The world went dark and I was laying in the grave naked. “Shit!”

“Is that you Azriel?” Alex called from somewhere in the graveyard. “Yeah it’s me.” “Hey, you should stay in your grave. Jazmine dropped the group and Reincarnated. She is hanging out waiting for us. She has already killed me once.” “That Bitch,” I said. Sadly, I had little emotion behind it, I was just getting tired. I thought about it for a moment, “Well if the others live, we can collect her coin from her tombstone. Plus, the 50% durability damage from the Reincarnation must have her gear near breaking.” “Yeah, she doesn’t have half her armor anymore,” Alexander replied. A cold voice came from above my head. Looking up I saw a pissed off Jazmine scowling at me, “it’s still enough to kill you. Just step out of that hole and I can show you.” I closed my eyes and said nothing. She spit at me, but the liquid vanished at the entrance to my grave. I knew no one else being here yet was a good sign. There was only 4 of them left and I’m pretty sure Lien had just leveled. Her status bar in the group menu showed she was rocking 80% mana. I opened my eyes, Jazmine was gone. Then a prompt filled my vision.

Lien Xi has tried to resurrect your corpse. This corpse is located in the province of Southern Erthoia.

Do you wish to resurrect?

Yes / No

I chose yes and I was suddenly standing in the kobold mine again. Looking around the kobolds were dead. They had done it. The one that I cast sleep on never even woke up. They had killed it laying there. Without a word, I went over to Jazmine’s tombstone and looted it. 7 gold 28 silver and 841 copper divided among the remaining group. As Alexander reappeared, Lien asked, “What happened with her?” I shrugged, “She was waiting for us at the graveyard. She killed Alexander as he attempted a corpse run. The others looked stunned. Then Luxus spoke up, “She didn’t listen anyway. No loss.” I nodded and we proceeded to loot the corpses.

After cracking open the crates we found more than just quest items. One crate had a bunch of enchanting items, and another had alchemy gear. We split the loot to the enjoyment of all. I got a nice mortar which would have cost me a gold and 5 satchels of magic dust, along with some random components. Lien was looking impatiently in the direction of the Rare Kobold by the time we were done.

“Okay folks let’s do this,” I announced. Light, rebuffs and we were off. “Good news, this guy and his crew should be easy after that lot.” Luxus announced. There was a round of goods and thank gods.

It turned out the named Guy was called Overseer Nisgloo and he wasn’t a kobold. The creature currently pounding me with a two-handed sword was not a little lizard man. This guy was taller than me, flat faced, with brown wrinkled skin. His shaggy hair was bright red and you could see it poking out of the cracks between his armor. He was most certainly a Hobgoblin. The good news though he wasn’t very tough. We had walked into his threat range without warning. Luxus had went stealth and found him again. When we got close enough for the creature to see our light it shouted, “No one can stop us!” Then it charged. Its kobold miners looked at each other confused then followed the attack.

With no time to plan we tried the same plan we had on the normal pulls. I moved up and put myself between the foes and my casters. Alex slept one then got to blast my target. Luxus got behind my target and took full advantage of his sneak attack skill. The Acolytes healed, debuffed, or did what they thought was best. In the end it was rather anticlimactic. At least until I looted the fallen Overseer.

Overseer’s Sword (Green)

Quality: High

Restrictions: Warrior

Overseer’s Pack (Blue)

Quality: Rare

Binds on Pick Up

Overseer’s Breastplate (Green)

Quality: High

Restrictions: None

Sapping Orders

Quality: Quest

Binds On Pick up.

5 Gold, 10Silver, 1 Copper

We each instantly got the Sapper’s Orders and the Overseer’s Pack. The Pack was rather nice. It was an 18-slot bag, with 5% weight reduction. Since I had gained a couple small pouches from the kobolds I wasn’t in dire need of space, but the weights were starting to add p. placing the Pack in my 6h and final bag slot I felt it appear on my back, under my backpack. The Breastplate was Scale which none of us could use, so we rolled for it and the sword. I won the breastplate. Luxus got the sword. Then I opened up the Sapper’s Orders.

Secret Quest Completed!

Kobold Commander

You have discovered that the Kobolds overrunning the northern mine were being driven by a Hobgoblin named Overseer Rex. You have killed him and now the kobolds should return to the mine slower.

Rewards:

500 Exp 50 Fame Access to Quest: Sapping the Walls.

New Quest

Sapping the Walls

Description: You have captured Rex’s orders to destroy the walls of Hub. The orders tell of some specially trained Kobold Sappers recently sent to Rex along with required Explosives. You must stop them before they destroy the walls and leave Hub defenseless.

Quest Type: Unique

Difficulty: Moderate

Outcome:

Alert Captain Stuart in Hub of the Kobold Sappers

OR

Find and defeat the Sappers before they can destroy the wall.

Reward: Varies

Failure:

Die before alerting Captain Stuart or stopping the sappers. The Sappers destroy the walls of Hub.

By the sounds of everyone’s mumblings, I guess when I opened the letter everyone got the pop-ups. Lien sighed, “I guess I’m not getting any rest at all.” Luxus exclaimed, “A freaking unique quest! I’ve never gotten one of these before!” Alexander looked puzzled, “What’s special about a unique quest?” Luxus looked stunned, “Man you call yourself a gamer! Esper is known for its interactive world! Heck on most servers’ players sit on the thrones of the Core races. A Unique Quest is one that can only be attempted once. When it is completed or failed the game world is altered by its results. They are super rare! I got the Midnight release just so I could have the chance to find one!”

The other Acolyte shook his head. “I know they are rare, but I have to bail. I’m sorry guys I stayed for us to finish the class quests and get this guy. But I’m sure it’s already past time for me to get ready for work. Thanks for the group.” Luxus, Lien, and I looked at him amazed. He shrugged once more and then went stiff. I tapped him on the arm. No response. Luxus was aghast, “Dude!” I shrugged, “He Logged out.” “What do we do with him?” Alex asked. I shrugged, Lien said coldly, “I’m going to get beat by my husband and probably have the household Net locked on me. But I’m still here, leave the fucker and let’s go!” She started into the small tunnel branching off the main Cavern. Luxus and I followed her in, Alexander called, “Wait it said we could just go to the guards and report to them.” I waved for him to follow, “It sure did, but the Heroic thing to do is Save the Town ourselves.” Luxus looked amused, “Better loot too.” Alex ran to catch up.

The tunnel was empty of kobolds. We only stopped a couple times as we came across Ore Veins or some herb or the other. Eventually the tunnel widened into a small chamber with 4 other tunnels running from it. Standing in the center of the small room was a Kobold Sapper. The little lizard had a large oddly glowing object on its back. The thing looked like two large tanks full of liquid with tubes and wires running between them. The liquid in the left was blowing sea blue.

I nodded at Alex and we both began to cast. Our two spells competed. His Flame Arrow and my Magic Missile were joined by an arrow that Luxus had fired. All three weapons hit the creature in rapid succession. The kobolds Life went orange as it turned to us. It snarled, “You go boom!” and charged. “Back! I yelled, stepping forward myself. The others moved back down the tunnel a dozen paces, Luxus fired an arrow as he went. The kobold ran to with-in a few feet of me and I muttered, “I have a bad feeling about this.” Quickly hopping forward I jabbed at the kobolds face. Before my sword landed the world became fire, noise and pain.

Kobold Sappers Slain. 1 / 12

I awoke laying on my back with Lien kneeling above me. “You awake?” “Ugh, I think so… Help me up.” Lien stood and offered me a hand. I stood and almost fell over again. Lien looked at me concerned, “I’ve never seen anyone actually get knocked out in a game before.” I rubbed my head, “I’ve never been knocked out before.” Alexander’s voice came from the dust clouded tunnel. It looks like the blast didn’t ruin the tunnel’s integrity. But if Luxus hadn’t hit the Blue tank that blast would have been a lot bigger. There is that blue stuff all over the place.”

Even though, my life bar was full my head was killing me, and my ears kept ringing. Looking around the tunnel had not fared to well. Parts of it had collapsed in leaving debris all over. I was no expert, but I agreed with Alexander’s assessment. If that bomb had went off at full power, we would have died under a ton of rock. Grimly I led the party into the first tunnel to the left.

We slowly moved down the tunnel, I had Luxus stealth and stay ahead of us. He was limited in how well he could see, but any warning was better than none. A few hundred yards later, the tunnel turned sharply left. As we approached the corner Luxus waved his blurred see through hand, then held up one finger and pointed around the corner. Knowing what he meant I slowly crept forward and looked around the edge. There it was, maybe 25 yards further away stood another Kobold sapper. It was illuminated by its glowing cargo. I could barely see slanted yellow eyes gleaming in my direction. Moving back a little I began to cast. Luxus raised his eyes in surprise but moved down the tunnel towards our foe. I hoped his stealth held.

With a flash my Magic Missile shot from my hands and sailed around the corner. I stepped around just in time to see it hit my target. The glowing tank shattered, glowing blue liquid splashing onto the tunnel floor. The Sapper snarled and charged at me. Its rush took it past Luxus, who stabbed the creature in the back of the neck. Critical damage numbers flew, and the creature dropped to the ground. Alexander and Lien both came around the corner as the body hit the ground.

We found two more Sappers down that passageway. Each time Either Alex or I would target the glowing blue tank with a Magic Missile to ensure it was hit. The others would drop the Sapper as quickly as possible. Fortunately, they were rather weak if they couldn’t use their bombs. Upon reaching the split we took the far-right tunnel, my hope was it was identical tot eh left. That hope came true. Evidently the Dev’s did not want to rebuild the entire tunnel, instead this was a mirror image, down to the locations of the Sappers.

With 7 Sappers dead we returned to the split.

“Innie mini miney Moe … My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it.” Finishing the rhyme, I was pointing down the left corridor. I turned to the right and started down it. Lien rolled her eyes at me as I passed.

We walked down the passageway in near silence, Luxus ahead of us and Lien in the rear. The sounds of our feet echoed as we moved, I’m sure if this was the real world there would have been no way we could sneak up on anything. As it was the Sapper was turned around placing his Bomb in a niche carved into the wall. I was still a few steps out of range when I started casting. My bolt of dark energy covered the distance with a whoosh and struck the tank. Glowing Blue flew all over the niche and the stunned Kobold. Moments later the poor creature fell down dead without a sound. “I almost feel bad,” I said. Luxus shrugged, “They are digital code. Plus think of it this way. If they succeed, then Hub will have no defensive wall.” I looked at the normally jovial Thief. He too seemed oddly subdued. The remaining kobolds all died just as quickly and effortlessly. It was really kind of sad. We had worked out such a pattern that there wasn’t a challenge here. I guess the Dev’s thought my plans were good too, because pretty much every other kobold I was getting a Leadership and Tactician skill up. When the twelfth Kobold Sapper died messages appeared all over my vision.

Unique Quest Completed!

Kobold Sappers!!!

You have slain the Kobold Sappers mentioned in Overseer Rex’s orders. The city of Hub has once again avoided disaster due to the Heroics of a few noble Travelers. With this plot thorted, the forces desiring the fall of Hub will have to retreat and replant. The city is in your debt. Return and report to Captain Stuart for further rewards.

Achievement: Savior of the City.

Rewards:

1000Exp +1 Cp 500 Fame Report to the city of Hub for Additional Reward.

Province Alert: A foul plot in the Kobold Mine North of Hub has been Thorted! 4 brave Travelers have saved the city from imminent doom! The Kobold Mines will now have fewer kobolds in it and will now be called the abandoned mine.

You have completed a Unique Quest. Would you like to be Teleported to the Mine’s Entrance?

Yes / No

I looked at the others and then hit yes.

Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade.

Name: Azriel Starblade

Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi

Level: 3 Exp: 3,037 / 6,000

Strength (STR): 16

Muscle: 8 / Endurance: 8

Dexterity (DEX): 10

Agility: 5 / Instinct: 5

Constitution (CON): 10

Health: 5 / Resilience: 5

Intelligence (INT): 16

Logic: 8 / Mind: 8

Wisdom (WIS): 10

Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5

Charisma (CHA) 10

Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5

Luck (LUC): 2

Hit Points (HP): 340 / 340

Mana; 380 / 380

Stamina: 32.5 / 32.5

Character Points (CP): 6 / 8 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0

Renown (REN): 250 / 1,000

Fame Level: 0 Unknown Deity: None

Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000

Titles: None

Achievements; Famous Family: Starblade.

Deeds and Properties: None

Spellbook

Skills:

Perception (Apprentice): 3 / 75

Running (Apprentice): 2 / 75

Abilities:

Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth, Leather and Chain armor types.

Shield: You can proficiently use Light shield types.

Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Axe, Mace, and Crossbow weapon types.

Professions:

Alchemy (Apprentice): 1 / 75 ©

Herbalism (Apprentice): 11 / 75 (G)

Spells:

Detect Magic (Rank 1)

Fire Arrow (Rank 1)

Flame Wave (Rank 1)

Light (Rank 1)

Magic Missile (Rank 1)

Read Magic (Rank 1)

Sleep (Rank 1)

Social

Friends: Lien Xi.

Enemies: None.

Family: Ace Starblade.

Clan: None.

Guilds: None.

Nation: None.