《Summer School In Another World》 Chapter 1 Camping It was the last day of school. Josh was so happy that the year was over so many things to study and a crazy amount of homework. When he had started school as a little kid it was such a weird feeling suddenly you had to go to school, why did you need to go to school? You got snacks and nap time which were the best in his opinion. But then it goes away in first grade. And you don¡¯t know anyone when you start but you make friends. Kindergarten came and went and he had made one great friend that year, Bobby. Bobby was a shy kid and was smaller than most of the other kids. He had dark hair almost black and curly in comparison so Josh¡¯s blondish straight hair both boys a little on the pale side. Josh was outgoing with natural magnetism Bobby not so much. They got along great. The following year came and went and yes they both missed nap and snack time, oh well not much they could do about that. They were being introduced to new subjects'' math, reading, and writing. The subjects were so boring to Josh but they both improved Bobby more so than Josh, out of the two Bobby was the brains of the outfit. They met Pepe and Manuel in second grade they were cousins and spoke both English and Spanish which was something new to the other two boys. They had moved from Texas to their small town due to the parents'' work. Pepe was a small and wiry boy, his cousin taller and stocky both a brown hue with brown hair and eyes. Manuel slightly darker than his cousin still had a slight Spanish accent. The difference between the four boys was so noticeable Josh and Erin very white and the cousins very brown. According to the cousins where they came from there was a lot of Spanish spoken. This was extremely strange to the other two which had never heard Spanish before. They knew other cultures existed of course and other languages but in town everyone spoke English and well everyone was white. The four were inseparable from that point forward they would hang out after school during recess and on weekends. In class they were separated the teacher seeing that it was a bad idea to keep them together. On average the two cousins were around the same learning level as Josh if they did not have Bobby they probably would have flunked the school year. Third grade came and went with no new friends to be added to the group but that was alright they had other kids they knew but not as close as the four friends. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fourth grade started and halfway through the year Erin came into the picture. He had transferred from another elementary in town. Erin came in one morning and the teacher Ms. Waller had him introduce himself. Erin had fiery red hair a face full of freckles wore glasses and was very shy. He was not very tall just average in height. But in fourth grade who thought about height one summer would come and the next school year one kid was taller than the other. He looked around intimidated by all the new faces ¡°Hi I¡¯m Erin and I just transferred here.¡± He was too embarrassed to say more than that. ¡°What do we say class?¡± ¡°Welcome to Class 2B Erin¡± All the kids responded in unison. Erin was given a seat next to Pepe he sat and class started. During recess the four friends decided to introduce themselves. Erin was by himself and Josh the de facto leader of the group went up to him. ¡°Hi I¡¯m Josh.¡± Sticking out his hand to welcome the new arrival. Erin looks down at the proffered hand then up at the other boy but did not reach out to shake it ¡°Um, I¡¯m Erin.¡± Erin knew kids like Josh in his previous school they were the cool kids and Erin was just not a cool kid. Why was Josh introducing himself? ¡°Alright Erin this is Bobby, Pepe, and Manuel¡± he pointed at his friends as he said their names the taller boy reaching over grabbing Erin¡¯s hand and shaking it ¡°Alright so now we are friends. If you want to hang out with us during recess and after school that would be great.¡± And with that simple introduction and with Josh saying they were friends their group now counted five. Erin was not sure what to make of this but he was not going to let the opportunity pass in his previous school he did not really have any friends. The no friend¡¯s thing was mostly because of him like Bobby he was somewhat shy and he could not bring himself to go talk to other kids unless he had to for class. He was glad Josh had declared them friends and not even given him a choice. The rest of the year was spent with them together doing everything they could together. Erin loved it and so did the other four. Even though Erin was shy like Bobby he got over that quickly with support from his new friends. While Erin and Bobby were still the more reserved of the group they were out there doing whatever the others were doing. Pepe and Manuel were regular daredevils they would egg each other on all the time to do crazier things. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fifth grade started and the five friends were closer than ever. The school year flew by, before they knew it they were on their last week, then the last day. And then it was just over, they had graduated. Erin and the whole group were amazed that the year had come and gone so fast. The last two summer had been the best in Erin¡¯s life his new friends, he loved that he could say friends made it better. He may have been shy when he met the other four rascals but now he was outgoing maybe not as much as the cousins but still. One could not be part of this group and not be so. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Summer came and went and a new school year started but different than before now they had to go to different classes for all their materials. Some of the classes they had together some they had apart but being a smaller school they saw each other throughout the day. When they were not together in a class, they missed each other. They got together after school as always, they did their homework with Bobby and Erin being the brains and tutoring the other three. After they just hung out and did what kids their age do sports, video games, going to the arcade, watching TV shows, camping, swimming, and fishing. Though fishing was not Pepe¡¯s and Manuel¡¯s favorite things to do they were still right there with their friends. The cousins were into soccer so the others started playing it as well Josh was naturally talented a fact that Pepe hated because he was good at soccer and had been playing for years. Even though Josh was good at soccer he was great at baseball and his friends joined him even though they were mediocre at best. Sixth grade was an adjustment for all of them getting used to doing things in a different way. The year passes in a flash the brains got straight A¡¯s while the other three were happy with their B¡¯s and C¡¯s. Seventh grade started and went again with similar results with the grades, Pepe even surprised everyone by getting one A in the Science class he was taking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Their eight-grade year at the middle school went fast as well. The only difference being that Bobby with the help of his friends asked the girl he had a crush on out. He was so afraid to do it and embarrassed as well. It was a Thursday and they had been walking home when it happened. The girl in question Amber was with her two best friends Bethany and Sue and had stopped to get an ice cream cone the group had seen the girls, ¡°There she is Bobby this is it mi amigo. It¡¯s now or never.¡± She was alone at the entrance, no sign of her friends that Bobby could see. The group had stopped next to her, ¡°Hey Amber how you doing? Bobby wanted to ask you something.¡± His friend ever the daredevil pushed Bobby forward he for his part was ready to run ¡°Hi Amber um you see. There is this movie coming out tomorrow and I was wondering if you would like to go see it with me?¡± His face was red and a trickle of sweat was running down his back and was expecting a no from the girl. Amber¡¯s friends came out before she said anything her friends yacking away stopped as they saw the boys ¡°Bobby I love to.¡± She took out a pink pen and wrote down her number on his hand and a little heart ¡°Call me,¡± the three girls left Beth and Sue saying bye to Josh with dreamy eyes. They could hear them talking to Amber about the upcoming date and a ¡®well at least he is not as bad as the others.¡¯ If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Amigo you¡¯re like a regular Casanova. Miralo who would have thought.¡± Pepe smacking his friend on the arm and giving him a thumbs up. The next day he was going on his date and was both terrified and nervous but the date went great. He and Amber liked a lot of similar stuff to his surprise. From then on she would hang with them and at times her friends would come with her though her friends only did it because of Josh they did not like the other three boys. Some months passed and Bobby and Amber made it official when he asked her to become his girlfriend. The year came to an end they graduated middle school and were ready to start their summer. Bobby¡¯s girlfriend was leaving that weekend after graduation to visit relatives in Ottawa for half the summer. Since they would not see each other for a while they went out while the other four made plans for the summer break. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°Alright so here is the plan!¡± Josh took the lead ¡°We will have a slew of sleepovers, lots of video game time, we are going camping and no complaining about the bugs Manuel. And fishing yes Pepe fishing no complaining.¡± They discussed when and where stuff would happen that week. Sleepover at Pepe¡¯s, videogames at Josh¡¯s, Camping would happen at Erin¡¯s and fishing the following day near Erin¡¯s house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At Pepe¡¯s his mom Mrs. Garcia made chicken and cheese enchiladas. Not the stuff that comes out of a box at the grocery store but real enchiladas the recipe passed down from his great-great grandmother. ¡°Si mijo you know Abuela loved making these and she passed this secret to your Mama. I hope you boys enjoy them.¡± ¡°Thank you Mama. The queso y pollo are to die for.¡± Pepe¡¯s mom only made these on special occasions and had only made them for the boys on one other occasion. Being this far north they could not get the ingredients easily. Pepe¡¯s dad arriving after work smiled as he smelled what his wife had cooked, ¡°Mi Amor you made enchiladas! Hola boys I hope you appreciate the enchiladas. What I would give for a good Mexican restaurant in town.¡± After eating at Pepe¡¯s and Manuel''s houses the boys had the same wish, Mexican food was the best. ¡°Que? My cooking is not good enough for you Francisco?¡± Pepe¡¯s dad came over placating his wife giving her a short kiss before going to clean up. ¡°Pepe go get your brother off his computer and tell him to get his tracero in here.¡± As she continued cooking adding the cheese and chicken to them, the boys felt their mouths watering at the wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen. Pepe returned and a few minutes later his brother, an older version of him came out. The face was the only thing similar both taking after their dad. Frank Jr. taller than Pepe was a Junior in High School he had colored his hair green, the sides of his head shaved and the middle pointing up about four to five inches in a mohawk, some piercings, tight black pants, black boots, and a black t-shirt with a punk band logo on it. His actual name was Francisco Jr., but he had told everyone to call him Frank, he had adopted the Punk Rock look the previous year. ¡°Freaks.¡± This was how he acknowledged the boys before totally ignoring them. Mrs. Garcia looked at her oldest son and shook her head, ¡°Francisco Jr. you do not talk to your brother and his friend like that.¡± ¡°Mama, it¡¯s Frank, Frank. How many times do I have to remind everyone about that?¡± ¡°Si Francisco don¡¯t talk to us like that.¡± Pepe egging his older brother on. Pepe¡¯s dad came back all cleaned up, ¡°Bueno everyone is here. Mijo be nice to your brother.¡± No one was sure which one he was referring to but likely both. They sat down for dinner; the boys eager to eat Mrs. Garcia¡¯s wonderful enchiladas and Mexican rice. Thanking her for the food they dug in enjoying the home cooked meal. The sleepover was great and Mrs. Garcia breakfast the next morning was even better in one word the best thing Josh had ever had. The lady could cook, if only his mom could cook like that. They headed over to Josh¡¯s house where Video Games would be the plan of the day and into the night. ¡°Alright before it gets any later if you guys want to call your parents and stay over, we can keep going. I am too much into this game to stop.¡± The game in question had a character that could use magic, swords, shields, armor, and every weapon that was in the game. Overall, the character was overpowered, and they were all enjoying it taking turns playing it. They called and their parents and got ok. Pizza and Hot Wings were ordered that night for them; it was not Mrs. Garcia¡¯s superb cooking, but it was fine. Josh¡¯s mom was a lawyer and her skills while great in the court room did not extend to her cooking. The next day it was camping at Erin¡¯s house. They were dropped off with the camping gear they brought two tents, their fishing gear, five sleeping bags, drinks, and snacks. The evening came and they setup for their camping. Erin¡¯s older brother had come by and helped setup; Erin¡¯s parents checking in on them sometime during the night. ¡°Scary story time?¡± Manuel pointing the light at his face, ¡°Pepe La Llorona like your papa use to tell it. That is very scary.¡± ¡°Si Manuel that one is espantosa.¡± And so, Pepe began to tell the story, ¡°This happened a long, long time ago, back in Guadalajara where my great Abuela was born." He went into the story. A gruesome tale filled with betrayal and murder, and to top it off with haunting at the end. Everyone was on the edge the entire time, feeling goose bumps on their arms and the back of their necks as Pepe began to wail. They jumped at this. ¡°And that is the story of La Llorona as told by my Papa.¡± Yes kind of a weird spot for a spoiler but I had a suggestion to put in the actual story of La Llorona, I did but it is in the Post Chapter section. Seemed a little excessive since it ends up almost being a short story itself. ¡°Um, I don¡¯t want to ever hear that story again, it is going to give me nightmares, and we are supposed to go fishing tomorrow, at the river?¡± Bobby was scared as were his friends. ¡°That is the light version muchachos, you should hear the gruesome one my Tio tells. That one will really scare you.¡± Manuel even though he was putting on a tough act was also scared. The story was followed up by Erin and then Bobby, Manuel, and finally by Josh, theirs were more lighthearted, the one Josh told even had comedy in it. By the time the last story was told the fire had died down and it was late, they settled into sleep for the night. A fog started to roll in a few minutes after the last of the friends fell asleep something that was both unnatural and new. If you were to get an eye view from above it may of looked like fog but was actually a symbol of some sort. The symbol was white in appearance hence why it would be mistake for a fog. This had never happened at this time of year, or at least not that people knew about. The symbol came and minutes later went which was something strange. Why had this symbol appeared and why did it leave so soon? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The robe figure nothing of his face showing but his chin sat and thought. Alone in a forest, the leaves on the trees now brownish some still clung desperately to the branches, the grass browning from the summer heat. The calling had come, and he had no choice but to answer. He looked up at the heavens, it was a clear night, the moon looking like a giant medallion in the sky. Millions of stars could be seen the figure loved looking at them in wonder but tonight was not for star gazing. He examined his surroundings his thoughts turning inward it was a beautiful world, the trees, the animals, the people, the fantastical creatures that existed in this magical place. The nights events would alter his world he sighed wondering what those changes might be. The calling had come before exactly twenty-two years ago his master the one that answered, he had felt it then too but it was a minor annoyance. What happened after he did not want to recall; the results changing his world. Tonight his actions like that of his master were for the safety of their world, and the calling like an itch you can¡¯t scratch continued. Their world would face another change, he hoped that by answering the change would be for the better. He hated what was to come, but had no choice in the mater, and those he called would have no choice either. His master now gone for five years his great work complete thought it would not happen again. They had both been wrong. He needed to find and teach a new apprentice for the next cycle, possibly passing on this curse. Was it really a curse though? He started the summons, it was a summons over time and space , it would reach into another world and rip people away from it. He investigated the heavens once again, perhaps this world was among those stars, he did not know. He drew the symbols with his staff upon the ground, an outer circle, inner circle, lines crisscrossing between the two, and the symbols for the summons. He cried as he did this, cried for his master, cried for himself, cried for his world, and he cried for the innocents that would come. They would come in ones and twos, and in larger groups. They had no choice they would come. But he would try and help as much as he could, for he was not evil, he was just a servant of this world like many others before him. The summoning circle now complete upon the ground, he struck his staff, once, twice, then thrice and chanted the word for the spell. The symbols responded and began to glow, the circle of summoning began to grow all its parts expanding. The spell grew and grew and rose into the sky; covering a large area of the forest. He looked up and saw the floating images in colors of a thousand hues, it was a beautiful evil construct and he hated it. In these images he saw a young man sleeping, a young woman, a brother and sister, and five boys around a campfire. Then images of others all too young for what was coming all too young to be ripped from their world. Tears ran down his cheek, the spell was cast, and the dice had been rolled. The spell was complete, and he exhausted from the work. It would stay up for days and it would continue the summons of these innocents. It was done and no one could do a thing about it, not anymore. He summoned another door opened it stepping through. This was his workshop, it had a simple desk, a chair, his writing implements, an unrolled scroll that he had been writing in earlier a bookshelf with books and scrolls he called out to one of his assistants, ¡°Regi where are you!?¡± The floating orb came into his workshop, ¡°Master. Is it done?¡± ¡°Yes, and we will help as much as possible. Tomorrow Regi, they start arriving tomorrow.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry Master that you had to do this.¡± Chapter 2 New World The night seemed to of been colder than it should have, but they had their sleeping bags, so they were all nice and warm in them. Morning came and Bobby was the first up, he was always the first up he went outside then he was back inside waking up Josh. ¡°Josh something is wrong. Not sure what is going on, but something is off.¡± his voice had a tinge of worry in it. What was he talking about? ¡°Go back to bed Bobby. It''s to early for this.¡± Josh was not ready to get up yet, it could wait. But it was not going to wait as Bobby shook him, ¡°No Josh, this can''t wait.¡± He went over to Manuel and shook him awake. Then he did the same to the others. Bobby waited outside for them all to gather. They all were half asleep, so they did not really pay attention to their surroundings. While it was a forest it was not like the one, they had fallen asleep to. Bobby had noticed the difference right away, but he was not sure what it meant. Josh ever the leader of the group looked around for a minute, then back at Bobby, ¡°Ok so something is different for sure. The trees and some of these bushes were not here last night.¡± But it was not just that the weather felt different, it still felt like summer but not the summer they had left behind. ¡°Before we start looking around, let¡¯s clean up and change.¡± They had brought a bag each with some clothes so that they could change after swimming. After they had cleaned up and gotten changed, they regrouped, ¡°Everyone ready?¡± They all nodded. Erin took the lead in the direction of where his house was. After about five minutes of walking, they still had not reached Erin¡¯s house, it made no sense his house was no more than two minutes away from where they had been camping. Erin stopped and turned to his friends, ¡°We should have reached it already, maybe we got turned around somehow, let¡¯s get back to our things and try again.¡± So, they turned and return to their camping site. As they cleared the tree¡¯s next to their camp, they noticed something strange. Next to one of their tents there was a floating ball, it seemed to be made from metal and above it there was a projection of ¡®Welcome.¡¯ They approached this thing slowly as it was just strange that it would be there. They looked at each other than at the floating ball. Pepe looked at Manuel, ¡°Que es esa cosa?¡± Manuel shook his head he had no idea either. The thing started to beep then it spoke, ¡°Translating, what is this thing.¡± It beeped again, ¡°This thing is Registration Node 1A25, but you can call me Regi.¡± And it chuckled, ¡°Please form a line and register.¡± Get in line to register for what? Maybe it knew where they were and how they could go back home. Josh went in front of Regi, ¡°Regi, you say, where are we?¡± The node beeped again processing the request, ¡°Apologies, unable to comply, registration has not taken place.¡± ¡°So, we have to register first before you can answer any questions.¡± Manuel shrugged and nodded to his friends and got in line behind Josh, the rest followed suit behind him. Beep, beep, beep, ¡°Si mi amigo. Have to register first.¡± The thing was kind of funny the way it talked to them. ¡°Fine so let me register then.¡± Josh was ready for whatever this thing was going to do. Bloop, beep, screech, ¡°Place both hands on registration node as indicated by the flashing lights.¡± On either side of the Node small blinking lights showed Josh placed his hands as indicated. Beep, beep, bloop, ¡°State name for the records.¡± ¡°Josh Casters.¡± ¡°Josh Casters welcome. Scanning to optimize recommendations.¡± Lights flashed on either side of Regi and a pinprick was felt on the right hand as if a small bug had bit Joshes hand, ¡°Please step aside so companions may register.¡± And so, they did each saying their individual names. ¡°Manuel Lopez¡± ¡°Registered.¡± Followed by the pin prick to the right hand. ¡°Erin Duvoi.¡± ¡°Pepe Garzia.¡± ¡°Bobby Smyth.¡± Bleep, blop, screech, ¡°Registering Party of five. We will move on to the party roles.¡± ¡°Wait what? What do you mean party roles?¡± This was starting to sound like some kind of video game. ¡°Yes, Party Roles as in Defense, Offence, Support. You know like in video games.¡± Had this thing just read Josh¡¯s mind? They probably all thought the same thing, ¡°Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Please leave any questions till the end of this presentation.¡± And so Regi began his explanation and just like that they were in some kind of game, but it felt so real. How had they gotten here? Why were they here? And what did they have to do to go home? ¡°The Warrior class is your standard meat shield.¡± Ah yes, the good old tank class. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Un Guerrero sweet. I am so down with that.¡± That was Manuel for some reason he liked that in all his games. ¡°The Healer, it¡¯s in the name if I have to explain it, you all are not gonna make it.¡± Regi was excited explaining this, the way it was talking just sounded that way, as if it did not normally get a chance to explain this. Both Erin and Bobby looked like they were interested in that role. ¡°We also have your standard Damage Dealers, for those of you that like to get up and personal we have the Thief. And if you prefer long range types, we have the ever-popular Ranger.¡± He paused for a few seconds as if he was letting it sink in and he was ready to sell you more, ¡°And of course we have the magic pew, pew kind as well, we can¡¯t forget them, the magic wilder type the Wizard. Oooooh.¡± They waited for more but nothing else came from Regi concerning classes. The friends went to the side to talk this over. Manuel since he had already said he wanted to be a Warrior spoke up, ¡°Amigos I am the Tank, you know I am always the tank. Go meat shield!¡± Pepe spoke up for Thief. Erin had decided he wanted to try Ranger. Josh went with Wizard. And Healer fell to Bobby. And so, they went one by one and registered for those classes. ¡°Excellent choices! Role Registration is now complete. Welcome to Reladur, we hope your stay here is pleasant and that you visit us again. Now for the FAQs.¡± A sort of screen popped up in front of their eyes.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
  1. No, I can¡¯t send you back home.
  2. No, I have no idea how you got here.
  3. No, it¡¯s not a video game.
  4. Yes, you can get hurt, but no you won¡¯t really die
¡°Try not to die if at all possible. There are some rather nasty affects if you manage to get yourself killed that last a while. Also avoid getting the worlds inhabitants killed, they unlike you will experience true death. Any other questions?¡± ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± Even though it was Bobby who asked the rest had thought the same thing. ¡°That¡¯s an easy one, you go to the Starter Town of course. Where else are you going to start? I will add that one to the FAQ. Please bring up your [GUI] and let¡¯s look at what we have.¡± The screen changed and showed information about them.
Name Role STATS (STA/AGI/INT/CHA) HP/MP/AC
Josh[L] Wizard 10/10/15/17 30/60/0
Pepe Thief 10/16/9/15 30/0/48
Manuel Warrior 18/12/9/11 54/0/36
Erin Ranger 13/15/10/12 39/0/45
Bobby Healer 11/10/18/11 33/72/0
[Leader (L)] ¨C As leader you get an extra Charisma Boost (+2), this boost is lost when going solo.
¡°You can see your base stats here,¡± each of their names was highlighted one by one, ¡°While you are registered for those roles you will need to seek a mentor to teach you more. I will provide you with a map so that you know where you are going.¡± The map appeared out of thin air and was floating in front of Erin, he grabbed it and unrolled it. The map showed a very small area around where their camp was and the direction where they had gone in search of Erin¡¯s house. To the south of them was what could only be described as a town and just like Regi had said it was labeled Starter Town. The map did not have much detail to it, only the area that they had explored seemed to be shown on the map. ¡°Again, welcome and have a great time. This is Registration Node 1A25 signing off.¡± There was a flash¡­. ¡°Wait!¡± Regi was gone, whatever Erin was going to ask it would have to wait. At least they had a direction and something to do. They needed to get to this Starter Town and work out the how to of the roles they had decided they would play. But was play the right word? While this all looked like a video game to them, it was anything but a game. The whole getting hurt part was not good, and what was the whole ¡®nasty affects¡¯ Regi had mentioned. He had not really gone over that part at all and none of them was looking forward to finding out about that. Each of them was alerted by a beep, the beep made them jump they were not expecting it, ¡°Que es eso?¡± Manuel looked around for the source of the beep. The beep came again, then again. Bobby was the one that figured out how to bring up the GUI, ¡°GUI?¡±
HelpNodeX223: ¡°Hello user Bobby. Is that snob Registration Node 1A25 finally gone?
¡°Um, yes he is.¡± They all heard the Help Node even though they had not brought up their GUI. ¡°Oh, good he is¡­ well let¡¯s just say that I can¡¯t believe we are related.¡± A little frustration could be heard in the Nodes voice, the voice itself was that of a young woman, Regi¡¯s voice sounded like that of an older teenage boy, ¡°But where are my manners, I am HelpNodeX223 it is nice to meet you all. I will be here for the duration of your stay. Regi should have introduced us before he left but he has to be in the spotlight.¡± Again, the tinge of frustration. ¡°Oh, nice to meet you HelpNodeX223. Can we call you something else, your name is a mouth full?¡± The others nodded. ¡°Le podemos llamar Maria.¡± Manuel had a crush on a girl in class named Marry and referred to her as Maria. ¡°Registering new name,¡± bleep, screech, blop, ¡°Request complete, you may refer to me as Maria from now on.¡± Bobby took the lead, ¡°Maria what is the safest way to Starter Town?¡± Bleep, bleep, ¡°Map updated. While I may only provide limited information, I have provided the safest route. I will be learning with you as we progress on this journey. I am your keeper of knowledge. While that may be the case, unfortunately just like Regi I do not have many answers.¡± Erin looked at the map again, and while not a lot of detail was present dashed lines had appeared leading them to Starter Town, ¡°Thank you, Maria.¡± ¡°You are most welcome; I am glad you have good manners. My sister Node was not so lucky.¡± That was interesting news maybe others were here now. ¡°Time to go muchachos.¡± They broke down the camp and packed all their belongings and started their trip to Starter Town. The group was not sure what this was all about, but what else were they going to do? They would play along and get to this Starter Town. Chapter 3 A Starter Town by Any Other Name It took three hours to get to Starter Town, and just as Maria had indicated, while not an easy route it was a safe route. They had to climb some hills, traverse some rough terrain, and climb some rocks. At the end of the journey, they were all sweaty and dusty, but they could see the gates to Starter Town. Guards were posted at the entrance; it was late afternoon when they arrived at the gate. The guards were not human, but were humanoid, one had the face of a cute bunny with white fur. Even though the bunny person was cute his friend the second guard was anything but. His head was that of a horned lizard. Horned Lizard head looked at the new arrivals, ¡°Hewmans, intaresting.¡± The way he pronounced the words was very strange and not necessarily happy that they were there, ¡°Rules.¡± And with that he pointed at a sign by the gate with his spear, ¡°Follow them.¡± And waved them through. They looked at the rules, they made sense. No fighting, no gambling, no this, no that, check in at the Inn. Normally rules were up because something had happened, some of them were a little worrisome. But they would follow the rules, not like it was not standard in school to follow rules. They went in once they had all read them. The place was clean, very clean which made sense one of the rules was no littering and it looked like people followed the rules at least in that regards. There were houses, warehouses, stores, what looked like stables, and various other buildings. They made their way to one of these buildings, a sign indicated that it was the town inn. They entered, the main room had a large fire going though it was a blue flame and instead of heat, it emitted cold, which made it cooler inside then outside. They went to the counter and ringed a bell that was there. From a door which one could assume were the kitchens since the smell of food wafted out to them as it was opened a smallish humanoid came out. It looked somewhat human, but the ears were off, they were pointed and instead of hair it seemed that it had feathers. The rest of the person¡¯s body was average size, ¡°Oh, guest very nice.¡± His voice had a sing song quality to it. He looked at the five newcomers, ¡°Younger than usual but who am I to complain about guest?¡± ¡°Good afternoon. We would like a room.¡± As the chosen leader Josh was the one who spoke. ¡°Yes, yes, will you all be staying in the same room, or should I assign rooms to each of you?¡± The smallish man got on a stool as the desk had been built for someone taller than he was. He opened a book that was on the desk and picked up a quill and dipped it in ink, ¡°Party of five, to stay for an indeterminate duration. How will you be paying for your stay?¡± They looked at each other, how were they going to pay indeed? None of them had brought money with them, well maybe a few dollars and some change, ¡°Actually sir, we are not from these parts, and we do not have actual money.¡± ¡°Oh, well not to worry I am sure we can come to an agreement and there is always plenty to do in town and outside for your type. I would check with the Adventurers Guild first and foremost they have plenty of work. One room or five?¡± He had his quill ready to write. ¡°Thank you, Sir. One room will be fine.¡± This would be no different than when they slept over at each other¡¯s houses, they all slept in the same room. ¡°But where are my manners, welcome to my inn my name is Mr. Rowen.¡± He made a small bow to them, ¡°Crooss, Croos where are you!? My apologies my son is probably not doing his work as usual.¡± At this he got off his stool and opened the door to the kitchen, ¡°Table and food for five please. And someone send for Crooss.¡± He shook his head and came around the desk, ¡°If you would follow me, we will have some drink and food brought out for you.¡± He led them to one of the tables in the room and bowed again as he saw another customer raise their hand for his attention. They had not really paid attention to the rest of the room; the other person was sitting at a far table by a corner. He or she for they could not tell what they were was dressed in very dark clothes with a large hat that hid their face. The person raised hand they had seem was covered by a glove no skin was exposed at all that they could see. They sat in silence and waited for the promised food. They were quite hungry; of the snacks they had brought they did not have much left. They had not planned to be gone longer than six or seven hours while swimming and fishing. The promised food had come at last; the server was a younger humanoid that looked like the inn keeper. Maybe this was the inn keeper wayward son Crooss, but who knew maybe they all looked similar. The food had been brought out in a small cart, and the server was quick to put food in front of them. ¡°Thank you for your stay at Rowen¡¯s Inn, we hope your stay is pleasurable and that you tell all your friends about our wonderful little place.¡± The speech seemed rehearsed, but it was good little speech. They thanked him and he left them to their food. They poked at their food, it seemed to be some form of stew with vegetables on the side what looked like a tortilla and a drink that had a sweet smell. ¡°Maria is this food safe to eat?¡± ¡°Analyzing¡­¡± Beep, beep, boop.
Nutritional Facts Serving Size 1 Bowl Health: 30 HP Mana: 5 MP Action Points: 5 AP Extra Benefits: Unknown
¡°The food has high nutritional content, and your physiology will be able to process it, therefore it is deemed safe to eat by your kind. Would you like to know additional information like Calories?¡± At least one of them had asked, before she even finished Pepe had already started to eat, for the most part he was an eating machine. You would think as skinny as he was where did he put all the food away at? ¡°Taste great to me.¡± This was said in between spoonsfuls, ¡°This tortilla is really good too, not as good as my mom¡¯s but still good.¡± So, they dug into their food, it was wonderfully rich and as hungry as they were made it even better. The drink was a fruity drink, it had the taste of apple and something else that they could not identify. They finished their food, the inn staff removed the plates, picked up their belongings and brought them up to their shared room. They followed and were left alone, there was a bed for each of them and a sixth that would stay empty. None of them wanted to lay down as they were sweaty and dirty from the walk, they could really use a bath or shower. They put their things away at least what they could, they still needed to bring their clothes with them to change, the dirty ones not sure how they were going to wash. This world was so different, and they doubted they had washing machines and dryers. They would either need to wash them themselves or pay someone to do it. So many things that they needed to learn, they had been here less than twelve hours. How were they going to get home? What were the rules of this place? How, how, how? So many questions and no answers. The innkeeper provided a guide to lead them to the bath house and informed them that their clothes could be washed while they bathed. The bath house was two streets over, so it was a short walk. The guide spoke to the owner, and they were led into a changing room where they were handed towels. They all felt awkward walking out with just a towel wrapped around their waist. They were led to an area divided by a wall with a sign on the entrance, the other entrance had a different sign. They paid attention to the signs; they would need to remember to make sure they did not go into the wrong place. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. After finishing their bath, they felt refreshed. There were simple clothes waiting for them, while they were not a perfect fit the clothes were clean and felt good. They made their way back to the inn. They paid attention to their surroundings; the place was so different than where they had come from. At the same time, it was no different than any town, it had it stored, houses, and the people, there were very few humans walking around this place. The people were so different, short, tall, and broader than what they were used to, all shades and colors, and all sorts of beast people, lizards, birds, rabbits, squirrels the list went on and on. But if you looked closely, they were just people, a giant standing at about eight feet carried a basket with what could only be identified as some form of fruit or vegetable. Some kids played together; they were younger than their group. They all wished that it was them playing, the day before it had been them, now they needed to figure out why they were here and how they could get home. While they were worried about how they were going to survive here they knew they had to stick together the same way they had done these past years. No one would be left behind; they were a team, and they were friends first and foremost. As long as they had each other, they could handle anything that came at them. They returned to the inn and fell asleep exhausted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following morning came too soon, outside the sun was out and there were birds singing, something very different than what they were used to. The previous night Crooss had dropped off their clean clothes, now they had what had been given to them at the bath house and their old clothes. They went downstairs rested from the stress of the previous day and ate a simple breakfast. ¡°Maria how do we get work? the inn keeper said that there was plenty of work.¡± ¡°Bobby the Adventurers Guild would have all request. You need to sign up to access the work they have. These are commonly known as quest.¡± There was another game term they knew well. The Inn Keeper came to greet them, ¡°Good morning, did you sleep well? Is there anything I can help with?¡± ¡°How can we get to the Adventurers guild?¡± ¡°That¡¯s an easy one, it is three buildings across and to the left, when you are ready, I can point it out outside.¡± He returned to his desk in case any of his other customers needed help. Once they were done, they waved Mr. Rowen over. He led them outside and pointed out the building they needed to go to. The group found themselves in a small building, there was not much to it, one person was there behind a desk. She seemed to be very tall and thin, for all purposes she looked like a schoolteacher in her mid to late twenties and wore glasses. Her clothes, while not what you would see in their school, seemed conservative. She was busy working on some paper and was writing away and did not notice the group come up to the desk, ¡°No, no that can''t be right. That won¡¯t do at all.¡± There was a nameplate on her desk, but they could not really read the language.
Translation in progress...... Translation Complete: Miss. Hoysver Updating Translation Program¡­. Update complete. Any future writings in this language will appear as if writing in your native tongue.
Pepe cleared his throat to get her attention. And she jumped as she was not expecting anyone to come in. There were an endless number of requests on a board behind her. She looked up and was surprised to see someone there, ¡°Oh my, oh my your, your adventurers? Please tell me, your adventurers.¡± She sounded excited at the possibility. ¡°Well, we are trying to be. How do we sign up?¡± Obviously, they had not signed up to work for the summer, the plan was to have fun. But they had ended up here, wherever ¡®here¡¯ was. ¡°Oh yes, I have the application somewhere here, one second.¡± She started to go through the drawers of the desk then what could only be described as a filing cabinet behind her, ¡°Here they are!¡± She took them out then blew off the dust that had settled on them. Bobby and Erin were the better writers in the group, so it fell to them to fill out the form. ¡°Party Name? Any ideas?¡± ¡°Bombardiers!¡± ¡°The Packers!¡± ¡°I am not going to be a Cheese Head!¡± ¡°Pirates Inc?¡± ¡°Cats? ¡°Wolfpack!¡± ¡°Alright calm down, Wolfpack works for me, everyone good with that one?¡± this was from Josh and the rest agreed by nodding their heads, it was better than The Packers that was for sure. Bobby and Erin filed out the rest of the form. And had the rest of the group sign their names. The guild manager was excited when she received the form, she even kissed the piece of paper, ¡°Wolfpack Party is entered into the records at Adventurer Guild Chapter 125. Thank you for registering. This is so exciting; my teacher retired a year ago and we have not had anyone sign up in such a long time. So, if you are looking for work, we have plenty.¡±
Congratulations for Registering at the Adventurers Guild. You receive 25 XP. Updating Records: Wolfpack Party Perk Accessed: [We Are a Party] [We Are a Party] Gain +5% XP when in Party, this is only in effect when doing activities in party. All solo missions will not have access to this perk.
¡°We wanted to look into the roles training first. Is there any quest for that?¡± Since Bobby had been the lead for this, he was the one doing the asking. Miss. Hoysver looked at the form then back at her board and picked up five quests and handed them over, ¡°Of course, sorry should have known that you would need those. It has been so long. Please come back when you are done. I have so many quests that could use your help. Very rare that we get back veterans coming by to take care of them.¡±
Congratulations for picking up your first quest, entering quest in the records. Healer Quest I Warrior Quest I Thief Quest I Ranger Quest I Wizard Quest I Class Quest are solo quests you will not receive the [We Are a Party] perk. Map has been updated. Requesting additional maps.... Request granted. Maps can be found in your inventory.
Each had been updated, while they did not all see the quest for their friends, they saw their own quest and the warning. ¡°Thank you, Miss. Hoysver.¡± This came from each of them. ¡°So polite, I love it. You will need these to show you are an official member of the Adventurers Guild.¡± She handed a pin to each it was in the shape of an A and a small dash next to it. She bowed with a smile on her lips. They bowed at her as this seemed to be a custom and left the building. ¡°Looks like we will need to go solo on these boys. Let''s see where the maps point to.¡± Each took out their individual maps and looked at them. The locations seemed to be outside of town but not very far. They would need to go and find out what these quests were about. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In another place and time, different groups like our intrepid adventures find themselves in another place. A place they had not fallen asleep to. Some had been by themselves, others in duos or groups. The previous night they had been at home or camping or staying at a friend¡¯s house. This morning they found themselves in a forest. Some groups are close to each other, others are not. And like our friends they are met by Regi and welcomed to this different world, the world of Reladur were magic and what one would consider monsters walk in the daylight. Why are these people here? Is there perhaps an ancient evil that has awaken and the world is yet again in peril. No one yet knows. The one thing that the world knows is that it has been eighteen years since the last group of new adventurers has been seen. How will they make their way in this new place? Will they be friend or foe, good or evil? Josh and his group are not the only ones worried about being here against their wills. But they will not only have to worry about what they will find in this world but also what these other strangers will bring. Not all are sugar and spice and everything nice, how will our group deal with this new threat? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As Regi disappears after registering the newcomers his flashy exit leaves the groups more confused then ever. But there is a purpose to this, they can only help so much, the rest they will need to figure out on their own. ¡°Is it done?¡± His Master seated at his desk with his hands in a triangle position as he sees Regi return. ¡°Yes Master, that may be the last of them, but we will continue to check for any stragglers.¡± At least he hoped so, he did not really want to go out there again, but it was his job. ¡°Are your brothers ready? How is the dungeon team coming along?¡± ¡°Last I checked they are coming along nicely. They seem to really enjoy their work. Some maybe too much, will see what they come up with.¡± Saying they enjoyed their job was probably an understatement, but not DungeonNodeY56, he even wanted a transfer. ¡°Are your sisters ready to assist their groups?¡± Those girls, always giving him a rough time about his duties it is not his fault that he was the best node. ¡°Yes, sir HelpNodeX223 is assisting the first team already. Oh, and a request from DungeonNodeY56 to transfer to the HelpNode division came in. But I will handle that request.¡± This was still confusing to Regi, why would he want to transfer from the Dungeon Team? His master waves him away, more pressing matters need to be attended to. Chapter 4 Solo It Is They made their way to the gate the guards the same ones from the previous day. Bunny Guard and Horned Lizard Guard. Both guards looked at them, but it was Mr. Bunny that did the talking this time. ¡°Will you look at that, your adventurers. Been a while since your kind was around. That will make a lot of folks happy, while most folk can handle stuff around here, it is nice to have adventurers helping out.¡± He smiled at them, or at least that is what it looked like, or maybe it was something else? Was he hungry? ¡°Thank you, sir. We need to go do some of these quests.¡± They showed them the quest tokens. Each token a triangle with a symbol on it. The symbols were those that represented their individual roles. Mr. Bunny nodded, ¡°Polite ones, that will make it easier for you. I see, well I am sure you got your maps; those places are very close but not all of them in same area. We close the gates at dawn and open at sunrise, just make sure to be back by then.¡± With that they waved them through, Mr. Bunny turned to other guard and spoke in a language that they did not understand. They walked on to their destination; they could walk for a little while together before they needed to separate. ¡°Alright everyone let¡¯s make sure we are back before they close the gate. Manuel since yours is the farthest pick up people on the way back.¡± The fearless leader had spoken, the rest nodded to Josh. They came to where they would separate, one group would go take a small road to the left and the other would take one to the right. Josh and Bobby would go to the right. They waved to each other and continued to their final destinations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bobby and Josh making their way to the Healer and Wizard mentors¡¯ location as shown. The maps showed that they were not too far from each other. Josh had arrived at his mentors home, there was a house with two floors, it was very well kept, with a white fence around it. ¡°Looks like this is my stop. Be careful out there.¡± They had not really seen much that was dangerous, some foot traffic, most folks they had passed waved and seemed to be happy to see them. ¡°I will, see you this afternoon.¡± Bobby kept walking and five minutes later he found himself next to another house, it was smaller than the one Josh had gone to. It was surrounded by a fence as well the fence covered with plants, vines, and flowers. The smell of the flowers was sweet and calming. He walked up the path and saw an older woman working on some of the plants. She spoke and sung at the plants, the plants seem to respond to her voice, they became greener, and the flowers had more color to them. She did not even turn but started speaking, ¡°Has my request been filed? I am so glad; it has been so long.¡± She turned and he saw that she was nearly blind, her eyes from where he was standing were a white hazy color. But she moved as if the diminishing eyesight meant nothing. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am I am here to learn the ways of the Healer.¡± It was probably obvious why he was here. ¡°A healer, yes that is what I am. And I can teach you young one, yes Mother Pearl can teach you.¡± She performed a hand gesture and he thought he saw something move around him. He felt rejuvenated, suddenly as if he had just gotten up from a refreshing nap. ¡°What, what was that?¡±
Analyzing spell¡­. Analysis complete. [Revitalize I] spell cast [Revitalize I] ¨C single target spell, MP cost 15MP, provides a regenerative effect for a total of 30HP over 30 seconds. Skill Proficiency - 0
¡°That young one is what we do. We healers are there to make sure our teammates are healthy in every situation. There are many spells we can learn and some specializations we can take in the healing arts. But someone like me that has been around for a while, well we learn a trick or two.¡± And she smiled, it was a pretty smile. ¡°Thank you, please teach me, my name is Bobby.¡± And he bowed as was proper. ¡°Good, good, it will not be easy. But I can see you might have what it takes.¡± She laughed at this, ¡°My eyesight might not be what it once was.¡± He smiled at her bad joke, ¡°Now on to the teaching part.¡± So, they started, it was a lot to learn, and he found that he enjoyed being here and learning from this strange woman. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°Move your feet, watch your stance. No, no that is all wrong! Like this.¡± And the small man stood in a stance that was meant to hold back an attacker. His arm up with a small shield and the other arm holding the short practice sword, ¡°You see the way I am doing it? How many times do I need to show it?¡± Manuel found himself out of breath and sweating the instructor was a very angry little man, ¡°Yes Master Corvey.¡± He was trying to be in the same position as he was being shown. Manuel had been given a wooden sword a small shield and heavy leather armor as well. This did not help the sweating and his shortness of breath. ¡°[Taunt] Your ugly and slow withed.¡± This made Manuel extremely mad for some reason, and he attacked, and the small man held his ground moving in such a way to block every one of his attacks. Not that the wild swings had anything that resembled real attacks, ¡°Breath young one, breath.¡± This calmed him down and he stopped once again bending over trying to catch his breath. ¡°What was that Master? Why did I become wild and attack you like that?¡± There was something in the way he had done this that made Manuel see red and acted without thinking.
Analyzing skill¡­. Analysis complete. [Taunt I] skill cast [Taunt I] ¨C single target skill, AP cost 5AP, causes an enemy to target party member due to hate being generated by skill. Skill Proficiency - 0
¡°That is part of our special moves ragazzo. A warrior is the Tank you know this already. But our special moves is what makes us that. Anyone can stand there and hold a shield. But that does not make them a Tank.¡± Master Corvey helped Manuel up and led him to the side for water, ¡°It is important that you stay hydrated young one. You lose a lot of energy and water in practice, but as you practice more this will become easier and you will learn how to breath and conserve that energy. It does no one any good if you pass out in a fight, your party needs you and you need your party. Rest and we will continue.¡± ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°How, how, I had my hand in my pocket, I was even holding on to my coins?¡± He had not even taken out his coins. He still felt them in his hand. ¡°This is the [Pick Pocket] skill, not only is it good to take things out of where people least expect but to also put things in there. It is a slight of hand, this trick is our magic, but no wasting of mana as we do not use it.¡± Mr. Corta showed him the coins he was sure that he had in his pocket, Pepe pulled out his hands to see that in fact he did not have the original coins in his hand but something else entirely.
Analyzing skill¡­. Analysis complete. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. [Pick Pocket] skill cast [Pick Pocket] ¨C single target skill, AP cost 5AP, allows user to use skill without being detected. Skill Proficiency - 0
¡°Es marivilloso, Mr. Corta. I still don¡¯t understand it, but I will practice. How do we fight then?¡± Pepe had not seen what kind of weapons they would be using but he was kind of eager to practice with weapons. ¡°You think you are ready for that? So much more to learn ragazzo. But we can try it out just so you can see how it is done, maybe tomorrow you will get that lesson.¡± It sounded like little boy in Spanish, but it had a little bit of a different sound than what you would expect. ¡°You know Spanish Mr. Corta?¡± This was unexpected, they were in another world. ¡°I do not know this Spanish you speak of, but it sounds like a dialect from the north that I have heard before, it might be this Spanish, but I have never heard this word before.¡± Mr. Corta went to get a pair of daggers, a pair of clubs and some strange pointy weapon that Pepe had no word for, ¡°We can use a variety of weapons ragazzo it depends on what we need at the time. If you are dealing with something that needs to be cut or something that can be easily hidden, then the daggers are what you want. If you need something with more um let''s, call it persuasion or you don¡¯t want to cut things, then the clubs are what you need.¡± Mr. Corta showed him some of the moves with the daggers, then the clubs, then the strange weapon that he had brought, it looked like a thin pointy sword. The moves were fantastic and had Pepe on the edge of his seat, Mr. Corta was so fast, and each move was like watching a dancer, a fluid deathly dance. Each set of weapons had similar moves but varied between the weapon used. ¡°Impressed yet? Each of these you can master, but it will take a long time, it has taken me many levels and years to master each one. I would recommend the daggers as the ones you should concentrate on; you are on the smaller side so the Rapier and clubs I would leave for later. I was a little bit bigger than you when I started, and the daggers were what I mastered first.¡± All the weapons were intimidating, he had a small pocketknife back home but nothing like these daggers, they were longer and seemed dangerous. ¡°I can see it in your eyes, you are intimidated, that is good. You want to respect these as you would anything dangerous. As you practice and grow you will become better with them and more confident, but never, ever fall prey to over confidence, they are deadly weapons, and they can hurt you as well as an enemy.¡± This last was said in a more serious tone. As Mr. Corta raised his left pant leg to show a long scar on his leg, ¡°See that? I was overconfident and that is the result. Even now I respect all weapons, they are not toys.¡± ¡°I will have nothing but respect for them, sir.¡± ¡°As it should be. An old friend of mine cut off part of his ear because he forgot this lesson.¡± Pepe would not forget; his ears were too cute to be cut off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erin was not as outgoing as the rest, like Bobby he was mostly a follower instead of a leader. But he was alright with this fact. His instructor was a lizard person, she had a long snout and very thin, her skin a pretty light purple with even lighter spots, she wore leather armor and a small diadem around her head. ¡°Master Ildvesi thank you for your instruction it has been wonderful.¡± And it had been wonderful, he felt like he understood so much more now, how to draw a bow properly, how to knock the arrow and fire it, even though he could not hit anything yet. And it was hard to draw the bow, when he had first tried it, he had fumbled it so many times, and after a while his fingers felt raw from pulling the string and his shoulder hurt. He had been improving as he had been practicing, but still fell short of the practice bales. ¡°You are so welcome. It is wonderful to be able to teach again. It has been many years, and my students visit, but they do not stay long. Being a Ranger is fun and essential in any Party. You have been standing and normally that is fine, but sometimes you must move, and it becomes much harder to move and shoot, not only when you are moving but when a target is moving. And riding a fast mount and shooting is also something we can achieve.¡± There were so many things to learn. He was glad that they could do their work from behind the lines. ¡°What else can we do?¡± He had read and seen the movies everyone talked about so he wanted to know what else they could do. ¡°There are so many things young Erin, we excel at long range, and we can use our environment to our advantage, being in a wooded forest much better than a city, but even in a city we are superb. We are also good in close combat but not always some of us are better than others, we can use short swords and some other melee weapons. While I am fine with a sword, I prefer range weapons. There is so much I could teach you, but not all, for that you will need to seek others that can guide you.¡± The Ranger was so varied so many choices, Erin was glad he had picked it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time had passed and it was now late afternoon. Each of their respective masters had called training to a halt and that they should make their way to town before sunset. Manuel was the farthest the others joining him and walking back. They all had learned a little of their various jobs but there was much more to learn. They had agreed to pick up some simple supplies before the night was over and to be ready for the next day of training. At the gate it was not the usual pair of guards, it was a small woman of the same race as the inn keeper, the top of her head was covered by brown feathers longer than the innkeepers. Her features a bit leaner but still strong she stood with a spear in hand. Her partner was large with grey skin and quite intimidating, his muscles pronounced he held a large war hammer that stood as tall as Manuel which was the tallest of the group. ¡°Good you made it just in time. You are the new adventurers everyone has been talking about. Let¡¯s have a look at you. What do you think Rotgert?¡± Saying the last she looked at her partner. ¡°Small.¡± His voice had a high pitch and was quiet, it was kind of funny to see something so large with a small voice, but who in their right mind would make fun of the behemoth? None of the boys laughed at this. ¡°Hey, hey no small jokes from you! You must excuse Rotgert he has a bad sense of humor.¡± To this Rotgert laughed in the same high pitch as his voice with a snort at the end, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him, I might be small, but I can put Rotgert on the ground easy.¡± The boys did not know what to say to this, they had no idea how things worked here yet, so it would not be a surprise if indeed the small guard could put down the behemoth, ¡°I am Liadris and my fellow guard Rotgert. We have request out to the guild so when you can if you could ask Miss. Hoysver about it, we would appreciate it. Oh, and there seems to be others of your kind in town.¡± They nodded to the request and went inside the town. Others of their kind? What did that mean? More humans, more teenagers? They made a quick stop at the inn to get cleaned up then after asking Mr. Rowen where they could buy gear they would go to the store. When they entered the Inn to everyone¡¯s surprise there were in fact other teenagers, a pair was talking to the Innkeeper they looked very similar maybe twins but a boy and a girl. Some of the tables had others as well, all of them different ages some even younger than Josh and the rest. Some of them older, both boys and girls present within the groups. And their clothing similar as well, even one girl in a cheerleader outfit. At least they were not the only ones that had been pulled into this madness. They walked around noticing that the groups were talking in different languages, this phenomenon was not just happening in the U.S. but also around the world. There were representatives from all over the globe it seemed. They finally made their way back to Mr. Rowen. ¡°Welcome back. So exciting to see all these people, this is going to be such a great season for us. I will probably hire some extra help as well. Any of you interested before I send the request off to the guild? How can I help?¡± They asked about the store, and he gave them directions. They walked over wondering about the new arrivals and went into the store, it was not large but had good inventory, they had weapons, armor for different classes, robes, potions. They even had a souvenir area with what you would expect out of a souvenir store. They had shirts, cups, and many other things with the Starter Town logo on them, it did not matter where you were, earth or another dimension you had souvenir stores. The store owner was a humanoid with the head of a ferret. He looked at the new arrivals, ¡°Ooh the adventurers are in my store. How can I help you? I can give you a twenty percent discount on your starter pack. Oh, and if you can let the others that arrive know to come to me, I might just give you another 5% off.¡± ¡°Starter pack, what¡¯s that?¡± Pepe had been looking at small daggers as his master had said this is what he should start with. ¡°Yes, for three easy payments of twenty-five Hartguar Silver Coins I can gear you up with the Starter Pack. Along with the starter pack you get six potions of your choosing but wait there¡¯s is more! Not only do you get your class starter pack, the potions, this souvenir hat, but you also get this nifty multi tool.¡± The hat had the store logo and Starter Town written on it. There did not seem to be anything special about the supposed multi tool. Another customer had come in while he was giving his sales pitch, ¡°Did I hear you right? You are charging how much for the starter pack?¡± ¡°Ah, um, Miss. Hoysver, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°What am I doing here? Well, let me explain to you what I am doing here, as a representative of the adventurers guild I have to make sure our members are getting the best deal and that they are not being ripped off.¡± She was not happy, and she was showing it. ¡°I was just trying to make a sale, not trying to rip anyone off. It¡¯s a good deal, have you seen this multi tool?¡± She was still starring him down, he put away the multi tool and looked down, ¡°I am sorry Miss. So young adventurers what can we help you with.¡± Each of them told him what they needed, while they would not be getting the multi tool they did leave the place with starter gear for each of them and what they would need to continue their training. Miss Hoysver had informed them that the guild would be footing the bill for the starter pack. They returned to the inn where they had dinner and cleaned up before calling it a night. Back in their rooms they started to talk about the new people they had seen. They felt a little bit better about being here, while they may miss their family and their homes there were others like them. They did not feel so alone anymore, they slept better that night. Chapter 5 Training Intensifies They would continued their training for an entire week. On day two they learned from their individual masters more of the basics, they would progress and learn many things that week. A few hours into their second day, they were joined by other teenagers from the groups they had seen at the inn. Each afternoon they would return exhausted to town, but not alone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°Our job is to provide the big boom, we are not there to be hit by whatever the party is fighting, we pack the big punch from afar. We are what you would term squishy, we get hit and we hurt very easily. This term I learned from one of my students long ago. But all in all, this word does describe what would happen to us if we were directly attacked. That is why we work with a party, the tank gets hit, the healer makes sure he stays up and we put the big hurt on the enemy.¡± Master Gerasin had shown them some spells, but Josh was still struggling. Some of the others were quickly catching up to him, a very short girl with blonde hair had caught up and her spell work just astonishing everyone including Master Gerasin. Master Gerasin walked around talking to the various students and encouraging them. She would correct them if they were having problems, making her way to Josh as he was still having problems. ¡°It¡¯s hard Master, I am not sure what I am doing wrong.¡± He waved his wand at the target and cast ¡°[Fireball]¡± all that came out was little sparkles, but no big boom. This was followed by ¡°[Ice Bolt]¡± ¡°[Thunder Bolt]¡± each while the color differed only small sparks came out.
Analyzing Spells¡­ Analysis Complete [Fireball] [Ice Bolt] [Thunder Bolt] ¨C Lower-level elemental spells, spell damage is dependent on user proficiency. Must be confident in order to cast spell. Proficiency: 25%, 18%, 12%
¡°It seems you lack confidence in yourself. When you came to me two days ago, you seemed so sure of yourself. Just continue to practice you will get it. Think of your friends, imagine they are in danger and try again.¡± And so, he imagined that they were fighting something terrible, what would he do? He waved his wand again and casted, ¡°[Fireball]¡± This time it was better, while it was a little ball of fire it was no longer the little sparkles he had. He concentrated and after many tries his [Fireball] spell looked as if it could do damage.
[Fireball] Proficiency increased to 50%
He had a way to go, but he felt that now his goal was clearer, why was he doing this? How could he improve? ¡°That is much better Josh. Just be confident, know that you¡¯re protecting your party. The faster the enemy goes down the better. Let me show you how it should look, there are various levels, and this is at the same level as yours.¡± She raised her hands pointed at a hanging target and casted, ¡°[Fireball]!¡± in comparison to Erin¡¯s this thing was a super nova, it blasted the target and burned it to a crisp, ¡°This is what you will be able to do Josh. Do you think that is how it looked when I started?¡± This took her back to her first day of training and trying to master even this simple spell. ¡°I will continue to practice Master. Now that I see your example, I have a goal.¡± He continued with his practice, he would master this, it would not look like what his master had just done, but one day. The others around watched each other and saw that they were all different with different abilities. One had an easier time of doing the Fireball, the Thunder Bolt, or the Ice Bolt. The blonde girl caught on quick, and her specialty was the Ice Bolt, she hurled one at the target and it instantly froze. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bobby pointed the staff, ¡°[Revitalize] and [Cleanse]¡± he had improved drastically over these few days, and he was having fun with these new abilities. They were so useful, and he would be able to keep his friends safe.
Analyzing Spells¡­ Analysis Complete [Cleanse] ¨C Spell will remove one ailment from self or party member, spell may fail if proficiency is low. Proficiency: 62%
The group had grown to ten students, and they had been split into pairs. Each casting or trying to cast a healing spell at each other. Bobby had been paired with a tall lanky teenager that wore glasses and was a year older than he was. They had been practicing on each other most of the morning and part of the afternoon. ¡°Well done. But you must keep an eye on your Mana. You don¡¯t want to run out during a fight. It is important to know when to use a spell, on who, and if it is the right spell to use. Magic is not always the answer, you also have your potions they will regain health, mana, can boost your stats so your party must know when to use them.¡± Mother Pearl paused looking around at her students. ¡°Gear is important your starter gear is just that starter gear with no stat increases or any kind of bonuses. Once you start your journey you can improve your gear and dependent on the situation some gear might be better than others. You must maximize in the right way. Some of this I won''t be able to teach you, only experience can teach you.¡± Another pause to let what she was saying sink in. ¡°As your teacher, I can only get you ready. Heed my words and these lessons for it could mean your survival and that of your party.¡± Mother Pearl sat at a chair under one of her trees she complained that in her old age she needed to sit more often. But Bobby had seen her move around as if she were younger than her years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Master Corvey was an astounding man; his stature did not impede him at all. He showed this throughout the training he put his group through. They spent time on breathing, just breathing, then stances, maintaining the same pose for hours he along with his students. He drilled the moves so much into their heads that they started to dream about them. At the end of the day their body¡¯s hurt, not because their Master had beaten them in any way, it was the rigorous training they were under. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. There were different weapons a tank could use as well, not just your standard Sword and Shield. A warrior could use Maces, Swords, as well as two-handed versions when not paring with a shield. When one used two handed weapons the style of fighting changed to adjust for the lack of shield. It was a bit much for Manuel trying to remember all the different moves, for now he would stick with the ever-popular sword and shield, one could not go wrong with the classics. ¡°All this I will drill it into your heads and bodies, but the true test is remembering this in the field and adjusting as needed. You are the front line for your party, while it is alright to let some of the enemy pass you must know when to do this. Let see your [Taunt I]¡± Master Corvey was at the ready. ¡°Here I go!¡± Manuel made ready and hit his sword to his shield, ¡°[Taunt I]¡± You could see a change in the teacher, but it was minor, and he just stood there. ¡°That was good, it almost had me. Someone with less experience will most definitely take the hook. Now show me some defense.¡± ¡°[Reinforce][Wall]!¡± There was a shimmer in front of Manuel, for those that could see it an illusionary wall had been erected. This move greatly increasing his defense capabilities.
Analyzing Skills¡­ Analysis Complete [Reinforce] ¨C Skill will increase the capability of the next defense skill being cast. [Wall] ¨C Erects a wall in front of the caster greatly increasing defense capability, this will degrade over time as enemies attack the wall. Proficiency: 82%, 91%
¡°Not bad, is as if your house of sticks has become a house of bricks, not as easily tumbled. With further practice and experience this can become a house of steel. You are progressing very well.¡± Nodding in approval, he corrected Manuel¡¯s stance slightly. ¡°Breathing exercises again.¡± The students went into breathing stance and began. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°Your whole body can be a weapon, your hands, feet, your head, especially your head. It is not just there to hold that pink thing inside your skull. You use it all, don¡¯t just depend on what you carry, think about what you are going to do, always have a plan. If it goes wrong be ready to improvise, in the end if you are left standing you win.¡± This made sense to the group but without someone pointing it out they would never have really thought about it. Why would they? They had come from a place where you did not have to worry about these kinds of things. Most of them their parents did everything for them. With that nugget of wisdom their master went into a whirlwind of punches and kicks to demonstrate what he had just said. Then out came his daggers, one held forward the other backwards his feet well planted and his body low. Then he danced slashing right, left, up, then down every move meant to give the opponent damage. It was a beautiful sight to behold, then he stepped back he was gone, Pepe knew he had not blinked, at least he did not think so. Then he felt the blade at his back, ¡°We are of the shadows chavalo never forget that.¡± The group watching erupted cheering at their master¡¯s show. The group now of fourteen moved to continue their training some alone others in pairs to practice. There was also a sense of competition among the students, who would be the best? Pepe was paired with the girl that had been wearing the cheer leader outfit that he had seen at the inn. She looked at him and nodded, she moved fast, and Erin found himself on the ground a dagger to his throat. If this were a real fight, he would be dead. ¡°Your dead Pepe.¡± She smiled down at him giving him her hand so he could get up. Man was she pretty, he smiled back. She had these little dimples when she smiled, her hair was a fiery red and curly. ¡°Thank you Michelle I think I can see that.¡± He got up with her help and they reset for another round. Pepe went down again and again, only able to get a few points in or being able to take her down. But that was the problem thought Pepe, not that she was not capable cause she was kicking his ass. It was that she was a pretty girl and he let the looks get to him. It was stupid of course he thought, he would need to get over that and fast. Being paired with another of the boys was easy he had a day on them of training and he was able to take them down hardly ever letting them get in a point. She stopped and frowned, she had seen him practice and she had seen him wipe the floor with the other boys, so that was the problem. ¡°Pepe if you keep holding back because I am a girl, I am going to kick your ass up and down this room. Don¡¯t let this pretty face stop you!¡± The rest of the class had stopped and was now looking at them. Master Corta looked at his pupils and shook his head. ¡°Everyone back to your practice!¡± Pepe was read in the face and nodded at his training partner. He got serious about his training after that what other choice did he have? While she put him down quite often it was not due to letting her win, she was just that good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erin wearing his green cloak looked down on the area behind his master¡¯s house, it was wooded area, he had climbed a tree to get a better vantage point. He looked at his surroundings, his bow at the ready. His task was to spot his master, and shoot her if he could. She had gone before him disappearing into the woods. He looked left then right but saw nothing, there was not a lot of places where one could conceal themselves. He heard the snap of a twig and turned in the direction of the noise, at least he thought that he looked in the right direction. Instead of his master a small animal came out from behind a bush, his master would not make that kind of mistake. He continued his search, he looked up at the sparse trees surrounding the area. She could easily hide in one of those tree¡¯s while it had not terribly difficult to climb for him it would¡¯ve be even easier for her. ¡°You know what my young apprentice, while it was a good attempt we may run out of time if we continue.¡± This was said from his left, a body detaching itself from the tree right by his branch. When had she gotten there? He had heard no noise of her climbing the tree. The students erupted in applause at their master¡¯s skill. ¡°Master how?¡± He had seen her walk out into the woods not far from the tree he was in. ¡°We are rangers, we must become one with our environment. Where we walk no sound will be heard, no trace will be left of our passing. We can surprise our adversaries or bypass them entirely we do not always need to fight.¡± She put her hands on his shoulders and nodded, ¡°You will know when to do one or the other.¡± The other students had heard this as it was meant for the group at large. They like Erin were amazed and confused as none had seen Master Ildvesi return after moving into the forest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Their training had come and gone, at least to the point of where they could go out on their own as a party. Five days of hard training with their respective masters had drilled a lot into their inexperienced minds. They would need to come back to their masters once they had some experience under their belts but for now, they were done. They walked back now in the larger groups, not all of them got along they were forming their own little groups and some of them did not talk to the others. It was human nature to get in their own little groups and to unfortunately shun or ignore others. Josh and his group were welcoming to the others, and they walked most of the time joined by others. They made it back to the inn and were ready for bed, it had been a long week. That night they discussed what they would do the following day, ¡°We collect on the quest tomorrow and see what else they got for us.¡± Josh¡¯s eyes were closing, and he was yawning. The rest nodded to this having no energy to talk. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°Regi how are they coming along?¡± While he had looked in on them earlier in the week, it was now the end of their training, and he was eager to find out how they had done. ¡°Master the initial group while they had some problems at the start it seems like they are on track. And we have some surprises among the other groups as well. Some of them are quite strong, even stronger than the initial group.¡± ¡°Are we ready to debut the first dungeons?¡± He did not really want to put them through it, but he needed them to advance and fast, and this was how he would do it. These dungeons were his creations but the ones after that would be wild ones. ¡°Yes sir, the Dungeon team is ready for a demo whenever you are ready.¡± ¡°Good, good, set something up please, the faster we put them in place the better.¡± Chapter 6 Poop Quest Anyone? They were getting used to this, they still missed their parents like crazy and talked about it between themselves. There was this air of adventure in what they were doing. They would worry but it would be in the back of their heads. It was time to see what kind of quest were available. ¡°Miss Hoysver good morning.¡± ¡°Oh, my look at you, looking the part of a true party of adventurers. It is so exciting to have so many of your around. You are ready to collect on your quest, let me process this.¡± She went to her record books and then brought out a lock box. It was dusty and she brought a rag and cleaned it off. She waved her hand over a lock and said some words that they could not make out. It clicked and opened for her, ¡°Here is your reward.¡± There was a small pouch and the sound of coins inside. ¡°Thank you, Miss. We want to take a little bit and store the rest; is there somewhere we can do that?¡± ¡°Yes, yes, we can keep it for you as well, I should have said that to begin with.¡± Bobby took some coins out, while they did not know how much they should keep they would keep some just in case. The rest they handed back over, she logged this in her records books and handed them a receipt. ¡°Also you can let the merchants know that they can charge us as well, not all accept this but most of them do.¡± That was welcome news, they did not want to carry hundreds of coins around to buy what they needed. Bobby would be their de facto accountant as he was the best with numbers, ¡°About the other available quest you have?¡± ¡°We have a lot, let¡¯s look at them.¡± She started to list the quest that were available, help was needed by a lot of people in town, all sorts of things, deliveries, collecting, and escorting. There was harder quest as well, some involved getting rid of pest and going into a dungeon. While they were all eager to go into the dungeon, they did not see themselves ready for that. ¡°If you could give us a moment, we want to discuss these requests.¡± To this the guild manager nodded and they stepped away as another group was waiting. She spoke to them and gave a similar speech to theirs. They would need to really think about the quest, they had competition now with other groups starting their own journeys. ¡°So, thoughts? No Pepe we are not going into the dungeon yet. And no, we are not going to take the poop quest. I don¡¯t get it, something pulls you into another world, and they can¡¯t get away from the poop quest?¡± They had seen that he was excited and knew it was coming. He ducked his head disappointed. ¡°Come on Josh, you know will have to go in eventually, we should at least get rid of some pest, we need the practice as a team.¡± Pepe gave him a huge smile, unfortunately he was right and they could use the practice, Josh nodded at his friend, ¡°that is what I am talking about!¡± They took a few minutes and settled on some of the simpler things, collecting seemed easy enough and deliveries as well, and they would do one escort quest, and just to a peace Pepe they took the rodent extermination quest. They returned to the guild manager and asked to be given the quest they had discussed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The escort quest would be done the following day. They went about doing the delivery, then the gathering quest. One quest was for missing items, another cooking items for an upcoming birthday dinner, the third one was for star metal that had been seen dropping from the sky a week earlier. The delivery quests were mundane quest. They split up for these quests even though they would only get Solo experience for them it was still faster to just do it alone. This took a short time of the morning. Next would be the fetch quest and they were eager to get out of town just to go explore. The request for the star metal was a little more difficult than the other fetch quest. This had included going around town talking to people to see if they had seen this star metal fall and where they had seen it. They had hit a wall as most people had not seen it. Finally, after talking to who knows how many people, they had found a couple that had seen where it had fallen. They left town as soon as they found the information, it was late morning now and they had wanted to be out in the field much earlier. The missing items were easy and before they knew it, they had completed the first requested. The cooking items were rare herbs and other cooking ingredients, and they only had a picture of the items so not as easy to gather. Erin took charge, ¡°Alright guys while I have not seen these before, I should be able to easily recognize them. Master Ildvesi went over some herbology since Rangers spend time outdoors, they need to be able to identify items they can eat as well as medicinal herbs.¡± Erin took out his map and it had been updated with circles surrounding the areas where the items could potentially be found. Due to his training the map had more detail than the other four. He picked the closest circle and started walking in that direction. Soon as he arrived, he started to inspect the area for the first item. He quickly found what he was looking for, this was going to be easier than he thought. On they moved to the next area, Erin quickly finding the items, the others were glad he was able to do it so quick as they probably would have taken much longer. They followed Erin for the rest of the items which were quickly found with his guidance. ¡°Maria please verify that these are the needed items.¡± Just to make sure Erin wanted to check with the HelpNode, even though he was pretty sure that the items were the correct ones.
Analyzing items¡­. Analysis complete.
¡°User Erin, analysis indicated that the items are the requested items. Good job in identifying them, I will add this to the knowledge base.¡± Maria was pleased about this and proud of her users. Finally, they made their way to the area that the Star Metal had been seen they searched and searched, finally after taking way too long they found it, it had fallen in a location that was covered by bushes that they had passed earlier, there was a rather large hole where it had landed how they missed that they were not sure. Erin felt a little dumb, since he was feeling good about the earlier success, he had missed obvious signs like the broken branches that he totally missed. Manuel and Pepe went and dug around the area until they uncovered the item. The piece was large with a light glow to it, the crystalline structure looked like a bunch of little cubes stuck together. They brought it out seeing it was heavy, it took the two of them to get it out, the weight meant that two would need to carry it back to town. Next on the list was the rodent extermination request. They made their way to the location indicated on their map; they had not visited this location which was to the east of town. They had to switch between the friends to carry the star metal as they would tire after walking a little while. Since they had no idea about the size of the item they had not accounted for the size or the weight. Another thing to worry about, maybe they should invest in mounts? They saw the problem right away when they got to the indicated location, some of the trees and everything around had been eaten by the rodents. Trees had fallen because the things would eat through their trunks then proceed to eat any fruit, smaller branches and the leaves leaving a long bare pole. One of the rodents came out from behind some bushes and started to maw at a tree near it. The teeth were square like that of a beaver, and it was munching away at the tree trunk. Josh looked at the thing, it was about the size of a large dog, the only animal that he could compare it to was a capybara a large rat thing he had seen once at the zoo. Instead of a stubby tail it had a long one with what looked like a pincer at the end. It did not really have any hair instead the skin was this muddled green color; you could see the things muscles and it looked strong. Another joined it and before long the tree was down, once it was on the ground, they began to eat everything around it, another smaller one joined in. No other creatures turned up, so it was likely that these were the ones they needed to get rid of. Josh had no clue if this was going to be easy or not, but it was time to get rid of the things it was getting late, and they needed to return to town. ¡°Manuel you ready to do your thing?¡± Josh took his wand out and the others followed suit. They arrayed themselves around Manuel ready to start the fight. ¡°Yup sure thing.¡± He took out his sword and shield, pointing the sword at the creatures he yelled, ¡°[Wall]!¡± This got the attention of the creatures, they looked up in the direction of the group but did not run towards them, ¡°[Taunt]!¡± The skill did the trick though, the creatures snorted at the ground and pawed at it before starting their charge. Manuel had placed his shield low and set his feet to receive the impact, the things hit, with the running start it made the hit stronger. He felt the impact his teeth chattering a little, but he stood his ground. He smacked at them swinging his sword, a shallow cut opened on the one that had come out second. It yelped but did not back off, it kept on hitting and trying to bite at Manuel. While Manuel had the things attention, Pepe on his right side moved in cut right with one dagger followed by a vertical slash with the other, the smaller creature got hit by the first but jumped back from the second attack. While the creature saw the big warrior with the shield as the main target, he started to dodge the attacks by the smaller attacker as well. Erin moved to the right of Pepe to get a better line of sight on the creature as well, aiming his bow he fired. It hit the smaller creature on the shoulder. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Pepe¡¯s went in again as the creature turned to the new attacker, his left hand came up and then down to dispatching the creature, Pepe attempted to remove his dagger saw that it was stuck and let go. Before his arm was out of reach the tail of the creature came forward and sliced at his arm. Pepe jumped back with a yelp, the creature falling to the ground jerking before it stopped moving.
Pepe has received damage 26/30 HP Additional Affects: Poison
¡°Bobby, I been poisoned!¡± Pepe started to panic as the wound was painful and he could feel the poison moving, looking down at the wound he saw angry red blackish skin, and black lines starting to go up his arm slowly. A few seconds passed and he saw that his HP had gone down. ''Crud, crud am I gonna die?! I¡¯m too young and handsome to die! I was gonna ask Michelle out, now I never will!'' His inner voice yelling at him. Bobby heard his friend, he had to look at the whole fight, since he did not currently have any offensive spell at his disposal he would be looking between his friends. He had not seen what had happened to Pepe, but as soon as his friend had yelled about the poison, he was ready. He pointed with his staff and cast his spell, ¡°[Cleanse]!¡± He felt a tug at his mana, then the spell hit his friend, he knew that he would be fine, so he continued to look at his other friends. He would warn them if anything escaped their notice and back them up as much as possible. As soon as the spell landed Pepe felt relief from the poison, his health had gone lower, but he no longer got the warning about poison.
You are no longer poisoned. Duh. HP: 21/30 MP:0 AP:25/30
He was not sure why he had been panicking with his friends here, but he was alright now. He had lost his dagger and he would not be able to recover it until this was over. Pepe saw another arrow flying from Erin, then a fireball from Josh. The center Capybara looking thing go down, the other large one was left, he needed to go back in, his arm felt better, he could still feel the affects from the poison and the cut even though the poison had stopped with Bobby''s help. Josh saw Pepe yelp and his call for Bobby and their Healers immediate response. He needed to do his part, he was not going to just stand here and see these creatures hurt his friends. He had been getting into a better position he saw an opening, ¡°[Fireball]!¡± Saw the spell rushing towards the creature and land, saw Erin¡¯s arrow hit right before his spell. The creature was down and now it was time to take out the final one. Manuel was relieved that the others had done their parts, he kept the creatures on him as was his job, smacking his shield with his sword and just pestering the creatures to keep them under control. ¡®Alright you ugly dog rat thing you¡¯re going down.¡¯ His sword hand coming forward, felt the sword penetrate flesh, he put pressure with both hands felt it stop momentarily then something gave way and the sword stopped at the hilt. Saw his cousin coming in to support him, good primo, he could always count on him, and his friends, they were the best. My friends, my family he thought, their family and one always protect family. Manuel saw the creature eyes lose focus then it was still, his sword on the left of the creature between shoulder and neck. Saw Pepe¡¯s knife on the side of the creature¡¯s gut. The creature dropped and it was over. The fight was over!
Congratulation''s Quest Complete!!! You have defeated Rodents x3. Currency acquired: 5S 15C Ding* LV UP! LV increase to LV2 By leveling up to LV2 you have gained 2 STAT Points Title Acquired ¨C [The Exterminator] [The Exterminator] ¨C You are sent from the future to¡­ wait wrong Exterminator, that is Exterminator II.
They congratulated each other on the level up. During the fight everyone had kept their cool, they were a good team, had always been a good team. They giggled at the silly title they had received, not sure if the titles would do them any good. With all their quest complete they started to walk back to town. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The trip back was quite slower than they thought it would thanks to the start metal they were carrying. They made it just in time before the gates were closing, they could see the sun going down and only a short time remaining before sunset. The guards looking at them as they moved slowly to the gate. ¡°Cutting it close boys.¡± Guard Rotgert looked at the item they were carrying, ¡°Can I see that?¡± His voice still funny, they handed the item over, he picked it up as if it weighted nothing, ¡°good size Star Metal, this should fetch some good coin. My hammer is made from Star Metal, very resilient stuff.¡± He handed the item back to the boys and waved them through. They made their way to the Guild Hall. The delivery quest got them some potions, some sweets, and a heartfelt note from one of the quest givers. The fetch quest got them invited to the party, the Star Metal reward would be given to them after weighing the metal. She handed them receipts for the money that was the reward for some quest. Bobby looked at the total and he was surprised that they had made that much, it looked like they would have no issues paying for their room and board. While they were not rich being an adventurer paid well. Afterwards tired from the long day, they cleaned up and it was time to rest the next day was going to be an early start. They looked at their stats to see what they would spend it on it was important to do it when there was down time before falling asleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They met a large adult; you would think he could handle himself being so large. He was wrapped up in a lot of clothes and behind him he pulled a large cart with items. His skin had a grayish tinge and very rough looking. ¡°Thank you for taking my request, my name is Tebesa Krolir.¡± They all stepped back a little, ¡°Is everything alright?¡± The voice was not that of a man, it was very female, they had mistaken her for a he, as they did not know how to recognize one gender from the other. ¡°No ma¡¯am, Miss Tebesa. We are ready when you are.¡± What else could they say, oops we thought you were a guy? ¡°Good, good, then let us start. We have a long walk and the sooner we start the better.¡± A merchant with gray skin, a healer in his robes and staff, the wizard wearing similar clothes a wand at his belt. The thief in his leather armor with twin daggers, and the Ranger also in leathers with his bow and arrows and a small knife at his waist. The warrior with the heavier armor his short sword at his hip and his shield at his back. Manuel in the front, two of the boys on either side of the merchant and two behind. The adventure began all that had gone before merely the appetizer before the main course. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The route they would take would be southeast, very small roads and game trails would be taken most of the way. It was a two-day trip to their destination the Village of Avadur, a small village rich in agricultural. The fruit in season was just being picked in the village and Tebesa was eager to get there before her competitors beat her to the best fruit or before it spoiled. They were about four hours into their trip, they had been walking for a long time with only one quick rest period, ¡°It would be best to rest for a little and eat. We will need energy for the afternoon walk.¡± They nodded to this, it was a warm day their weapons and armor and small packs with provisions weighing them down. Each put their pack down and sat taking out some travel rations they had purchased for this trip. The food was leathery, and the taste akin to beef jerky but less tasty more like carboard. They chewed it and drank some water; they were hungry and thirsty. They had little choice but to eat what they had brought. There was a commotion of rustling bushes, and all got up ready to face whatever it was that was coming. An animal that looked like a small deer emerged from the bushes, with a flat face, antlers a long tail and red fur. It stopped when it saw the group not knowing what to do. They stood there just waiting, the creature continued slowly then started to run back into the forest disappearing from sight. The group looked at each other and shrugged. What were they expecting that they be attacked by monsters? How silly was that? ¡°Well, that was interesting. I have some biscuits and jam if you want some.¡± They all nodded at this; anything would be better than what they had just ate. She handed each a biscuit full of jam, the biscuit was soft and the jam sweet and tasted of strawberries or whatever this worlds equivalent was. Soon they were up and walking again, it felt as if the rest had not been long enough, but they had a way to go before they were stopping for the night. They heard small animals in the trees, birds, and other animal sounds during their walk. A wind had picked up during the march to everyone¡¯s relief it helped with the hot weather. After many hours of walking, they finally made it to a small valley, there was a stream nearby according to the merchant, so they settled for the evening. After taking care of setting up camp they sat, there was a small fire going with a pot for boiling water. To the pot the merchant added some items she had taken from her cart, Erin could smell herbs some vegetables, and meat. His mouth watering at the thought of a decent meal. It was so strange to feel like you had not eaten anything decent when you had a great meal the previous night. After waiting for the meal to finish it was finally done and they were all eager to try it Miss Tebesa to their relief also had bowls and spoons. They had failed to bring basic camping equipment. If they were going to be out here for longer than a day, they had to know what to bring with them. But it was not as if they had done this before, the last time they had camped they had ended up here in this other place. ¡°This is a secret recipe that has been passed down from my fathers¡¯ side. It is not easy to get all the ingredients since the spices come from the lands of my people. I hope that you enjoy it.¡± She served each one a bowl and she ate out of the pot. The food was rich and aromatic with a hint of mint much different to what Mr. Rowans wife cooked at the inn. The stew tasted wonderfully the vegetables melted on your tongue and the meat even though a bit gamy was soft and the compliment of the spices was to die for. The boys dug into their food and ate it with a small piece of bread also thanks to the trader. They were so glad they had taken this request, if she had any future request, they were sure going to take them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DungeonNode1337 and DungeonNode1 were ready to present their masterpiece, they had worked for days on this, it would be the best one out of them all! The Big Boss was going to be here any minute and they could not contain themselves, they had been picked from the others to oversee the Dungeon. This had made all the other Nodes extremely jealous, but they were facing the dynamic duo 1337 and 1 they had no chance. ¡°Sir, this way, as I was saying they worked hard on this, they are the most¡­¡± He saw his fellow nodes and what were they wearing on their heads, well one would assume they had heads, but like Regi they were spherical nodes. 1337 had on what looked like a red hat with his numbers on the hat, and 1 had a green hat with his number on it, ¡°one second sir let me go talk to them see if they are ready.¡± The big boss stopped and waited. ¡°DungeonNodes please explain to me what it is that you have on your head?!¡± He was not sure what to think, hats they had hats on, a node did not wear hats. ¡°Well sir they are hats.¡± 1 light flashing in acknowledgement to his fellow node. ¡°I know what a hat is, but why do you have them on?¡± He looked back not that you could tell that he looked back as he did not have any actual eyes, his boss was ready for the tour. ¡°Never mind I will deal with you two idiots later.¡± 1337 and 1 looked at each other not really sure what the problem was with the hats, but they were ready, oh were they ready. This was the ultimate culmination of their genius, and the Big Boss was going to be super impressed. Chapter 7 Is it time for an Encounter? They had been sleeping for a short time, Pepe had been on guard as they had agreed to the rotation of guard duty. And he had fallen asleep, he had not meant to fall asleep it just happened. He woke to a sound he could not identify. ¡°Crud I fell asleep. What was that?¡± ¡°What was what?¡± Erin had woken up when he had heard Pepe. ¡°Some noise came from that direction.¡± He pointed in the direction of the cart. It was not far but more than a few steps away from them. They made their way over to the cart and saw the flap was not covering it. They looked in and saw some empty spots, they had been robbed. ¡°Ah crap, of course it was on my watch.¡± They went over to wake the others. Everyone was tired and half-awake as the Erin and Pepe explained the situation. Miss Tebesa went over to check her things and came back to let them know what had been taken. ¡°Looks like we have to find them.¡± She nodded, ¡°I¡¯m sorry it would probably be best if we went now, even though it is dark with the moon out there is sufficient light to see by.¡± Again, their lack of forethought had caught them with their pants down. They were not ready to go searching in the night, no torches or anything. They were not very good adventurers it seemed. They had to improvise some torches from branches which took time. Time that the culprit had to get further away. It had been decided that Pepe would stay behind to protect Miss Tebesa, even though he was the one that had lost the items he would not be coming. Manuel smacked the back of Pepe¡¯s head on the way out, it was late, and they were cranky about having to get up in the middle of the night. Erin took the lead, his training was much more in line with this task, his tracking skills would come in handy. He soon found a trail of broken branches a small dirty rag from whoever had taken the items. Whoever they were, were moving fast trying to get away with their spoils. The group was moving but not fast enough, Manuel was making noise like a bull in a fine China shop. Bobby and Josh were hampered by their robes and did not move fast enough either. Erin pointed them in a general direction and that he would leave signs of his passing. He sprinted ahead making very little noise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They followed the signs that were left behind for them. Thirty minutes later, Erin stopped them, coming out of the dark giving the rest of a group a scare, he put his finger to his mouth in a motion to quite his teammates. ¡°What is going on?¡± This was said in low voices as they came together. ¡°I think I found them.¡± ¡°Them? It¡¯s a group.¡± They made their way to the group walking very slowly and with no torch as they did not want to give themselves away. This was starting to look like it might end in a fight with whatever they were going to find. They investigated a small clearing, there were dirty looking tents, and pale looking creatures. They were there looking through the items they had stolen. One was larger than the rest the others giving this one room, a smaller one reached out to grab something. The leader back handed the smaller one sending it flying a few feet and snarled. The boys backed away and looked at each other, ¡°Um what are those things?¡±
¡°Processing request¡­ Processing Complete¡± Error Unable to Comply! Monster Type: Unknown Abilities: Unknown Difficulty Level: Low to Medium Recommendation: Due to incomplete compendium of monsters this node is unable to give a recommendation.
¡°Looks like Maria won¡¯t be able to help on this one.¡± Manuel looked at his friends, ¡°Looks like we don¡¯t have a choice, we need to get those items back. [Reinforce].¡± They moved out of the clearing making little to no noise. The creatures were busy looking at what they had stolen and did not notice the group as they approached. ¡°[Mark for Death]¡± Erin picked one of the creatures and cast the spell on him.
[Mark for Death] ¨C Creature1 marked, damage increase on first shot, if critical will take half its HP.
The leader stopped what he was doing and raised its head sniffing around and looked to his right and saw the group. It snarled and made gestures to its underlings, roaring its displeasure at the invading group. ¡°[Blinding Light]¡± Bobby did not have many offensive spells, but he could do this. The creatures roared and covered their eyes.
[Blinding Light]: creatures temporarily blind and night vision to reduce by 75% for 120 seconds.
¡°[Taunt]¡± At this the creatures roared as they got part of their sight back and ran at Manuel. Joshed moved to attack, ¡°[Fireball]¡± the creature to the left of the leader went flying back not moving.
Fireball critical hit. Creature 1 of 5 defeated.
¡°[Bullseye]¡± Erin let his arrow fly, the arrow hit the creature to the right of the leader, it stumbled with an arrow sticking out of its shoulder.
[Bullseye] & [Mark for Death] consumed, critical hit miss, 25% of creatures HP taken.
Three creatures had reached Manuel including the leader. The one with the arrow had turned to Erin and moved slowly wary due to his injury. He aimed again and another arrow went flying, this time the arrow hit the creature on the leg further slowing it down. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Additional 25% of HP taken. 20/40 HP
The other creatures wailing at Manuel with their fist, he was able to block with his shield and kept the others back with this sword. The leader getting past his shield landed a solid hit on Manuel sending him flying backwards. That hurt, he had no time to worry about that, he saw the creatures incoming, had to get up make sure they continued to pay attention to him.
Manuel has received damage, 40/54 HP
Able to recover his feet before the next blow came from the leader, blocking it with his shield, ¡°[Counter]!¡± he slashed at the leader, but the creature jumped back, his lackey on the right taking the blunt of the hit. The creature hurt backed up momentarily.
[Counter] damage missed it¡¯s intended target, opportunity damage to secondary target. 32/40 HP
While Manuel was busy defending himself his comrades were working on the lone creature. Erin had been moving around the field to keep the creature of track. Casting ¡°[Aim]¡± and knocking an arrow while Josh cast his own spell, ¡°[Thunderbolt]¡± both releasing at the same time. Both the Thunderbolt and Arrow hit at the same time sending the creature flying into one of the dirty tents.
[Aim] + [Thunderbolt] have caused massive damage. Creatures defeated 2/5.
At this the friends turned to their tank and saw him struggling with the three remaining creatures. The leader was the biggest problem each blow from its fist would push Manuel back. The other smaller creatures the one on the right moving slower due to the gash it had received and the one on the left harrying Manuel any chance it could. Before them the smaller creature on the left landed a blow to Manuel¡¯s sword arm. A scream came from his mouth.
Manuel has received damage, 30/54 HP
Erin sent another arrow flying hitting the hurt creature on the right. This was followed by Josh¡¯s spells hitting the creature as well. But it took time to do this, took time for Erin to knock that arrow, pull, aim, then release. It took time for Josh to cast his spells, too much time. It could all go so wrong, one of them could get hurt like Manuel. Bobby had been frozen because of the situation, he saw his friends fighting the creatures, but he was too scared to do anything beyond casting his Blinding spell. He felt like he could not contribute to the fight, it was frustrating. He heard Manuel scream, he had to do something, ¡°[Heal]¡± raised his staff pointing it at Manuel.
[Heal] Manuel has recovered health ¨¤ 39/54 HP
He cast it again and then again. Saw that his friend¡¯s health went up each time he cast it. He felt better after doing this, being able to move once again. He was still afraid, his friends screaming had frightened and shocked him into action. Manuel was able to recover thanks to Bobby¡¯s healing, he had been afraid after receiving the hit, it felt like bone breaking, he had heard a crunch. And the pain was unbelievable, when Regi said they could feel pain he had not lied. But his friends were there, he was not alone, they would come through, and he in return would make sure that these creatures only attacked him. He slashed the creature that the other had shot dispatching him. They all saw the message that three out of the five creatures were dead. The last two were still standing the leader and most dangerous saw his lackeys dispatched and his hits felt stronger. Manuel continued to hold their attention recasting his owns special abilities to keep them on him. The fight continued, with the group firing on the creatures and the leader, but the leader was fast, he would dodge left, right, then back. The team holding back in fear of hitting Manuel was careful with the last two. They moved trying to get a good angle before trying again. Josh saw an opening and he took it. ¡°[Fireball]!¡± It went flying, the leader its intended target, at the last second grabbed his underling using it as a shield, the creature took the brunt of the hit. It threw it to the side and continued to attack Manuel. Erin saw the creature starting to get up and he shot it. It did not rise again. He turned to see Manuel swinging his sword and trying to hit the leader. It jumped back looked around and howled seeing that all his kind were now gone.
Warning! Warning! Warning! Leader has gone [Berserk]. [Berserk] ¨C seeing his brethren killed has driven him mad and will not rest until your party is dead. Affects: damage increase.
This was bad, they had to take him down and fast. Every second they wasted meant this creature could hurt them, even kill them. Manuel would not let his friends get hurt, ¡°[Reinforce][Wall][Taunt]!¡± The creature looked at Manuel murder in its eyes. ¡°That¡¯s right come at me, I¡¯m the one you want!¡± The creature charged, Manuel was ready and held his ground as the creature pushed and wailed at him with his fist. Every hit felt like a three-hundred-pound lineman was hitting him, pushing him back slowly but surely. The creature saw that it was not gaining any ground and backed off. Manuel was tired, so tired, he could feel sweat all over and he hurt. But he would hold his ground. The creature even through the rage it had an inkling of intelligence, it turned and started to charge at Josh. Manuel saw its intention and was ready. ¡°No, you don¡¯t! [Hamstring]!¡± Manuel cut at its legs and a gash opened. The creature was slowed and turned to face Manuel once again. ¡°[Shield Slam]!¡± It went stumbling back a few feet. Josh had felt an alarm go off as the creature charged, he was not just scared but terrified of this thing. He heard Bobby scream his name, ¡°Josh!¡± But he had no time to answer his friend. If Manuel had not done what he did Josh would have been badly hurt. They needed to finish this and now. He pointed his wand at the abomination and fired away, ¡°[Fireball][Fireball][Fireball].¡± In rapid succession they flew at the creature. The first hit the creature and it stumbled than the second struck, the third missed as it got its footing and dodged it. They did not give the creature time to regroup, behind Josh¡¯s spells arrow after arrow came. An arrow hit the creature in the leg, one in the upper arm and one in the side. The creature had burn damage and arrows sticking out of it, but it was not down.
Enemy Leader has taken massive damage 75% health dropped.
With all the damage it had taken it was moving slower, but to say that it was no longer a threat would be to sign their own death warrants. It continued to attack Manuel even with more ferocity. How could the thing still be moving after all that? ¡°Come on, you can do better than that! I¡¯m the one you want! [Taunt]!¡± Manuel needed to hold the creature; they were so close to defeating it. ¡°Come on guys we got this! Let¡¯s end it!¡± This gave them a boost in morale that was sorely needed. Yes, they could do it, it was time to end this thing and recover the stolen items. Erin buffed himself before taking aim again, ¡°[Marksman][Bullseye]¡± let loose and let his arrow fly. It flew true, the creature turning his head at the last minute, the arrow impaling its eye. The head snapped back, and the creature collapsed. It was finally over they had won.
Congratulation''s!!! You have defeated the thieves and regained the stolen items. Currency acquired: 1G 4S 10C Ding* LV UP! LV increase to LV3 By increasing to LV3 you have gained 2 STAT Points
They collapsed where they stood, exhausted from the fight. This was going to be hard; they had been hurt, they had been scared and it was not like a video game at all, the last fight had been easy in comparison to this one. The creatures before their eyes started to disintegrate. In seconds they were gone, the bodies and blood all gone. The leader was the last one to disappear, where he had been only a bag remained. The battle had been merely ten minutes even though to the participants it felt like an eternity. With the adrenaline now gone they felt exhausted. Bobby looked in on Manuel and cast another healing spell on him and brought him up to full health. Manuel now back normal felt a little stiff and sore from the fight. They looked in the tents and found mostly junk, except for the last one that was a little bigger, likely the leaders. Inside they found some items, a ring, and an amulet and another small bag with money. This was the life of an adventurer it was not going to be easy. They had not signed up for this, well in a sense they had but they were not really given a choice. Chapter 8 On the Road Again! Morning had come and they were not eager to get up and continue this journey. The Beds at the inn were nice and comfortable the ground they had slept on not so much. They felt stiff from the hard ground and the previous night¡¯s fight so this is what old people felt like daily. Even though they did not want to get up they did each one went and took care of their business broke down the camp and set out for the next leg of the trip. Merely an hour in they ran into a problem. There was a tree blocking their way. Two men were sitting on said tree ¡°Hello there! We are here collecting tolls for road repairs if you would be so kind as to leave your valuables we would appreciate it.¡± Brigands really? I guess it had started this would be another encounter. Though it looked like it would be much easier than the previous one. Manuel came forward took out his sword and shield and got into his fighting stance. The rest of the group followed his example. Erin knocked an arrow ready to fight. Josh with his wand summoned a fireball ready to light them up. Erin stood behind and to the left of Manuel¡¯s with his twin daggers at the ready. Bobby began to cast a spell of protection. They were ready and they knew they had this the two on the tree looked malnourished and young as if this had been something that they had thought about that morning. As if they had skipped their chores and decided they would play at brigands instead of doing actual work. Miss Tebesa came forward and around the group she made a calming gesture with her hands. She went up to the pair and said something then showed them something. The color on their faces drained as if they were scared more so after seeing whatever she had shown them. They quickly got off the tree and bowed uttering apologies and left in quite a hurry. She turned and shrugged ¡°Must have been a misunderstanding.¡± Then to the groups surprise she picked up the down tree blocking their way and moved it to the side. She said nothing after this merely getting her cart ready. So what in the world had just happened? They had been ready to take on the brigands and now they did not have to. This person they were escorting had just done something to deflate the situation. Who was she really? They looked at each other in confusion but it was alright they did not have to fight or hurt anyone not that they even wanted to. They continued after the confusing encounter. The rest of the day went without a hitch again stopping for some quick rest along the way. They had picked up a small road going south along mid-day as the day moved on to late afternoon they came upon a house. It was weathered but well maintained smoke rose from the chimney. Behind the house could be seen small fields of some sort since it was summer the fields lay empty. Also penned in were some animals that looked like goats and sheep. Tebesa set her cart down of to the side and went up to the door and knocked. A few minutes later a woman opened the door and as she saw the visitor broke into a huge smile. She hugged her or tried as she was so much smaller than Tebesa. ¡°Hello. What are you doing here? Not that I am not glad to see you.¡± The older woman looked at Tebesa¡¯s companions ¡°You have an escort I see. Come in I was just preparing dinner I will add more since we have visitors.¡± ¡°Thank you Suse but let me put the cart up for the night. Same place as usual?¡± The other woman nodded. They were led in the table was small indicating a small group lived here. The place was sparsely furnished but kept clean. Before heading in they cleaned themselves off from dirt and dust and put their packs down just inside the door. Tebesa came in a few minutes later she put her pack down as well and went to her friend and handed over a small pouch and a jar. ¡°Wow Tebesa you shouldn¡¯t have.¡± She smelled the bag and closed her eyes ¡°Smells wonderful. Your early though I was not expecting you for a few months.¡± She put both the pouch and jar away again thanking her friend. ¡°I had an opportunity and we have adventurers in town.¡± With this she looked at the group with her and presented them to the other woman. ¡°Adventurers you say we have not seen any new adventurers for a long time. What was it like eighteen summers ago?¡± Tessa nodded at this. ¡°Since they were here I made my run early. Soon as I heard they were in town I put in the request. And lucky me they took my offer.¡± ¡°If you want to clean up we have a well out back. Let us old women catch up.¡± The boys went out to clean up as they were grimy dusty and the sweaty. They went to the indicated location around the house and saw the well. It took them a minute to figure out how to run it there was a small spigot but no hot or cold water handles to turn it on. Instead there was a lever behind it that one had to pump for the water to come out and a bucket to collect the water. They had been used to indoor plumbing in this world there may have been indoor plumbing but not in any place they had been so far. They missed being able to have hot water without the need of heating it up themselves. But the water from the well was clean and tasted wonderfully it was clear and crisp and blessedly cool. They returned to the house knocking on the on door before entering. The two women sat the small chair Tebesa sat on straining to contain the larger woman ¡°Brigands you say. What did they look like?¡± Tebesa described the two they had met on the road ¡°Those idiots. Brigands indeed they are both useless and about as dangerous as a one-legged gnome. Next time I see their mother I will let her know what they been up to.¡± ¡°Local youth then. That explains it they did not seem very good at what they were trying to do.¡± ¡°Hern will be sad he missed you. He and the boys are out and won¡¯t be back until tomorrow evening.¡± ¡°Too bad tell him I said hi.¡± The boys felt much better now that they were cleaner and they sat exhausted from the long walk leaning against the wall. They had been offered chairs but they had declined as they felt awkward being part of the conversation. They sat there their heads nodding off as the two friends talked at the table they heard laughter. The last thing they heard picked their interest ¡°And how is your younger brother Rotgert¡­¡± but they were too tired they fell asleep where they sat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They were woken up and told the food was ready. They crowded around the small table and ate what had been prepared. The food was nowhere near as good as what they had at the inn but it was a decent meal. They dug in and before long they felt much better with full belies and rested from their earlier nap. After the meal they felt sleep claiming them again it had been a long hard night and day and their bodies did not feel like they had enough rest. They set their sleeping bags inside the house at least they did not need to sleep outside though it might have been cooler outside. They fell asleep soon after laying their heads down. The morning came and they felt well rested and eager to finish this half of their trip Tebesa had informed them that they should reach their destination around noon. They continued and passed other farms then people on carts being pulled by something that looked like a cross between a horse and some form of lizard. Instead of fur the animal had scaly skin and hooved feet. The person on the wagon nodding at the group on foot as they passed. Other people coming out of their houses could be seen starting out their day and they waved at the passerby¡¯s. Some had carts like that of Miss Tebesa and pulled them along some going slower others faster. And the larger wagons passing them by from time to time. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The sun was near its highest point when they saw the village it was not as large as Starter Town but it was a decent size it was not protected by a wall either. Soon they had arrived at the place they had set out for; they had made it to the first half of the trip to everyone¡¯s relief. There was a small guard post of sorts where people were in line to check in they got in line behind a man they thought that was very tall but very thin. He was wearing what one would describe as some sort of coveralls and a woven hat. Their turn came to check in and Tebesa came up to the person checking people in she as usual towered over the guard. ¡°Trader Tebesa my goodness it is good to see you. You are so early.¡± The guard came out of his little hut to look at her group. ¡°Is it true? Are they?¡± He was looking closely at them with a face of wonder. ¡°Yes they are. That is why I am early. And they are not the only ones there is a large group of them in Starter Town.¡± The guard looked at her with incredulity. ¡°You don¡¯t say. This is most wonderful news but at the same time a little worrisome.¡± Since the guard had not checked them in and others were waiting you could hear others in whispers say ¡°Why is it taking so long?¡± and then ¡°Adventurers.¡± All looking at the group some with wonder others with disbelief the younger ones the latter as they had not even been born or where mere babes since the last new adventurers had been seen. ¡°Lies they can¡¯t be.¡± ¡°Well let¡¯s get you registered in and collect your fees.¡± Later they would find that any doing business in town needed to pay fees for doing said business. With this done they were waved through with the last thing they heard again ¡°Adventurers. Who would have thought I live to see this day?¡± ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Miss Tebesa thanked them and that it would be a day or two for her to conclude her business in town. They were free to explore the area and do some sightseeing if they wanted to. They went to the inn after asking about it from some of the people they ran into while looking around. The inn was small and they were not given the option for separate rooms not that they would have taken it. They paid in advance for two days as the trader had said it would take up to that long. After leaving their things they cleaned up took a few minutes to just sit and relax before going out to explore the area. They may even have an Adventurers Guild Chapter here if they were lucky. So they explored the place since it was small it did not take long for them to go from one end of the village to the other. There was not a lot to it but they did have some interesting things so they started to go into the shops they had seen in the village. One shop to their surprised was a patisserie they had various sweets cookies cakes and candy. There were so many things to choose from tarts cookies caramels macaroons crumble bars the list went on and on. Every square inch of the place had sweets in it. What they had seen through a small display window was nothing to what awaited inside. And the list of candy it went on and on and on they were in heaven. ¡°Analyzing¡­. Analysis complete would you like to know the nutritional content of the items in the store?¡± ¡°Maria no just no let us enjoy this. Just tell us we can eat it.¡± ¡°While the sugar content of the items is high, and the nutritional value is low your species will not get any negative effects. Long term effects unknow at this time.¡± Pepe ever the eating machine that he was had already grab candy and had been chewing it ¡°Hey no free samples!¡± A small but very broad female had come out from the back she wore white and a hat on top of her head. Her hands looked enormous and you would think that there was no way she could create the delicate delectable items in the store. Pepe stopped before putting another candy in his mouth ¡°Sorry. But we want to buy them specially this. I don¡¯t know what it is but I know I want more of it.¡± ¡°Oh your customers sorry sometimes I get people in here that just want free samples and don¡¯t pay. I used to do free samples back when I opened but you know how it is.¡± She left them to their shopping going in the back and bringing out more trays with sweets that she beautifully arranged for show. This place was heaven the sweet smells coming from all the things in there it was an aroma that complemented well the arrangement maximized the aroma of each item. There was the smell of chocolate or what may have passed for chocolate in this world and tartness from some and the smell of berries of different kinds as well as other fruits. They picked their favorites or at least what their eyes told them they would enjoy along with the smells. The wonderful smells made their mouth water and they were eager to try these delightful desserts. They went up to pay for what they had picked the lady telling them the total Bobby as the keeper of the purse paying her. With this done she looked at them before deciding to talk ¡°You¡¯re the adventurers aren¡¯t you? I know everyone around here and you are not my usual customers and it is early for traders to come by. So that can only mean one thing.¡± They nodded at her question. ¡°I have some request out if you could help that would be wonderful. Pass by the Guild and ask about it please.¡± She nodded to them and they made their way out. She had put the cakes in a box of sorts with designs with very pretty swirls of red and an elaborate letter that looked like an S on the side. They stood there for a minute each picking a piece of what they had bought the items were so delightful and sweet that they just stood there while the sugary confection melted in their mouths. ¡°Yummy.¡± All said simultaneously. Pepe had also gotten a large bag of whatever the candy he had been caught eating was. ¡°This stuff is like Tres Leches y caramel candy.¡± The only reason the others knew what these things were was because their family regularly would send them candy from the south and Pepe and Manuel had shared with them. ¡°Mentiroso I don¡¯t believe you. Dame.¡± ¡°No mio.¡± They started to bicker back and forth with Pepe finally giving in and letting his cousin have some. ¡°Si es cierto wow just like you said.¡± Manuel giving his cousin a thumbs up. They made their way to the store in town. Going in the store was not a big place but had some special items on display. There was a humanoid creature that was stocking shelves he turned around and they could have sworn it was the same guy as the store in Starter Town. ¡°Welcome. Welcome, can I interest you in something. We have this nifty multi-tool that we give away with every purchase as well as this great hat.¡± The voice was not the same though but they could swear he was related to the guy in Starter Town. And he peddled the multi-tool like if it was a big deal. ¡°Do we know you?¡± Bobby said with the other nodding. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I have not seen you here before.¡± There was something fishy about this but they did not know what it was. ¡°So anything catches your eye?¡± They shook their heads and that they would let him know. ¡°Here at your service.¡± The store owner went back to restocking some shelves. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°That was so weird they have to be brothers or cousins or something. No way they are not related.¡± Josh shook his head as they walked it took a few minutes to get to the Guild. They entered the building like the others not very big. There was only what looked like a German Shepard in a sweater vest similar in design to what Miss Hoysver wore. They did not see anyone else inside so they were not sure who to talk to. They went up to the desk and the dog opened its mouth ¡°Yes? How can I help you?¡± The voice very soft but refined. ¡°Um¡­¡± Erin looked down at the person well it had to be person right it talked? ¡°We are looking for quest seems like you have some on your board.¡± There were papers and request stuck on the board behind the desk. ¡°Guild members I see. Yes of course we have quest. Been a while out of practice.¡± He got up on his hind legs it was strange to see him walk like that. It got behind the desk and looked at them checking the guild emblem the A with the dash on it. He picked up a pair of spectacles and put it at the end of his snout ¡°Lower level I see yes we have a few you could do. The usuals fetch quest some deliver quest a creature quest and an exploration quest that are a little bit higher.¡± He reached behind him and laid the quest on the desk in front of them. ¡°Oh look there¡¯s the one for the Patisserie we need to do that one. It¡¯s a delivery quest we can probably split up and get it done quick.¡± Pepe always thinking about food. But they nodded they really enjoyed the sweets. They would take two fetch quests and some delivery ones as well and decided on the exploration quest over the creature quest. The quest they had not picked got put back on the board. ¡°Excellent choices let me check you into our system party name?¡± They told him the guild manager moved over to a stone and muttered a few words. There was what looked like a printer it was a printer of a magical sort with a pen that started to move and print out information on paper. ¡°Looks like all is in order your registration came through with no problems. Your quests have been recorded please return upon completion for your rewards.¡± They left with their quest tokens ready to do whatever they needed. The Patisserie delivery quest required them to go to one of the farm¡¯s close to town to deliver sweets and a cake for a birthday party. It was more a solo quest but it was a large order so two of them ended up going. The other three took care of other deliveries in town. The fetch quest in similar nature were mundane and they got those knocked out quickly. The rewards for the quest were a coupon for twenty percent off all purchase from the Patisserie for three months and a subscription to Sweets a monthly scroll with articles and recipes by the owner of the Patisserie. The others were monetary rewards and they even got a multitool out of doing a quest for the store owner which they still had no clue how it functioned.
Chapter 9 The Cave of Wonders or was it the Cave of Wonderings? They had completed the simple quest and were ready for the Exploration quest. It read as follows:
Exploration Quest Long, long ago in a dungeon far, far away¡­. Wait that has been overdone. It was and dark stormy night¡­. That one too. Dang it You my Dimond in the Rough yo¡­. No already taken. So need you to go explore this cave alright and report what you see and if you happen to find anything just bring it to me. Explore don¡¯t get killed and bring me what you find. Easy right? Thanks!
Wow thought Josh a lazy quest giver and writer on that one but they had signed up for it so they went about doing what was asked of them. The cave was an hour away from town and to the west. The entrance was blocked off with a rope and a warning sign on it. The warning read ¡®Beware all ye who enter here. Certain Death awaits!¡¯ Pepe the Intrepid had not even paid attention to the sign. Instead of reading it he had gone under the rope and was ready to head in when he did not hear any footsteps behind him he turned around looking at his friends ¡°What?¡± ¡°Primo did you read the sign?¡± His cousin shaking his head ¡°That¡¯s why we got into all sorts of problems back in Texas.¡± ¡°We did sign up to do the quest so I guess we should go ahead just be careful alright.¡± Bobby did not really want to do another encounter quite yet; he was still somewhat shaken from the previous one. They went under the rope and Josh cast a spell as it was dark and after only a few feet no light but the entrance light could be seen. ¡°[Light Orb]¡± it was a small light that he had in his hand and provided about three feet of light ahead and behind them. Not much but enough to see by. They made their way down and down there was nothing at the entrance but the sign and the rope and further in there were some spiders webs but nothing more. Continuing they came to a fork they picked the left fork after going the light from the entrance of the tunnel was no longer visible. Josh¡¯s light providing only a small orb of light around them helped but not much. They continued; the sounds started after walking for ten minutes. There were small scratch sounds as if rats or other small rodents were scratching the walls they moved their light left and right but found no rats in sight. A few steps more and they heard sliding of something and then one of them yelped as he had felt something. ¡°Hey something touched my leg!¡± Erin¡¯s voice echoing in the dark cave. A small wind picked up inside they could feel it coming from the direction ahead of them the smell of something rotting came with the wind. The smell of rot was making them gag and they continued as they needed to find out what was there and report it. As they walked they could see a light blue light ahead of them it seemed like an entrance to another section of the cave the smell was coming from there as well. They continued to walk to the area slowing as they made it to the entrance. They extinguished the light spell and investigated the chamber walking in slowly. It was mostly empty in the center of the room lay a large animal corpse the smell came from this dead thing. There was also a nest of sorts and inside an egg a large gold colored egg. Nothing else was around and there was no entrance that would offshoot deeper in. ¡°Are we taking it?¡± Everyone looked over at Pepe. ¡°Why in the world would we take it? What if the mom shows up?¡± Erin did not want to fight a pist off mother. ¡°Well, the quest did say bring back whatever you find. And this covers the whatever.¡± They did not like it but Pepe had a point. They picked up the Egg and stashed it Erin''s packs. It was just big enough to fit, when they picked up the egg everything went wrong. Seconds after picking up the Egg they heard gears moving. They were far enough from the entrance that they had no way of making it out in time as a gate came down trapping them inside the cavern. ¡°I knew it! We¡¯ve seen this movie a thousand times chicos never listen to Pepe. You know how much trouble he got me into back in Texas?¡± ¡°Oy primo that hurts! It was just poquito.¡± Smiling while remembering the mischief they had gotten into. ¡°Should be a way out of here. Look around.¡± Josh started to head for the blocked entrance. After minutes of looking, they stopped they had not found nothing. ¡°These bars aren''t going to budge unless someone has a torch? And I don¡¯t think my spells are going to do much to it pretty tick stuff. But I can try.¡± The others nodded to his suggestion. He prepared himself and took out his wand. ¡°[Fireball]!¡± He let it fly against the steel bars as soon as it touched the bars it was snuffed out. Josh shrugged at his friends; they would need to find another way. They were all disappointed about the results how where they going to get out? The wind they had felt earlier picked up again. But where was it coming from? It took another minute for them to find the source it was coming from behind one of the walls. Walls that they though were solid as they got closer they could feel a draft from the bottom of the wall. They started to feel around the bottom and found that at the bottom was soft dirt they dug and dug and after working for a long time they were through. The other side was pitch black Josh cast his spell again illuminating the place they jumped back at what they saw. On the ground sat a skeleton it had what at one point could have been clothes now only rags. A rusted shield a sword and some armor pieces were next to him. Underneath the armor a pack could also be seen. ¡°Ooh this is getting interesting!¡± Pepe was excited the rest just shook their heads. Here they were risking their lives and Pepe was excited? He was having fun, the others not so much. Bobby looked at the pack picked it up the leather breaking as he tried to lift it. Instead he removed what was inside to place in his pack. They would look at whatever it was if they made it out ¡°Will just need to report this and hand over what we found.¡± They left the skeleton and the rest of its belongings behind needing to find a way out of this place. They walked and walked but saw nothing else. Left, right, left, left, right and then they stopped as they saw another skeleton. As they got close they saw it was the same skeleton as before. Somehow they had gone full circle but that was not possible. ¡°Hey how? How did we end up back here? That makes no sense. Maybe we missed something?¡± That had to be it. Josh had been in the center with the rest close by and behind him. ¡°Let¡¯s try this again one of you keep a hand on one wall and another on the opposite wall.¡± They moved like that for a little while before Manuel called a stop ¡°I feel something well I don¡¯t feel anything it¡¯s more of an entrance I think.¡± He had been on the right. Josh moved the light to the right next to where Manuel was and shined it forward seeing that just as Manuel had said it seemed to be a branching tunnel. ¡°Alright we do the same thing Manuel keeps your hand on the right Bobby you keep it on the left.¡± They continued like this finding other tunnel of shoots some on the right and others on the left. Some they needed to backtrack as they were dead ends but they were able to make progress and they had not returned to their starting point. After what felt like hours but it might have been less as being in the dark the passage of time played tricks on the mind the walls felt different. ¡°Hold on. Josh can you come over here please and point your light.¡± Josh made his way over to Bobby and pointed his light around him. The wall looked different it looked more uniform no longer was it cave wall but shaped rock more like walls. The hand of something had shaped this rock with tools Josh made his way over to Manuel on the left and it was the same on that side. They walked on after more walking and little change they made it to a larger room. Instead of a narrow walkway the walls expanded left and right at an angle. The rest stood at the entrance waiting. Josh made his way around the perimeter of the room his friends looking on his bubble of light. He noticed what looked like some form of shaped rock sticking out of the wall in it some dark liquid if he would guess it was oil. ¡°I think there are some lamps in here. Erin can you come light it please?¡± They had learned a little about going into something like this and they had brought something that resembled matches from the store before setting out on the quest. Were they prepared for everything? No not really but they learned from their mistakes and brought what they thought they might need. ¡°Hold on.¡± Josh could hear his friend walking over to him he came into view in the circle of light. He was then rummaging around his bag before he brought out something he struck it once twice on the third time a spark went flying into the substance. The thing caught fire a bright light coming on then another and other they shielded their eyes as it was much brighter in the total darkness they had been in it was too much for their eyes. It took them a few minutes to let their eyes adjust to the bright light. What they saw amazed them. Sitting opposite the entrance yet another corpse the corpse wrapped in bindings now a desiccated mummy. It must have been a ruler of some sort buried here long ago. They approached the throne slowly for that is what it was sitting on. A pedestal in front of the throne with an idol upon it covered in dust. The mummies arms crossed at the chest a golden scepter in one hand and whatever it had held in the other nothing remained of it. ¡°And here I am with my phone at home no fair this is the best maze I been in.¡± Pepe ever the optimist. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Pepe if you touch anything I will kill you before something else does.¡± Manuel was not going to fight some undead mummy for his cousin craziness. ¡°I was not going to touch anything!¡± As his arm and hand came down he looked at his hand ¡°Ok sorry I can¡¯t help it this is so freaking cool!¡± ¡°Not going to be cool when this thing puts a curse on you and haunts you forever or it eats you and then the rest of us.¡± An exasperated Bobby was not happy with the situation. Josh did not have time for all of this ¡°Alright settle down everyone. We need to figure out what we need to do here.¡± On the alter the idol looked like a bird of some kind it was hard to make out but it stood there waiting. Waiting for something what that something was they would need to figure out. They looked around the alter and saw holes on the different sides. After seeing this they paid closer attention to the whole room. There were small holes in the walls as if something was missing. ¡°Seems like we have a puzzle of some kind going on. Could be wrong but I have no other ideas.¡± Josh pointed at the holes he had seen. They looked at everything around them the light of the room spilling outside and illuminating the wall of the passage they had walked through. On those wall pictograms were drawn. Bobby and Erin went out into the corridor to examine the walls while Manuel and Pepe looked at the walls as well as the ceiling in the room for clues. Looking closely they saw what appeared to be small pictures around them they had not paid any attention to this before. Erin called them from out in the hallway. ¡°Guys come see this.¡± The other three went outside joining Bobby and Erin. They were looking at the drawings on the walls which the light had not shown as not enough light was available as they walked. Now the light from the chamber was sufficient to see the drawings. Erin was touching one of the drawings ¡°This looks like our friend in there. I think it is telling a story but it is difficult to decipher. Far as I can gather some great calamity happened and the leader was able to do something to help. He called another man; I am not sure what this figure means but it is different than the leader and this other person did something and opened a door and through that door came help? It¡¯s faded so not sure who or what helped.¡± The rest of his friends looked at Erin opened mouthed. Manuel was the first to say something ¡°How in the world do you know all that it just looks like weird stick figures and squiggly symbols to me.¡± A very embarrassed Erin color rising to his cheeks told them about his report in history class that he had done it had been on Egyptian Hieroglyphics. And these looked similar not exactly but they were a form of pictogram or hieroglyphic that he had been able to decipher. ¡°Thanks Erin I don¡¯t know how it helps us but maybe you can tell from the other wall there seems to be similar drawings on it.¡± Erin took a closer look at the opposite wall. He was quiet studying it after a few minutes of intense concentration he looked at his friends ¡°I think I have it. Won¡¯t bother you with an explanation lets head back into the room.¡± Erin went to the alter examined everything about it. Then looked at the idol standing atop the alter went around it one way then the other. Looked at one wall then the next went to stand at the center of the room and turned around to each of the four walls. Returned to the alter and looked at his friends ¡°I know we told Pepe not to touch anything but well I need to touch the idol.¡± Josh was a little worried about this but nodded ¡°Everyone let¡¯s get ready we don¡¯t know what is going to happen.¡± Manuel took out his sword and shield ready for anything Josh raised his wand Bobby started to cast a protection spell on the team Pepe had his twin daggers out at the ready. Erin slowly raised his hands to touch the idol and upon touching it waited, waited some more making sure nothing was going to happen. After waiting for a few heart beats he turned the idol on the alter and heard a click. He attempted to continue turning but the idol would not budge any further. He looked down to see that a secret compartment had opened at the base of the alter. ¡°I think we are clear come look something opened back here.¡± Josh was the only one that moved the others staying in their positions until the ¡®all clear¡¯ from Josh. He and Erin looked and then proceeded to open the compartment inside there were a lot of different of different shaped blocks ¡°Guys I think we found our missing pieces. Come help so we can put them in the places they belong.¡± With all clear they put their weapons away and came over. Josh passed each one of them different pieces and told them to go look around the room and see if they fit in the holes they had found earlier. It took some time to get the pieces on the walls as they finished the first wall another click was heard. They moved on to the next wall and similar upon finding the last piece another click. They did these two more times getting a click each time. Erin and Josh worked on the alter placing the pieces as they found them. It was like a jigsaw puzzle and there were a lot of pieces to this puzzle. The other three returned to them with some left over pieces that they handed back to Josh. It took a few minutes to place the pieces there was one left and Erin had it in his hand. He tried to give it to Josh but Josh shook his head ¡°No you figured it out we be stuck here for sure if you were not here. You place the last piece.¡± Erin raised his hand to place the last piece held his breath as it clicked into place. One last click from behind a wall was heard. Then to everyone¡¯s surprise the throne began to move and slide along the wall. They had found a secret passage hopefully it was the way out. They waited for the throne to stop moving before looking. It was a passage as they had guessed. The light of the chamber went in a way but then it was dark again. Joshed cast his spell again and held the ball of light on his hand ready to move on. They went single file Josh in front with his light followed by Bobby Erin Pepe and finally Manuel. As Pepe was going in he looked at the mummy raised his hand and was about to grab the scepter his cousins stopping him before he could grab it. ¡°No just no. I don¡¯t want this place falling on us.¡± Pepe nodded sadly; he could not help himself. Their friends had moved on and the orb of light was receding they needed to catch up with one last look Pepe and Manuel sped up and caught up to their other friends. They got in line and moved as one down the corridor. They did not run into any more surprises lucky for them it still took a lot longer than they thought it would take to find the exit. They got lost and ended up going in a circle once there was another large chamber but it was just natural rock formations some sticking from the ceiling of the cave stalagmites and Stalactites though if you asked the group they did not know which one was which. They walked and walked finally getting to what they thought was a dead end they could go no further. The looked around Josh pointing his light at the wall they had reached. The wall for that is what it was looked like it was worked it did not have the natural feel to it as the other walls had. As they examined the wall there seemed to be an outline as if it was a door and if it was a door there was a way to open it. ¡°This maybe it boys lets fine a way to open this.¡± Since Erin had figured out the puzzle room they looked at him. ¡°I can try.¡± Along with Josh they looked at the wall carefully examining every inch that they could. Erin kept going then stopped and backed up ¡°Can you shine your light here.¡± He pointed at a spot and Josh moved his hand closer. There was something different about the area Josh reached out and felt the wall and pushed. They heard the grinding of rocks as the wall opened ever so slowly the noise was loud as they had been in utter silence inside the cave. It took time for the large piece of wall to open. They stepped through and continued walking they made it to a fork and to their relief they saw the light from the entrance. They had made it out alive their steps quickened as they made their way to the entrance. They stopped and took a long breath of the fresh air in the cave the air felt stale. They saw that it was now late afternoon darkness would come soon so they would need to hurry back to Avadur.
Congratulations! You have survived the Cave of Wonderings you have leveled up!
Josh Lv 3 XP: 15%
Pepe Lv 2 XP: 65%
Manuel Lv 3 XP: 15%
Erin Lv 3 XP: 15%
Bobby Lv 3 XP: 15%
Turn in quest at Adventurers Guild and collect your rewards. Lv2 grants 2 STAT points. Lv3 grants 1 STAT point. Please distribute your STAT points at your leisure.
¡°Yes Lv2! Too bad I was not able to help with the fight I could have been Lv3 already like you guys.¡± Pepe was still mad about that whole thing even though his friends told him he should not be. That was Pepe for you miss certain death and he was mad about it. The others were too tired to celebrate gaining a level they just wanted to make it back to Avadur. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They made it back to Avadur with minutes to spare since Miss Tebesa had paid their fees the check in guard just waved them through. They stopped at the Guild Hall to turn in the quest. Guild Manager Dog was working on paperwork because it does not matter what world you are in there is always paperwork. He had his round glasses at the end of his snout, and he was writing something. He looked up as they came in ¡°Welcome back did everything go well?¡± They proceeded to tell him everything that had happened in the labyrinth of a dungeon they ended up in. He nodded to some of the things they said and wrote down things as they started to explain them. Ask a few questions here and there for his report ¡°Alright well let me stop you before you go into too much detail the Quest giver will need you to tell explain everything that you saw and did. Let me bring it up and see who put the request in.¡± He turned around and rummage through a filling cabinet. It was interesting to see him do it as his paws were not hands yet he managed to still do his job. He found what he was looking for took out a piece of paper and examined it shaking his head as he finished, he put it away ¡°ah I am sorry about all you went through but it was a request, and you fulfilled the request to the letter it seems to me. The requester¡¯s name is Professor Ilosia of the Archeologist Guild he is a bit on the lazy side hence the blurb in the quest.¡± He gave them directions to his office building. ¡°Thank you, guild manager. Will go see him now.¡± Erin took the lead, and they made their way to this Professor bloke. He got to the small building he saw a sign hanging to the left of the door it was colored green and it looked like it had a crossed hammer pick and maybe a magnifying glass, but he was not sure. Erin liked history so this was a fun trip for him he knocked then pushed the door open when someone on the other side said come in. ¡°Hello Professor Ilosia?¡± Erin saw a small man that nodded he had long pointy ears that stuck to the sides instead of up. There was not a wisp of hair on top of his head, and he only had a small white beard and wore tick goggle looking glasses. His outfit was a khaki-colored button up shirt and he wore same-colored shorts by the looks of things as it the bottom of the shorts just made it past his knees. The office itself was a bit messy scrolls everywhere some items on top of the desk that Erin could not identify there was a small hammer some small chisels and some brushes. ¡°The adventurers how exciting! You went and fulfilled my request, yes? How exciting tell me what you found?¡± He spoke fast and his voice was a little raspy, but you could hear the clear excitement in his voice. Erin saw him rub his hands together eager to talk to them. ¡°Professor yes it was interesting to say the least.¡± His friends nodded at this. They proceeded to tell him about the place and everything about their little adventure and what they found. Finally, they took out the egg. ¡°Oh, look at that. I do not recognize it, but I will send my colleagues a description. Please bring it to my shop in the back and we can measure and take notes on it.¡± Erin was the only one that went with him the rest waited in the front of the small office. Erin followed him to the back carefully carrying the egg it was not extremely heavy and it seemed that the shell was very strong, but you never knew dropping it might break it. Erin looked at the shop it was much more organized than the front office. The tools were very particularly placed it had to of been someone else that had organized the shop. ¡°Please place it here.¡± The professor pointed at the center of the table off to the sides the tools lay and apposite that a lamp and some magnifying glasses. Erin placed it were indicated and very carefully the egg staid put where he placed it. The professor started to take measurements of the egg with wooden calipers, picking it up and placing it on a scale. The whole-time taking notes about the egg and writing it down in very neat script, ¡°Alright all done, please keep the egg and I will contact you when my colleagues get back to me.¡± They returned to the front office. They settled on the reward and the boys returned to the inn for the night. Erin unsure of what he was going to do with the egg. He kept it in his pack as he felt that with him it would be safest. Unbeknownst to Erin the creature growing inside was starting to move. It now had the energy and emotions of another being keeping it warm, something that had not happened for a long time. And the creature was happy with this energy and the emotions that came off the young man. Chapter 10 Let鈥檚 Get Ready to Dungeon Pepe was eager to get up the next morning. He had slept restlessly, turning this way and that, while he slept poorly, he felt perfectly fine when morning came. He was full of energy, everything that had happened so far was just plain exciting to him. He thought about his family about his home, even about his brother but it was in the back of his head. He missed them terribly, especially his moms cooking. He wanted to see what other adventures this new world offered, he wanted to go into that dungeon, the one that the quest giver back in Starter Town had mentioned. The exploration one was ok he guessed, but other than some weird noises, some puzzles it had been boring. The egg they found had been alright, but it was Erin¡¯s and that was fine with Pepe, he had no interest in raising chickens like his Abuela and Abuelo did. The mummy room though, he wanted to explore everything in there, and he wanted that scepter. The thing was just cool, I mean why leave it there, when they could have brought it? He looked around the room, everyone was still asleep, it was still somewhat dark outside but it was starting to get light, the sun would be up soon. Bobby was still asleep, and that guy woke up early every time, guess he might be dead tired from the previous day. He got up slowly so he would not wake anyone, got dressed and made his way downstairs. The Innkeeper was up and about cleaning around the common room area, there were a few tables, some chairs, and a small fireplace. He looked up at Pepe and nodded, the man did not say much at all, a very quiet man that innkeeper. That was just fine, he did not need to talk to him. He sat down and nodded at the innkeeper. They did not have a big verity of food available, normally everyone got the one thing that was being cooked. He brought out food, Pepe looked at it and it did not look appetizing, but at least it was sweet when he tasted it. It was perfectly fine as a simple breakfast went, the food had the consistency of oatmeal, while it did not exactly taste like oatmeal it was edible. He noticed that it was much brighter outside now, so he decided on a walk to get rid of this energy he felt. Outside there were already people around, cleaning the outside of their little stores, he saw one sweeping the front, and another cleaning a window just regular life things. He made his away over to the Patisserie, he could do with one of their wonderful sweet breads he had seen on their last visit. The walk was short, and he nodded to those he saw or said good morning to them if they were so inclined to speak. There were a few customers at the Patisserie some early workers getting their morning treat. Miss Tebesa was one of them, she saw Pepe and nodded, he got up to the counter and asked for the sweet bread. ¡°Hello young one, have you been enjoying this little place of ours?¡± She handed him the order, with a smile. He was still amazed that she could create such wonders as big as her hands were, the detail on the sweets so delicate. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am I really like the place, very nice people and it seems like plenty to do around here.¡± And it was true, the quest seemed to be plentiful, and it would keep them busy if they stayed. He left as other customers had come in and were waiting in line. Miss Tebesa was outside when he came out the door. ¡°Pepe, you''re up early, a little wrestles? Are you ready to head back? We leave as soon as I finish up some last-minute deals.¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am ready to go, I am full of energy and ready to return.¡± He was not exactly surprised that she had noticed, it seemed she was very observant, they had not asked about her being the guards sister. He found that fact very interesting, what had she not told them? This just made him more curious and decided to ask, the rest would shush him if they were around, ¡°So you and Guard Rotgert are brother and sister.¡± He left it at that. ¡°He is my younger brother. He used to be a little runt as a little kid and look at him now. We are so proud of him.¡± He could not believe it; the guard was huge, and when she said ''we'' what did she mean. They really had not thought to ask about anyone''s life, they thought they would figure out how to get back home then leave. She had to be pulling his leg thought about the runt statement. ¡°That is amazing, he is so big. Were you ever a guard?¡± He did not want to just come out and say it, but she had to be. ¡°Well for a time, but I really wanted to become a merchant, and here I am.¡± It was just obvious now that he thought about it. This lady could handle herself, why she wanted to hire them was beyond him. But he was not going to complaint they would be getting paid. He had eaten his sweet bread; they said their goodbyes and he headed back to the Inn. He had to tell the others to get ready as he was eager to get on the road. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He arrived back in their rooms and Bobby was up and dressed, Erin had just gotten up and was sitting on his bed. Josh and his cousin still had their eyes closed; Manuel was even snoring. He poked at his cousin, he only adjusted himself and kept on sleeping. He poked him again, he opened his eyes looked at his cousin and gave him the look. The ''look'' was always there in the morning with Manuel especially for his cousin, which had been a thing their whole lives. Pepe backed away his hands up. He looked over at Josh, his eyes open, but you could see he was not ready to get up. Groaning he did anyways, looked at his friends and saw some of them up and ready to start the day. Pepe sat down on his bed took out his daggers and proceeded to clean them with the kit he always had in his pack allowing the rest time to get ready. Finally, all were ready, and he put his things away, everyone had their packs ready they knew today they would start their trip back to Starter Town. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pepe was hoping from one foot to another, practicing some of his moves as he waited. The rest just sat waiting, not sure why he was so eager to go. Sure they also felt like getting back to Starter Town but Pepe looked like he had an abundance of energy this morning. Miss Tebesa her cart behind nodded that she was ready to go, the cart looked full as it was stacked high, Pepe wondered what kind of things she had bought. It did not mater he was ready to go, so they needed to go. They formed around the merchant as before, the short walk to the entrance of town took mere minutes. They stopped at the guard post, and she had to pay some fees on the way out, too many fees thought Pepe. He would make a terrible merchant, just more unnecessary things to do. Bobby would probably like this merchant lifestyle, but it was not for Pepe, not exciting enough. They walk the road leading north, he looked around at the trees and tall grasses they passed. The trees were pine, he was not sure what kind just that it reminded him of Christmas Trees. There were many other trees, but he had zero clue as to what they were called. He started to sweat as they walked, the sun getting higher and the day hotter, he felt his shirt stick to his body from the sweat. But it did not bother him, they were moving, and he was able to spend some of that energy he seemed to of have too much of. They stopped for the night at the same farm as they had before, but this time Miss Tebesa¡¯s friend¡¯s family was present. Since it was still early, they offered to help with any chores that needed doing. Pepe did not really want to do chores, but it helped him by tiring him out. He slept little again that night, and the next morning he was eager to go, that energy still present. They made good timing the following day as they started early, and no one tried to rob them like the youth that they had run into. The day came to an end, and they slept setting up the guard rotation for the night. This time Pepe did not fall asleep during his turn. He did not even wake up his cousin when his turn ended, he did not feel like sleeping at all. Pepe was a little tired that morning, but he was so eager to get back. His cousin appreciated not having to stand guard, he was a heavy sleeper and liked his beauty rest. Again, no issues for this leg of the trip, they made it to Starter Town an hour before sunset. Rotgert and Miss Liadris were on guard duty when they arrived. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Little brother!¡± Miss Tebesa hugged him, the guard about half a foot taller than she was, her head reached just above his chin. She even reached up and pinched the guard¡¯s cheek. ¡°Stop it Tebesa! I am on duty.¡± His voice still shrill, Pepe found the voice hilarious. Again he really, really wanted to laugh, but thought better about it. ¡°Merchant Tebesa, yes we are on duty, if you please.¡± Liadris was smiling as she said this, she looked around to make sure no one was around, ¡°Rotgert you are so cute when you are embarrassed.¡± How she could tell that he was embarrassed other than what he said Pepe had no idea. They waved them through and with that the Escort Quest was complete. And he was looking forward to tomorrow. ¡°Thank you so much for escorting me to Avadur and back. I will make sure all my fellow merchants know what a good job you did.¡± She waved goodbye and allowed them on their way. Pepe followed the rest as they went to the Guild. He hoped to get the Dungeon Quest while they were there. He waved to some of the town folk as they walked, with them waving back. It was nice to be back in Starter Town, he liked the place quite a lot. It was bigger than Avadur, but he missed the Patisserie and those wonderful sweets, he would need to find a place here in town for sweets. Miss Hoysver was helping another group as they came in and as usual, she was smiling and animated to have so much work to do. She got done handing the other group handing over their quest and smiled even bigger as she saw their party. ¡°Miss Hoysver it is good to see you.¡± Pepe nodded just like the rest of the group did. ¡°Boys, I am glad your back! All went well, yes?¡± ¡°Everything went great, a little problem on the way there but we took care of it. No issues on the return trip at all. We even got to meet a fellow Guild Manager in Avadur.¡± They still did not know the Dog Persons name as he never said anything. And they failed to ask. ¡°You met Giles, he and I went to training together a long time ago. How is he doing? I am sure he was happy to see you there.¡± Giles, really his name was Giles. Pepe was glad it had not been Max or Spot; he would not have been able to contain his laughter if it were either one. ¡°He looked fine when we left; we were able to do some of the quest at his chapter as well while we waited for Miss Tebesa.¡± Pepe left them alone he was not particularly worried about any of that, since there had been more people able to do quest, they had posted some of them on the board around the room. He started to look at the quest and saw the one he wanted, the Dungeon Quest, he reached for it and looked at the notice.
Quest Type: Dungeon Exploration In the Caverns of Desbora lies the entrance to an ancient dungeon. Dungeons have been inactive for years but are now waking from an ancient slumber. What has awoken these places filled with snake pits, traps, and monsters? We do not know the answers yet. We seek daring adventurers to explore these dungeons and report what they find and look for clues as to why they are awake once more. See your local Guild Manager to sign up for these fun new places to explore. And don¡¯t forget to bring provisions.
This was it, he needed to do this dungeon, he could feel his blood boiling with excitement. His excitement went down dramatically when he felt something pointy in his back. What was happening? Who was trying to rob him or attack him here? ¡°What are you looking at Pepe?¡± He knew that voice, there was a sultriness to it, and I got you by the you know what voice. ¡°Thief got your tongue?¡± ¡°Hi, Michelle, can you get that pointy thing away from my back.¡± She did not remove it and it made him sweat a little. ¡°Sure thing, Pepe. Let me see what you¡¯re looking at?¡± He handed the quest back to her, and the pointy thing was gone. ¡°Ah, I see, can I come with you guys? I been trying to get a group to go, but most of them are chicken and just want to do the easy stuff. Or they already have a large group and no room for a bad ass Thief like me.¡± He turned around now that the pointy thing was not impeding his movement. Damn she was pretty; he could get lost in those big green eyes of hers. Why did she make him feel like this? What was it about her that just had his heart racing every time he saw her? ¡°Earth to Pepe, you there?¡± She was snapping her fingers in front of him. This got his cousins attention right away. ¡°Michelle it¡¯s good to see you. Well, let me ask my compadres, you know Josh is the leader so will have to get his ok.¡± He turned towards his friends, and they were all making their way to him. Manuel was the first to get to him and threw his arm around his shoulders. Why was he doing that, and why was he smiling at Michele like that? ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Manuel, Pepe¡¯s better-looking cousin. Nice to meet you.¡± She gave his cousin a smile, and those dimples showed themselves. Why was it bothering him suddenly that she gave him a smile? ¡®Get ahold of yourself tonto.¡¯ He was going to kill him later; wait why would he do that? He felt his face getting red it was good that he was a little darker it would make hard to tell. ¡°Sorry Michelle this is my cousin, the slightly dumber one.¡± She put on a bigger smile, ¡°Michelle, this knucklehead did not mention me? I am hurt Pepe. Did you also fail to tell them that I kicked your behind in training?¡± Yes, he had failed to mention the ass whooping she had given him. The rest of the group was now around them; he would need to tell her who they were, ¡°And this is the rest of the group, Josh our fearless leader, Bobby our accountant, and Erin our linguist.¡± Each one raised their hand as he said their name. ¡°Nice to meet you all, Pepe you were going to ask your group something for me.¡± She made a look of pretty please, turned her head a little and put her hair behind her ear, what was she doing? This only made him feel hotter for some reason. ¡°Josh, you see I was, uh. You know, looking at the quest, and I found the one about the Dungeon and Michelle wants to come with us. Could she tag along please.¡± He felt like he was stuttering and felt a little dumb the way he heard himself talking. He needed some air; everyone was too close. Josh looked at them and shrugged, ¡°sure I don¡¯t think that will be an issue, as long as we can go in with six, far as I know it should be alright.¡± He had not thought about that, would six be, ok? They would need to check with the Miss Hoysver about that. He sure hoped it would be fine, he would really like it if she came along. Or would he need to talk to Maria about that? Why didn¡¯t he think about this before? ¡°Maria would there be any issues if we brought Michelle with us?¡±
Analyzing Request¡­. Analysis Complete. ¡°User Pepe this should not be an issue, a temporary addition to the party will not cause problems, a permanent change may be more difficult. There will be a small XP loss as it will be split between all the party members.¡±
¡°Who is Maria, you cheating on me Pepe?¡± Why did she say that? This made him even more embarrassed, how she could get to him so easily he had no clue. ¡°No, of course not, wait what? Oh, Maria is our HelpNode.¡± He did not even think about Maria, she was just there for them, so he had no clue that the others would be confused. ¡°Wait, wait, you can name them? I had no idea, I just call mine, HelpNodeX154. Guess I will need to think of a better name.¡± Pepe was not sure what kind of voice her HelpNode had, maybe it was the voice of a boy, or like Maria a girl. He felt silly thinking about this, it did not really mater. ¡°Alright well seems like we have something to do, let¡¯s get registered for the quest and might as well make it an early night and start early in the morning.¡± Pepe handed him the request, Josh went over to Miss Hoysver with Erin and Bobby tagging along. Manuel stayed put for a few minutes before disengaging himself from his cousin. ¡°Well, I will leave you two love birds alone.¡± Yes, he would most definitely kill his cousin, he would not survive the night. ¡°I like your cousin; he is a funny fellow. So tomorrow then?¡± How did she like his cousin, like, like or like? He was so confused. ¡°Thief got your tongue again?¡± Why did he keep doing that? ¡°Yes, tomorrow morning.¡± Why was he being business like with her? She looked at him again was about to say something he thought but she shook her head, ¡°Tomorrow it is, see you in the common room in the morning.¡± She turned to leave, he looked at the Thief clothes she had on as she walked out the door, and saw that she had made some alterations, she looked great in them. He shook his head, what was he thinking about? She probably saw him as a dumb kid, she was a year older than he was. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He had been chilling in his room, his dumb brother and his friends were camping, whatever camping was dumb. Why did they even like camping? He got on his computer to check out some bands he liked, man he wished he could graduate already so he could go off to college or out of this little town, he hated the place. He missed being back in Texas with his friends, he had met some people in town, but his real friends were back in Texas. He was surfing the web and stopped on an article, it was about the occult, rituals, and summoning stuff. He knew that stuff was fake, but it got his interest for some reason. He read and read, it was well thought out and the research was really good. Whoever had done the article had done lots of research and had written a detail paper about all off it. He kept reading, but it was late, and his eyes were closing, he saw the screen go black, his computer had turned off on its own. Oh well it was bedtime, he got up and laid down on his bed. He did not feel the change as he fell asleep, there was something going on, maybe it was a dream. Why was he cold? And where was that air coming from, did he leave his window open? He opened his eyes, it was still dark, he looked up, at the sky. Why was he seeing the sky? Chapter 11 The Dungeon for Realz this Time It was the day, today Pepe would go into the dungeon with the party, and to boot he had Michelle with them. He was not sure how he felt about her, well he was but he doubted the girl felt the same. It was alright, he would still enjoy her being there with them. That morning Pepe was eager to go, he went down and planned to wait for the rest of the party. He of course wanted to be there before Michelle, but to his annoyance she was already sitting down waiting on them. Croos was with her, he had dropped off some food and was just looking at her, with what Pepe was sure was the same dumb expression he had looked at her yesterday. She was wearing her hair down and it looked freshly washed and combed. How did girls do that? They always looked like they were fresh out of the shower. As for him, his clothes were rumpled, and his hair was a mess even though he tried doing something with it. They both wore similar clothes as both were Thief''s, but she made the clothes look good, he not so much. He sat down and nodded to both, ¡°Good morning, ready to go?¡± turning to Croos, ¡°can you rustle me up some food please.¡± He just wanted to get rid of the little guys so he could be alone with Michelle. She smelled of something sweet, had she put on some kind of perfume? What did he smell like? He hoped he did not at least smell bad; he had taken a bath yesterday and his clothes were clean. ¡°Sure am, my daggers are cleaned, oiled, sharp, and ready to take down anything we find.¡± She sounded excited about the trip, maybe that was what he liked about her. Croos returned with breakfast and put in front of him. He looked at what he had brought, it was a plate of what looked like eggs and potatoes, or whatever the equivalent was in this world. It looked delicious and he was kind of hungry, so he started to dig in. ¡°Slow down Pepe, no one will take it away from you, I promise.¡± He stopped and looked up; she was smiling at him. Again, with that smile of hers, color came into his cheeks, the red embarrassed kind. ¡°Sorry, kind of hungry.¡± He slowed down just as she suggested, the eggs were great, they were sunny side up and cooked to perfection, the potatoes were also good had a slight sweet taste to them. She began to eat her food as well. She was delicate, eating small portions compared to his shoveling food into his face. He did not really know anything about her. Where did she come from, who her family was, what her favorite color was? He would need to ask her about that. She finished, cleaned her mouth with the cloth napkin they were given. Mr. Rowen ran a nice inn, he always set out cloth napkins for the customers and everything was clean. There were no wobbly tables or chairs at all in the place. Pepe saw the man, he was always cleaning the common room, pushing Croos to do the same and just making sure his inn was perfect. They did not even need to make their beds, though Erin and Bobby always did theirs, normally Pepe would leave his a mess only to return to it perfectly done. He was about to start asking the questions he had been thinking about when his cousin interrupted, ¡°Pepe, there you are, and I see you are trying to keep Michelle all to yourself.¡± Yes, he would kill him, slowly, even if he was his cousin, his Tia would not miss him he was sure. ¡°Primo, te voy a matar. Yes, we are just eating some breakfast.¡± He looked up to see that it was the whole group coming down. Well, the questions would have to wait then. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°So, we just go in and we find the entrance to the rest of the dungeon?¡± they all pretty much shrugged, no one really knew. Guess they would all find out together. The cave was just that a cave, nothing fancy, there did not seem to be any animals that they could see, no bats, no rats, no bears, wolves, or anything. It was just a lot of solid rock at least this was true for the entrance. They went in, this time they were prepared, they had brought torches. Using Josh¡¯s little light ball spell was all well and wonderful, but it just did not provide a whole lot of light. Pepe was carrying one of the torches, Michelle the other, they were on opposite sides to provide the most amount of light for everyone. The smell was not great, the burning pitch was smelly, the smoke making his clothes stink. They walked for an hour and nothing, what they saw next though was just strange. From around a bend there seemed to be light shining, well thought Pepe of course there is, this was after all just like a video game. They came around said bend, he and the rest of the group just stood there, looking up at the sign, that read, ¡®Caverns of Desbora Dungeon¡¯ and just underneath another sign that said ¡®Welcome¡¯. The signs were freaking Neon, what dungeon had neon welcome signs? Next to what they could only call the entrance hovered two cylindrical objects, was one of them Regi? What was Regi doing here? Even stranger was that they had hats on, not just any hats they looked like newsboy hats, the one on the left was wearing a red hat with a number on it. The one on the right a similar hat with a different number on it, this one green. Looking over at the rest of the group Pepe saw that they were all opened mouthed at the display in front of them. He looked over at Michelle and she at him and shrugged, who knew what this silliness was about. As a group they went forward, Josh took the lead as they got in front of the entrance? He turned to the Red Hat wearing Node, the number embroidered was 1337, with green hat a number 1 instead. They had not moved or spoken at all as they approached. It almost seemed as if they were off. ¡°Hello, is that you Regi?¡± Pepe had to agree he looked exactly like Regi, well so did the other one so who knew. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Oh you know Reg¡­ I know not of whom you speak of my name is DungeonNode1337.¡± The voice was not Regi¡¯s this one had a different tone to it. The voice seemed older than Teen voice Regi had. The other also spoke, ¡°How do you now the Boss?¡± ¡°1 stay, in character!¡± These two obviously new Regi, but they had some kind of game going here. ¡°Um ok, I guess. Anyways how do we get into the dungeon?¡± Pepe was also eager to get in and be done with all this silliness, but he found it funny how the two nodes were clearly amateurs at this. ¡°Welcome to The Caverns of Desbora Dungeon.¡± The voice had changed to something deeper, making it sound like it was an ominous thing, especially after he said the name. His fellow Node giving him some background noise and even some music and a ¡®ooh scary,¡¯ after the name. Pepe laughed at that last part, I mean it was just funny how hard they were trying and how they were failing. ¡°Enough of that 1, we agreed, I would present it then you would give them some more info. I am sorry about my fellow Node. He gets over excited.¡± That was an understatement, these two clearly were having fun with all this. Pepe recalled Regi having that same enthusiasm as he presented the roles, it was almost as if they did not talk to real people on a regular basis. ¡°I¡¯m sorry 1337, please continue.¡± The back and forth between these two was like a comedy act, something akin to those old movies his grandpa used to watch, the old man had learned English late in life, and it was horrible, but he could get by with what he knew. The old man started watching the old movies enjoying some comedy act by Bob Hop and Bing Cosby something or other, he was sure he was not remembering the names right. He recalled sitting with his Abuelo and watching it with him, some were in black and white which made no sense to him, they had color so why were they in black and white? Back to the present, no time for memories they needed to get into this dungeon. Seemed that as he was remembering his Abuelo, the nodes had almost finished talking. ¡°¡­. and you will need to worry about three bosses. Beat them and you will be rewarded.¡± This is all he caught the tail end of the explanation. Hopefully he had not missed any important parts, but what was more important, three bosses, beat them and you get the loot. The whole explanation thing had taken way to long, and as the nodes finished with a ¡°well?¡± Well, what? The nodes were waiting on them for something, Bobby began to clap, oh so that was it, Pepe started clapping as well to make the nodes happy. ¡°Thank you, thank you. Without further ado, let the games begin. Begin Transportation Countdown. HelpNode if you please.¡± Pepe had totally forgotten about Maria, silly him he could have asked about all this. And what was this Transportation thing they were talking about?
Analyzing Request¡­. Approved 10, 9¡­. 3, 2, 1. Begin transportation, ensure to always keep hands and feet in during teleportation. See you on the other side.
Then everything changed, he started to feel strange, like when you go on one of those carnival rides and you go up then you have a drop. How your stomach feels, the sinking feeling, weirdness all around. Then he saw the room disappearing, his vision got blurry, and everything started to fade away. The feeling was probably a second, then it was changing, the room they found themselves in was like a locker room. He saw a row of lockers when his vision cleared. He looked around, and it was like a gym locker room, lockers and a long bench seat. Behind them were what you would think off as uniforms on hangers. The uniform consisted of either a green or red shirt and a hat of the same color, blue overalls, large black boots, and white gloves. The boots and gloves were overly large, the gloves not quite as big as the foam hand you saw at sports events, but large. The weirdness continued; this place was just wacko. There was also a big dress in the room hanging, it was pink and very frilly with delicate gloves and even a crown to go with it. He knew what Michelle would think about that. Probably a good thing they had multiple uniforms of the other kind. Michelle looked around too, saw the uniforms, the single dress and she was not happy. Pepe had seen her when she was unhappy, the incident of the training coming back to him, ¡°Not going to happen.¡± She grabbed the uniform with the red shirt. Had he missed this explanation as well? He did not recall hearing about uniforms the others grabbed the green shirt uniforms. Pepe looked and he sure as heck was not going to wear the dress and since his friends grabbed the green and Michelle had already claimed the red one, he went with the green as well. Lucky for them they had a changing room with a curtain for privacy. You could hear Michelle complaining about the dress in her changing room. ¡®I can¡¯t believe this¡­¡¯ and ¡®Dress, I will show them, stupid nodes.¡¯ He was sure that she would have looked great in the dress, it was very pretty and with her red hair. But alas he was not going to stick his foot in his mouth again with her. She had shown him what would happen if he treated her like a delicate flower of a girl. Yeah, he was not going to do that again. He came out, and saw that the rest were already done, he had been the last to grab his uniform of sorts and they were just waiting for him to get done, they had donned the uniforms they had brought in there with them, and they all looked just plain silly. The large boots and large gloves were ridiculous he was not sure why they needed them. ¡°Now what?¡± To answer his question a loudspeaker went off, the sound a little distorted at first. The voice that came through was that of 1337, ¡°All indications show that participants are ready for the first floor. Activating uniforms skills, please do not be alarmed.¡±
Initiating Uniform¡­. Initialization complete [Uniform of the Hero Plumber] has been activated. Skills available: Jump, Punch, Kick
That was weird, they just seemed like regular things, jump nothing special about that, the other two anyone could punch and kick. What the heck are they for? Pepe just shook his head, what the heck is this all about. And the Hero Plumber part of the uniform name, like in the video game, why was it always about video games? How in the world did the Dungeon Nodes even know about their games and why were they like that comedy duo? Did they have a TV and video game machines? They must, that would explain it all. ¡°Initializing Floor 1, enjoy the dungeon and don¡¯t fall.¡± What was that about, Fall? Pepe was sure that this had been explained while he was thinking about something else, what else did he miss?
Initializing Floor 1¡­. Initialization Complete Floor 1 The Mushrooms is now ready to be entered. Please proceed with caution.
¡°Please enter through the door at the end of the hall.¡± No more instructions came after this last announcement. There had been no door, it was just wall when he had looked, they all turned around to look. And to no one¡¯s surprise there was a door at the end of the hall worth of lockers. What kind of rules did this place follow? They made little sense to him, everything he knew from their world worked differently. It did not mater really, they were about to enter the dungeon. Chapter 12 Dungeon Floor 1: Shrooms, lots of Shrooms They opened the door to enter and looked at their surroundings, it seemed to be more of the cave, but it was no longer bare. Pepe looked up, there were higher platforms as well as mushrooms, large ones at that, some of the platforms were the mushrooms sticking out. No enemies could be seen yet, at least at this lower level. As soon as the door closed the door disappeared, there was no way back to the locker room. There was light coming from some of the smaller mushrooms as well as from the walls, some form of biolumi-something, he forgot the word. He would need to ask the brains; they probably know what it was called. He also noticed that not all the mushrooms were the same color, there were red ones, yellow, green, and blue some had spots others solid color. The caps of the mushroom was the different color the stock and the gills underneath were an off-white or a lighter color variation of the cap. The bottom area they were in was not huge Pepe looked left then right, he could easily walk between the sides in about five minutes. Looking up he saw that it was very tall, lots and lots of rock, very little soil around for cave plants. The mushrooms he was not sure how they even grew out of the rock. It also felt muggy, and he could see that the walls were slimy, so there was some form of water source. Where the heat he felt came from he was not entirely sure. ¡°So now what?¡± ¡°Well not sure. Maybe some of them skills do something.¡± Yeah, the skills from the uniform, they had to do something, it could not just be a super plumber for a real badly clogged sink. So how did you activate them? Guess it could be like the skills for their jobs. ¡°So, who want to try it out first?¡± Josh was giving them a choice; the boys were looking at each other no one really volunteering. ¡°Really guys? Is this how you all do this every time? How do you actually get anywhere?¡± Michelle had lost a little of her patience with this whole democratic thing they had going. Sure, Pepe was normally a little reckless, but they did not know anything, and he would have been the first one to try it. Michelle being here kind of made him think a little too much. ¡°Here we go, [Jump].¡± And with that she was flying or in this case jumping to the closest Platform, the jump was about ten feet. When she landed, she looked down at them, ¡°coming?¡± Yup it was time to go, Pepe was not going to stay behind. ¡°[Jump].¡± And he was in the air, it was actually quite easy to do, it seemed that the uniform helped, he bent his knees then just jumped and up to the air he went, and then he was falling back down to the platform right next to Michelle. The rest of the group followed, he moved out of their way it would not do to get hit by his friends by accident, there was just enough room for all of them to fit. When they were all on the rock platform, the next one was a red mushroom cap. Maybe this would be different, solid rock sure, but a mushroom, who knew. They needed to figure out the rules, even though so far this world had broken all the rules they knew about back home. ¡°Alright everyone, let¡¯s take this easy, we don¡¯t know what to expect, Michelle if you want to try that one also, go for it. Just be careful, we don¡¯t know what we are dealing with.¡± Michelle gave Josh a smile, and that made Pepe a little jealous he only wanted her to smile at him. ¡°Sure, thing Captain!¡± She saluted and got ready for her jump. Slight bend at the knees and she was off, she landed on the mushroom there was a slight bounciness to her landing, not much but some. Pepe did not wait on an invitation he got ready and jumped as well. He landed right next to her, smiling the whole way from the exhilaration of the jump, they were moving so fast with the super jumps, what else awaited them? Man, he would love to play some basketball right now, he was not tall, he was one of the shorter ones in the group, with Erin being next in line about an inch taller. Michelle was even slightly taller as well, which embarrassed him even more. That did not matter at this moment, ''head in the game Pepe'' he was having fun and he was with the girl he was crushing on. Just as before, the group came in one by one, each making room for the next one to land then waving the next one over. Pepe grabbed his cousin to stabilize him as he landed, they did not need to fall. Next came Erin, followed by Bobby, then last their fearless leader. The next one was also a red mushroom, he noticed that it was at a slight angle and that it was way higher than the first two platforms. So how were they going to get up to that one? ¡°Looks a little high, must be way to get to it though. We can try and throw Manuel up to it?¡± ¡°Oh, muy chistoso primo. How about I throw you down to the bottom?¡± ¡°Alright enough you two.¡± Josh looked at it then over to the one above them, there was no way to jump high enough to reach the one above, they would need to jump over to the one on the other side, then jump the other way. Pepe started to jump up and down, a regular jump not the skill, and he noticed that there was some elasticity to the mushroom they were on. He continued to jump a little higher every time, with a smile on his face, he thought he had it, ¡°Muchachos I think these things are like trampolines, we just have to get some jump when we come down, we use it to jump over there. And then over to the other one right after.¡± Neat trick, they would need to time it just right, it was a double super jump from one to the other end. ¡°Sounds good, sort of like what we do for some cheerleading where two people throw the other person real high and the rest of the squad catches them. I think we got this.¡± Pepe looked at his friends and stopped at his cousin¡¯s facial expression, he did not look like he liked the idea. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± But Pepe was not having it, they had been through a lot, and they were daredevils the two cousins. Stopping his jump¡¯s, he walked over to his cousin and put his hands on his shoulders, ¡°You will be fine, just take your time alright. You don¡¯t have to go first, just watch us.¡± The others nodded and said their part, ¡®yes,¡¯ ¡®we got you,¡¯ and ¡®you got this.¡¯ Michelle, smiled at the bigger cousin, ¡°I will stay with you alright, you got this big guy.¡± Pepe appreciated her thoughtfulness, yup he was crushing hard, she was perfect in his eyes. The girl had it all, she was beautiful, smart, and thoughtful at the same time, his mom would love her. Why was he thinking about this right now? It was time to move. ¡°See you all on the other side.¡± He started his jumping once more, once he thought he had it, he was about four feet up, as he came down, he leaned forward slightly pointing his body in the right direction. His feet touched the mushroom compressed as far as it would allow, on the way up he activated the skill, ¡°[Jump]¡± He went hurling toward the other side, it was tricky, he had to twist a little in midair, not an easy feat. His feet touched the soft top the springiness giving way. He activated the skill once again, then he was hurling across to the other platform. He landed, bending at the knees to take the impact then he was standing again, he took a deep breath, he had not even breathed on the way up. He yelled down that he was fine and for the next person to come up. He saw Erin come next, just like he, Erin twisted his body a little, his feet hit then he was hurling over to Pepe. He grabbed on to him as he came down. Then it was Bobby turn his was a bit more awkward but ended up working just fine, followed by Josh, which was a little better than Bobby¡¯s attempt. Josh was a talented athlete back home, this was just something else he could master, made Pepe a tad jealous. Pepe knew it was his cousin next, he saw his bigger cousin jump across, saw he did not twist correctly, one foot made contact activated his jump and he was hurling across at a bad angle. His cousins¡¯ eyes wide, he knew he had done it wrong, he made it but only his top half hitting the platform. The wind knocked out of him, arms waving for a hand hold, and slipping. Pepe jumped forward grabbed on to his cousins left hand, at the same time Erin also jumped and grabbed the right hand. They both pulled him up, his face red from hitting the ledge when he landed. ¡°Manuel are you alright?¡± yelled Michelle from below. ¡°His fine Michelle, his just a little winded. You can come up.¡± Pepe looked down, saw her body flying, she even did a tuck in midair got into a ball, twisted, straightened out, her feet hitting the other top, then she was hurling back the other way towards them. They just all moved out of her way, she did a perfect landing, looked at the boys and smiled. ¡°Man, that was so much fun. I am liking this place.¡± He looked at her in amazement, man he really wanted to see the girl in one of her cheerleading competitions, if she was this good here, she was probably amazing in a competition. He grinned at her, no he beamed at her. ¡°That was amazing.¡± And it had been, the other boys were just as amazed at her performance nodding. Pepe saw her go over to his cousin and talk to him in a low whisper, Manuel nodding. Pep talks and reassurance he guessed. Their jumping continued all the way up to the top, either Pepe or Michelle normally on the lead, Manuel still the odd man out for most of the harder jumps. Not that he was the only one, Bobby had a few close calls as well. But they had made it past this first obstacle. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Pepe saw more cave ahead, the walls still full of green moss that glowed as well as the various smaller mushroom light. They went forward to an opening that went into a larger chamber with a large drop to the bottom, there were more platforms they had to use to descend. Down below Pepe saw things moving on the large floor, being this high he could make little detail of whatever it was that was moving down there. The way down was quite a bit easier, not much need to activate the jump mechanic, only needing to [Jump] when the gap between one platform and the next was too far. Both Pepe and Michelle were having the time of their lives, and Erin was enjoying it some but not as much as the other two. Pepe looked over at his cousin saw that he did not care for this one bit, poor primo he thought. Pepe was the first to arrive at the bottom, he was feeling a little hungry, he had been spending some energy with all the jumping. Even though the uniform helped he was still burning calories, and he needed to replenish. Michelle landed next to him, followed by Erin, Josh, Bobby and last his cousin. Pepe got into his pack grabbed something that resembled trail mix, it had dried berries, nuts, and some other things he could not identify. When they had asked Maria about everything, she had indicated that they could consume it just fine. If she said they could eat it then Pepe was good with that. It was actually pretty good, he liked one of the red berries in the mix quite a lot. He saw that his friends had had the same idea as they too were munching away at their trail mix. Pepe saw it first as he was the first one done with his mix. The things they had seen from the top, it came into view from a small cave that they had not really paid attention to. They were walking mushrooms, of course they were mushrooms, I mean it was the theme of this place after all. They had four little legs and feet that carried them, there were four of them that had come out of the little cave. ¡°Guys, we have company.¡± He pointed at the creatures, his friends turning around to look. The things were about as tall as a large dog so roughly two feet tall. He saw a red top, a blue one and two green ones. The creatures were not attacking them, they did not even seem to have eyes, ears, or noses to smell them, they just walked around for a bit had a circuit of some kind then walked back into their little cave. This same thing repeated a few minutes later. He did not think the creatures looked very imposing. This was going to be an easy fight, or a slaughter and not theirs he presumed. ¡°Alright let¡¯s do this, let¡¯s see what these things can do.¡± Pepe and the rest nodded to this. They took out their weapons ready for the fight. They looked funny with the big gloves, but they were able to hold them just fine. Pepe saw his cousin ready for the fight, as the tank he would be the one to start it every time, the group of shrooms came out and he heard his cousin use his Taunt skill on one of the creatures, at first the creatures did nothing, a second later they turned in unison and just started sprinting. While they did not move extremely fast, they covered the distance quickly. The creatures jumped in what could only be described as a headbutt maneuver at Manuel, he blocked them, they continued to jump and jump at him with the same move. The blue looked like the leader he was in the center, with the red on his right, one green on the left and the other green to the right of the red. Pepe went in for left green, slashed right then left, the creatures green skin parting, but nothing happened. Seconds later the wound closed, and it continued to attack. Pepe heard Erin activate some of his skills behind him, ¡°[Aim][Bulls Eye]¡± Pepe GUI activated on its own, showed a mark on top of the green one he was fighting, then shortly after an arrow coming at the shroom he was fighting. He repositioned himself a little to give Erin a better shot, saw his arrow land. The arrow was stuck out of the creature¡¯s cap, but it did not slow it down at all, it continued to head butt Manuel along with its fellows. So, what the heck where they supposed to do against these things? His attacks were not doing much to slow them down much less damage them. At this rate his cousin would start getting hurt or lose control and the things would start to go after him or one of his friends. He saw a Fire ball going to the Green on the left, this coming from Josh, it did a little better than his slashes, the creature was on fire momentarily but then it was back out. The burn marks only superficial, Pepe saw that the color changed back to it¡¯s normal green and then it was back to normal. They had some form of regeneration skill, was there a way to stop them from regenerating? Pepe was beside himself, everything he tried was ineffective, it did not matter what skill he used, nothing worked, he saw that Michelle was having the same issue. Multiple arrows stuck out of the creatures but they just like his dagger work did very little to no damage. Or if they did do damage, the regeneration effect just cured them right back to full health. Michelle yelled out to the group, ¡°Not working guys. Going to try something.¡± With that she stopped her attacks then jumped high, came down on top of the green on the left. It stopped moving, it¡¯s cap smashed down, ¡°alright everyone concentrate on that one!¡± Pepe being on the other side could do little to reach the smooshed shroom, Erin moved over and into Pepe¡¯s peripheral vision, saw him on the left then start to shoot the indicated target. Unable to do anything on his own, he went with the next best thing, getting his side ready for the same maneuver. He stopped his wild swinging with his daggers as it was doing nothing and prepared to jump. He made sure that nothing would mess up his other friends then activated the [Jump], up into the air he went, twisted a little to allow him to land atop the shroom he was next to. Down he came, the thing being a little spongy as he landed both feet on top, jumped back a little with the give and he was next to it once more. Daggers out he again tried to damage the creature. He noticed that the attacks were no longer regenerating, which meant they could hurt these things now. At least they had figured it out he hopped.
Green Mushroom 1 defeated.
Josh called a stop to the damage of the green on the left, ¡°It¡¯s down, move to Pepe¡¯s!¡± Pepe moved over to the side of the creature facing him at an angle in front and continued to damage it. He saw Michelle moved over by him and start as well, a fireball from Josh, arrows from Erin. Soon it was down, they received a notification.
Green Mushroom 2 defeated.
Josh called out to Manuel, ¡°Move them up so we can reposition.¡± Manuel without even a word started to back up and the creatures moved with him. Pepe saw Red stop, the Blue continue his head butt maneuver against the tank. Red started to do something, it shrunk in on itself then popped up. A cloud of red mist or gas went into the air, Pepe jumped back not knowing what the effects would be, saw his friends move back as well. Red started to attack Manuel once it was done with whatever the skill did.
Analyzing Skill¡­. Analysis Complete [Explant Regeneration] ¨C Revive and Regen affect for Plantoids. Updating Database
The cloud sufficiently big enough reached the two greens, to his horror the things started to regenerate once again, while he saw the notification, there was too much chaos to process it. They shook themselves and then moved once again, this time they did not move towards Manuel instead they turned, one towards Bobby, the other towards Josh. Crap his friends were in trouble, they needed to do something fast. Pepe heard his cousin use his [Taunt] skill and the one going for Bobby stopped in its tracks and rushed back at Manuel. The other Green reached Josh launched itself at him, Pepe heard his friend cry out after the impact. Saw him toppling backwards, was he alright, how hurt was he?
Josh has received a critical hit, 50% health points depleted. 17/33 HP
Both he and Michelle rushed over to help, Michelle being closer without stopping performed [Jump], up into the air she went. She hit the Green, as before it smashed down, and they started to wail at, once more the notification came through that it was down. Pepe heard their healer perform [Heal] and [Revitalize], saw the notification that Josh health was back up, he reached down grabbed on to Josh and lifted once his friends hand touched his. Josh nodded, ¡°Take out Red!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± then ¡°[Jump]¡± Pepe and Michelle turned to see Erin landing on Red, they all moved and started in on Red, they did not need a repeat of its skill. Soon they saw the notification that the creature was down Josh called a move over to Green. They turned and like Red it had stopped, it was in the process of shrinking, ready for some unknown skill. Before it could complete it¡¯s move, they saw Bobby in the air then back down atop Green, soon as he landed, he moved back ready to support the party. Pepe could only nod to this action, he had no clue what Green could do, but if it was anything like that of red¡¯s skill, he did not want to deal with him resurrecting the two down creatures or call others or whatever. This was not the time to wonder or invent bad things in his head, it was time for action. He switched over to take down Green, soon the notification came in that it was down for the count.
Creatures defeated 3 of 4.
Blue was the last standing, they needed to get him down, he did not want to find out what kind of skill either Green or Blue had. He did not want to ¡®jump¡¯ the gun, pun intended, he could activate the jump skill at the same time as someone else an end up colliding with them. He waited for Josh to call it before doing anything. The call came, ¡°Pepe, jump on him.¡± He did not even nod, [Jump] and he was in the air, he saw the boot make contact, this time it was different it did not actually smash down and stop it just kept on going. What the heck? Before he came down to the ground next to the creature, Michelle jumped, landed on the creature and to everyone¡¯s relief it smashed down and stopped. Pepe started in with his dagger work, Michelle followed suit, in came the arrows from Erin a fireball from Josh. No notification came, they continued, Pepe found it hard to just go in and wail at Blue, he had to coordinate with his friends. He saw his cousin slash, Michelle slash, they could not all attack at the same time, the thing was not huge after all. Still no notification, Blue started to move again, it was back he saw it regenerate some of the cuts. No not again, they needed to get it down again. ¡°Michelle again.¡± He activated the jump, down he came, boot made contact, he was out of the way and Michelle¡¯s boot made contact. Yet again he started in with the dagger damage his friends following suit. He was extremely frustrated with Blue, ¡®will you go down already!¡¯ finally the notification came. He kept going, not paying much attention to the notification. ¡°Pepe it¡¯s down, you can stop!¡± He heard Michelle yell at him, it took him a few seconds to process her words, he stopped and breathed a sigh of relief.
Green x2 defeated, 30 XP Red defeated, 20 XP Blue defeated, 30 XP Congratulations Thief Level Up!
Pepe was glad that they were done, he had reached Lv4, and hopped he would be able to get another level or two during the run. The fight was no fun at all, but they had the formula down, so the follow up fights would be easier. They could beat this, the mechanics were not bad, if and when they would face other creatures they would need to figure out what they needed to do. He was just glad this first one was over. Chapter 13 Dungeon Floor 1: Taking out the Trash and Facing the Boss They had beat a single group and they were all tired and needed rest. Pepe felt it, his arms were tired, his legs burned from all the movement, and he was mentally drained as well. But they had a way to go still. ¡°Maria how much experienced until my next level?¡±
Processing Request¡­. User Role Level Experience Pepe Thief 4 10/675
He still had a way to go. The creatures had not given a great amount of experience, they would need to fight a lot to get him another level. He was behind, the others had reached level four even before coming to the dungeon, he had not thought about asking Michelle what level she was. He would need to go solo or with Michelle to make up for not being there during the escort quest encounter, it had been his fault though. He had wanted to go after the thieves when it had happened, but someone needed to stay with Miss Tebesa and protect the camp. He did not feel like he had been punished for his screw up back then, his biggest regret missing out on the experience points. Pepe came out of his reminiscing looked around at his friends, they were catching their breath, it had been an interesting fight and quite a bit of moving around until they figured out what to do. He was a little out of breath, he took a few deep breaths to get it under control. Saw perspiration on Michelle¡¯s lovely face, her hair a bit wet from sweating. Then over at his cousin, he had his eyes closed was in one of those stances his instructor had showed him and was in a form of mediation, his breathing already under control. He would need to ask about the meditation thing seemed like something he should know; his training had not included meditation. Pepe looked at the cavern, paid more attention at the little caves around the edges, they would need to move on to the next group, see what the composition would be, how many would come out? There was a larger exit, but to get to it would likely attract too many groups, what was in there? They either needed to go around to the left or the right. Now that they knew what to do, they would be able to beat these things easily. Josh went over the plan. The plan a simple one, Manuel did his tank thing, soon as the group was under control Pepe would jump, they would handle that one, followed by Michelle, then Bobby only under extreme emergencies, Erin would be in standby if any got away from Manuel. Any blues they would just go with what they had just done, Pepe followed by Michelle. Pepe liked the plan it was simple, and he liked simple. Everyone had their breathing under control and ready to continue, Pepe was eager to start, he was not a planner even though his master had said make sure you have a plan. He was glad that Josh was the leader, he did not have to worry about these things, he was a damage dealer, point him in the direction he needed to go, and he would go. Maybe others would think him dumb for being this way, but he was far from dumb, he just was not confident when put in a leadership position. They moved as a group to the right of the cavern, saw that at some point the next group came out, this time two reds and one blue, did their little round then returned to the little cave, minutes later they did it again. Pepe was unsure where the magic invisible line they crossed to have them come out. Before they could go back in Manuel did his thing, and they started in on that group. Pepe went in jumped, they took out his target, followed by Michelle¡¯s. The double jump for the Blue, wailed at it until they saw it move to come back up, then double jump again and then he was down.
Red Shrooms x2 defeated, 30 XP Blue Shroom defeated, 30 XP
The next group consisted of one of each color, they repeated the cycle. Once again on the move, the next group was easy with just a green and a red, followed by one a bit harder as it had two blues and a green. This continued for three more groups, three greens, a blue and a red, and the final group consisted of the three colors again.
Green Shrooms x7 defeated, 105 XP Red Shrooms x4 defeated, 80 XP Blue Shrooms x5 defeated, 150 XP
That was not bad, he was more than halfway into his level, and they had not finished, while they had more groups on the left and while he wanted more experience Josh would make the call. He was getting tired again, and they had to face the Boss for this floor. Then two more floors to clear and two bosses, it was a bad idea to be exhausted at the last boss, it would not do if he was not on top of his game at that point. It was time for a break, his friends all looked as tired as he felt, they were all sweaty from the encounters and out of breath again. From his count they had faced nine greens, six reds, and five blues, that was a lot of shrooms. His friends had likely leveled, if not ready to level up with the boss fight, hopefully he would level as well during the boss fight. He went over to Josh, he really wanted to go over to Michelle, but she was talking with Manuel and Erin, and he did not want his cousin to start in on him. Josh was with Bobby they were not talking; Josh had a canteen out and was handing it over to Bobby. Oh yeah, they had brought water, he needed to drink too, with the excitement he had not ate or drank anything. After seeing them drink he felt how parched his throat was, he took out his own canteen and drank, but not as much as his body probably wanted, they still had the other two floors, ration and conserve would be a good idea. ¡°Hey Josh, Bobby how you guys holding up?¡± He noticed they looked tired, while they were not exerting themselves physically, the way he understood it was that the magic would take its toll on the users. And they had Mana that they expended that would need to regenerate. His action points unlike their mana seemed to regenerate a bit faster. ¡°Tired, really tired.¡± Bobby was seating leaning against the cavern wall eyes closed, Josh had been standing up but was now sitting as well, Pepe sat next to him. ¡°Yeah, this stuff is tiring, will have to get used to it, hopefully as times goes by it will get easier.¡± Josh took another drink, ¡°I don¡¯t think I want us to do the other side, lots of work and I want to see what is beyond that cavern, hopefully the boss for this floor.¡± Pepe hoped the same he wanted to see what it had in store for them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pepe was pumped to get going, Josh had called the break over, and they were up and moving to the large cave exit. They were going to ignore the creatures on the left side of the cavern. Pepe smiling walked on, ready to get to the boss. Maybe he should not be as excited as he was, but he could not help himself. The move from the big chamber and through the exit cave was maybe fifty yards, they stopped at the entrance, they had zero clue what would trigger the next encounter. This other cavern was smaller than the one they had just left, directly across from them another exit. It was dark and they could not see through the darkness, it was quite high and wide, he himself would not be able to touch the top, maybe Josh or Manuel could touch the top if they jumped with their arms stretched out. Around the chamber itself Pepe noticed a set of mushroom steps sticking out of the wall going up, one set on the left the other on the right wall, and four much larger mushrooms towards the center evenly spaced to each other. The stalk of the four center mushrooms like giant tree trunks, it would probably take four of them reaching hands to be able to surround the stalk. The bottom of the caps could be seen up high, twenty feet up, likely another five feet above would be the top of the cap. They stepped into the chamber and before taking the third step in they received a notification.
Warning¡­. Boss Encounter Triggered. Boss Encounter will commence in 60 seconds. Please ensure preparations are complete within this timeframe.
¡°Alright everyone, get ready we will need to move these things around a little see what our best position will be. From what we saw of the little ones there are some kind of mechanics involved with every fight.¡± Pepe¡¯s heart started to hammer, they spread out, similar formation to what they had done before. Manuel moved up, Pepe went to the right and behind, Michelle on the left, Erin to his right, Josh left of Michelle. It was an inverted V formation. Bobby would stay behind and close enough to heal but far enough to be less of a target. He looked around saw everyone ready to face the thing that would be coming out. The countdown was down to ten seconds his heart started to raise a little faster, eager with anticipation. Then it was down to zero, movement could be seen on the large exit opposite to them. Smaller shroom creatures came out, two reds and two greens, they aligned themselves on right and left one of each color on either side. Pepe saw the boss come out the top of it''s head reaching the top of cave it was exiting, it was another mushroom, but to call it a mushroom would be an understatement, it was a mushroom on steroids, it was huge. Just like it¡¯s friends it did not have eyes, ears, or a nose, but it did come with a mouth. A very large mouth, it could easily fit Pepe in that mouth, just like its mouth it had large pointy teeth, very pointy. ¡®What large teeth you have Grandma¡¯ for some reason he thought about the story of Red Riding hood and the wolf as he saw those teeth. His daggers would serve as a small toothpick, even Manuel¡¯s longer sword would just be big enough to serve as a large toothpick. How in the world where they supposed to defeat this thing? Since it was much larger the mode of movement was six large legs sticking out from the bottom of the stalk. Its legs went up, bent at the knee then came back down, like an insect leg. They were also skinny, he did not think they were strong enough to carry the monstrosity, but it moved just fine. Another one of those things to do with how this world broke the rules. ¡°Maria what can you tell me about this boss?¡± He needed more information, and the only source would be Maria.
Processing Request¡­. Request Approved¡­. Retrieving Data Monster Type: Plantoid Monster Name: Boss Shroomy Abilities: Unknown Difficulty Level: Medium Boss Shroomy is a very dedicated boss; he protects his domain against any intruders, detest shroom on shroom violence unless strictly necessary, and is a big proponent of Shroom Unions. He likes long walks in the caves and his favorite color is blue.
Boss Shroomy seemed like a very caring shroom; ah well what one did for the lootz. Well, nothing really of much use in that blurb, I guess if he wanted to give Shroomy a gift it could be something blue. He had been hoping for some information that would help them in the fight. It had long, very long skinny arms but no hands, they looked like long vines, the shroom boss vine like arms waved in the air, maybe it was saying hi to his dinner. Pepe was not going to stand and be his dinner, he saw the timer slowly ticking away, they had to come up with a plan and now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°Manuel get ready, will play this by ear, we don¡¯t really have a choice.¡± That was it? That was the great plan? It was something like Pepe would come up with, he was expecting Josh to come up with a great master plan to defeat this thing. By ear it would be then, he felt ready, he hoped he was.
Warning 10 seconds until engagement commences. 10, 9, 8¡­. 3, 2, 1, 0 Commencing engagement
It felt like what you see in the movies or shows when the doctor tells the patient we are going to put you to sleep please count back from ten. Instead of Pepe going to sleep his adrenalin spiked, his heart beating faster, felt like it would burst out of his chest. His reflexes sped up, felt other things slow down around him. Manuel went forward taunted the boss, Pepe saw the thing open its mouth, and roar, it actually roared, he saw spittle flying from its mouth as it roared. Its long red tongue, moving with the strength of the roar. Seconds after it¡¯s roar it picked up it''s pace running at Manuel, it reached his cousin and pushed him back three feet. Manuel had his feet planted his body forward and his shield ready to take the impact, he did not topple over. ¡°This thing hits like a dump truck. But I got it for now.¡± The thing towered over his cousin, how he had it, Pepe did not really understand, but if he said he had it, then he had it. The boss backed up momentarily saw its prey had not toppled over as it probably expected, it seemed confused that the little thing in front of it stood. Its long skinny arms started to move like waves then one came forward, he saw his cousin raise his shield to block the incoming slap of the whip like arm. No, the little meat thing in front of it was still standing, the other arm started to wave as well, then came forward, and again it was blocked. It continued with the whip action of each arm against its opponent speeding up every time. Pepe heard the slap of the whip arms against Manuel¡¯s shield, it was loud, and he could only imagine the speed and strength behind each slap. He was impressed by his cousin ability to keep up with the thing, even going in with his sword as he blocked the slaps. This all happened within the first few seconds of the fight, while it seemed to be slower to Pepe¡¯s senses and likely to Michelle¡¯s and Erin¡¯s neither Bobby nor Josh experienced it in that way. Pepe looked for the helpers around the Shroom Boss, they had not attacked when the boss attacked, merely stayed behind him, why were they just standing there? He was not sure how they communicated, maybe some form of hive mind like insects. When they had fought the smaller ones, they had been in sync the whole time, but he heard no words to indicate that they spoke to each other. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Pepe went around just behind the last set of legs on the right, saw Michelle position herself on the left and both started to damage the creature. He saw his dagger making contact, the shrooms soft skin parting to every one of his dagger¡¯s slashes. He waited a few seconds before doing more, saw no regeneration like what they had experienced with the smaller ones. So, the boss had no self-healing capabilities that was a good thing. He redoubled his efforts to do as much damage as possible. His friends for their part were doing the same, he saw the boss marked by Erin¡¯s skill, the mark showing on his GUI. Arrows flying in and sticking out of the creature sides, he presumed Josh was doing his magic spells on the other side. Finally, after a time they got their first notification.
Boss Shroomy health at 75%
Pepe was ecstatic to see that the thing was taking damage, this was going to be easy. They could just pull out all the stops and burn it all the way until it was down. He was so happy to see the notification, he smiled to himself looked up a little and saw it. Red and Green mist was coming down from both sides, oh no not that, the follow up message made the earlier elation change to a worry. This was going to be a lot harder than he had thought.
[Explant Regeneration] & [Damage Up] cast on Shroomy and his allies. Boss Shroomy health has risen back to 100%, Regen is in affect for 60s, Damage increased by 15% for 30s.
He could not really see his other friends, but Michelle on the other side, saw her grimaced when the notification popped up. What worried him even more was the second one, he knew about the Regeneration healing affects but the Damage Up buff was from the green mist. He was glad they had not allowed the shrooms to use the skill during the other fights. ¡°Pepe, Erin, go take care of the ones on the right. Michelle you, and I will take care of the ones on the left. We won¡¯t be able to win this fight if we don¡¯t take them down first.¡± They needed to do this fast, if they gave them any time, the shrooms would surely attack them. The Damage Up buff was active for all of them not just the boss. He and the rest could handle some hits but not many, this would only distract Bobby and get Manuel hurt as he would need to send some heals their way. Pepe turned saw his targets, seconds later a mark appeared on the green, ¡°Got you, Erin once you jump on that one, I will get the red.¡± He just wanted a little coordination before he went and screw stuff up. He saw his friend land on the green, he was in the air coming down seconds later landing on top of the reds cap smashing it and stopping all actions. He hit the ground and turned to the Green, both he and Erin began to take it down, waited for the notification that it was down. He saw it come through and both turned to the Red, seconds later it popped, while they had damaged it, they would need to do a second round. ¡°I got it.¡± He went up into the air once more, landed on red then reset to burn it down. They saw the notification that one of the others was down, got the notification that theirs was down. He turned to see if the one that was still alive was squashed, ready to assist the other group. He saw Michelle come down, before she landed it had already moved. Not only was it up and buffed it was also loose, the thing had gone underneath Michelle as she landed, just missing it. He saw it run around to the left of the boss, he had no way to see if it was going for Bobby or Josh. Everything was moving too fast, he heard Bobby yell in pain, his friend was hurt. The yell and the notification that followed made it worse.
Bobby has received critical damage 75% of HP depleted. 10/39 HP Bobby has been afflicted by [Stun] for 90s.
That was mucho malo they could not have their healer down for that long, both Pepe and Erin ran behind Shroomy to try and help. As he came around, he saw Bobby down on the ground he was moving a little. Michelle had already smashed the loose shroom and was starting to damage it to take it out, Erin sending arrows flying. A whole minute and a half, they had no heals at all for that time, the next notification was even worse.
Manuel has received damage 53/59 HP
He saw the notification for the last shroom helper being out of the fight, then another message, another hit on his cousin. While the damage was minor, he was worried for him, at least the helpers were down, once Bobby was back up, he could heal. There was still more than a minute for Bobby to be ready to do anything, he had to both heal himself and heal his cousin at that point. He saw Josh picking up Bobby, he could do nothing on that front, he needed to get back to doing damage, his cousin was receiving a beating while they waited. He ran back behind Shroomy and continued to output as much damage as possible, Michelle also doing the same. ¡°How is Bobby Josh!¡± While it was not quite time he was worried for his friend. ¡°His fine, just keep going, I got Bobby.¡± He could see no smoke or smell of freshly burned mushroom meaning that both Bobby and Josh were out of the equation, they needed Josh¡¯s spell damage, they were down to three out of four damage dealers right now. All this would do was prolong the fight, it would not give them any advantage to prolong it at all. The time passed slowly, and he could do nothing else to help his friend, but waited out and what he was currently doing, he saw another hit notification for Manuel.
Manuel has received damage 40/59 HP
While it may not seem like much, his cousin was taking a beating, he was glad his cousin could hold his own with the giant mushroom. He on the other hand would likely be dead by now, not only did Manuel have higher HP, he also had damage mitigation skills that came with being a Tank. Pepe did not feel jealous, he liked doing lots of damage and not getting hit. ¡°Bobby is up and able to stand on his own, he is almost ready!¡± Josh reported to the rest of the group, Michelle could see them, but the others could not. Pepe was glad to hear his friend was up and about, they would be dead in the water if their healer went down. He was not eager to find out what the death penalties were that Regi had alluded to in his explanation, not that he actually said what it was, just that they would not like it. Pepe finally saw some smoke followed by the smell of cooked shroom a cheesy smell, sort of like the way his funky feet smelled after a soccer match. At least Josh was damaging it with his spells, enough worrying they had this. Alright Shroomy your butt is ours, did Shrooms have butts? Why was he asking stupid questions right now? ¡®Head in the game Pepe!¡¯ he would leave the deep philosophical butt question for later. The notification came that he was down sixty five percent of his HP, yay was all Pepe could think at that moment. He kept on going his friends doing the same, the notification that he was at fifty percent came in soon after. After he saw the fifty percent notification, two things happened, the timer on Bobby¡¯s Stun ailment was up and Shroomy stopped wailing at Manuel. Pepe was relieved that his friend was well again and that for the moment the boss had stopped, gave him and his friends time to catch their breath. For five seconds the boss did nothing, Pepe and the rest continued to output damage during this time. He started to move again, but not to attack Manuel, Pepe saw the huge form start to turn to the right. Saw Michelle jumping out of the way the legs would have crushed her if she did not move. He stopped to see why it was doing this, backed off as it kept on turning. It stopped as it did a one eighty, started to move back towards the exit cave, wait, did they beat it, it still had fifty percent of its HP. He saw it stop in front of its fallen brethren, one of its vine arms going down towards one of the dead shrooms. He saw it pick it up, then deposit into its mouth, hear it chewing, the sounds of teeth ripping, and chewing were not pleasant. Saw it pick up the other mushroom and start the same process, he could not see if he did the same with the one on it¡¯s left side, but he presumed that it had. It started to turn back towards the left, it moved over to the last of its cohorts and ate it as well. What the heck was it doing? Why would it eat its own friends, seconds later they knew, another notification came up letting them know what was happening.
King Shroomy has regained health, at 65% of max health. Warning! Warning! Warning! King Shroomy metamorphosis commencing. Metamorphosis completes in 15 seconds. 15, 14¡­ 3, 2, 1, 0¡­ Metamorphosis complete. Second Phase commencing.
Pepe really hated that shroom right now, why couldn¡¯t it just die and drop the lootz! What does it have in store for us now? He saw no difference in the shroom until he looked up, saw what had happened with the little guys he had eaten. Atop the big cap they were sticking up, he had consumed them then made them grow on himself. Why Shroomy, why? You¡¯re supposed to be against Shroom-on-Shroom violence, you liar! ¡°Alright reset, everyone we have to keep him contained as before. Manuel do your stuff!¡± Yes, it was time to end this, Pepe was tired of this bosses¡¯ cheats, he was supposed to be the one with the cheats, where was his cheats?! He heard Manuel perform his taunt, Boss Shroomy running to attack his cousin. They started to pour out the damage, saw the notification that he was at sixty percent. He saw the shroom stop its attack, then saw the red mist, a crap, so that is why he had eaten his friends, he was self-healing and self-buffing. Shortly after the red mist they saw the green mist. It was followed by the whip like arms coming back then forward at an even faster speed than before. The notification came through, he read it saw his cousin had taken damage. At the speed the arms were moving with that last attack it was likely that his cousin was only able to block one of them. They needed to suppress the caps that had grown atop Shroomy. He turned to Michelle saw that she was trying hard, but also the concern on her face, ¡°Michelle lets go up.¡± He pointed to the big mushrooms in the center, he saw her nod, they were on the same page. ¡°Josh we are going up, we need to stomp the buffers.¡± Pepe ran behind him, he saw Michelle run the other way. ¡°Manuel move him towards the center!¡± He ran up on the right side, got to the top of the stair and began jumping then a hard jump to one of the big mushrooms. He landed saw Michelle land on the opposite one, it was not quite in place, but his cousin was moving it, they would be ready. As he saw the big shroom in place he looked over at Michelle and nodded. They both began to jump up and down trampoline style once again, ¡°[Jump]¡± he triggered the skill and down he went, across from him Michelle was coming down as well. He landed on the red cap sticking out of Shroomy¡¯s head then jumped off, ran back to the stairs across as before then he was coming back down to land on top of the green that was up. He was glad that he was not afraid of heights, if he had been they would have been hosed. There was little to no time to think further. He started in on Shroomy once again, he felt tired, his arms felt like jelly, but there was not time to rest. He heard Erin from behind him, ¡°Going up!¡± that was good thought Pepe, we need to make sure that he does not use the skills again as soon as the reds and greens popped up. It would also be good for Erin to shoot from up there, it was technically a better vantage point. He saw a mark go up on Shroomy, and then a rain of arrows. Notification came through that he was down to fifty percent, the boss stopped again and attempted to perform his mist skill, it did not work. Pepe could clearly see that the big shroom was confused, it tried again as it had not returned to attack his cousin. ¡®Too bad Shroomy!¡¯ He redoubled his effort on his attacks. ¡°Michelle go up, just in case!¡± Josh had the right of it, better safe than sorry, and his damage output was probably slightly higher than Michelle¡¯s, and likely he would not do as well from up top. Pepe, Erin, and Michelle were probably the best options with their higher Agility scores. While Josh could rain down spells from up high, it would probably be harder for him to go up in the first place. Pepe just kept on wailing at him, he saw the notification for forty-five, then forty percent. He saw Erin jump on top of Shroomy, soon as he saw that he ran up the side of the stairs on his side. Saw Erin quickly run to the other side as Michelle was still on her way down. Pepe was already in position, he jumped down on the green that was up. Saw Erin come down from the other side, everyone was back on the ground damaging once again. The notification for thirty percent came across, then they were down to twenty-five, twenty, fifteen, it was truly time to end this. Finally, it was at five percent, it had taken a long time, he was exhausted, while the adrenalin had done its thing, he was on the downslope.
Congratulation you have defeated Boss Shroomy! Floor 1 complete. Ding Thief Level Up
He was happy that he had Leveled, if he had leveled his friends had gone up to six, he may have been tired, but he was excited about this. Now where is my loot? He saw the body of Big Shroomy start to sink into the ground like if it was just melting. Kind of crazy that they did that but who was he to complain, he would not want to be part of the clean up crew for the dungeon if the creatures did not disappear like that. At soon as the boss disappeared, it was like someone had turned on the lights for the exit cave, further in the cave on top of a table, altar, Pepe saw what he had wanted the whole time. Two chests were waiting for them, yes finally the loot, why else do these dungeons? Sure, the experience was good, but it was about the loot drops. But he was too tired to move right now, they needed a little bit of down time, they may have been doing what looked like a video game but unlike one where your character never got tired, you got tired. They all just sat on the ground where they had been standing. They had defeated the boss for the first floor and that was cause for celebration, and they were getting the loot and that too was cause for celebration. But he heard no whoop or cheers of joy from any of them, all he heard was his own hard breathing and that of his friends. No one moved for fifteen minutes, they just rested, ate, and drank form their canteens. If this were a story, no one would want to hear how he was tired, they would not care, but dang it he was tired, and this was his story. He got up and stretched, his arms hurt, his back hurt, he wanted some good food from Mr. Rowen¡¯s Inn, he bet they were cooking something delicious. He heard his stomach rumble in agreement, but food would have to wait. He started to make his way to the exit where he could see the chest waiting for them, waiting for him, at least he hoped that was the case, like in games not everyone would get loot. His friends were not saying anything but were also moving towards the exit, all had their eyes on the chest. All this hard work and now it would pay off, he really hoped that he would get something. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°Settle down, will open it up in a second.¡± Josh taking charge, Pepe was so eager if they made him wait any longer, he would just move people out of the way and open the damn thing himself. It was the one on the left that they opened first. There was a light as Josh opened the chest, when it was fully open the light died out, he pulled out a nice-looking leather chest piece and a set of trousers that looked like a pair. Both seemed to be made of some soft leather and a muted green color. What they were wearing, he, Erin and Michelle were the same basic grey colored trousers and top, the beginner set.
Loot Information Name: Chest Piece of the Cunning Tiger (M) Stats: +1 AGI, +2% Attack Leg Guard of the Cunning Tiger (M) Stats: +1 CHA, +1% Attack when using Daggers Role: Thief, Ranger
¡°Yes!¡± Pepe could not help himself; they would need to figure it out both he and Erin could use it, but the Leg Guard was aimed at him all the way, the Chest Piece might go to Erin though, he was alright sharing. ¡°Will figure it out in town, lets look and see what the other chest has.¡± Josh opened it and they got the light show once again, Pepe saw Josh reach in then took his hand back out, his face even got a little red, ¡°um Michelle can you come and look please.¡± He backed up and allowed her to come forward, Pepe saw a look of confusion on her face, he was confused as well, why did she need to look? She looked and reached in and brought out what was there, it was what could only look like a swimsuit. No one said anything, no one laughed, you could hear a pin drop in the silence. He saw Michelle¡¯s face it was very red; it almost matched the color of her hair; man was she mad. ¡°What the hell, first the dress, now this, I am going to murder those two nodes when I see them.¡± She put the ¡®armor¡¯ away in her bag. She would get to bring her complains to the two nodes in questions very soon. She turned on the party, ¡°not a word, not one word from any of you.¡± Pepe could not look her in the eye, he noticed that neither could his friends. Pepe looked at the Stats instead on his GUI about the armor she had put away:
Loot Information Name: Chest Piece of the Cunning Tiger (F) Stats: +1 AGI, +2% Attack Leg Guard of the Cunning Tiger (F) Stats: +1 CHA, +1% Attack when using Daggers Role: Thief, Ranger
It was identical to the male version they had just gotten on the other chest. He did not want to be the Nodes once she got a hold of them. Sure, she would have looked great in the swimsuit like armor if this was a beach resort or the beach, or the river they had gone swimming in, but he was not stupid he was not going to bring that up. Once they had gathered the loot and had closed the chest an outline made from light of a rectangle could be seen on the wall behind the chest. In less than a second a door appeared where none had been before above the door a sign that read ¡®EXIT.¡¯ The door a red door not unlike what you would find at a house, the knob a simple silver or steel color. Joshed walked behind opened it and behind the door was the locker room they had exit at the beginning of the dungeon, or maybe it was another locker room, who knew? Chapter 14 Dungeon Floor 2: Unalive Quest the Setup Pepe walked through the door, behind his cousin, Josh had already gone ahead, Bobby, Erin and finally Michelle came in last. The locker room looked the same as the one they had been in, but the extra uniforms and the dress were gone, their clothes which they had left in a locker were still there. There was yet another door where the changing rooms were before. A sign above it said dining room, Pepe¡¯s stomach rumbled reminding him that he needed food. Aside from the lockers there were also sinks and towels, they all went to the sinks and took turns cleaning up. Pepe felt cleaner after washing his hands and arms, wiping away the grime, the sweat from his face, and the back of his neck. He wanted a bath or a shower, but this would have to do. Michelle was still in a bad mood about the armor she had gotten, Pepe and the rest of the boys left her alone. There was little to no conversation as they cleaned themselves up. They went through the door with the dining room sign, as before the Floor 1 door had simply disappeared shortly after they had all returned to the locker room. Pepe saw round grey tables in the room surrounded by round seats, a la cafeteria style, there were what looked like plastic trays and a rollup metal cover, they got in line picking up a tray. The rollup cover came up as the last one picked up his tray and got in line. Pepe saw metal serving trays full of food, he was not sure what the food was, but it was food. Behind where the kitchen and serving area was, were two floating nodes. They had chef hats on, one with the 1337 label and the other with the 1 label to differentiate the two nodes. Oh, those two were going to get it shortly, he would not want to be them when Michelle got done with them. ¡°Welcome! We hope you enjoy the food; we would give you a hand,¡± 1337 cracking jokes, bad ones but he was trying, from 1 you heard the sound of a cymbal, ¡°but we don¡¯t have any, please serve yourselves as much as you want.¡± They started to move through the line, Pepe was hungry, so he did not care what they were serving. How they had made the food he was unsure as they joked, they had no hands. But it was food, and he was hungry. He heard Michelle talk to the nodes, she was nice and everything, ¡°Hey you two, how is it going? Could we have a word after we get done eating, I have some questions and concerns.¡± ¡°Yes, of course Miss Michelle, we will come out after we close down, and you all have had your fill of food.¡± They sounded happy, they would not be so happy after she was done with them. He got through the line with his food, it smelled great, the main dish had the consistency of meatloaf, a little salad, and mash potatoes on the side. And for dessert they had two options what looked like cheesecake, and carrot cake, he took one of each. There were cups and what looked like some form of dispensers, four of them to be exact. He picked one at random, and out came an orange bubbly drink, the smell of carbonation and orange wafted his way. He sat down, his cousin already there digging into his full plate, he had piled a ton of food on the plastic tray, twice as much as what Pepe¡¯s tray held. He had earned it after all they had been through, they all had. Just like in the locker room no one said anything they just all ate their food, Pepe felt ravenous, he was eating fast, he recalled his breakfast with Michelle and slowed down. After they finally started to slow down and just pick at the food, they started to talk among themselves. Since Bobby was next to him he wanted to check in on his friend, ¡°How are you feeling Bobby?¡± That hit he had been hard, taking a lot of his HP down. ¡°I¡¯m a little sore but I should be fine, we got a long way to go, I will just need to be more careful.¡± Pepe did not think it was about being careful or not. They all needed to pay attention to what was going on otherwise any of them could get hurt. It was not just on one person of the group it was on all of them. They had to think quicker, react quicker, he would do that, he did not want to see his friends hurt. ¡°Cool, we all have to look out for each other, we are a team.¡± Eh he had nuggets of wisdom, like superheroes said, ¡®with great power comes great responsibility¡¯ and while they may not have great power, they had great responsibility for themselves and the team. Pepe saw the two nodes come out from the kitchen, they had replaced their chef hats with the red and green ones that they had at the beginning. Michelle saw them come out, got up and made her way to them. It was time, he and the rest of the guys just glanced over but did not want to make it seem like they were staring at what was going to play out. Michelle started out really nice, her voice normal, ¡°Node 1337 I have some concerns about what we experienced on Floor 1. My concern is not so much the difficulty or what we faced, it is the end reward, specifically the end reward for the girls.¡± Her voice had gone up in volume at that last part, not much but it was noticeable. ¡°Miss Michelle, I am not sure what you mean, our choices were based on our extensive research, we created the rewards with the appropriate stats for the various job roles.¡± ¡°The Stats are not what concern me, Josh if you can bring out the guy version of the armor we got please.¡± He quickly obeyed the request; she had turned slightly towards him when she asked, and her face was as red as it had been when she originally saw the bikini armor. She took out the bikini version as well, ¡°This thing you gave the girls, it is called a bikini, it is used at the beach, the river, places with water. It is not armor!¡± The two nodes backed up a few feet, ¡°But our research¡ª¡± ¡°IT IS NOT ARMOR!¡± Pepe felt for the poor nodes, he really liked Michelle, but she had a bit of a temper on her. Though she was cute when she was mad too, again not something he was going to tell her. To think about it, she kind of reminded him of his mom that one time with his dad, he shivered at that memory. They did not say anything, probably the smartest thing they could have done, the nodes turned to each other, lights started to flash between the two, then back to Michelle, ¡°Our apologies Miss Michelle, our research seems to have been limited. Before you move on to the next floor if you could help us with the research and how we can fix this mistake, we would appreciate it.¡± They led her to one of the far tables away from the group and they started to talk about the research and fixing the issue that was identified. After twenty minutes, she came back over to the group, ¡°Are we ready?¡± No one met her eyes, while she calmed down from earlier there was still something in her voice, no point in poking the bear thought Pepe. They nodded to her, ¡°Alright then let¡¯s get the show on the road.¡± ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They were back in the locker room, and as before a loudspeaker came on, ¡°Congratulations on your successful completion of first floor. We will now move on to the second floor where the challenge will be even greater. We appreciate your participation as we improve the facilities for future use. Enjoy the next floor.¡±
Initializing Floor 2¡­. Initialization Complete Floor 2 The Less than Living is now ready to be entered. Please proceed with caution.
A new door came into being, Pepe saw an old door rounded at the top with a metal knocker, no actual doorknob was present just a ring that you pull to open it. The wood on the door was old and worn as if it had been exposed to the sun for many years, it was grey instead of a brownish color you would expect a nice new wood door to be. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Josh opened the door and they looked in, what they saw was a road and trees on either side of said road, old wooden post, and beams along the road. There was a light drizzle of rain, and Pepe had not brought an umbrella, guess they were going to get wet. He was not looking forward to this dungeon as much as he liked dungeons, he did not like the rain he saw. They filed through to the rainy road, at least it was not a cold rain, Pepe felt the water running down his back, in minutes he felt soaked through. It may not have been cold, but it still sucked, he looked around saw his friends were also miserably wet, they started down the road. The road was wide enough to be a two-lane road, no wagons of any kind were present, they heard no birds or animals, it was a desolate place. Pepe only felt the rain come down and his wet clothes, still in the Plumber outfit, he felt the water even in his overly large boots, in between his toes, not very comfortable. From time to time in the distance he saw lightning flashes in the sky and a large buildings shadow. He pointed this out to his friends, they looked up and saw it. ¡°Looks like we know where we have to go.¡± They walked getting soaked the whole time, they had caps on, but they did little to cover them from the rain. The road came to a bend and a small house was standing there to the left of the road. Pepe looked up and saw that the roof was in poor repair, likely letting lots of water in, while it may have more holes than Swiss cheese, they probably be able to find an area that was covered from the rain. They walked in, they had knocked in case it belonged to someone, but it was highly unlikely as it seemed abandoned. He looked around, what may have been a table and chairs was now falling apart on the ground, only one of the legs of the table was attached, the other laying on the ground. One chair still looked like it was whole, but he doubted it would hold his weight. There was dust everywhere, spiderwebs on the corners, but he saw no spiders. A fireplace that had not been used for a very long time, but it was not cold enough to need an actual fire. Various holes on the roof allowed rain in, puddles forming in various locations on the floor. None of it was very inviting, Pepe looked around and felt like it was all staged, like what you see in a movie. Five minutes passed and some noise was heard outside, Pepe heard a horse outside stop and the sound of metal as a rider dismounted. He was not sure why that came to mind as he had seen neither, it just felt like that. Again, it felt staged, but what was he going to do? A knock came at the door, he knew it was coming. They all looked at the door, then at each other and shrugged, if it was something bad why would it knock at the door? They took out their weapons, better prepared than sorry. Josh opened the door, standing there was a tall figure, it had on a leather raincoat of sorts with the hood up. ¡°Thank you, kind stranger, would you be amenable to allow a traveler out of the rain, I would be happy to pay you for the stay?¡± The voice had a weird sound to it as if the person was talking through a tin can. What was this, they were not expecting to meet a person in the dungeon. Josh turned to allow the person in. ¡°My thanks, it has been a miserable day of rain. But it is the rainy season, so it is to be expected.¡± The tall figure removed the raincoat, Pepe was amazed to see that the person was wearing a full set of armor. It was the whole getup; helmet with a slit so he could see, breastplate, gauntlets, and greaves. Not that he actually knew what any of the pieces were called, but now he understood why the voice sounded like it did. He carried a shield behind his back, and a sword in its scabbard at the hip, the sword a lot longer than what Manuel carried. ¡°I have traveled many days in this dreary weather, the countryside is empty of people, I was surprised to find someone here. Are you also fellow travelers by chance? And by your look adventurers, maybe? If so, I have need of your aid, for I am on a quest.¡± And there it was thought Pepe, the knight was a ¡®non-playable-character?¡¯ Or what did you call it here since it was like a game but not a game. Josh looked at his companions before answering, probably thinking the same thing as Pepe, ¡°Yes to both, we are travelers and adventurers.¡± He went on to introduce them to the knight. Pepe nodded as he was introduced, the rest doing the same. ¡°Ah excellent, glad am I to meet you. My name is Sir Urthor of the Court of Daford.¡± He bowed which looked awkward in the suit of armor he was wearing. Though he pulled off all the movement perfectly, it was as if he had been born in the armor or just many years of practice, ¡°Aid was requested by concerned citizens, the Court sent others before me, but none have returned. I and my retinue were sent, unfortunately an accident with our wagons has left my fellows days behind.¡± Good setup thought Pepe, he would need to tell the Nodes they had done well. He continued his story of how he had been riding nonstop until tonight, and how lucky he was to find them there. Right lucky, it was like the nodes had seen some movies or maybe read it in some kind of book and just made their own version. Through all this the knight had not removed his helm, they could not see any eyes through the eye slit on the helm. It was dark due to the clouds outside so little light was actually present, enough to see but not a lot. Pepe found it interesting that the night had not commented at all about the weird uniform they had on, the overly large boots and gloves, the green and red shirts, and overalls. The weapons they had wielded may of gave away the Adventurers vibe, but then again it felt scripted so maybe it was just that. ¡°If you could give us a little time, I would confer with my friends about this.¡± Josh moved over to the other side of the room, picking a spot that did not have a hole above them. ¡°Thoughts?¡± ¡°Feels like a movie or something.¡± Pepe knew he was not the only one that had thought that. Erin had come to the same conclusion, the rest just nodded to his response. ¡°Since it is part of the Dungeon let¡¯s just agree so we can move to the next part.¡± This came from Manuel, so he too wanted to continue with this. They had all had their rest, so it was time to get this Dungeon run on the road. They moved back over to the night, he had just been standing where they had left him, it was weird because it felt like a statue. ¡°Sir Urthor, we have all agreed to help in your quest. Can you tell us more about it?¡± ¡°Most excellent, there will be a reward for your time of course¡­.¡± Pepe listened as the knight went into his spiel, about the other two groups that had not returned. There were some unknown monsters attacking citizens and that he was there to stop them. With their help they would get to the bottom of this and end the treat to the remote area they were in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Frank or as Pepe would call him Francisco, found himself in front of a round floating metal ball, it has introduced itself as a Registration Node or as it said to call it Regi. It had gone over something to do with roles and all this and that, none of it made sense to him. What was he doing here in a forest? He had been sleeping in his bed and then he had been here. After he had been told about these roles, it was like one of the stupid games his brother and his friends played, he had chosen Wizard. He was not sure why he had chosen that one, but it was the only one that called him. It seemed interesting to be able to use magic and stuff. He was wearing a black shirt, black pants, and his lace up black boots when he had fallen asleep, and they had come with him. Good thing he had been wearing his boots, while not the most comfortable shoes to wear for a long hike they were good sturdy boots. He like his brother and friends had been giving a map, for him a black backpack had appeared to carry his things. He had brought up this GUI thing and had been greeted by the HelpNode, it had given him lots of more information than that Regi fellow. None of it made sense to him though, he started his walk to the Starter Town, what kind of name was that? More silly game things. He had arrived at Starter Town, and just gaped at the guards, they were not human. The giant one did not say anything but the little one next to it started to talk, ¡°Oh look at that, another one, we have not seen others arrive for a few days. So, kind of late I would say. Welcome to Starter Town¡± It was female by the sound of the voice, he looked up at the big one and it smiled, the canine teeth quite long. What were these two? They had said some things, but he was still in shock about everything that was happening, so he did not pay much attention. He had been told to read some rules, go to the inn, and get a room. He had done that, meeting another little person that had checked him in, they had fed him then taken him to a small room. The room with a small bed, he sat down to gather his thoughts, all so confusing. He left his things and went out to this Adventurers Guild place he had been pointed to. He went in, saw some people around his age, some younger that had been talking to the person that worked there. When they were done, he went up to the lady, she was all smiles and told him what they did and that she was happy to have so many new guild members. So, he had joined to make money while he was not ready to accept this as reality, it must be a dream, and he was actually back in his bed sleeping right now. The days continued and he had not woken up from the weird dream, he had seen his brother and his friends, but he had hidden in an alley as they passed by. He had heard something about a dungeon that they were going to. A girl was with them, a red head with curly hair, he was not sure who she was, but she was walking and talking with them. Chapter 15 Dungeon Floor 2: The Less than Living They followed Sir Urthor outside, he had been smart and had brought his raincoat, the hood back up and covering his face, the rain was just hitting it and sliding off. Stupid nodes, they had dried a little while inside and now they were soaked again, Pepe hated this floor. The knight had offered his rain coat all gentleman like to Lady Michelle as he had started to call her. She had refused him; said she was fine; he had not pushed. Pepe was running behind the rest of the group; they had picked up the pace as the way to the shadowy building they had seen was close by. It was surrounded by large grey walls on either side with a large double gate, one side slightly ajar. How inviting he thought, the rain had not let up it had increased, wind had also picked up. He hated the nodes right now; next dungeon better be at a beach resort with the sun out. They had walked in and on the left, there was a little covered area and a hitch for horses, at least they had thought about the poor animal. Thanks nodes could have left us some raincoats and umbrellas, he hated being wet. In the distance what could only be described as a large mansion stood, Pepe could not even identify parts of it, maybe Erin or Bobby could, but there was no time to ask. The road continued to the mansion, but it was still far way, he estimated at least twenty minutes worth of walking, so like a mile away. He noticed ahead and to the right of the road, some objects sticking out from the grass. What were they, he did not recognize the shape of them? ¡°What are those?¡± He pointed at the objects sticking out. ¡°Sir Pepe, those would be headstones, it is a cemetery.¡± Oh great, dead people, he sorts of knew what was coming, he hoped he was wrong. ¡°Oh.¡± Is all he said, shook his head. ¡°Sir Pepe is something amiss?¡± He shook his head at the night. They walked on and they hit that invisible line, from the wet grass they saw arms, come out, freaking zombies, it had to be zombies. He saw one arm reach up then another, saw the thing pull itself out of the ground. The skin grey and dry as it had been dead and buried for a while, the skin on the face shrunken, no eyes as they had decomposed long ago, bones could be seen. What clothes it had when they had buried it now rags upon the desiccated body. Other zombies were coming out of the ground as well around them. He took out his daggers, what they could do against zombies he was not sure. His friends took out their weapons ready to face the treat, the knight removing his shield from its back and taking out his sword. A light shone fort from both shield and sword, ooh holy magic thought Pepe. ¡°Friends behind me, these fiends shall die to my holy sword.¡± Yup just like he thought, a bit cheesy but hey who was he to complain. ¡°Priest your spells shall be a bane to these abominations.¡± He nodded to Bobby. Nice, Bobby¡¯s spells are good against undead, well kind of made sense since his role was to cure the living, curing the dead or something would have the opposite effect Pepe assumed. They would need to see if there was a way for him to cast a spell on their weapons. They were faced by three zombies, they moved slow as they shuffled and approached the group, the rest of the zombies too far away to trigger the aggro skill? He was not sure if that is what it was called, but it was nice that they would not be overrun by the zombies. The Knight attracted the zombies by casting his own version of Taunt, and they started to move faster at him, not at a run but at a shuffling power walk Pepe guessed. Power Walking Zombies, that was kind of funny, what¡¯s next? The zombies were kind of easy, in minutes they were down, the knights holy shield and sword kept them at bay and on him, and the rest just concentrated on taking them out.
Minor Zombie x 3 defeated 60 XP earned
That was why they were easy, trash mobs, he knew that but thought they may be a bit harder to defeat. But they did have a holly knight NPP so that helped. Minor zombies he thought, that meant that there may be regular zombies or even major versions of them. They moved on to another group, this time it was four of them and just like the first group they dispatched them. His daggers had been doing some damage to them, which made him a little disappointed, so he was weak against undead with his current setup. He would need to see if there was a way to improve his weapons to do more damage on these undead types. There had been zombies on both sides, and the knight wanted to take care of all of them. They moved on to the next group they would clear out the right side and move on to the left side once this was done. The next group consisted of three of them, but one of them stood out, Pepe saw that it had what looked like a club, a large wooden stick shaped like a bat. It also had on a rusty metal helmet and some armor, so it may have been soldier when it was alive. This one moved faster; it was just as dead looking as the other two that flanked it, but it had the weapon in one hand. When Sir Urthor taunted it, it moved at a not quite a run but not a shuffle either at the knight, his two friends power shuffling behind him. It raised the club and smashed it down on the knight, he heard a loud clang as it hit. Manuel taunted one of the shuffling ones over to him they would take care of that one first while Urthor took care of the meaner one. He got behind and to the left of the zombie, he had noticed that this was where he always ended up, it worked so he kept at it. Yes, again his daggers did less damage, but every little bit counted. He heard Bobby cast [Heal] and the notification that it was a Critical Hit, nice for Bobby his spells could sure do damage to these undead. It also afflicted the undead with an increase incoming damage debuff. Pepe saw the creature go down and not get up, the notification came that it was dead, did undead die? Or what would you call it? Manuel did the same with the other minor zombie pulled him off Sir Urthor, Bobby cast heal, this time though no Critical Hit. It took another Heal against it and further damage before it was out like its friend. They moved onto the one with the mace, it had continued its swings of the mace, a clang heard every time it hit. He had heard it in the background, but he concentrated on their fight, it seemed the NPP could handle itself. It helped a lot, at least in being able to damage the zombies as the holy sword the knight carried with him did a good amount of damage on the zombies. It took a lot more to defeat the zombie soldier but with them all damaging it was soon down, that was it for the side they were working on. They moved on to the other side of the road, first set of zombies were just the shufflers, at least that is what Pepe began to call them. The first group consisted of four shufflers, they dispatched them in a matter of minutes, it was steady experience. While he still hated that his daggers did less damage to help, he continued outputting damage but relying on Bobby and Sir Urthor for most of the damage. In the end what counted was that the zombies were taken out. The follow up group consisted of two Soldier, one caried a club the other a sword. Sir Urthor taunted the sword wilder, and Manuel went for the club one. His cousin pulled him in with his [Taunt], Bobby casted [Heal] and Pepe and the rest went to town with the damage they could output. Since this one was a bit stronger, it took a lot longer to take it out, it felt like an eternity. As soon as they saw the notification, they quickly moved on to Zombie Soldier number two. They moved over allowing Mr. Knight to keep aggro and damaging him while they did their part. It took much less time to take this one down with the extra help.
Minor Zombie x6 defeated, 120 XP earned. Zombie Soldier x1 defeated, 35 XP earned. Minor Zombie x4 defeated, 80 XP earned. Zombie Soldier x2 defeated, 70 XP earned.
So far, he had gained 365 XP on the run, not even halfway to the next level, how disappointing. He had come in with hardly any experience, only just leveling off Shroomy on the previous floor. They had a few more packs to go this side, while he did not like the zombies as he felt useless, they gave better experience than the shrooms. He was looking forward to finishing off the dungeon then get back to Master Corta his instructor and see what else he could teach him at this level. He also wanted to ask about facing undead creatures. The next pack of them was only three Shufflers as he had begun to call them, they took them out fast and moved on to the next pack a Shuffler and a Soldier. Or was it a soldier, it carried a large sword, he believed they called it a great sword. It caried the sword on its shoulder, it like the soldiers was also fast, when it was taunted, it ran at Mr. Knight. The sword came forward and bashed against the shield making a large clang noise, it felt a lot harder than the others, it sounded like it had more force too. There was no time to admire the fight with the large sword wilding zombie, he and the other concentrated on the shuffler, it was weak as all the others. It went down in less than a minute, they turned to work on the one engaging Sir Urthor. They surrounded the monster, Pepe was finding it difficult to get in and actually damage it, as he went in, he felt a sudden coldness radiating from the zombie. Striking with his daggers, the cold radiated up his arm, a very unpleasant feeling. It was probably a good thing they had the large silly gloves still on or the cold he felt may have made it impossible to continue. It took three heals from Bobby and a lot of damage from the rest before it finally stopped moving and fell to the ground dead. They looked around and no more zombies were present they had cleared the field on both sides, good he hated zombies, and this last one was the worse of them. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Minor Zombie x1 defeated, 20 XP earned Zombie Elite x1 defeated, 75 XP earned
No wonder that one had been so tough, he did not want to fight any more of those that was for sure. It had continued to rain the whole time that they had been fighting the zombies, lightning and thunder went off and a small structure was illuminated further up ahead. Well, we know where we need to go next. ¡°Friends we must see if these monstrosities are present in the mausoleum.¡± He pointed at the structure that had been illuminated, so that is what it was called, Pepe guessed calling it the little building for dead people may have been a little on the long side. Before anyone could say anything Sir Urthor was off to the mausoleum, they followed close behind. Once again, they reached the magic line, the lightning and the thunder came again, a hard cold wind blew, and the gates of the mausoleum slammed open. Then a cold voice was heard, it sent shivers down Pepe¡¯s spine, ¡°Who dares disturb my slumber? You have slain my brethren and shall face my wrath.¡± He did not like the sound of that, but he was eager to finish with these damn zombies, so let¡¯s kill this boss. ¡°Fiend it is thee who shall face thy executioner, prepare to be defeated.¡± Ah Sir Knight, I will put in a complain, come on nodes, let¡¯s work on the lines, that one was terrible. He would need to give them some pointers when he saw them next.
Warning¡­. Boss Encounter Triggered. Boss Encounter will commence in 60 seconds. Please ensure preparations are complete within this timeframe.
And there it was, they had reached the Boss. What did this boss have in store for them? What kind of mechanics would they need to worry about? The timer began to tick down, when it hit zero from the entrance of the mausoleum a very large hand came through grabbing on to the side of the entrance. The thing would have no issue palming a basketball, as a matter of fact the basketball would look tiny in the enormous hand. The dry skin hanging on the hand, and various digits just bone, were a little on the disgusting side, the other hand came through on the opposite side. It was almost as if it was using the side of the opening to pull its enormous body through. The head came next, it too equally large, the skull had patches of hair here and there, with flaps of flaky skin. Pepe felt his stomach churn a little from revulsion, it was not a pretty sight. The thing turned its head up to look at what it saw as it¡¯s lunch or whatever it was going to do with them. Probably turn them to zombies, while a zombie Pepe might be cool a dead Pepe was not, so he wanted to avoid that dying. The eye sockets black pits of darkness looked right than left, only reason that he could tell was because it had turned its head to look at them. It kept on going, the arms and head already out, it needed to turn for the shoulders to come through. The torso came through, it righted itself as the largest part had come through, it dragged the rest of the body out placing the hands on the ground and pulling until the monstrosity was outside the mausoleum. But it was not done, it reached back into the entrance it had just come through, pulling a massive sword through. It had rags for clothes, they were likely very nice clothes back when it was buried, a fading purple coat, the trousers now more of a yellow. It stood as it came fully out, what could be seen under the rags it wore were bone and more desiccated skin. Pepe looked up at the thing, it was taller than Rotgert, so easily ten feet tall, maybe more.
Monster Type: Undead Monster Name: Baron Hames Abilities: Unknown Difficulty Level: Medium Baron Hames likes to steal the souls of those he defeats to nurture his undead existence, he raises their dead bodies and creates his zombie horde to protect his domain.
¡°Time to die little mortals.¡± The eyes started to glow like two blue flames as it looked down on them, the mouth full of yellow teeth moving as it said the words. ¡°Thou shall be the one to face thy doom fiend.¡± Sir Urthor we need to get you some new lines. ¡°[Holy Shield] [Holy Sword] [Taunt],¡± the sword going up then down in an overhead smash at the knight, coming down on the glowing shield, he buckled going down on one knee. It raised the sword once again, and before the knight could right itself it came down once more. The force of the blow keeping the knight on one knee, it raised it once again with incredible force brought it down. Pepe could feel the air pressure from the blows where he was standing, he had jumped out of the way when that first flow had come down. He ran around the things and began to try and damage it, his slashes, and swings not very effective. Had he mentioned how much he hated zombies? With the thing being as tall as it was, he only reached just above its knees. His strikes only touching the back of the legs at calf level. He would need to wait on Bobby with his spells, they allowed his daggers to have a greater effect on the undead before so they should help once more. He saw the debuff land and finally saw that his damage increased, slightly but it increased. This was going to be a very long fight; he was not enjoying himself at all. Pepe had been looking at his GUI, as he mindlessly slashed and stabbed with his daggers. Josh¡¯s spells were doing more damage, than he was, Michelle and Erin were both in the same boat as he. As for his cousin his output was awful, but he was not meant to do damage, he was meant to take damage, so it was expected. They needed to come up with something else, how in the heck were they going to beat this thing and not take hours to do so. While they could just continue and eventually beat it, it was just disheartening that it would take so long. So, what could they do? Could he do something more? Wait can I use the skills the uniform gave them somehow? Only thing he could do was try, what would be the worst thing that could happen, it did nothing? The annoying undead Baron had just started, the sword went up once more, but the expected downward strike did not come. Instead, it went low and behind him, then the sword was swinging in an arc, an arc that put both Pepe and Erin in the way. As the sword came around, he was forced to trigger the jump mechanic, or be smashed by the sword. Up into the air he went, the sword blade missing, he was not sure if Erin was alright, but he saw no notification telling him otherwise. He heard the blade strike the gravestones as it passed, the gravestones not strong enough to take the force of the massive blade. Chunks flying all over the place, he felt small pieces hitting him like shrapnel. He landed back on solid ground, saw the blade make contact with the Knights shield, the knight raising from the ground and sent flying, his back slamming against one walls of the mausoleum. The figure of Sir Urthor sliding down the wall, cracks forming where he had struck the wall. He saw a piece coming down and landing on top of the knight. Pepe was truly scared at this point, that swipe of the blade would have split him in half, if it did what it did to the knight what chance did he have? There was no chance to react, no chance to panic, this thing was strong, stronger than anything they had faced. The monster turned to where Sir Urthor had landed, started to move, Pepe saw his cousin move, his stance change, no Manuel don¡¯t do it. ¡°[Taunt]!¡± The Baron turned, Pepe was even more terrified now, there was no way Manuel could handle this, he was going to be crushed under that massive sword. The monster stopped already within striking distance of its great sword; Pepe could not move as the blade raised to its highest point. He felt like a child playing at something that he was not, a thief from a game. How stupid he felt, how could he be so excited all the time to do this, now his family was in danger, his cousin would not just be hurt he would likely lose his life. He had not really thought about that, he could not move, just stand there as he saw those two blue flames look down at the young man it was about to crush. ¡°No, Fiend it will not pass!¡± A great light shone, Pepe turned to see a knight standing amid a ruined wall, saw blood on the helm, noticed the normally immaculate armor dented. The NPP was hurt, and it did not matter if it was part of this world or this dungeon alone, it was hurt. Pepe did not care if the lines that it had been given were cheesy, he was glad to see it up once again, that it had not died. Pepe saw the monster turn as well, the normally blue flames now turning red. It was all happening in flashes, he saw Sir Urthor raise his shield, crossing his sword in front of his shield, the Baron start to move towards him. The Knight saying some words that Pepe could not make heads or tails of, he finished saying the words and an explosion of light encompassing all. He closed and tried to shield his eyes from the light, opened them and saw black spots. Slowly he regained his eyesight, the light now something more manageable, he kept on blinking trying to see better. ¡°Now my friends, this will be our only opportunity, you must keep him off me!¡± He heard the words from Sir Urthor but was unsure of their meaning, chance for what? He looked at the Baron, the monstrosity had shrunk, before the light had enveloped them all it had been just over ten feet tall, now it had shrunk significantly. It still towered over all of them, the sword swill very large, but now more manageable. Once again, his cousin got its attention, ¡°Come on Baron let¡¯s do this, [Taunt]!¡± He looked at his GUI and what he saw made him smile.
Name: Baron Hames Type: Undead Affliction: +50% Damage Benefits: None
It was vulnerable to them, finally he could do something. Instead of sitting there frozen and scared he moved, he had a job to do, and he would do it. It was on Manuel and Pepe had reset to his normal place, he swung his dagger, saw the notification of the hit, finally it was decent damage. He looked at Michelle and she was smiling, saw her continue to strike with her daggers. The notification that came made him so happy, they were damaging the boss.
Baron Hames at 50% health.
¡°This cannot be, you mere mortals cannot destroy me. You are my playthings, your souls mine to consume, your bodies mine to animate.¡± The Baron attempted to disengage from Manuel it turned to go after the Knight, without the Knights magic it could destroy them. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, ven a qui Parka [Taunt]!¡± Manuel did not just stand there waiting on the undead to come to him, he moved after the Baron striking it on its back, ¡°[Shield Bash] [Thrust],¡± the monster had moved only steps away from Manuel now it had no choice but to face him again. They would not let it get away that easy, Pepe continued to damage it, his friends doing the same. They would end the Baron; they had agreed to help Sir Urthor and end this thing evil deeds. Was Pepe getting too into this dungeon? Yes, yes, he was. He was not sure why, but he felt like he needed to end this monster. Pepe from the corner of his eye he saw Sir Urthor start to move in their direction, the holy light he provided getting closer and closer. The Baron seemed to be trying to move from the light, it weekend him, but neither Pepe, his cousin, nor his friends allowed him any respite. The monster started to move slower, the overhead strikes from its great sword now with less impact. It was close he could feel it, then the great sword dropped, and the monster went down on one knee as the Knight had been when it had started its onslaught. ¡°How can this be? I am invincible, you are supposed to be my playthings. All the others before you failed, so why you.¡± Oh man it was starting to monologue, why did villains do that? Oh, Nodes where did you come up with this stuff? While he loved the cheesiness of it, he would have to talk to them about it. ¡°No Fiend, it was never going to be, your days were counted when we came along.¡± There you go Sir Urthor, bring the cheese thought Pepe. Sir Urthor delivered the final blow, his sword coming down and thrusting where the things heart would have been. ¡°Goodbye Fiend.¡± Pepe saw the red flames that had served as eyes go out, the bones crumbling to the ground. The notification showing them that it was over. Sir Urthor removed his sword, and put the sword away, he was moving slow and the blood still on his helm plain for all to see. ¡°Thank thee friends, without thy help I would have surely perished.¡± Pepe was not sure of that, they had been bit players in the Knights play, but even thought he had been terrified they had won.
Congratulation you have defeated Baron Hames! Floor 2 complete. 450 EXP Earned
The fight had been intense, but it was time to end this Floor, he was wet, and he had been scared and worried about his friends. He wanted to move on to the part that now mattered, the loot. Chapter 16 Let鈥檚 Gear Up ¡°Friends, glad am I that I met thee. We have ended this evil fiend and save the land from its machination. Thank you for your service to the Court of Daford. Let us see if anything else is within in the mausoleum.¡± Yes, let¡¯s go get the loot thought Pepe, they walked behind the Knight into the mausoleum. He was looking much better after some healing love from Bobby, though his armor still had the dents in it and would need a smith to get it back to its former glory. The inside looked like it had belonged to someone with means, various marble statues were around the room. It was also very dusty, large footprints and lines from where the monster dragged itself out could be seen on the floor. The casket itself was carved out of marble; the top now on the floor cracked in half. Lucky for them no more zombies were walking around. He looked around but saw no loot chest, where were they? He looked behind the casket then went forward and looked inside, there they were, ¡°Found them.¡± He did not really want to reach in and get them out, they were larger and probably heavy, Sir Urthor solved the dilemma as he reached in and brought one then the other out placing both on the floor. He did not open them just looked around more making sure there were no hidden doors or anything. They allowed him to do his thing while they took care of opening the first chest. As usual Josh took charge of that, he opened it and took out its contents. Pepe saw that it was an armor chest piece, it looked heavy and clearly was made for his cousin. It was a dull grey and it looked like it was made of overlapping scales.
Loot Information Name: [Chestpiece of the Armadillo] Stats: +2 STA, +10% Defense Role: Tank Lv: 5
Awesome, Manuel is really going to like that one. He was happy for his cousin; this thing would greatly increase his Tankiness. The Stamina boost meant higher health points, and the defiance bonus was crazy, at least he thought so, how was Def even calculated for Tanks? Well, it was good either way, he would not be able to use something like that regardless, unless there was a way to change classes. But he really liked Thief and he was looking forward to learning more about it. He felt he was sorely lacking in skills, the ones he currently had were alright, but he needed to be able to do more damage, especially against the darn zombies. It was time to open the second chest, before that though there was no two ways about it, Josh handed the armor over to their Tank, ¡°Gracias amigo, I am going to go put this one right now.¡± He went off to the side taking off his old chest piece which was still from the starter set that had no bonuses. The stamina and plus Defense were a great upgrade for his cousin and he saw that he was eager to try it on. Josh moved over to the other chest and opened it, he took out its content, Pepe saw that it was a cream-colored cloth, very light from the looks of things. Josh unrolled it, it was a gown or Pepe guess in this case a robe, in other words caster gear.
Loot Information Name: [Robe of the Order of Ineris] Stats: +2 INT, +10% Mana Regeneration Role: Caster Lv: 5
Yup all the way caster gear, this would be good for either Josh or Bobby they would both benefit from it. That is as far as he went with evaluating the piece, it was not Thief gear, so he did not need to think more about it. He would be happy for whoever got the gear as it would make them a better party. He was ready to move on to the next floor. ¡°All looks in order friends, shall we leave this place behind?¡± Yes, let¡¯s leave the place behind, it gave him the creeps as it was, he did not like being inside the mausoleum at all. Had he mentioned how much he disliked the undead? They followed Sir Urthor, as they exited the crypt they looked up, it had stopped raining, good he hated being wet. Through a break in the clouds a ray of sunlight could be seen, it looked as if the rain would finally stop for a while. They made their ways to the exit of the place, not wanting to explore the creepy looking mansion in the background. The knight¡¯s horse was still tied up awaiting its master¡¯s return, well at least the zombies only liked humanoid people and not horses. They followed him out the gate, he looked at them, ¡°Again I offer thee my thanks and that of the Courts. As for the reward, it shall be sent to thee, as I still need to make a report of the situation. May I ask who we should send it to?¡± Maybe naming themselves Wolfpack was a little silly thought Pepe but that is what they called themselves as a party. Josh looked up at the Knight, he looked a bit embarrassed, ¡°We are Wolfpack.¡± ¡°Pack of the Wolf interesting company name, but I have heard worse. Friends I fare thee well. Until we meet again, I shall praise your bravery. Goodbye.¡± The sun was out, only a few of the dark clouds still trying to hold out, it would be dark soon as the sun was beginning to set. Pepe looked at the knight as he rode away, the sun setting, the knight raising his arm in one final farewell. Would they meet the knight again, he had been an interesting NPP, maybe the nodes would use him again in another story? When the knight was out of sight the outline of a rectangle appeared, then a beat-up wooden door came to be with its rope handle and the rusted knocker. It was time for them to head back to the locker room, Josh opened the door, the fluorescent lights shining out. Pepe was happy to leave the floor, no more zombies, no more rain, again a Beach Resort would be great, but he doubts the nodes would comply with that wish. They stepped through one by one, Pepe looked back where they had come from just one last look, there was a man standing in the middle of the road. The man looked like it was in some form of servant livery, he was semitransparent and bowed, a wind blew and like smoke it was gone. What the heck was that? He shook his head, probably imagining things, letting his imagination of the creepy place get to him. He stepped through and once he was through, he turned, and the door was just gone. He shivered was it a ghost? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The lockers were the same and their gear was still stored away, there was an addition a green hat with his name on it. Pepe was still miserably wet; he grabbed his gear and the hat to change he was not going to stay in these wet clothes. Lucky for them the changing rooms were back once more, good job nodes. He stepped in drew the cloth curtain close so he could have some privacy. Upon closing it a warm wind came, it was like a giant air dryer, in mere minutes he was dry once again. But he was still going to change, he was tired of the coveralls and the green shirt. He had put on his old starter gear but decided to keep the gloves, boots and added the hat. He checked the GUI to see if he had lost the skills the uniform gave, but they were still present, he guessed having the three pieces there provided the same benefits. It was a good thing the hat was there, his hair after the giant dryers was all over the place. He stepped out of the change room, his friends were grabbing their things and were heading into the little change area. They saw that he was dry, ¡°Wait how you get all dry?¡± they were still soaked from their little foray into Floor 2. He told them about the giant dryer affect from the change room, they quickly went in. Hear them say oh that¡¯s nice, and it had been. Michelle not one to doddle had already gone in as well, he was out there by himself. He thought back at the weird ghost he had seen, why was it there? Was it thanking them for what they had done? Sneaky nodes leaving him with a cliff hanger. One after the other if his friends came out, they had the same idea and had done as he, the coveralls and the green shirt were gone, and they were back in their starter gear. Like him they had kept the gloves, the boots and sporting their new cap. ¡°Josh, should we doll out the gear now?¡± Manuel was sporting his new Armadillo chest piece but the Tiger and Ineris gear needed to be handed out. ¡°Sure. But how do we do this?¡± Yes, how did they do it? They needed a way to fairly give out the gear. ¡°Maria how would we do it fairly?¡± She was a Knowledge Node after all. ¡°User Josh, we have a roll system that can be used to do it fairly. Would you like to roll for the first item¡± Well, it may not have been the best way to do it, but it was better than what they could come up with. ¡°Yes please, the [Chestpiece of the Cunning Tiger (M)] first.¡± He hoped he would win it but was not sure if he would. ¡°Will roll with a 100.¡± Pepe had heard about this, he had not been into them tabletop games, instead they had played on their computers or on their game systems. And this was something that they had seen on the games when they were in a group.
Rolling the Dice¡­¡­ Roll Results: 24
Dang a 24 likely he would lose, but it was alright, let¡¯s see what the RNGesus had for Erin. Erin just nodded and the roll for him began.
Rolling¡­. Roll Results: 93
Ah well I guess Erin gets this one, with his low roll he figured he would lose, and he had been right. Josh handed the Chest piece over to Erin. ¡°Ready to roll for the Leg Guards?¡± He did not want to lose out to the Leg Guards the +1% to daggers was really good for him as he primarily used daggers. ¡°No need, I don¡¯t think I will be using daggers, so kind of a waste. Congratulations Pepe.¡± Erin smiled at him, thanks bud. He smiled back at his friend; he was glad that Erin was not going to be training in daggers. Next the roll was between Bobby and Josh, who would get the Robe? Bobby went first.
Rolling¡­. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Roll Results: 81
An 81, that was a really good roll, would Joshes roll be higher?
Rolling¡­. Roll Results: 66
¡°Dang it, oh well looks like you got it Bobby. Congratulations!¡± He handed the robe to Bobby. Now that the loot was handed out the winners had gone off to change into their new gear. Pepe put on his new leg piece, it was nice and soft in the inside, outside they were rougher and looked like they could take a beating. He did not really feel much different with them on, charisma increase did not really seem to do anything. He as naturally charismatic, at least that is how he felt about himself even before coming here. And as far as the dagger damage output he would not be able to see that until they fought something. He came out sporting his new Leg Guard feeling all stylish, the new pants looked much nicer than the Starter set. The only thing is that he was mismatched, he would need to get a chest piece to match the leg piece. Not that he was at all coordinated in his wardrove back home, he normally just threw on whatever he had not worn too much and looked less wrinkled. His fashion sense which he doubted he had was not really that concerning to him back home. A little embarrassing but most of the time he had just allowed his mom to pick some clothes for him Erin looked good in the chest piece while it would have been great if he would have won the roll, he was not selfish and was glad his friend had won. He looked over at Bobby, his new off-white robe, had a silver stripe down one side, the same at the hem and at the cuffs. There also seemed to be strange symbols at the cuffs and the hem above the line. All the gear fit them perfectly, the rules being broken once again, it seemed that the world just knew what it needed to give out. The new pants were just right, not too long, or short, wide enough, not baggy overall they felt like a second skin. Whoever the crafter was he was great at his job. While they were at getting dry and changing a new door came to be, above it a sign that read ¡®Dungeon Store,¡¯ where did the doors come from? No point in asking the questions though, Pepe was sure it was some other rule breaking thing of this world. The new door in question was what you would expect in a modern-day super store at a mall, it was glass and an aluminum frame. The glass a tinted black color he could not see in at all. Guess it was shopping time, ¡°Guys, another door.¡± They had been sitting down, Michelle was still in the changing room and Pepe just happened to turn and saw the door. A door that had not been there before or they would have seen it as they walked back out of the changing room. They had gathered by the door and were waiting for Michelle; she came out her hair in perfect order under the hat with her name on it. How did she do that? Pepe¡¯s hair was a mess under the hat, and he looked at his friends the hair he could see was a mess as well. No time to try and figure out how she did that right now, they had a store to explore. ¡°What is that?¡± She looked up and read the sign, ¡°Shopping time!¡± She pushed them out of the way and went into the store, the boys right behind her, Erin was closest to the door, so he went in after, followed by the rest. Pepe looked around the store, the place was small, not as large as the one in Starter Town, there were a few items on display. There was a counter and behind the counter our two buddies the Dungeon Nodes, this time the hats were different, one of them wearing a cowboy hat, with a leather band around it and a little plaque with the number 1337. The other node had a blue beanie on with you guessed it a number 1 on it. What was up with these nodes and their hats, Pepe was partial to the beanie, but he would not be caught dead in a cowboy hat, even though he had grown up in Texas he was not into the cowboy look. ¡°Welcome to the Dungeon Shop. While we have many things for sale you only have access to a small amount at this point. As you advance and collect more [Dungeon Tokens] you will have access to a greater number of items.¡± Wait what were they talking about, Dungeon Tokens? And what was it about the limited items, why? This world and their rules again, it made no sense, not that he had any idea about any of it. ¡°Maria que es Dungeon Tokens?¡± They had their own version of Goggle even though it seemed to be limited.
Translating¡­. Analyzing Request¡­. [Dungeon Tokens]: tokens that can be earned in dungeons, serve as monetary tender that can be used throughout Dungeon Shops that may appear during Dungeon runs. Low percentage of Dungeon Shops appearing, approximately 3.14159% chance. [Dungeon Tokens] currently acquired: 12
He had twelve of them, he had not really paid attention to all the notification as they had done the dungeon, what could he buy with what he had? And wow only very low chance that they would get access to the shops, that sucked. ¡°Maria, can you show me what is available in the shop currently?¡± He had been concentrating on himself and had not paid much attention to his friends, each one looked like they were looking at the same thing though.
Requesting Current Inventory¡­. Request Granted Would you like to see all items or only those that are available to your role and level?
Did he need to look at the rest? Nah not really, he was only interested in the items he could use.
Name Description DTs
Minor Health Potion A potion created by Alchemist that give back a small amount of Health. Recover 50 HP. 1
Minor Mana/AP Potion A potion created by Alchemist that give back a small amount of Mana/AP. Recover 50 Mana/AP 1
[Ring of the Eye of the Tiger] A simple ring with a Tigers Eye gemstone as the center piece. Comes with an accompanying musical piece to encourage the user. Lv 4; +1 AGI 4
[Amulet of Shadows] Amulet with a dark stone as its center. Harder for humanoids to see you when hidden. Lv5; +Hide Skill 6
[Ring of Love] A simple ring with a Rose Quarts as the center piece. It is said that the Rose Quarts encourages love. Lv 3; +4 CHA 12
The list was mostly potions and jewelry, he had some potions, they tended to be a little expensive, but he had two of each of them, so he was fine with those. The first ring was something good for him, his agility was one of his main stats and it would help him become a better thief. The Amulet was good too, you never knew when just hiding or sneaking through a place was useful. What was up with the [Ring of Love] though, four extra charismas were good, but the ring was expensive. It would not give him many benefits, well it would but still, it would be better for someone like Josh who would do the talking. It was not like he could afford all of them; the charisma ring alone would take up all the tokens. He would go with the AGI ring and the amulet and save the other points for later. Besides according to the nodes, they would open more items as time went on and they earned more tokens. He brought up the rest of the items in the shop just so that he could see what the others might buy.
Name Description DTs
[Ring of the Illuminator] A simple ring with a Rutilated Quartz gemstone as the center piece. Lv 4; +1 STR 4
[Amulet of the Illuminator] Amulet with a Rutilated Quartz gemstone as its center. Lv5; +Defense Skill 6
[Ring of Protection] A simple ring with a Shungite Stone as the center piece. Lv 4; +5% Decrease Incoming Damage 9
[Energizer Ring] A simple ring with a Garnet gemstone as the center piece. This ring is said to keep going and going. Lv 4; +Damage Spell increase 4
[Amulet of the Magician] Amulet with a Labradorite stone as its center. It both brings good sleep and packs a punch. Lv5; +Fire Damage Spells 6
[Ring of the Light Maker] A simple ring with a Citrine Stone as the center piece. Lv 3; Radius Increase to Illumination Spells 5
[Ring of Regeneration] A simple ring with a Serpentine gemstone as the center piece. Lv 4; +1 INT, Regen increase 5s 4
[Amulet of the Rainbow] Amulet with a Rainbow Obsidian crystal as its center. The stone is considered a healing stone. Lv5; +Healing Skill 6
[Ring of the Master Healer] A simple ring with a Turquoise Stone as the center piece. Lv 3; +1 CHA 12
[Arrow Amulet] Amulet with a dark stone as its center. An amulet meant for rangers. Lv5; +Damage with Projectiles 6
[Ring of the Tranquilizer] A simple ring with an Aquamarine as the center piece. Calms beast making them more docile. Lv 3; +3 CHA when dealing with beast. 12
[Ring of the Intuitive Eye] A simple ring with an Amethyst as the center piece. It is said that the Ring allows you to see what is hidden. Lv 3; Increase in Awareness 12
There were a lot of good options for his friends, some he thought it might even work for him, like [Ring of the Intuitive Eye] that one seemed like it was a good option. But just like the [Ring of Love] the cost was too high, again maybe it would be something he could buy later. He went to the nodes and purchased the AGI ring and the Amulet he had been looking at. Maybe in the future he could buy ten rings, ten additional agility would be crazy. He put on the ring and the pendent both items were cool looking, the pendant a simple silver chain with the larger yellowish and brown stone hanging from it. The ring itself was made of a simple silver band, with the same type of stone except it looked like an eye was looking at you. He brought up his GUI, but was not sure how to bring up the equipment, he had not really needed to do so before, ¡°Maria how do I bring up the Equipment GUI?¡± ¡°User Pepe it is very simple once GUI is up, many pages can be looked at, you just have to do a swipe motion with your fingers.¡± He recalled this futuristic movie where they did that oh and of course the superhero movies they did it all the time. ¡°Thank you!¡± He brought up the GUI and swiped left and just as she had indicated a new page was shown to him. It showed his current equipped items, and there it was, he could only wear a ring on each hand, any other rings would do nothing for him. Ah well he would just have to see what the best item was he could get his hands on. He swiped again to the left and another page came up, it had more information on his level and what all his stats were, as well as the modifier for the equipment that he was now wearing.
Name Role LV STA STR AGI INT CHAR HP MP AP XP Next Lv
Pepe Thief 5 11 10 19(2) 9 16 33 0 38 990 1012
He was so close to LV6 he could feel it, his agility was at a decent place, but he was lacking on the stamina and strength side he would need to invest in them in the next few levels. The health points area could mean a critical hit would easily lay him out. His agility helped in the dodge category, so it would help him avoid critical hits, he hoped. He was not planning on getting hit anyways but plans did not always work out as expected. He was ready to go, now to wait for his friends, but some of them were not done, he went over to look at the items the nodes had on display even though he could not buy it. One could always window shop and try and figure out what one should save up for. Nest stop Floor number 3 and the final floor for the dungeon, it was taking longer than expected but the gains were good so why would he complain? Chapter 17 Dungeon Floor 3: Beach Resort? They were back in the locker room after finishing their shopping, each of them was now wearing a ring or two, or a ring and an amulet. All of them of similar design except for the stones that he saw, some were yellow, blue, green, black and all sorts of colors. Michelle was now sporting her [Chestpiece of the Cunning Tiger (F)] and [Leg Guard of the Cunning Tiger (F)], it was no longer a two-piece bikini. The two pieces a little more form fitting and a style that was close to the stuff he and Erin were wearing but it looked great on her. The mic for the overhead PA system came on, then 1337 cleared his throat, which made no sense he had no throat, ¡°Ahem, you have now cleared two of the floors it is time to enter into the third and final floor. It will be progressively harder, are you hotshots ready for some fun in the sun?¡± He waited but no one said anything. ¡°Good, without further ado we will now send you to the third and final floor. Don¡¯t get too much of a tan out there!¡±
Initializing Floor 3¡­. Initialization Complete ¡°Floor 3 ¨C Beach Resort?¡± is now ready to be entered. Please proceed with caution.
The door they were expecting started to materialize, Pepe saw an outline first then a semi-transparent wooden door came to be, after a few more seconds it was solid. It was a weather-beaten door, like if it had been out in the sun a long time, no handle could be seen on it. Guess it would just need to be pushed open out into the wherever it was. The name gave Pepe hope it would be a nice sandy beach where they were going. Josh went forward and pushed the door open, they got hit with a strong heatwave as soon as he opened it fully, there was endless expanse of sand beyond the door. So not the Beach Resort or if there was one it would be far from where they were. Only thing that came to Pepe¡¯s mind was ¡®hate you nodes¡¯ ah well it was time to see what this was about. So, they went through one at a time just as the last two floors. As soon as he walked through the heat was even worse than before, the sun was at its peak and bright, it reflected off the sand and made the everything even worse. He felt the sun on his exposed skin, he knew he was about to get more than a tan. The temperature was worse than summer in the small town in Texas he and Manuel came from, there it was triple digits every summer but only for a few weeks, but this, it was much hotter. Again, not a Beach Resort at all, at least he got the sand and the sun, right? ¡°This is not what I meant!¡± Damn he really wanted the water as well, where were the beautiful waves and the gorgeous bikini clad girls? ¡°Oy, what are you on about primo?¡± ¡°Nothing, just forget about that little outburst right now.¡± How was he going to explain it to them? His cousin would just make fun of him. Once again after the last of the party came through, the door shut by itself and in no more than a second it had disappeared. He looked behind him where the door used to be, he knew it was gone but he just needed to see what was around. To his surprise about a hundred yards from where they stood sat a multicolored tent, around said tent were palm trees and some bushes. What it was doing there was beyond them, well he knew where they were going. ¡°Guys looks like we need to go this way.¡± His friends were still facing the opposite direction. They turned to look at what he saw. He saw the same face of confusion he probably had when he saw the tent. They all shrugged almost in unison as if they had practiced it. Yeah, he felt the same way, it was all strange so not entirely surprising, so far, the floors had all been different. How had the nodes done all this? They started walking to the tent, no point in staying out in the middle of the sun, there was shade and getting to the shade was first and foremost on their minds. The entrance to the tent was on the opposite side of where they were, they their way to the entrance, Pepe felt sweat trying to escape only to be dried instantly in the heat. So far, he did not like any of the floors of this dungeon, one was a dank cave with lots of annoying mushrooms, the other undead and rain, and now this sun and heat. He was not looking forward to what they were going to fight. Pepe noticed a small pond ten yards in front of the tent, now it made sense why there were bushes and palm trees. The front of the tent had a wide opening with a shade being held by two wooden poles, inside there was a small stand and a person sitting behind it, the person looked up as they walked in. He was wearing off white robes and a head scarf of the same color as the robes. The face that of an older man, the skin wrinkled and dark from spending a lifetime in the desert. Pepe looked at the eyes of the man, a color only seen on a person if they wore contact lenses as far as he knew, violet eyes. ¡°Customers? Yes, you would not be out here otherwise.¡± The voice sounded scratchy and rusty as if he did not speak much, Pepe was not sure he had a lot of customers out here in the middle of nowhere, but what did he know. ¡°Are you here for a tour, riding lizards, adventure? How may Elam be of service?¡± He did a complicated movement with both his hands raising them, putting them to his head and then doing something equally complicated with his fingers then brining them back down. A greeting maybe, it would take Pepe a while to learn and then he would still mess it up. Tours? In this place, he did not want a tour of the desert, what was there to see? Unless there was a bigger pond somewhere with a nice five star, at this point he would take even a two-star hotel otherwise he was good. And why did the old man not find it peculiar that he and his friends were here in the middle of a desert? Did this weird stuff happen often around here that he did not even bat an eye on it, it was somewhat concerning if that was the case. Josh walked up to the stand and started to ask questions, ¡°Sir, we are here for adventure, may I ask where we are at?¡± ¡°Young man you are at Elam¡¯s Adventure and Tours in the Sondjaskan desert. You have come to the right place. Glad am I that you showed up, there has been a report of strange occurrences in the Benaja Ruins.¡± And of course, there were ¡®strange occurrences¡¯ they were in a dungeon after all. ¡°But it is a three day walk from here to the East, walking would be dangerous as you do not know the desert. But I have a solution for you, my ridding lizards they will get you there in a day.¡± And there it was, Pepe saw that one coming too, it was just too obvious, ¡°And I can provide a guide as well, though you must tip him when he gets you there.¡± At this Bobby came forward to settle on what the price would be, Josh came back to the group to talk about what they would be doing, ¡°Thoughts anyone?¡± Pepe¡¯s cousin shook his head, Erin and Michelle did likewise, Pepe was not sure about all this, ¡°Kind of a setup again aint it?¡± ¡°Looks like it but it is what it is, we have to get to these Banaja Ruins, and this is the way to go.¡± Yeah, it was like they were being led just like with Sir Urthor. Bobby and Elam were done with the deal, whatever it cost them it seemed the merchant was happy, oh well hopefully they made more out of it when the dungeon run was complete. Elam got up and they saw that he was tall as in towering over them, Manuel and Josh being the tallest in the group had to look up at the tall skinny Elam, he smiled at them, his teeth were white very white in the dark wrinkled skin. He went outside took out a small item that he brought up to his mouth and blew into it. There was a shrill and then he did it a few more times than he put it away, ¡°Your guide will be here with the ridding lizards shortly, would you like some refreshments while you wait?¡± They nodded, something to drink would be welcome, he brought out a jug and cups and started to pore the drink. The liquid was a reddish color, they went to the stand and picked up the cups they were offered. Pepe sipped it a little to see what it was, it was like a sweet iced tea, it was cool so whatever he had it in maintained it cool. The rest did the same, once they were done Elam offered more of the drink, Pepe was more than happy to have a bit more. It took another fifteen minutes for their guide to arrive, they felt the floor shake a little and then the sound of some animal making loud clicking noises. It seemed their ride had arrived, ¡°If you please, I will show you our pride and joy.¡± He got up and walked out, the group quick to see what was outside waiting for them. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Outside sat four lizards, very large lizards, a smaller version of Elam sat on the front lizard, he did a click sound and all the lizards went down on their belies. The lead lizard was the largest of the four, the boy then slid down the side and ran to Elam. He gave the tall man a hug, ¡°Grandfather, as you requested.¡± He wore similar garb to that of his grandfather. ¡°Thank you Lassirra, please bow to our guest.¡± The boy even though he was about as tall as Manuel looked at the group of six and bowed to them. He would likely be taller like his grandfather; he had the awkward look of a young boy that had just grown into the height he was. He was even skinnier than Elam, his face the same color as his grandfather smooth with no wrinkles, the eyes also violet, his voice was that of one very young. ¡°On to our lovely riding lizards, this is Maji she is the Alpha of the group as well as the mother, behind her are Roti, Escu, and Artuti. They will take you to your destination, they are our fastest lizards, and they love to run.¡± The lizards were intimidating, Pepe was not sure about riding those big monsters. The front face almost triangular, the eyes bulging out some and the top of the head had hard ridges as well as horns. The mother, Maji was the most intimidating of them all, she was wider than a car and the length of three car put together. He looked up at the huge lizard, standing he was about mouth level as she laid there, she turned and looked at the diminutive human, opened her mouth to show sharp teeth. It was almost as if she was smiling at him, or at least he hoped that was the case. They all had similar coloring, some browns, and whites throughout the scales, they had what seemed like saddles for the passengers strapped to them, going down and around their chest and belies what one would assume were leather straps of some sort. The mother had no seat at all, a thin rope was tied to rings on either side of her face. ¡°Lassira please get them ready while we outfit our customers.¡± He then turned to the group, ¡°if you would follow, please.¡± He then led them back into the tent where he took them to a side room, and grabbed some items, he handed each one of them the items. Pepe looked down at what he could only describe as pants and something for his face and head, they were both an off white like what the old man was wearing. He examined and brought up a description, [Pants of the Desert Rider], [Headgear of the Desert Rider], pants and head gear meant to be worn when riding various desert mounts to protect the ridder. Oh, good they probably would have been bloody at the end of the ride from rubbing against the lizard¡¯s hard scales. After they had changed, they had been led back to the awaiting lizards, Josh and Bobby were setup on one of them, the one called Escu. Manuel and Erin where then helped up on the larger one Artuti and that only left Roti for Pepe and Michelle. Michelle looked up at the lizard then back over to Pepe, ¡°Sorry but I am driving, you got back.¡± Before he could even say anything, she was climbing to the front seat, he shrugged and got behind her. It was not easy to get up on top of the large lizard, but he managed it with a little help from Lassira. Once they were all settled on their lizards, their feet were in their pedals, or whatever they were called when riding horses, Pepe was not sure as he had not done any horseback riding. Maybe he would look that up when he was back in the real world, there was always some kind of wiki to look stuff up. Lassira did one last look around to make sure everyone was fine walked to his mount and jumped up, he grabbed onto the thin rope but that was it, he started to do some form of series of click sounds and all four of the lizards got up. Pepe looked down, they were not high up, but they were higher, he would have had quite a hard time getting up to the saddle if the lizards had not been on their bellies earlier. Another set of clicks came from Lassira and they started moving, at first at a slow walk, followed by a canter, then a full on run. They had all waved goodbye to the Elam on their way out, the old man waved and went back into his tent waiting for the next set of strange adventurers. Neither Lassira nor his grandfather Elam felt like generic NPCs to Pepe, they felt like real people, some of what they said could easily be attributed to an NPC, but it felt setup. Likely the nodes had not handed them a script or anything but fed them information that they would need to pass on. Well, it did not mater, what mattered was that they were off to these strange Banaja Ruins. The gait of the lizards was this back-and-forth movement, unlike what he had seen of horses in movies and shows. They were fast, he could feel the air on his face as they moved, he had seen Lassira adjust his head gear to cover most of his face only a slit for his eyes to see where they were going. The start with the walk and canter was easy and he held on to the small knob that was in front of the saddle right behind Melissa. As they started to move faster Melissa was doing whoops of excitement and was laughing as they moved faster. She even threw in a ¡°if you get scared you can hold on to me alright!¡± Oh, he wanted to hold on alright, and at one point when they really started to run fast, he did, it was good that she could not see his face because it was quite red. While he was having fun, it was a little scarry, it was not like riding a roller-coaster or an amusement park ride, there were no belts or safety harnesses at all. How did people ride animals with no belts or anything to keep them on them? He had newfound respect for jockeys and people that normally rode horses because it was crazy, he was thought to always wear his seat belt in the car. Lassira was good, and the lizards knew they had passengers so they did their best to keep them onboard, these truly were great ridding lizard, not that Pepe had other comparison that he could name. The fact that he was still on was not due to his skill at all because he felt like a sack of potatoes bouncing all over the place. They were on hour three of the ride when they stopped, it was a good thing because Pepe was afraid that his holding on to Michelle had been a bit too much, he let go and again was happy about the face covering. It was good that he could hide the embarrassment and that it had protected him from the sand that was being kicked up by the lizards and the wind itself. He still had to clean out a lot of sand from what was exposed but it could have been worse. The clicks came from Lassira and the lizards went down on their belies, how they could stand the heat of the sand he was not sure. It was still stifling hot, he looked around now that he could make stuff out, but it was endless rolling sand that he saw. How they knew where they were going was beyond him, they would have never made it out to where they were going without help. Lassira turned to look at them but did not get off the lizard, ¡°We will rest for a little bit then continue, this is a good time to eat and drink. There is both in your saddle bags please help yourself.¡± Pepe was ready for some water, maybe not so much food, but water for sure, he was very thirsty with all this heat. He looked inside one of the saddle bags and brought out a water skin and passed it to Michelle, grabbed the second one for himself. He took a swig of the water, and it was blessedly cool, must be some kind of magical bag to stay cool, he took another drink. He went back into the saddle bag and grabbed a package, inside there were small brown squares, handed some to Michelle and took some for himself. The food squares were a mixture of nuts and berries, he could taste what felt like raspberries and pecans with honey. It was a perfect snack for being out where they were, it seemed like it was simple to make and carry with them. He took one last drink from his skin to help the food go down and he was ready. The break came to an end, and they were off once again, the lizards picked up their speed, it felt a little faster than before, felt like something was wrong. Lassira turned to look behind them, shook his head, yup something was wrong, Pepe was not sure if looking behind him was a good idea. The lizards were now moving even faster, they were trying to outrun something, he felt the wind pick up, he could not help himself, he turned his head to look behind them. He should have just kept on looking ahead, the ¡®ignorance is bliss¡¯ saying came to mind at that point. If he would have not looked behind him, he would not have seen the dust storm that they were racing. It was miles long in either direction, with dust that touched the few wisps of clouds he had seen. Why, why did this happen? He was sure this was one of those stupid things that they threw at them on purpose just to build up the drama. Now he hated all three floors of this dungeon, hated them with a passion, he was not going to give the nodes a five-star review on the dungeon that was for sure. He was not sure how fast they were moving, but they were able to maintain ahead of the dust storm, but would they be able to outrun it? That was the important question, and he really hoped the answer was that they would. An hour of running passed, he looked back to see what the storm looked like, and again he wished he had just kept on looking forward. It looked much closer, so the answer to the earlier question was that they might not be able to make it. The wall of sand he saw looked like it was made of solid rock, he could see nothing of the sand dunes he had seen before. While the sand dunes were depressing the wall was super scary, and he take depressing over scary any day. Another hour passed and the update for the sandstorm was not good, it was much closer, and that was bad, really bad. His wild guess was that the thing would reach them in an hour, his imagination unfortunately was good. And what he imagined shook him, the sand would strip the skin off his bones and that just sounded painful, not something he thought he wanted to experience. Off in the distance in front of them stood a very large rock formation, something they could use for cover and protection against the storm. The lizards knew that it was their only hope, and even though they were probably exhausted they moved even faster. He could feel sand picking up behind them and he did not want to look back and see how close it was, if he was feeling it, then that meant it would not be long before it hit them. There only hope was the rock formation in front of them, he was not religious, but he started to pray at that moment, please God let us make it. Chapter 18 On to the Benaja Ruins we go! Time passed, then it awoke. It had felt warmth from something¡ªan animal of some kind, it thought. That wouldn¡¯t do. It reached out and felt its hunger and desire; the desire for a mate. The animal had come and gone. The being that waited felt that the animal would bring its kill, then eat it¡ªthis happening again and again. It was unimportant, so it slept once again. It opened its mind once more, unaware of how much time had passed, and felt that the animal had found a mate. It felt the same routine of the pair bringing food to their lair. Time passed, and the female of the pair had birthed young¡ªtwo of them, to be exact. Neither the pair nor the offspring could help it, so it slept once again. It awoke, and time had passed¡ªhow much time, again, it was unaware. It sent its awareness out and felt emptiness. The animals that had made the place their lair now gone. Once again, it went into a deep slumber. Seasons passed, and the being slept. Once again, it woke, and there was something different. It was no longer in the place it had been. It sent its awareness out and felt hope. The child that carried it would help it. It slept, but not the deep slumber from before. The closeness of the child was a warmth that it had not felt in eons. Maybe, just maybe, it was going to live once more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pepe grabbed onto Michelle for dear life. The large rock formation was ahead, but it seemed like it wasn¡¯t getting any closer. He counted every second and closed his eyes for a minute or more. He felt ashamed that he was scared beyond reason; he was glad that Michelle was looking forward and couldn¡¯t see him closing his eyes. He opened them and looked left, then right, and he could just barely make out the other two lizards with his friends. Five minutes turned into ten, then thirty, and there it was: an opening in the rock face. Lassira came to a halt on the large mother lizard and jumped down, the other three lizards coming to a sudden stop next to their mother. Lassira ran to each of the lizards, helping the riders down and pointing to the opening, motioning them to run. Pepe didn¡¯t need to be told twice. Michelle reached for his hand, and they ran together as Lassira helped the others down and motioned them to follow their friends. The sandstorm was loud, so any actual yelling wouldn¡¯t be heard at all. They reached the opening, running in, the sound dying down a little as they went in. No more than two minutes later, Erin and Manuel ran in, followed by Bobby and Josh a minute later. Lassira came in last with only one set of saddlebags, so they wouldn¡¯t have a lot of food or water during this little tour of theirs. It was supposed to be a tour de tres horas¡ªthat was something his Abuelo used to say. He wasn¡¯t sure what it meant, but that¡¯s what came to mind as they caught their breaths. He noticed that he was still holding Michelle¡¯s hand, and she didn¡¯t complain. They put their backs to the rough wall and sat down. ¡°What was that all about?¡± Erin voiced their collective thoughts. Even though it was more of a rhetorical question, Lassira answered, ¡°Very bad sandstorm. It is not unheard of, but there were no indications of one, or else we would not have brought you out here. That was unnatural. But onto the good news: we are where we need to be.¡± Good thought, Pepe. They had made it to their destination, probably faster than they expected. The lizards hadn¡¯t come in with them; they had been left outside, which worried him. Would they be okay? He felt like he needed to know. ¡°Lassira, will the mounts be alright out there?¡± The tall boy turned to answer. ¡°They will be fine. They will bury themselves in the sand and wait for the storm to blow itself out. Do not worry; they will come when I call them. Now, let us rest a moment, then continue in and explore and figure out what is happening here.¡± Pepe could still hear the storm outside. It was loud but muffled; it would probably be just a buzz of sound once they were further in. He looked down and was still holding hands with Michelle. He was about to let go, but she squeezed his hand, so he kept his hand where it was. He didn¡¯t think about it anymore; when she let go, then he would let go. Besides, it made him happy to hold her hand. They rested a while longer, then Josh called a halt. ¡°We should keep going; we have some ruins to explore. Lassira, if you would, please.¡± The other boy nodded. While it was hard to tell his exact age since he was taller than all of them, he still seemed younger than they were. He took the lead with Josh behind him, followed by Manuel, Erin, and Bobby. Pepe got up and helped Michelle up, and they got in line behind the others and started walking. The passage was a natural formation, and as they went further in, Lassira took out what looked like a rock. He said something, and the rock illuminated, giving off an orange glow like that of a candle. Pepe would ask Bobby to buy them a few of those rocks; the torches were too big and smelled, while these rocks gave light and no smell at all. They stopped when there was a noise. Josh put his finger to his lips, the universal sign to keep quiet. They nodded and started to move forward slowly, stopping again when they heard voices. The voices were very growly and hard to understand and seemed to be in some form of language they didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Gonwar ack nowa keke.¡± There was a pause, and another growly voice answered, ¡°Whitar ack nowa torekqua.¡± There was the sound of movement of a large object, as if it was being dragged, then a clink, as if something had been dropped, then another movement of the large object being dragged once more. The voices were heard moving away, then faded too far to be heard. What was going on here? Who did the voices belong to, and what were they doing here? Both he and Erin could probably sneak in there and see what was going on. In a very quiet voice, so they wouldn¡¯t be overheard (if whoever was talking had voices that carried, Pepe and his friends¡¯ voices could also carry and give them away), Pepe said, ¡°Josh, let Erin and me take a look. We have better sneaking abilities and can report back.¡± He looked over at Erin, the other boy nodding his assent. ¡°Be careful. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on in there. We¡¯ll wait here for you two to return.¡± Josh signaled the others to take a seat. Michelle grabbed Pepe before he left. ¡°Be careful,¡± she whispered. He nodded, then he and Erin kept going, their footsteps making little to no noise¡ªthey wouldn¡¯t be heard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was slow going. Both he and Erin watched where they were going, using all their skills to ensure no noise was made as they continued. Pepe had asked Lassira if he had an extra light stone (he didn¡¯t know what it was actually called, but that¡¯s what it was: a light stone). Lassira had reached into one of the saddlebags he was still carrying, bringing forth another of the stones. At the time, Pepe had thought, Of course, the other boy would have an extra¡ªyet another setup in this dungeon. But since they were in an open area, was it really a dungeon? The other boy had actually shown them quickly how to use it, and lo and behold, it even had three settings they could use. Pepe had the stone at the lowest setting; the light bubble was very small, so they wouldn¡¯t be seen unless they were just unlucky and happened to trip over whoever was around. They could see an opening, as another light source was present, but it was very low, almost as if it was a small tunnel the light was coming from. Erin put his arm out and signaled that they should crouch. He moved closer to Pepe. ¡°We need to be very careful here, as we don¡¯t know what to expect. Turn off the light stone for now. I¡¯ll go forward and look while you stay here.¡± The plan was sound, and Pepe stayed in the crouched position, nodding and turning off the light stone as requested. He didn¡¯t feel his friend move and heard no sound of movement. He saw a shadow by the tunnel and thought that might be Erin. The shadow moved lower and started to crawl¡ªat least, that¡¯s what Pepe imagined was happening. The shadow receded, then it was gone, and he heard his friend¡¯s voice near his ear. It was a little scary, but it was his friend, so it was fine. ¡°It¡¯s a small room with some furniture. From what I can tell, most of it is broken. The light is hanging from the ceiling, I think¡ªhard to tell, as I couldn¡¯t really see it. There doesn¡¯t seem to be anyone around. What do you think? Should we try to go in there?¡± That was an excellent question. He didn¡¯t answer immediately, then thought, What would Josh do in this situation? Channeling his inner Josh, he nodded, but since the light was off, he whispered his response, ¡°Yes, we should. Let¡¯s be very careful; we don¡¯t know what we¡¯re getting into. Let me go first this time.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be right behind you.¡± He felt Erin move back a little to give him room. This was as good a time as any to try out a spell he had learned in training. Michelle was better at it, but he was second in their training group. ¡®[Hide]¡¯ he whispered the spell.
Hide spell activated Hide - Become one with your surroundings, in order to maintain the hide capability you are limited in your movement.
That was the only downside to the spell: you were restricted in your movement, but in this case, it was fine, as they were restricted anyway. He started to inch his way to the small cave with the light, stopping to listen to make sure no sound came from the other room. He got on the ground and onto his stomach in a prone position, as that was the only way he was going to get through the tight space. The others would have little problem coming through, but Manuel wouldn¡¯t fit; he was much bigger than the rest. That was going to be a problem; they had to find another way in for him. He stopped and looked through a grill of rusted metal¡ªor what he assumed was metal, as it could be something else. Not that it mattered; they just needed to get through. He reached into his pouch, where he had some tools, and took out a small chain that he wrapped around the pieces holding the grill in place against the rock. It took time to saw through one piece; the others would take just as long. He backed out and moved away from the entrance. He couldn¡¯t feel or see Erin, but he knew he would be close by. He felt Erin and didn¡¯t wait for him to speak. ¡°I¡¯m going to saw through that grill, but it will take time, as I can¡¯t make too much noise. Can you go back to the group and let them know what¡¯s going on? Bring Michelle back with you. Let them know what we are doing and that we¡¯ll get back to them. That little entrance is not going to work for Manuel, so we¡¯ll need to see if we can find another larger one that will.¡± He put his hand out with the light stone and felt his friend¡¯s hand take hold of it, then he let go handing over the stone.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Pepe felt Erin move away and knew his friend would let the others know exactly what he had asked him to do. He cast his Hide spell once more and returned to work on cutting through the grill that was preventing them from getting through. Yes, there was likely another place they could get through, but there were too many unknowns they just weren¡¯t prepared for. It took another twenty minutes of work to cut through all the pieces holding the grill against the rock wall. He carefully moved the cut grill and backed out, as he didn¡¯t want to go in there without the others. He looked in the direction of where his friends were and saw the light stone, then it blinked out. He felt a hand on his shoulder, then another. One was Erin¡¯s, and the other belonged to Michelle. He whispered the instructions: ¡°I¡¯m through the grill. We¡¯ll need to be very careful as we go through. Michelle, you¡¯re better at sneaking than me. Can you go through first and check it out, please?¡± He felt a squeeze on his shoulder, then the hand was gone. The other hand lifted, but he didn¡¯t feel Erin move away. He heard a whispered word but couldn¡¯t make out what it said, but he knew it was Michelle casting the Hide spell. He looked toward the light coming from the room they needed to explore, the light now extending a little further as the grill was now removed. A small shadow went through in the blink of an eye. If he had blinked, he likely would have missed the shadow going through. He was nervous. While Michelle was better at it than him, he had asked the girl he liked to go and do something dangerous that he could have done himself. But the fact was that she was better than him, and she had told him that he needed to get over the ¡°pretty face¡± in training, and that¡¯s what he was doing. It felt like an eternity waiting for her to come back. He kept looking at the light, and then the light was gone. What happened? He was frozen in place. Did something happen to Michelle? Why had the light gone out? He felt like he couldn¡¯t breathe. Then he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. Michelle was back, and he felt like he could breathe again. He felt the faint stir of her breath as she leaned in to whisper her report. ¡°There are some broken windows in there, and there¡¯s light coming from outside, so I turned off the light in the room. We don¡¯t want anyone seeing us when we go in there. I didn¡¯t see anyone outside or hear anything that would indicate that others might be around. The door is just some wood that was put over the opening.¡± She squeezed his shoulder again, letting him know that she was done reporting what she had seen. ¡°Lead the way, please.¡± She grabbed his hand and led them slowly. While they had seen nothing on the ground, it could just be dumb luck if one of them tripped. It was a quick walk, and in less than a minute, they were there. She squeezed his hand once more, then let go to go through the opening. He went next, after giving her enough time to get through. As he made his way through, he saw exactly what she had described: some broken windows with some threadbare cloth acting as curtains and light spilling in from outside. He moved to the side, and shortly after, Erin came through. None of them had made a sound as they emerged from the small opening. To the left, there was the entryway with the piece of wood leaning at an angle, acting as a door. The light itself that came in was not natural light. Pepe sniffed a little, and the faint smell of what could only be torches reached him. He strained his hearing and could hear no one else, just as Michelle had reported. He got both Michelle¡¯s and Erin¡¯s attention by waving his hands. Even if there was no one around, they wouldn¡¯t make any noise. They needed to come up with hand signals to use between them in these instances¡ªanother thing to add to the list of things to make their lives easier. He pointed to his eyes, then motioned walking with his fingers on his hands, then circling around. Pointing at Michelle, he indicated that she should go left, and at Erin, that he should go right. He indicated with his hands, balling up his fists then showing all ten fingers three times, indicating thirty minutes. He hoped they understood what he wanted them to do. Both of them nodded their understanding. Michelle went first out the door, casting Hide before leaving. He waited about thirty seconds, then motioned for Erin to go. Erin cast something similar to the Thief¡¯s Hide spell and went out the door. He cast Hide as well and went out behind Erin. It was brighter than he would have liked, but there were plenty of shadows he could use to better hide from any prying eyes. He went left, following Michelle. He didn¡¯t see any traces of her passing, as it should be. He looked into the empty houses, which showed the same dilapidated, broken furniture as the one they had been in. People had lived in this place at some point, but it seemed like a long time ago. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michelle made her way down the left side from the small house they had been in. The light from the torches wasn¡¯t enough to impede her progress, as there were plenty of shadows she could use. She noticed that all the houses were in the same state of disrepair as the place they had come out of. But if no one was living here, then why the torches? While no one was living there, the place was being used for some reason. And what about what Erin and Pepe had heard when they found the place they had come out of? There was some larger furniture, now that she recalled, even though it was still broken. If what they described hearing was accurate, then the desk-like thing would be the only thing that made sense¡ªthat it was moved, then placed back. Likely, someone was hiding something there. They should investigate afterward and see what it was. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erin had waited, and as soon as Pepe had given the signal, he cast the Ranger version of Hide and snuck out the door. While it was a spell that was more apt to be used in a forest, he would just need to be careful as he moved. He went right, as instructed. It was slow going, as he needed to be extra careful as he went from one hiding spot to another, straining his senses to ensure he wasn¡¯t caught unawares. He stopped when he heard something. He wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but it was a sound in this empty place that felt off. He strained his hearing and concentrated, and there it was again¡ªa scraping sound, he thought. He looked around for a better hiding spot, and two doors down from his location was a hanging door that looked like he could sneak in without making too much noise. He waited in the shadows, looking out one of the broken windows in the place. The scraping sound was getting closer and closer. He wrapped himself with his cloak, his hood up to hide his face. He held his breath as the sound stopped, and he saw the light of a torch illuminate one of the broken windows. A figure stopped by the window. The face was a dirty green color, with heavy-looking tusks protruding from the lower jaw and thick, pointy ears that stuck out to the side. What was it? Thinking back on some of the video games he had played with the group, he thought this thing might be some kind of troll or goblin, or a mixture of the two. It wore some kind of leather armor, from what he could see¡ªalso dirty and unkempt. The creature scratched its head and moved on. Whatever it was dragging on the ground began to scrape again. He waited a few minutes, finally taking a deep breath of relief that the creature was gone, waiting until the sound of the scraping was no longer heard. After waiting a few more minutes, he snuck back out, keeping to the shadows, and continued his scouting mission. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michelle continued to scout her area. She noticed that the area she was in was a bit better kept than where they had entered. She started to be extra careful, as the lighting here seemed to be more pronounced, making it harder for her to move further in. She scouted around, staying to the darker areas. As she rounded a corner, she heard shouts and the sound of items striking stone. She started to move even slower, not wanting to alert whoever was doing the shouting. She stopped when she saw a cave entrance. At the entrance, a skinny, gray creature was leaning against the left side. It looked like it was sleeping. What was it? And how was it sleeping? All the noise from further inside the cave should have woken it¡ªthe shouting and striking of some kind of tool¡ªbut all that noise did nothing to the sleeping form. She noticed some kind of spear leaning against the stone near it. What should she do? Go in and see what was going on? No, that was probably a bad idea. What if the creature woke up? She moved slowly and got closer, stopping when she got a better look at the creature¡¯s face. It had a protruding lower jaw with tusks that stuck up. Its mouth was slightly ajar, with drool going down to the dirty shirt it had on. The cap it wore came forward, covering its closed eyes. It moved, and she froze in place. It was unlikely that it would see her, as she was far enough away and hidden in shadow, but you never knew¡ªbetter safe than sorry. It scratched itself in its unmentionables, then started to snore. ¡°Eww, disgusting,¡± she thought. It was most definitely male, she thought. What was going on here? She backed away to avoid any chance that the creature would wake up. By the looks of things, it was highly unlikely that that would happen, since that thing would likely sleep through a train passing over it. She remained there a few more minutes, observing the entrance of the cave and the sleeping guard¡ªat least, that¡¯s what it seemed like it was doing, even though it was doing a really bad job of guarding the place. It was a good thing she had decided to wait. Out of the cave, she saw a cart being pushed. It held what looked like some kind of shiny stone or metal. As the cart emerged from the cave, a pair of thin, malnourished-looking men pushed it. The two men had dark skin similar to that of Lassira and his grandfather; likely, they had violet eyes just like them. And behind them was another creature similar to the sleeping one. As soon as it saw the sleeping form, it ran at the sleeper, kicking it awake. ¡°Arcak moate, moate!¡± Whatever that meant, she didn¡¯t understand anything the creature was saying. It continued to yell at the sleeper. After the second kick and more yelling, the other one got up, reaching for its spear, which fell over. It scrambled for the fallen spear, the other one still yelling at it, finally getting ahold of the spear, scraping and bowing as it did so. The screamer had dark green skin, was quite a bit larger than the guard, and had some kind of leather whip. It had ugly, leathery skin, its lower jaw extending, and its tusks thicker than the guard¡¯s. It sported some kind of gold ring on its left tusk. What were these creatures? They reminded her of some kind of Tolkien creature, but she wasn¡¯t entirely familiar with what they were called; her younger brother, being the nerdy one, would know. At least she had discovered what happened to the missing people. She waited for the group to move away. The screamer was still berating the sleeping guard and pushing the two men with words and the whip-like thing it carried. They finally moved away far enough that she felt comfortable returning to meet with Pepe and Erin. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pepe had seen that Michelle left a marking indicating she had gone in one direction, so he decided to go in the other. He was worried, but it would be better for them if he let her do her thing, and he would scout out another area. The little houses were even worse than the place they had entered. He saw thick layers of dust on the ground; most places had no furniture, no doors¡ªthe windows just staring out at him, as if asking, Why were we left alone? He continued to look around for a few more minutes. This was getting nowhere; he would go back and wait for Michelle and Erin to return. Twenty minutes had passed. Since there didn¡¯t seem to be anything around, he hurried back. He arrived but didn¡¯t see either of his friends. He snuck back into the dark house and waited for them to return. Erin arrived a few minutes after him, but Michelle did not. Something was wrong. He paced a little as he waited. He made a move toward the door but was stopped by a hand on his arm. A whisper: ¡°No.¡± Erin was right; he couldn¡¯t go after her. As he had mentioned, she was even better than him at sneaking. He was sure she was fine and already on her way back. Obviously, knowing that she was better than him didn¡¯t help at all. He was worried about her and wanted to run to the rescue. Another ten minutes passed, and nothing. After what felt like an eternity, she was there again. He reached out to her and hugged her, then backed up, embarrassed by his reaction. She grabbed his arm and motioned that they should go into the tunnel. He nodded, even though the other two wouldn¡¯t be able to see him do so. She went first, followed by Erin, and finally, Pepe came through. They made their way further away from the entrance of the house, far enough that the light stone wouldn¡¯t emit light that could be seen. The three friends hurried along the tunnel, eager to return to the larger group and report their findings. Chapter 19 Cheerleading Squad Michelle¡¯s first day of high school: a new beginning, a new environment, new friends. She didn¡¯t feel like she had left anyone behind at her old school. She still kept in contact with her friends and even missed them, but this was a fresh start. Her father had been offered a new job to head a department at his company and had accepted the position, which meant they had packed up everything and moved. Her mom had mostly been a stay-at-home mom. She was an artist, so she could work from anywhere. And she had taken some time to raise Michelle and her younger brother, Connor Jr., but now that they were older, she concentrated on her art. The routine was that she would drop off Michelle at her school and then Junior at his elementary school; he was four years younger. It was the same routine in the new town they had moved to. That morning, she was excited about getting there early. She hadn¡¯t had a chance to go to orientation, as they had missed it by a week, being the new arrivals in town. She had done her unruly hair as best she could, made sure her nails looked good (she didn¡¯t wear a lot of makeup, and her freckles stood out too much), but she had put on some light makeup with her mom¡¯s approval. She needed to make a good first impression. Her mom dropped her off, waved goodbye, told her she loved her and had driven off to drop off Junior. The school was pretty large, everything she had investigated about the school said it was a big school. They had a large football program, fairly large for a high school, the coach a Heisman Trophy winner that had taken the team to nationals multiple times. The school staff was very good as well, the school prided itself on providing a good education and had won multiple awards. She had picked up her formal schedule in the main office. She had a preliminary schedule that had been emailed to her, but she needed to verify that no changes had been made since she had received it. Her first class was Algebra I¡ªnot something she was looking forward to; she wasn¡¯t fond of math. This was followed by English, Biology, World History, her elective (Mandarin I), and finally, P.E. She was fine with P.E. being last; who wanted to be all sweaty or have to take a shower in the middle of the day? She had been assigned a Junior to walk her around to her classes. ¡°Hi there, my name is Emiko.¡± The other girl extended a hand. Emiko wore a cheerleader outfit in blue and white, which were the school colors. Emiko was a very pretty girl, thin and carried herself with a lot of confidence. ¡°I¡¯m Michelle, nice to meet you,¡± She replied. With that, Emiko led her around the campus and pointed out how it was laid out. While Michelle had seen a map and read where everything was, it was nice that someone showed her around. Lastly, Emiko dropped her off at her first class before hurrying off to her own class. The math class had gone well; not much was going on, as it was the first day. The teacher had gone over what they would learn that semester and what the grading policy would be. The class ended, and she hurried off to her next class. The rest of the classes followed suit, each going over what they would learn and the grading policy. The day ended with P.E. The teacher had gone over the rules and then had set them jogging, pointing out the different fields as well as everything they would do in P.E. Her day ended, and she went home. She had met a few people but hadn¡¯t made any friends that first day¡ªnot that she had expected to. She had really liked Emiko, but she was a Junior and on the cheer squad, and Michelle didn¡¯t expect her to even remember her name. She went to bed early that night, ready to see what the following day would bring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She arrived early again that day. Like any other high school, there were kids hanging around before classes started. Michelle saw cliques hanging out: some goth kids all in dark clothing with outrageous hair, one with a green mohawk that had to make him a foot taller; some preppy kids with khaki slacks and polo shirts of different colors; and what had to be one of the sports teams¡ªeach kid had on a jacket with the school initials and all looked similar in the way they acted and what they wore. And there they were: the cheer squad in their uniforms, Emiko among them. It was like every teen movie out there¡ªall the different groups represented. Which group was she going to be part of? she wasn¡¯t sure at all. Though she wouldn¡¯t mind being part of the cheerleading squad; maybe she should go to tryouts whenever they were scheduled. ¡°Michelle!¡± Emiko had seen her and waved her over. ¡°Hi there, welcome back! How was your first day?¡± She liked the other girl, as Emiko had made a good impression on her the previous day. ¡°Hi, Emiko. It was fine, not much to tell¡ªfirst day and all.¡± And, true enough, nothing of note had happened the previous day. ¡°These are the girls: Tamara, Emily, Maria, and our captain, Joe.¡± Wait, her name was Joe? Why was her name Joe? She waved at the other girls. ¡°Ladies, this is Michelle. She just moved to town and started yesterday.¡± They talked for a little while and went their separate ways before classes started. Emiko was the vice-captain of the team and would take over as captain after the semester, as she was being groomed to take over after Joe graduated. Joe was actually Joelene, and as a kid, had been somewhat of a tomboy and had been called Joe since elementary school. Michelle had looked at the other girls, each one from a different background, and had liked each one. The week ended, and she had gotten to know more of the cheer squad, which included four boys: Troy, Evan, Rob, and Kabir. Kabir was the youngest of the four boys and had made the squad the previous year. He was also the smallest of them; the others, much bigger, could pick up any of the girls on the team and toss them into the air without much of a problem. Since they had been very welcoming, she had started to hang out with them; somehow, she had become part of the group. There had been an open tryout period during the summer, but they would hold another in two weeks, as they had a new routine that needed three more people to make it work. Michelle decided that she would be part of the tryouts. The day came, and she was paired with one of the other girls and would shadow her for the week, and then they would be tested. Seven girls and three boys tried out. In the end, Michelle made it, but it had been a close call, as the other girls had been really good. The previous year, she hadn''t seen herself as part of the group she was with now. Her mom and dad had been extremely proud of her for making the squad, and she was ecstatic and proud of herself as well. It wasn''t all fun and games; it was a lot of work to be part of the squad. Her classes and the extra practice left her little time to get her homework and studies done. But she loved it; it was the most fun she had had since leaving her old town. So the year continued. She was a big part of the group¡ªnot the best, but she was good, and she practiced hard to not let everyone down. They had games and competitions as well. Being part of a larger school, it wasn''t just about the games and various school rallies; their coach also pushed them to do competitions. So, instead of being lazy and just hanging out on weekends, they would be off to practice or a competition. Was there downtime? Yes, there was, but that was the time Michelle would take to catch up on any schoolwork or school projects she needed to take care of. Her parents were extremely supportive of her, and she considered herself lucky to have them as parents. Her mom, especially, was a tremendous help, volunteering and just being there for her. Was she able to do it all the time? No, of course not; she also helped Junior out with everything he needed to do. How her mom handled or juggled it all was beyond Michelle, but she just considered herself lucky to have such a wonderful mom. Her dad wasn''t always able to make her competition, but he let her know as soon as he could if he was going to miss any. But he made most of them; the important ones, he never missed. His work was strenuous and took up a lot of his time, but he pushed himself to be with his family. Michelle appreciated all the time he spent with her and the life he had given her, her mom, and her little brother. So the year came and went, and she was invited to a big party to celebrate the end of the year that weekend. Overall, she was very happy with all her decisions and how the year had gone. She was extremely happy that she had met Emiko and the rest of the cheer squad. Emiko had taken over as captain and had done a great job; she pushed the team hard, and herself even harder. Michelle, with the help of her team and her coach, had learned a lot, and she could do many of the stunts: back flips, front flips, handstands, and more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She was getting ready for the big party. This was both to celebrate the end of the school year and to celebrate a big win at one of the competitions the cheer squad had gone to. They had taken first place in their division, and their parents had chipped in to throw them a big party. Kabir¡¯s family owned a large property, and their parents were letting them have the party there. The property was huge; there were trees of all kinds, and it was adjacent to a forest on the outskirts of town. The property actually belonged to Kabir¡¯s great-uncle, who was out of town on a business trip and would return the following week. There was a heated pool and jacuzzi, not that they were needed. It was the start of summer, and the weather was pleasant; the real heat of summer hadn¡¯t hit yet. From what others had told her, it got pretty warm in the peak of summer. The team had worn their uniforms to take pictures and would change later to enjoy the party. She had brought her swimsuit¡ªa pretty modest one-piece, as she was a bit embarrassed to show too much skin. Some of the other girls, not so much. Emiko had brought a two-piece that showed entirely too much skin, at least Michelle thought so. Michelle had turned fifteen two weeks earlier and had had a small gathering of friends come over¡ªnothing fancy, as she wasn¡¯t one for parties, besides, she was at the big party now. So it was a celebration for her birthday, the end of the school year, and the win the squad had taken. What more could she ask for? The parents had hired someone to decorate and cater for everyone attending. Whoever they had hired had done a superb job with everything. The food was delicious, the decorations were in the school colors, and they had hanging lanterns everywhere. And, being a teen party, someone had snuck in some alcohol. She had been offered something to drink, but she wasn¡¯t interested. Michelle stuck to her lemonade or water and had some of the food that had been brought in. Everyone had a great time, and it was getting late. She started to yawn and tried to stay awake, but her eyes were closing. Maybe she should take a nap or something. She told Emiko she was tired and that she would be heading upstairs to rest. They had access to all the rooms with the exception of two, so she went to one of the ones that the girls had picked. She had thought about changing out of her uniform, but she just needed to rest a little¡ªplenty more partying after she closed her eyes for an hour. At least, that had been the plan when she closed her eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michelle heard something, but what was it? Some kind of chant? Darkness took her once more; maybe she was dreaming? Then a flash of light¡ªprobably one of the other girls had turned on the light. It was momentary; it came on, then it was off. She felt a slight breeze and grabbed the blanket she had covered herself with, wrapping it tighter. She wasn¡¯t ready to open her eyes quite yet. She felt the breeze once more. What was going on? Did one of the other girls open the window? She opened her eyes and was confused by what she saw. There were stars¡ªlots of stars. And was that the moon? And behind it, another moon? No, that wasn¡¯t right; most definitely a dream. She closed her eyes once more and fell asleep again. What a weird dream. All that strangeness would be gone when she woke in the morning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A lot of light was coming through her eyelids. Yup, she had fallen asleep and hadn¡¯t woken up throughout the night. Guess it was time to wake up. She opened her eyes. Well, that was confusing. For some strange reason, she was outside. She looked right, then left. There were trees, bushes, grass, and other greenery. She was sure, since she had fallen asleep first, that her squad mates had pranked her. She looked down. Still in her uniform and still had the blanket she had fallen asleep on, and under her, the sheet was still there. So her friends had carried her out here and left her. It wasn¡¯t funny¡ªokay, maybe it was a little bit funny. She would get revenge on them at the next opportunity. She got up and grabbed both the blanket and sheet; she would need to bring them back into the house. She tried to get her bearings, since she didn¡¯t know the place very well, and she would need to figure out how to get back to the house. She looked around for her phone, but it wasn¡¯t there. Great, it stayed inside the house. She started walking; they wouldn¡¯t leave her too far from the house.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. She walked for five minutes with no sight of the house. It was time to turn around; she probably went the wrong way. She looked up to see where the sun was to try and figure out what time it was¡ªmaybe eight in the morning, not that she paid much attention to that, since she just checked her phone or her alarm clock at home. To the left was the moon. It seemed different, a bit bigger than usual. Maybe it was one of the supermoons she had heard about. And to the left, she saw another moon? Wait, how is that possible? Maybe she had fallen last night and had a concussion. Yeah, that had to be it¡ªa concussion. She felt behind her head for a bump or something that would let her know she had fallen, but felt nothing. Wait, had the dream not been an actual dream? Were these the two moons from the dream? No, that wasn¡¯t possible. What was going on here? Something was not right. She looked around some more and noticed the differences from the area around the house she had been in. The trees were different, and now that she paid attention, the vegetation was different as well, and the grass was purple. Looks like we¡¯re not in Kansas anymore. ¡°Siri, what is my current location?¡± She waited, then it dawned on her: no phone. Now what? She needed her phone badly. How was she supposed to figure everything out without her phone? How was she going to call her parents? How was she going to call for help? She needed to dial 911 and get rescued. She stopped walking and started to call out for help. ¡°HELLO! ANYONE AROUND?! I¡¯M LOST AND I DON¡¯T HAVE MY PHONE!!!¡± She continued to move slowly and yelled every few minutes to see if anyone would respond. She was starting to get scared. How did this happen? Why was this place so strange? And how had she gotten here? Tears started to form in her eyes. Was she crying? There was no time for crying. Pull yourself together, Michelle! She sat down for a minute, and even though she didn¡¯t want to cry, she let herself cry. She sobbed a little and just sat there. What was she going to do? ¡°Are you okay?¡± She looked up, and it was another student, probably from the party. He also had a blanket with him. He was wearing jeans, a printed t-shirt, and sandals, with an earring on his left earlobe. At least now she was not alone. Whatever happened, it had happened to others as well. ¡°Um¡­ yeah, I¡¯m okay, just a little lost and frustrated.¡± She wiped at her face to clean up the tears. Now that someone else was here, she felt a little better. ¡°I know you. You¡¯re Michelle, right?¡± He didn¡¯t look familiar¡ªsomeone from school, maybe one of her classes; she didn¡¯t know everyone. ¡°That¡¯s me, and you are¡­?¡± She couldn¡¯t place him at all. ¡°Oh, you wouldn¡¯t know me. I saw you around school, and we hung out with different people. And I¡¯m a year ahead of you. I¡¯m Gary, Gary Miller.¡± He stuck his hand out, and she reached out to shake it. He helped her up, as she was tired and she was done with her crying. ¡°Nice to meet you, Gary. Got any idea what¡¯s going on here? Where are we?¡± Maybe he knew what was going on. ¡°Sorry, I have no idea either. I woke up, and I was in the forest, just like you. I was looking around, and I heard you yelling for help, so I rushed over. I thought maybe my friends had pulled a trick on me, but I guess that¡¯s not the case, since you¡¯re here too.¡± She nodded. ¡°Yeah, I had the same exact idea. Have you noticed the moons?¡± She pointed up to the double moons, one much smaller than the other. ¡°Yeah, I saw that. Not sure what it means¡ªthe whole forest thing and the purple grass, not something you see every day, or any day, for that matter. We should probably stick together for now and try to figure it out.¡± Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can find any others. Since we¡¯re both here, there are likely others as well.¡± She was in a strange place and in even stranger circumstances, but she had had her cry, and now it was time to figure out what exactly was going on and how they were going to get home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two more teens had joined them: a girl named Nana and another boy who went by Stump. Michelle had no idea why he was called that, but that was probably a story for another time. Nana also went to her high school, and Stump was starting after summer; Nana was the older of the two. His brother had been invited to the party, and he had tagged along. All four were worried about the situation but had no idea what to do, so they stuck together to try and figure it out. They walked north not really finding anything but more strange forest. Gary had some camping experience and had been a Boy Scout for a few years, so he somewhat knew his way around the woods. The sun started to go down; it was dusk now, and soon it would be fully dark, though the moon was still around, so it would provide some light. Gary had instructed everyone that they should find some firewood and keep close by; there was a small area where they could camp. Each had a blanket and a sheet that they could use. Michelle thought that the night might be okay; the day hadn¡¯t been too bad, and the previous night, other than the light breeze, wasn¡¯t cold or hot. ¡°Guys, I found something!¡± That was Stump. They had returned to the little clearing they had chosen to camp at. Stump seemed excited about something. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Everything alright? What did you find?¡± ¡°Something even weirder than this place. Follow me.¡± So they did. And yes, it was most definitely strange. Michelle looked at the blue neon arrow sign, very confused. What was it doing here? It pointed somewhere; guess they should follow it. There was another sign about thirty yards ahead; this time it was yellow. The buzz of the neon sign could be heard; there were moths flying around it. Michelle looked at her companions, shrugged, and continued to follow the signs. They found another sign, this time a neon pink one. Then, after coming around some bushes, they found something even stranger than the neon signs. Floating in the air was a shiny ball, and in front of it, it was projecting letters that read ¡°WELCOME.¡± This place gets stranger and stranger, was the only thing that came to her mind. Again, the group looked at each other and moved toward the strange floating ball. As they got close, the welcome sign switched off. ¡°Hello, my name is Registration Node 1A25, but you can call me Regi,¡± it said, then chuckled. Had she died, or was she stuck in a weird, drug-induced hallucination? It would explain so much. But she didn¡¯t do drugs, and she was pretty confident she hadn¡¯t passed away. But do people actually know? Had she died? No, there was no way. It didn¡¯t explain the others with her. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Michelle.¡± What else was she supposed to do? When someone presents themselves, the only polite thing to do is present yourself. The others did the same. ¡°Welcome, welcome! If you could please form a single line and register, we can get this show on the road.¡± Wait, what were they registering for? This made no sense; it was like an online registration to open an account. Guess the place could get stranger. ¡°Register? What are we registering for, Regi?¡± That came from Nana. ¡°Oh, I get it¡ªRegi, Registration Node. That¡¯s kind of clever,¡± Stump said. She thought it was silly, but he laughed. Stump got in front of the floating ball and waited. Bloop, beep, screech. ¡°Place both hands on the registration node, as indicated by the flashing lights.¡± Small blinking lights on either side of the node indicated where Stump should place his hands, and he complied. Beep, beep, bloop. ¡°State your full name for the records.¡± Stump shrugged, placed his hands on the node, and said his name. ¡°Okay. Michael Stump Madison.¡± ¡°Michael Stump Madison, welcome. Scanning to optimize recommendations.¡± Lights flashed on either side of Regi, and he felt a pinprick on his right hand, as if a small bug had bitten him. ¡°Please step aside so your companions may register.¡± They all followed suit and did the same thing, giving their first and last name, each feeling the pinprick on their hand. After they were finished, the node asked if they were a party; they had no idea what that meant. They shook their heads, and the node acknowledged that they were a temporary party. It then proceeded to give them other instructions and something about a help node. It explained something about roles, then classes, what they did, and what they were good for. Nothing made sense; it all smelled of video games. She didn¡¯t have a lot of time for games, but the games she played with her brother reminded her of that. Michelle wasn¡¯t sure what to go with, but she felt that the Rogue class was calling to her for some reason. From the explanation about what it was, she thought that her skills as a cheerleader would help. So she had gone for that. Both Nana and Stump had chosen wizard, and Gary had gone with healer. They had each been issued a map, like an old-school rolled-up map. She unfurled it and saw some detail about where they were and where they had been, but the rest was blank. Not an extremely good map, if you ask me, Michelle thought. ¡°Excellent choices! Role registration is now complete. Welcome to Reladur. We hope your stay here is pleasant and that you will visit us again. Now, for the FAQs.¡± A screen materialized before their eyes.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
  1. Can you send us back home? No, I can¡¯t send you back home.
  2. How did we get here? No, I have no idea how you got here.
  3. Is this a video game? No, it¡¯s not a video game.
  4. Can we die and or get hurt? Yes, you can get hurt, but no you won¡¯t really die.... I will get back to you on this one.
  5. Where do we go from here? To Starter Town
That was extremely strange. There was a floating screen in front of her, like a blue thing with white letters. She read through the FAQs, which were strange. The first and second ones were a bummer; she had hoped that this floating ball had some answers. Guess they were going to have to figure things out by themselves. She felt that this was a little suspect; the floating node wasn¡¯t giving them everything it knew. The whole ¡°not a video game¡± thing, even though it felt like it was, was weird. Who had asked that they provide some FAQs? And what was up with the death thing and getting hurt? She hadn¡¯t signed up for that at all. And this ¡°Starter Town¡± place¡ªwhere was it, and why did it have such a silly name? It all screamed video game, if you asked her. So many questions and little to no answers. ¡°And I know you want to know about the whole ¡®die, get hurt¡¯ thing. Try not to die, if at all possible. There are some rather nasty effects if you manage to get yourselves killed¡ªeffects that last a while. Also, avoid getting the world¡¯s inhabitants killed; unlike you, they will experience true death. Any other questions?¡± Well, at a minimum, he had gone over that topic¡ªnot that it made Michelle any happier knowing about it. ¡°Where is this ¡®Starter Town¡¯ place you mentioned?¡± ¡°Your map has been updated with the location.¡± And, sure enough, she glanced down at the map, and there it was. It looked far away, and it only showed this little town picture, but nothing in between. ¡°Now, before we proceed, please look at your status page.¡± The blue screen had changed from the FAQ¡¯s and now she could see a screen with a bunch of information about her and her group.
Name Role STATS (STA/AGI/INT/CHA) HP/MP/AC
Michelle Thief 10/16/9/15 30/0/48
Stump Wizard 10/10/15/17 30/60/0
Nana Wizard 10/10/15/17 30/60/0
Gary Healer 11/10/18/11 33/72/0
¡°You can see your base stats here.¡± Each of their names was highlighted one by one. ¡°Now that you are registered for these roles, you will need to seek a mentor to teach you more. For any more questions, please ask your HelpNode. Again, welcome, and have a great time. This is Registration Node 1A25 signing off.¡± There was a flash¡­ and it was gone. So, what was the ¡°HelpNode¡± thing he had mentioned?
HelpNodeX154: Hi Michelle my name is HelpNodeX154.
That was weird. She heard it in her head. It was a weird feeling to have something speak in your head, but this she could understand; it was just like Siri. Though this one sounded male, a young guy, to be exact¡ªsounded somewhat sexy and sultry. Michelle liked. So the weird adventure had begun. She now had a direction to go, and even though she had more questions than answers, she would keep going forward and figure this out.