I woke up for my final day of dungeon life and decided that breakfast just wouldn’t cut it today. I didn’t feel like cooking either, just something deep fried and delicious. Soon enough I had some fresh hot chicken tenders, Nashville style, with french fries and some of the cheesiest macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had. I was rather excited to find that you could pick and choose what cheeses went into your dish, so I went with mozzarella, sharp cheddar, and gruyere. Oh, it was fantastic. You know you have it perfected when the cheese trails don’t want to break. I overindulged, and took an hour nap before logging in to Oblivion.

“Good morning Khaliss, how are you today?”

“No time for that, what did the Heralds of the Gods say to you?”

“They wanted to make sure we weren’t breaking the rules of this world. Nobody had, and the Heralds warned the adventurers to not do a few things and banned the two involved from entering the Warrens with us.”

Exhaling with relief, Khaliss spoke, “Good. For a while I thought we were going to be destroyed, and before you ask yes, it has happened before. Now, we only have a few hours before our day begins. Eat what you need and head out to get whatever traps you have in mind ready.”

“Yes sir!” I responded with a salute. I quickly scarfed down some rations and a drink of water, then headed to my darkened hallway. I never believed Steele when he agreed not to warn of my tactics, so I was going to prepare a surprise for whoever he sent to take me out. I started with a hole that went down to the indestructible rock, just inside where the darkness started in my hallway. I cleared it in a circle, and managed to add in seven basketball sized stones. Each got charged with 300 mana, bringing them up to full capacity. Heading down the hall where I would be, I made a sloped trench big enough for one of the smaller charged stones. I covered both with solid stone, so that you couldn’t see any of the light leaking out. I rolled an uncharged stone down the ramp just to make sure that there wouldn’t be any obstructions, and when I uncovered everything I saw it resting against the side of one of the larger stones in the pit. I charged that stone and kept it in a separate inventory slot to avoid mistakenly grabbing it. After my preparations, it was close enough to time that I headed over to my hammer alcove to wait for intruders.

Intruders have entered the dungeon

Well, that didn’t take long. I listened to the group of four as they planned. “Alright, lets smash this dungeon guys. Pyro, you are up first. Hit that stone pillar with a spell hard enough to snap it so we can disable the trap. EagleEye, check if you can spot the bastard watching us from above. Steele says he is pretty voyeuristic, so I’m sure he’s there. If you get a shot, take it.”

I’m glad I planned ahead for Steele to break his word. I slunk backwards slowly, then headed off to my hallway to send an email.

Emily,

Steele has broken his word about revealing tactics. Watch my feed from when intruders first started entering the dungeon today for proof. I don’t have access to the proper forms from the game itself, but consider this a formal complaint. He is mentioned by name, they knew how to disable the hammer trap and knew that I usually watched from the ceiling.

Thanks

Marty

Well, hopefully that is a nice setup to ruin Steele’s day. You would have thought that he would be at least smart enough to be subtle, but I guess it’s hard finding good lackeys these days. I heard them clomping forward, it seems they weren’t going to waste any time heading to my hallway. I saw the leader pick up one of the torches, and he was flanked by two archers and a mage in back keeping a line of fire on me. None of them were races that should have darkvision, so I would be partially safe for a while.

“Ah, the Steele Legion I presume?” I asked in my gravelly, undead voice.

“Cut the crap Kobold, we know you aren’t undead. We’re here for your head and the glory of claiming the first champion dungeon with a player in it.”

“Fooooolsssss. You will all dieeee, in a blazzzzee of glory.”

“Heh, we know about your exploding spheres as well. You don’t have any tricks or traps left we haven’t seen.” I waited until he had his group centered on my trap before I acted. I pulled out two orbs and threw them without overcharging. While they were in the air, I took out the one for the tunnel, overcharged it with about 5 mana, and rolled it through the tunnel and stood back up quick enough to catch their plan for my ranged attack.

“[Snipe shot]” both archers cried in unison, as they each shot one of the orbs, which exploded on impact.

“You’ll have to do much better than that, we can shoot your orbs down all day long. Time to admit defeat.”

“I don’t think so. See, I just have to stall you for a few more seconds.”

“Relax guys, he’s bluff” *KABOOM*

A massive explosion erupted as all seven of the stones exploded simultaneously. A geyser of bluish white flames and shattered stone consumed them instantaneously. Gravel fell from the ceiling as the entire dungeon shook with the force from the blast, and I had to shield my eyes lest I be blinded yet again. I was still seeing spots afterward, and received a new blue box for my efforts.

All invaders defeated. Due to special circumstances, please log out for an admin review.

Well, at least I got to kill four of them today. I headed back to Khaliss to let him know I needed to log out to see the Heralds again, then made my way to the barracks. “Logout.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Emily wasn’t too shocked when she got the email from Marty about Steele breaking his vow. She picked up the phone and hit a speed dial button, waiting patiently for the other party to answer. “Hey Mike, got a problem that will need your intervention again. Yep, It’s Marty and Steele. Yep, Steele didn’t keep his word. I’ve got the video evidence from Marty’s stream with the party of adventurers admitting that they knew all Marty’s tactics. No, they are still in the game but I’m certain Marty has a new headache for the developers and another overpowered trap. Yeah, I’ll forward you the video then meet you in game for the trial. Thanks, bye.”

Emily hated having to use the headset again, but there just wasn’t enough reason for all of them to keep a pod at work their occasional immersions. This was two days in a row that she was going to have to use the blasted thing, and her neck was going to be sore for days. She knew she was supposed to be impartial, but these Steele Legion bastards were going to get the hammer dropped on them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I found myself in another courtroom, only the defendant side was much larger. It was still empty, so I wondered what was going to happen.

“Please enter and sit down. The others will be forcibly removed from gameplay shortly.” Oh, that answers that.

“What the?”

“Where are we?”

“Noooo! We almost had him!”

“We were on a raid damnit, what is going on?”

It looks like they pulled the entire Steele Legion for some reason. “SILENCE!” The judge used his wrath of god voice, and I swear I saw his eyes flash red and lightning spark as his gavel struck. He was pissed.

“Steele, step forward. Three times you before me yesterday you avowed that you would not divulge any weapons or tactics employed by Kobold in the Kobold Warrens.”

“I didn’t!” He denied.

“Oh really? How do you explain this?”

On the screen, there was a round table with several high level characters all facing Steele. He spoke, “OK, what I am about to say doesn’t leave this room. What I’m about to tell you I have been sworn to secrecy on.”

An elf mage interrupted, “Stop. Sworn to secrecy by who? And what are we risking by you breaking that vow?”

“You risk nothing and the other person is unimportant. Some level one Kobold in the champion dungeon instance of Kobold Warrens. I know all his tactics and weapons, we can finally take him out and get our rewards.”

“How much rewards can there be from a level one dungeon? Even if it is a champion dungeon?” a lionkin berserker asked.

“This dungeon hasn’t been conquered. It’s the first of its kind, and has been going for almost a week. I’m sure there is something important in there.”

“Very well” the elf spoke again. “Where did you get this information?”

“Don’t worry about it, just know that it is good. The character likes to hide in the ceilings, throws mana infused stone balls that explode, and his best trap is the giant hammer in the beginning of the dungeon propped up by a thin pillar. Take out the pillar first and it is useless. Send a pair of snipers to shoot the stones before they get to the group, and have a mage blast him from a distance. Then everything else will be simple dungeon tactics.” The video cut out after that.

“Where? How did you get that? You aren’t allowed to spy on players! I want to file an official complaint on this!”

Two more judges appeared behind the original, and one of them spoke. “Denied. Proper paperwork was approved to monitor you for certain keywords and the surrounding footage would be reviewed. You agreed to this process in the Terms of Service.”

“I most certainly did not! How do I know that was in there in the first place? Those are like 20 pages of legalese!”

“The fact that you didn’t read or understand them doesn’t matter. You agreed to the terms by playing the game, and proper procedure was followed. Our legal team is already reviewing the evidence should you wish to challenge this outside of the game.” With that final proclamation, both of the new judges disappeared.

“Now, you willfully broke my orders. This is further confirmed by video confession of the four who entered the dungeon. You were mentioned by name, and the tactics and traps were described in such a way as to leave no doubt as to your involvement.”

“Wait, it could have been Rycran setting me up!” At his last outburst, his entire guild gasped. Did he just throw his brother under the bus? The brother that had been helping him out for years in the game?

“We thought of that. Rycran’s character has been logged out since the trial yesterday. He has had no chance to communicate with those who entered the dungeon. Now, with the evidence arrayed against you, how do you plead?”

“Not guilty!”

“Very well. What have you to say in your defense?”

“This is ridiculous. Anyone could have figured out his tactics, there’s no way to prove that it was me. Besides, he probably just cheated again to win against our players.”

Dark thunderclouds actually started appearing in the sky, and the white marble turned black with glowing veins of angry red. “You are a fool, and have been warned in the past about fraudulent accusations of cheating.”

“Then how did he beat that group? They were perfectly suited to take out his strengths!”

“No, they were not. Suffice it to say, Kobold set up a new, ingenious trap that your group had no way to counter. I won’t be showing any of you how it was done so that you can’t leak word of this in the future. Now, for punishment. Steele, I find you guilty of breaking vows made to the admins. You did so in such a way as to make your entire guild complicit in your crimes. As such, your guild will be forcefully disbanded. All lands, equipment, materials, and gold owned by the guild will be confiscated by the system.”

A chorus of denials, “you can’t do that!”, and occasional swearing greeted that proclamation. “ENOUGH! I AM NOT FINISHED!” They immediately quieted down. “Those people in the room where you planned this as well as the four that were in the dungeon will have their avatars deleted and banned from the game for a week. Those who are in the guild but were not involved in this will have no punishment other than to lose their guild. As for you Steele, I am making an example out of you. You will be permanently banned from the game.”

Everyone was stunned. A permanent ban was brutal. He couldn’t even try and start a new account on a different pod, the technology that would interact with your brain would recognize him and prevent him from trying. At least I would never again have to worry about Steele again, or the Steele Legion.

“You, you can’t do that!”

“It’s done. Forced logout in ten seconds. Goodbye Steele. As for the rest of you who have been punished, you already have one administrative action against you. Take care not to get too many more, lest you get the same fate as Steele. For those brought here only to learn that your guild is disbanded, you have my apologies. We felt that this would be the easiest way to inform you of what happened. Thank you for your time. Kobold, please wait a minute after everyone else leaves.”

I watched the dejected group turn around and leave. I didn’t think that the entire guild would be punished, but it wasn’t my choice or actions that brought it around so I didn’t care too much. I refrained from gloating however, as I didn’t want any of them to hold a grudge.

“Kobold, we aren’t able to verify if anyone else was made aware of your tactics and limitations. Normally we wouldn’t interfere, but you had a phenomenal strategy and your traps were brilliant. So much so that the developers are working to add variations of your hammer and that last explosive trap into several of the higher level dungeons. They were also particularly intrigued by the fact that detect trap won’t work on traps that are manually activated by a monster. First, we are going to approve your elevation to one of our higher tier levels of beta testers. You have more than proven yourself, and will get proper compensation of this. Second, we are going to conclude your dungeon week a day early. There won’t be any more champion instances, however your fame has spread to the point where we are going to include an optional miniboss based on your play style. Congratulations.”

“Thanks sir. I appreciate it, and I’m glad I can finally get out there and start playing the game.”

“I’m sure you are, so I won’t keep you any longer. Farewell.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I found myself back in the barracks, with all the other kobolds from my floor surrounding me. As soon as I opened my eyes, everyone started cheering. When they had calmed down a bit, Khaliss spoke, “Victory is ours Angus! Congrats! We get to go home a day early, and earn our just rewards. Are you prepared? For this, you will come through the portal by my side.”

“I’m ready when you are Khaliss.” He turned and we all lined up in a double line facing the swirling blackness of the portal. Stepping through it oddly had no disconnect or vertigo, it was just like walking through any normal door. We emerged on the other side at one end of a large arena. The stands were packed with kobolds of all ages, cheering. Lining a path across the sands to where a pair of kobolds sat upon elaborate thrones were blue pennants with crossed spears inside a circle. We made our way across slowly, waving at the crowds. When we arrived at the thrones, the king spoke.

“Our warriors have returned once again, victorious against the forces of light! Captain Khaliss, not since the ancient warriors of old have we remained undefeated in our week with the dungeon. For your teams amazing efforts, you shall all be rewarded with the title Undefeated, and shall also receive a ring to boost your stats. Well done.” The king let the crowd cheer for several minutes, then turned to me. “Now, we also have a warrior who has rejected the light to join us here in the Underdark. Before we have you choose a class and receive your skill and experience levels, there is one thing we must address. HEAR ME MY PEOPLE! Through exploiting loopholes left in the rules of the Gods, the forces of light managed to send a warrior into our dungeon that would be impossible to defeat. A level 78 paladin, with all his armor and skills set loose among level 5 kobolds!” The entire stadium erupted in hisses and boos. “However! Through ingenuity and resourcefulness, Angus managed to slay the paladin! As such, I hereby elevate you. No more are you a mere kobold, you shall forevermore be counted among the elite!” As the stadium once again erupted in cheers, I was distracted by a blue box.

You have been elevated!

Monsters have different ranks that bestow different bonuses when leveling up. Ranks increase as you move down the table. Congratulations, as this bonus will not be revoked unless you are exiled from the Underdark.

Rank

Bonuses

Common monster

No bonuses

Champion monster

Two bonus attributes added per level, selection random

Elite monster

Each attribute increased by one per two levels

Heroic monster

Each attribute increased by two per level

Demigod

Each attribute increased by five per level

Godly

Each attribute increased by ten per level

I didn’t care how I got there, someday I was going to become a Godly type monster. Just the bonus from leveling would give it the strength of a normal monster leveling several times. I only wondered if the ranks remained after evolution. The king speaking broke me from my musings.

“Before we go any further, you also must choose a class. Based upon your play style for the previous week, you have unlocked the following options.”

Welcome to the second part of the monster tutorial!

In order to proceed, you will need to choose a class. Monsters are not allowed to allocate their attribute points, they will be determined by your class. You will never have your character hobbled by purposely detrimental choices, but you will also not be able to min/max your character. Below are the classes, a description of each one, and what attributes are focused on for each class.

Class (tier)

Description

Attributes

Warrior (common)

The staple of any battlefield, warriors are the main portion of any successful army

Str, Con

Archer (common)

Archers prefer to rain death upon their enemies from afar, though enemies that manage to close the gap are at an advantage

Dex, Agi

Mage (common)

Mages are adepts at magic. Woe be unto those who underestimate their abilities and forgo magic defenses

Int, Wis

Berserker (rare)

Berserkers are the madmen of the battlefield. They care not for defense, and are often found with a battle axe in each hand and a manic smile on their face.

Str, Con, Dex

Trapper (rare)

The trapper sets traps to capture and kill the unwary. They can advance their class to beastmaster by taming wild creatures

Dex, Agi, Int

Geomancer (unique)

Geomancers are masters of earth magic. Though greatly weakened in other areas of magic, they aren’t to be underestimated. They may call forth golems, rain spikes of hardened stone, or bury cities in landslides

Int, Wis, Dex, Con

Ambusher (unique)

There is no honor to be had in war, and ambushers are the epitome of this. Launching devastating attacks from unexpected directions, those enemies that are not outright killed are often maimed and easy prey.

Dex, Agi, Str, Int

Avenger (unique)

Avengers live to protect their comrades. Always the tip of the spear, their wrath is fearsome when unleashed should others under them fall.

Str, Con, Agi, Wis

Ah, I wondered if there was more to the tutorial than what I had gone through first. Well, it looks like I need to choose a play style. The common and rare classes were out, as the higher the tier the stronger the class would end up being. It looks like I also had a choice between an advanced form of rogue, mage, or warrior. I figure that the majority of my exploits would be solo, so all the bonuses from the Avenger class would be wasted. So, mage or rogue. Geomancer looked great, and I could just imagine a geomancer general, decked out in armor carved from obsidian with his magic leading an army of golems against whoever dared to oppose him. Well, he would do that if he were outside on a sunny plain, but we were here in the, what did the king call it? The Underdark? Yeah, that sounds right. We were most likely deep within a mountain, deeper than even the dwarves dared to go. So most of the places would likely be too small for a golem to get around in. Besides, everyone wants to do the magic thing but they were always a little too squishy for my taste. If I were going to make a living playing this game, at least for the next several months, I wanted a class that would be absolutely devastating with no chance of reprisal. I made my selection and looked at the pop up.

Congratulations on becoming an Ambusher!

You are now an ambusher! Striking from the shadows before your enemy even knows you are there, killing or maiming them immediately. While assassins might be silent death, they only deal with one target at a time while numbers mean nothing against your tactics.

New Skills available!

Ambush – beginner level 1 – this passive skill boosts your attack power and critical hit chance when striking an unsuspecting enemy. Bonus 1% to attack and 1% to critical hit chance.

Sneak – Skill already obtained! Please see skill sheet after the welcoming ceremony for new information.

Hide in shadow – Beginner level 1 – Blur your outline to break up your silhouette. Unusable in bright light, will not work on detection methods that aren’t based on light. Cost: 25 mana + 1 mana/second

I looked up at the king after making my selection and nodded at him. “Our newest elite has made his selection! We welcome you into our midst, Ambusher Angus MacG, kobold elite!” The crowd absolutely lost it at this pronouncement. While they were wildly cheering, I was watching some of the newer popups.

Processing deferred experience. . .

Processing. . .

Congratulations! The following are the results of your week in the dungeon:

Level up x 11! You are now level 12

Skill gained

Skill level

Skill bonuses

Darkvision

Intermediate lvl 6

Distance increased to 30 feet

Mana Excavation

Intermediate lvl 4

Cost decreased by 19%

Blunted weapons mastery (Passive)

Beginner lvl 8

Damage increased by 8%, attack speed increased by 4%

Hammer Mastery (Passive)

Beginner lvl 6

Damage increased by 6%, attack speed increased by 3%

Sculpting

Beginner lvl 9

Sculpting speed increased by 9%

Sneak

Intermediate lvl 2

Speed increased by 12%, Harder to detect by 6%

Ambush (Passive)

Beginner lvl 1

Attack damage increased by 1%, Critical hit chance increased by 1%

Crushing Blow

Beginner lvl 7

Chance to inflict status effect increased by 7%

Throat tear

Beginner lvl 9

Chance of fatal blow increased by 9%

Skull Crusher

Beginner lvl 7

Stun chance increased by 10%, Fatal blow chance increased by 3%

Earth Mastery (Passive)

Beginner lvl 5

Earth spells and manipulation cost 5% less mana

Trap making

Advanced lvl 1

Traps do 30% more damage, are deployed 15% faster, and are 20% harder to detect

Mana manipulation

Intermediate lvl 2

Manipulation speed increased by 17%

Mana infusion

Beginner lvl 8

Infusion speed increased by 4%, maximum mana infused increased by 4%

Overcharge

Beginner lvl 7

Overcharge maximum increased by 3%, Damage increased by 14%

Lethal Blow (Passive)

Beginner lvl 8

Chance of instant kill increased by 4%

Mana Blade

Beginner lvl 2

Damage increased by 2%, mana cost reduced by 1%

Mana shockwave

Beginner lvl 1

Damage increased by 1%, durability damage reduced by 1%

Throw weapon

Beginner lvl 6

Chance to hit increased by 3%

Spear mastery (Passive)

Beginner lvl 1

Damage increased by 1%

Vicious thrust

Beginner lvl 1

Damage increased by 10%, chance to cause bleeding status increased by 1%

Hide in shadows

Beginner lvl 1

Chance to be detected lowered by 5%

Due to a special action, you have unlocked an achievement

Achievement

Action

Bonus

Next level

Slayer II

Kill over 10 players

+2% damage to other players, -2% damage received from other players

Slay over 50 players

Group Discount I

Kill a group of 3 or more with one attack

+1% AoE attack radius

Kill 5 groups of 3 or more with one attack

The More the Merrier

Kill a group of 5 or more with one attack

+1% AoE attack radius, +2% AoE attack damage

Kill 5 groups of 5 or more with one attack

Hellen Keller I

Spend over a minute silenced, deafened, and blinded at the same time

+1% status effect resistance

Spend over 5 minutes silenced, deafened, and blinded at the same time

The bigger they are I

Kill a creature or player higher level than you

+1% damage

Kill over 50 creatures or players higher level than you

You don’t look so tough I

Kill a creature or player 5 levels higher than you

+1% damage

Kill 10 creatures or players 5 levels higher than you

Don’t look down on me I

Kill a creature or player 10 levels higher than you

+5% damage, -5% damage received

Kill 10 creatures or players 10 levels higher than you

Ant beats the elephant I

Kill a creature or player 25 levels higher than you

+10% damage to creatures or players higher level than you

Kill 10 creatures or players 25 levels higher than you

David and Goliath I

Kill a creature or player 50 levels higher than you

-10% damage received from creatures or players higher level than you

Kill 5 creatures or players 50 levels higher than you

Even Gods may fall

Kill a creature or player 75 levels higher than you

Ignore level difference penalties

N/A

You have been granted the title: Undefeated

Word of your exploits have spread, and your group of fellow warriors are known as the Undefeated. You can toggle titles displayed with the status menu.

Infamy: +100

I made out like a bandit! Any kill you got in that initial week would be guaranteed to count toward some of those achievements, as you were locked in to a level one character. The reward for being able to take out Rycran was phenomenal as well. I could now fight almost anything, and I had a much better chance of winning if I was the more skilled. I was also surprised that my trap making skill was as high as it was. The skill progression for Oblivion was beginner

“Follow me after the ceremony, we have things to discuss.” I nodded, figuring that he wanted to close his quest to me.

“We once again thank our brave warriors for fulfilling the requirements the gods have placed upon us! Let them now go and relax with their friends and families, until such a time as we need them again!” Wow, that king sure knew how to wind up a crowd. Bowing to the royalty, we turned as a unit (or as close as I could manage without practice), and headed across the sands one last time through a tunnel and out into a fantastic city. I was glad I was at the rear of this line, as I had to stop and stare at the glory. A massive cavern, the ceiling was studded with several reflective minerals. A massive crystal dropped from the ceiling and provided a yellowish light, and allowed me to make out the three tiers of the city.

“Ah, I’ve missed the beauty of the city. Since you are new here, I’ll give you the quick tour. The bottom level is the war preparations. The arena which we just came from and the barracks are here, as well as parade grounds for tactics. The second level is the merchant’s level, where you can find representatives of all the guilds.”

“Wait, I didn’t think the monster races would have access to the merchant guilds?”

“It is a well-guarded secret. We won’t have access to the auction houses, but we do have the banker’s, tailor’s, enchanter’s, blacksmith’s, alchemist’s, and tanner’s guilds. Most of the selection are limited, but they should be able to craft you items from whatever you manage to harvest in the Underdark. There are also unique items that can’t be found on the surface, though you can head to the surface eventually if you wish.”

“I guess that makes sense, unique ingredients would lead to better potions and such. Are they manned by light races?”

“No, it is dark races. Less chance of someone getting killed, as masters in any field represent a lot of time, money, and materials. Now, welcome to the barracks. Time for your rewards from the dungeon.”

QUEST COMPLETED!

Khaliss has been instructed to offer you a quest for the remainder of the week. All the kobolds in this instance have been enhanced to champion levels, boosting their base stats. He offers you the same.

Options

Conditions and rewards

Accept the boost to stats

Stats will be boosted for the rest of the week. No additional rewards will be offered.

Decline the boost to stats

Failure conditions: Fail to obtain a kill during the rest of the week.

Failure rewards: Loss of faction points with kobolds and with Khaliss

Pass conditions: Obtain as many kills as possible. Assisting in a kill will count as long as you are in the top two for damage dealt.

Pass rewards: Dependent upon performance.

You have succeeded far beyond all expectations on this quest. You managed to obtain 39 kills, one of which was a level 78 player. Your rewards will reflect this feat of legendary proportions.

Reward 1: 10,000 faction points with the kobold race. You are at exalted status with the kobold race! You will receive a 30% discount on all prices, and your chances of hidden and unique quests are greatly increased.

Reward 2: A warrior always needs a place to keep his spoils. You have been given the Bottomless bag of Negation. See item description for more details.

Reward 3: A bounty shall be paid per player killed. You have earned 6 p 76 g.

Reward 4: Captain Khaliss has been impressed with your determination to be the best. He is willing to teach you one of his skills.

Wow, I was elated. One of the hardest things to do with a low level character was to get decent gear. Some of the better low level gear would cost in the upper silver to low gold range. Money worked in 100 increments, with the lowest denomination being copper, then silver, gold, platinum, and royal chits. With over 6 platinum to my name I would be able to stock up on some of the better gear I could get my hands on, but I was truly interested in that bag. Any item with a purple name was a legendary artifact, and those were rare and fantastic. I immediately identified it.

Bottomless Bag of Negation

This legendary bag has 500 inventory slots for carrying vast amounts of loot. Item weight is reduced by 99%, and items will never spoil inside it. Note, due to the temporal and gravity enchantments, living material placed inside will not survive. Items placed inside are unable to be stolen, however they may still be dropped upon death.

This was the type of bag adventurers had wet dreams about. A bag that you couldn’t steal items from, had 500 slots, and basically ignored item weight? I’m sure there have been guild wars fought over lesser items. Especially since you were limited to five holding bags in the game. “Khaliss, I don’t know what to say. These rewards are completely outside of what I would have imagined. I love the amount of money I made on the bounty, but that seem somewhat excessive. How did I earn six platinum?”

“Each normal kill was worth one gold, as were the overkills. However, you also obtained 13 splatter overkills, and those were paid out at 50 gold apiece.”

“Splatter overkills? I’ve never heard of that.”

“OK, quick explanation time. If you kill something with a blow that does over twice the health of the creature, you are credited with an overkill. If it is within five levels of you, the drop rate for money and rare items is increased. If you do over ten times the health in damage, you get a splatter overkill. All rewards are increased by one tier. Your hammer and that final trap both counted as splatter overkills.”

“Oh, ok then. Thanks.”

“No, thank you Angus. You saved several of our warriors from going through death. The adventurers were far more focused on you than defeating the dungeon, and we feel you deserve every one of these rewards. There is also the skill to learn. Perhaps you will pick up spear fighting?” With that taunt, I was treated to a display of martial prowess that was awe inspiring. The spear was flashing around his body, head, shoulders, stabbed forward several times, and spun like a staff both vertically and horizontally. It was moving so fast that the wood was bending, and I knew that the system had to have drastically nerfed his skills if he was ever to be defeated in a dungeon. With a flourish, he did a spin, thrust forward, and ended with the tip of the spear a fraction of an inch from the bridge of my nose before I even had a chance to flinch. “So, care to learn how to properly wield a spear from a master?”

“Holy shit, that was mesmerizing! You just flowed between attack and defense so fluidly! No, I could never do the spear justice, and trying after seeing what a true master can do would be an insult.”

“That’s fine, but the spear is my only melee weapon. Tell you what, go grab a pair of crossbows over there and a quiver of bolts. I’ll teach you something any ranged attacker needs.”

I quickly did what he said, and grabbed a pair of crossbows. “Ok, so what do you need me to do to learn this skill?”

“This is slightly different than what you might expect. First I want you to aim it level from your shoulder, and this is the important part. Pay attention to the flight path of the bolt. Keep repeating that. It doesn’t matter if you hit the target, I want you to learn the bolt’s path.”

Ok, that seemed like oddball advice, fire without aiming? Whatever, he’s the expert so I held the crossbow like I was told, and fired, watching as the bolt flew and started dropping due to gravity. “Good. Now do that 50 more times, keeping the same angle on your bow.” Let the repetition begin! Fire, lower the bow, pull the string, load a bolt, raise, and fire again. Over and over, watching how the bolt flew through the air. I fell into the groove around bolt 15 or 16, and started picking out where the bolt was going to land around bolt 30 or so. I don’t know the exact number, but eventually I started seeing a light blue path that I absolutely knew the bolt would follow.

“Do you see it yet?”

“Yes, the blue path the bolt will fly through.”

“Excellent, now you are going to change the angle of your initial shot. I want it around 5 degrees above horizontal. Fire 20 shots at that angle, then increase to ten above the horizontal and repeat another 20. Tell me when you get the skill.” I changed the angle of the crossbow, and fired a bolt. The path was close, but the different angle altered it just enough to be a miss. I kept at it until the different angle didn’t matter, then elevated again. I was much closer, and soon enough got the pop up I had been waiting for.

Skill Obtained!

Windless Trajectory – Beginner lvl 1

When aiming with a crossbow that you have some familiarity with, you are able to predict the path of the bolt in a windless environment. You will need to fire ten bolts at three different angles to recalibrate if you change weapons or ammunition types.

Bonus (crossbow only): +1% to critical hit, +5% chance to hit

“Khaliss, I got the skill and it is amazing! Can I assume that most places in the Underdark don’t have any wind that I need to be worried about?”

“That’s right. Also know, that should you ever need me, I would be proud to fight by your side.”

Getting an NPC (non player character) to agree to fight for you was incredibly difficult. You had to not only have a good reputation with any and all factions they were associated with, but you also had to personally impress them in some way. Maybe I should have taken that Avenger class, but it was too late for that.

“Khaliss! Good to see you made it back safe! Ah, did our newest addition get his money for the work already? That’s wonderful! I’m sure you’re ready to turn over ten percent to the Goddess Tiamat, our dragoness progenitor.” An entirely black kobold with the thigh bone of some massive creature as a staff yelled across the yard to us as he approached.

“No.” I replied rather curtly, and proceeded to just stare at him.

“No? You don’t wish to give to Tiamat?”

“Correct. I am not beholden to any deity as of yet, and I don’t appreciate you trying to strong arm me into joining as soon as I arrive at the city. If I join a deity, then I will be more than happy to donate whatever share they require.”

“Surely you will join in the worship of Tiamat though? She who gave birth to the first kobolds?”

“I might, like I said earlier, I have barely been in the city let alone had time enough to determine which of the pantheon I would devote my time and energy to.” Getting fed up with this, I turned to Khaliss, “Khaliss, thank you again for all that you have taught me. I’m sure I will see you around for the next few days, as I won’t be venturing too far afield just yet.”

“Anytime Angus, anytime. If I may, I suggest the Serpent’s Strike Armory for weapons. They have the best, but it will be somewhat expensive.”

“Of course. Say, before I go I need to know about housing. How do I go about obtaining a place to live?”

“Go to the third level and carve it out for yourself, or buy it from someone. The southern end can be a maze, but it also has the most room for expansion. Once you have carved out your home, a cloth on the doorway will bar any from entering without your permission.” Nodding at his explanation, I headed off to see about housing and getting a feel for the city before I logged off for the day.