Ethan collapsed to his knees in pain. Red and yellow alerts flashed in his field of vision. He didn’t need to read most of them to tell that his current situation bordered on “completely fucked”.

Blood and gore covered his entire body. His new armor had held up well, but still a good bit of it was his own. Bite and claw marks riddled the unprotected parts of his body in deep gashes and a foot and a half of wood protruded from his torso.

Breathing shallowly from his punctured lung, he swiped wearily into his inventory and withdrew a healing potion, one of the few he’d picked up before leaving Grassmere. It wasn’t enough to heal him fully, but the scarlet potion stabilized him and the bleeding debuffs fell off. Thanks sis, Ethan thought to himself as he drank the sweet liquid.

Steeling himself for the pain that was about to come, Ethan swiped for a second potion. Gingerly, he gripped the small javelin in his right hand, his left clasping the glass vial.

One. Two. Three.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Ethan screamed in anguish as he ripped the projectile from his chest, frothy blood pouring down his armor. He downed the healing potion as quickly as he could needing to restabilize before he bled to death.

The magic elixir worked immediately. The hole in his lung healed and the exit wound sealed. It still wasn’t a strong enough dosage to heal him completely but he wasn’t in danger of death again.

“It would be fucking embarrassing to die to a bunch of bullywugs in the starting zone. Again.” He muttered to himself as he lay down to rest and eat for a minute. As fatigued as he was, he didn’t want to sleep here. The zone was still safe to him, but he wasn’t willing to risk the time for a nap.

In his short break he did, however, take the time to review some of his alerts. Ethan saw he’d leveled up two more times, he was now level 7. He’d also gained some skill points in the starting abilities he had.

***You have 10 unspent skill points***

It had been a productive afternoon. He’d gotten enough meat to turn in to Jerry and was halfway through the “Something is Amiss” questline before he’d almost died.

Leap had been granted to him at level 5, most class abilities required a trainer to learn but physical skills tended to be granted no matter what. A fact Ethan had always been happy about, it broke the immersion for him if he had to go to a trainer to learn “just hit it harder”. If there was a magic component to an ability he would get a notification that he had to learn it from someone. Charge had also upgraded to allow him to use in combat.

His new skill was what had gotten into his predicament. Ethan had been trying to level his abilities and had jumped into a larger group than he realized. It had definitely been a learning experience in looking before he leapt.

With his health restored Ethan stood up and looked around at the scene he’d created. Dismembered limbs dotted the marsh and frog people floated in small red tinted water around him. Weapons that had been dropped by their owners stuck out of the mud in places or were on the ground just out of their owners reach. What little raised ground there had been torn up into muddy gashes and broken reeds were strewn everywhere. If he didn’t know better, it would have looked like a massive battle and not just a low level player over pulling easy mobs. He couldn’t help feel a little embarrassed at the sloppy killing field he’d created.

Ethan started the arduous chore of looting what he could. Most of the bullywugs were naked, a few had loin cloths but nothing with pockets so loot was just going to be vendor trash weapons. He was past the point of needing gold so he left the broken arrows and javelins laying. His own throwing axes were re-acquired though, and there were two non broken javelins that he took just in case of emergencies.

That’s the easy part…

The quest he was on required him to extract teeth from the bullywugs as proof of their demise. Privately he wondered if the same developer who created Mihal had made this quest too. Checking the amount he needed, he set to his grisly task. For being over large frogs, the bullywugs had perfectly straight, perfectly white human-like teeth.

Fortunately they weren’t set as deep as human teeth, or even wolf teeth, and he was able to break them off easily. He pulled eight teeth off the dead frog people he’d already killed and began searching for the rest that he needed.

It didn’t take long for him to find a group of four more. Not bothering with stealth, Ethan moved within range and withdrew his bow for the first time. Carefully he nocked an arrow, drew back on the bowstring, took a breath and released.

He missed wildly. The arrow flew past his target and disappeared into the marsh.

Cursing, he nocked a second arrow. The bullywug he’d shot at had aggro’d on the first attack and was now bounding towards him in a half jump half run croaking in anger.

He fired again, this time catching the frogman in the leg. A gurgle of pain came from the mob as it fell forward on its injured leg.

Ethan quickly slung his bow across his chest and unhooked his axe. Wanting to make the most of his advantage he ran at the bullywug ready to slash down as soon as he was close enough.

His axe split the skull of the bullywug open on the first attack, killing it in a critical blow. He retrieved another tooth and looked at the remaining mobs. With an idea in his head he scouted around the pack to make sure there were no other mobs that would get in his way before positioning himself for what he hoped would be an awesome display.

Watch this.

Ethan activated Charge and sprinted at the closest bullywug, stunning it with his attack. A split second later he leapt at the next mob and used the extra momentum of the ability to demolish a second bullywug. With a flick of his hand he launched a throwing axe at the remaining frogman. The spinning axe head caught the bullywug as it was inflating it’s throat sac in a deep croak. Air and blood spurted into the air and the croak ended abruptly.

Pain radiated through his outstretched arm as the green and brown bullywug he’d landed on bit down on his unprotected elbow.

Ethan kicked out, the metal toe of his boot catching his enemy in the side and the bullywug let go. Another swing of his axe and it fell to the ground. A small ball of electricity sizzled past his face, the first bullywug had recovered from his stun and was attacking him. In his haste to attack he hadn’t realized it was a caster, luck had been on his side when he chose that particular one to stun.

He dodged a second electric attack and sprinted back to it. This frogman had blood red eyes and was bright green. Unlike most of the bullywugs he had already killed, it appeared to also be wearing a mud colored robe of tattered cloth. Ethan disemboweled it with a slash across its torso, it’s guts falling in a pile onto the dirt.

A cough from behind, caused him to spin around and launch another throwing axe that burrowed deep into the slimy grey head of the remaining bullywug. It crumpled into a heap as it died.

Ethan’s higher levels had let him Enrage for longer, but he deactivated it as soon as the last enemy died. No sense wasting his stamina.

As he bent down to collect the teeth from the bullywug shaman he noticed a purple glint in the steaming mess of its entrails. When he reached his hand in, it closed on something hard. Pulling back he saw a purple crystal the size of an acorn. It was oddly shaped, like it had grown around the creature's heart. Smooth edges that seemed to curve around organs outlined the crystal as he inspected it.

Quest: Is this the heart of the problem?

In your clearing of the bullywugs that had been attacking caravans through the marshes, you have come across what looks to be a crystal in the shape of a bullywug heart. You can safely assume that this is what has been causing them to become more aggressive. Search out the bullywug nest and kill 10 more corrupted bullywug mud shaman along with their corrupted leader and destroy the root of the corruption.

Objectives:

Bullywug Mud Shaman killed: 0/10

Corrupted Bullywug Elder Shaman killed: 0/1

Cause of corruption: undiscovered

Reward:

300 Experience Points

Unknown

Ethan ripped out another tooth. Finally, It doesn’t usually take this long of killing these guys to get this part of the quest. He was relieved that he had gotten the quest starting item to continue the line at the same time as he had killed the last bullywugs needed for their teeth. No more amateur dentistry for me today.

When he retrieved his throwing axes and the last two teeth another quest notification flashed into his vision.

Quest: Something is Amiss! Part II - Complete!

You have successfully thinned out the bullywugs who had been attacking the caravans. Hopefully they’ll be less aggressive at this point and trade between Grassmere and other towns can be resumed once again.

Quest Rewards:

200 Experience

Return to Caravan Leader Halder for an additional reward.

Golden light flashed around him as he leveled up and an alert let him know of his advancement and additional skill points to spend.

I probably need to start thinking about how I’m going to allocate those points. It doesn’t make sense to just hoard them .

It didn’t take very long for him to jog to the center of the marsh where the corrupted bullywugs lived. Unlike the drab colors of the frogmen he’d been killing, these were bright colors. Some were the same emerald green with red eyes as the one he’d killed for the crystal but others looked like poison dart frogs from the real world: vibrant blues, yellows, and greens mixed with black. Just by looking at them he knew all were the magic users he was looking for.

Their “nest” was more of a shallow crater in the mud. Small mounds were raised higher and filled with eggs, each one guarded by a mud shaman who was channeling magic into it. In the center was a decent sized hovel made of mud that he couldn’t see into.

When he crossed the lip of the hole another system alert greeted him.

SYSTEM ALERT: YOU ARE ENTERING A PERSONAL INSTANCE. MONSTERS IN BULLYWUG GROTTO WILL ATTACK YOU ON SIGHT.

He knew this was coming. This was always the first real taste of what the actual world of The Tower was like. He couldn’t just waltz in and kill only what he needed to. If he wasn’t careful, every mob would aggro onto him. But it also meant that nothing would respawn on top of him while he was in the area.

Ethan grinned to himself. This is where the fun begins.

He had always prided himself on how he prepared for any fight in any game. For a few minutes he forgot he was trapped in this prison game and relished as he prepared for a real attack.

Laying low into the mud where he was less likely to be seen, his first priority was to mark all of the mud shaman. Using the in game raid interface he put icons on every target he could see. Even if the bullywugs went out line of sight their markers would still appear.

Skull. X. Circle. Square. Triangle. Moon… Using the same order he would have to signal his group which target to attack in what order he carefully planned his route. His goal was to kill them one at a time where he could, as fast as he could. The last thing he needed was a pack of casters throwing lightning spells at him.

Before Ethan slid down the side of the embankment, he put 8 of his 12 unused skill points in strength and the rest in constitution. He wanted the extra damage more than the HP.

Hoping he wasn’t drawing attention to himself as he moved into position behind his skull marked target, readying his axe as he crept. With his eyes focused on his enemy, he didn’t see the twig before he stepped on it. The snap alerted the shaman and it turned on him, it’s bright red eyes spotting him right as Ethan began his swing.

The dump of points into strength paid off as his axe cut cleanly through the bullywug’s neck, severing it’s head. As the corpse hit the ground, Ethan checked to make sure he hadn’t been seen. When he was positive he was in the clear he looked for his next targets. X wandered over to Circle but they were isolated. The rest of his targets were still spread out.

Moving as quickly and quietly as he could get tried to flank the marked pair. He knew he’d get a surprise attack on one but not both so he had to make every swing of his axe count.

Ten yards out he broke into a run, activating his charge. His axe caught X under the arm, but his ability stunned it. Ripping his axe free he swung on Circle as the bullywug shaman’s hands began to crackle with electricity. His cleave sliced off one of his enemies hands and his swing ended back in the leg of X. Jerking his weapon back he impaled the spike on the back of the axe head into Circle’s face, puncturing a bulbous black eye. In this close combat he could only ricochet his attacks between his foes.

The frosted iron axe head slammed into X’s neck and Ethan and Circle were both sprayed with bullywug blood, but X was dead. He spun his axe in his hands so the blade was once again swinging on Circle, crushing the shaman’s rib cage and finishing it.

Two kills later and he still hadn’t taken any damage. That just left five of the corrupted mud shaman. He reordered his list, trying to make sure his luck stayed positive.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Thank you Chef Bell. His culinary mentor had drilled the six P’s into him when he was still in school. It was just as applicable in the game.

After he killed his newly marked skull he surveyed his killing grounds again. X was still alone, but Circle was patrolling near where he’d killed the shaman earlier. Square, Moon and Triangle we’re now grouped together.

Circle just moved up on the list.

Staying low to the ground, Ethan rushed to frogman that was getting dangerously close to the mobs he’d killed. Still 10 yards away, he realized he wasn’t going to intercept the shaman in time. With no other option, he leapt at his enemy, silently praying it wouldn’t make too much noise.

He landed hard and stumbled, rolling into the bullywug and knocking it over. The frogman croaked in alarm as it scratched at him, trying to free itself. Ethan swung his fist into the mob's face, crushing it's oddly perfect teeth. His strike dazed the shaman while he scrambled to his feet. With both arms he slammed his axe into Circle’s neck, blinking as dark red blood splashed into his face.

Raising his axe again over his head to make sure he had killed the shaman, Ethan grunted in pain as electricity surged through his back. With his muscles spasming, he turned his head to see which mob had aggro’d onto him. Square, Moon and Triangle were all in the process of casting spells at him, their webbed hands arcing with electricity.

He didn’t have time to double check that Circle had been killed, he needed to move as quickly as he could to get away from the spells. Lightning magic tended to be quick cast spells with low damage, but they had the bonus effect of causing paralysis if hit too much. For players it made great for crowd control, but when used by mobs it could mean a quick death.

Ethan dove to his left as two small balls of electricity flew past him, the third catching him in the metal of his greaves. Pain shot into his shin as the metal conducted the electricity easier into his limb. His entire leg twitched from the current, but he was able to stand up.

Being able to charge right now would be REALLY great. Fucking cool down. He thought, frustrated at game limitations that were out of his control. You can do this, just focus. Being a cook was a constant battle against pressure. Being a group leader, the same. He just had to keep his head level and make every attack count.

Shaking his leg to make sure the twitches had subsided, Ethan took off at a run to meet his enemies. The mud shaman had cleared half the distance to him and he wanted to make up the rest. He sprinted as hard as he could towards the bullywugs, double checking his stamina as he barreled through the mud. He didn’t need to get exhausted in the middle of this fight.

Thunder rumbled above him and large rain drops began to fall as the sky darkened, but so focused on his target Ethan didn’t even notice as the water splashed around him.

In unison the mud shaman began casting their electric attacks. Sparks flickered off long clawed fingers as six red, bulbous eyes focused on the Fighter charging through the mud.

Ethan spun to the left around as he dodged all three spells, slipping in the mud but catching himself with his free hand and ending in a runner’s starting position. He pushed off, charging again with his axe ready to attack Moon and activated his Enrage. He felt his muscles bulge with strength and his legs pumped faster propelling him through the mud.

The bullywugs began to cast again but Ethan had cleared enough ground to attack. Moon stopped casting and prepared to dodge the blow from the frosty axe. Ethan surprised it by leaping into a drop kick, using his momentum to add more power to his attack. The force of the Enraged powered kick knocked the short frogman back ten feet.

He raised his arm to protect his face from the two bullywugs standing over him and rolled over onto his stomach to push himself up to his feet. Standing up, he felt a warm, sticky rope coil around his left wrist. Square had shot it’s tongue at him and was restraining his hand. Ethan twisted his arm and grabbed the long pink tongue in his hand and jerked the bullywug towards him. His larger size and much greater strength ripped the shaman from the ground and it flew towards him. Ethan met it with a knee to the face, shattering several of its teeth.

Another surge of electricity caught him by surprise, Triangle had run and alerted X. With another bullywug in the fray and his stamina depleting, Ethan began to worry.

His hand still stuck to Square’s tongue, he turned and leapt as high as his ability allowed to clear the distance between him and the pair of mobs attacking him, dragging the mottled blue mud shaman with him. With his bonus strength from his enrage, he swung the terrified mob into Triangle and lashed out at X with his axe. The impact from being used as an improvised flail killed Square and Triangle was sent sprawling into the mud. His axe slashed through the fragile bone of X’s femur, shattering it and the shaman fell to the ground.

Even though Square was dead, it’s tongue stayed stuck to Ethan’s arm from its natural adhesive coating. A swing of his axe and the pale tongue was severed and dangled from his wrist like a macabre bracelet. The corrupted shaman he’d marked as X pulled itself through the mud, dragging it’s broken leg, and clamped it’s jaws weakly on his calf. His plate armor protected him from all damage, and Ethan responded by swinging his axe into the mob’s head. The frost axe head wedged into the bullywug’s skull and he had to rip it free, throwing the mob in the air in the process.

He quickly looked for his remaining targets, Triangle was on the ground next to him, but the rain had begun falling harder and he couldn’t see Moon’s actual body. Luckily the marker he’d tagged the mob with was shining through the rain. It had retreated after being kicked and was now hiding among the egg mounds.

***Your Stamina has dropped to 35/180***

Bright red letters slightly obscured his vision for half a second, wanting him to be careful or he’d end up fatigued. He only had seven seconds left before he ended up fatigued.

Ethan finished Triangle off with a blow to the head and sprinted towards Moon, dodging an electric spell as he ran.

***Your Stamina has dropped to 25/180***

He had just barely gotten halfway to the final Shaman, but sprinting while Enraged was draining more of stamina.

****Your Stamina has dropped to 15/180****

He still had thirty feet to his target, he could now see the glow of electricity as Moon was casting.

****Your Stamina has dropped to 10/180***

Ethan swung his axe behind himself and launched it forward, ending his enrage at 6/180 stamina and fell to his knees. Just enough to keep him from being fatigued.

The magic axe head spun in circles as it flew in an arc towards the Moon icon. Ethan watched from one knee as the glow of his weapon suddenly vanished.

He had been ignoring the combat prompts and alerts that he’d been receiving since he first dropped into the basin, but now he turned his entire head to make sure he could see the translucent golden letters that now appeared to him.

You have slain Corrupted Mud Shaman, you recieve 18 experience points.