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Wow, that was hardcore, buddy. You've got balls on you. Big brass balls.

I thought I heard a blacksmith say that brass was soft and malleable? I asked and there was the sound of laughter in my ears.

Good point. Anyways, you majorly offed yourself with those choices. We've started taking bets as to how often you're going to mess this up, so we can't influence your choices.

That's just great. I thought. You better put me down for three.

You can't bet, since you can easily rig it to how you want it to go.

How am I supposed to... oh, I get it. I can discover the right answer and then keep going to pad the result.

Bingo. You get one free restoration to the save point. Try and not kill yourself this time, all right? That was gruesome. Good luck.

_______________

Resetting story to save point. Restoring options. Done. Resuming story.

_______________

The quite heavy panther was enjoying itself immensely as it licked up my blood. Since it was a magical wound, the blood constantly dribbled out. Several options went through my mind and I pondered over them as I slowly became more desperate for breath. I also had my bandoleer right there by my hand.

The least I could do would be to drink a healing potion and hope that the skin underneath would grow enough to stem the bleeding. The problem with that was the blood might stop flowing and that could upset the happy creature that was tasting me.

I could also do a few other things, and those were just as iffy and might piss the panther off. It could kill me as soon as I move, so I needed to be very, very careful. The creature was still purring, so I had a little bit of leeway. Hopefully.

_______________

You have a choice to make. Will it be the right one that will let you live or will it be a bloody end for you and a tasty treat for the panther?

A) Take a breath. B) Take a Healing potion. C) Throw a #10 potion. D) Take a Strength potion.

E) Use a plant killer potion. F) Use a mental enhancement potion. G) Cast Fire Starter. H) Cast Shield.

I) Cast Heating. J) Cast Lather. K) Do something stupid. L) Do something very stupid. M) Choose two.

They suck just as much the second time. I thought and read all of the options again. What am I supposed to do now? I've used up my one free save and from now on, it's going to cost me each time. I sighed. What should I pick now?

The ten second timer popped up and I held in my sigh.

Let's try distracting it and catching my breath. I'll choose two. G and A.

_______________

I moved my hand slightly and the panther on my back didn't react. I wiggled my fingers and nothing else happened. The panther had my upper arms pinned near my body, so I still had some movement with my lower arms. I needed to be careful, though. If I moved too fast or made too much noise, I would be dead before I knew it.

I very carefully bent my arm at the elbow and then slowly moved my hand along until it reached my shoulder, casting Fire Starter all along the same movement path. Unfortunately, it was the same shoulder that the panther was happily lapping at.

The whoosh of fire startled it and I felt all four paws dig into my arms and calves, then it pushed off from me and jumped away from the fire. My left arm and left leg snapped at the elbow and knee, pretty much crippling me; but, now I could easily lift my head and took a breath.

I didn't try to move again for several minutes, then carefully moved to the side and away from the puddle to rest my head. The panther didn't react and I knew that rushing would only get me killed quicker. I was severely hurt, so I slowly reached for the bandoleer. As an afterthought, I used the smoke manipulation spell and filled the space with enough smoke that it covered myself from sight.

I relaxed a little and managed to grab a healing potion. I drank it and my broken joints popped back into place. I looked at my upper arms and they were still bleeding, so I drank another one. The bleeding slowed to a stop and I rolled over to see if I could see anything. I pushed the smoke away and into the surrounding trees and underbrush, sure that there was something besides the panther there, and heard coughing sounds.

I realized then that my vigilance technique wasn't active and used it again. Fifteen presences were surrounding me and I still couldn't find the white panther. I used Sense Magic and a bright pulse appeared about thirty feet away. I moved the smoke away from there and the white panther was staring at me with murder in its eyes.

I swiped my hand over the area and lit the whole place on fire to stop them from charging me. There were several roars and the presences I felt quickly retreated and I kept watching the spot with the white panther. It had only taken two steps back from the fire and growled at me.

“There's more where that came from.” I said and held both hands up. I lit the trees around me on fire, the underbrush, the vines, and everything else I could see. It let out a howl and jumped back as a burning vine dropped from the tree above it and almost hit it. Smoke filled the space and I used the spell to hold it off from choking me.

I felt the panthers try to cross the fire line I had made and they failed several times, which was a relief... until I couldn't see the white panther anymore. It had taken off and now I didn't know where it was. I whirled around when I felt the panthers gather together into a clump, then I cursed as no less than six trees that were closely clumped together, toppled as one and stamped out the fire on that side of me.

Before I could even think about lighting it up again, two black panthers were through the gap and jumped at me. I had my knife out and ducked as one passed right over me and I sliced its underbelly. The other panther hooked my leg as it passed and slashed my thigh open, which was a horrendous wound, and I dropped to one knee to grip it and fought it off by slicing its paw off. I took a breath and fumbled for my bandoleer and another healing potion, since the wound wasn't made by magically enhanced claws, then I realized my mistake. They were just a distraction.

I looked up just in time to see the large white panther's open jaws in front of my face and then everything went black.

_______________

You did a bit better that time. We all appreciate not seeing more self mutilation.

What am I supposed to do? Those were my best two options. I thought.

I can't advise you on what to choose to succeed, let alone survive. It's not a matter of the betting, either.

Your supervisor's looking over your shoulder again?

Worse, it's the boss. She's asking why you've been spending so much time playing through one of the shorter novels we have on the site.

Ha! You can tell her that I've been having a great time playing out all the little bits and pieces that I never got to read about in the original. I never realized just how much they skipped over until I started living through it, you know?

We're writing it all, so yeah. We know. Now she does, too.

That doesn't sound good for me, does it?

There was no answer for a minute, then another popup appeared.

_______________

All narrator interactions have been temporarily suspended. Reloading queue accelerated. Time between resets reduced to ten seconds.

Do you wish to start the story over or reload from the save point (cost: 50 credits)?

Reload save point. I thought.

_______________

Resetting story to save point. Restoring options. Done. Resuming story.

_______________

The quite heavy panther was enjoying itself immensely as it licked up my blood. Since it was a magical wound, the blood constantly dribbled out. Several options went through my mind and I pondered over them as I slowly became more desperate for breath. I also had my bandoleer right there by my hand.

The least I could do would be to drink a healing potion and hope that the skin underneath would grow enough to stem the bleeding. The problem with that was the blood might stop flowing and that could upset the happy creature that was tasting me.

I could also do a few other things, and those were just as iffy and might piss the panther off. It could kill me as soon as I move, so I needed to be very, very careful. The creature was still purring, so I had a little bit of leeway. Hopefully.

_______________

You have a choice to make. Will it be the right one that will let you live or will it be a bloody end for you and a tasty treat for the panther?

A) Take a breath. B) Take a Healing potion. C) Throw a #10 potion. D) Take a Strength potion.

E) Use a plant killer potion. F) Use a mental enhancement potion. G) Cast Fire Starter. H) Cast Shield.

I) Cast Heating. J) Cast Lather. K) Do something stupid. L) Do something very stupid. M) Choose two.

What should I pick now?

A five second timer popped up and I held in my sigh again.

Let's try the number ten potion and casting Lather. I'll choose two. C and J.

_______________

I moved my hand slightly and the panther on my back didn't react. I wiggled my fingers and slowly pulled the bandoleer through my hand to get to the right pocket. I popped it open and plucked out a number ten potion.

The panther had my upper arms pinned near my body, so I still had some movement with my lower arms. I needed to be careful, though. If I moved too fast or made too much noise, I would be dead before I knew it. I very carefully bent my arm at the elbow and my hand with the potion bottle reached my shoulder. Unfortunately, it was the same shoulder that the panther was happily lapping at.

I didn't try to move again for several minutes, then very carefully lifted my head from the puddle and moved it to the lip of the vial. The panther didn't react, so I slowly pulled the cork and prepared to throw it. My lungs were screaming for air by this point and I had to let the potion do its work before I acted. Rushing would only get me killed quicker.

I flipped my hand and flicked my fingers to toss the number ten potion up and onto the panther's face. It didn't really react until I cast Lather into its mouth. It roared and coughed, and spit, and shook its head... which was the worst thing to have happen. A pile of still liquid number ten potion slid off of it and brought parts of the panther with it. It hit the side of my face and parts of my back, then I felt it melding our faces together.

No! I thought and tried to roll away, only I was still pinned. After a few minutes of useless struggling, I felt a hard tugging on my face. The panther let out a roar as the potion set and then stood up, which took half of my face, my right eye, and my whole jawbone with it. I tried to grab a healing potion and the other panthers appeared because of the white panther's roar.

In the next moment, I was swarmed and torn apart.

_______________

Do you wish to start the story over or reload from the save point (cost: 100 credits)?

Reload save point. I thought.

_______________

Resetting story to save point. Restoring options. Done. Resuming story.

_______________

The quite heavy panther was enjoying itself immensely as it licked up my blood...

...and so it went. I died, and died, and died again. I tried several different options, even one of the stupid ones, and it was just me pleading to the thing until it got tired of my talking and bit my head off to shut me up.

_______________

Do you wish to start the story over or reload from the save point (cost: 450 credits)?

Reload save point. I thought. If it doesn't work this time...

_______________

Resetting story to save point. Restoring options. Done. Resuming story.

_______________

It gave me the same little story blurb about the panther loving the taste of my blood and then the choices popped up again.

_______________

You have a choice to make. Will it be the right one that will let you live or will it be a bloody end for you and a tasty treat for the panther?

A) Take a breath. B) Take a Healing potion. C) Throw a #10 potion. D) Take a Strength potion.

E) Use a plant killer potion. F) Use a mental enhancement potion. G) Cast Fire Starter. H) Cast Shield.

I) Cast Heating. J) Cast Lather. K) Do something stupid. L) Do something very stupid. M) Choose two.

I read the options again from the popup and shook my head. Screw it. I'm doing the really stupid one.

A five second timer popped up and I ignored it.

I don't need two options. I'm picking L.

_______________

Out of all the options I had previously picked, this one was definitely the stupidest.