Chapter 11: On the Prowl

Annita woke early, stretching in her bed and rubbing her eyes. It felt amazing to have a mattress again after the days of sleeping on a blanket, and she dreaded going back on the road. This time she’d have a bedroll, though. Improvements.

She sat up and took a look around, finding Kat still sleeping in her own bed. Annita’s heart jumped a little seeing the woman lying there. The mundanity was something special to her. Kat’s hair was a mess from tossing in her sleep, and her blanket had tangled around her. Annita took a moment to admire her figure, outlined in the blankets as it was, before getting up and walking over to her. She startled slightly as her claws clacked against the wood, not used to actual floors yet.

“Kat, c’mon. It’s time to get up. We’ve gotta get on the road again today,” she said softly, rocking the sleeping Alfhindur by her shoulder.

“Mmmm, little more sleep?” Kat groaned, rolling over and taking the blankets with her, exposing that she’d apparently stripped at some point in the night.

Annita couldn’t help but admire the sight, but restrained herself. “All right, you’ve got until I get dressed. Deal?”

“Deal, don’ rush. ‘Kay?” was the sleepy mumble from the pillow.

Annita smiled, pulled the blanket back over Kat and turned to her pack and dressed herself. She wrapped the new strip of cloth around her chest, binding her breasts comfortably so she could move freely, donned her shirt and green kilt, cinched her belt and checked the rest of her pack. She couldn’t finish lacing up the shirt, since the opening was in the back, so she went to wake her sleeping companion.

Grumbling the entire time, Kat sat up, yawned, and sat on the bed with her head hung for a couple of minutes before she got to dressing herself. “Oi, d’ya know how tae braid?”

“Yeah, definitely. Need some help?”

“Aye, usually wear it in a few of ‘em. Leave the bangs free, maybe some in the back too. Rest in two or four long braids if ye don’ mind.”

“Yes, your highness,” Annita giggled as she took her position behind Kat.

“None o’ tha’, ya numpty,” Kat groaned.

Laughing, Annita got to work. She found the process much easier than it had ever been. She attributed it to the increased Dexterity stat she’d started building up. Soon, she had Kat’s hair done up in a way that stayed out of her way, but still had a good bit of volume in the back. Two long braids trailed down over her shoulders and chest, and two trailed from her temples to the back of her head, meeting in a loose knot.

“Thank ye,” Kat said as she felt her hair as they lacked a mirror. “Feels perfect. Ye weren’t a friseur back in yer day?”

“Sorry, friseur?”

“Oh, sorry, person who works wit’ hair,” Kat explained.

“Nope, I studied art mostly. Ancient by my standards. Probably considered relics by yours.” Annita moved from behind Kat and ran a hand through her own hair, feeling the wild mane that flowed between her ears and down her back. As she did, Kat moved behind her and finished up lacing her shirt. It definitely felt better with her fur poking out between the straps than the alternative. The mere thought of all that fur getting mushed around by cloth made her spine itch.

“Sounds borin’ as ‘ell.” Kat huffed. “Though I bet Bren’d love tae talk yer ear off ‘bout it. Man loves ‘is books, he does.” She stood, stretched again, giving Annita a wonderful view of her muscular body, and started donning her clothes and armour.

“Yeah, I can imagine it would be pretty boring for someone who’s used to fighting and adventuring like this. It was something I loved, though. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing what art this time has made. Sculptures, paintings, frescoes, murals. There are probably entire new mediums, with magic being a possibility.” Annita rambled as she watched Kat dress.

“Ye’ll like Korvas then. City’s old. Mountain she’s built under is older, obviously, but the sayin’ goes she’s as old as it is. If there’s a place fer ye to get a good look at art, it’ll be there or Indelholm. Indelholm is more on the magic side, mind. Bren’ll talk yer ear off about tha’ too.” Kat chuckled as she finished dressing herself. She moved around behind Annita and helped tighten the laces on her shirt. Once done, she cinched her sheathed sword to her hip and fastened her shield to her back. “Need help with figurin’ out the sheath and holster there?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I do. Didn’t quite know how I should put them on.”

“Straps are simple enough. Yer usin’ the falchion in yer right hand, yeah?”

“Yeah, that felt the most natural.”

“Gotcha, so that might be awkward. Normally ye want tae be able to reach across yerself tae draw yer sword. Do ye want tae draw yer pistol from yer left or do ye feel more comfortable reachin’ across fer that, too? Here, try.” Kat held the sword up to Annita’s left hip and the pistol to her right.

Reaching both ways across her body, she gripped both weapons and drew them. “That felt fine to me. I guess we can keep it like that.”

“All right. Lemme get that fer ya real quick.” Kat ran her hands around Annita’s waist and fastened the sheath and holster securely. Annita felt her hands wander a little as she did so, but didn’t comment.

“There, ye look the part o’ an adventurer,” Kat said, satisfied. “Yer gonna need some armour, but we’ll need more coin fer that.”

“So, question. You’re royalty, right? Aren’t royalty supposed to be rich?” Annita asked.

“I mean, aye, normally. If we were back at home, we’d have no problems gettin’ ye outfitted by wonderful artisans, but I personally don’ like flauntin’ that. Shit warps people as much as the Seeds do.”

“Ah, yeah, makes sense. If that’s how you like it, I won’t ask again.” Annita said, feeling some embarrassment at her forwardness.

“Hey, no offence taken. Ye didn’t know better. Hells, there’s gonna be a lot o’ stuff like that fer ya with how ye got here.” Kat laughed. “Let’s not keep Bren waitin’ though.” She turned toward the door, beckoning Annita to follow.

Bren was waiting for them downstairs, already packed. He handed them each a large roll. It was hollowed out and had an egg, and what looked like sausage baked as a filling, still steaming.

“That smells awesome." Annita took the roll as her stomach growled, sinking her sharp teeth in eagerly. The creamy egg and greasy sausage soaked into the fresh bread and coated her tongue with an amazingly savoury blend. “Mmmf, I’m gonna miss this when we’re eating rations again.”

“As will I,” Bren agreed, taking a bite of his own breakfast. “Are you two ready to be on our way?”

“Aye, all good tae go,” Kat said, shifting her pack on her shoulder.

Before leaving, they made a quick stop at the enchanter and picked up Annita’s weapon. The tired-looking man took their payment and shooed them away quickly, probably so he could catch up on sleep.

They left the Outpost as the sun crested the horizon in the east. Annita watched as the long shadows of the trees they were heading into became more defined, and the snow between them sparkled in the early light.

Two sets of footprints and one set of paw prints stretched out behind them as the sun moved further into the sky.

“So,” Kat began, “what was it like all that time ago? I mean, back when ye were from?”

“Gods, different,” Annita sighed. “For one thing, magic didn’t exist. Though I guess we kinda worked around that in some ways.”

“Oh? Did you? Could you elaborate?” Bren was sticking slightly behind the other two, to their right, as they wound through the black trunks.

“Well, yeah, we used electricity. Lightning, but incredibly controlled and far less powerful, to make all sorts of things happen. We used it to make pictures, lights, and communicate all across the globe. It’s what we used to store most of our information, too. If you could think of it, we likely had an application of electricity for it.”

“That sounds absolutely fascinating. I wonder why humanity has not replicated the feat since,” Bren pondered, lifting a hand to his chin and stroking a non-existent beard.

“Well, I’ve got an actual answer to that. From Orenous herself, actually. Apparently, it’s the Gods’ fault. Something about their presence just breaks how we used to use technology. I’m not really smart enough to figure out why, so I’ve just been taking her word for it.”

“Aye, tha’s fair. Had any family?” Kat continued the questioning as she scanned the woods.

“Yeah, had my mom and dad, two sisters, and a brother. I was the oldest of them all. Had two cats too. Definitely counted them as family. Dad had a degree in biology and was always working on some study or another for local businesses or the government. The study of life, I guess, is the best way to describe it. Mom was an accountant. She did a lot of work with money for a few different companies at a time. Always kept her busy. My brother and sisters were all over the place. The youngest, Jane, was too young to really know much about her, and I was already off to college by the time she started getting more personality. Ben was really into sports and loved our local football team. He and Dad would always try to watch whatever game was on TV. Rosita was the older one. She was more into cheerleading and makeup. That stuff. We didn’t agree on much, but she taught me some stuff about taking care of hair, and I helped her with makeup. It was nice for what it was.” Annita let out a long sigh, homesickness washing over her in a heavy wave. “And they’re all gone now.”

Two hands gripped her shoulders. Bren and Kat both looked at her with understanding. “I am truly sorry for your loss. I know there was nothing you could have done about it.”

“Yeah,” Annita huffed. They all walked in silence for a while before she broke the silence again. “And thanks for that. Haven’t really had time to, ya know, deal with all that. Orenous gave me some time to cry and stuff, but she had to keep moving too. Figure I’ll either get used to it, or just have a breakdown somewhere, sometime. Sorry, being a downer here.”

“Nah,” Kat said, hoisting her pack again. “It’s loss. Shit’s gonna linger with ye longer than ye expect it to. Still think about Arty all the time. Kid was a reliable, kind one. Great shot with that rifle of his, an’ all that. We picked him up, what, a couple months ago?”

“Yes, in between Korvas and Graven Keep. We had just registered for our mercenary licenses, and he was doing the same in a town we passed through. We invited him to join us in whatever adventures or jobs we were hired for; he agreed, and that was that. We are going to need to make a stop to tell his family what happened on the way, Kat.” Bren said with a heavy tone.

“Aye, just tryin’ not tae think about that right now. Gonna be hard enough when it happens. Can’t be buildin’ stress over the future on top o’ it.”

“Yeah, I get that. I keep trying to focus on all the new stuff here, not thinking about all the stuff I lost. Which, thankfully, is an absolute fuckton.” Annita thought to herself for a moment, trying to change the subject a little. “Like, language. I figure it’s magic, but I’ve understood you all from the moment I woke up. I can’t imagine that the languages I knew stayed consistent, much less completely intact, for five thousand years.”

“Yes, I do believe you are correct in your assumption. There are several languages spoken on this continent and outside of the Kingdom. I have no point of reference; however, I would hazard a guess that they are unrecognisable to you.”

“Huh, yeah, most likely. Would be cool to turn the translation off to see if I could tell the difference. Oh well.” Annita shrugged. “Then there’s other stuff. Seems like animals have stayed mostly consistent, with some changes from the Warping. Think I saw a couple new birds out there though. Then there’s the gear and other things. Like this,” she drew the revolver from her hip, “this design was something that was around in my time. I’m surprised it stuck around.”

“Fascinating,” Bren said, taking a closer look at the gun. “Firearms are a fairly ancient weapon, at least to us. They’ve been modified over time to include enchantments, magically fueled ammunition, etcetera.”

“Yeah, they were pretty much the most powerful personal weapons we had in our time. All our wars were fought with them after they were refined enough. People collected older models; some had them for personal use or protection. They were everywhere.”

“Damn, can’t imagine,” Kat said, manoeuvring through some tricky, prickly bushes. “Magic kinda keeps ‘em in line. Yeah, they can be made magic, but that just lets magic deal with ‘em a bit better.”

“Guess I chose a versatile weapon here, huh?” Annita turned the revolver over, tracing the new bluish lines tracing the barrel, marking the noise dampening enchantment.

“Aye, and with ye not havin’ magic o’ yer own to put into ‘em, ye’ll have to pre-select what ye want ‘em tae do when ye get some. All sorts o’ elements, though most chose fire an’ lightnin’ for obvious reasons. There’s a crazy amount o’ different kinds.”

“Good to know. I’ll take my time looking. So, Kat…” Annita trailed off as her ears twitched. Something was approaching. It was a strange sound, a low huffing of an animal, but quiet, solid steps. It didn’t sound like a Twinwolf. No, something new. Then there was a chittering. A noise she’d heard a hundred times from her cats when they wanted to hunt the squirrels outside her window. “Some kind of cat’s nearby. Getting closer.”

“Aye, just picked it up, too. ‘Member the hooved cat thing I told ye about? Probably one o’ those. Solitary hunter, much stronger than the Twinwolves. We all fight this time. Get yer shit loaded. Bren, behind us. I’ll take point, an’ ye strike when ye feel it's the right time.”

Annita and Kat turned to where they heard the noise coming from, weapons drawn and searching the trunks for their stalker. Soon, they spotted movement. A surprisingly white coat from the description Annita had gotten speckled with dark spots kept the cat-deer-thing camouflaged if they weren’t looking for it.

Noticing that their party had seen it, the beast dropped the act of trying to sneak up on them and rose. It was big, probably the size of a tiger, Annita guessed. It was also built without an ounce of fat on it. Even with its long coat, she could see the massive muscles rippling as it moved. As it tensed for the confrontation, Annita spied new spots appearing in its fur. She realised the spots she was already seeing weren’t a natural colouring, but dried blood from previous exertion.

“Thank fuck, it’s just the one,” Kat muttered to herself before slamming her sword into her shield in a familiar taunt.

The cat’s gaze flicked to her, and it lowered its body to the snow, its golden eyes gleaming from the pure white. A low growl rumbled over the snow before it leapt at Kat. True to its description, it had hooves instead of paws and claws. Despite the anatomical anomaly, it put them to good use, swiping at Kat with blunt force.

The metal of Kat’s shield rang as she caught the blow, parried, and stabbed back at it. The Warped ducked out of the way and moved to the side with more speed than any of the Twinwolves.

As it lunged in to take a bite from Kat’s right side, Annita took the opportunity to slash at its hindquarters with her falchion, grinning as she watched a line of black stain its coat. Unfortunately, this drew attention to her way, and she backpedalled hastily as hooves swiped her direction. One caught her lower leg, and she felt the bone compress as it resisted the impact.

“Thing hits fucking hard,” she gasped.

“Aye, focus on dodgin’. My job tae take the hits.” Kat said as she slammed her shield into the creature’s side, causing it to stumble.

It turned back to Kat as she took the offensive, raining blows down on the muscled beast with both shield and sword. In the meantime, Annita saw Bren begin to weave his hands and wand, casting what she assumed were defensive spells and healing on their tank. She snuck a good couple hits in with her falchion, but with Kat moving so quickly and the Warped matching her speed, she didn’t want to use the revolver.

This changed when Kat caught the thing with a particularly solid shield strike, throwing it clear of their tight melee. Dashing in, Annita sank her falchion into the thing’s shoulder, a stream of blood erupting from the wound, and placed the barrel of the gun to its side. Channelling divine power into the weapon, she pulled the trigger. Annita reflexively braced for the deafening echo, and it was still there, but it didn’t hurt anymore. Pulling back as a hoof sailed past her face as a gurgling roar burbled from the creature’s throat. She saw even more black blood oozing from a circular wound along with the trailing smoke, which meant her Smite had worked with the bullet. Pulling her sword clear, black blood oozing from the wound, she watched with revulsion as the muscles under its skin seemed to bubble and move to try to seal the wound. However, a hoof swinging at her face so close it cut her cheek broke her concentration on the wound.

Annita maintained her distance for most of the beginning of the fight, watching how Kat moved, how the creature reacted, and picking up where she could slip in. It was difficult. She felt like she was too slow. Once she saw an opening, but misjudged her timing and jostled Kat, who took a nasty blow to her side. Apologising profusely, Annita moved back, scrambling on her back to make sure she was out of the way.

Annita eventually fell into a rhythm. Kat would demand the cat’s attention, and she would manoeuvre behind it, or to the side, come in for a quick strike, and retreat while Kat resumed her offensive. Blood flowed freely from wounds across the thing’s flesh, both self-inflicted from its exertion, several sound wounds, and four bullet holes.

“Fuck, this thing is tough.” Annita gasped as the gruelling combat reached a pause, both sides eyeing the other.

“Yeah, sure fuckin’ is. Looks like it’s slowin’ down, though. Almost there. Ye good?” Kat was similarly panting, sweat running down her face as she kept her eyes locked on the predator.

“Yeah, Bren? Doing ok back there?”

“My Mind is at half. I’ve only been helping with the most severe strikes.”

“Gotcha. Prayin’ we don’t need ye more. We’re gonna be a pile o’ bruises tonight.”

“Sure are,” Annita groaned, twitching as the cat made a feint at her, but backed off again.

“Jerkin’ it tonight’s gonna suck fer ye.” Kat laughed as she began to regain her breath.

Annita let out a long sigh, and she was saved from further teasing as the Warped lunged at her. Scrambling to her left, Kat replaced her and met the hoof with a metallic clang and a grunt. “Let’s finish this up, yeah? Arm feckin hurts.”

Annita nodded as she wiped the sweat from her eyes. She tried to keep up with Kat but was growing increasingly tired, her ability to catch openings lessening every passing minute. Kat was faring much better, but she could see the fatigue starting to take some effect.

There!

Kat had shoved the beast away with a mighty push, sending it skidding backwards and off balance. Annita lunged in, sneaking the falchion through the creature’s left ribs, locking it in place. As the cat’s head turned to greet her, she levelled the pistol at its head and fired her last bullet with the flash of a Smite. There was no sound as the Warped’s full weight fell to the snow, with Annita collapsing on top of it.

It was a couple of minutes before Annita caught her breath enough to push up off the creature. She turned to see Kat lying sprawled in the snow, recovering herself. Slowly, she made her way over to her companions on unsteady paws. Without ceremony, she flopped to lie next to Kat.

“Good… Job,” Kat said between deep breaths. Bren was doing some kind of healing, and the encounter clearly beat her up. “Yer takin… tae yer weapons… real well fer… how new they are.”

“I’m just trying to hit the things.” Annita shrugged as she stared up at the cold blue sky. “You’re so fast. It’s hard to keep up.”

“Aye, ye’ll get there, though. That’s mostly levels. Keep puttin’ points into yer Dexterity an’ ye’ll match me soon.”

“Yeah, oh, wait, on that note.” Annita turned her attention to a silver screen that had popped up. “Guess I levelled from that, too?”

“Course ye did. I got one too. Bren?”

“Yes, I have advanced.”

“So, wasn’t just one.”

Kat groaned. “How many?”

“Would you be mad if I said two again?”

“Feck you. Anything good?”

“One sec, let me see.” Annita expanded her sheet and looked through her options.

Congratulations! Your Path has advanced!

Warrior of Orenous (4)

Please select a core stat to increase by +2.

Congratulations! Your Path has advanced!

Warrior of Orenous (5)

Passive Upgrade has been unlocked:

Chosen of Orenous: The Bearer is burdened with a task from the divine. Growth of one’s progression is accelerated by a factor of 1.5 once a Path is chosen. For each lover in the current party, increase the multiplier by .2. This bonus will apply to all party members of the same or lower levels as the owner. Further benefits will be unlocked upon progression of the Bearer’s Path.

Additionally provides +5 to Faith.

Please select one skill from the following:

Deft Hands: Increase dexterity by 5. Any complicated manipulation of your digits becomes moderately easier.

Healing Embrace: Take a moment to rest with your loved ones. Resting with skin-to-skin contact restores health for all involved at a low rate.

“Definitely interesting.” Annita’s voice hitched as she read the upgrade to Chosen of Orenous again. “Remember my experience passive? It upgraded. Looks like it’ll apply to you two once I catch up in level, and anyone else that’s beneath my level.”

“Whoa, that’s ridiculously good,” Kat whistled.

“I’m not even done,” Annita continued. “It says that per lover in my party, the bonus increases by 0.2. I swear she’s playing matchmaker with me.”

“She is the Goddess of Love.” Bren nodded sagely as he turned to provide healing to the cuts Annita had sustained.

“Yeah. Guess she’s also fine with me not getting tied down to one person. That’s so weird.”

“Huh, what ‘bout it?” Kat asked, sitting up on her elbows with a grunt.

“Is that more common here?” Annita looked at her, confusion plain on her face.

“I mean, not really, but it’s not unheard of?” Kat explained. “Ye’ll have a few groups decide they all love each other, an’ they’ll just go with it. Sounds like ye’ve had different experiences, though.”

“Yeah, back in my time, and I guess my culture, it was mostly monogamous. There was a historical precedent of polygamy and harems and stuff like that, but I’d never seen it, much less participated.” Annita sighed, scanning her stats again. “Guess I’m going to have to get used to it.”

“Hey, ye almost sound like yer disappointed tha’ ye’ll be skewering multiple women with that log ‘twixt yer legs. Ye all right?” Kat reached over, taking Annita’s hand in concern. Her icy eyes softened as she watched the Lupine’s reactions.

“Are you ok with it? Seems like we’re moving on the path to becoming more than friends here, and I already care about your opinion. I just don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.” Annita looked away from Kat sheepishly, trying to avoid the smaller woman’s piercing gaze.

“Tae be frank wit’ ye, it wasn’t in me plans fer me life. Always figgered I’d be settlin’ down wit’ a nice lady after a good life o’ adventurin’. Maybe adopt a littl’un. Nice an’ simple. Ye seem tae fit the nice lady part,” she elbowed Annita in the ribs, eliciting a groan as she hit a bruise, “so I guess we can figure the rest out. Ye’ve got yer quest. Ye’ve got this wonderful skill. Just run it by me if ye find someone ye think might be into us, yeah? I’d like tae have feelin’s fer anyone ye do. Keep things from gettin’ messy.”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan. I promise to include you in any romance outside of us I might find. You do the same, too. Not like I want to be all hypocritical and say I’m the only one for you. If you know anyone who’d join the party that’d be interested in us, we can feel that out together.” Annita squeezed Kat’s hand warmly.

“Aye, sounds good.”

“Now that that is out of the way, may I ask you two to roll over? I need to examine your backs for wounds.” Bren said coolly. Despite his tone, his slight smile betrayed his feelings.

The pair of fighters groaned as they turned over.

“So there’s skills too. Got one that’s an increase to Dexterity. Five points. It seems pretty nice. The other is a healing one, surprisingly. Gives passive regen to me and anyone else who’s resting with me and touching skin.”

“I’d go for the Dexterity if it were me,” Kat said, voice muffled by her arms. “We’ve got a healer, an’ he’s not goin’ anywhere.”

“Good point. Definitely agree.” Annita opened her sheet again, made her selection, and spent her bonus points. Sighing, she relaxed into her arms, feeling her tail swish behind her lazily as Bren finished healing them.

Name: Annita Kronforst

Age: 23

Race: Lupine (Warped)

Path: Warrior of Orenous (5)

Title: Chosen of Orenous

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Racial Skills:

Cold Resistance: Reduced damage from cold effects. Comfortable in colder climates.

Keen Hearing: Able to hear sounds from greater distances with greater clarity.

Natural Weapons: Claws and teeth are considered weapons for any skills that would affect weapons.

Endurance Hunter: +2 to Strength, +5 to Dexterity, +5 to Stamina

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Unique Passive:

Chosen of Orenous: The Bearer is burdened with a task from the divine. Growth of one’s progression is accelerated by a factor of 1.5 once a Path is chosen. For each lover in the current party, increase the multiplier by .0.2. This bonus will apply to all party members of the same or lower levels as the owner. Further benefits will be unlocked upon progression of the Bearer’s Path.

Additionally provides +5 to Faith.

Health Points: 118/200

Strength: 14

Intellect: 10

Dexterity: 24

Faith: 20

Stamina: 15

Mind: 0/20

Endurance: 12

Resilience: 12

Libido: 55/125

Desire: 0/80

Path Skills

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Passive:

Weapon Proficiency: Light weapons and small firearms.

Armor Proficiency: Medium Armor

Health Points: Stat has been unlocked.

Libido: Stat has been unlocked. Increases by 5/hour. Once full, sexual inhibitions will be greatly reduced until release is achieved.

Desire: Stat has been unlocked. Gained through relations with trusting partners.

Stat Increases: +5 to Faith, +10 to Mind, +2 to Endurance, +2 to Resilience

Compatibility: You’re a large lady, in more ways than one. This will help make sure things go smoothly in your conquests.

Deft Hands: Increase dexterity by +5. Any complicated manipulation of your digits becomes moderately easier.

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Active:

Stoke the Flames: Consume 10 desire points to inflame the target, incensing a heightened emotion of your choice for 1 minute.

Smite of Orenous: Enhance an attack to deal additional Holy damage. Adds 20% of current Faith to the attack. Cost: 10 Mind.

Predatory Sensuality: Cost: +40 Libido. Requires a display of sensuality to activate. Your force of will and pure sensuality make you irresistible, lowering your opponent’s guard. For a single strike, lower the target’s Endurance by 5 points.

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Passive Stat Increases:

+50 Health

+50 Desire

+25 Libido

+2 Strength

+9 Dexterity