I awoke as the sun’s rays illuminated the sky above, the ground was still cast in shadow. I had taken the first watch overnight as there was no telling what kind of monsters would assail us if we were both asleep. The crisp morning air was heavy with moisture causing the grass to accumulate dew. This day was going to be a warm one, the humidity exaggerating any slight temperature increase.

I slowly surveyed the campsite. The fire burned low, its short flames and coals helping to cast light upon the surrounding rocky outcrop. Orion was sitting on a small boulder overlooking the river, his silhouette shadowed against the amber yellow sunrise. The noise I made when gathering my few belongings didn’t seem to faze him and after walking over to him I realized why. The stream was rippling with life, fish jumping out of the water and swimming just underneath the surface. Orion was staring at the stream, his tail swishing back and forth against his rocky outpost.

“I’m a fisher you know. This kind of run would have set me up for a year if I dried them properly.” He said quietly, staring out at the water, “But it’s confusing because I’ve never seen a run this big work its way up this waterway.” Still staring at the water he reached his right hand down to the base of his rock and produced a cooked fish.

Upon receiving this gift I thanked him realizing only after the first bite how hungry I’d been. When I asked him how he managed to catch a fish without any equipment he tilted his head at me, “What kind of equipment other than a spear do people use for fishing?” I was flabbergasted at his reply, was this world so primitive as to not have yet developed nets for fishing? If not, I could make this Ferrin very happy if I were to teach him. Saving the thought for later I gave him a workaround answer before quickly changing the subject.

“So, are we ready to make our way upriver soon? We’re going to swing through the area where I found the healing moss to gather some more of it before heading back to the stream. Then you can lead the way to your village.” I smiled as the Ferrin jumped down from his rock, finally tearing his eyes from the fish.

“Yes I suppose we should get an early start. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your dagger to sharpen myself a spear this morning. I was hoping the cooked trout might make up for it.” He produced a crude wooden spear from behind another boulder that I hadn’t noticed.

I felt a pang of stupidity resonate through my head after seeing the spear. I had left my dagger in a spot where he’d been able to both take it and replace it before I’d awoken. If he’d wanted to, he could have slit my throat while I slept. Setting aside my own stupidity for a brief moment I was able to let him know that it was fine. I suppose I would be able to trust him with a weapon given that he hadn’t killed me last night.

After finishing our fish and gathering the rest of our equipment from the campsite, we set off upstream. The Ferrin was surprisingly quick and tireless while I struggled to maintain my pace; he was constantly having to wait for me to catch up. I watched my stamina bar drain as we trudged ahead, how much stamina did this guy have! After I signaled for him to veer off into the woods we took a small break. I sat on the mossy ground panting and sweating profusely, thanking whatever god thought it a good idea to include sweat glands in the Wrorine design.

“Didn’t spec into stamina I see.” Orion wore a grin, his eyes conveying the teasing joy he was getting from my struggle, “That’s alright, let it build back up here, we don’t have that far to go to the village from where we left the stream.”

I had to chuckle at his comment. Even in offhand remarks he still taught me things that I didn’t know. The old man had mentioned starting stats but he’d never said that I could improve them. Perhaps my level had something to do with it, “Yeah yeah, laugh it up, I’m sure that huge stamina pool is going to mean you’re able to gather more moss when we get where we’re going right?”

He smirked, “And why exactly do you think I encouraged you to rest here? You’ll have plenty of stamina to burn if this moss isn’t too far away.” He’d tricked me, damn him! And here I thought I was getting one over him. I conceded defeat, too tired to think of an adequate comeback.

After my stamina had sufficiently recovered we continued on our journey. Because of the speed we were moving we’d made staggering progress towards our objective. By the time we saw some of the moss hanging from nearby trees it was still mid morning. Orion’s mouth dropped when he saw the grove filled with healing moss and started stammering about giving up his fishing career in lieu of becoming an herbalist. Quickly going through and gently tearing the moss off of the tree branches, leaving a bit on the branch to ensure it would grow back in time.

“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this.” he turned to me as he continued working, “Something is off, this forest has never been this productive. These will sell for a small fortune to traders who come through Fenroot so we should gather as much as we can and get out of here. If any humans find us in a place like this, they might kill us to keep us from coming back here to harvest it.”

He turned back around, now working even faster than before. Was the racial disparity here really that bad or was he exaggerating? Regardless of the answer I didn’t really want to stick around and find out. We worked tirelessly until noon before finally stopping, all our pockets overflowing with the valuable moss. Overall, between the two of us we were able to carry about 20 bandages worth of healing moss, the lack of any reeds needed to make them into bandages freed up additional space.

Happy with our haul we started back to the river, slowing our pace only when we could no longer see any hanging moss, “Well if we can get these back to the village intact we can both live like kings for the next year, or we could go with the less fun option of not living like kings and stretching that wealth out a bit longer.” Orion was daydreaming about the value of our haul. Apparently, the moss itself was worth three gold coins a piece as it was used in healing potions and salves. We’d be able to sell each for around two gold and that would net us 36 gold for the entire haul, as I wanted to keep a few for personal use. He’d twisted my arm into accepting that it was only fair to split the profits favoring myself as repayment for saving his life so I would be walking away with 20 gold to his 16.

For comparison he explained the system of currency in the area. One gold was worth 100 Silver and one silver was worth 100 copper, an easy system to remember thankfully. Two copper could buy you an uncooked fish while one silver might be able to buy you an ingot of iron. When questioned about armor he informed me that depending on the quality decent weapons and armor might start at about one gold a piece while ones of lesser quality might go for as little as 80 silver. Helping this Ferrin out had turned out to be a very good idea. Not only had I learned some very crucial information, I had also come back to gather valuable material that I wouldn’t have known about otherwise. The three points of experience I had gotten were just icing on the cake.

Orion was chatting away, still daydreaming about how he was going to spend his fortune when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I couldn’t tell why but some part of me deep down had noticed a change in atmosphere. Before registering that I even heard the twig snap I launched myself at Orion. Tumbling to our left onto the ground as I say a black mass fly through the place we’d been walking moments before. Rolling into a crouching position I surveyed the threat in front of us.

Spinning to face us was a jet black creature not unlike the tardog I had face the day prior. The creature was starkly different however at almost double the size. It’s maw dripped black ooze as it snarled at the fact that its ambush had gone awry. By this time Orion had righted himself and was on his feet, “What in the hell is an alpha doing here!” He brandished his wooden spear, pointing it at the alpha tardog, drawing my dagger I did the same.

I could see the Ferrin next to me quivering, spearpoint shaking as he stared down the massive creature and I couldn’t help but empathize. Having faced a regular tardog the day before I knew how dangerous an encounter like this was. This thing was obviously stronger than anything either of us had likely faced before. Thinking quickly a plan was starting to form in my mind, “I’m going to draw its attention, you need to use your extra reach with that spear to harass it while it chases me. Aim for the legs to try to slow it down.” He nodded and I prepared to spring to the left.

As soon as I moved the alpha jerked into action. It was a lot faster than its normal counterpart and I barely avoided the crunch of teeth that blew past my right shoulder. I heard a yelp as Orion’s spearpoint sunk into the alpha’s fleshy shoulder joint and saw it’s gaze shift towards the Ferrin. Now was my chance! I lunged at the creature, my dagger coming down across its face as I felt it slice from ear to cheek. Orion jumped back as the creature roared in rage, it’s now bloodied eye now fixed on me. I dove to my left before I even registered movement and felt a small tuft of my fur disappear in the tardog’s mouth. I barely had time to reflect on how bad of a position I was now in before I had to dive out of the way again narrowly avoiding my arm being torn off.

My stamina was draining quickly with each dive, I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for much longer. I was on my stomach, my back now facing the alpha as I heard him prepare to lunge at me. My eyes met Orion’s as he fixed the butt end of his spear into the ground in front of me and I rolled to my right. I felt the ground shake where I’d just been lying and heard the alpha yelping in pain. I turned to see the alpha impaled through the neck, the spear buried deep into the ground from the force of the impact. The tardog vigorously tried to get at Orion who was still holding the spear, trying to keep the alpha from tearing it out of the ground. That monster was still alive!

Jumping to my feet I brought my dagger down, embedding it into the side of the tardog’s neck, again and again until it finally stopped moving, still impaled on the blood covered spear. A pool of red had formed at the base of the shaft as the creature’s blood flowed down it. Orion himself was no longer orange and black but had been covered in red from head to toe, still gripping the spear shaft while visibly shaking. We collapsed onto the ground at the same time.

At the top of my vision I could see the words, “Level Up” written in gold. It helped put into perspective just how much danger we were in. I had gained the majority of a level from a single kill…

And the exp had likely been shared…

Alpha Tardog (Level 7)

0/700 Experience

70/70 Health ----

110/110 Stamina ------

0/0 Mana --

50/50 Spirit ---

‘0’ Stat Points Available

Racial Ability - Call Pack, Rally Pack, Rage

Skills: (Tar Fang F) (Enhance Agility G)