal] on Alice to see what had changed, another window suddenly appeared, blocking out the information of the wolf.
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[[Congratulations! You have levelled up a skill!]]
[[Your: [Appraisal lvl.1] has increased to [Appraisal lvl.2]]]
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Faruth was excited, so much so that he forgot about the wolf, that now seemed to have a sad look on her face.
Appraisal was his most useful skill, a complete life saver. Now that it had levelled up, he wanted to see what it could do. He decided to test it out on himself.
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[[Name: Faruth]]
[[Age: 19]] [[Level: 3]]
[[Race: Gnoll]] [[Title: Village Chief]]
[[Job: Nature's Herald]] [[Affiliation: None]]
[[EXP: 500/2500]]
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[[HP: 598/598]] [[MP: 238/238]]
[[Stamina: 837/837]]
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[[Strength: 31]] [[Endurance: 26]]
[[Vitality: 23]] [[Agility: 27]]
[[Intelligence: 17]] [[Wisdom: 14]]
[[Charisma: 15]] [[Luck: 13]]
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[[Skills:]]
[[Active:]]
[Appraisal lvl.2] [Strong Blow lvl.1]
[Slash lvl.1] [Cleave lvl.1]
[Resource Harvesting lvl.1] [Basic Toolmaking lvl.1]
[Basic Potionmaking lvl.1] [Stealth lvl.1]
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[[Passive:]]
[Weapon Knowledge lvl.1] [Bestial Strength lvl.2]
[Instincts lvl.2] [Exploration lvl.1]
[Directional Awareness lvl.1]
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As well as the large increase in his Stats, the status window had also changed a large amount. It had become more compact and displayed two extra features that couldn't be seen before. [Title] and [EXP].
The increase in his strength made Faruth confident, but not so much that it blinded him. The bestial side of him craved strength. He had to answer. But for that, he needed to complete the task at hand.
In his delirium, he completely forgot about the saddened wolf whimpering at her owner's feet.
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Roughly three days of travelling through the forest grove left the Goblin underlings tired and weary. Even Fulbash with his astonishing strength couldn't help but feel a sense of weakness. But it had all paid off for them.
Even though they were tired, even though they were down to only 1/5th of their original number thanks to those 'wild beasts', they were less than a day away from their tribe. To them, this was cause for celebration.
On the final night of camping out in the wilderness, Fulbash hosted a feast for his fellow tribesmen, though the 'feast' only consisted of sparse dried meat and blackened bread. He thought that if they all grouped together at once, the wild beasts would be too afraid to attack them even if their fire roared into the air.
This was the final straw for the shaman. He refused to deal with the idiocy of this Hobgoblin any more. If it wasn't bad enough that he was being completely neglectful of the 'wild beasts' that haven't been afraid to attack them before, he decided to light a bonfire...
.
.
.
In the middle of a forest!!!
He gathered up a small group of companions and left towards the direction of the tribe, not sparing a single look back at the fool who was treading towards his own demise.
What he didn't know though, whether it was due to the long journey or his own arrogance, was that the one walking to his death was not the idiot he looked down on, it was none other than himself!
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The Gnolls had survived this long by getting the Spirit Animal of the Beast Master to hunt some small creatures to eat, like rodents or birds. Faruth wasn't willing to use the bread that he had gotten as a starting reward unless the situation was absolutely dire.
Though sometimes, to stave off the hunger of a three day journey with limited food, they ate nothing but the insects that they found in the dirt. Not a very luxurious lifestyle at all.
So when the mysterious Goblin left the group, they were overjoyed! The chance that they had been waiting for had finally came to them. Their plan was about to come into action. The only things that stood between them and their rewards were 12 Goblins and of course, their leader.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Shakin_Bacon
Shakin_Bacon Sorry for not posting yesterday. English Lit was a b****. I tried to finish but my mind just died, so you get it today instead.
It's a ratings chapter too, so thank you MAHAW and PineHeinKyaw for your reviews!
Thanks for the support!
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