There was a minor commotion at the fountain as three adventurers logged back into the game. Libby, Dot, and Charlene had been attempting to conquer the Bunny Barrow with mixed success for a couple of weekends. They'd gotten close late on Saturday night, but failed on the final boss. After the last of their group died, they left the game, making plans to come back early the next weekend.

Logging back in, they found that there were consequences to losing that last fight.

"Holy Shit! Those are cute Charly, where did you get the bunny ears." Dot was admiring the accessory Charlene was wearing. Turning to Libby, she noticed she was wearing a set too.

"umm...Dot? Hate to tell you, but you have them as well, and they aren't coming off anytime soon."

Dot reached up and found a long fuzzy ear above her head and pulled it down to look it. Then followed the ear down to the side of her head where it was attached in place of her normal ear. "Well, this is different. What the hell caused this?"

You have been Cursed!

Curse of the Bunny Boss: Dying to Mayor Burpicus has given you long, fuzzy bunny ears. (+1 to perception, fondness for carrots.)

Losing to certain bosses can result in a Death Curse. The curse will persist until you slay the boss that cursed you. Further defeats to the same boss can make a curse much worse.

"Shit, so we need to go beat up that fat bastard at the end of the dungeon? The one with the puke-breath? No problem, I want to kill him anyway. He was pretty vile and holding that whole village under his sway."

While most of the dungeon was filled with undead rabbits, there was a small village of very scared humanoid rabbit-kin that lived in a ramshackle village in a part of the burrow just before the final boss room. The bunnies there happily traded for the magical carrots they had found on some of the undead rabbits. The carrots themselves had minor magical abilities, giving some healing and mana regen. They also prevented halitosis and athlete's foot fungus. The bunnies in the village would trade much more valuable healing potions for them. That was how they had nearly killed the boss last time, chugging the carrot juice healing potions every chance they had. But in the end, they'd still lost.

Libby and Charlene agreed. Libby splashed some water on her face and said, "But after this debuff goes away. Wow, I hate this part. What are you supposed to do until it wears off?."

A masculine voice answered her question.

"That's easy, you drink, and tell stories about how you died. Takes the sting out of it."

The speaker was a tall young man wearing nothing but a pair of burlap pants. With his rippling chest muscles, washboard abs, and bulging biceps he could have been a character from one of their torrid romance novels. Except that he had leaves growing on his head instead of hair.

Next to him was a similar looking male with darker skin who lacked the leafy hair, but was growing bark along one shoulder and upper arm.

He rapped his knuckles on it. "Good armor, I got the better curse, leaf-head." Noticing the three long-eared women on the other side of the fountain he walked around and shook hands, "Hi, I'm Cham and my leafy compatriot over there is John. We're lumberjacks. Ran into a bad tree."

Dot was admiring what she saw, "You died to some monster who cursed you? Or is that an ability?"

"A curse for sure. That was one angry tree. He didn't like us at all. We'll have to go talk to him in a bit. But first Cham and I are heading to our bar for a few tasty beers to pass the time away until this 'death penalty' ends. You're all welcome to join us."

The three women looked at each other and silent messages passed between them quickly. Years of going out together gave them an almost telepathic ability to communicate in some situations. All three nodded after a small pause.

"Beer sounds good."

"Well, just a couple maybe. You own a bar?"

"Beer, yes, much beer. And stories! I want to hear about this tree."

That decided, three bunny girls and two wood sprites headed to the subterranean pub to cheer themselves up before heading back to adventuring.

=*=

A bit later, Aatired group of workers trudged up the road that led to the gates of Gadobhra. They were anxious to get back to Sedgewick and relax for the rest of their day off.

By daylight, the city looked much worse. Tall, ruined towers stuck up like broken teeth along the rim of the city where huge buildings edged up to the walls. Near the ACME building and the plaza the buildings were more or less intact. Walking through the lit plaza at night showed a different view, the decay of the buildings hidden by the night.

The slums of Hungrytown near the gates were revealed to be rubble and mud, and a surprising number of walled cemeteries. A morning mist still obscured much of Hungrytown, but in the center, the roofs of a ramshackle wooden building could be seen rising many stories above the ground.

Suzette stopped and stared at a spot near the road where the ground dipped lower. The area had once been a large building the size of a football field, but all that remained now was the outline of the walls and a pile of rubble in the center. It must have had deep basements at one time. Even filled with rubble, the center area was a deep pit.

"Wow...the Dark Mana is pooling deep in this area."

Ozzy could see nothing, but he also hadn't taken several levels in the skills that let Suzette see the flow of mana, "I thought Gadobhra sort of oozed the stuff all the time?"

Suzette was looking at other areas and peering into the Beastwoods on the other side of the road. "It used to - so much that it caused us a lot of problems when it got loose. But since the city walls were rebuilt, there hasn't been that much. We used to be able to fill barrels of it at the gates, but there has been less and less."

She walked back to the low laying area, "I think the walls are keeping it in now, or most of it."

Ozzy was confused by her tone, "That's good, isn't it?"

"Not for my beer. I need a lot of Dark Mana to make Blud Dark. The flavor just isn't there without it. I've been having trouble getting enough. Which is bad if I want to fill my orders and still be able to serve it at the tavern."

Ben started walking up the road, whistling. Runt didn't know what the hell was going on, but if the crazy lady was talking about blood and dark magic, he was following the courier.

Ozzy turned to go and Suzette grabbed his arm and stared up at him with huge, luminous eyes, "Ozzy dearest? Would you do me a teensy-weensy favor? I'll make it up to you, I promise."

The Butcher sighed, "Sure. I don't mind."

Suzette gave him a hug and a kiss. He returned it, part of him already regretting the deal.

"So now that I've committed to doing you a small favor, what's the job?"

Suzette pointed to the area where she could see the deep pools of Dark Mana, "I need you to figure out how to get all that mana down to Sedgewick, and into the brewery we are going to build."

Ozzy sighed, his guess had been filling barrels with the stuff, not putting in some sort of pipeline. "I'll go talk to Jorges. Maybe he has some ideas"

Suzette gave his arm a squeeze. "Thanks. I don't really want to build a brewery in hungry town. And I don't want people wondering why I need a few dozen barrels of dark mana each week."

=*=

After a short walk, Ben, Ozzy, Suzette, and Runt returned from Gadobhra.

The group split up as they entered Sedgewick. Ozzy and Runt were heading to the Butcher shop and then the Charnal Pit. Ozzy needed to unload a lot of pork belly, hams, wings, and assorted monster parts from his bag and start working on turning it all into tasty treats.

Ben was looking forward to a few quiet hours to read some more in his favorite book. He was just starting to sort out some of the strange ideas in it. Some of it felt like normal science, but other parts were confusing magical symbols and concepts that he just didn't have the background for.

Nor was he going to get explanations anytime soon other than his book. The fiasco with Leroy had made him leery of letting anyone know about the book and just what he had made. He'd have to pay more attention to what was in each town he went through and start looking in bookstores or asking around for a Mage's Guild.

Sedgewick technically had a Mage Guild representative. Jasper Fentrix, the old scribe, claimed to hold that position as well as town scribe, bookseller, parchment maker, and purveyor of fine inks. But a question about magic just made him stare down his nose at the speaker, shake his head, and declare, "Not up to university standards. Come back when you've actually learned something." So for now Ben read, talked a bit to Suzette, and practiced his own magic when he could.

Suzette headed to the Tavern, worried she had been gone too long. Then she laughed silently at herself. It was just a tavern and she'd left it in good hands. Probably everything was fine. She entered the tavern, expecting to see some of the regulars and Zephyr behind the bar. Things weren't so placid.

Zephyr was crouched in a corner behind the bar, holding her staff in white knuckled hands. Aliester was concentrating on a spell, and Suzette could see the outline of a powerful ward circling around them, keeping something out.

At the far end of the tavern, Johannes sat with several similarly-garbed folks and a few farmers. They had over-turned many tables to create barricades and were clutching their flagons and keeping watch on the cause of all their problems. Several tables and chairs had been broken up, and the floor had some deep cuts in the wood.

In the center of the tavern, seated at the only table not used in the siege, was a woman. By the amount of flagons on the table, she had been drinking all night. As Suzette shut the door behind her, she whipped around looking at her with narrowed eyes. One eye seemed normal, but the other was overly large and a bright, angry red. The red of her eye matched the thick braids that ran down her back until they touched the floor. Red was also the color of the ax on her belt. She was only five feet tall, including the heels of her boots that added six inches to her height. Suzette wondered how she could walk. Also...what the hell was going on.

Zephyr yelled out, "Careful Suzette! She's crazy as a badger on loco-weed."

The woman stood up unsteadily from the table and turned to Suzette. "Oh, so you're the lazy tavern wench that kept me waiting all night!" She took a step towards Suzette and stomped her foot on the floor, cracking one of the floorboards. "I want your best room! I want it now! And none of this sass about that weasel Johannes already paying for it. And you should beat that girl with a switch for impertinence. Even better, I'll offer to do it for you."

Suzette took a deep breath and let it out, then tried to put on her best smile, "My apologies Ma'am, I had business in the city. I'll help you personally. We have several good rooms I can show you."

"Bullshit you will! Johannes bragged about having the best room.So that's the one I want. I'll accept the beer I drank as an apology for that girl’s attitude, and making me late while you were out dancing at some fancy ball."

Suzette held her ground and tried again, "No, that room is paid for and reserved. That's final. Why don't you come look at the others and we can...we....

Everything started to spin in Suzettes vision. Titania stepped closer and her red eye seemed to get larger and larger, looking into Suzettes soul. It was a spike driving into her skull. "Oh, we can do so much better than that deary. You've got some pretty good resistance. But you aren't a match for me. I'm sure you'll see things my way."

Suzette brightened up, and nodded her head in agreement. "Of course I will. I'll toss Johannes's gear out the window and we can settle you in. The drinks and dinner are free for a week, just to make up for your problem."

Titania cackled, "Well, that's better, let's get moving. I want to see my room and then drink your wine cellar dry."

As she took a step towards Suzette, the bar maid brought up her hand and stabbed her stiffened fingers into the huge red eye. Titania howled like a dying wolf. Suzette dodged backwards, and ran out door of the tavern.

"You evil little doxy! I'll skin you and use your hide for a new pair of garters. I can find you even with one eye!" Drawing her axe, she raced out the door in hot pursuit. She could see the treacherous strumpet in front of her and raised her axe to throw it at her back.

The axe sailed through the air, sailed through the bar maid, and hit a wagon full of pumpkins moving down the street. The bar maid disappeared and the wagon of pumpkins exploded, snapping in half and sending orange goo all over the street. Just as she threw the axe, something kicked Titania hard on the front of her shins, tripping her. She fell forward onto the dusty street strewn with pumpkin guts.

Suzette landed hard on her back, driving the wind from her. One hand got a good grip on bright red braids and pulled Titania's head back. The other hand put two pointed objects against the skin of Titania's throat. A soft voice in her ear warned the redhead against moving. "You so much as twitch, and I'm ending you. Blink once if you understand."

Titania could sense the manticore venom that wanted nothing more than to race through her veins and burn her life away. More, she could tell that she had no defense against the weapon that was coated with the vile substance. It was akin to her axe, potent and with only one purpose, to kill.

She blinked.

"Good. So, you can be reasoned with. Understand this: This is my town. My tavern. My people. You threatened them. Do so again and I will end your life.

Another blink.

"You will abide by my rules. You will not touch my people. You will pick out a room that is available."

A final blink, accompanied by a shudder.

You have been challenged by a witch in your place of power, and defeated her!

Titania of the Broken Circle has been bound by your geas and will abide by the rule of three in exchange for sparing her life.

Your reputation with the townsfolk of Sedgewick, the local College Faculty, and the remaining Witches of the Broken Circle has increased.

You have earned 3 Core Skill Points.

Suzette stood up. Titania started to stand, and Suzette offered her hand to help her. The old witch dusted herself off, and did the best to avoid smearing pumpkin guts on her dress, "Damn. I should know better than to start a fight half drunk. Sorry, deary, I'll behave."

Suzette smiled for real this time, "Then let's go look at the rooms. You want a nice hard bed like Johannes? I can get rid of the mattresses and bring in a straw pallet for you."

Titania wasn't sure if she was joking or not. "Is that really what he wanted? I may have been hasty about insisting on his room. But dammit, he taunted me and riled me up!"

Suzette nodded to her, "Can't have that. I'll talk to him. Now let's get you settled in."