To: Jasmine Olivia Martinez

From: David F. Carr

CC:

BCC:

Subject: Otherworld Employee Testing Initiative

Dear Jasmine,

We have recently learned of your interest in company advancement. Initiative is an attribute we like to cultivate among our employees, and in light of your interest both in Otherworld, as well as our employee testing we are offering you an advancement opportunity.

Unfortunately, we cannot currently move you away from your current position. However, we have worked out a compromise that will allow you to move forward with testing on a temporary basis until a more permanent position can be established. As such we would like to install a Nexus Horizons Mk IV entertainment console into your home so that you can use it after work and in your spare time. This will allow us to keep you in your current position as well as monitor the quality of data your testing provides. To compensate you for your effort will be giving you a four dollar an hour raise with additional compensation possible based on your performance in testing as well as your continued excellence in the Data and Research Department.

Please respond to this e-mail in the affirmative, and we will begin your new duties as soon as possible.

David Carr

Testing Project-Lead

Nexus Corp.

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

The morning dawned a dreary grey and a cold wind blew through the forest. My clothes were damp and dirty and I stumbled to my feet as I woke from my fitful sleep. My wounds were still bad although it seemed I regenerated a few HP while I’d been out. My legs were still a mess and I had woken up last night coughing. With nothing else to do I started fiddling with my menu’s as I headed back towards the stream.

WoundsLeg: (Moderate) Torn Calf Muscle (-40% LBStr, -10% Cord)

Leg: (Minor)Deep Gash (-10% LBStr)

Leg: (Minor)Deep Gash (-10% LBStr)

Leg: (Minor)Deep Gash (-10% LBStr)

Leg: (Minor)Vicious Scratch (-10% Agi)

Disease: (Minor) Common Cold(-15% End)

Well, I’d taken quite the beating and as I’d feared I caught a cold.

It’s going to be one of those days.

“Log, Default Filter”

Log Default Filter

Rat has dealt 2 Physical Damage to User

Player has entered Critical Status

Rat Has Dealt 2 Physical Damage to User

User Has Dealt 8 Physical Damage to Rat

User Has Killed Rat

User has Gained 12 XP

User Has Dealt 9 Physical Damage to Rat

User has Killed Rat

User has Gained 12 XP

User has Left Combat

User has Learned Two Hand Maces

Hand to Hand Has Increased to Novice II

User has Learned Secret Skill Fury

User has Unlocked Berserker Class

Player has gained Shoddy Back-Pack

Seems I had a new skill and new class to look at. Berserker might be right up my alley. I had sorta lost it at the end there. Throwing aside my weapons and fighting five rats with nothing but my bare hands. I really was mad. In the daylight it seemed a very foolish thing to do.

“Skills, Details, Fury” I’d learned that you could substitute voice commands for pretty much everything in the Menu. All you had to do was say whatever window you wanted open and poof. It was damn handy and made me wonder why I’d never shelled out for one of those voice recognition programs for my Home PC.

FuryThis skill is unlocked when a Player becomes enraged as they near death. Fury allows a player to stay in fights longer and power through at the end. Increases damage dealt and decreases damage received when player enters critical condition.

This skill gains mastery as a player fights in Critical Condition.

Gaining this skill unlocks the Berserker Class

“Class, Details, Berserker”

Berserker

This Class is the epitome of a shock trooper. Berserkers are terrors on the battlefield, able to both receive and deal large amounts of physical damage. As the fight progresses they increase in power, able to regenerate life, shrug off wounds, and cut down the opposition.

This class is unlocked by gaining the Fury Skill

Very tempting indeed. I was in desperate need of a power boost and taking a class seemed to be a good way to get it done. Berserker was interesting, and sounded pretty fun, but I was hesitant. I wanted to see some actual numbers. “Expand”

Nun-Nun

Well, damn. Looked like they wanted to keep me in the dark until I actually picked the class. It seemed silly in the internet age. If this game ever did go public everyone would know exactly what all the classes did anyway as soon as someone posted it online.

I decided I wasn’t willing to commit on a class yet. There were still hundreds of classes left to unlock, and honestly I wanted something a little different. Berserkers, although fearsome, were a bit too run of the mill for me. Besides, I could always take it later if I changed my mind.

It was nearing mid-morning. The rain had stopped and the sun was starting to burn off the mist. It seemed it might turn into a decent day afterall. Although I was hungry thirsty and injured, at least it was warming up. I really just needed to start a fire, but I wanted to make it back to the stream before I camped. The easy access to food and water would make survival much simpler and it would give me time to level. It would also give me to solitude I was craving. I wasn’t proud of what I’d done, and even less so of what I’d said. I had been a coward but I really had no hope in a level 15 dungeon at level 3.

I’d no sooner had then thought when two goblins stepped out of the trees in front of me. They had to be goblins, long noses, big bulging eyes, dark green skin. I sighed and pulled the hammer from my back. I had no idea how challenging they’d be and I was at less than half HP still. Along with my wounded legs I really didn’t want to fight them. I pulled the maul off my shoulder where I’d been resting it and gripped it in both hands.

I’d decided I was done letting things attack me. I needed to start taking the offensive if I was going to survive. I took one step forward and jammed the head of my maul into the first goblins stomach just as they started to attack. The thrust doubled the creature over and I twisted my arms bringing the end of the handle around and into the now stooping goblins face. He shrieked a spit out a mouthful of yellow teeth and black blood as he stumbled backwards.

The second Goblin buried a dagger in my side, but I twisted and pushed him away with my Hammer's handle. That bought me a moment and I took a hop on my good back leg and swung my hammer in a full diagonal Arc. The blow struck the goblin in the shoulder and bone shattered as he fell to the ground. The first goblin was back and he dodged another thrust towards his belly. He came inside my guard and landed a sharp slice with his knife. My echoing heartbeat let me know I was down in critical condition again but I kept on.

Instead of pushing the goblin away, I looped the handle of my maul over his head, holding it in both hands. I twisted and fell backwards forcing the goblin to turn with me and pinning him against my chest with the handle. My plan worked and the goblin ended up against my chest facing away from me with the shaft of my hammer across his throat. I pulled with all my strength and the goblin became frantic as I cut off his air. I rolled us over, putting the goblin on the bottom, and letting my weight add to the choke. Soon the goblin stopped fighting, and after maintaining the hold another few seconds I leveled up.

Bleep-be-deep-Bleep

Du-Do

You Have Created A New Combo Would You Like to Name It?

The familiar flash of light let me know I'd hit level 4. That was odd though. That’s was the first time I'd ever gotten a pop-up. I imagined the reason nothing ever popped up was because I was in full immersion mode and having transparent screens popping up all over wasn’t terribly immersive. Which combo were they talking about anyway? I’d done a few impressive things that fight and I felt fairly proud of myself. It was the first fight since I’d arrived here I’d actually been in control. I’d need to get more consistent results if I expected to grind up a few dozen levels.

“Details”

You have created a custom combo, The combo is a modified hafted weapon/hand to hand combo allowing you to slip behind an opponent in close melee range, tackle them and engage them in a choke hold.

Ahhhh, that combo. I’ll call it… “Hug of the Noob Slayer.”

Name Confirmed

The goblins actually dropped some copper coins, so I collected them, threw them in my new fancy pack, and took off. I walked for the rest of the day. The sun shined brightly and the world began to dry once more. I hoped I’d be able to get a fire going by evening.

It was late afternoon when I finally made it to the stream. Fire was the first task. The camping skill would help my wounds heal and I needed to be back to fighting fit encase more goblins showed up. I walked out into the stream and took out my hammer, then using the ax end I dug down into the mud.

Blip

What was that blip about? “Open Log?” I said puzzled.

User has Learned Mining

Mining was a bit of the stretch but I’d take it. Skills are always good after all. I knelt down and used my hands dig through the muck. It took a while but I finally found what I was looking for. I washed the small stone free in the creek and held the piece of flint up in the sunlight. Now for the test. I was hoping this would be as simple as it always looked in movies. I spent the next hour or so collecting dead grass and twigs then found a flat spot where I could start up a decent fire. Another pyramid of sticks then I used the piece of flint against the head of my maul to send sparks down onto the dried grass. It worked surprisingly well and soon a had a fire crackling merrily. I managed to fish up another trout, and spent the evening relaxing around the fire and watching the stars. This world had three moons apparently, I hadn’t actually noticed before. It seemed stupid in retrospect. I could have figured out I wasn’t on earth the first night here. It had never actually occurred to me that ‘not earth’ was a possible destination, and after I’d found out I’d spent every night in the inn.

It felt so good just to relax. With no crazed rats. Nowhere to be and no NPC’s looking at me with those hopeful brown eye’s. I sighed heavily.

Women…….

Apparently men can’t even find peace in video games anymore. She was cute though. I groaned as I spread myself out on the cold ground. It wasn’t nearly as comfortable as Hanna’s bed.

The next morning I spent fishing and lounging by the fire. Just taking in the scenery and enjoying the new world I found myself in. It really was a beautiful place. The smell of grass and forest. The soft gurgle of the stream. The mountains far to the north. It would have made an awesome game, had I not been stuck here, but I wasn’t so angry at my situation that I couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the place, or even the fun of it.

I wasn’t naive enough to think that I would have been able to actually spear fish had the game assist not been helping me. Like the flint last night. Flint was common enough and I could have found some near a stream easily, but they used a special substance for flint and steel, normal steel didn’t make a spark hot enough to catch most tinder, and my hammer head wasn’t even steel, it was just iron. I couldn’t remember enough about chemistry to decide if that was worse or better. Either way though I had fire. My cough and all my minor leg wounds had healed. My calf still wasn’t right but walking wasn’t a chore any longer. Having frittered away the morning it was time to embrace my MMO destiny. I was off to brutally murder goblins and small woodland creatures to become a stronger force for good.

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

I sat on the ground with my legs crossed trying to empty my mind. The stream next to me murmured it’s enchanting song, and wind played through the trees around me. I’d left Valor’s Crossing a week ago and had spent most of that time leisurely farming xp, fishing, and relaxing. The vacation had Improved my outlook considerably. I’d reached level 7 by killing dozens of goblins, wolves, and one very pissed off badger. It was my first real grind session and had lead me to a few interesting observations about this world.

First, nothing in this game dropped actual items. I had about a dozen drops and all but one was common quality. They were all semi-precious stones, claws, or other curios. Not a single knife, sword, or any other usable item. Then goblins had them, I’d been stabbed by enough of them to know, but they always disappeared when the battle ended.

I’d been baffled at first but after thinking about the problem a bit it made sense in a way. It allowed craftsmen to play a larger role in game. With orcs not dropping thousands of useless axes everyday you could actually make decent money as an ax craftsmen. Without bosses dropping swords twice as good as any crafted items at the same level it gave them much more value. Instead the items the monsters did drop allowed craftsmen to imbue their items with various effects when they created them. I hadn’t tried it myself as my crafting skills were terrible and the smith would pay me well for them.

Secondly, non-stop grinding was a terrible way to level your charter. I’d killed about 40 goblins the first day. Even at level four they hadn’t been much of a challenge. The only real fight I got was when the goblin boss spawned after hours of farming. The problem was my level up to 5 had only gained me a hand-full of attribute points. I hadn’t really noticed until I’d hit level 6 and the same thing happened. I’d only gotten about half the points I did for my first few levels. Last level I decided to supplement my goblin slaying with actual exercise to see what would happen. It had been horrible but two hundred sit-ups, a hundred push-ups, and a half-hour jog every day had netted me a better catch for level 7.

Today I was trying to tackle another project. My physical attributes were coming along nicely, but I wanted to try my hand at magic. I concentrated on my breathing leaving all else behind me. I could feel the wind on my face, the ground under me, and feel the water in the air as the stream gurgled nearby. I sat serene as the world moved around me.

Blip

I opened my eyes and smiled. “Open Log, Skills”

User Has Learned Secret Skill Meditation

I pressed on the window.

MeditationThis skill is unlocked when a character makes a mental effort to clear their mind and connect with the world around them. Increases a character's mana regeneration when meditating.

This skill will gain mastery as a player meditates.

Gaining this skill grants user +10 Max Mana

Only a partial success. I’d been thinking about how to unlock magic. There was obviously the Wizard basic class but there HAD to be more magic classes. However with 0 mana how were you supposed to unlock them. Short of finding a spell book laying around, I’d been looking for a way to get some magic going. I mean really who doesn’t wanna use magic? It’s a freaking magical fantasy world. If I was going to be stuck here I was going to make the most of it. “Open Character.”

Name:Enter NameLevel: 7Race:SelectClass:SelectAttributesStatusUBStr: 26LBStr: 22HP: 64/64Mana: 10/10End: 19Con: 23Stam: 46/46Panic: 1/10Agi:13Cord: 18Hunger: 85/100Thirst: 77/100Int:18Wis:18WoundsRes: 10Faith: 10SocialGuild: N/ATitles: N/AFame: 0Friend List: 0/0LinksInventorySkillsSpell BookLog

I smiled as I noticed my mana counter. I had mana now. That opened up a whole variety of new options. Assuming I could figure out how to actually do magic. How did one go about magic? Did I have to say some spell. Did I just have to will it? The fury skill description said it unlocked when I got angry. Was that true? How did the game even know? Was it monitoring my brainwaves somehow? I assumed all the menu’s were voice activated. Were they just thought activated? Deciding to test my theory I thought as loud as I could.

Open Character Sheet

The menu popped up and I closed it, astonished. I knew this game was advanced but brainwave reading? That was way too Sci-Fi. Alright then, this demanded more tests. I sat cross legged near the water's edge right hand palm up. I willed the water into my palm but nothing happened.

“Water” I said in a commanding voice, but nothing happened. “Auga, Eau, Aqua, Mizu, …. Work damn you.”

Still nothing. I experimented with various things for about an hour with no luck. How difficult can it really be? It was a freaking game after all. A ludicrously complicated and ridiculous game but still….But what if it wasn’t a game? What if I embraced this games ludicrous detail. If i was actually trying to do magic in real life. How would I go about it?

I grabbed a rock sitting nearby and drew a pentagram in the dirt. It wasn’t particularly straight or will drawn, but it wasn’t terrible. I then concentrated on the symbol, trying to funnel my mana into it. I had no idea what I was doing but after straining my mind a bit in various ways the pentagram began to glow with a faint blue light and I felt dizzy for a moment.

Blip

Ba-Ding

Success! I mentally opened my log. Then Inspected the new Skill

User Has Gained Secret Skill Witchcraft!

User Has Unlocked Witch Class!

WitchcraftThis discipline of magic Involves the drawing of magic circles and performing of complex rituals. Allows user to brew potent potions and poisons. Used to create barriers, blessings, and curses over wide areas. Also includes familiar magic. Passively increases user's skill at herbalism and alchemy. Beware practicing witchcraft will lower your fame with most NPC’s if you are discovered.

That’s not exactly what I was going for. Although I suppose I should have known. They must have four or five different magic systems in this game at least. That brought up another question though. How many different skills could I Actually learn? I’m sure I couldn’t master everything. You never could in games. It was a simple yet effective way of forcing social interaction between players. If you make it so players can’t be fighters and healers. You give them a reason to work together. You make it so I player can’t be both a master hunter and master cook. Then you’ve given them a reason to trade. I was sure there would be a limiting factor somewhere, I’d apparently just not run into it yet. If I kept filling my skill list with with stuff like witchcraft though, I was sure it wouldn’t take long until I had to start trimming the fat.

I used my foot and messed up the circle. A faint pop reverberated through the air, and blue energy swirled around the area. Flowers shot up to twice their normal size, while others withered and died. I dove to the ground to avoid a tendril headed my way covering my head while the swirling energy dissipated. I laughed out loud. “Oops.”

Apparently it was best not to just break a spell and let the magic run wild. Over the next few seconds the grass evened back out. The withered flowers grew back and the ones that had grown shrank to their original size. I only had 10 mana I knew there was no way I was capable of changing anything for too long. Although It made me wonder what would happen if some super-mage screwed up a ritual with 10,000 mana. He could easily level a city.

I’d managed to actually get a magical skill. Not the one I wanted but it would let me train my mental stats while I did more experimenting. I’d fiddle with magic more later. I’d been sitting too long and my legs had started to cramp. I stood and decided to go for a jog.

Funny, I hated exercising in the real world and almost never bothered. Which likely had a great deal to do with me being overweight and single. The fact I was be able to see the fruits of my labor numerically here added a rush to the experience. In contrast to my real body, my avatar was fighting fit. I wasn’t skinny by any means, but I wasn’t nearly as flabby as I had been at level 1 and my muscles had grown quite dramatically. By level twenty I was going to look like a bodybuilder if my strength scores kept going up so much. I didn’t want to think about what I’d look like at level 60. I’d be like a tan-lined Hulk.

I took off at a decent clip into the forest, jumping over fallen logs, and enjoying the feeling of stretching my legs. I ran for a half hour or so before I saw a squirrel near a tree nearby, and spent the next ten minutes chasing it through the forest. It eventually ran up a tree. Which left me panting in an area of the forest I’d never been in before. I wandered around a bit noticing a cave entrance on the side of a nearby hill.

“What have we here?” I moved forward investigating. It looked a little too obvious to be a real cave, but it was a video game. The environment was laughably generic medieval fantasy. Beautiful and detailed to be sure, but no one would call it realistic. I stuck my head in the cave but it was fairly dark and I couldn't see very far. I needed a torch if I was going to try any real exploration. I took a single step forward into the cave when the silence of the woods was shattered with an electronic beep, followed closely by a thunderous roar.

Blurp

I turned and fled running out into the clearing and readying to fight. I was getting better at recognizing the games various sounds, and I was fairly certain that was the quest alert. I gave my menu a mental nudge.

Ol’ GraypawYou’ve Entered Ol’ Graypaw’s den. He’s come to greet you.

Recommended Level: 10

Difficulty: Solo

Reward: + 5 Fame

I turned to see a giant bear chasing me. It was freaking huge. Well at least it seemed like it. I’d never actually seen a bear before, but good god. I planted a foot, spun and unleashed an overhead swing with all the power I could summon. I missed it’s head and the blow landed on it’s back with a dull thump. The bear never even slowed and it smashed into my chest sending me to the dirt. Thank god the ground wasn’t too hard. I rolled quickly and stumbled back to my feet. Lucky the thing hadn't stepped on my or scored with it’s claws. I turned in time to see the thing standing above me on it’s hind legs, bastard must be 14 feet tall. A clawed paw came down in a swipe, and fire licked my chest as a long gash opened along my torso. I swung again, this time getting a shoulder and managing to at least stagger the thing for a second.

I needed to limit his mobility so i could wear him down. Like someone trying to box in a heavier weight class, I couldn’t match his power, so I had to chip away at him. I danced out of reach of his next swipe, and ran along his body, trying to force the monster to turn on the shoulder I’d Injured. It didn’t bother trying to turn and just pushed its bulk sideways into me. I was sent sprawling once more, and the bear took the opportunity to turn itself and ready another attack. I only managed to get to a knee and brought my hammer up across my body trying to defend. The bear batted me aside like a kicked puppy. I rolled over and over, until my back hit a tree. I could feel my ribs give and breathing became agony.

I struggled to my feet. This was bad. I was on my last leg and I’m not sure I’d even managed to inconvenience the damn thing. This was exactly the type of situation I’d been trying to avoid, I was tired of having to fight to the death all the damn time. It was mentally exhausting.

I gritted my teeth and charged,Ignoring bears torso. That tactic hadn’t accomplished anything. Time to stop trying to kill the thing and start trying to maim it. It reared up to swipe again, and this time I tried to roll under it. I was too slow, and I felt the claws score on my back, and my vision darkened as it knocked me into critical health. I timed my next blow to the amplified beating of my heart and swung my maul into it’s back knee right as it started to shift its weight to turn. The join gave and the bear roared and fell, as I moved back out of reach. It struggled back to it’s feet but the damage was done. A dog can manage ok on three legs, but bears are just too heavy. No way it could fight now. I could feel the blood oozing down my back, and the pain turned into blazing white anger as I raised my hammer once more. This blow was aimed right between it’s eyes and this time it was too slow to dodge.

Bla-Blip

I sat down exhausted. I hadn’t leveled, and my wounds were bad. I just hoped I didn’t bleed out. I have the menu a mental poke and inspected my wounds.

WoundsTorso: (Moderate) Torn Abdominals(-20% UbStr)

Torso: (Moderate) Broken Ribs(-40% End)

Torso: (Minor) Vicious Slash(-10% Agi)

Torso: (Minor) Deep Gash(-10% UBStr)

I sighed. I wasn’t exactly the most subtle of fighters. After every bad fight I always ended up beat to hell. No wonder my constitution was going up so high. The HP was nice though. I laughed and immediately regretted it as I felt by ribs scream in agony. At this rate I’d had over 100 hp soon.

I’d realized I gained exactly half my Con score in Hp each level, and it was starting to add up pretty fast. If I had some real armor I’d be a super tank. Although I’m not sure where I was going to get armor. Maybe I should take up smithing. Although everyone always took up smithing. Mining was where the money was at. That way all the blacksmiths are competing for your business instead of against your business. Next trip to town I was getting a mining pick, a skinning knife and some cooking tools. More than all that though I needed some boots, I was level 7 and still barefoot it was getting a little sad. I waited for another few seconds, and the bears body dissolved into smoke. A large grey bear-paw was left in it’s place.

Greypaw’s Paw

(Uncommon)

Crafting Ingredient

The namesake of Ol’ Graypaw. This paw was supposedly imbued with earth magic. Give to any crafter to enhance the creation of any weapon or armor.

Not bad, another uncommon drop.. I should have a good three gold worth of drops now, and with all the coppers and silver I’d taken off the goblins I had a hair over another gold in loose coin. Things were finally starting to turn a bit for me. I was definitely more powerful. Hell, I’d just fought a bear and owned it. All I was really missing was a sexy cat-girl healer to follow me around and top my HP off after every fight.One step closer to MMO heaven.

It took me most of three hours to get back to camp back and the sun had started to set. I’d gotten my camping skill up to Novice III over the last few days, and now it didn’t take all night to heal my HP. I was back to fighting fit after four or 5 hours, although It still took a full 24 to heal a moderate wound. My ribs were not going to be impressed.

I think it was time to brave Hanna’s ire and head back to the village. I needed to sell stuff, and I’d had ample opportunity to clear my head. I still wasn’t planning on going back to the dungeon, but I was willing to apologize to Hanna. Although she wasn’t a human I still regretted our parting words. After all, she didn’t know she wasn’t human. Apparently I was just a humanity bigot. As with so many things I’d discovered since I ended up here I needed to do some soul searching.

I spent one last night listening to the stream and watching the stars. I had to admit I loved how peaceful this world was. Humanity really had done a fabulous job of screwing up our planet. It was so relaxing to be in a world where you could hear nothing but nature.. I had come to an important conclusion though. I was completely fed up with fish.

The next morning was another dreary day and I walked barefoot through the forest. It was wet, cold, and my ribs pained me every single breath.I finally made it to town a little after lunch, and headed directly the smith. I wanted some lunch at the inn, but to be honest I was trying to avoid Hanna as long as possible. I knew I was being a coward but I didn’t feel bad about it. I walked up to the shop and ducked under the awning to get out of the rain.

“Hey Branford!” I shouted over the clank of metal and the drumming of the rain. The smith looked up and gave a wave before pushing his ore back into the fire.

“What can I help ya with?” He asked, while he took of his heavy gloves and walked over to me.

“Business” I shucked off my pack and fished inside. It was sort of odd, the pack itself was always empty, but when I wanted to grab something It always just came out. I could open my inventory window and see what was inside, but none of the stuff in it ever seemed to take up any space, It just made the pack heavier, which was a great deal more disturbing than you’d think it would be. I pulled my drops of of the bag. Laying them all on the table in front of me.

The smith whistled through his teeth and grinned. “Not a bad take this time eh? Been having a tough time of it out in the woods?” He examined each piece carefully. His massive hands surprisingly dexterous. Then he stood up, and rubbed his full beard before saying. “Three”

“Three? Those are worth at least four, you shoulda seen the size of that bear. That claw is worth three by itself.” I replied offended.

“Don’t give me that. They aint worth a copper more than three and five, and that’s only ‘cause you’ve been weed'n the goblin’s outta the woods for us.” He fired back. His brow furrowing.

I was pretty sure they were worth more, but I wasn’t willing to spoil a good business relationship over it. “Fine, fine you win. Three and five then, but you have to fix my hammer.” I handed over my maul, as he fished the coins outta his pouch. It had seen better days. The week spent of beating on goblins as well as using it to spark flint had taken a toll, which sorta made sense but I wasn’t going to tell the smith that.

“Say what would it cost to make that bear paw into a hammer for me?” I asked curiously. The smith frowned, thinking.

“You honestly want me working on weapons? I told ya’ I ain't no weapon-smith.”

“It’s a hammer not a rapier, It’s not exactly precision work, just make something big and heavy.” I told him honestly.

“Six gold, It’ll take alotta iron for the head, and that bear-claws worth three gold by itself.” He said grinning. I could tell he wanted to do it, He’d spent too many years making horseshoes and fixing wagon axles. All smiths really wanted to make weapons. Speaking of which. I still had more stuff to buy.

“Can’t afford that for now, but I’ll have it eventually. In the meantime, I want a pick-ax and a decent knife for skinning and gutting.” We haggled a bit, then he went to work on my hammer. It was early evening by the time I departed with everything I wanted. And I was still up two gold. Although after I got my boots and picked up a couple water skins, I was back down to just silver. They were pretty nice though.

Tough Leather Boots

(Common)Not much to look at but these boots have been made with durability in mind.

Item Class: Boots

Armor: +3

Durability 60/60

I was ecstatic I wasn’t barefoot anymore but the happiness from by boots was unable to overshadow my dread as I walked toward the inn with a heavy heart. Women really can take the fun out of everything.

I walked over to the inn, but found the doors locked. That was odd, when was an inn ever closed? I banged on the door. “Hey Sten open up, What’s going on?” I banged on the door again, and heard footsteps before the door flew open. Sten was looking very upset and very drunk.

“Sssshe’s gone” He sobbed falling into my arm’s.

“Whoa, Easy there killer. Where’d she go.” Who she was was fairly obvious. The question was where she had run off to any why.

“Ssshe said…. Sssshe said, that Noob wasssh a coward. and that if he, If he wassshn’t man enough to fight, then ssshe would.” He slurred out. “I’m gonna lose my babyyyyyyy.” He broke down falling into the nearest chain, and sobbing with his head in his hands.

My eye’s widened in horror. She didn’t. Oh god, but she totally would. Was that girl mad? How the hell was getting herself killed going to prove I was a coward. I knew I was a coward, I didn’t need anyone to prove it to me. Bloody hell.

Granted she was an NPC and she would probably re-spawn, but even I wouldn’t be able to live with myself If I pansied out that much. Besides It was a video game dammit. If saving a buxom village wench was the only way I was going to have a shot with a girl, then risking my life was a pretty suitable trade. I decided I was coming home with my shield or on it.

I went in the back and stocked up on food and water, shoving an entire ham, and few loaves of bread and some cheese into my bag. The most impressive part was I was able to throw my knife, and the entire pick-ax in there as well. I had to test out just how much stuff it could actually hold at some point.

That could wait. I apparently had a damsel that needed saved. I made my way down into the cellar, grabbed a few torches off the wall, then started back through the tunnel and into hell itself.

_____________________________________

Note: Got my buddy to make me a book cover finally. Lemme know what you guys think.

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Chapter RSS About the author 3 Fictions 1 Posts 0 Threads FlyingDutchman Follow Author Thursday, December 3, 2015 4:27:07 PM Saturday, December 5, 2015 1:21:52 PM Peoria, Il Ghost Pirate

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