~‌‌ ‌‌2.05 ‌‌-‌‌ Creepy-Crawly Machine Guns ~‌‌

Duskgrove Prison Camp

3rd Waterday of the Full Moon

Flea looked down at the large cat in his arms as he waved both hands at the trio across from them. Bob was still trying to say hello, but he was having a significant issue with his L’s.

“You’re in the wrong shaft, Gnome. This here is our claim,” the Dwarf said, pointing to the other two with him.

“I’m sorry, Uglar didn’t tell me the shafts were claimed.”

“We’re telling you, now leave,” the Satyr said.

Seeing that there was about to be a conflict and the chances of the newborn Bob being killed, Flea picked up his pickaxe and started walking back up towards the entrance.

“Leave that lamp as your payment,” the Elf spoke for the first time.

“Can’t, it’s bound,” Flea said as he started walking back up the shaft faster.

“Bah! Leave him be Finch. We don’t want to add to our contract.” the Dwarf spoke to the Elf.

It took Flea three hours to get back to the large cavern now barren with mining carts, except for the three on the far right.

Guessing no one wants to mine with creepy-crawlies attacking them. How do they get the carts back up here? Do they push them back when they return?

Walking outside, he found Uglar talking to Shin and Ord. Uglar walked up to Flea after his conversation with the Bugbear and Dwarf.

“Returning already?” Uglar asked.

“Got run out of the shaft I was mining.”

“Ah, yes. Some of the groups have formed clicks and lay claims on shafts. There is no rule against this or for it. Individuals often share the middle shafts.”

The Beastmen then smelt the air with a long sniff, then looked behind Flea.

“Where did you come from, cat?” Uglar said with disdain.

Bob then waved his paw like an idiot and tried saying hello again.

“The cat is my bonded companion,” said Flea.

“Bonded? I don’t believe I’ve ever heard someone of your level with a companion already. You will be responsible for this cat. We will not feed it.”

“I understand. I wanted to ask if you knew anyone who could tell me more about bonded companions?”

“None that I know of, but I could ask about books with such information from the town.”

“Please do so, Uglar. If you can buy one, I’ll pay for it,” Flea responded.

“I will inquire for you. I know companions should have their own status screen. Beyond that, I know nothing of them, besides their rarity.”

Flea, with Bob in tow, walked to the cabin he was assigned to. The Gnome asked Bob to think about status, menu, and other terms that could bring up windows for him to view. Nothing worked. Frustrated, Flea thought about his companion’s status and a screen popped into view.

Companion Lv.0: Bob

Persian Earth Cat

0 Energy ➕

0

Strength

➕ [10]

0

Constitution

➕ [10]

0

Dexterity

➕ [10]

0

Intelligence

➕ [10]

0

Wisdom

➕ [10]

“Never mind, Bob. I can pull your status up.”

Bob looked at Flea, then the space in front of him.

“Can you see the information?”

Bob shook his head no. Flea then thought about permitting him to see the status box. A moment later, Bob made a low hiss and pointed at the space where the screen floated in front of Flea.

“Ok, good. It looks like you have less information on your status screen. Did you decide on becoming a Persian Earth cat?”

Bob smiled a toothy grin and nodded his head yes.

“Odd choice. There is a plus sign next to your Energy. That’s not on mine.”

Flea clicked it and found he could enter a number. Figuring he had to transfer his Energy to Bob, he gave him twenty, leaving himself with two points.

“I guess with only twenty points; we can’t do much. I’ll level up your Strength and Constitution first.”

Bob just shrugged as best as a cat could.

“I wish I hadn’t leveled my [Shadow Meld] so much. I’d be able to level you up right away. Let’s turn in my twenty ore and ask about those creepy-crawlies. Maybe we can mine and level up at the same time.”

Flea and Bob found Uglar near the barracks. Flea handed him his twenty ore.

“Flea, you have satisfied your contract for the 3rd Waterday of the Full Moon.”

Suddenly, Flea could feel his right palm grow hot. Looking down at his open palm, he could see a red circle with a single line from the circle’s edge to its center.

“Aye, you can keep an eye on the progress of your contract by that mark,” Uglar explained.

“Interesting. I wanted to ask you about the creepy-crawlies you mentioned. Are they hard to kill, and do they have cores?”

“No, they’re pretty easy to kill if they’re solo. The issue is they can swarm in massive groups. I believe they have cores like anything else. But no one wants to risk dying to them, so they haven’t tried to mine down the right shafts since they’ve taken residence.”

“Who found them?”

“I believe it was my kind who found them. A group of them were swarmed and killed. They didn’t have any combat type training and were easily overcome. No one has been back down there to find any more information since they reported it.”

“If I clear them out, is there any type of reward?” Flea asked.

Uglar thought about it for a moment.

“You find the source and clean it out, and I will speak with Or’loc about getting you a free upgrade to your pickaxe.”

“Deal,” said Flea sticking his hand out.

Uglar took Flea’s hand and shook it.

Flea and Bob then headed back into the mines. They decided to head down the rightmost shaft, not bothering with the minecart. Flea took out his old iron daggers, handing them to Bob.

“Stay back while I fight. If something gets past me, use these.”

Bob took the daggers from the Gnome. As they walked down the shaft, Bob would continue to try and converse with Flea while he swung the blades in his hands.

“Daggars, heavie.”

“We’ll have to level up your Strength as fast as we can. Maybe another weapon might suit you. We’ll figure it out, buddy.”

“Tank you.”

The Gnome and orange cat kept up their pace down the shaft, taking them a little under two hours before they came to the first signs of an iron deposit.

“This is huge and a lot closer to the surface. I don’t see any signs of the creepy-crawlers, Uglar mentioned. I’m going to start mining; keep an eye out, please.”

Bob nodded and sat down a bit up the shaft’s path with his back towards the way they came from. Flea started swinging at the rockface. Hours passed as Flea continued knocking out chunks of iron ore while Bob practiced his talking. Around six hours in, and a bounty of twenty-three iron ore, Flea heard Bob hiss. Glancing over at the cat, he found his hair standing on end.

“What is it, buddy?”

Flea got his answer a moment later when he heard the rapid clinks of something against the stone. It reminded him of a softer sounding machine gun, but much faster. The clinks were so fast it almost sounded like one long sound. Flea tossed the pickaxe into his magic bag and took out his talon daggers.

Moments later, a bright pink and aqua colored centipede came around the corner further down the shaft. It was maybe a bit longer than Flea was tall. It didn’t seem to be very menacing to Flea. Even the pinchers at its mouth were small for its size. Flea glanced over his shoulder to make sure Bob was farther up the hill, but found him right behind him.

The clinking started again, causing Flea to whip his head back to see what the centipede was doing, but found it standing still.

“Shit, another one is coming. Bob, you may need to run away.”

As the second centipede came around the bend, Flea could see this one was much smaller than the first. As the smaller one came closer to the larger one, it didn’t stop but charged towards the duo. The larger of the two then let out a shriek and started running towards Flea as well.

Flea ran forward, and as the bugs got close, he dove over the top of them, hitting the ground rolling, then came to his feet. Turning around, he leaped onto the back of the larger one. Flea’s weight pushed the centipede’s body to the ground, stopping its forward motion. The centipede tried to turn its head, clacking its jaws, but could do nothing. Flea started slamming his daggers into the section between its head and the next segment.

Flea made fast work of the bug, its head now hanging onto the body by a small piece of its inner flesh. Looking up, he saw Bob sitting on the smaller one; it too was dead.

“Did you just copy what I did?”

“Yess. Dis is fun!” Bob hissed out.

“You need to work on not hissing when you talk, dude. People are going to think you’re always angry with that face of yours.”

Bob frowned at Flea, making him chuckle. Flea started to butcher the bugs and found out pretty fast their blood was a type of acid. His hands were now covered with splotches of discolored skin. Using just his daggers, he found the cores in the second segment behind their heads. Both centipedes had Clouded Cores.

Sitting with Bob, Flea waited a few minutes to see if any other bugs came up the shaft. After waiting for around twenty minutes, Flea decided to start mining again. The centipedes didn’t come again for another five hours. There were three of them this time, all smaller than the first two.

“I’ll bet the vibrations from my mining are causing them to investigate. With them coming every five to six hours after I start mining, their nest must be much further down the shaft.” Flea said to the sitting Bob.

“Possible,” Bob replied.

The duo continued with this cycle two more times. By the time they had stayed twenty-four hours down in the mine, Flea had sixty-two iron ore and eleven Clouded Cores. He decided they should head up to the surface, use the cores, and get some sleep. Flea wanted to log out and make sure his body’s needs were met as well.

Two hours later, they left the mine. It was completely dark out. Flea assumed the time had to be somewhere after midnight. No one else was around the camp, so they decided to head to their cabin.

Absorbed 11 Clouded Cores

+ 76 Energy

“Bob, I’m going to transfer over 70 Energy, and level your Strength to 3, and Constitution to 2. Hitting accept, Flea looked over Bob’s status screen.

Companion Lv.1: Bob

Persian Earth Cat

0 Energy ➕

3

Strength

➕ [40]

2

Constitution

➕ [30]

0

Dexterity

➕ [10]

0

Intelligence

➕ [10]

0

Wisdom

➕ [10]

“It’s going to take around 2,600 Energy to get you to Lv.10 Bob. I think we should prioritize your levels before anything else. Once we’re both at the same level, we can figure out our next steps. So for now, let’s keep mining out that iron deposit and killing any bugs that crawl up to investigate us.”

“Sounds good, Kyle. You’re the boss, after all.”

Flea looked at Bob in slight shock.

“Well, you’re talking has improved.”

“Yes. I’ve found I have a second set of vocal cords. Figuring that out, I was able to start manipulating them, and speaking came easier. The other set seems to be made for hissing and lower-pitched sounds. Hence why you thought I was always hissing while I talked, Kyle.”

“Awesome, also while we are in-game, call me Flea and not Kyle.”

“Understood, Flea.”

Flea laid down in the bed he had taken for himself, having Bob curl up at the foot of it. Flea then logged out to eat and use the bathroom. Kyle then went to sleep in his bed.