《Tales of Limbo: Rise of Equity》 Chapter 1: Welcome To Limbo Eric sat back on his chair stretching his arms into the air while letting out a long drawn out yawn, his arms flopped to his side as he looked across the many security monitors in front of him. Everything was¡­.empty, it was always empty, he let out a sigh allowing his eyes to close as his head fell back as far as it could. Opening his eyes again he turned slowly towards a clock on the wall, ¡°Only 15 minutes to go¡± he said to no one in particular, not really expecting a response which is why he nearly fell off his chair when he got one, ¡±can finish now if you want to birthday boy¡±. His hand held over his chest Eric caught his breath again and turned round to see a tall broad chested old man standing behind him. ¡°Jesus Ben, how long you been stood there?¡± Eric said standing up from his chair. ¡°Long enough to see you sleeping on the job¡± Ben replied smiling behind his mostly white beard while removing his baseball cap revealing a nearly bald head. Eric rolling his eyes responded with ¡°I knew there was something creepy about you, watching young men in their sleep¡±. Ben chuckled to himself as he settled down into the seat recently vacated by Eric, ¡°have yourself a good day now birthday boy¡±, Ben said waving him away. ¡°Yeah, and you enjoy your day of sudoku and action packed films¡± Eric responded gesturing to the security monitors while opening the door and exiting the room. Upon leaving the building Eric was greeted by the crisp cool air of early morning, the skies hue hinting at dawns upcoming embrace. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his phone, opened up his contacts list and scrolled down to the name Sarah. A few seconds after pressing the call button he was greeted with a hushed response, ¡°Oh please Eric¡­. Don¡¯t be calling to tell me you¡¯ve been asked to stay late again¡±. A small smile appeared on Eric''s face ¡°well hello to you too, did I wake you?¡±, she out a short grumbling noise ¡°Ok, fine, I slept in, just please don¡¯t say the weekend has been canceled. The kids have been looking forward to this camping trip, especially Matthew, he stayed up late last night getting all his fishing tackle ready¡±. ¡°Erm¡­.actually¡­¡± Eric responded holding the phone away from his mouth trying to stifle a smirk, ¡°Eriiiiccccc, nooooooo¡± In his mind Eric could see her face palming while letting out the grumbled response. ¡°I¡¯m kidding¡± Eric responded in a chuckling voice,¡±Just calling to let you know I will be home in a bit, Ol Ben came in early and said I could leave¡±, a moment of silence was followed by the response ¡°I hate you sometimes¡±. Letting out a short wistful sigh Eric responded with ¡°Yeah I know, see you soon¡±, ¡°Alright honey, love you¡±, ¡°Love you too¡± Eric said hanging up the phone and placing it back into his pocket. With a smile on his face and his hands in his pockets Eric started along the path toward home, he hadn¡¯t gotten very far before a voice called out, ¡°Hey man, you got the time?¡± Eric turned his head to where the voice seemed to come from and saw a young man in a black hoodie with a white silhouette of an eagle on the front. The hood was pulled up over his head and when mixed with the low light of the early morning it left most of his features hidden, save for his chin which sported a few tufts of blond white hairs, or as ol Ben liked to call it, ¡°a baby beard¡±. ¡°Certainly¡± came Eric''s response. He raised his arm pulled back his sleeve to reveal a silver watch with a leather strap ¡°Its te¡­..¡± A dull thudding noise rang through his ears as a sharp pain shot across the back of his head, darkness enveloped his vision as he fell to the floor and all sense of who and where he was fled as his mind faded into darkness. As Eric''s¡¯ senses slowly returned he had the distinct feeling that he was falling, he tried to open his eyes to see what was happening but it was almost as if he didn¡¯t have any. He couldn¡¯t feel any part of his body yet still somehow managed to get the impression that he was falling through¡­¡­¡­nothing?. He wanted to cry out yet somehow lacked the ability to do so, there was simply nothing, save pure darkness. After some time the sensation of falling seemed to slow down, until finally it stopped, still unable to see/hear or feel much of anything Eric could do little more than wait for what seemed like an eternity which in reality spanned the space of a few seconds. An unusual presence seemed to push itself into his mind and a strange sounding voice somehow emulating a mixture of both masculine and feminine tones echoed through his head ¡°Hello there, one moment please while I asses you¡± Eric tried to shout a response yet was once again reminded of his apparent lack of a body, while he couldn¡¯t exactly verbalize his dismay at the sudden presence in his head it seemed to pick up on the message he was trying to convey. ¡°Now now¡­no need to get so worked up this will only take a couple of minutes, once I am done with your assessment I will be able to create a suitable avatar for you¡± A series of emotions ranging from anger, to fear and uncertainty passed through Eric as several questions formed in his mind, barely finishing one before another formed. ¡°ENOUGH!!!!¡± The violent intensity of the voice shook Eric¡¯s thoughts, fracturing his mind almost causing it to break, but a calming sense of warmth seeped into him holding the fragments together and repairing them. ¡°Sorry about that, it is clear you have no training or experience with telepathic links, your thoughts are too chaotic and steeped in emotion for effective mind to mind communication. For the sake of your sanity and my own, I would suggest that you refrain from thinking too much for the time being.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.After a short pause he then continued ¡°Try imagining yourself on a beach or something, anything that relaxes you, just concentrate on that until I am done¡± Following the voices suggestion Eric pulled up a memory of his son making his first catch, a 5.94lb carp, he remembered how happy he had been as he held the fish in his hands. He continued to watched as the fish turned its head to face him and spoke ¡°Thats better now try to hold this image for just a while longer¡± A momentary feeling of shock jolted through him before another warm calming sensation flooded into his mind, alongside what seemed like a faint chuckling. His mind returned to the lake, he was sat in a deck chair, rod in hand, his son sat nearby with his own chair and rod. A light breeze blew across his face as he watched his float bob in the lightly rippling water. He stayed there, enjoying the silent companionship of his son while engaging in their favorite hobby. Minutes seemed to pass in mere moments, as they often did in such times. Before he knew it there was a light coughing, and the voice returned again. ¡°I am done with my assessment of you, if you are ready I can create your avatar, then we will have some time to talk about where you are¡­¡­¡­¡­and what happens next.¡± Eric looked back towards the lake, then turned to face his son, after a few more minutes of watching he closed the memory off and returned to the darkness ready for whatever came next. He felt what could best be described as a wall materializing around himself, it seemed to grow smaller and smaller, boxing him in, a feeling of claustrophobia started to set in when the wall set itself in place and somehow, became a part of him. A tingling sensation came from the base of the wall and started to move away from him as he felt what he now recognized as a new head forming below. The sensation continued down wards until it branched off forming two new areas around the side of the base. Arms he thought to himself. New branches at the end of his arms formed fingers before the middle area started moving down again eventually breaking into two halves to form what he began to recognize as a new pair of legs. Once his feet had finished forming he heard the voice again, only this time it wasn¡¯t speaking inside his head, he could actually hear it. ¡°There one new avatar, give me a moment while I finish wiring it to your new brain so you can start to move¡± Another series of tingling sensations formed in his head and started moving through the entirety of his body, it continued for several minutes slowly increasing in intensity before suddenly stopping. His new mouth opened and he gasped as his lungs pulled air in for the first time since their creation, his heart started to pulse quickly forcing blood and oxygen through his circulatory system. All at once he felt dizzy and nauseated as his legs buckled and he fell to his knees. He wretched and coughed until a thick bitter tasting liquid exploded out from his lungs, he continued like this for several seconds, then came the vomiting as his stomach also emptied itself, leaving him with an intense feeling of hunger. After spitting out the last of the bitter bile the voice came again. ¡°Yeuch¡­..well, now that that parts done let me put the finishing touch on your eyes¡±. A strong bony hand grabbed hold of his chin, keeping his head in place while what felt like the sharp edge of a blade cut quickly across his eyelids, there was no pain yet he instinctively recoiled pulling his head back and covering his eyes with is hand. ¡°Oh stop being so dramatic, now try opening them¡± He did so and found himself staring down at a blurry hand, he watched his fingers move as his vision cleared, looking down he saw that he was completely naked. Instinctively placing his hand over his genitals he began to take in his surroundings, he was in a fairly large room, made up of stone walls with wooden torch sconces lighting the room. The floor was solid concrete with a series of strange red coloured symbols painted on it, and in the middle of the room was a puddle of thick black liquid Eric scrunched his nose as he looked at it, no doubt that was the fluid he had coughed up. He looked around again while stepping backwards searching the room for any sign of what had grabbed him, ¡°H¡­..h..hel¡­hello?¡± he stammered the word out, his voice shaky his breathing in short sharp gasps. In a bid to regain control of himself he closed his eyes breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, all the while continuing to take steps backward. Feeling a little calmer he was about to call out again when his back touched against something cold and wet. He leapt forward with a start taking in a quick breath and turning himself round in one fluid movement ready to face the threat. He found himself staring at a wall, a bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead before falling off the end of his nose and splashing on the floor. His posture started to relax as he let out a nervous chuckle slightly embarrassed by his foolishness. He turned again to face the center of the room and was greeted by what could only be described as the visage of death. A skeleton wearing a black hooded cloak holding an overly large scythe that radiated a strange dark energy. His legs started to buckle as he stepped back. Leaning against the wall he pressed one hand against the stones to try and steady himself, the other he held out in front of him as a shield. Chapter 2: Tutorial Eric stared into the dark empty eye sockets as the skull somehow seemed to smile at him. He watched the unmoving presence for a time before slowly lowering his arm, pushing off from the wall he stood up straight, and swallowed before asking ¡°Wh¡­who a-are y-y-you?¡± The skeletal figure raised a bony hand up to stroke his chin, ¡°I am a conscious representation of the place between life and death, I am the aspect know as Limbo¡­ and this¡± He gestured around the room ¡°Is both me and my realm, I exist within myself and while I don¡¯t directly control the minds of the inhabitants, I do give them physical form so they can interact within my universe, as I did you.¡± He gestured towards Eric who looked at his hand as he clenched and unclenched his fist. ¡°Okay, does that mean I am dying then?¡± Limbo seemed to glide across the floor as he moved slowly towards Eric before placing a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Yes, and in your current condition, chances are you won¡¯t survive¡± He slipped behind him placing a hand of each of his shoulders he moved towards his ear before continuing with ¡°Was quite a blow to the head you took, brains swelling¡± He threw his arms in the air before moving in front of him ¡°Even if you do wake, you will most likely be a vegetable¡± Upon hearing that Eric fell to his knees, a blank expression on his face he asked ¡°Are those really my only options?¡± Limbo moved up beside him, putting an arm around him he pulled him close ¡°Well, just between us, there might be a third option, I could make ensure that you wake up with a fully functional mind, there will of course be a price to pay in advance¡± Erics¡¯ eyes widened and he jumped to his feet turning to face the once again grinning skull ¡°Whats your price?¡± Limbo clasped his hands under his chin and just watched Eric for a short while before responding ¡°Play my game, reach the top level, and defeat the final boss without dying¡± Eric blinked at that ¡°Game?¡± ¡°Yes, I will explain the basics in your tutorial, before we get into that thou, do you accept the terms?¡± Eric paused for a moment before asking ¡°What happens if I die?¡± ¡°If you die the game is lost, and you will be dead¡± Eric stood for a moment considering the offer made, in the end he decided that if he wanted to see his family again, then there really was no choice. ¡°I accept¡± Limbo clapped his hands together and there was a flash of light before a series of screens moved in front of his eyes and a voice that sounded like a grandfather talking to his favorite grand child read what was on each screen within his head. ¡°Welcome to the tutorial, we will begin by talking about your status screen which is a summary of your personal statistics, think status to bring it up.¡± Eric did as he was told and another screen appeared in front of him. Character Sheet Name: Eric Race: Human Age: 24 Height: 5¡¯8 Class: None Specialization: None LVL 1 HP: 60/60 Sta: 60/60 Regen: 0.6/s MP: 40 Regen: 0.4/s Starting stats STR: 7 CON: 6 Dex: 5 Agi: 5 End: 6 RES: 6 WIL: 4 Mag: 1 LUC: 3 Soul abilities Soul weapon: Can summon a scalable mace and shield Perks: None Spells/ Abilities: None Each stat was then highlighted in a separate smaller box containing a brief explanation of it. Strength Strength increases damage dealt with strength based weapons and carry/ equip weight 10kg/point. Constituion The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Increases poison/disease/elemental resistances, also reduces the duration of debuffs. Dexterity Measures hand/eye co-ordination, increases damage dealt with Dexterity based weapons. Agility Measures reaction time/reflexes/balance and movement/attack speed. Endurance Increases stamina by 10/point, also affects fatigue and fatigue recovery rate. Resilience Increases hp by 10/point, increases physical resistances. Willpower Increases mana by 10/point, increases mental resistances. Magic Measure of magical ability, increases potency of spells and effects. Luck Affects loot drops, can only be increased by buffs / special rewards, random stat selection, or extremely rare loot drops. Each box disappeared as he read through it before the tutorial voice continued. ¡°In the bottom right of your vision you will see a blue dot, this dot represents your soul ability, focus on the dot to activate it¡± A small blue dot appeared in the bottom right of Erics vision, doing as the tutorial asked he focused on it and it started to glow, his arms moved without him intending to into a combat ready position as a small wooden shield that looked like a re-purposed barrel lid appeared in one arm and a wooden club in the other. He barely had any time to look at his new weapons before the tutorial continued ¡°Well done now¡­.oh no look a giant rat has magically appeared from nowhere, kill it brave hero, before it kills you, unless you want to die during the tutorial¡±. Instinctively Eric raised his shield and readied his club to strike, he looked around, and sure enough a rat the size of a medium dog magically appeared in front of him in a puff of white glittery smoke. It bared its teeth at him and hissed before charging forward, jumping at him with its mouth wide open, Eric raised his shield and it bounced off leaving one of its teeth stuck in the wooden surface, the impact jarred his arm causing a shooting pain to race up his shoulder almost causing him to drop it. The rat rolled on the ground before turning to hiss at him again. Eric let out a shout before charging forward and bringing his club down on its head which made a wet crunching noise as it caved in under the blow. Eric jumped back, his shield raised looking around the room his other white knuckled hand gripping his club. A bright yellow light flashed around him and the tutorial voice sang in his head. ¡°Congratulations, you have defeated your first enemy and leveled up, not only do you have 5 stats points to distribute, you also get to choose a new perk and spell / ability. You can do this yourself or you can opt to have luck decide what you get. If you choose the second option then one of your stat points will be added to luck (just so you know, there is no other way of raising luck) the other 4 will be distributed randomly, you can also potentially gain a perk or spell / ability that would otherwise not be available. So make a choice, choose for yourself or leave the decision to luck, you have 1 minute to decide, if you run out of time before making a decision then you will automatically be given the second option.¡± A countdown timer appeared in the bottom left corner of Erics vision but he ignored it his attention focused on the now dead rat. His arms shook as he relaxed lowering his club and shield, stepping forward he poked the rat with his club and a box appeared over the top of it ¡°Would you like to loot giant rat?¡±. He thought yes and the corpse vanished in a puff of smoke leaving behind a few teeth and a patch of fur. His posture relaxed as a chime sounded in his head. ¡°You have selected option 2 and have gained, luck increased by 1 to 4, dexterity increased by 2 to 7 and willpower increased by 2 to 6. Perk: - Strong build: gain 50% extra weight allowance from strength. Spell: - Clean, mana cost: variable, activate the spell while touching something you want cleaning and it will be cleaned¡±. A second icon appeared in the bottom corner of his vision depicting a bar of soap covered in bubbles. He watched as his mace gained a metal ring round the top adding extra weight to his swing while making it more durable, his shield likewise gained a seam of iron round the outside making it slightly heavier yet more durable. He couldn¡¯t help but notice that in spite of the increased weight of the sword and shield both items felt lighter in his hands, he also noticed that his previously hurt arm had stopped hurting. ¡°Shit¡± he said to himself, there was a rumbling as a door appeared in the wall and opened up in front of him. ¡°Congratulations on completing the tutorial, now step through the door brave adventurer and see what heroic deeds you can accomplish¡±. The area behind the door was was full of a thick white fog, not being able to see what was in front of him he raised his shield and club before slowly walking through the door ready as he could be to face whatever would greet him on the other side. Chapter 3: Unexpected Foe Upon exiting the misty portal 2 rather unexpected things happened to Eric, the first was a message the same grandfatherly voice from the tutorial reading it out ¡°You have entered a safe zone, all offensive spells / abilities will automatically be shut off¡± Before the voice had finished talking the blue dot in the corner of his vision stopped glowing, his mace and shield diapering in a small puff of smoke. ¡°AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH¡± the high pitched squealing made him jump and he immediately turned towards whatever made the sound, standing in front of him was an angry looking old lady with a mop in her hands. ¡°What are you doing in my close?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± he turned towards he area he had entered from and saw a tiny closet full of brushes, buckets, dusters and other various cleaning items. ¡°I¡­.¡± He tried to speak again but was immediately cut off when the wet end of her mop slapped against the side of his face. ¡°Get out¡­..out¡­..out¡­.out¡± the old ladies face was bright red at this point every word she spoke becoming louder and higher pitched until she was screaming. Not knowing what else to do Eric raised his arm to try and block the mop as he moved towards what he hoped was the exit, the wet mop slapping against the side of his head as he went. When he reached the front door he stumbled out onto the street and turned to see the old lady stood in her doorway still shaking the mop at him. ¡°Ruddy players, think you can just break into random NPC homes and steal whatever is in their personal chests, if I catch you here again I will be calling the guards¡±. With that final declaration she disappeared into her home slamming the door behind her. Trying to regain his bearings Eric looked round and noticed he was in the middle of a street full of old style stone houses, many with thatched roofs others had flat concreted tops with ladders at the side leading up to them. Thankfully no one seemed to have been nearby to witness what had just happened so he simply chose a direction and started walking down the street doing his best ¡°nothing happened¡± act. Somewhere along his travels he came across a market place, it was mostly normal, various wooden stalls selling a range of goods, some looked like permanent fixtures others looked like individual traveling carts, while others appeared to be merchant groups with hired guards eying everyone with equal suspicion with one hand resting on the handle of their weapon. The thing that wasn¡¯t normal was several of the people had green skin with prominent tusks sticking out the corners of their mouths, others looked like lions with mains and various other ¡°humanoid¡± animals walking on two legs reaching sizes of up to 8ft tall. Most within the crowd were human so he didn¡¯t feel too out of place yet was still in awe of the variation between the people within the market. A pair of humans emerged from the crowd carrying clipboards with a series of leaflets in their pockets, they were both attractive looking humans, one male the other female, dressed in simple yet comfortable clothing. Yet in spite of their apparent charm something about them seemed a little off to Eric and he wasn¡¯t sure if he fully trusted whatever it was they obviously wanted to sell him. ¡°You look a little lost there friend¡± the guy said with a wide smile on his face almost immediately after he stopped talking the woman started ¡°Perhaps we can help you find your way?¡± ¡°We aim to help a diverse group of people every day¡± ¡°We also seek to include everyone in our vision of the future¡± ¡°A future where equity has been brought into the land¡± ¡°And everything is put in its proper place¡± Then they both finished at the same time ¡°To ensure stability in our collective futures¡± An awkward silence followed their seemingly well practiced monologue, Eric scratched the back of his head unsure of what else to say he responded with ¡°Sounds¡­.nice, I wish you luck with that¡± he moved to walk away but diversity stepped in front of him holding up a hand ¡°Before you go, perhaps we can help each other¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°First things first introductions, I am diversity¡± ¡°And I am inclusivity, we are the children of Equity¡± ¡°Who was unfairly banished from these lands by sinister oppressive forces¡± ¡°We seek to bring him back so that he might fight against the constant oppression of the underclasses¡± ¡°As a player you get to choose the story, all you have to do is sign here¡± Diversity showed him his clipboard and pointed at it. ¡°Your signature will allow us to get started, then through either your actions or inactions you can enable us to begin our good work¡± ¡°In other words you get to be a part of our utopia by doing as much or as little as you like¡± Eric tried to step away but once again diversity moved in front of him holding his clipboard and pen closer to him, Inclusivity hugged his arm and gently rubbed her cheek against his shoulder ¡°Come on¡­do it for me?¡± her radiant smile beamed at him like the dazzling brightness of a sun jumping out unexpectedly from behind a building. He turned to face Diversity whose smile somehow beamed with equal radiance, without thinking or even knowing what he was doing he grabbed the pen and signed on the dotted line. There was a rumble in the sky and for a small fraction of a second everything was plunged into darkness before being restored as if nothing had happened. Blinking his eyes Eric looked round, Diversity and Inclusivity were nowhere to be seen and in their place was a smiling caramel skinned young woman If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.¡°Hi, my name is Pamala Yaris, are you ok? You look a little lost¡± ¡°Yeah, lets just say I am not from around here¡± ¡°Ooo, me neither, I am from Dawnstar a small village to the east, I hold a very important position there¡± Still somewhat confused by previous events Eric was only half listening yet decided to engage in the hopes that he could recenter himself. ¡°Oh? And what position would that be?¡± ¡°I am the village idiot¡± she stood up straighter at that announcement and her smile widened ¡°Every village needs one, and I am it for Dawnstar¡± she lightly punched her chest at that pronouncement. The response only left Eric even more confused about things ¡°Thats nice, so where are we now?¡± Pamala just looked at him for a second, then lightly punched his arm and started laughing ¡°Ah good one, thats really funny¡± She continued to laugh and once again the now familiar feelings of discomfort started to seep in, after some time Pamala looked at him and asked ¡°Why aren¡¯t you laughing?¡­.Oh wait¡­..oh no I have done it again, you really are lost aren¡¯t you? Oh you poor thing¡± She stepped forward pulling him into a tight hug ¡°Thats alright, easy mistake to make¡± Eric responded lightly tapping her shoulder with one arm while the other hung loosely at his side. ¡°No its not alright, I am a proud representative of Dawnstar, and as such it is my duty to fix my mistake and help you find your way¡± she hugged him tighter squashing her face into his chest as she spoke muffling the sound of her voice. ¡°You are in Daymoon, one of the main trading hubs of the Kingdom of night and day and as a player you should be guided by quests, but you won¡¯t start getting them until you form a party¡± She pulled herself away from him leaving a wet patch where her mouth had previously been, she then pointed towards a stall with a sign above it saying PUG services. ¡°Go speak to them and they will help you¡±, she smiled at him, ¡°good luck with your quests, adventurer I hope to see you in Dawnstar someday¡±, she hugged him one more time once again rubbing her face against his chest and leaving another wet patch. ¡°Byee¡± she then ran off and disappeared into the crowded market accidentally knocking into people and apologizing as she went. Eric stared at her as she went, jumping at the sound of a familiar grandfatherly voice ¡°You have gained a new quest: Form a party to begin your adventures¡± An image of a compass appeared in the top center of his vision pointing towards the PUG services stall. He turned towards them and walked forward. ¡°I thought you needed a party to get quests¡± Eric quietly ¡°System clarification, you gain quests by talking to npcs who define the parameters of the quest, you can choose to reject or accept any quests given. While you do not need a party for this having one allows you to take on bigger challenges to gain bigger rewards, you also gain access to dungeons.¡± ¡°Huh¡± Eric stroked his chin, after thinking about if for a short while he walked towards the PUG stall. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Pamala made her way out of Daymoon and moved towards her home village of Dawnstar. She was skipping merrily along the road when two people stepped out from behind a bush. She looked at them and smiled ¡°Hi, my name is Pamala, I hate to say it but I don¡¯t really have anything for you to steal¡­except maybe these¡± She reached into a pocket and pulled out a small bag of toffees. ¡°You might be able to sell them for a coin or two¡± The two people simply looked at each other, then back at Pamala ¡°Oh my dear, we don¡¯t wish to rob you, my name is Diversity¡± ¡°And I am Inclusivity, its a pleasure to meet you Pamala¡± They offered their hands in turn and Pamala shook them ¡°Likewise¡± then they all just stood there smiling at each other, after several minutes had passed Diversity finally broke the silence ¡°You know, we couldn¡¯t help but notice your impressive role within the village of Dawnstar¡± ¡°And how well you carry it out, you make a very good village idiot¡± That last statement caused Pamala to blush ¡°Aww thankyou, it isn¡¯t easy, but I do alright¡± ¡°Not easy is an understatement I think¡± Diversity said ¡°Yes as the appointed idiot of the village it is your job to mess things up¡± ¡°And the better you do the job the more annoyed people get at you, its an under appreciated yet necessary roll¡± ¡°We truly believe you do it well, as such we would like to offer you a promotion to a place of great importance within our esteemed movement¡± Diversity pulled a token out of his pocket and held it in front of Pamala, her eyes widened at the sight of it. ¡°A job upgrade token?¡± Inclusivity responded ¡°Yes, join us and you will no longer be the idiot of a single village, you will be one of the many esteemed useful idiots of our upcoming organization¡± Pamala somehow found a way to widen her eyes even further ¡°I get to be useful??¡± Chapter 4: The Party Formed Eric approached the Pug stall when a small man wearing a ridiculous feathered hat suddenly rose from behind the counter, he continued to rise floating in the air until he was looking down his nose at Eric, he folded his arms before saying ¡°Yeaaasssss?¡± Somewhat used to the strangeness of this world it didn¡¯t take Eric as long to re-adjust himself this time and he simply responded ¡°I¡¯d like to form a party¡± ¡°Perrrmanent parrrty, orrr Temporarrry rrraid?¡± his r¡¯s rolled like a purring cat as he spoke. ¡°Permanent¡± ¡°Currrent parrrty limit is five, would you like a full sized parrrty orrr smallerrr?¡± ¡°Full please¡± This time the small man just nodded before unfolding both his arms and snapping his fingers causing four portals to open at the side of the stall, two on the left and two on the right. A strangely diverse range of people stepped through and the small man just nodded and refolded his arms before continuing to look down his nose at Eric. In order from left to right an old man in a light brown robe stepped through leaning on a walking staff as he walked out, followed closely by a floating ball of light. Next in line was a young woman with long thick copper coloured hair, her eyes were clearly synthetic with red pupils and various micro chips filling in what would normally be the whites of her eyes. Her skin was snow white as if never haven seen the sun before. She wore some basic clothing with a belt round her waist and a quiver of arrows on her back. Third in line was a massive near 7ft tall green skinned man with a large pair tusks sticking out his bottom jaw, he wore something similar to a roman toga, his arms and face held many scars from who knows how many fights. He had long dark hair with several streaks of gray tied back and platted in a series of knots, he looked at Eric and the others as if trying to judge their worth and already finding them lacking. The fourth and final portal flickered before a small young looking woman, probably no taller than Eric¡¯s waist, she sported a red robe covered in white stars. She had no hair, her head was instead covered in bright red scales that went down her back and stopped round the edges of her face. She had a big smile on her face as she looked round at everyone. ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m Annie, and what are your names?¡± Eric was about to answer but was immediately cut off but the big green guy, ¡°I am Uruk Bloodhaze, former chief of the Uzrak clan¡± he looked Annie before continuing ¡°Gnome woman, are you a mage?¡± ¡°Nuh uh, I am a dragonblood sorcerer, which means I can summon and manipulate fire without incantations, or at least I could, now I seem to be limited to a simple firebolt spell. Anyway my spirit ability allows me to transform into a red draconid which makes my firebolt stronger.¡± With that her whole face became covered in red scales and a pair of dragon wings sprouted from her back, her whole body caught fire as she let out a high pitched shriek. She held it for a couple of seconds before letting the flames die out and transforming back into her original form. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.Uruk nodded ¡°Good, gnome warriors are a joke, they always seem to get trampled on, or kicked down the battlefield like a kids toy.¡± The copper haired girl stepped forward standing like a soldier awaiting inspection from a commander ¡°Ranged specialist Astrid reporting for duty, I carry a bow and quiver with seemingly limitless arrows.¡± She spoke without any hint of emotion in her almost robotic sounding voice. Uruk raised an eyebrow ¡°Seemingly limitless?¡± ¡°Yes sir, my quiver holds 5 arrows, each arrow takes 10 seconds to replenish, with rapid shot I can empty the quiver in 2 seconds.¡± Uruk grunted at that ¡°You any good with those?¡± he pointed at the copper short swords holstered in her back. ¡°I have some training in close quarters combat, but it is not where I am strongest¡± Nodding his head Uruk stated ¡°some training is better than none, and whats your deal old man?¡± ¡°I am Fred, I am a healer, this is my whisp companion solar, it acts as a ranged attacker.¡± Uruk grunted after Fred had introduced himself ¡°You look about ready to drop dead, are we going to have to carry you?¡± ¡°No, no, I can walk, I may be a little slow until we get a few more levels however.¡± At that point they all turned to face Eric ¡°So whats your story then?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­Eric, I can summon a club and shield¡± ¡°That means you will be in the front lines with me then boy, stay out of my way and you won¡¯t accidentally lose something you would rather keep¡± ¡°Quest completed : Form a party. Congratulations you and your party are now level 3, you are now eligible to run the local party training dungeon.¡± Uruk rubbed his hands together before turning and moving towards the now glowing dungeon entrance near the PUG stall. ¡°Well, looks like we know where we are going first.¡± ¡°Party quest: Uruk wants to run the local party training dungeon.¡± ¡°Sounds exciting¡± proclaimed Annie as she skipped after Uruk a big smile on her face. ¡°Quest update: Annie also wants to run the dungeon.¡± Astrid simply marched in the direction of the dungeon following behind the other two. ¡°Looks like we are going to the dungeon¡± Fred shrugged his shoulders before walking slowly after them. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we at least talk about it first¡± Eric shouted but nobody seemed to be listening except for a single homeless guy who sat in a corner staring at him. ¡°Don¡¯t be a pussy¡± he wheezed with a near toothless grin on his face. ¡°Quest update: Everyone but you now wants to run the local party training dungeon, just look at their happy excited faces, do you want to disappoint your new team on the first day??¡± Eric sighed and shook his head ¡°This is a bad idea¡± before accepting the quest and heading towards the dungeon entrance with his new team. The halfling behind the store stood staring at Annie as the group walked away ¡°I could have sworn I summoned a lizard water mage.¡± He muttered to himself. ¡°Meh, I¡¯m sure its fine, best not tell the boss thou¡±. Chapter 5: Dungeon dynamics ¡°You have entered: The vermins pit, training dungeon, time to show those pests what you are made of¡± The party found themselves in a in a massive cave with a series of small dark holes in the walls and ceiling with a large door directly in front of them. ¡°You have timed out on stat allocations, the following attributes have been allocated to you. Luck +1, Dexterity +1, Agility +2, Magic +1. Perk: Heroic leap, you can jump 4x higher and further than stats normally allow. Spell: Impact: for the next 1second x mag every attack you make creates a minor shockwave potentially disorienting targets. Cost 10 mana.¡± Eric shook his head at the message ¡°Next time¡± he whispered to himself ¡°Wave 1 will commence in 10 seconds¡± ¡°Get ready¡± Uruk said summoning a 2 handed axe into his hands, Annie waved a hand and a shimmering bubble of transparent barely visible blue energy formed around her, Fred did the same only his bubble was a light yellow colour, Astrid summoned a simple looking wooden shortbow. Eric pulled his club and shield just as the timer reached zero. A single rat poked its head out of a hole, looked at the party and let out a loud squeak before charging towards them. It didn¡¯t get very far before an arrow landed in his eye killing him instantly, shortly after a small bolt of fire landed on its corpse setting it on fire and almost immediately turning it into a pile of ash. ¡°Wave 1 completed, wave 2 commencing in 20 seconds¡± ¡°Well, that was easy.¡± Uruk stated lowering his axe ¡°Hope the next wave provides something close to a challenge¡± ¡°Be careful what you wish for¡± Fred replied, his whisp floating in a circle around the party ¡°Wave 2 commencing in 10, 9¡­.Screw it NOW¡± A series of scrabbling noises started and several rats started poking their heads out of holes, letting out their battle squeaks while charging towards the party from all directions. Uruk laughed and charged towards a small group of 3, Annie and Astrid started firing while Eric held back, putting himself between 2 other rats and Fred. They both pounced at him, he raised his shield blocking one while bringing his club down on the head of the other. The one he struck staggered back, he stepped forward with the goal of finishing it off when a sharp pain formed in his leg and he looked down to see a rat with its teeth sunk into him, he brought his shield down onto its back, the rat shrieked letting go of his leg, he stepped back trying to reposition but his injured leg buckled under his weight and he fell on his back. One of the rats bit down on his foot clamping down hard while the other bit into his mace arm pinning him down, he struggled to free himself when a piercing bolt of light went through the head of the one attached to his arm, killing it. His arm now free he swung down on the head of the rat still chewing at his leg, it let out a loud squeak and stepped back before being blasted by a bolt of light. Freds whisp floated above his head then his arm and leg started to glow with a bright yellow light, pain started to fade as his wounds closed up. He turned to look at Fred whos hand was glowing, his attention now on healing Uruk who had been bitten on the arm. ¡°Wave 3 will commence in 1 minute, I mean it this time you are going to need it.¡± ¡°Thats what I like to hear, get ready people¡± A massive grin spread on Uruks face as he shifted his axe into a ready position. ¡°We need to stick together this time.¡± Eric raised his shield standing in front of Fred ¡°Who died and made you boss??¡± Uruk moved to stand in front of him looking down at him, ¡°Well??¡± ¡°What?? No one, I just think it would be better if we stayed near our healer so we can protect him and be within range if we need to be healed.¡± ¡°Your the guy with the shield, protecting them is your job not mine, just stay away from my axe, would hate to accidentally cut you in half or something.¡± After saying that Uruk took a few steps forward intentionally barging into Eric as he did. Eric was about to open his mouth and say something when a hand gently grabbed his shoulder, he turned to see Fred shaking his head. Astrid and Annie stepped forward ¡°Annie and myself will stand near Fred and support you from behind¡± ¡°Yup, anything gets close an I will make it BURN!!!¡± to further emphasize the last word Annie briefly summoned a small bolt of fire in her hand before allowing it to dissipate. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I am such a burden, maybe after gaining a few levels I will be able to hold my own.¡± ¡°Negative¡± Astrid responded, ¡°Combat medics are always protected, as failure to do so always results in greater losses. You keep us alive, we keep you alive, is simple.¡± ¡°Yup, yup¡± ¡°What she said¡± ¡°5, 4, 3, 2, 1¡­ZEROOOOO!¡± A grinding noise echoed through the cavern as a section of wall started to reshape itself into a large fancy looking balcony with fancy looking stone railings with a dark cavern leading away from it. A slow beating of drums came seemingly from nowhere followed by a series of trumpets announcing the presence of a large bear sized rat wearing a copper crown with a bright red cape draped across its back. It stepped forward, resting its front paws on the railings and looked down at the team of adventurers. It sniffed the air before scoffing at their impudence, this was followed by a series of scrabbling and several smaller rats exiting the holes and surrounding the party. Once they were surrounded the large rat started letting out a series of squeaks while waving his front paws around in seemingly grand gestures. Annie pulled on Eric¡¯s trousers, when he turned to look down at her she whispered ¡°I wonder what he¡¯s saying¡± ¡°SQUEEAKK!¡± the piercing noise came followed by a loud crash as the giant rat hammered down on the stone railings crumbling them into dust, the rat stood there glaring at Annie who shuffled uncomfortably while apologizing. The rat huffed to itself before continuing its squeach, getting more and more excited as it went on, standing up straight and waving its feet around as if making grand proclamations. Until finally making one last loud squeak it slammed its front feet back down again to a chorus of squeaks from the surrounding rats. Then in jumped off the balcony landing in the middle of the room. The words KING RAT floated in front of Erics vision before moving to the top then a long red bar formed under the name. 3¡­2¡­1¡­BOSS BATTLE, as if on cue the giant rat charged forward towards the party. Everyone moved behind Eric who raised his shield ready to meet the charge, Uruk however let out a loud warcry and charged straight towards the boss bringing his axe down onto its side, there was a loud screech and the rat stopped turning itself round knocking Uruk off balance, it then immediately lunged forward grabbing onto his leg and started swinging him around like a rag doll. Astrid unloaded a few arrows into its side so it spun round letting go of Uruk throwing him towards her, she tried to move out of the way but was a little too slow and a now unconscious Uruk crashed into her knocking her to the ground. Fred healed them both while his whisp fired its magic bolts at the rat who seemed content to just ignore them. That was when things got really bad, Annie decided to release a bolt of flame towards the rat, hitting it square in the side, its greasy fur catching fire and turning into a raging inferno. The rat let out another loud SQUEEEEAAAAKKKK! As its flesh started to burn away, the red bar below its name had been reduced to just under a quarter of its original size, the rat charged towards the walls of the room grabbing one of the spectator rats by the neck. Turning its head and throwing its prey into the air King rat used an ability called ¡°Consume¡± its mouth opening wider than it should it caught the unfortunate rat in its mouth, somehow swallowing it whole, the health bar below its name started to refill as its burned skin started to mend. It was still on fire however so continued to burn, turning to face Fred it charged towards the old healer its flaming mouth open ready to bite down once it reached him. This was the moment when Eric decided to act, he charged forward with his shield bashing it in the side of the head knocking it off course a little and turning its attention towards him. He swung his club at it bashing it on the head annoying it even more, it stood up on its hind legs and charged into his raised shield knocking him to the ground and landing on top of him. It tried to bite down on his face but he raised his club in front of its mouth instead, its mouth clamped down and started shaking its head trying to pull the weapon from his hands, he held on as best he could until his shoulder dislocated. It turned its head tossing the club aside and turned to face him again its charred face still ablaze Eric felt the heat of the flames as it edged towards him. Then an arrow thunked into its eye socked causing it to turn and hiss, that arrow was closely followed by another, then an axe came down cleaving right into its skull. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.The no longer burning rat fell on top of Eric, twitched a few times then lay still, he stared at its charcoaled face the smell of burned flesh filling his nose. Several hands grabbed hold of him and started to pull, dragging him out from under the rat, silence filled the room as he continued to stare at it. After a few seconds of silence the surrounding rats fell into a frenzy charging towards the giant rats corpse, they piled on top of it and immediately started ripping the charred flesh from its bones, dispersing shortly after leaving nothing more than a skeleton. ¡°CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR FIRST DUNGEON, LOOT CHESTS WILL SPAWN IN CENTER OF ROOM WHEN YOU ARE DONE CELEBRATING, ALSO AS THIS IS YOUR FIRST DUNGEON AND NOBODY DIED YOU GET AN EXTRA REWARD¡­..+5 TO YOUR WEAKEST STAT¡± The notification was immediately followed by a mass of confetti streamers and balloons being launched at the party, Eric just sat on the floor staring at the skeletal remains until his view was broken by a mass of colourful globes. Annies cheer also served to snap him out of his trance, he stood up looking around, everyone was covered in confetti and surrounded by a chest high mass of balloons, there were several flying around from the point where a completely submerged Annie was jumping, laughing and batting them around. Astrid had grabbed one out of the pile and was looking at it like it was a strange curiosity, she gave it a light squeeze then threw it up in the air and watched as it slowly floated back down towards her. ¡°Curious¡±, she said a thoughtful look on her face ¡°What material is this?¡± A grinning skull manifested in front of her, ¡°like it do you? I could give you the materials molecular structure to take back with you if you complete the game, you will have to do something first¡± Everyone except Astrid seemed surprised by the skulls sudden appearance who just seemed to behave like its manifestation was completely normal. ¡°What would I have to do Limbo?¡± ¡°Simply carry one with you, as an accessory, until you reach the end of the game, don¡¯t destroy or remove it otherwise you lose¡± ¡°Simple enough, can I put it down while fighting?¡± The skull shook side to side ¡°not necessary¡± then it disappeared A white balloon manifested floating in the air and above Astrids head, a thin piece of string hanging from its bottom, attached itself to her ear, then it just floated above her head bobbing lightly as she moved around. ¡°Okay, we are done celebrating, now where are these loot chests?¡± Uruk said while trying to clear the balloons away so he could see, then just like that, as quickly as they came the party decorations were all gone and right in the middle of the room where the rats corpse had been were 5 chests, each one was labeled with one of the party members names. Eric along with the other party members moved towards their respective chests and opened them, there was a brief flash of light and he looked down to see the chest was empty. ¡°Huh¡± came his disappointed response, until he felt a sudden weight fall on his torso, looking down he saw what appeared to be a well fitted chainmail vest that covered his shouders and draped a little over the tops of his arms like a t-shirt. ¡°Oh¡± he said smiling as he looked towards his party members. Annie had a crimson short sleeved robe that went down to her knees with a belt round the torso. Fred had what looked like a bright white priestly robe with black outlines along the edges. Astrid had a leather vest that covered her chest and shoulders while leaving her arms and torso exposed. She was looking down at it running her fingers along the bottom edges. ¡°This exposure seems unnecessary¡± ¡°Huh what are you talking about?¡± They turned to look at Uruk who seemed to be wearing a leather harness with what looked like a short wolf-skin cloak draped over his shoulders, barely any of his torso was covered at all and his arms were completely exposed. He turned and flexed showing off his rippling muscles, ¡°the freedom of movement is great¡± Astrid looked down at herself again before doing a few minor stretching exercises, seemingly satisfied she nodded her head. ¡°Point taken¡± Chapter 6: A Question of Leadership Chapter 6: A Question of Leadership ¡°Enjoy your gifts, one last thing before you leave, pick a leader¡± There was a grinding of stone followed by a thunk as all the exit points and holes sealed shut within the dungeon plunging the room into total darkness. A series of spotlights came from various points in the ceiling highlighting each member of the party. ¡°Heh, well, as ex chieftain of the boulderfist clan I led our warriors through many dungeon raids and minor skirmishes with the other races of our land. I have also spent several years working as a freelance mercenary in the shadowlands leading small groups on important missions. I am the obvious choice¡± He summoned his axe into one hand while slapping his chest with the other ¡°does anyone wish to contest my right?¡± he turned to look at Astrid who shook her head. ¡°Command has not authorized me to take of any kind of mission¡± Fred and Annie simply shook their heads as he looked at each of them in turn, without even bothering to consider Eric he grinned ¡°Well, I guess that¡­.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°What?¡± Eric stepped forward his fists clenched ¡°You charged straight into battle leaving our healer exposed¡± Uruk grunted ¡°Your the guy with the shield, as I said earlier, its your job to protect them¡­.. And you barely even managed that¡± ¡°Your reckless attack of the boss almost got you killed once again leaving the rest of us to fight without you¡± Uruk opened his mouth to say something then paused for a moment before responding ¡°Ok, that was stupid, I am used to having a stronger body than this, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that I killed most of the rats, I killed the boss. I also have the most experience leading groups of people into battle and that makes me¡± He slapped his hand against his chest ¡°the best Orc for the job. ¡°All I have seen is that you are reckless, and I do not trust the parties lives in your hands¡± The two men stood and starred at each other for a while until Uruk pointed his axe at Eric ¡°And I will not follow orders from someone who cannot best me in single combat¡± At that moment all the spotlights went off except for the ones highlighting Eric and Uruk, a loud voice seemingly comming from several angles at the same time echoed through the room ¡°Uruk has challenged Eric to a leadership duel, this is a duel to the death, the loser will be resurrected without penalty afterwords. Eric, do you accept the challenge or will you abstain from the position?¡± Eric summoned his club and shield, raising them both into a ready position. ¡°Challenge accepted¡± Uruk lowered his axe head to the floor a wide smile spreading across his face as he did, ¡°Oh I think I am going to enjoy this¡± ¡°3¡­2¡­1¡­BEGIN!¡± The room darkened as the voice counted down and a pair of spotlights beamed down from the ceiling illuminating the two contestants, a series of cheers, squeeks, barks and a range of other noises echoed around the room as they started to circle each other. Uruk was the first to charge, bringing his axe down in an overhead chop, Eric attempted to deflect the blow to the side but the force of the blow left him staggering backwards. Seeing him off balance Uruk shoulder barged him knocking Eric off his feet, swinging his axe in a circle round his head he attempted to bring it down on top of Eric who rolled out the way getting back on his feet. Uruk grinned at the sight of his opponent shaking and panting after the onslaught he had just endured, ¡°You can still back down you know¡± ¡°Never¡± Eric reset his stance still shaking slightly. ¡°I¡¯ll make it quick then¡± Once again Uruk charged forward, only this time instead of attempting to deflect the blow Eric stepped into it bashing Uruk in the gut with his shield before he could bring his axe down again, he then ducked down allowing the momentum of the surprised orc to send him sailing over his head, landing on his back with a thud. Not wanting to lose his advantage Eric brought his club down on the orcs head dazing and knocking him back down as he tried to get up. He smacked his head 2 more times before a bubble of yellow light engulfed the orc preventing further attacks. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.The crowd roared even louder before fading away into silence, the area lit up again and the victory announcement was made. ¡°Aannd the winner is¡­.Eric¡­wow¡­.that was unexpected. Anyway congratulations on obtaining the role of party leader¡± A small portrait of each party member appeared in the top left corner of his vision, he focused on each portrait and a small table of information appeared in front of him. Name: Fred Age: 74 Role: Healer Health: 100% Stamina: 100% Mana: 50% Leadership bonus: Nothing Name: Uruk Age: 42 Role: Shock troop Health: 4% Stamina: 68% Mana: 100% Leadership bonus: Nothing Name: Astrid Age: 18 Role: Marksperson Health: 100% Stamina: 100% Mana: 100% Leadership bonus: Nothing Name: Annie Age: 21 Role: Glass cannon Health: 100% Stamina: 100% Mana: 100% Leadership bonus: Nothing Improve your relationship with individual party members to gain more detailed information and leadership bonus(s) Eric focused on Astrids¡¯ listed role, ¡°Marksperson?? Thats new¡± ¡°The system wishes to be more inclusive when it comes to assigning party roles, we believe that by making them gender neutral we can ensure that both men and women get to feel equally represented within party dynamics.¡± Eric shook his head at that statement and muttered to himself ¡°Political correctness gets everywhere it seems.¡± ¡°That statement is erroneous as neither ¡°political correctness¡± nor ¡°Wokeness¡± actually exist in this world or any other as meaningful terms.¡± ¡°I never even mentioned ¡°wokeness¡± whatever that is.¡± ¡°And why would you? As previously stated, like political correctness it does not exist, now stop wasting everyones time with meaningless drivel so we can continue with the story¡­ I mean game¡± Unsure how to respond to that Eric just shook his head before looking round the room, Uruk was holding his head and groaning as he got back on his feet, the bubble of light having disappeared along with the rest of the party. ¡°Urgh¡­ That was a good fight, your skills are weak but your instincts are good, sometimes thats all you need. I will follow your lead, for now at least.¡± ¡°Uruk has gained a leadership bonus: - +5% damage to targets you specifically tell him to attack¡± Eric looked over at the now grinning orc and responded with a slight nod ¡°Good to hear, did you see where the others¡­..¡± *POOF!!* A thick cloud of smoke suddenly engulfed the room causing them to choke, a few seconds later it had cleared revealing the other party members stood just to the side of the pair, right where they had been before the duel started. Eric blinked in surprise upon seeing them appear in front of him, ¡°Where did you guys go?¡± Annie grinned, clasped her hands in front of her chest before jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store. ¡°Right, so we somehow ended up in this really big arena full of people cheering and making bets on the next fight when suddenly you and Uruk appeared in the center and started fighting, my first thought was Uruk is going to win, and he looked like he was, but then you did that thing with your shield and BAM BAM, you win, the crowd goes wild, you two disappear then shortly after we are here.¡± Annie stops to take in a deep breath ¡°I guess that makes you party leader then?¡± ¡°So it would seem, I am not really sure what it means, thou I do have access to blah blah blah blah¡­¡­. What the!?¡± ¡°Warning only the party leader may have information related to the party leader screen, trust us, its better this way.¡± They all looked at each other confused ¡°Apparently I am not allowed to give you information about blah blah blah¡­¡± *sigh* Astrid nodded her head at that statement ¡°Understood sir, some information must remain classified, how should we address you sir?¡± ¡°Just Eric will do¡± ¡°Yes sir, Eric sir¡± ¡°QUEST UPDATE: LEAVE THE DUNGEON TO CONTINUE¡± Chapter 7: You owe me Chapter 7: You owe me Upon leaving the dungeon the party achieved quest completion as well as an increase to level 4 with the usual timed countdown. This time without hesitation Eric immediately opened up his character screen, seeing a menu for perks he selected it and was met with a barrage of thousands to choose from (6752 to be precise, and no, I am not going to write out a comprehensive list so you can see what they all are). He scrolled through a series of options ranging from the mundane to out right ridiculous, one included gaining a tail he could equip with a weapon to automatically fend off attackers from behind. After scrolling through several perks related to magical skills he didn¡¯t have and had no intention of obtaining he started scrolling back to try and find the tail perk, but once again, he ran out of time. ¡°Wow, you are bad at this, once again you have ran out of time and have defaulted to option 2, maybe try being a little less indecisive? Luck +1, Strength +2, Resilience +2. Perk: Lucky Rank 1, minor chance based on luck stat to obtain a lucky outcome. Ability: Shockwave Rank 1, slam your weapon into the ground creating a shockwave to knock your enemies back. Stamina cost: 10.¡± ¡°Dammit!¡± The rest of the party looked over at him, surprise on their faces ¡°What?¡± Uruk replied ¡°Keep running out of time while leveling up, 1 minute isn¡¯t anywhere near enough time to browse through thousands of options to pick the right one¡± ¡°Just set up some filters, narrow it down to around 4 or 5 options, you know, like the tutorial told you?¡± ¡°My tutorial never mentioned anything about filters¡± There was a sudden puff of smoke in the middle of the party, once it cleared Limbo was stood in front of him. ¡°Checking¡­.. Oh dear, looks like your tutorial skipped that part, now how can we fix this?¡± Limbo stood in front of Eric, his reaper like form posing an intimidating figure, the rest of the party stood behind him, seemingly frozen in time. Eric looked at the world around him and couldn¡¯t help but notice that everything around him seemed to be frozen in time, Limbo just stood there his eyeless sockets of impenetrable darkness staring right at him. Then snapping his bony fingers with a loud crack a massive wheel reaching roughly the height of a 6 story flat appeared behind him floating in the air. ¡°As an apology I will give you a free spin of the wheel of potential fortune where the top prize is a +30 to all stats.¡± Eric looked up at the wheel which was sectioned off into small segments, each segment had a listed prize on it. Large as it was he couldn¡¯t read all the available prizes, but of the ones he could see some were useless like an endless supply of rat teeth, others were seemingly powerful perks that could give him a major advantage in the game. The ¡°prizes¡± that caught his eye however were the debilitating ones, ranging from permanently crippled legs to instant death. ¡°Hold on a minute¡± he said waving his hand in front of him. ¡°What kind of compensation is being offered a chance at being instantly killed or permanently crippled?¡± Limbo shook his head and sighed at his response ¡°Well this is the wheel of potential fortune, not the wheel of guaranteed fortune. Why focus only on the negative? Just think about the +30 to all stats and the great advantage that would give you..¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t accept this as compensation, the risk is too great¡± Limbo sighed again while scraping his bony hand down his skeletal face producing an eerie grinding noise. ¡°Fine, I will take out all the deadly and debilitating prizes, but I am leaving in the useless ones¡­ Deal?¡± ¡°Deal¡± Limbo snapped his fingers and the massive wheel was replaced with a smaller one, instead of being the size of a 6 story building, it was now roughly the scale of a medium sized bungalow. He then gestured towards a handle sticking out of the now less massive wheel. He grabbed the handle and gave it the best push he could, it slowly crawled round looking like it was about to stop but suddenly started to pick up speed. Spinning faster and faster it floated into the air above his head and a series of colourful lights started dancing along it surface. Eric found himself entranced by the vision seemingly forever when it abruptly stopped and his prize was announced. ¡°Congratulations you have received an unusual perk: Bird box beard Rank 1, gain a big bushy beard to house your very own randomly selected bird companion.¡± Stolen novel; please report.There was a short drum roll followed by another announcement. ¡°Congratulations, you have obtained a new companion¡­.Loot bird, this amazing bird will automatically loot the corpses of anything you kill adding the items to your inventory. It has the scavenger ability which is ranked according to the rank of its bird box. Perk: Scavenger Rank 1, luck based chance to find extra useful items while looting defeated enemies.¡± After reading the announcement limbo vanished and the world around him started to move again, seemingly unaware of what had just happened Astrid started explaining to Eric how to use the filter system in his menu. He tried to listen but was distracted by the sudden itching on his face, he went to scratch it when a mass of hair sprouted from his chin jaw and neck. Astrid stopped her explanation as the party stood and stared at the thick bushy beard that now hung from his face drooping over the chest of his armor. There was a chirping sound, then a small black bird flew out from the beard before perching itself on Eric¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Select a name for your new companion¡± ¡°A name?¡­.Maggie?¡± The bird let out a short *chirp* before flying round his head and diving into his beard, he grabbed hold of his with his hand and squeezed it lightly, there was no resistance, weird, he thought to himself. ¡°Cute bird, where did you get it?¡± ¡°Yeah, what the hell is going on?¡± ¡°Will it be useful to the group?¡± Annie, Uruk and Astrid inquired while Fred just stood quietly waiting leaning on his staff. Eric then gave a brief explanation of what had happened before asking Astrid to go through the filters again, turns out there is a simple option to show only the recommended top 1-10 of each category based on your party role, you could also set your stats to auto assign based on the same thing. Eric decided to forgo the auto stats and opted to be shown the top 3 perks, spells / abilities only so he could be given a reasonable amount of time to read through each one before making a decision. ¡°Soooo, what now?¡± Annie asked Everyone looked towards Eric who had absolutely no clue what to do next, he shifted uncomfortably for a second before a familiar voice started shouting at him. ¡°Hey, I remember you, your the guy who tried to rob me, you owe me a favor¡±. He turned to see a cranky looking old lady running down the street towards him with a massive book tucked under her arm. When she got to him she thrust the book towards into his arms. ¡°Take this, keep it safe, don¡¯t let anyone take it. Or see it they will kill you if they know you have it.¡± Before he could respond the old lady ran off, a group of guards came running down the street weapons drawn shouting. ¡°Stop her¡± Not knowing what else to do Eric tucked the book into his inventory, the guards approached the party. ¡°Did you see where she went?¡± Before anyone could answer a young pretty girl with long leaf green hair and long pointed ears came running towards the guards, tears were streaming down her face. ¡°Please help, the elf eater is back and he is devouring my village¡± ¡°Do I look like and elf?¡± the guard snapped back at her She took in a sharp breath and stepped back eyes wide as she looked at him shaking her head. ¡°Not my problem then is it?¡± He turned to the party. ¡°You there did you see which way that old lady went?¡± ¡°No, sorry¡± After responding to the guard Eric turned to look back at the crying elf who seemed visibly shaken by the guards response. ¡°Dammit, right split up men, don¡¯t let her get away with that book¡±. The guards charged off in various different directions while Eric continued to stare at the elf who noticed him looking at her, her eyes widened, a tiny spark of hope seeming to flicker within them. ¡°You are players aren¡¯t you?¡± She moved towards Eric tightly grabbing his hand. ¡°Will you please help me? My people, my family are dying¡±. ¡°Quest received: The elf eater has struck and is devouring a nearby elven village, will you help this young lady save whoever is left? Or will you take comfort in the fact that you are not an elf either and so it isn¡¯t really your problem? Accept yes / no?¡± Annie stepped forward without hesitation ¡°Of course we will, wont we guys?¡± ¡°Yeah sure, whatever, so long as I get to fight something¡± ¡°I will follow your directive Eric Sir¡± Fred simply nodded ¡°If we can help we should, I will try to keep up.¡± Eric who hadn¡¯t taken his eyes off the elf simply said ¡°Of course we will, where is this village of yours?¡± ¡°Quest accepted.¡± Chapter 8: Out for Lunch The distressed elf led them a short distance out of town and through a dense forest. When they got to the village it was empty, aside from that there didn''t seem to be any sign that anything had even happened. The people were just.....gone. The elf girl stood in front of them, her hands on her head tightly gripping her hair. "No, no no noo, we''re too late" She fell to her knees sobbing "They''re gone..... they''re all gone" The party stood behind her, weapons in hand looking round. Annie however stepped towards the elf and rested her hand on her shoulder. "I''m sorry this happened to you" "Do you hear that?" Uruk enquired, Astrid cocked her head and listened for a short while before responding. "No, best keep an eye out, it might still be here, what are your orders sir" Eric blinked suddenly remembering that he''s was supposed to be the leader. "Right, erm, Annie stay with the girl, Uruk and Astrid check that direction, Fred and I will check the other side, call out if you find anything" Uruk grunted before moving on, Astrid following close behind him after a quick "yessir" and salute. Eric and Fred started searching their side of the village while Annie stayed with the elf. She started to lean closer towards her to to give her a hug. Before she could get there however the girl let out a startled cry before being whisked through the air by some invisible force. Annie could only watch and shout "no" as the girls top half seemed to disappear into a black hole leaving her kicking legs floating in the air. The area around the floating legs started to shimmer as a massive figure appeared in front of her. It stood around 12 ft tall, was humanoid in shape with a massive pot belly and a neckless, three eyed frog like head. It blinked all 3 of its eyes and seemed to grin at the her the girls legs still dangling out of its mouth. "Don''t eat her" Annie cried The creatures eyes blinked in sequence once more before responding with "Mmfflamethmm" "What?" All three of the creatures eyes rolled one after another, once the strange motion was completed it raised one of it massive hands grabbing the elf by her waist before pulling her out it''s mouth with a wet "schlapp". The girl took in a gasp of air before starting to scream, the creature simply held her up in front of him raising his free hand in front of her face with a finger poking her nose as he spoke. "You be quiet" His masculine voice sounded weirdly sophisticated, every word spoke slowly and carefully as if he wanted to avoid mispronouncing them. The girl taking the hint stopped screaming nodding quickly her wide eyes staring straight at him. Seemingly satisfied the creature lowered his hands holding the girl at his side, she hung there limply just staring at the floor. One at a time his eyes centered on Annie "I apologise, trying to talk with my mouth full was rather rude of me, I was simply asking what else am I supposed to do with it?" At this point having heard the screams the rest of the party had arrived, with weapons drawn they stood around Annie. His center eye remained focused on her while his other 2 looked over the rest of the party members. He grinned at them all, raising the elf in front of him using her like a floppy quietly sobbing stick he pointed at each of them in turn as he spoke. "Before you come charging in swinging your weapons around you might wish to take the time to have a good long hard look at me" A status screen popped up in front of everyone''s vision Name: Elf Eater Age: Unknown Level: impossibly high Stats: impossible to define. Active effect: Pure plot armour of absolute invulnerability. Seriously, you cannot kill this guy, but he can definitely kill you with a badly aimed cough or sneeze. Upon seeing this the party took a couple of steps back thou they didn''t lower their weapons or take their eyes off the strange frog like creature. "That''s what I thought." Still holding the elf in front of him he pointed her at Annie Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "Now as I was saying little one, if I am not to eat it, then what else am I supposed to do with it?" Annie looked around each party member in turn before turning to face the frog like creature who just stood patiently waiting for her response, sweat trickled from her forehead and ran down the side of her face, a lump formed in her throat which she quickly swallowed before taking a step forward to address the creature "Um...maybe..not eat her? Leave her with us?" He looked at the girl then back at Annie as if surprised that such an option existed "But, I am the elf eater, its who I am, if I let an elf go without eating it then what would I become instead?" Annie shrugged "An elf friend?" There was a slight pause before the creature burst out with a loud and incredibly jovial laughter. Annie shifted uncomfortably and Fred laid a hand on her shoulder coaxing her to take a step back with the rest of the party. "Elf friend? Hahaha that''s a good one, 25000+ years of devouring an entire village every decade and yet you think I can still be their friend? Hahaha, something in my gut..." He patted his belly with his free hand. "Tells me that I am beyond reconciliation or friendship, besides, hahaha, it''s bad manners to play with your food." Having stopped his laughter he started drumming his fingers on his belly, then pointing the elf at an unhappy looking Annie he continued. "Know what? I think I like you so i am willing to offer you a deal, you stay here and talk with me for a bit while your party takes those barrels." He pointed the elf towards a stack of around 6 barrels. "To the nearby lake." He pointed the girl in another direction, presumably where the nearby lake is located "Then bring them back full of water and I would be willing to consider trading them for this." He waved the girl in front of himself, the girl looked up at the party before mouthing the word "please". She flopped back down after, continuing to quietly sob. Shortly after a message appeared in Annie''s vision. "Party leader has accepted a quest. Daylight robbery: 6 big barrels of water for 1 skinny elf girl? You know you are being played right? Can get the same thing in a tavern for a mere 5-6 pints of cheap ale costing a total 10-12 copper pieces. He is bigger and stronger though so I guess he does get to set the terms, and the terms are that he is willing to consider trading the girl for the water." Annie nodded at that before turning towards the group. "Please hurry." Eric nodded in response "We will be as quick as we can, call if you need us" "I will" She gave the party a small smile before turning towards the creature who now held the elf tightly against his chest, like a favourite teddy. He sat down, crossing his massive tree trunk legs. Annie was about to start speaking but he held up his free hand to stop her while continuing to watch the rest of the party. -------- Eric took one last look at the quietly sobbing elf before turning towards the barrels, when once again the world around him froze, everything was silent and still, he looked around. "Hello?" A floating skull manifested in front of him. "BOOO!" "Gaahhh" Erik lept back, summoning his club and shield as he did. He stared daggers at the grinning skull breathing heavily before dismissing his weapons. "Not a good time Limbo" The skull did a full 180 turn before responding. "You know, time is basically irrelevant when I press the pause button" "What do you want?" Limbo floated around him looking towards the girl and creature. "I can''t help but notice you seemed to spend a fair amount of time looking at the elf....is there a reason for that?" Without thinking Eric looked towards the girl before responding. Yeah, I feel sorry for her, after all that has happened I want to help." He continued to look at her as he spoke. "Is that all?" Limbo asked before floating right in front of his face, Eric moved his head slightly in response. "Because I was thinking that a nice romantic side plot would be a good addition to an otherwise potentially doomy gloomy story." He floated right up to Eric''s ear before whispering. "I could make it happen if you like?" Eric''s eyes widened as he listened to the whispered offer, he stepped back from Limbo, instinctively looking towards the girl to making sure she hadn''t over heard. "What?..N no, Limbo I''m married" "Aaaannnd?" Limbo floated around his head as he spoke. "You know, what happens in Limbo, stays in Limbo. Besides, your not even convinced this place is real are you? Might as well enjoy the fantasy while it lasts." An invisible force grabbed hold of Eric''s head turning him towards the girl, he pressed his bony cheek against Eric''s. "Hmmmmm?" Eric raised his hand pushing limbo away, the invisible force released him and he turned to face the grinning skull. "No! I will not betray my wife, in this world or any other." Limbo sighed. "Suit yourself, just don''t go around saying that I never offer you anything nice." With that Limbo vanished and the world around him continued it''s motion, Eric felt something wrapping round his wedding finger. He raised his hand to look at it, what he saw was a simple golden band with the words *My life with yours, forever more* inscribed on it. His wedding ring, he looked at it clenching his hand, holding it to his chest he looked towards the sky before silently voicing his thoughts. "I will find my way back to you, I promise." "What?" Uruks gruff voice pulled him back into the world. "Nothing, let''s get this water before that thing changes it''s mind." Uruk turned to look at the creature. "I hear that, I am all for a good fight, but taking that thing on would be crazy" The party picked up the barrels placing them in their inventory before moving in the direction of the supposedly nearby lake. Chapter 8.5: Info Dump, High elf society Annie watched her party gather up the barrels before departing into the woods, when they disappeared she sighed, looking down at the floor shuffling her feet in the dirt she turned to face the creature. All of his eyes focused on her, he stood watching her, the elf once again held in front of him, like a favourite teddy. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Sooo, what what did you want to talk about?" "You''re and your party are not native to this world are you?" "No, I was experimenting with portal magic and somehow ended up here, now I am not allowed to leave until I finish some kind of game without knowing what the game is, or how to win it." The creature chuckled at that. "You must be a player then, heheh old limbo does like having fun with reality''s people, sometimes he even has others publish books telling the stories about his games. He says it''s his way of sharing the fun." He''d started gently stroking the elfs head with one of his fingers as he spoke and continued to do so for a few seconds before talking again. Annie could only watch, listen and respond to what was being said, her eyes moving between the elf and the creature as she did. "What do you know about high elven society?" "Nothing really" "Ah, good good, they are an interesting bunch, tasty, give you quite a buzz as well due to their high mana affinity, you as a player will need to very careful when dealing with them however, the common people are snobby at best and have a tendency to look down on other races as being inferior. The ruling class however are even worse, they have a tendency towards politicising everything, which to them means telling the truth while making you believe a lie. You need only look at their chosen governmental structure to understand that. You see they run what is called a 2-tiered democratic system. Tier 1 is that of the common citizen, where they get to decide what random idiot gets to stand in front of them and make pretty speeches about all the good things the government is doing for them. The second tier is for the elite, the ones who democratically make decisions amongst themselves about how everyone who is not them should live their lives. They often talk about the importance and greatness of "our democracy", what many of the citizens don''t realise however is that what they mean by ours is really theirs. As I said, the art of telling the truth while making everyone believe a lie." Annie was looking at him, her eyes wide and her mouth open. "That''s horrible." He shrugged, "That''s the high elven elite for you, they have more interest in their own wants, than the needs of the many they govern." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Why doesn''t anyone stop them?" "Depends, some rely heavily on the government to feed them, others are simply not yet willing to believe most of what they thought was real was a lie. There are a few who try to resist, but they tend to get pushed to the side, ignored, or killed if they become too influential." He paused a second to lick his lips. "Sometimes they even get tossed in my direction, a rare treat indeed." Before she could stop herself Annie blurted out a potentially inflammatory question. "You mean you help them stay in power?" After finishing Annie covered her mouth with both hands, her mind racing at the possible outcomes of her bold statement. The creature just watches her, silently contemplating her words, several long seconds passed by, a bead of sweat ran down her forehead before falling off her chin. "You know.....I hadn''t thought of it that way before.........It may actually be better if in future I let them go." Annie let out a breath she hadn''t even realised she had been holding. She forced a slight smile. "Yes, I think you might be right" The creature grinned at her while nodding enthusiastically. "Yes, the more dissidents that can be created the more free meals I get" Annie''s smile dropped from her face and her bottom lip started to quiver slightly. "That''s not....." "IT''S BRILLIANT!" He jumped up and down a few times, the elf flopping around under his arm, he then pulled her up into a tight hug. The girl let out a cry of pain as one of her ribs broke. He growled and lifted her up in front of his face poking her nose several times as he spoke. "I thought I told you to be quiet." "I''m sorry, I......" He clenched his hand into a fist and held it in front of her face while growling, she stopped making noises and nodded her head instead. "One more peep out of you and the deal is off" He pointed towards his mouth before lightly patting his belly. "Understand?" The girl nodded, tears streaming down her face which held a pained expression. Annie shifted uncomfortably, her eyes moving in the direction the other party members had disappeared towards. Please hurry, she thought to herself, her attention was immediately pulled back to the creature as he continued to speak however, the girl once again tucked under his arm. "Know what?.... I''m glad I met you, and just to prove it I promise to try and make friends with the next elf I meet.... See what comes of it." "That''s.... nice.....I hope it works out for you." He chuckled at that. "I make no promises about any level of success mind you.....but I will try....my new gnomish friend." He smiled at her, and she forced herself to smile back, her voice quivering slightly as she responded. "Glad to hear it... My new...elf eater?...friend." "Hah, don''t worry little one, even I don''t know what I am, I only know what I do, and the incredibly imaginative name it has earned me." "You mean you don''t have a name?" "If I did, then I have long since forgotten it." "Oh, must be loanly" He shrugged. "It is what it is, I am content with what I have.....hmmm" He turned towards the direction the other party members had gone. "Your friends seem to be taking their time, am sure the lake wasn''t that far away...Oh well, no matter, I am quite enjoying our little conversation." They continued to talk about various other topics of no real import, he seemed interested to know more about how Annie came to be there, as well as what life was like for her back in her own world. Over an hour had passed before a disheveled and exhausted looking party came back, their clothing torn, Eric put his hand in front of him then 6 barrels full to the brim with fresh water appeared in front of him. "Ok, here''s your water, ready to trade?" Chapter 9: Water Day "Welcome to Mad Fish Lake". Eric stared at the sign, then at the big empty hole in the ground behind it. Well, not quite empty, there was a series of strange looking fish flapping around. Instead of the usual round fully open eyes, these fish had half closed eyes, with what looked like fat hairless eyebrows giving them an incredibly angry expression, not that anyone would blame them, given their current situation. In the middle of the dry lake was a massive lilly pad, with a frog that was roughly the size of a house cat sat in the middle, occasionally the frog would attempt to snap up one of the fish, but every time it pulled one close enough it got a wet slap across its face, allowing the fish to break free of its grasp. Uruk moved up next to him. "What now?" Eric ran a hand through his hair shaking his head. "There are a few puddles, but I don''t think there is 6 barrels worth, we are going to need to find another water source." At that particular moment, a fish who had somehow managed to flap it''s way up the side of the empty lake arrived at Uruks feet, it flapped a couple more times, stopped, then somehow lept right up in the air slapping him across his face with its tail. "Arghh, you little..." Uruks response was immediate and brutal, stamping his foot down upon the offending fish he squashed it flat, a jet of water shot from its mouth forming a small puddle just a couple of inches away, this particular fish it would seem, had slapped its last face (his name was Blubbles, in case you''re wondering). There was a loud croaking noise comming from the lake, the party all looked towards the frog who seemed to be shaking a fist at them. They ignored it however in favour of looking across the entire lake, there were a lot of fish, and they all seemed to be rather plump. "If I may sir, there may be enough fish to fill the barrels here." Eric briefly looked at Astrid who had moved to stand at his other side, once again running his hand through his hair. "Its going to take a long time to squeeze all them out, but I think you''re right, and I don''t know of any other nearby water sources." "Best bring out the barrels so we can get started then" "How?" "You didn''t get the tutorial?" "I learned how to loot a kill, but I never learned how to access what I looted" "Checking....Hmm it would seem that you are correct, sending you the information now, also as compensation for the upcomming headache I will fill one of the barrels for you." "Gahhh" Eric fell to his knees, a strange and painful crackling sensation filled his head as a load of information on how to manage his inventory filled his mind, a few other bits of information about how to activate skills along with a series of other utilities including the party leader interface and how to analyze enemies for their strengths and weaknesses. Then as quickly as it came it stopped, his mind now awash with new information ready to be put to use and practiced. Fred placed a hand on his shoulder. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "Are you ok?" "Yeah, just a bit of information overload, give me a second." With Fred and Astrids help he got to his feel, held his hand out in front of himself and concentrated, 5 empty wooden barrels appeared in front of them. "Wheres the 6th?" Uruk inquired. "Already full...compensation for the missing tutorials, and the headache." "Okay then" Uruk marched forward into the pit grabbing a fish by its tail and slapping its head into the ground untill it stopped moving, he then turned and tossed the unconscious fish towards Eric who proceded to squeeze its water into one of the barrels. Astrid joined him in the collection while Fred held back to help Eric empty the fish water into the barrels. Several fish later the frog was now hopping mad,literally, its head had turned bright red as it jumped up and down on its lilly pad slapping its clenched hands on the pad whenever it landed. The party continued to ignore it until its tongue sprang out of its mouth slapping the side of Uruks face with a loud cracking sound leaving behind a deep cut. "Gahhh" Uruk placed his hand on his cheek where he had recieved the sudden tongue lashing, when he pulled his hand away it had blood on it. "STOBBIT....NOWW!!!" "YOU LITTLE SHIT!" A deep red haze surrounded Uruk, his massive axe appearing in his hands he charged towards the frog aiming to cleave it in two, the nimble frog however just hopped to the side dodging the blow, jumped back in the air to do a spinning roundhouse kick at the side of Uruks head knocking him back a couple of steps. As unexpected as the kick had been what happened next was even less expected, it landed face down on top of one of the fish, catching it in its mouth and swallowing it down, the party then watched as the frog grew to roughly the size of a medium dog, it grinned at them. "STOBBIT.....LEAVE...NOW!" Uruk growled in response, unsummoning, then resummoning his weapon into his hand, the rest of the party had likewise summoned their weapons and Fred his whisp. The frog stood up on its hind legs, cracking its knuckles before snapping up, and swallowing another fish, it grew once again and was now probaly large enough to swallow a cat without too much trouble. Uruk moved round to the left of the frog, while Eric moved to its right, Astrid let loose an arrow and it hopped back. Uruk charged forward swinging his axe at it, once again it hopped out of the way, only this time when it tried to kick him he was ready, he let go of his weapon moving out of the way of its foot before swinging his fist into its stomach knocking it away. The frog landed on its back near Eric who attempted to bring his club down upon its prone form. It rolled out of the way however, lashing its tongue at his leg with a loud crack ripping through both trouser and skin, Eric fell to the ground with a pained shout. The frog lept up to avoid another arrow, landing on Erics back and using him as a springboard to get closer to Astrid, before it could reach her however it was knocked back mid flight by a bolt of light fired by Freds whisp. The frog landed on its belly, skidding across the ground, then letting out an angry croak it lashed its tongue out at the whisp pulling it into its mouth. "DETONATE!" At Freds shouted command the frogs head exploded, sending a mass of meaty chunks flying out covering the party, its now headlesss body slumping on the ground, a small jet of blood spraying out around it. "What was that?" Astrid enquired "Detonate, its a spell that makes my whisp explode, causing damage depending on how much mana it has." "Sounds useful" "Yeah yeah, real useful, now how about we collect the rest of this water so we can get out of this place." Eric nodded. "Agreed, did you get any loot from that Fred?" "Couple of frog legs, and a Frowner Fish waterskin." "Is it full?" "No." "Dam" Eric looked around the lake at the many flapping fish, then again at the line of empty barrels. "Its going to be a long day" Sometime later after squeezing the last fish into the last barrel Eric simply picked it up and started walking back towards the village, neither one spoke to the other for the short walk back, the long tedious work having drained them both physically and mentally. They arrived at the village to find Annie and the elf eater talking to each other about seemingly mundane things, Annie watched them as they approached, a look of relief on her face. When they reached her side Eric put his hand out in front of him and 6 barrels full of water appeared in front of him. "Okay, heres your water, ready to trade?" Chapter 10: Betrayal, Death, Rebirth. The creature looked at the barrels before looking at the unexpectedly dishevelled looking party members. "Out of curiosity, what took you so long? You look like you have an interesting story to tell." Uruk stepped forward pointing at the creature, spittle flying out his mouth as he spoke. "That "lake" you sent us to was nothing more than a soggy hole in the ground, think yourself damn lucky we managed to find another source." The creature stroked the area where a chin would be, if he had one. "Empty...hmmm.....ah yes, now I remember, after devouring the village I was a little thirsty so I drained the lake." Uruks muscles tensed, his clenched fists hung at his side. Astrid and Fred was their usual stoic selves, while Eric just looked tired. "Now then as promised I will consider making the trade..hmmmm...Well seeing as I already drank I no longer see any benefit from making the exchange." With that proclamation he tossed the girl in the air, she screamed, his tongue lashed out pulling her head first into his gaping maw, a couple of seconds and she was gone, her screaming silenced. "NO!!" Without thinking Eric had summoned his weapons and stepped forward, the rest of the party doing the same. The creature chuckled at them. "Even if you could kill me the girl is gone, nothing can change that now. Fighting me would only mean the rest of you dying as well, and that seems rather pointless, don''t you think?" "YOU BASTARD!" "Oh don''t be so melodramatic, I mean it''s not like you two were dating or anything now is it?" He then winked at Eric before fading from view, his laughter echoing from all corners of the village. Annie stood staring at the now empty space where the creature had been. "He....he killed her." Uruk sighed, stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Welcome to the adventurers life kid, you can''t save everyone." "No...you can''t." Fred had a distant look on his face as he''s spoke, almost like he was reliving a painful memory. "All you can do is move on and seek to do better in the future." "But what else could we have done?" "Nothing, fighting would have gotten us all killed, and refusing the deal would have generated the same outcome. Question is what do we do next?" Astrid''s seemingly indifference matter of face response shocked Annie a little, but Fred and Uruk only nodded at her statement showing that they had a similar view of things. Without saying another word about it she simply turned to Eric who seemed to be lost in a daze. She tried talking to him but he didn''t respond, noticing this Uruk stepped towards him flicking his fingers in front of his face. "Hey, still with us?" Eric blinked, coming back to himself, the dazed expression turning briefly towards guilt. His spoken response was. "Yeah....I''m just not used to this" However within his own head he kept thinking about the offer Limbo made, combined with the creatures parting words. "I won''t betray my wife" he told himself over and over. He was pulled back into the world when something slapped against his face knocking his head to the side, in front of him stood an annoyed looking Uruk. "Hey, if you''re going to lead us then you had better keep your head in the game, ain''t no time to stand around feeling sorry for yourself. Now, what are we doing next Chief?" The rest of the party who had watched the exchanged simply looked at him as if expecting a response. Eric hesitated for a brief moment before answering. "Well, the only place I know how to get to is the town we came from. Maybe someone will have a map or something we can use to get an idea about where might be worth visiting next?" Uruk grunted in response. "Not much of a plan." "I''m open to suggestions if anyone has any." The others shook their heads before turning to look at Uruk, who simply grunted before moving back in the direction they all came from, everyone else simply followed behind him. ------------ The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Elf eater sat leaning against a building watching as the party left the now empty village. He drummed his belly with his fingers before letting out a satisfied burp, followed by a sigh as he made himself comfortable. He closed his eyes ready to take a nap when he heard feet shuffling in the distance, ooooh he thought to himself opening one eye to see what was coming. In front of him was a chestnut coloured human woman carrying a small bag full of leaflets, she kept stopping now and then to peer in one of the windows shouting "hello, anybody around?". Elf eater let out a sigh, "nope, not food", he closed his eyes to continue his rest. "Hi there." He opened one eye to see the woman stood in front of him smiling, he looked around but couldn''t see anyone nearby, "she couldn''t possibly be...." "You ok? You seem a little confused." "You can see me?" "Of course, you are right there." She pointed right at him. "Kinda blurry, but definitely there. I''m Pamela, what''s your name?" Not seeing any point in continuing to hide he deactivated his invisibility spell and appeared right in front of her. "I am known as the elf eater." She blocked blinked, the shook her head a little "Is that because you eat elves?" He simply nodded in response. "Just elves?" Another nod. "Nothings else?" "Nope." "Well that''s not very diverse...or inclusive." She mumbled to herself. "What was that?" The elf eater was starting to get a little annoyed about having his rest interrupted, he stood up and moved towards the irritating woman. She put her hands up and took a couple of steps back. "I..I was just thinking, that if you was to be more inclusive with your food choices then you could diversify your diet and gain massive health benefits." She had backed into a wall just before she had finished talking, the elf eater stood in front of her looking down at her. "What the hell are you blabbing on about?" "Diversity and Inclusion, here." She passed him one of the leaflets from her bag. "Everything you need to know is right here." He took it from her and opened it up to have a look while she stood in front of him smiling. "Hmm, so, do you think I should give human a try?" She nodded "Oh yes, then after you can go with an orc, gnome..." He placed a hand on her shoulder interrupting her speech. "You know as luck would have it, there happens to be a human nearby." "Hey that is lucky, you should go grab them before..... Why are you looking at me like that?" He leaned forward licking his lips. "Hello human." She edged along the wall laughing nervously. "I.. didn''t mean me." "Why not you?" Without realising she reached the edge of the wall and fell on her bum when she tried to lean against it. The elf eater continued to follow her as she tried to move away from him. "You, you need me." "What for." "T to teach you about diversity and inclusion." He waved the leaflet in front of her. "But I thought this would tell me everything I needed to know." "I I it does, it''s just...umm" The elf eater stopped moving towards her and held up a hand, once she had stopped talking he responded. "Look, it''s all well and good paying lip service to a new idea, especially when someone else ends up paying the price. If your not willing to be one of the people sacrificed however then you do not get to expect others to take your ideas seriously." She sighed in response, looking a little sad. "Yeah.... You''re right." "That''s what I thought, now why don''t you go....mmmphh" Before he could finish his sentence Pamela had leapt up off the floor and swan dived head first into his mouth, she slipped down his throat causing him to instinctively swallow. His stomach started to burn and he stood there gagging and choking for what seemed like forever, when finally he threw up. A load of water came up with a half rotted and definitely dead Pamela. "Urghh, of all the stupid.....gahh, fuck diversity and inclusion." He screwed up the leaflet and threw it across the street. "I''m sticking with elves." He muttered to himself as he started to move away from the village, his invisibility spell shimmering around him until he disappeared from sight. -------------- Diversity and Inclusion stood next to each other looking down at what used to be Pamela. Diversity shook his head. "The best idiots always seem to die young... Don''t they?" "Mhmm, hazard of the job" They continued to look at her for a while, Inclusion sniffed and wiped her nose, a single tear falling from her eye. "You know, she kind of looks like some of our zombie friends....they are still being excluded by society by the way." "Hmm, pity, if every race had a zombie version of themselves living amongst them then that would double their levels of diversity." Inclusion started stroking her chin as she looked down at Pamela. "What are you thinking?" "If the zombies had a leader they could create their own separate society, perhaps that would make it easier for them to integrate with others." "It might...whoever leads them would have to be kind, brave, and above all loyal to the cause." "You mean like Pamela was?" "Yes....wait, are you thinking we should have her raised as a zombie?" Inclusions eyes opened wide, a massive grin creeping up her face. "I am now, do you think Mordan is home right now?" "If he isn''t we could certainly find him, I''ll grab her arms, you grab her legs, let''s take her to him." With that they grabbed what used to be Pamela, a series of lights started to dance round them and they faded from view. Chapter 11: Contractual Obligations. Erik closed the book the old lady had given him "The Aspect of Limbo and how they affect our world". "So Diversity and inclusion are aspects, hopefully these ones are benevolent spirits." He said to himself as he lay on a straw bed within a small room. Several days had passed since their encounter with the elf eater and nothing else had come up, they had each ran the trainer dungeon several times, while they didn''t get another stat or level boost they did learn to work together better while making enough money to rent rooms in a cheap inn and completing their armour sets. Eric now had full chainmail suit so was covered head to toe in linked mail, Astrid had a full suit of leather armour while Uruk looked like a full blown barbarian with a helmet in the shape of a giant rats head. Fred gained a lightly enchanted cloak that increased his mana regen slightly while making him look like a white Jedi, while Annie sported regular looking form fitted clothing that somehow resized itself to fit her drake form when she transformed. They had also discovered an armour equip function that enabled them to instantly remove or equip their armour at will simply by thinking about it. He placed the book back into his inventory before lying back and staring at the ceiling when a knock came at the door. "Who''s there?" "Oen up and yall fin out aye?, less you be wantin to shout throu t door" The voice sounded young, young enough that he had no idea if it was a boy or girl shouting at him, not seeing any harm in doing so Eric got up from his bed and moved over to the door to greet whoever was on the other side. He was greeted by a boy / girl? (he still wasn''t sure) very young looking and no taller than 3.5ft wearing a flat cap with roughly woven clothes and sandals, they greeted him with a cheery wave and a wink. "Hi, and you are?" The small child gave a quick salute before responding. "Messenger number 3, an thas all you need to be knowing aye? Theres this priestly type guy from church of Zenith, says he be lookin for some brave venturers to look ino summats for im. Tis my understandin you mitn be wat es lookin for aye?. Mayhaps you an your friends be goin down to say elo, already called on em, should be there waitin on ya." He or she gave a small salute before scampering off, leaving Eric with no time to ask any questions. New quest received: Speak to the priestly type guy. Hint: follow the arrows. A series of bright yellow arrows appeared on the floor in front of him, following the blatantly obvious hint he made his way out the inn to find the priestly guy. ------ When he arrived the rest of his party were already there sat on a bench looking bored. "About time you showed up." "Why? How long you been waiting?" "Sir we were sat here a total of 1 hour 3 minutes and 10seconds" Astrid who had stood to attention as soon as Eric arrived saluted as she responded, there was a short pause. "Right....thank you Astrid....at ease." She nodded then sat back down on the bench her balloon attachment floating under her bum and shaping itself into the form of a pillow. Eric had thought himself to be reasonably adjusted to the weirdness of the world but that still managed to catch him off guard. "I didn''t know it could do that" "Neither did I sir, went to bed last night, when I woke up this morning my pillow was on the floor and Loon had taken its place." "Loon?" She seemed a little hesitant at first but decided to answer. "Yes sir....it speaks to me, Loon is what it calls itself." "Huh...well hello Loon, welcome to the party." There was a short pause before Astrid spoke. "They said hello, and thank you." "They?" "Yes, they want to be referred to that way as they are neither male or female." Eric wanted to say something, but wasn''t quite sure how to respond to that. Uruk let out a frustrated growl. "Enough of this, why did you keep us waiting over an hour? The inn is only 5 Minutes away." "I came as soon as the messenger left." "Then did he....she....." He was interrupted by the blaring of trumpets nearby. "Hear ye, hear ye, the church of Zenith is looking for a group of brave adventurers to check on the village of Nightsun, we have had reports of undead sighted in the vicinity and have not heard anything since." "Ooh ooh, us us, we will go." Annie jumped to her feet waving her hands in the air as the made her way towards the priestly guy. "We going then chief?" Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. "Looks like." Quest received: Scout the village of Nightsun, find out what is going on there (if anything) then report back to Priestly guy. ------- They party stood on the outskirts of Nightsun village, there was an unsettling silence in the area along with the stench of rotten flesh. Uruk sniffed the air. "Something has died here, a while ago by the smell of it." Eric nodded. "I don''t see anyone nearby" "Do you think everyone is ok?" Annie had stepped out in front of the party to try and get a better look. "We should look around and make sure." "Best be careful if we do" "Fred I had forgotten you was a part of this group, you don''t talk much do you?" "No Uruk, I don''t." "Sir what are your orders?" Everyone looked towards Eric waiting on a response, sighing he looked around, the village was fairly large, with several thatched cottages with small well kept gardens. He listened but couldn''t hear anything. "Seems abandoned, let''s split up and have a look round, Annie go left with Uruk, Fred go right with Astrid, I''ll take the middle, we will meet at the otherside, call if you find anything." Everyone nodded before moving off in their team, save for Astrid who gave her customary salute before going. Eric equipped his armour and started to move slowly and quietly through the village, every house or small store seemed abandoned, after around 30 minutes or so looking around and checking every house he stopped when he heard someone humming a cheerful sounding tune. Moving towards the sound he was hit with a mostly familiar sight. "Pamela?" She was sat on a bench with a man lent on her lap, she was gently poking at a hole in his head, every now and then pulling out a tiny bit of brain matter and placing it in her mouth. She turned towards him after he said her name. "Oh hi Derek, good to see you again, it''s been a while." "What are you doing? What happened to you" She let out an irritating giggle that almost sounded like a cackle. "Well for the first question, I don''t remember, but for the second I am prepping a new civilization for my friends Diversity and Inclusion." She let out another cackle but stopped when the dead man started to twitch. "Ooh, I think he''s waking up." The man sat up staring at her, she cupped his face and started looking into his eyes. "Are you ready now my dear?" "Diivveersityyyy." "Eeee, oh he perfect" More cackling. Eric shook his head then summoned his club and shield holding them in a ready position. "I can''t let you do this Pamela." "What? Why? All I wish to do is bring more Diversity and Inclusion to the world, that''s not a bad thing is it?." She stood up and started backing away from him a look of fear on her face as Eric moved towards her, then he froze, confused. "What have you done?" "It wasn''t her." "It was us" Diversity and Inclusion manifested in front of him, their polite friendly manner the same as it had been before, they spoke the next line together. "It''s so nice to see you again." Eric tried once again to move but still couldn''t. "What are you two doing here" The pair looked at each other then sighed, Diversity speaking first. "We really wish our meeting could have been under better circumstances." "We are sorry to say however that you are about to be in breach of the contract you signed with us." "How? I don''t recall any restrictions on killing zombies." "Not specifically no." Inclusion started before Diversity pulled out the familiar looking contract before reading it. " I Eric do hereby offer my support towards bringing more Diversity and Inclusion to the land, I also pledge to ensure that either through action or inaction I will help enable their plans are to continue. I also pledge that I will not do anything that directly challenges their goals." Inclusion continued "For our part, should one of your given quests require you to work against us we are required to offer you an alternative, easier quest that grants the same rewards." Diversity nodded. "Yes, and it just so happens we have one ready for you, nearby there is a small band of weak goblins robbing random travelers, you could do something about that." Eric grit his teeth still struggling to move as he spoke. "What, no Inclusion for for goblin bandits in your plans?" Diversity pointed a finger at him and was about to speak when Inclusion put a hand on his shoulder. "He''s right you know." Diversity let out a long drawn out sigh. "Yeah, I know, they should be allowed to live their lives as they see fit, looting is a part of goblin culture after all." They stood there for a while thinking as Eric continued to struggle against the invisible force holding him steady. "Tell you what, all you have to do is report back that you found nothing, the villagers are all gone and you have no idea where they are." Inclusion nodded along as Diversity spoke. "Best thing about that is, it''s not even a lie, you really don''t know where they have gone, just don''t mention that you met us." "So, will you accept this alternative quest?" "No, and you should probably leave before my team come looking for me." Diversity and Inclusion looked at each other briefly before Diversity responded. "Oh I don''t think we have to worry about that." "You see, we wanted to ensure that this conversation was just between us. "So we froze time, your friends are just as immobile as you are, they just aren''t aware of it." "Wait, you can do that?" Diversity stepped forward and placed a hand on Eric''s shoulder. "Oh yes, in fact you''d be surprised what an aspect can do within the world when they have a players support." "Just so you know, we can hold you here for as long as it takes to get you to agree to the new quest." Diversity stepped back to stand next to Inclusion, hands behind their backs they stood looking at Eric with big smiles on their faces. Unable to turn his head to look away, or close his eyes at this point Eric could only look back at them. He waited, and waited, then waited some more before waiting again. Not knowing how long he stood there looking at their unwavering smiles and errily still forms he finally found himself convinced that time really had stopped, and the rest of the party weren''t coming and he really could end up trapped here.....forever, staring at the beautiful faces of Diversity and Inclusion. After waiting a while longer he finally relented. "Alright." He mumbled "Sorry what?" Diversity leaned forward cupping his hand to his ear. "I accept the quest." New quest accepted: Report to Priestly guy about what you didn''t find in the village and inform him of what you don''t know. The pair faded from view and Eric was once again able to move, he had a quick look round to see if Pamela was still around, but was unable to see her, she was either gone or well hidden. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he started to move towards the meeting point. Chapter 12: Are Omissions Lies? Eric got to the meeting point first, he hadn''t bothered doing a full check, mainly because he doubted he would find anything now. The meeting with Diversity and Inclusion played through his mind over and over as he tried to think what to say to his party when they arrived. "So, did you find anything?" The sound of Uruks voice broke him out of his circular thinking. Startled he turned towards him his face white as a sheet. "Are you ok?" Annie asked moving towards him, he looked away. "I''m fine, you just startled me that''s all." "Why? We catch you at a bad time or something?" Uruk grinned at him. "N no, I was just lost in thought is all." "Yeah? What about?" "Oh look the others are here." Annie pointed towards Fred and Astrid as they appeared from round the corner of a small cottage. "Sir" Astrid gave her customary salute as she approached Eric who simply nodded in response. "Nothing to report sir, only a series of empty buildings." "Same with us, what about you Mr leader, find anything?" Eric shook his head and turned back towards the empty village. "Same, no villagers, just empty buildings, its like everyone just......up and left." "Hey....do you think there is some kind of....human eater here?" The party turned towards Annie who shifted uncomfortably at the sudden attention. "Maybe there is a gnome eater too?" Uruk winked at Annie who then made a comment about potential Ork eaters as well. Eric shook his head at the pair. "I wouldn''t be surprised given what else we have encountered here, but unless we actually meet one I don''t think we should be reporting it." "Sir, I''d like to suggest we do another quick sweep before we leave."This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. "Alright, lets go, same side as..." "Nope, I''m going down the middle." Uruk pushed past Eric and started walking down the road, Astrid looked like she was going to protest but Eric just put his hand up to forestall any comment she may have had. In the end he went with Annie down the side Astrid and Fred had gone down and he went down the other with Annie. Nothing was found on the second sweep and when they all regrouped Uruk muttered something about the quest being another complete waste of time before stomping back towards the town. ----- When they got close to town Eric spoke up. "So uh... Why don''t you guys go relax while I find the priest and tell him what we didn''t find and don''t know." "Fine" Uruk turned and marched towards the tavern, Annie following closely behind him nattering away. After a quick salute Astrid made her way to the inn where they had been staying. Fred was the last to leave stating that he would be in the nearby healers building helping with the sick or injured. Eric walked down the street trying to find where the priest was, he wasn''t sure how, but for some reason he seemed to know where to go, almost like an internal instinct. He found him sat outside a fancy and expensive looking hotel within what seemed to be an upper class district full of large houses, jewellery shops and a custom order blacksmith. He looked up at Eric as he approached and raised an eyebrow. "Ah, the player, well I have to say I didn''t expect you back quite so soon." He looked down at his plate full of food and sighed. "So did you find any roaming undead? Hardly seems like you was gone long enough to look." "Well, the village was empty, like everyone just decided to up and leave at the same time. We didn''t see any undead roaming around, and there was no sign of battle. We didn''t know what to make of it, so decided to come back and report," The priest continued to stare at his food while Eric spoke, a small smile starting to creep up his face. "Well, that''s unfortunate, will have to commission a party of scouts for a more rigid examination, see if they can find any tracks...... could take days." The priest seemed to get happier as he spoke, practically jumping out of his seat to hand Eric a small coin purse, as soon as he touched it it disappeared. You have received 10 silver pieces. The priest turned to look back at his plate. "Starting after I finish my meal." He sat back down and started eating, Eric apparently having already disappeared from his mind. Eric shook his head at that then turned to walk away. Quest failed: you chose not to.... Overwritten. Quest completed: You told the priest what he needed to know, now it''s someone else''s problem. Reward+ 1 level. Incoming message: Diversity here, good job, didn''t even have to lie, I mean Pamela while she is a zombie she wasn''t exactly "roaming" was she *wink wink*. Here''s a nice little bonus from me to you +1 str. Eric gritted his teeth when he read the message. "I don''t want it." He said quietly to himself. Incoming message: I don''t care, here maybe this will help you stomach the necessary work that needs to be done +1 con. "Are you spying on me?" Incoming message: Hey, I resent that, we have a contract, I am simply making sure I know what you are doing so I can make sure you are adequately rewarded for your efforts. Without responding Eric simply walked towards inn the party stayed at, he would be spending the rest of the day at their bar. Chapter 13: Whats next. Eric awoke the following day, his head was pounding and an unread message sat blinking in the corner of his vision. He groaned and went to scratch his chin when a bird poked it''s head out and pecked at his hand, it flew out and hoovered in front of his face twittering in what seemed like an aggressive manner before pecking between his eyes and disappearing back into his beard. "What did I do?" Needless to say there was no answer so he looked at the unread message. Once again you was too slow to make a choice so the choice has been made for you +1 luck, +3 con, +1dex. Perk: Bellringer, striking metal with your weapon creates a minor shockwave causing extra damage to your target and attracting attention. Ability: Stunning strike, focus energy into your next attack giving it a high chance to stun. 1 Sec cast, Cost: 10 stam. Looking at the Bellringer perk he wondered if striking his own shield would activate it, something to try later. He sat up and groaned as the world stared to spin for a brief while. Already clothed he left the room to see about breakfast, everyone else was already sat at a table in the corner of the room waiting on him, Uruk waved him over. "Don''t worry we already ordered food." "Oh? What are we having?" "Breakfast." Before he could ask for more details Uruk dropped a scrap of paper in front of him. "Found us a job." He read the scrap bit of paper out loud. "Moonray village is suspected of cult activity, find where they are and dispose of them." Incoming message: "Oh my, that sounds seriously dangerous, I think it would be better if you didn''t go there. Good thing you picked up an easier job last night isn''t it *wink wink*. Check your right trouser pocket sweetie, x x Inclusion. P.s it''s a dungeon run, good gear and a free perk upgrade for first time completion. P.p.s, dungeon born creatures are magically generated and not technically alive so they don''t need to be included in any society (in case you are worried about that). He had heard the others speaking but hadn''t really taken in what they had been saying while he read the message. He was brought back into the world by Uruk slapping his arm however.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Pay attention will you." "Sorry I drank a bit much last night, should be fine after some food, I actually picked up another job last night." He fumbled with his pocket trying to find what Inclusion had left for him. He ended up pulling out a pink laced handkerchief with the quest details roughly scribbled on, he passed it to Uruk who read it out. "Solar village farming community''s local dungeon has been over-producing kobolds. Several groups of them have been destroying crops and attacking the farmers. Clear them out before entering the dungeon to find out what''s causing this." He dropped the handkerchief on the table. "Really? Kobolds? A local militia could handle that." "Eric nodded trying to think of a reasonable response. "Apparently first completion of the dungeon gives a free perk upgrade, getting that first would make dealing with the cultists easier." "I don''t want easier I want a challenge, besides, leaving cultists unchecked is a bad idea." "Well, I would very much like to get home to my family, we are getting the perk upgrade first." Uruk slammed his hand on the table and they both sat there staring at each other. A nervous looking service girl approached with a large platter of food including bread, butter cheese and several meaty bones. "You guys ain''t gonna start fightin are ya?" Not bothering to answer Uruk simply grabbed the biggest meatiest bone from the plate and stomped out the pub. Eric thanked the waitress for the platter before turning towards the group. "Do you think I am wrong?" Surprisingly it was Fred who spoke first. "The perk upgrade sounds nice, but can''t we do that after dealing with the cultists?" Eric nodded "We could, but how many crops will be lost in the meantime? I doubt the cultists will be going anywhere any time soon. While I don''t know what the perk upgrade will be, I don''t doubt it would be helpful. Plus we get a little more experience working the job before moving on to something harder." Fred nodded looking towards the others. Annie shrugged, not really bothered either way, Astrid agreed with the plan but agreed with Uruk that they shouldn''t spend too long on it. They then spent the rest of the time in silence finishing up their meal before paying the bill and leaving. When they got outside they were greeted by Uruk who was waiting with several horse like mounts. They looked liked horses save for the fact they were covered in brightly coloured feathers, and had tiny wings on their flanks that flapped around seemingly without purpose. Their saddle was thick with a pair of seats and a belt hanging down the side. Uruk waved them over looking really pleased with himself. "Hey, look what I found, with these we should be able to do your quest and be back here today, putting us one day behind instead of three." Annie jumped up and down giggling. "Aww, they are cute, I wanna ride the red one with you." "Sure, Mr leader man can have the smaller yellow one to himself, you two got the green one." Incoming message: Not acceptable, you need to delay. "I don''t know how to ride." "Doesn''t matter, the saddles are made specially for novices, just sit down, hold on and off we go." Uruk lifted Annie onto the front saddle of the red one before hopping on behind her, Astrid helped Fred onto the green one before jumping on behind him. Eric hesitated briefly before jumping on the back of the yellow one who made a noise between a squark whinny. A map came up showing the destinations the creature knew, he selected the southern point highlighted with a yellow exclamation point with a brief summary of his "Help the farmers quest". As soon as he did the strange creature bolted in the direction of the village, he was vaguely aware of Uruk yelling something but the wind blowing in his ears and the clopping of the creatures feet on the ground drowned the sound out completely. The world blurred around him as he held on for dear life, ducking his head down so he could breath, unable to do anything thing else he just waited out the otherwise smooth, uneventful journey. Chapter 14 : Questionable Leadership. Eric absently battered one kobold aside while bashing another on the head with his mace. He turned to face Uruk who stood in place glaring at a charging kobold, having not even bothered summoning his weapon he simply waited until it got close, before lifting his leg up. The kobold unable to stop mid charge ran face first into his boot falling on its back dazed, Uruk then casually stamped down on its face ending it''s life. "Grr, fighting these things is pointless, I told you the local militia would be able to handle it." Eric sighed, shaking his head he turned towards Uruk. "You know I would have thought you would be happy about that, means we don''t have to spend a lot of time hunting the roaming groups. We just do this easy dungeon, get a practically free skill upgrade before moving on." Uruk turned and marched towards him, nostrils flaring while pointing a finger at his chest. "Well I am not happy, because when a dungeon is this easy you generally don''t get the rewards." "Wait....what?" Incoming message: Technically true, but as per our contract I will make sure you get them. Xxx Inclusion. Eric shook his head. "How would you know that?" "I have dungeons in my world." Annie stepped forward to join them, with her hand held up like she was waiting to speak in a classroom. "My world has them too, and that''s how they work there." "We are not on your worlds thou, maybe it works differently here?" Annie looked thoughtful, "Yeah maybe, guess this is our chance to find out so we know next time." "Fine, but let me be clear, if you are wrong about this, I will be challenging you to another leadership duel, then again at every level up until I beat you if you somehow win again." Uruk turned and stormed off into the dungeon, Fred and Astrid exchanged a glance before nodding to Eric then moving on with Uruk and Annie. Eric held back a little talking quietly. "Inclusion." Incoming message: Yes sweetie? "What happens if the party decides do do another low level dungeon for an easy bonus?" Incoming message: Good question, your soo smart, I guess we will have to make sure you get those rewards as well. It does somewhat align with our promise to make things easier in exchange for your cooperation so it should be ok, I will speak with Diversity, maybe we can create an easy quest for those dungeons whenever necessary, on the grounds that it keeps you and your party out of our way. Xxx Eric nodded before jogging to catch up with the party. ------- Fink, the Kobold dungeon king sat lounging on his throne, several female kobolds surrounded him (they basically look like male kobolds, just with a shorter snout and lighter skin tone that borderlines pink), all of them wanted his attention yet he ignored them, giving his full attention and favour to the one sat on his lap yipping away at him as he gently stroked her scaled head. The sound of footsteps came from outside the throne room, he sighed to himself wondering what his stupid underlings wanted now when one of them came flying into the room, landed skidding across the floor and stopping a short distance from where he was sat. Gently pushing his companion off his lap he stood to address the unexpected visitor. "Nix, how many times do I have to tell you, this is not how you enter the throne room." When no response was forthcoming he moved towards his rude sibling rolling him over with his foot, he just lay there unmoving his mouth wide open and his tongue hanging down the side of his face. Fink let out a growl. "Alright, who killed Nix, I know he''s an idiot and probably deserved it, but he''s family, and I do not allow the killing of faaAARRGGGHHH." The kings rantings were cut short when he noticed a big beautiful ball of fire flying towards him, his screaming was similarly interrupted when that ball of fire exploded in his face completely obliterating his head. He didn''t know it, but he was actually the lucky one as everyone else around him spent several agonising seconds being cooked alive before they found release. -------- Annie stood wide eyed looking between her hands that had generated the spell and the devastation it had caused. The king, his guards and the harem that surrounded him were reduced to little more than piles of ash. "Ok, so now we know what happens if I channel all my mana into a single fireball." "Yeah....I guess we do." Eric responded while Uruk let out a cheer before lifting Annie up and twirling her around as she giggled in surprise. Quest completed: The extra added females responsible for the dungeons over population problem have been obliterated, balance is restored, as this is a low lev......Wait......ok so it seems you do get rewarded for this, +1 level and a bonus +2 to weakest stat from the dungeon for restoring it''s contract with the kobolds. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. "Looks like we got something after all." Fred chimed in. "We also know that we won''t get any first time bonuses from low level dungeons, which may save us time later on." Eric responded while Uruk started to look round the room. "Yeah, no chest or dungeon completion notice, we might have missed something." It was at that point Eric saw something moving around in one of the corners of the room, he stopped to stare at it when he saw a dagger come flying out of the shadow. "Look out." He shouted as he dove forward aiming to intercept the dagger with his shield when the world around him froze and he found himself suspended in the air pulling a stupid face. "If you''re not careful your face is going to stick like that." "Diversity this isn''t a good time." He spoke through gritted teeth only able to move his tongue. "Any time is a good time when you can freeze it." "What do you want?" "We have an opportunity for delay, if we angle your shield like this.." he grabbed Eric''s shield and adjusted it slightly. "Then you will be able to direct that dagger towards your companion, the poison shouldn''t kill him, but it will delay your return long enough for our purposes." "What? No, why would I ever agree to that?" Diversity held up his hand and started counting off his list of reasons. "Well, first off, he''s annoying, constantly questioning your authority and wishing to take your leadership role. Secondly if he succeeded that would be bad for both of us, third, we, meaning you need the delay and there might not be a better opportunity." "Sounds like you just want him dead." Diversity simply shrugged in response. "Well I am not agreeing to any of this unless you can explain how killing my companion spreads Diversity and Inclusion across the land." Diversity went to speak but stopped, moved as if ready to try again but couldn''t, finally he sighed and admitted, "It doesn''t." "Then you understand that if he does die then our deal would be off." "Fine, I will make sure he doesn''t die from this, just....maybe move the shield a little more like this" "I haven''t agreed to anything yet." "Doesn''t matter, your choices are simple, either you agree or stay where you are until you think of something else." "I could poison the mounts...." "They have a recall buff, the second anything threatens them they get teleported back to their stable in stasis until they can be helped, that would delay, but not by much, I need 3 days, that will give us 2 at most if you take your time traveling." "well, maybe something will turn up on the way there..." Diversity shook his head. " Am not willing to let you go on a maybe, this toxin will put him out for 3 days giving us an extra 2 days, and lets face it, he is unlikely to accept any other delay tactic you might employ. Is too risky its this or nothing." Eric stood, or rather floated in place for what seemed like an age, his mind going back and forth between ideas, only maybes and half baked possibilities the party would be unlikely to accept entered his head. Diversity for his part had just stood in front of him staring as if also frozen in time. "Alright, lets do this, just remember, if he dies our deal is off." The frozen features of Diversity seemed to slowly start to move as if gently thawing over a short period of time. "Excellent, lets get this show on the road then..." He clapped his hands and disappeared as the world began to move again. Eric flew forward holding his shield at the angle Diversity had set it at hoping it worked as intended and didn''t kill Uruk. While he couldn''t refute Diversitys'' point about him being annoying, he still didn''t want him dead. The knife hit his shield with a *clink* before flying off and burying itself into Uruks calf. He let out a yell before falling over, Astrid put an arrow between the eyes of the would be Kobold Assassin. Fred moved towards Uruk, his hands glowing yellow as he did. Eric picked himself off the ground to see Fred removing the dagger and attempting to heal the wound. A series of black lines started branching out from the center, moving up his leg, first quickly, then slowly as Fred started to heal him. "I can''t stop it, only slow it down, we need to get him out here and into the village maybe someone there can help." Eric simply nodded, biting his lower lip wondering if he had made a mistake trusting Diversity, he picked him up with the help of Astrid and between them they dragged Uruks heavy body out of the dungeon. Fred followed closely by channelling his healing spell while Annie ran ahead to go find help. Upon reaching the dungeon exit they were greeted by a couple of farmers and what looked to be a female elf, she had lighty bronzed skin with leafy green hair that ran down to her shoulders in a dishevelled unbrushed state. She wore what looked like a dress that seemed to have been fashioned from vines and leaves leaving her arms exposed, with a short dress that hung down to her knees. On her feet she wore what looked like slippers woven from a single large leaf and tied together by thin vines. She stepped forward without hesitation to inspect his leg. "Looks like Darkroot rot, your in luck, I have a herb that can neutralise the toxin, however it will put your companion to sleep for a couple of days while it does its thing. He can stay in my hut in the mean time so I can keep an eye on him." Eric nodded in response, "Thankyou, if there is anything the rest of us can do.... just let us know." She simply nodded and smiled at him as the two farmers took hold of Uruk and carried him towards a small thatched roof cottage on the outskirts of the village, Annie and Fred went with them while Astrid stayed in front of the dungeon with Eric who stood watching them go. "I am sure they are going to be fine sir. Would you like me to find accommodation for, the rest of the party while we wait?" "Yeah, please." "SIR" She gave a quick salute before walking off towards the village, Eric stood there for a short while watching them leave, when he suddenly became aware of an awaiting message blinking in the corner of his vision. Once again your time has expired and your upgrades have been automatically assigned. +1 luck, +3 Mag, +1 Agi. Spell: Mana charged shield. Charge your shield with mana causing it to reflect blocked damage bact to attacker. Perk: Elf Magnet. Female elves find you more attractive. Dungeon completion reward perk upgrade. Elf Magnet Rank 2. Female elves find you very attractive. "AHH crap" Eric groaned to himself as he started moving towards the village, he hadn''t gotten very far when a sudden explosion of bright light flared in front of him. He stumbled backwards covering his eyes. "What the hell!" Once the light receded and Eric was able to see again he saw a man clad in full plate armour stood before him, shield on his back and a mace strapped to his belt. He wanted to speak but something about the man''s presence prevented him from doing so, it was almost as if, he was unworthy of addressing him, and all he could do was stand looking on in awe at his presence. "Who are you?" The words were choked out out in a barely audible whisper, the strange man slowly started to remove his helmet in response. Chapter 14.5 Stat update. Name: Eric Race: Human Age: 24 Height: 5¡¯8 Class: None Specialization: None LVL 6 HP: 80/80 Sta: 80/80 Regen: 0.8/s MP: 60/60 Regen: 0.6/s Starting stats STR: 10 CON: 10 Dex: 9 Agi: 8 End: 8 RES: 8 WIL: 6 Mag: 10 LUC: 8 Soul abilities Soul weapon: Can summon a scalable mace and shield Perks: Strong Build Rank 1: +50% weight allowance from strength. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Heroic leap Rank 1: Can jump up to 4x higher/ further than stats normally allow. Lucky Rank 1: Minor chance based on luck stat to obtain a lucky outcome. Bird Box Beard Rank 1: Gain a big bushy beard to house your own randomly selected bird companion. Bellringer Rank 1: Striking metal with your weapon creates a minor shockwave causing extra damage to your target and attracting attention. Elf Magnet Rank 2: Female elves find you very attractive. Abilities: Shockwave Rank 1: Slam your weapon on the ground creating a shockwave to knock enemies back. Stam cost: 10 Stunning strike Rank 1: Focus energy into your next attack giving it a high chance to stun. Stam cost: 10 Spells: Clean Rank 1: Activate spell while touching something you want cleaning and it will be cleaned. Mana cost: Variable Impact Rank 1: For 1 sec/Mag all attacks gain a minor chance to disorient target. Mana cost: 10 Mana charged shield Rank 1: Charge your shield with mana for 1sec/mag causing it to reflect blocked damage back to attacker. Mana cost: 15 Loot Bird (Maggie) Perk: Scavenger Rank 1: Luck based chance to find extra useful items while looting defeated enemies.