2. Red Hot Chili Bones

'A world without bribes is like a machine without oil. '

- Father

"I don't know! I swear by Lathar! I don't know!" She cried and desperately yelled some words between screams of pain.

Two loud cracks were followed by even louder screams and a genderless voice.

"Speak, human! Where is he? Where is the Resistance man you were supposed to meet that day?"

"I don't-" She began to reply, but another crack interrupted her and she screamed again.

"Stop lying! If you don't, I will bring new toys next time I come. Do you want that? Do you?"

"No! Oh, Lathar, please, no. Please. I don't know-" Again she was interrupted by cracks.

I kept listening as I opened the door. The room had a lit torch, and a ghoul was leaning on the opposite door, looking at the corridor with his back to me.

Holding my breath, I entered the room, closed the door to the hall, put my bag and surplus swords on the floor and walked as noiselessly as possible. When I got behind him, I did almost the same as I had done to the sleeping ghouls. One hand closed his mouth while the other quickly put a sword through his neck. Sneak attack and critical hit: instant kill.

I dropped the corpse gently on the floor to prevent sounds and walked downstairs. A little further into the corridor, right next to the C-1 cell, there were two other ghouls, one to each side of the door. They had their backs to the wall, and one of them was smoking a straw cigarette, which gave out a strong smell that almost made me cough.

How fun would it be, having an all cool shadow trait and getting discovered because I coughed at cigarette smoke?

There was no way to approach without being seen, so I charged full speed ahead, my sword held in front of me. I aimed for the neck, but the ghouls saw me and moved, forcing me to lower the sword and hit the first one's stomach instead. I stepped back as he counterattacked.

"Intruder!" He yelled. It became a fight against the two ghouls, but they were slow, and the sword did a lot more damage than the pipe. Dodging two swords was harder than one, but still doable.

I'm no intruder, idiot. I'm escaping, I thought as I killed them. I was panting at the end, with only twenty stamina left. I could hear no movement inside the room, so I took the time to check the new exclamation point that had appeared.

Agility increased to 2 (+1)

Fighting two enemies and not getting damaged has sharpened your reflexes.

Constitution increased to 2 (+1)

By repeatedly fighting to near exhaustion, your body becomes more used to harsh treatment.

» HP: 110 (+10)

» Stamina: 110 (+10)

Level up!

Current level: 1

HP, MP and stamina restored

My very first level. It had taken me half an hour to get to level one, which was a little too much. On the other hand, I had only killed six enemies. Recovering all my HP, MP, and stamina was a pleasant surprise. Instantly, all the tiredness left my body, and my breath went back to normal.

Sweet. And a little scary that the game has so much control over how I feel.

My stamina back, I charged again, this time into the room.

I was met with a ball of fire flying directly at my head.

Somehow I put the shield on the way just in time to block and wondered if I would have been able to do it if my agility had not just increased. How exactly did these attributes affect my virtual body and my perception of it? I had just witnessed the system remove all my tiredness, so it was an interesting line of thought.

All considerations left my mind the moment the ball of fire exploded on the shield. The unexpected force of the explosion made my arm jerk back, and the shield hit my face. The fire burned my clothes and heated my head.

20 shock + 2 burn damage received (22 total)

HP: 88 / 110

Shock damage was the damage that went through the shield, which I lowered slightly to check the room.

It was an ordinary cell, but there was something very disturbing about it: a woman in underwear was hanging by chains on her wrists. She was in the center of the room, her blood pouring from lots of livid red wounds. Her hair had been crudely shaved, with patches here and there, and she was looking down, sobbing. It was such a sorry scene that it was enough to make me understand why it was necessary to be of age to play an Underworld species.

Before her stood a living skeleton. Its bones were red, and so were his clothes: a leather jacket with straps closures, leather pants, and boots. Without any meat on the skeleton's body, the clothing was loose. It held a whip in its hand.

"Ah, a deathlord! Come, let me give you your final death!" It lashed the whip at me.

The torture scene had caught me by surprise, and I just stood there, waiting for the skeleton to move. I snapped out of it as the whip came at me and put the shield up again.

The hit was too powerful, and the shield broke into pieces, the whip hitting my forearm after that.

Your shield has broken

36 slash damage received

HP: 52 / 110

I felt so much pain that I almost fainted, my vision becoming blurred for half a second. It made me fearful, which in turn made me furious, and I attacked the skeleton head on.

A laugh came from the skeleton as it opened its jaw and a small flame appeared inside. One second later the flame flew to me, becoming bigger as it left the mouth. It was too close to dodge and positioned myself to take it in the chest.

36 fire + 8 burn damage received (44 total)

HP: 8 / 110

It hurt a lot and made me stumble. I could smell my burnt skin. The heat and the pain were so intense I just wanted to curl someplace cold and cry. Just the air passing by my neck and chest as I moved was painful enough to make tears come to my eyes. If it wasn't for my street fighting experience in the real world, I'd probably have done just that.

As it was, I let out a cry of pain and fury and hit the skeleton in the head with my sword, using all the power I could muster.

The sword hit and bounced from the skull, not even leaving a mark.

4 slash damage dealt to Red Skeleton

What? Four damage? And I just took forty-four? Is this even serious?

After a leap back, the skeleton, still laughing, used the whip and I reflexively put the sword on the way. The whip wrapped around the blade and with a pull from the monster I was left without it.

This is ridiculous!

Desperate, I took the pipe from the belt, closed the distance and swung with my full force on its arm. A tiny crack appeared on the bone, and the skeleton gave out a yell of pain.

12 blunt damage dealt to Red Skeleton

Of course! Different species and races reacted differently to certain types of damage. Skeletons had nothing to fear from slashing and piercing while having their bones smashed was a nightmare.

The skeleton tried to step back again, but I accompanied it. It stopped laughing, and another fireball started to form inside its mouth. The pipe met its head.

13 blunt damage dealt to Red Skeleton

Disrupted spell-casting for 12 pure damage

Spell disrupting, the eternal weakness of mages and the reason they had to be protected by allies.

Keeping close to the torturer and attacking it with the pipe made the fight fairly easy. Half a minute later the skeleton received the final hit and its bones dismantled.

I was panting again. A dark semi-transparent energy raised from the bones and entered my body, healing one HP.

Man, this game is hard! And killing this skeleton is for a C+ rank quest too. To be fair, killing it was easy after I got the gist of it.

Strength increased to 2 (+1)

Hitting enemies with all your might makes you even mightier.

Dexterity increased to 2 (+1)

Each time you hit your mark you get better at it.

Willpower increased to 2 (+1)

Resisting pain and purposefully taking spells takes a lot of willpower. Or idiocy.

» Stamina: 115 (+5)

Wait, had the game just called me an idiot? It had not been smart to do that, but it was not nice to be told so. I wondered if it was enough for a suit.

Trait received: Antimage

You hate enemy mages. Well, you hate enemies, but the mages even more so.

» -10% damage needed to disrupt enemy spell casting

I was in pain, but considerably less than I thought I should be, and it was fading away too quick. The four shirts I was wearing were torn apart on my chest level, and my flesh was still hot. Still, I only felt as if hot water had been poured across the area.

My forearm was the worst. It had already stopped bleeding, but I felt it pulsating in a slightly more painful way than my chest. In a fit, I spat on the red skull of the skeleton.

A quiet sob made me remember the woman. She had been looking at my back, but as soon as I turned to her she gasped, and her eyes widened.

"D-deathlord..." She said terrified.

How does she know? How did the skeleton know?

She was a medium boned woman with green eyes. Not gorgeous, but certainly comely. Her lack of hair and sore eyes made her look fragile. Or maybe it was the blood all over her body. As she watched me looking at her, she tried to twist weakly, but her feet chained to each other and her body weakness made it too difficult.

"Sorry," I said, and I could swear her eyes popped even more, now full of shock. "I was just looking at your wounds... It's... Disheartening." Remembering the A-6 prisoner, who had said the torturer had keys to the cell, I searched the remains looking for it. I found three keys of different sizes in a small bag on its belt.

Small Copper Key

A small key to small locks.

Medium-Sized Silver Key

Looks like a key to a door.

Big Gold Key

It's big and made of gold. Seems important.

I took the small one and tested it on the chains on her foot.

They opened with a click and the woman sighed, then resumed crying. I had never been good at emotional stuff, and it made me feel very awkward.

"Hey," I tried to speak softly, but my undead voice didn't seem to have soft tones, sounding deep and scratchy instead. "Everything is alright now. I'll get you out of here." She cried even more. "I will have to hug you, OK?" I said carefully, afraid of the sexual abuse rules of the game. V-Soft forbid this kind of things on NPCs too, and they were very strict about it. "If I don't, your body will be suspended only by one arm and it might hurt more."

After waiting a few seconds for an answer that didn't come, I hugged her body as delicately as possible. I unlocked the cuffs and gently put her sitting on the floor. She was crying even more now. "I'll get some clothes for you, just a second." I went outside and stripped one of the ghouls, entered the room again and put the clothes on the floor next to her. "Take your time. I'll explore the rest of the corridor. I'll be right back." I left.

What about that time? What if I had got to them earlier? Would I had been able to save them? The autopsy said... But what if it was wrong? What if I could've...

Taking a deep breath, I focused on checking the corridor, or rather at not thinking about that long past morning. That was a road of no return and the reason I played games was exactly not to think about the past.

All the other cells were empty. When I went back to the woman, she had put the clothes on and was sitting outside the cell, next to a ghoul corpse, her back to the wall and hugging her legs. She looked at me as I came back and silent tears were still pouring from her eyes.

"It was impossible for me to stand in that foul place a second more..." Her voice was hoarse and weak; I wouldn't have heard her if it wasn't completely silent. "You made me so full of terror and pain that even the little gentleness you showed in this obvious scheme of yours has broken me." She had a dignified way about her speech. "Just ask and I shall tell you all my secrets, deathlord." She hugged herself even harder. "I shall do whatever you want. Please, don't put me in there anymore. Please."

Damn, these game characters are well-made. I'm feeling a lot of compassion, and I knew she's just code. No, not 'she', 'it'. I put my hands on my head. This level of realism could mess with one's mind.

"That's very considerate of you, milady, but this is no scheme. I don't know how everyone seems to know I'm a deathlord, but I'm an unbound one. I'm an escaping prisoner."

For a few seconds, she just looked at me, then nodded her head slightly. "It makes sense; you want me to lead the way to the Resistance myself, to avoid suspicions. Will you allow me to heal first or shall we go now? I beg your pardon, but in this frail condition my body will not readily comply with a fast pace." And she added with a whisper. "My master."

A shiver ran through my spine. Her voice was devoid of emotion, and it made me full of compassion. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to comfort her. Well, I knew a way of doing it, but she didn't seem in the right state of mind for that.

"Ok... Look, miss, I'm a prisoner too. I'm escaping. I'll just get the stuff from the dead bodies, and we can go and rescue another guy. He said he has life magic to kill me, so maybe he can heal you. Alright?"

She nodded again. "As you wish, my master," she said, then put her head between the legs and began to hit her back against the wall.

This shit is so messed up.

First I took the stuff from the ghouls, then from the torturer. I had to take all my destroyed shirts off before wearing another one, and it hurt a little on the burnt area, albeit a lot less than before. It was now hurting like a heavy sunburn.

Worn Torturer Leather Pants

» +4 defense

» +5% extra pain to target on hit (PvE only)

Worn Torturer Leather Armor

» +5 defense

» +5% extra pain to target on hit (PvE only)

Old Torturer Leather Boots

» +3 defense

» +5% extra pain to target on hit (PvE only)

Old Torturer Leather Whip

» 65 (+4 [Strength]) damage

» +200% extra pain to target on hit (PvE only)

The items description explained the extra pain I had felt on my arm, and it was very smart of V-Soft to only allow it to have effect on PvE – player versus environment – situations, as opposed to PvP – player versus player. I put the sleeveless armor on and had to take out four of my five cotton pants to be able to wear the leather pants and still move freely. I also swapped my shoes for the boots.

I tried to use the whip, but I didn't have the ability to do that nor the time to practice, so I just left it coiled on my waist.

With everything ready, I left the room. As I did so, the woman looked at me with empty eyes. My heart sunk and I took her in my arms; she shivered but didn't complain.

In the room near to the great hall, I stopped again to take more stuff. As I created a second makeshift bag using a shirt, I got another exclamation point.

Trait received: Crafter

You have tapped in the secrets of crafting objects.

» +1 dexterity when crafting items

The makeshift bag became a proper item, named 'Trash-Quality Makeshift Bag'. I liked it a lot.

With everything ready, I put my stuff on my shoulder using some belts and picked the woman up again. Back to the A-6 cell I gently put her on the ground and used the medium sized key in the door. It opened.

An elf was there. He had light fair skin, blue eyes, pointy ears and his hair had also been shaved. He had wound marks all over his almost naked body, but the blood was dry. His body was suspended by chains coming from the ceiling.

"Ah, a deathlord torturer. I must be thankful for the change of style, I think. Let's not waste time, the sooner you begin, the faster you will get frustrated and leave."

"How the hell do you all guess I'm a deathlord? I didn't even change my body appearance when I got into Valia," I said as I unlocked the chains on his feet.

The elf frowned. "I recognize your voice. The alleged escaping prisoner. You look even closer to death than me."

"Yeah. I have been told that taking fireballs to the chest on purpose is not a smart move. Go figure." I provided support for the elf's body, unlocked his handcuffs and helped him to the floor. The elf was looking at me as if wondering what the trick was. "Do you really have some life magic left?" I left the room before the answer and brought the woman inside. "She needs some healing."

For the next few seconds, the elf looked from me to the woman and then back. "I must admit, this is a good play even for a deathlord. Do you possess drow blood running through your veins? This plot is drow level without a doubt."

"Yeah, right. I'm the mastermind deathlord, running almost dead in my prison and saving people in an evil scheme to let them free in the world. We all know life sucks, so this is the greatest revenge I can take on you. Feel my power."

"Yes," the woman said suddenly. "My master is the greatest." Fear was in her voice. She was clearly saying this in the hopes of preventing some future beatings.

The elf opened his mouth, but I beat him to speaking. "As I said, she needs some healing. Take a look at her and I'll get you some clothes and a sword." I did so, having to unmake a makeshift bag to give him a shirt. I also threw a sword at his feet. "I'll check the rest of the prison."

I was too tired of all this prisoner's attitude towards me to wait for anything; I just left my items there and resumed the exploration. I took a small break at the table room to rest. No reason to go and kill myself. The next door I visited was the D-door, the last one that side of the great hall and closest to the wooden double doors.

Its cells were also empty.

Back to the hall, I crossed it and went for the E-door. Frustrated from all the empty corridors, cells and the NPC's attitude, I opened it without care. A ghoul was sitting on the table. As soon as he saw me, he stood and ran to the opposite door.

Dammit, I thought and ran after him, sword in hand. The ghoul had to stop to open the closed door, and I was able to hit his neck thanks to that.

Critical hit for 2.0x damage!

48 slash damage dealt to Ghoul

HP: 5 / 53

"Intruder!" He yelled and fell all the way to the bottom of the stairs, where he laid motionless. Dead.

He died from tripping on the stairs. This level of realism is absurd. Is this really a game or am I in another dimension?

Also, it had been a critical hit, but it didn't deal the max damage of the sword. Probably because the hit hadn't been applied with my full strength, or with much skill.

Until now the only thing I had found too hard to believe was me being unchained in my cell and the novice ghoul outside waiting to be tricked, but I guessed the game had to provide some way for me to escape.

Slowly, I went downstairs and took the stuff from the ghoul's corpse. Besides the usual, I also found two silver coins and seventeen copper coins in a hidden pocket on the shirt. The corridor was completely dark, but since the ghoul had run this way and bothered to announce me, I was sure there were enemies in there. I walked slowly and crouched, looking attentively into the open cells.

E-1 to E-6 had open doors and were empty. E-7 was the first closed door I found. It was not locked, though, and I opened it carefully. Empty.

E-8 through E-11 were all empty as well. It was a tense situation. The silence, darkness, and unknowingness were overwhelming. Just before E-12, there was a tripwire on foot height, attached to small hooks on the walls. Only then did I notice that all over the corridor the walls had small hooks like that on foot height.

Perception increased to 2 (+1)

Checking a lot of empty cells, noticing a trap and observing details about the environment makes you more aware of your surroundings.

I cut the wire and put it in my remaining makeshift bag. Noticing the E-12 door open after so many closed ones, I guessed the enemies were there, and the tripwire had been placed in that area so I would fall right in front of the door and die.

Taking a peep would be slightly dangerous; I didn't know what was inside nor how precise the possible enemies were. Instead, I ran past the door.

A fireball flew from inside the cell and hit the wall. I had taken a look and seen three ghouls in front of a red skeleton. Without wasting any time, I charged inside.

The ghouls had their shields raised, a 'living' defensive wall to the skeleton. I ran to them, and before I rammed their bodies with mine, I crouched and swung the sword at the knees of two of them. They screamed in pain, and I took the opportunity to stick my blade in the middle ghoul, piercing under his chin and entering its head. I pulled it back and he dropped dead.

From the right came a sword swing. I dodged it and put myself in front of the first ghoul, letting him stay between the skeleton and myself as I ran to the outside and prepared myself next to the door, but out of view.

"You dumbass! Come back!" The skeleton yelled, and a second later the damaged ghoul got out of the cell. I hit his leg again, then his shield before he could do anything. He died, and as dark energy left the body to heal me, a fireball came from the cell, hitting the wall yet again. The skeleton let out an angry scream.

I picked my bag up and charged into the room once more. As I expected, the torturer used its whip, but I threw the bag in the way and ran to the ghoul, repeating the combo of hitting his legs and then his neck. It seemed they were all equally dumb.

By then the skeleton had its mouth wide open, and fire lit inside it. I threw my shield first and my sword right after it, just in case. A small explosion happened inside the head, and smoke came out of it. I got close and almost felt relaxed. From there on the fight turned easy. I took the pipe from my belt and smashed the hell out of the red skeleton.

I was breathless yet again, but now it had required four enemies to cause that. The extra stamina from the higher constitution made a difference, but I was also getting more efficient at the fights. I had found the perfect way to battle both ghoul and skeleton.

Sitting on the floor, I checked the exclamation point buttons which had appeared.

Agility increased to 3 (+1)

Hitting a fleeing ghoul in the neck, dodging fireballs, preventing a whip by quickly throwing a bag at it and a fireball by quickly throwing your shield and sword. This man can act fast!

Dexterity increased to 3 (+1)

You are just too good at hitting exactly where you want.

Intelligence increased to 2 (+1)

Noticing the way the fleeing ghoul was running, anticipating the trap after the tripwire, previewing the whip attack and using your shield and weapon in different ways.

Are you a genius?

» MP: 110 (+10)

Level up!

Current level: 2

HP, MP and stamina restored

I smiled. After calling me an idiot, the game was now calling me a genius.

 Trait received: Nitpicker

Always going for critical strikes when you have the chance has made you more in control of your attacks.

» +2 dexterity when attacking with a weapon

Critical hits in the game depended exclusively on the place you hit your enemy's body, and how well you maneuvered weapons was dictated by the dexterity skill. Having extra dexterity in my fights wasn't bad at all.

As I began to take the stuff from the corpses, I noticed for the first time a prisoner in the cell. It was an almost naked pale man without visible wounds, a sack on his head and chains on his feet and wrists. Anticipating the ungrateful prisoner act, I took my time to grab everything from the bodies, finding three extra keys and seven silver coins in another small bag.

I left a ghoul attire out of my collection and put it next to the prisoner before removing the sack from his head. He was a handsome vampire with a tight gag on his mouth. He had red irises, long canines, and a long black hair not yet shaved like the others.

"Ok, vampire. I'm sorry for doing this to you, but I had a lot of problems with other prisoners, so forgive my lack of courtesy. I'm not a local, I'm an unbound deathlord who was imprisoned, and now I'm escaping the hell outta here. My name's Jack Thorn. If you want out, I can free you. If I do, you can either get out by yourself or wait for when I decide to leave. Or I can forget you gagged here. Your choice."

The man nodded once and I cut his gag.

"I am Senir Yechkov, from the Arktov clan." As he said it, letters appeared over his head: 'Senir Yechkov, Arktov clan.' This time, there was no question mark. "I am no stranger to the difficulties of the unbound deathlords, and I can feel your lack of a higher master. I allow you to remove my bounds."

Allow me? I had to use all my willpower not to roll my eyes before opening the chain locks. The vampire stood graciously and looked at the clothes I had put by his feet. "I am not a dog to walk in these... Vests. I will let myself out."

No nice, grateful prisoner for me, it seems. "Wait, you'll need this key, I think," I said as I extended the extra large gold key to him.

The vampire stopped, looked at me, then at the key with disgust, and made a tsk sound. "I allow you to gift me this key. I graciously warn you not to presume such intimacy again." He took the key and left.

I sighed, grabbed back the extra clothes and sword I had put aside for the vampire, and went back to exploring the corridor. I was about to enter the last cell when an exclamation point appeared.

Hidden quest completed: Save the prisoner from cell E-12

Random primary attribute points received:

» +1 charisma

» +1 willpower

Stamina: 120 (+5)

Bonus for completing a hidden quest:

» +1 intelligence

MP: 125 (+15)

Interesting. With Valia not having the experience points usually present in games, quests could reward attribute points. Made sense. More exciting was the existence of hidden quests; not a new concept by any means, but still not confirmed to exist in Valia up until now.

There was nothing in the last cell, and I went back to the main hall, crouched yet again. The double doors were wide open, and I took the time to close them while shaking my head.

Damn vampire couldn't even bother to shut the door. What if someone saw it?

Next, I went for the F-door.

I opened it with total care and was rewarded by nothingness. I bet that if I had opened it wildly, I would have taken a fireball to the head. So frustrating. Once more the corridor and cells revealed nothing. I gritted my teeth as I went back to the hall, but this time, I didn't allow the frustration to make me sloppy and carefully opened the G-door.

Two ghouls were playing cards there.

"Three stripes and two squares. You lose," said one with a horrendous smile.

"You cheat!" The other slammed his hand on the table.

"Ha, cu' it. Ma goddess is Sanith, she bless me a'right," the first one said, pulling some coins to his side of the table.

"Don' ya tell me 'bout ya Sanith tities! Ya cheat!" The second ghoul stood up and took his sword from the ground. The first one stopped taking the coins and did the same.

I took the opportunity to get quickly inside and close the door. Both ghouls looked at me with eyes wide open before yelling 'intruder' and attacking. They didn't last long.

After collecting the goodies, I explored the corridor. Two more ghouls were right down the stairs, and I found the second ghoul with a pipe in the whole prison by the end of the hallway. The last door was closed, and the torch beside it was the only one lit in the entire corridor.

The layout was too similar to be a coincidence; it was probably another possible starting point for a player.

For the first time I noticed another difference to the last door: instead of a keyhole, it had a sliding lock at it, which explained the sound I had heard when the ghoul opened my cell.

The lock was ridiculously rusty and looked fragile. It wasn't hard to believe that if I had got my strength level to one or two, I could've forced the door from the inside. Which was another break to the realism of the game, since the NPC prisoners were much better guarded.

There was a woman there, petite and blond. When she looked at me I finally understood how everybody knew I was a deathlord: her eyes were completely black, even what should've been white.

"Finally, the NPC is here. Stupid game, made me wait for twenty minutes. Let's go."

I watched dumbfounded as she left the room, looked at the dead ghoul and ran. She stopped a little ahead and yelled. "Come on you bugged game code. Laggy shit."

I frowned. What the hell was that? She was a player, but that level of immaturity... Weren't the Underworld species and races supposed to be only played by people of age?

More than that, she was an unbound deathlord just like me. Having a person with that kind of attitude in the same category as me was annoying and embarrassing.

Which meant one thing: miss sunshine had to die.

I wasn't sure what would be consequence of killing another player, but after a quick thinking, an idea bloomed on my mind. Yes, that will be good enough for her. I ran.

Before the end of the corridor, just as she began to climb the stairs, I put my plan in motion. If she believed this game was poorly-made, I'd just use that against her.

"Oh, noble lady," I said in the most 'forced act' way I could, "we are near the end of the escapade. My comrades have dominated some nearby enemies, and there is good equipment waiting for you! Come! I will guide you!"

"Holy crap, look at this voice acting. Is this even artificial intelligence or just poor recording?"

I climbed upstairs. She yelled a 'wait', but I ignored her, and she ended up accompanying me. I led her to the front of the H-door, the last unopened door on the first floor.

"Oh, noble lady, behind this door is the right equipment for your mighty existence. Please, go ahead."

"No, you go ahead," she said, looking suspiciously at me.

I didn't answer and after a few seconds repeated: "Oh, noble lady, behind this door is the equipment for your mighty existence. Please, go ahead."

She rolled her eyes. "I haven't seen such bad characters since the sixty-four bit games." She opened the door.

I pushed her inside, closed the door and held the doorknob firmly.

"Intruder!" I heard a ghoul yell.

"What the hell?!" She began to hit the door repeatedly. "Open the door, idiot! Oh, freaking hell, open the door! Ahhh! My back hurts! Open it! Oh, god, it hurts! Open! Damn it; I'm out of this shitty starting point. Force logout!"

A few seconds later I heard a ghoul speak. "She dead."

"Look at she clothes. She a prisoner."

"We tell the High Lady?"

"Na, come back to da game, prisoners always die anyways."

I smiled from ear to ear.

Jack Thorn

Unbound Deathlord

Level 2

Hit Points: 110 / 110 Mana Points: 125 / 125 Stamina: 120 / 120 Attributes Strength: 2 Agility: 3 Dexterity: 3 Constitution: 2 Intelligence: 3 Perception: 2 Willpower: 3 Charisma: 2 Traits Antimage: 1 Crafter: 1 Nitpicker: 1 Shadow: 1