MoProblems and I approached Hernberg filthy, bedraggled, and completely drenched. It had rained the night before and had continued the entire morning. A thick chilly fog covered limited our visibility, and gave the rural countryside a horror movie feel. Worst of all we had found out, much to our chagrin, that my barrier was quite good at stopping attacks and even insects, but it did nothing at all against water. The rain had turned the permanently damp ground of the area into a giant mud-hole and we’d spent the entire day walking through ankle-deep mud while soaked to the skin.

We’d spend five days in the swamp. After some research online We’d discovered that a Lair would spawn monsters until the boss was defeated, then it would go dormant for a few days before filling with different monsters or even disappearing altogether. As such we had cleared every room but the boss, deciding we’d wait until MoProblems was level ten before killing him and moving out of the starter zones. We farmed the Lair for around five hours each day.

The rest of the time was spent separated and working on our non-combat skills. I’d spent most of it mining, exercising, and experimenting with witchcraft. While MoProblems had taken my advice and tried his hand at crafting. He’d decided on tailoring for a start. Which had forced us to do more online research. Turns out nothing drops cloth in this game, and materials had to be collected manually, spun into thread, and then woven. Which without Otherworld’s strange rules in regard to skill use would have been impossible with nothing but rocks, sticks, and determination. Instead MoProblems managed to find a decent amount of wild cotton plants, hemp, and a few other fibrous plants, harvest them, turn them into VERY rough thread, and even create a few things. Which just proved that ingenuity and cleverness were given far more weight than realism in this world. Since even with the proper tools such a thing would have taken weeks or months at the very least.

MoProblem’s success had let us extend our stay and really cash in. He’d managed to make a few bags which let us nearly triple our carrying capacity. Compared to my pack they were junk, but even so each one was able to hold around 10 pounds of stuff in it’s weird not-space. I was currently hauling five of them over each shoulder tied together with a rough hemp rope, while also carrying my backpack. Every single ounce they could hold was taken up by copper, tin, kobold leather, or crafting drops. Luckily, my strength score had raised even more as walking with 150 pounds of stuff on your back for miles through mud wasn’t something I’d liked to have attempted without the massive strength of my Noob Slayer avatar. More research had lead us to a map someone posted online, and we’d used it to back-track to Hillsbrook then followed the road from there further South to Hernberg. After the week spent farming I was feeling confidant. I popped open my character panel to ogle my stats.

Name:Noob SlayerLevel: 14Race:HumanClass:GeomancerAttributesStatusUBStr: 47(+4) 51LBStr: 43HP: 219/219Mana: 110/110End: 40Con: 46(+2) 48Stam: 36/142Panic: 1/11Agi:26Cord: 36Hunger: 30/115Thirst: 80/115Int:31Wis:36WoundsRes: 30Faith: 9SocialGuild: N/ATitles: 3Fame: 206Friend List: 0/0LinksInventorySkillsSpell BookLog

The best part was my skill increases. I’d gotten my mining to Beginner II giving me the prospect skill, Which let me sense if there was ore in a location. My 2-hand weapon skill was at Beginner II, and and with some training I’d managed to get my Earth Magic up to beginner as well, giving me a small decrease in mana usage. It seemed to take ALOT of training to rank up once you got past beginner, but with my Human racial, and my apprentice skill buff I was at 35% extra skill xp, that or 48.5%. With how fast my mining had gone up, I think they actually stacked multiplicatively but I couldn’t say for sure but even with the buffs my progress was still much slower compared to novice ranks.

Mo Problems had managed to hit level 8 with his XP bonus and his raw mana score had easily bypassed mine. He’d finally picked up some new runes and had decided to become a control wizard. The Rune Magic skill that wizards used was split into three sub-skills. One for offense, defense, and control. He’d taken the runes for frost, and bind. Which made him a large pain in the ass to all monsters and a great party-member. Things were coming along nicely and aside from the weather both MoMagicMoProblems and I were in high spirits.

We entered through the main gate along with a number of other people. Most of them were NPC’s but I could see a few players mixed in. The city itself was a bit disappointing. I’d been wanting to see a large city in game but this one just wasn’t very grand. It was large enough certainly, but all the buildings were squat and utilitarian. I couldn’t see a decorative column, a fountain, or even a statue anywhere. The entire place seemed completely devoid of aesthetic charm. The people filling the streets were lively enough, but they all seemed the industrious, hard working type and all but a very, very few were human.

Petty gripes about the city aside both MoProblems and I had things to do and loot to sell. First though we both were in desperate need of food and a bath.

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

I groaned loudly as I learned my head-back against the warm towel behind my head. The ‘Bathroom’ as the servant girl had called it was exactly that. It was a separate small structure that had been added onto the inn we had chosen,and contained a large communal bath, as well as a number of four-footed copper tubs. I was currently lounging in one such tub with MoProblems in another beside me.

“This reminds me of the scene in that poker movie. “ MoProblems said, as I lazily swirled the brandy I was drinking. It wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but was damn close. After spending all week in the swamp I’d decided to splurge when we got into town. I’d PMed Chris to check the copper prices and I was going to be rich once I bothered to leave the tub and head to the Auction House. Besides we’d been roughing it for a week, even virtual bodies needed some R&R occasionally.

"What poker movie?" I asked honestly baffled.

"You know, the one with the Indian, and the Steam-Boat. Female lead is a hooker." He said making 'common' gestures with his arms.

Oh... THAT poker movie......

“What is up with you and the 90’s anyway?” I asked exasperated. “You're telling me you really are a fan of 90’s Rap Music.”

“Of course I am!” he fired back instantly. His voice over-loud in the otherwise quiet room. “It was the golden age of rap, East Coast Vs West Coast.”

I groaned and took a larger drink of my brandy. The incongruity of listening to a pale teenage-gnome regale me about the golden age of rap was making my brain hurt. I polished off the last of the glass, and stood to dry off and get dressed. The girl had dropped off my newly clean clothes a while ago, but I hadn’t been able to muster the ambition to actually get moving.

“I suppose we should go be productive.” I said reluctantly as I dressed. ”Do you want me to give you your half of the crafting drops now or sell them first?” I asked as I started rifling through my packs.

“Now’s fine. I’m gonna keep some for tailoring.” He replied. I dug through the pack and started tossing tails, teeth, bone fragments, curios, and other random objects onto the floor of the room. His share was 10 common drops and 4 uncommon ones. He quickly started shoveling them into one of his smaller bags then headed out the door.

I hoisted all of my bags back onto my shoulders, left a hand-full of silver for the bath-girl. Then I headed out into the city. First stop was the blacksmith. There was one fairly close to the inn owned by a skinny surly man. He was a bit of an ass but after arguing for a bit I managed to get twelve gold out of my half of the crafting drops. Then I was off to the Auction House and hopefully the big time.

I had to ask a few NPCs but I found the place after twenty minutes of walking. It was a large structure in the middle of the city and that much to my amazement seemed to be actually decorated. The red and gold banners did quite a bit to liven up the grey stone structure, and the drabness of the surrounding buildings made it seem all the more bright.

The inside of the place was immaculately clean, tastefully decorated, but almost completely devoid of people. A few well-dressed NPC’s stood behind counters near the back, but the rest of the place was completely empty aside from a few tall wooden cubical structures that were divided by curtains. Shrugging I pushed aside a curtain and stepped into the nearest cubicle. Inside was a wooden desk, a comfortable looking chair, and a lidded wooden box. Even more confused than before I cautiously sat in the chair. A display popped up before me. It was a welcome screen for the auction house menu, and after some experimenting I managed to figure out how it worked. Smiling a got to started.

I checked the gold prices first. They had fallen dramatically over the last five days which wasn’t surprising but gold pieces were still going for twenty-five dollars. I briefly regretted not returning sooner but I’d easily make up for the lost profits in sheer volume. I opened up the item auctions and checked on copper. It was pretty much as I’d expected, there were only five auctions up, and there was less than fifty ore on the market. The bottom price was three gold a copper ore. I wiped my mouth as I started to drool. I had over two hundred copper ore in my bags right now, along with 50 tin, . Even if I got two gold a copper that was still ten grand. That would take care of all my tuition for next semester. It was a rather ridiculous feeling, having spent the last five days doing something I was going to do anyway and making enough to pay for most of my school for the fall semester.

I hit the sell button and the wooden box next to me popped opened. Shrugging, I took out the first ore-sack and dumped in the contents. A message flashed on the screen informing me I now had twenty copper ore to auction. I sat the price for 2.5 gold and hit approve. The screen flashed and where the copper icon was before was now a gold icon. I opened the wooden box and forty-five gold pieces shimmered at the bottom. The house had taken their cut, but it was still good money. I quickly sold the next 100 ore. I’d blown up the market and by the end of my sell-off I was only getting about 1.7 gold each. Still. That put me over 250 gold. I brought up the gold auction and sold all but 20. I didn’t really need that much money in game at the moment, and honestly not having to pay 6% interest on 6000$ dollars for the next 15 years was too tempting an offer. Anytime you can pay real bills for fake work you should do it. I decided not to sell the last eighty copper or the tin. The crafters were too low level for bronze anyway. So it wasn’t worth nearly as much as the copper. I was going to give everything else to Chris to level. I wanted to give demand some time to build back up and I could always mine more.

I walked out of the auction house and used the nearby mail-box. I dumped in the rest of the ore and used the pop-up window to send it to wherever Chris was. I’d talked to him in the times when we were both refueling and knew he hadn’t been able to do much smithing at all. Granted a couple grand worth of ore was a pretty big favor, but it was all made-up anyway. It was pretty hard to morally justify leaving a friend in the wind because I was too greedy to give him what amounted to well rendered 1’s and 0’s. Besides, he’d owe me a favor, and I was in desperate need of actual gear.

With most of my errands finished. I examined the surrounding area. A notice board hung near the doorway of the auction house, and I moved over to it and started to read the various quests and bounties. MoMagicMoProblems had told me the bounty boards were randomly generated by the game's AI, however for a fee players could also post jobs and bounties for people to take up. There were a few large monsters, but they were likely out of my power range. However a wanted poster caught me eye. It had a picture of a rather vicious looking she-orc with glowing red eyes , beside her on the same page was an extremely endowed animal-girl of some sort. I read on.

WantedName: Unknown

Race: Orc

Class: Bard

Last Seen: Orc lair in the mountains northwest of Hernberg

Wanted for: Multiple PK’s, Interference in guild business, Possible Kidnapping

Bounty: 10 gold per kill(logs will be checked), 2g for a verified sighting. Last seen in company of rodent-type anthropomorphic female. Please Contact Argoth. Guildmaster of Knights of the Round Table with any information.

Wow, they must really be pissed. Two-hundred fifty bucks to kill some crazy she-orc? I shook my head. It was really impressive the lengths people went to for pretty grudges. Then again if the she-orc really was a PK and just murdering people I could see their point. The PK rules in this game were pretty lax. You could pretty much kill anyone anywhere you wanted outside of cities. Your fame would lower based on the level difference between you and your opponent and eventually it would get low enough you couldn’t get quests anymore or go into any towns, but as long as you didn’t go to crazy there didn’t seem to be too many repercussions. There was a 24 hour red status that made you drop actual Items if someone killed you instead of just some gold and potions but it was pretty easy just to hide-out for a day after a PK, especially with how large the world was.

I was still examining the wanted poster when MoMagicMoProblems came out of the auction house grinning a mile wide. I hadn’t even seen the little guy head in there but I’d been staring at the wanted poster pretty intently. There was something oddly familiar about the orc, something in the eyes and the cheekbones. I shrugged and turned to the gnome.

“That good eh?” I asked. “How’d ya do?”

“There wasn’t a single auction up for cotton. I’m not sure anyone even knows how to get cloth. I put my first weaved cloth up for 10 gold and it sold instantly. It was only 15% quality. I sold another 10 at the same price, but the buy order must have ran out after that. I just left the rest up for auction. Then sold half the gold for real money. My parents are going to freak out when I tell them. Speaking of which, you mind buying me a spinning wheel and loom? I’m gonna log and tell my parents I just made two grand so they’ll stop bitching about me getting a job. ” He said looking smug.

I nodded and told him to go. I had some shopping I wanted to do anyway. There was a flash of blue-light and MoMagicMoProblems was gone. That was odd, outside the city you just fell over asleep when you logged out, apparently since you couldn’t be attacked in the city, and they didn’t want sleeping bodies everywhere, so they just took your avatar out of the game. I headed off to buy us some more gear with a smile on my face.

I had about 35 gold in my pocket. Which was a small fortune. That would be worth about about six months worth of inn stays and meals and would let me buy a few pieces of decent gear. I had other plans however. Chris was going to owe me big after everything I’d thrown his way so he’d take care of my equipment problems. For now I was thinking about investing it and expanding our little operation.

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

“You bought a mule….” Moproblems said flatly He was looking at me like I’d spent all my money on cat-girl hookers and moon sugar.

“And a cart” I added unhelpfully. “What do you care anyway? It’s my gold.” I said. Christ, the kid sounded like my ex when she’d found out I’d bought a third computer monitor. Real gamers need three monitors, everyone knows that. The cart was a little shoddy looking but the mule was young and in good shape. I’d wanted a horse but they were ridiculously expensive. The horse merchant had wanted 40 gold for the toothless nag he’d been trying to push on me. I’d compromised with the mule and had talked him down low-enough I could afford the cart.

“What…. would you POSSIBLY need a cart and mule for.” He said putting extra emphasis on possibly just so I knew how annoyed he was.

“It’s an investment…..” I said defensively. “You know how much ore I had to leave behind just because you didn’t have enough bags…. Well now we’ve got a whole cart. I’m gonna strip every single piece of ore and gem stone outta that hole Lair. You can make us even more bags and I’ve come up with a brilliant plan to help you get more cotton as well. “

“Oh, god not another of your brilliant plans.” MoProblems moaned. I was getting ready to snap out another reply when Chris called with a Private Message. I scowled at my apprentice and answered the call.

“You Rang?” I said in my best lurch impression. MoProblems looked at me funny and I made a phone gesture with my hand and pointed to my head. He nodded in understanding. Guy sign language is powerful and universal.

“You sent me eighty copper and fifty tin!” What the hell? That’s like 1000 dollars worth of mats!’”he shouted directly into my brain.

“Simmer down…. Your screaming in my ear here.” I said rubbing my throbbing temples. “You said you needed matts. I gave you matts. I screwed up the market anyway, so I figured I’d give the rest to you so you could get working.”

“Still...man that’s like…. A lot.” Chris said still stunned.

“You know I’ve got an unhealthy obsession with mining in MMO’s. Just go with it. Besides the first hit is always free, but I need lots of gear, chest, legs, gauntlets, boots,, helm, cape, and five accessory slots.”

“So you're saying you have literally nothing.” Chris said exasperated.

“Pretty much. Oh and you can send me that fancy knife you’ve got for starters.” I said wheedling. Chris sighed.

“Fine, what kinda armor you want.” I smiled knowing I had him.

“I use medium. Not sure where they draw the classifications lines, but your the smith, so I leave it in your hands.” I said happily. He sighed again.

“Alright get to a mailbox, and send me any crafting drops you want me to use to make you something.” I hung up the call and hopped off the cart. There was a mailbox at the end of the street and I had at least one thing I wanted him to use.

Pelt of the Rat King

(Rare) [Boss]The Rat King was originally a common rat. However his transformation to a dire-rat warped him into a monster even compared to his kin. He fed upon his brothers and sisters for over three hundred years before eventually transforming into his current form.

The hide of the rat king was warped with dark magic making it extremely tough as well as slightly resistant to elemental attacks. A Skilled crafter will be able to use it to strengthen a leather or cloth item.

I shoved the pelt into the mailbox and it disappeared giving me an interface pop-up similar to the auction house. I used it to send the pelt to Chris. A few seconds later I received another system message.

You’ve got Mail!From: Allric Stoneforge Subject: Knife

Attachments:Bone Athame

(Uncommon)Made by a smith of little skill but great determination. This knife was made from the bone of a stag slain beneath a rowan tree. It was carved into a knife without the touch of iron allowing it to channel the energies of the craft.

Damage: 2-5

Family: 1h Dagger

Damage: Piercing

Speed: Fast

Durability: 64/64

Bonus: +2 Res, Any Witchcraft spell that has it’s energy channeled through his knife will have it’s potency increased by 10%

Crafted by: Allric Stoneforge

Smiling I stuffed the knife into my bag and hopped back onto the cart.

“Come apprentice adventure awaits!.” And with that we piled into my new cart and left Hernberg.

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

“You sure this is going to work?” MoMagicMoProblems asked as he wiped sweat from his brow. I’d had him digging for more than an hour, and his frail wizard body wasn’t appreciating the effort. He took a drink from his water skin and examined the work. A 10x10 square of tilled earth sat off to the side of our camp-site and he was just finishing the last row. I was walking around the small garden drawing a magic circle with the handle of my new anathema. I’d tried to use my earth magic to make the garden, but after a minute or so every thing I changed just reverted back. Hence, me making the gnome do my slave work.

“Pretty sure.” I said as I finally connected the ends of the circle and drew a few sigils. “I’d say of all the spells I’ve tried so far I’m most confident of this one.” I’d gotten the idea after watching MoMagicMoProblems throw away the cotton seeds he got when he picked the plants. If he had seeds, why couldn’t we just grow the crops where we wanted? It would save him a great deal of time, and if it worked he’d increase his production significantly. I'd also be able to add some other crops, and grow some of the more useful plants I used for witchcraft, and we could always just make a bigger field. I’d thought about taking the farming skill myself, but If someone was going to get an achievement he would need it more.

“Somehow, that’s not very reassuring.” MoMagicMoProblems replied as he finished digging. He quickly planted the seeds he’d saved while I finished drawing my casting circle. Only two elements here, earth and water, with a a symbol of fertility, and three more symbols around the garden itself. It was one of my bigger spell attempts but shouldn’t be too much of a strain. It was a baby compared to the monster I’d used to shield our camp. I’d had to replenish the mana for the shield when we got back from Hernberg but it was still active and was now as potent as ever.

“You ready” I asked as I sat next to my spell circle. MoMagicMoProblems quickly moved out of the way.

“Ready.” He said as he hopped over the line. I held my knife in front of me and powered the spell, pushing my magic through my new knife and into the circle. It was a strain but nothing too bad happened.

“The roots of the mother support us

The bough of the mother protects us

Hear the call of your child and bring life into the world”

I chanted the incantation I’d made thee times while shaping the spell then broke my circle. The magic rushed over our small garden diving into the soil, and giving the ground a momentary radioactive green glow.

You’ve Have Created a New Spell! Would You Like to Name It?

I waved the message away and watched as small green shoots slowly pushed themselves up out of the earth.

MoMagicMoProblems grunted in dissatisfaction. “Great, I just unlocked the first farmer achievement. And what was up with that spell? It didn’t even rhyme. Haven't you ever watched Charmed?” He tried to sound petulant, but I could tell he was excited.

“You and your crappy 90’s TV. Who watches that show anyway?” I shot back offended.

He shrugged. “It was worth a watch, besides the middle sister had some massive boobs.” He said grinning. He was definitely happy. Very few people ever got first achievements, and it would give him an extra secondary skill which was invaluable.

“The middle sister before or after the first one died?” I said as we relaxed both of us watching the grass grow. Four hours later we were looking at twenty fully matured cotton plants ready to be picked.

“Nice Garden.” A reedy voice said from behind me. I turned and saw seven players standing outside our camp. They all looked to be high-school aged, all male, and of varied classes. 4 fighters in armor, a rogue or thief of some sort, a caster in white robes, and the speaker who was obviously a wizard in a blue mage robe. I picked up my hammer and stood facing them. I had a feeling things were going to get annoying. I really just wanted to get back to farming the kobold cave.

“Can I help you?” I asked flatly. I wasn’t feeling particularly friendly, these guys were getting in the way of paying for my tuition after all.

“This lair and it’s surrounding area has been claimed by the Knights of the Round Table. Please leave at once, and make sure to leave your little garden.” He said smugly.

I stared at him blankly for a few seconds before saying honestly.

“Are you an idiot?” Unbelievable. It was to be expected, but seriously what guild in their right mind, would treat everyone like such D-bags a week after launch I mean if I was doing I’d at least lie about what my guild name was. It was not a good way to make a name for yourself. I mean stealing and PK’s were one thing, but if I was going to do it I wouldn’t want them knowing my name, let alone announcing I was doing it on my guild’s behalf.

The wizard narrowed his eyes. “This is your final warning. Leave. You have two minutes to be on your way or we will attack.”

I just stood there incredulous. “Final warning? You JUST got here. And what guild in their right mind goes throwing their muscle around to take control of the noob-zone? Honestly we were only going to be here a few more days anyway.” I said baffled.

The mage pulled a wand out of his sleeve and a fireball came streaking toward me. It hit the barrier around our camp and blew into sparks, causing a few branching ripples of light to flash over the dome. My mule spooked and rushed out of the circle. I called after it but it was too late . The rogue chased the animal down and slit it’s throat without so much as a warning.

“So much for diplomacy.” I muttered. The mule and cart had cost me all of my gold. Now I was pissed. The rogue just smiled broadly, but the mage frowned apparently puzzled by my barrier.

He raised his wand again. “Wa Et Aar Ka Olm!” A bolt of lightning crashed into my dome and magic flashed in all directions swirling along the dome violently before it went transparent once again. The mage’s scowl deepened.

“I really wouldn’t do that if I was you. I about died casting this thing, and honestly I have no idea what will happen if you break it.” I said angrily. Personally I hoped they did try to break it. I needed to test it out and I was hoping it would flash-fry these bastards. The other fighters seemed to be a bit more cautious than than their leader.

“You know what happened with the orc” I heard one whisper. “I really can’t afford to die again.” That’s where I’d heard their guild name, it had sounded familiar. The wizard scowled at him and cut him off. So that was why the she-orc had a bounty. They’d apparently tried to muscle her as well but she’d decided to fight and had apparently won.

“Look at him, he doesn’t even have any armor. Stop being girls.” The wizard shouted. “Besides if he had a cart he’s likely carrying a lot of money. Start working on that force-field.” Well, that wasn’t true. I’d spent all my gold. Leaving it in my bag while I was out adventuring seemed dumb with this games PK rules. All we really had were tools for crafting. Although they weren't likely to believe me if I told them.

“Well get on with it then.” I said making a hurry it up gesture. I activated stone-skin. It had gotten to beginner rank during our farming sessions and now instead of just turning my skin grey it roughed it as well. Making me look like I’d stuck random rocks all over myself.

MoMagicMoProblems was standing next to me looking worried. So I learned over and whispered

“Start casting something big as the barrier goes down. I’ll summon an earth wall to cover you and rush the caster. Try to keep him pinned down. I’m useless at range, but I’ll eat all these idiots alive if I can get close. ”

He nodded and clutched his new wizard orb in slightly shaking hands. He’d wanted a wand, but I’d told him wands were for girls, and we’d both agreed staves were over-done. It was an odd choice and looked like someone had stuck a snow-globe on top of a short stick.

The wizard’s lackeys started to hack the the barrier and I began to bounce on my feet as I waited for the battle to start. A few seconds later there was the sound of shattering glass followed by a deep whump and a fire wave two meters high exploded out from my barrier. The two fighters hacking at the barrier screamed and started rolling on the ground frantically while I charged behind the fire and made a sharp lifting gesture with one hand. “EarthWall!” I shouted.

A wall of earth rose in front of MoProblems. Smart players would always attack the caster first, so I needed to get him some some cover so that wizard didn’t fry him. A bolt of flame smashed into the wall and gouged out a small divot as I charged forward. I’d leveled twice during our kobold farming and it had nearly doubled my mana. I had a much easier time with the wall than I’d had against the boars. The fire wave started to dissipate and the rest of the group came into view. Apparently they’d decided to back away, and leave their guild-mates as sacrifices. I burned more of my mana and scooped a small fire-ball into my palm from some burning grass. Fire wasn’t my element, but if I fed it enough mana I might be able to distract someone with it. That was when everything went to hell.

“Na, Et, Cry , Ta, Na, Reke!” My apprentice yelled as he cast his six-rune mega-spell. Ice-blue light exploded from the orb clutched in his small hand and the air warped with power as my apprentice bent the world to his will.

“Not that spell you crazy gnome!” I screamed but it was too late. The air throbbed with power and the faint breeze blowing through our swamp suddenly roared to life. He’d practiced the spell a few times trying to test his limits, but he usually passed out afterwards. It wasn’t even really useful for damage, or control, or really anything for that matter. But it was impressive. Freezing arctic winds blew in from every direction casing a thick fog to form everywhere in the area as the warm humid air mixed with the freezing gale.

Sleet started to fall, and the howling winds blew the ice chips into my mouth and eyes. The Flame I’d called to my hand sputtered and died completely overpowered by my apprentices magic. The sweltering heat and humidity of the swamp turned suddenly into a howling miniature and soon I could barely see a few feet in any direction as I looked frantically for our enemies.

There was a roar of rapidly heating air and a wall of flame crashed into me. I gritted my teeth as my skin started to blister and crack. My stoneskin spell was decent defense against physical attacks, but was useless against magic. I used the angle of the last spell as a guide and started running right. My only chance was if I could close to melee range with their wizard. I broke out of the sleet and fog, and saw him a good thirty yards away already chanting another spell. I only made it a few feet before there was a blinding flash of white and a deafening clap of thunder. I suddenly found myself on my back with my arms and legs twitching spasmodically. I laid there for a moment stunned, as the fighters closed in.

I did the only thing I could think of and rolled back into the fog while I tried to get back to my feet. This was a very bad spot, but at least in here the wizard wouldn’t be able to see me to aim more lighting attacks against me. I had a lot of HP, but another one of those would likely knock me out, or kill me outright. A figure moved in the fog in front of me, and I stumbled to my feet as a clumsy attack came from that direction. I deflected the longsword with the handle of my hammer and stepped in close, ramming my knee into my attackers stomach. The force of it lifted the fighter clear of the ground and he landed in a groaning heap at my feet. I brought my hammer crashing down on his head.

Three down…..

I needed to get to MoMagicMoProblems or their rogue would eat him alive. The idiot had blown most of his mana with his pointless blizzard but I still needed him alive. I limped in the direction I thought we'd started, my breathing labored and legs still weak from the lighting. I was nearing the edge of the fog when a mace crashed into my back. I staggered but recovered spinning quickly to engage the next attacker. I lashed out with a kick to his knee buckling him, then spun right, hammering the hilt of my weapon into his face. He spun to the ground and I reversed the swing, bringing the head of my hammer around and down. The blow connected with the back of his head.

Four Down…..

But he’d distracted me long enough.

Party Member MoMagicMoProblems Has Been Killed!

Shit!......

I thought as I stepped back deeper into the fog. This really was a hopeless fight now, without MoMagicMoProblems to distract the wizard, they’d just wait until the fog dispersed and blast me with magic until I died. Although, he had to be running low on power. Two or three Five rune spells was a much as Hanna could ever manage and the wizard had already used two. That fire wave was at least a four, even with good gear he likely only had one lightning bolt left… If I could just get the angle right.

A sharp pressure against my back let me know I’d dallied too long. I felt my hardened skin resist for a moment but the strike was a good-one. I screamed as the dagger entered my kidney and dropped my hammer. I spun in a fury punching the thief in the stomach. He doubled over and I slipped a hand around his throat and hoisted him into the air with one arm. I held him there choking and for moment before slamming his back down over my raised knee. There were a few loud pops and he vanished to mist as his back broke. I staggered and the sound of my heartbeat in my ears let me know I was on my last leg. I grabbed my hammer and stood panting and bleeding as the fog thinned and vanished.

I caught site of the wizard sneering at me with his wand raised as the last of the blizzard died. I listened closely as the wizard cast his spell and waited for the timing to be right. Right as he got to ‘Ka’ I let my stoneskin drop and poured the last of my magic into the ground in front of me. The ground shook and rose just as there was another flash of white light. The wall grounded the lighting, and I slowly began to limp in the direction of the wizard.

He had to be on E, but I was too hurt to run so I kept limping. I walked around the wall and met his eyes. He wasn’t looking quite so confident now. I could see sweat running down his face. He swayed slightly as I shuffled after him like some demented zombie, bleeding from a half-dozen wounds but refusing to die. He raised his wand again and another fireball streaked towards me. I didn’t have the energy to dodge. My vision darkened as it hit me, but it was more feeble than his other spells, and I just gritted my teeth through the pain. Now he looked truly frightened and he started to stumble backwards away from me as I closed to within a dozen yards. Blood ran from his nose now and his face had gone ashen. Another fireball came, this one flickering and barley cohesive. It sent me to my knees and my vision swam. I crawled towards him, furious at this whole mess. This asshat had cost me hundreds of dollars in gold, and a trip back to Hernberg would waste days of travel. I stared up into his terrified eyes and reached for him with a shaking hand.

“I will kill you” I snarled.

His last spell hit me right in the face from less than six inches away.

You have been Killed by a Player!

You will respawn at Hernberg

You have lost 9 Silver

You have lost 1 Level

_____________________________________________________________________________

AN: Bit of a long chapter here, with a bit of master/apprentice bonding as well as running some errands in town. Not much plot-wise but It sets the stage for the next couple chapters.

Thanks again to all my readers. Got a number of good reviews over the last couple days, and I made it up to 151 on the top weekly fictions.

Thanks as always!

-Dutchman

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