Chapter Eight – Cats and Birds

I stepped out onto the crib again. Felt the eyes of the constructs lock on me again. They were dumb AI's, wouldn't remember I already killed some of them, or how I did it. They'd have to be phages to be intelligent.

I ran over, grabbed the pillowcase sized for a storm jotun, and yanked it off as the first neigh sounded from above. A rope snapped, and the wooden horse, painted palamino today, fell from overhead.

I didn't run away from it. I waited as it dropped, and whipped the pillowcase around and over its head before it could do anything.

Grabbing the cloth to make sure it couldn't shake it off, I swung back up on it, and proceeded to smash it in the vulnerable neck join repeatedly.

My ki was harder, more rigid this time. Without the damage from jumping down, it still took me only eight hammering blows as I hung on during its strong but awkward kicks, not smart enough to roll or brush me off, and literally knocked its head off.

It broke apart into wood and hinges beneath me. I was very happy for my DR, or my fist would have been hurting. I'd've definitely popped some knuckles.

I yanked the octuple-sized pillowcase free, and waited for the lion to come down.

It descended with its rattling roar, and I basically repeated the same tactic as it hit, throwing the pillowcase over its head, getting on its back as it clawed at the cloth and shredded it, and pounded out its neck join while it tried to get rid of the cloth over its eyes. Wood chips sprayed as it bounced around aimlessly like a cat, smashed into the wall a couple times without really hurting me, and in seven blows I took it down.

It was a good thing these things weren't alive, or they'd've thrown me easily. No Ride Ranks…

The pillowcase was mangled by golden claws and fangs, but still perfectly serviceable. This time I grabbed one of the golden paws in my hand, the claws still perfectly usable, and bolted for the bars of the cage.

I could get some good air, as my foot hammered into the stress point on the bars and broke it through eight feet above the ground, like a blow from a Sama-sized axe. Small feet concentrate more weight, don't ya know. I looped the pillowcase around it, and as the hippogriff with its ridiculous wooden wings swooped around to land on me, I heaved it down, lined it up, and let the sucker impale itself on the jagged point as I ducked.

Double attacks at triple damage from brace did a number on it, impaling it through the neck and piercing it right through haplessly. My foot coming over to finish knocking its head off was just a happy coincidence.

It disassembled itself, leaving me with an eight-foot crude spear again. I looked up as the griffon screeched, half-smiling.

Constructs were tough based on size and material, not based on monster design. All of these things were size Large, bigger then me, and roughly equal in hardness to kill. They differed in strength and attacks. The griffon had the biggest bite attack, the hippogriff the biggest claw attack, the lion could pounce and rake, and the horse was the fastest on foot.

None of them were smart enough to avoid charging in on someone with a braced spear to take the hit and halt them before they could hit me.

The griffon dropped down on me, just like the hippogriff, claws spread wide and nasty beak open. It drove itself right onto the spear that came up to meet it, had the pillowcase come up over its head, the lion's claw was wedged into the hinge of its right wing and broke it. I got atop it, and went to work on the neck join revealed as the spear smashed through it. It only took a couple hits to pop its head off, and the carved, blocky wings fell to the ground as the rest of it fell apart beneath me.

I heaved a breath of relief, retrieving my lucky pillowcase, clucking my tongue at the mess made of it. I cut off the ragged end of it, looking around at the baby room around me, wondering what my next move was.

There was a click as the door, obviously not in the jamb, was pushed open, and a 'mew' sounded as a dark figure slinked in silently.

It looked like a black cat, albeit bigger then a horse. It moved with the same feline grace despite its size, looking around with interest as I froze in place, not about to attract attention.

Burning red eyes. Mmmm. Definitely no construct…

I watched the hellcat stroll in as if it owned the place, tail twitching as it looked around for things of interest. It wandered towards the area of sunlight, and as it did, it faded from view.

Invisible in the light. Yeah, this was going to be fun. I'd only be able to see it if I fought it in the shadows somewhere. It was dark beyond the door, the only reason I'd seen what it looked like.

They were intelligent, cunning, stealthy, and would sniff me out, had DR, hit harder then I did, and with more skill.

Man, it sucked being low level. If I were a Melee/4, I'd've been confident of killing it.

It would come up to investigate soon, since it had been brought in to kill me. I eyed my options.

This kind of fighting, with no let-up, was definitely not something I could handle at this time. Vigor required some downtime between fights to heal, it wasn't like healing magic. The Battle Focus Mastery line could alleviate a chunk of that, but Battle Vigor was the third Mastery, and only available at Five. Alchemical Blood Healing could work to a limited extent, and Essence Healing, but again, not for now.

I looked at the ruins of the wooden beasts around me, and considered my options.

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It reached the level of the crib with a jump, and then easily scrambled up to the top of the headboard. It stared at the mobile for a bit, as it was still spinning around with ropes dangling down. The oversized cat even reached out and batted at them playfully, making sure there was nothing there. Then it overbalanced, and fell from the headboard down on top of the pillow, landing heavily but gracefully and sending feathers flying into the air from all the cuts in the pillow, which it instinctively swatted at.

Parting the rest of the cotton above me, I came up underneath it, and gutted it.

Sacred Strike, Two-Weapon Fighting, Assassin's Stance. Weapons good-aligned for six seconds as a move action, full use of both hands, and +2d6 Sneak Attack damage.

It had no DR, no Dex from surprise, and I was now bringing the heat, doing a flurry of blows, rapid-fire clawing sweeps to the same wound as fast as I could move my arms. Supernaturally tough, nigh-invisible hide above me parted, and the insides were visible where the outside was not. I ripped open the same wound, hands moving as fast as I could as I ripped and tore, and the hellcat screeched like no cat possibly could and leapt away, leaking burning gore from the belly I'd torn apart.

It was a supernatural creature, so its flesh was tougher and stronger then a natural creature would be, like clawing through tire rubber or something. Still, I should have just about half-killed it. The fiery pain of Good energy slicing through its DR should have shocked it, and I wasn't about to give it time to think.

I followed the darkness of its gut, the depression it made in the ground, the stench of its hide, and just charged right after it as it tried to flee, ripping another slash down its leg, and literally throwing myself into its face.

It coiled up to meet me, the only thing it could do, and I grit my teeth and cut for its eyes as claws like meat hooks reached up to greet me, rip, and tear.

Fourth Inspired Feat, Close-Quarters Fighting. It was instinctively trying to Grab me and Rake, which provoked an additional attack.

I had three attacks at its face and throat.