IRIS

  STATUS CHAPTER

  Some readers appreciate all the numbers and data related to character growth. Or, with this book, their favorite character. I made this a standalone chapter. You may skip this or read at your pleasure. Your reading enjoyment should remain unaffected, regardless of the choice.

  NAME: Irisonalkillian Jhaeros

  AFFINITY: (MIND) (RARE) NATURE (EPIC)

  * PREFECT FOUNDATION (MAJOR).

  * SOUL SURVIVOR (UNIQUE).

  TIER: 1

  LEVEL: 26

  CLASS: (EPIC / UNIQUE) MAGUS (EVOLVED CLASS) (+ 4 TO HIT POINTS, + 4 TO MANA POINTS, + 4 TO BODY, + 4 TO MIND, +4 FREE ATTRIBUTES PER LEVEL.)

  ATTRIBUTE POINTS

  HIT POINTS (HP): 1,062    FREE POINTS: 104

  MANA POINTS (MP): 1,062

  STRENGTH (ST): 262       AGILITY (AG): 262

  CONSTITUTION (CN): 262     INTELLIGENCE (IQ): 262

  WISDOM (WI): 262        PERCEPTION (PR): 262

  CHARISMA (CH): 33       FORTITUDE (FT): 32

  LUCK (LU): 32

  TALENTS:

  * GARDENING.

  SPELLS:

  * NATURE’S SHIELD.

  * SHAPE CHANGE.

  * GROW PLANTS.

  * GRASPING VINES.

  * SUMMON PLAGUE (INSECTS).

  * CURE POISONS AND TOXINS.

  * MANA BOLT.

  * RANGED HEAL.

  * HEALING TOUCH.

  SKILLS:

  * NATURE’S STRIDE.

  * COMMUNICATE WITH NATURE.

  * BENICAW; ELVEN BATTLE BOW.

  * MEDITATION.

  * STUDY.

  “It’s time, who’s next?”

  A smiling Iris steps forward. “That would be me, Katie.”

  “Go ahead then.”

  “Iris wait up,” Dylan rushes to the woman he adores and kisses her. He blushes slightly from the kiss. “You have this.”

  Iris gives him a bright smile and kisses him back, “As do you.” Iris breaks the embrace and reaches over to enter the dungeon with a thought. The others left behind watch her disappear in a purple glowing haze.

  She finds herself in a tent, warm sand underfoot, the warm, dead air smelling of sand, water, and ozone. Iris steps outside, to the sun’s glare beating down on her, like a fist. She squints her eyes, hand to her forehead to block the harsh light. Her observation of her surroundings reveals a small desert oasis. Palm trees, goats, and sparse grass make up her surroundings. Trees shade the watering hole. Granite lining the shore, and the bottom. A crack in the pond's bottom where water bubbles force their way to the surface. A small desert cat lays in the sun, its limp form stretched along a fallen palm tree. Iris studies the cat for a few minutes, then casts Analyze and Identify, smiling to herself as she changes shape. Now an exact copy of the cat. Iris pads over to the palm and lays in the sun, waiting for the heat of the day to diminish before she explores.

  Iris changes back to her willowy shape, stretching and flexing, pulls her benicaw out of storage. “See you later girl, happy hunting.” Iris places the sun at her back as she casts Nature’s Stride and walks out from the oasis. ‘Circle around the oasis, since I need a complete clear then the north if Katie is correct about no sub-bosses. Best to check just in case, Tanner always tells us don’t trust the information. Everything changes, double, and triple check. Assume is another word for dead.’ Giggling to herself. ‘Along with nothing to do but push through, and people die surprised because they never look up. Scorpion, Goddess I could ride these things. Damn it, focus girl.’

  Iris brings her bow on target with narrowed eyes, she hears sand moving behind her. She rolls to the right, spinning to bring her bow on target, releasing as soon as she gains a sight picture. Her arrow sinks into the new scorpion's eye, she releases again, shooting the other main eye. She blocks a claw swipe with a step back, a jump and roll to the side brings her to a position to keep both scorpions in front of her. As the creatures turn to face her new position, she cast Mana Bolts on the wounded monster. A loud crack sounds as the bolt spell slams into the horse sized monster. When she gains a kill notice, Iris turns her attention to the other monster attempting to tame the creature. She gets a fail notice. With a pretty frown, she kills the second scorpion. Glee courses through Iris as she collects gems and chitin, preferring the sparkle of the gems over the chitin. She walks off happy, looking forward to the next encounter.

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  ‘Ants? Easy kills but so many of them.’ Iris thinks to herself as she loots the war hound sized monsters, ‘Lots of gems though.’ Iris walks the desert, killing ants and scorpions, until she finds herself at the westernmost point.

  ‘A scorpion king. What the hells is that?’ Iris casts Analyze and Identify on the giant monster. ‘LEVEL 15, WEAK TO COLD, JOINTS. Same as the others just larger? Only one way to find out.’ Iris stands off and shoots arrows and Mana Bolts at the creature’s head. The monster's tail raises and shoots poison at her, falling just short of her position. The giant arachnid leaps forward in a charge directly at her, tail raised, poison shoots at her again. Iris Dodges and rolls, Mana Bolts and arrows slam into the monster’s tail at the base. As she dodges and rolls again, shooting at the base of the tail. When the tail falls off, the monster lets out a piercing cry. Iris shifts, casting targets at the creature's head, blinding the two main eyes. Unable to find her by sound, the creature runs forward and back to locate her. Iris focuses casting on one side of the rapidly pacing monster. She puts her bow away, then focus fires Mana Bolts on the monster's leg joints closest to the body. Once the legs on one side have fallen off, she finds it a simple task to finish the wounded creature.

  ‘Diamonds and emeralds, nice. So much for no sub-bosses Katie. Oh well I still out level everything here. Hope the others are doing well too. South I go.’ Iris heads south east, killing dungeon creatures as she goes. She finds the southernmost point occupied by five ant warriors. She finds the same weakness applies to these sub-bosses as the other ants. She casts Mana Bolts on the massive ants. After gaining the creature's attention, she targets them with Entangling Vines, then Mana Bolts at the pinned creatures. One of the warrior ants closest to her spits a glob of sizzling acid, hitting her in the face. Staggered and partially blind, she backs off, wiping her face, a quick heal, and she is back in the fight. Now much more alert, Iris backs off to her maximum range, double casting Mana Bolts. The spell pinning her targets fades, recasting her Entangling Vines as she goes back to burning her targets down one at a time. She loots the warriors and gains sapphires in multi-colors this time.

  Iris heads northeast, this time trudging through the sand hot, sweaty and getting tired. Iris decides a slight break is needed. She heads back into the centered oasis, she hears the sounds of a fight. Rushing in, she finds the desert cat in mid battle with several smaller scorpions. Iris fires several arrows, pinning the scorpions in place while the cat kills them off. The cat bites the tails off, then struggles to drag the corpses to a small rocky outcropping. With a shrug, she gathers the leftover carcasses and takes them to the rocks. She drops the bodies in front of the large hole. Spotting large tracks around the area, she cautiously backs away from the den. A shift in the wind carries the scent of blood and a hint of death to her. Iris watches the den for a few minutes. Hearing soft, plaintive cries, she moves closer. She approaches, cooing soothing tones, the stench of death grows stronger. Iris surveys the opening with caution. Pushing forward, she lights a torch, waving the lit brand in the cave mouth and getting no reaction. She pauses, then crawls into the small opening, sliding down the small, sloped entrance. As she moves forward, she finds the den much larger than the mouth. Iris stands upright, looking around the four foot wide by four foot long tunnel, she notices it seems to curve at the back wall. She moves further in, the tunnel does indeed curve to the left. She rounds the bend to find a smallish room with an enormous cat sprawled out along the back wall. The dead smell is now much stronger. Iris hears panting and whining, sliding closer she finds the small cat she first found laying in front of the much larger adult. She rushes to the stricken feline, the kitten stops breathing. Iris cast Healing on the kitten to save it. However, she is too late, collapsing sadly next to the dead kitten.

  “Poor thing if I had known I would have rescued you.” She tearfully talks to the kitten as she pets it. Iris stands and moves her torch, the fire light reflects off of a small pair of eyes hiding under the bulk of the dead mother cat. Iris crouches to better see the little ball of fluff. Reaching her hand out with a small piece of meat, she coaxes the small creature closer. As the kitten takes the food from her, an announcement flashes. “CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE FOUND A HIDDEN QUEST. ‘KILL OR KEEP.’ KILL THE DUNGEON SPAWN OR GAIN A BONDED COMPANION.”

  Iris chucks to herself, then speaks aloud. “Keep, of course. Come on little one lets get you out of here.”

  Iris climbs from the den with the sandy colored kitten in her arms. Iris squints her eyes in the bright sun while the kitten whines in confusion. “Shh little girl? Guy? Ah girl, lets get you some water and become friends okay? She gently places the cat by the water, after checking it free of dangers. While the kitten drinks its fill, she casts Identify and Analyze. “So you are a Desert Stalker, huh? A large feline hunter of the desert these large cats can grow from three to four feet high at the front shoulder. Holy cats you are going to be huge little girl. Now what is your name?” Iris giggles at her joke.

  She feeds the kitten more dried meat, getting the sense that the kitten does not have a name she tries a few out on the small beast. “Sandy?”

  The cat glares at her.

  “No don’t like that one huh? How about Stalker?”

  The cat lays down with a huff.

  “Okay not that one either. I’ll tell you the truth I hated them both too.” Thinking for a while as she rests by the water the cat stalks her bouncing foot. Iris grins while she plays with the kitten. “I know how about Mischief?”

  The kitten stops and cocks its head sideways like she is thinking it over. Mischief jumps in her lap purring and head butting her hand. Iris puts her hand firm on the cat’s head like Connie did. The connection snaps into place. Now feeling the little bundle in the back of her mind, the kitten’s eyes change color to match her mistress’s, one green and one blue. “Such pretty eyes you clever little girl. Now let’s get you some levels.”

  Mischief looks at her, then nods.

  Iris and her new friend walk off back into the desert. “Hope you don’t mind sharing I have a boyfriend you know. He is going to be significant to me.” Iris weakens all the dungeon monsters she encounters and allows Mischief to gain the kills, by the time the two companions reach the eastern sub-boss the no longer kitten looks half grown at almost two feet tall at the shoulder. “Hmm, scorpion queen, Mischief, you get the small ones when I pin them down with Tangling Vines. I will keep the queen busy while you kill yours then we both attack the queen. Does that sound good to you?”

  The cat takes a moment to look over the battlefield, then nods approval. The two attack as planned. “Wow girl your getting big, Level Seven, almost big enough to ride. Oh stop that. I didn’t say your are fat. I only said you are almost full grown goofball. Now let’s head north-west for the last boss then get out of here. I want to show you off.” Iris heads off with her companion following. The big cat purring with contentment.

  “We got her, that ant queen was hard. All of those new ants she kept calling. Glad we found each other that would have been much harder with out you. You did wonderful keeping all the additional creatures busy while I fought the queen, and you got to Level Ten. We will have a permanent bond at your next level when you tier up. How cool is that? Come on girl I want to show you off.” The two walk to the exit portal.