“I. Love. This. Hammer!” Arron yelled.

Grey matter, mixed with blood and skull fragments, rocketed through the air in a gory arc, covering Torbin in viscera.

“Oh, come on!” the dwarf groaned, gagging as he spit bits of bloody material onto the ground.

Arron laughed and flashed a wicked smile before moving deeper into the cave. A need exuded from the hammer, almost a pressure, insisting for more. And Arron reveled in joyful agreement of that steady, intelligent communication.

Even though Mule Near hummed for him to rush in swinging, he had to play it smart. Skag Beasts were fast and deadly, shaped like a bulldog with the head of a lizard and roughly the size of a Tesla. And they were ambush predators. They’d carved a network of tunnels under the Dunburg Farm, a local food source for Glendale. His job was to clear the tunnels so it would be safe for the farmers again.

Torbin, having introduced Arron to the local bounty board, had come along as backup while Arron went on the Party Quest alone.

Quest Update – Clearing the Tunnels – Skag Beasts Slain 3/7

Pressing further into the tunnels, Arron scanned for traces of his foes. A number of things could indicate he was nearing one of the beasts, from soft ground to shifted rock, where they waited for an opportunity to pounce. With their teeth laden in venom and a bite like a vise, Arron wasn’t eager to let another get the drop on him. The smug smile on Torbin’s face while Arron healed had been annoying. There was a reason this was considered a Party Quest.

Perception Check: Success!

A small trickle of dirt ran along the wall to Arron’s left, disturbed from its precarious resting place by some unseen movement or tremor.

Arron flashed a military hand sign to Torbin and stepped to the side. The stocky dwarf rolled his eyes in response, found a rock, and chucked it at the wall where the creature hid within.

Dirt, teeth, and claws erupted from the tunnel wall.

Arron smiled fiercely, his own anticipation for his next move reflected in his weapon.

Swinging like Mickey Mantle, he smashed the head of his hammer through the beast’s skull, straight into its neck. The creature’s spine bent at an unnatural angle and snapped inside its body from the force of the blow.

Laughing, he collected his loot crystal and came face to face with a narrow-eyed Torbin. Blood and brains were, once again, running down the dwarf’s face into his beard.

“I want to be very clear, Arron,” Torbin said, voice laden with menace. “If you cover me in the brains of one more beastie, I’ll send ya to respawn myself. Slowly.”

Oops… Arron nodded.

Quest Update – Clearing the Tunnels – Skag Beasts Slain 4/7

Level Up – You are now Level 12!

You have met the necessary requirements to progress along your path.

While each step is necessary, not every step is important.

New Skill Gained

– Focused Strike –

Gain x2 damage for each second you prep your strike up to 5 seconds.

Focus helps with many things.

“Hey, Torb, I got a new Skill. Focused Strike?” Arron asked.

“That’s a good one,” Torbin said, his face pinched up in disgust as he tried to wring the viscera from his beard. “Lets you charge an attack to do more damage. Pretty useful if you have a moment to prepare.”

“Nice!” Arron exclaimed, a little thrill racing through him from the ideas that sprang to mind.

This wasn’t his first new Skill, or Level, or even quest since getting his hammer. At this point, he was familiar with the Leveling system and the infectious excitement each advance to his character brought.

It still surprised him how much he now cared about Leveling, loot, his gear, all of it. Arron could hardly recall the last time he cared about something unrelated to his responsibilities. At times, he had to remind himself this was just a game and he had a purpose here.

Of course, that purpose was entirely in line with Leveling at the moment, and he had a long way to go to Level 35.

That was the recommended Level for the Black Keep. 35. It had taken him over a week to reach Level 12. Not even halfway to his target and his experience gains were already starting to slow down.

He shook his head. He would get where he needed to go. There was no other option. Bella needed him.

Turning back to Torbin, he said, “Hold up for a second, let me assign my Stats and we can keep going.”

With an effort of Will, he opened his Character Sheet.

Arron Level 12 – You have 3 unassigned Stat Points Class: Hammerhead Strength: 12

Charisma: 6

Fate: Hero

Agility: 7

Knowledge: 5

Luck: 0

Toughness: 13

Cunning: 5

Karma: Nice Guy

Weapon

Mule Near (Damage Variable);

Featherlight: This weapon weighs 1/4 its actual weight to its wielder.

Living Weapon: This weapon emanates with its own intelligence. It will grow in power and abilities the more you wield it.

When violence is near, it kicks like a mule.

Head Empty Arms Empty Neck Empty Hands Empty Torso Cheap Gambeson Feet Worn Boots Shoulders Empty Legs Dirty Leather Pants Ring 1 Empty Ring 2 Empty Skills

Blunt (I)

Brutal Hit - Passive (I)

Timed Strike (I)

Traits Stubborn (III)

Arron admired his progress for a moment. He’d put most of his focus on Strength and Toughness, for obvious reasons, well… after getting his Charisma to an average level. He didn’t need to be prom king, but being an outcast had irked him. He couldn’t do this alone. A lesson he learned the hard way.

The new Skill, like Torbin had said, would be pretty handy. The more he thought about how he’d use it in battle, the more he realized it fit well with his other Skill. He was pretty sure Brutal Strike had been the reason for at least one of the exploded skag heads.

Skill

– Brutal Strike –

You will do 8% additional damage when striking an enemy’s weakness.

When you spend all your time cracking skulls, you get good at cracking skulls.

What interested him the most was the change to his Karma.

He hadn’t done anything specific to change the Stat, at least not that he knew of. He’d slain a bunch of monsters, except he had trouble believing simply fighting beasts would affect his Karma.

Maybe because he was clearing danger from this farmstead for the NPCs that lived here? Getting brownie points from the game for helping NPCs made some sense.

When he asked, Torbin had no more info than Arron did, which wasn’t surprising. Karma was a mystery Stat. Slaughtering lots of people wholesale was a widely recognized way to lower your Karma. But how it affected gameplay, or what generally made it go up or down, nobody really understood.

Shrugging, Arron decided a single tick wasn’t anything to worry about, and assigned his Stat Points into Strength and Toughness.

“Four out of seven down, you ready to keep going?” Arron asked, closing his sheet.

“Aye, let’s finish this one and get back to Glendale. Tired of the smell.”

“Sounds good.”

Cautiously, they advanced, Arron constantly searching for anything that might give away the next ambush.

The tunnel remained quiet, opening in front of him like a yawning mouth. Rolling his shoulders, he tried to stretch out the spreading tension.

Not being attacked wasn’t a long-term option down here. It all came down to when. He guessed they’d traveled about a hundred yards into the tunnel system since the last battle, collapsing a few side tunnels behind them to ensure they wouldn’t get hit from behind.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up, lighting his nerves on fire with expectation. Something was coming. That was without question.

Turning another corner, they came to a chamber lit by a small hole, roughly fifty feet overhead to the surface. Dust particles danced in the beam of daylight filtering into the space, giving just enough light for Arron to see two of the Skag Beasts chewing on some unfortunate fella’s corpse.

Arron smiled at the beasts being in the open, congratulating himself on his lucky break.

He ran in, letting out a primal scream as he jumped through the air, soaring toward his prey. He had completely missed the “hold on a second” hand signal from Torbin.

The first Skag Beast dodged backward and Arron’s hammer slammed into the earth, barely missing its head. The beast hissed as it coiled its body, ready to spring.

Fire blossomed in Arron’s calf. The second beast had snuck up behind and sank its teeth into his leg.

You have been poisoned.

Great, he thought as green tinged his vision.

With a growl, Arron swung his hammer, but the angle made it awkward to put enough force behind it. The blow glanced off the offending skag’s shoulder, aggravating it further.

The skag responded by dropping to its belly and rolling on the ground like an alligator in a death roll, all while latched onto Arron’s leg.

The bones in Arron’s leg shattered, and as the roll continued, broke even smaller. Arron grunted when the skin of his malformed leg twisted into a tight coil, pieces of bone sticking out at random angles and locations, no longer holding a shape that resembled a human appendage. In that moment, Arron was incredibly thankful for the Pain Threshold. This game didn’t pull any punches.

The near liquefaction of the bones in his leg had done one good thing though. With his leg out of the way, he had a clear path to hit the skag straight on with the full force of Mule. A sickening, hollow thud echoed through the chamber when the hammer impacted the soft side of the skag’s torso. The beast’s chest turned purple, a sign of internal bleeding.

The skag collapsed. Tiny specs of blood passed its lips, its life leaking into the chambers of its lungs. It struggled to breathe, and Arron was nearly transfixed with how real it seemed as the beast died.

It stopped breathing a moment later, a dull, glossy look coming over its eyes.

And then he was hit from behind by the other skag. The one he forgot about. Without his leg, he stood no chance in resisting the fall, and it rode him all the way to the ground, biting and tearing.

“A little help?” he shouted at Torbin, gesturing at the skag currently perched on his back.

Torbin didn’t respond, scowling at the room, searching… for something.

Pebbles started to dance along the ground in the center of the room, and a deep rumble brewed within the earth.

“Shi—”

The ground bubbled, rising into a vast dome of dirt and stone. Just when Arron thought the bubble would pop, the earth slid away, revealing a huge skag the size of a city bus.

Arron immediately focused on the monstrosity.

Inspection: Meager Success

– Skag Queen – Beast (Earth) – Level 16 The mother of the Skag Beasts. Quest Update – Clearing the Tunnels – Kill the Skag Queen. Clever girl.

The giant creature stepped closer to the limp body of the skag Arron had just killed, sniffing. She nosed the dead creature, whimpering when it didn’t move.

Something stirred in Arron at the sight. This wasn’t real, and even if it was, the skags were a danger to the public. But witnessing that mother nose her dead baby… that hurt.

The other beast, making itself comfortable on Arron’s back, let out an ear-piercing screech. Arron was forced to cover his ears or risk going deaf.

The Skag Queen turned its massive head, and with one look at Arron, let out a roar of rage and challenge. Neon green saliva dripped from its open maw, sizzling the dirt beneath its body as it walked towards him.

Arron tried to squirm out from under the skag. Blasted thing had to weigh 400 pounds, and his strength was waning from the poison. The combination of the two effectively pinned him. Which wasn’t great, as the hate behind the eyes of the advancing momma skag gave him a decidedly “heroic” pause.

“Hey, Bessie!” Torbin shouted from the other side of the room, waving his hands back and forth.

The Skag Queen stopped its advance on Arron, whipping around with a growl low in its throat.

“I can’t help you fight it, boy, or you won’t get the XP,” Torbin shouted, maintaining eye contact with the queen. “I can only distract it long enough for you to deal with that one so you can focus. Now hurry up, these things—”

The Skag Queen’s rib cage expanded with a deep breath, and all at once her chest contracted like a bellows, shooting neon green acid all over Torbin.

“—spit,” Torbin finished, wiping the goop off his face. He was far too high a Level to be concerned about the acidic effects of this lower-Level beast, but the disgusted look on his face and mumblings of “take forever to clean,” made it clear that, while he wasn’t in danger, he also wasn’t happy.

Arron wormed his good foot onto a nearby boulder for leverage, and pushed with all his strength.

The young skag sank its claws into his back, finding purchase and holding on tight.

Tiny crimson spots floated around the edges of Arron’s vision, confirming the beast was damaging him.

He pulled one of his few remaining Health potions from his Inventory, managing to get half of it down before the thrashing of the beast on his back knocked the bottle from his lips and it shattered on the floor. This wasn’t working. He needed to change tactics. After a quick check that his twisted leg had returned to a somewhat normal shape, he pushed up flat from the floor. Getting his good foot underneath him in an awkward runner’s stance, the beast perched precariously on his back, Arron started toward the wall in front of him.

He hop-jumped, mangled leg barely able to take enough weight to keep him going, and picked up an uncertain speed. At the last moment he leapt, dipped his shoulder, and spun to smash the Skag Beast into the wall with as much force as he could muster.

The skag cried out and furiously kicked its back legs, clawing at Arron’s lower back and kidneys. The crimson vignette thickened. Arron’s body was fast approaching the limits of the damage it could take.

He didn’t care. Arron smashed the beast again, hard enough to stun it.

One final slam dislodged the beast, and Arron crushed its skull with a mighty, jumping, one legged stomp.

Arron wobbled on his still soupy leg. He tried to get his good foot under him and stumbled back into the wall, his body weakening from the loss of blood. He recovered another Health potion from his Inventory and threw back his head, downing the concoction.

Immediately the crimson halo on his vision started to recede. Pinpricks began to walk up and down his leg as pieces of bone pulled themselves back into his flesh, and a thin ache emerged inside where the bone knitted itself together. All told, it made Arron thankful, yet again, for the Pain Threshold.

Arron took an experimental hop, confirming his wounds had been healed.

Arron had to stifle a laugh when he looked to Torbin. The dwarf stood in the opening of the chamber, glaring fiercely while the Skag Queen chewed on his immovable form.

It appeared to have started tentatively. The Queen biting Torbin in fast strikes, only its teeth were unable to puncture his hardy and high-Level skin. The Queen was less subtle now, its head tilted sideways, gnawing on the dwarf with its rear teeth like a dog with a bone. A thick layer of slime covered most of his body, dripping into a growing goop-puddle at his feet.

“Any time you are ready,” Torbin said in a low, dangerous tone, fighting to keep his lips close together so the goo didn’t get in his mouth.

Arron hid a smile and took a deep breath, tightening his grip on Mule. He ran towards the beast, hammer poised to strike.

Bringing its weight to bear, he smashed the hammer in a powerful overhead strike onto the Queen’s rear foot.

She screamed in pain, directly in Torbin’s face. The dwarf closed his eyes, his jaw working so hard his drenched beard shook. She turned like a snake and snapped at Arron, who barely jumped out of the way.

Arron dove under the beast, crawling to its other side, and put the bulk of the creature between himself and its head.

The skag tried to follow Arron’s movements, and Arron realized the creature wasn’t quite fast enough to keep up, if he could—

He forgot about her feet. “Bessie,” as Torbin so affectionately named her, lashed out with her back foot, connecting with Arron’s center of mass, and sent him into the cavern wall with enough force to break bones. His vision instantly went crimson, and even with the Pain Threshold maxed out, there was still a tightness where some of his ribs must have snapped.

He leaned on the wall for a moment, his body wracked with choking gasps as it tried to force in oxygen. His lungs were likely punctured, if the specks of red in his cough were any indication. All in all, it was a weird sensation to have his body gasping for breath, but feel so little of the pain and terror associated with a lack of oxygen.

It was in the middle of this lovely train of thought that the Skag Queen got herself turned around and was… yep, about to eat him.

Arron stuck out Mule Near in an instinctual last-ditch effort. The skag’s jaws closed over the top half of Arron’s body, sinking teeth like daggers into his thighs, further narrowing his vision and bringing him closer to death.

He coughed at the horrid acidic smell of the beast’s mouth, desperately searching for anything that could help him.

At least luck was on his side. Mule Near was propped within the beast’s mouth, keeping the void open. The skag clenched its jaws, trying to sever his legs completely, but his faithful hammer would not bend for something as simple as this beast.

The Queen shook its head, trying to dislodge the hammer, and let loose a scream of frustration.

Arron’s world went silent except for a thick ringing threatening to implode his skull.

His legs were being shaken like a ragdoll, snapping at the force.

Using his free hand, he retrieved his last Healing potion and downed it, trying to push back the creeping crimson. It worked, though he didn’t like the look of his still green vision, or the way his legs had stopped bleeding with fangs still through them. Did he just get massive leg piercings? He hoped not.

He had a hold on his hammer, which was good, even though it was useless for anything other than keeping his legs attached by refusing to bend under the weight of the skag’s jaw.

If he pulled Mule from its current perch, the beast would snap its jaws closed, definitely giving him mobility issues. He didn’t think he would survive long after that, and with his threshold so high, the XP loss would be significant.

Arron searched for something, anything, he could use to spin this to his advantage. No super helpful sticks of dynamite were around, no lamps containing an all-powerful genie.

He spotted the soft palate at the back of the beast’s mouth and it brought back a memory…

“Here, drink some tap water,” Bella had said to him, trying not to smile. “It will warm up your soft palate. The palate getting cold is where the pain comes from, you doofus. That’s why you don’t try to eat the entire ice cream cone in two bites.”

Arron, who held his head in his hands, was breathing deep. Groaning, he took the glass, pulling several hard swallows. A sigh of relief and a smile were his wife’s reward for saving him.

“Fun fact, the soft palate is the closest part of your mouth to the brain, hence… brain freeze,” she’d said.

The closest part to the brain… Looking closer, Arron saw the tell-tale indication of a weak spot. Half a plan was better than nothing.

Arron gritted his teeth and activated his newest Skill, fingers tightening around his wedged hammer. Power accumulated within Mule while tension multiplied in his arms, then shoulders, and finally, chest. The energy rose on a humming wave, growing more and more insistent. Mule Near began to glow a soft red when the hum reached a thundering note of crescendo.

Screaming in rage, Arron ripped the hammer from the beast’s jaws and swung with every ounce of effort left in his broken body, smashing it into the Skag Queen’s soft palate.

The top of the Skag Queen’s head exploded upward like a gory volcano.

She collapsed instantly, and Arron fell with the head and body all the way to the ground.

Quest Update – Clearing the Tunnels – You have cleared the land of the Skag Beast infestation and ensured the safety of the Dunburg Farm. Well done! You really blew the top off this one.

Arron congratulated himself on his victory. It felt good to win an impossible fight for once. That elation lasted all of two seconds. He was still stuck inside the Queen’s mouth.

Cursing, Arron tried to pry the jaws of the monster open, but he might as well have been cutting a steak with a spoon for all the good it did.

That didn’t stop him from trying, of course. Several minutes of grunting, twisting, and a slew of cursing followed, until he finally stopped, took a deep breath, and shouted into the cavern for help.

Torbin’s smiling face appeared in the gap where the top of the Skag Queen’s skull used to be. He mouthed something Arron could tell was snarky, but, perhaps thankfully, he still couldn’t hear anything.

“Oh, just get these things out of me,” Arron grumbled.

Torbin flashed a mischievous smile before he disappeared. Several moments went by with nothing happenning. Then, just as he was starting to think the dwarf abandoned him as some sort of cruel joke, something moved on the other side of the teeth.

“Torbin? What are you doing out there?” He called, getting only the expected silence in reply.

The teeth behind him exploded.

A bright flash of light, and he was flying toward the cavern wall in a sick scene of deja vu.

Something sticky filled his mouth, belatedly realizing Torbin was dumping yet another Healing potion down his throat.

“Aww, come on, boy. Can’t let a little dynamite take ya down.”

Arron glared at the dwarf but didn’t say anything while his body healed. Clearly, his hearing was working now, fixed by the potion.

“In all seriousness, though, not a bad battle… for someone working solo,” Torbin said. “You took care of the mobs and then the beast. You tried to use tactics where you could and ultimately took advantage of a weak spot. Not bad.”

Arron smiled at the praise, starting to respond, but Torbin cut him off with a raised hand. “You still should have died like twenty times, but your Toughness kept you alive, barely. You need to learn to dodge when things try to hit you and take advantage of opportunities others give you. For instance, the beast was clearly distracted, trying to use me as a chew toy. Why didn’t you find a way to land that big leaping hit on a weak spot?”

Arron opened his mouth, then closed it. He hadn’t because he hadn’t thought of it.

Torbin nodded, not needing him to answer. “Use the system to enhance your game, Arron, not fight against it. Speaking of which, if you’re ready, I think it’s time we start incorporating you into the team.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Arron asked, his voice coming out more defensive than he intended.

Torbin shrugged. “We’ll talk about everyones Classes, how they work together, and the best way to incorporate your particular talents, then we run some test fights. Try to figure out how all the pieces work together. You good for that?”

“Works for me.”

Torbin smiled, and only after he agreed, did Arron realize the dwarf had been holding some tension as they broached this subject. Was he concerned Arron wouldn’t be willing to try team fighting? That couldn’t be right. He would have to work with the team to join the team, right?

Or maybe that was it. Torbin was worried Arron was going to back out of joining entirely. That would be a real dick move after the way they helped him so far. Even his low Charisma could tell that. And he wasn’t about to hold it against the others for attempting to steal his Living Weapon. Mule Near was pretty badass.

“Was me leaving a real worry?” Arron asked.

Torbin dropped his gaze and breathed out a long sigh. “It’s happened before… Look, Arron, I’m gonna be straight with ya. You’ll find out eventually anyway. There’s a pretty standard ‘meta’ a lot of the players use as they work their way towards their first ascendence, and—” Arron’s slight twinge of confusion put a smirk on Torbin’s face. “Oh, ah, that’s what happens when you Level max this region, you ‘ascend’ and gain access to more of the world. Its the next stage for me and pretty much the rest of the group. It’s sorta like gaining your Class, except after you ascend, you can’t interact with the content in this zone. You can be here, but can’t quest or PVP or anything.”

Arron stared blankly.

Torbin waved his hands. “Don’t worry about it. You’re a long, long way from ascending. Anyway, most players follow a meta, basically a widely recognized way to play that emphasizes strengths and counters effectively. For instance, most warriors lean toward a Tank/Damage build. They can take a hit and keep things busy while everyone else who can’t take a hit, like our Sonya, attacks. They’re often called meat shields, if that helps with the visual. Well, that’s not how our group works. Our tank is Sonya, the squishy mage.”

“So?” Arron asked.

Torbin actually laughed. “So, nobody, I mean nobody, uses a mage as their tank. They have almost no Toughness to speak of.”

“Then what makes Sonya so special?”

“Her Class makes her unique. She doesn’t take damage herself, the things she makes does. She might not have many damage spells, but when it comes to stopping things, funnel or control where they’re coming from? She has that in abundance. It’ll make more sense once we do some tactics. Anyway, most of the team is like that, and because of that weirdness, people leave for a meta group. And for you, lots of teams would be glad to have your original Class in their meta.”

“I see,” Arron said somberly. He could tell this was something Torbin had dealt with before, and he appreciated the dwarf’s honesty. Either way, Arron was happy with his current team. “Well, you guys don’t annoy the piss out of me,” Arron said, flashing a big smile. “I’m good where I am.”

Torbin rolled his eyes, but Arron could tell the conversation had taken some stress off the dwarf.

Arron collected his loot, eager to see what drops he might have gotten.

Skag Queen Looted!

Minor Core x1

Skag Skin x6

Skag Queen Unbroken Tooth x2

Skag Queen Tooth Fragment x13

Skag Bracers

Interested, Arron looked closer at the bracers.

Skag Bracers +5 Armor, +5% Poison Resistance Made from the hide of a truly pissed off momma skag.

Arron strapped on the bracers, excited to finally add armor to his gear. These bracers would soak up damage before it got to him, and honestly, even with the Pain Threshold removing the physical sensation, it was still creepy to see things stuck through his limbs. Hopefully, this would help with that.

“So, we were going to work on team fighting,” Arron said, falling in alongside Torbin as they headed out of the tunnels. “When do we start?”