Jack awoke when a servant bearing breakfast knocked on his door. He wasn't hungover, but he felt the effects of not having gotten a full night's sleep. Maven's was far different than the last time he was there. The influx of gamers made the place more lively and dangerous. Jack had thought that it's what one of those wild west boomtowns must have felt like. The air was filled with an almost tangible feeling of excitement and danger. Jack was most surprised by how quickly guilds were forming, and people were grouping up in reasonably large numbers.

Jack rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, sat up, and bellowed "Enter."

As expected, the servant brought in a tray of food and coffee. Jack couldn't remember the man's name but gave the servent a silver coin before he left and had breakfast in bed for the first time in, honestly, he couldn't say. Jack started his third day in this new fantastic world and was still finding it hard to adjust to time being more relative than exact. Surprisingly, he still found himself frustrated when he woke to scan for a nonexistent clock.

Jack slowly chewed his food and was genuinely happy for the first time in as long as he could remember. He watched the beginnings of the morning color start to play on the curtain of the east-facing windows of his room in complete ease. It was easy to embrace this new world. He was having the time of his life. The food was terrific, and the world was so absolutely perfect down to the smallest little details.

With his food finished, Jack prepared himself and went down for his training session. This time Jack knew where he was going and strolled right past the attendee who was different from before and paid no attention. When Jack found Prince Charming, what ensued next was roughly two hours of some of the hardest P.T. Jack had ever experienced. Jack earned another level in his spear skill and surprised Charming by asking if the trainer would be available the next day and set another appointment with the sadist.

Jack still planned to get his hands on more information about the state of chemistry in this world and begin building equipment more in tune with the things he had spent years perfecting his skills with. He wanted a unit, and he wanted guns. Explosives too, but guns would be his first priority. He wondered how the training would need to be adapted to this new world. What kind of tactics would he have to develop to counter mages, massive beasts, and all the many many other things he didn't even know enough to worry about.

Jack met up with Tom and Solaria in the inn's large common room as the two ate their breakfasts. Like many things, it was very earthlike consisting of pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, and a carafe of coffee with the accompanying cream and sugar. The general consensus was that they would stroll over to the bulletin board after breakfast and take a quest. Jack hadn't realized that he had worked up a real hunger until he saw and, more importantly, smelled the food. Jack happily grabbed a pancake and dropped a sausage in the middle and consumed it burrito style with abandon before grabbing another.

They finished their food and set off to the bulletin board in utter excitement. The bulletin board had morphed into a frenzy of people. Jack's demeanor changed, he became quieter and more cautious. The others, seeing all the people, became aware too. Tom noticed something as a man at the bulletin board turned his head slightly. He noticed, with amazement, the man was wearing a baseball cap. A fucking baseball cap. It was green cloth with a brown bill, obviously made in world. The article of clothing was like a beacon saying from another land. That is when Tom realized that the mass were all players.

Jack approached the man to the right about spears length and spoke up, " Hello."

The man was nearly as tall as Jack and thin. Jack thought the man's equipment made him a ranger of sorts as he was armed with an unstrung bow and arrows in a quiver slung to his back, and a short sword strapped to his thigh. As the man turned to face the trio, they got a better look at him. He had a face that was thin nearing the gaunt territory. He was, however, not unhandsome with green eyes and black hair. Jack wondered if the man was half-elf due to his thin but regal appearance. The stranger was clothed in black leather armor that looked far better than the starting gear, a hooded dark green cloak of thick fabric with the hood down, and that baseball cap.

He man's response was slow and neither welcoming nor threatening as he extended his hand "Howdy, Lance."

"Jack," Jack replied, then motioned behind the man with his head and asked, "Anything good?"

The man appraised the three for a moment and said, " OK, you don't strike me as PKers, and you don't seem to be guilding up. Player killers seem to be becoming a real problem outside of the city from what I hear. Here's the deal. I have been running a quest chain that brought me here to the city where there is a Kobold king in caverns close by. I reckoned that there might be other quests in the cavern and decided to check here at the board yesterday. Up on the board, there are two other quests posted that are in the cavern too.

The problem for me is I went in there yesterday, and if I hadn't been hoarding health potions, I would have died. All said, my failed attempt would have cost me almost 1,000 gold if I had bought those potions instead of crafting them myself, and more importantly, it fucking sucked and hurt like hell. My proposition is to run the cavern together and cash in on the quests."

Jack took an appraising look at the man and thought, fuck it. The looks on Tom's and Solaria's face said whatever you think, so Jack responded, "From what and how did you escape?"

Lance explained, " I walked stealthily into the cavern, staying to the shadows. After I had scouted a good way in, I came upon a large group of kobolds patrolling. Well, they came upon me, actually. I was standing in the shadows as they walked past when two of the hideous little bastards got into a fight. One knocked another into what should have been the cavern's wall, but it was me instead. That revealed me to the group." the man shook his head and continued, "I slit the little bastard's throat and ran, but I got hit with arrows. As soon as I stumbled around a corner, I threw out all the fucking traps I had and begun to chug weak healing potion. I can make those, weak healing potions that is. They heal little damage, but I put ten of them in a large container, and as I ran, I chugged that bitch."

Jack was absolutely ready to give this a go. He looked at the man and simply said, "OK."

Jack created the party then told Tom and Solaria to get one of the quests while he got the other. Along the way, he picked up a health potion or two, and Lance went to the cavern entrance so they would see it on their map, making it easy to rally there. When Jack arrived at the quest giver, after dealing with the horrid potion seller, who's foul breath was bound to be worse than anything Jack could run into in the cavern, he found a grizzled old warrior captain of a mercenary company.

The man was straight to the point, " I need someone to go route out a boatload of those stinking bastards. I'll reward ya, and there is bound to be a bunch of loot down there too."

You have been offered the quest

Find and Clear Kobold Den

Do you accept?

Yes/No

Jack held out his hand, "Done."

The men shook.

After he regrouped with the party, they quickly shared the quests. Jack immediately went into combat thinking, and bluntly questioned Lance about his capabilities. Lance looked uncomfortable but answered the questions honestly, for the most part. The man was a self-proclaimed stealth hunter and focused on stealth, archery, and traps and, in his own words, " You know like some kinda fucking ninja archer. Thought I would even try to work in some shadow magic."

What ensued next was a total geek session where to Jack's astonishment, the other players erupted into an excited overlapping conversation about the intended builds. Tom wanted to be a rock god capable of casting " awesome spells " over massive crowds of fans or enemies, dishing out whatever pleasures or horrors he chose. Solaria wanted to be a beautiful sorceress in her charmed tower able to summon beautiful and majestic creatures unicorns, fairies, and a phoenix. She reeeaaally wanted to summon a phoenix. Lance added to his earlier statement saying he wanted to stay in the shadows and appear out of nowhere and disappear again without a trace. The others all looked at Jack expectantly.

"Me, but way more powerful," Jack said.

"That's lame," Tom said, punching Jack in the arm lightly.

This seemed to lighten the tone, and instantly Solaria and Lance erupted into laughter. Jack explained himself in an uncharacteristic openness, " My whole life, I never wanted to be anything other than a soldier. Where I lived as a child, it was sort of expected that men would serve somehow, and I counted down the days until I would be old enough to enlist. I was lucky enough to live that dream for thirty years. Now I'm just enjoying the game as a way to kill time."

It was a touching moment, and the other players looked to Jack with a mixture of reactions that the man couldn't read. After a moment, Solaria sprang forward like a rabbit wrapping him in a hug. Jack was taken off guard by the embrace because it had been years since he had physical contact with anyone other than the odd handshake. It felt good, very good, and Jack wasn't prepared to feel his cheeks warming as he blushed.

Jack couldn't hide the smirk that was plastered across his face and said,

"Let's get this show on the road."

When they arrived at the cave in the base of a huge rock or perhaps a small mountain, Jack took charge,

" Tom, if you have any kind of buff that can help Lance scout, use it now. Lance, you scout ahead till you see any enemies, diverging paths, traps, or anything unusual. When you come to any of those fall back so we can plan our reaction. The three of us will move slowly together, giving Lance a chance to work and minimizing the possibility of alerting any enemies."

Tom expected this but noticed that Solaria and Lance followed Jack's lead as they set off into the cavern without hesitation. To Jack's expectation, the cavern was cavernous. It was more like a giant crack in the solid stone with slanted jagged walls that, if Jack was going, to be honest, looked like a stone vagina. For a while, the movement was slow, the players needing to palm the wall to help with their unsteady feet as they shimmied further into the darkness. Jack didn't want to cast his Mage Light because it would send light way ahead of them negating any attempt they made to be stealthy.

Tom provided the reprieve for the thickening darkness after regrouping with Lance.

"Hold on, everyone. I haven't exactly perfected this yet," Tom said.

Balancing his weight so he could use both hands to play, Tom strummed a few light cords then hardly above a whisper he sang.

"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright. bright, bright, bright

Sun-Shiny day. "

Jack couldn't help but tap a foot along. Solaria even began softly singing along. The party was so enraptured with the song that they hadn't noticed that their eyes had slowly adjusted to the darkness far beyond normal human ability. Again the column moved forward with Lance in the lead and gaining ground. The crack snaked down steeply, and Jack guessed that they had descended a hundred feet or so over the course of maybe a mile before he felt and saw the ground flatten abruptly. The crack smoothed out to what appeared to be a perfect half-cylinder before opening into a large chamber where Lance waited for them to approach.

Inside the new chamber reminded Jack of both a royal hall and a church while also being stark and without decoration. It was a vast room and longer than it was wide by three times the fifteen-foot or so it was wide. The floor, walls, and high ceiling appeared as though they had been seamlessly carved from the rock.

The two walls along the sides each had four large wooden doors. There were rows of benches that began and ended with square pillars at least three-foot thick that went floor to ceiling with no kind of ornamentation on them at all. The benches all faced the far side of the room, reminding Jack of pews. There was a central walkway between the pews, all evenly spaced on each side of a central aisle. At the far end sat a table with nine chairs upon a pedestal about three feet high. Like everything else, it was completely unadorned. It looked to Jack like a place a king or lord would hold court, but then again, all the chairs were the same height, so perhaps a council.

Lance whispered to everyone, "The four on the left are two sleeping chambers with bunks, kitchen, and a room with a pool in the center and like trough running along one side. It seemed to be fed by a spring coming out of the wall on one side, and a drainage hole on the other. The right side is an armory with rusty old weapons. I think a large open room was for training, a hall with six closet-size bedrooms, and finally a suite with a sitting area, office, and a large bedroom. The far end contains a passageway. Beyond the passageway, it goes back to caverns, and about half a mile down is where I got into trouble."

Jack sent Lance to the far end with instructions to give a warning if anyone approaches. Solaria, he asked to stay at the end opposite and do the same. While he and Tom inspected the rooms off the central chamber. The trough as Lance had called it was a privy of sorts, and Jack thought the center pool had been used for bathing. All the rooms were the same as Lance had said. After Jack was sure nothing was hiding on this level to appear at an inopportune time, he gathered everyone to move forward. Jack sent Lance ahead, giving him a few minutes before proceeding with Tom and Solaria.

The group came to an oddity that Lance hadn't waited by or reported, and Jack wasn't sure how he felt about it. It was a natural feature. Actually, it seemed to be a chip, an impossibly huge chip. The chip was a reasonably even drop of four feet over a six-foot distance. On the one hand, it wasn't like an enemy slipped by him, and on the other, it was of note. Crap, if they were coming the other way, this would be a pretty nasty ambush point. Then Jack understood, a little late to the party on this one, that it wasn't a natural feature at all, it was built to defend against things deeper in the tunnel.

Jack thought about his quests and realized that he didn't know what the other quest was. He hadn't brought up his log when it had been shared. He chastised himself for overlooking such an important detail. Trusting that Lance would alert them of danger, Jack pulled up the quests. Lance could not share his quest because it was part of a chain, but there were two new quests in his log, and he got the gist by the names.

Find and Clear Kobold Den

Save Or Avenge Father Doronee

Kill some reptiles and find a priest easy enough, Jack was thinking to himself when he saw Lance returning. Jack assumed the scout had some information to share and felt himself getting excited. Lance reported that a patrol of twelve kobolds approached, and one was almost assuredly a caster. Jack smiled broadly, it was time to fuck up their day. Jack hurriedly laid out the plan. It was simple, and with the slightest bit of luck effective, Jack hoped.

The kobold caster's name was Rizziza LongClaw, and he was angry at the chief's insistence that HE lead the patrol. He was ordered, and that was the end of it Rizziza thought as he slowly shook his snout. There had been a human here the previous day, and the place still had the creature's foul scent. As they were rounding a corner on his way to the old temple, he noted something odd. He smelled the air more carefully. He was confident that he smelled more than one human, but that was odd because the scout report had been clear about there being only one the previous day.

Rizziza felt a shiver down his spine and was about to call for a halt when before them, three humans popped up from a crouch. They had used the defensive drop in what was generally an even incline to remain unseen. Crap, Rizziza knew that was there. Everyone knew that was there. How could he be the one to get ambushed there?

Then they popped up, they released two arrows and a magic bolt, all of which hit a target. Gorhiss, a grizzled old man, was taken in the eye with an arrow, not dead, but surely of no use for the immediate future. A young man eager to prove himself whose name Rizziza couldn't recall fell to the magic bolt. The bolt hit squarely and left a steaming mess where the young man's face once was. Rizziza snorted with disdain. The man had literally done nothing with his life other than being a burden to those that reared him. Shitsa, the female warrior who volunteered for whatever patrol went out in a vain attempt to gain respect, was shot through the calf.

Rizza could see well up the path behind the attackers that were readying for another valley. Only another one or two at most could have used the land feature to remain out of sight, so he ordered a full charge as he began summoning his power. The enemy on the rise attacked again, hitting three more targets. A massive armor-clad man rushed forward to meet the charging footmen Rizziza had been given for the patrol. None of that mattered now because all Rizziza needed to do was summon enough power to show these fools what a horrible mistake they had made.

Rizziza gathered nearly all his power, It took some time to focus every last bit of his will into his lethal intent. He was about to release it when he felt sharp crippling pain in his back. The pain caused him to lose control of the magic he had summoned. Rizza's head exploded with the pain of the backlash. The lost spell's pain tore at Rizza's focus while the unseen attacker stabbed him repeatedly until his world went dark.

Jack used the defensive feature perfectly. Staying crouched down in the lowest point of the chip, Jack waited for the right time to motion Tom and Solaria to begin the attack. Just peeking up enough to see Jack noticed the caster smelling the air and out of fear that the element of surprise could be lost soon, he gave a thumbs up and stood. He drew the bow as he stood and just let loose into the group without more than a general aim. It didn't matter because the kobolds were grouped, and the arrow hit a fierce-looking creature in the lower leg. Jack aimed at the next shot and hit one of the reptile creatures square in the chest. Jack didn't want these creatures to overwhelm his friends, so he decided to split the oncoming group.

Jack ran forward in a full sprint, twisted his torso, put his shoulder into his shield, and ran right through the oncoming enemies. They stood only chest high at most and hadn't expected his wild charge. There were seven enemies, two of which were injured, and as Jack plowed through them, more than a few saw as Lance let the lifeless body of the caster drop to the ground. The enemy's realization that both their leader and nearly half of their force had already been dispatched brought a frenzy to the remaining troops. They attacked in desperation. The three that continued up the incline didn't reach Tom or Solaria, who continued the send arrows, and magic bolts into the oncoming attackers. The other four rushed Lance and Jack, who were holding their own just fine against the smaller creatures. Jack still had his extra shield strapped to his back, which allowed him to block some attacks by pivoting to let attacks bash harmlessly against his back.

The final four kobolds fell quickly. Tom hit one with an arrow even though he and Solaria were shooting slower, having to pick shots with concern for the other players. After another magic bolt struck. Jack hit the reptilian with a vicious spear strike that went through the enemy. It seemed the creature stuck to the end of the warrior's spear. Wrenching his spear with all his strength to remove it, Jack only managed to hit the one living kobold with his comrade's corpse. The living kobold was uninjured by the attack, but he was momentarily unbalanced. Lance used the lack of balance to finish the kobold with a stab to the throat that sent a blood spray across the young man's face.

It was an excellent ambush, Jack thought to himself with pride. Jack was facing the problem that he hated the idea of ranged firing with friendlies mixed among enemies but also didn't want Solaria and, to a lesser extent, Tom mixed up in close combat. However, the immediate problem Jack was faced with was that his spear was proving to get stuck often. He decided that he would have to obtain a spear with a crosspiece at the spear blade's shaft end or change weapons entirely.

Jack held out an empty cloth sack, " All gold, gems, and potions go in here to be split at the end."

Jack dropped the bag on the ground and begun searching the nearest corpse. He was almost taken aback by the sight of Solaria pilfering another body with a wide grin. Jack had expected her to go all girly on him when the carnage came, and he was finding her excitement somewhat alarming. He didn't dwell on it though; after all, he needed loot for a new spear. Tom must have seemed the most trustworthy. He was nominated and unanimously agreed to as the loot bag's official carrier.

Solaria said she felt magic in the caster's staff and kept it. She continued walking along with two staffs like oversized ski poles, as the party resumed the cavern's search. Ahead on the left, they found an offshoot of the cavern that Jack had to turn sideways to get through but widened after about five feet. The narrow passage opened to an area big enough for the four to sit down comfortably and went about ten yards in before ending. The offshoot was as defendable as possible, and the four players decided to break there for a while.

Solaria focused on her new staff in such concentration that Jack could only imagine she was casting an identify spell of some sort. Tom began strumming and again sang a song. This one Jack didn't know. Jack could tell he had put more into the music than just the vision spell. Jack focused, bringing up his hud. This time he saw an icon in the bottom left of his field of vision. Focusing on that icon, Jack saw he was Inspired. Tom played the entire song this time and, no one objected. Jack was smiling to himself as he thought that if the music were to draw all the little bastards, he could kill a whole host of the things if they tried to rush through this narrow pass.

Solaria held the staff up like a trophy. Then informed the group she could now cast an A.O.E Confusion spell with great satisfaction. Jack raised a single eyebrow as he stared at the young woman who shifted uncomfortably under the warrior's gaze. Jack just chuckled and said: " Well, that will come in handy."

Jack decided that he should bring up what had been gnawing at his mind since they ran into the patrol.

" If the patrol consisted of twelve, I would expect the main group to be far bigger, maybe upwards of a hundred. Blind speculation isn't going to help us. Still, there is an excellent chance that we will be facing more than we can reasonably expect to defeat. Remember this place. If we need to fall back at a full run and don't think we can make it all the way out or get separated, come here."

The players ate whatever they had with them, drank if they felt the need to, and lounged for about fifteen minutes before squeezing through the passageway and continuing deeper onto the cavern. Roughly fifty feet beyond the offshoot where the party rested, they came to a fork in the tunnel. Both paths being relatively the same. The party chose the left and continued with Lance stealthily scouting ahead. More and more forks, ts, and intersections arouse until, without his map, Jack would have been hopelessly lost. With all the uncleared areas around, Jack moved to the rear of the party to act as a rearguard, just in case.

After what felt like hours of slowly exploring, Lance stopped the group. Lance reported that not far ahead, he found bones, scraps of this or that, and more importantly, he heard the creatures' telltale noises. He hadn't seen them, but they were not far any. Moving slowly and quietly, the party progressed past where Lance had been. Not far from there, they found themselves peeking around a turn in the cave. They saw two kobolds behind a makeshift barricade consisting of two crates.

Beyond the sentinels, the tunnel opened into a large chamber. An entire village or whatever one would call a dwelling for a group of kobolds seemed to be in the vast space. There were three tents Jack could see, but the room opened up out of his view, so there could be dozens more.

At Jack's urging, Tom put the guards to sleep. Slowly Tom began to sing a song known to Jack but unfamiliar at the same time.

Say your prayers, little one

Don't forget, my son

To include everyone

I tuck you in, warm within

Keep you free from sin

Till the Sandman he comes

That was all it took of the song to see the guards soundly asleep, and Jack motioned for Lance to follow as Jack crouched low and approached the barricade. When he got to the barrier, Jack raised his head enough to see over it. When he was sure he wasn't being watched, he hulled one of the creatures over the barricade. Jack finished its miserable life with short, forceful thrusts of his short sword. Lance followed suit and dispatched the other reptilian without hesitation.

Nothing but a few miserable coins got tossed into the loot bag as Jack surveyed what he could see of the village. This is bad, Jack thought as he noted the list of factors working against his group. There was no safe way to recon the village. Reptilian or not, Jack didn't savor the idea of rampaging among children killing without mercy. There was an unknown number of enemies about the village that could come from any angle, at any point, and cut off the possibility of retreat.

Fuck was the thought that ran through Jack's mind next. Like a complete idiot, he screwed himself by attacking the guards. He could have retreated and looked for other approaches to the village among the labyrinth of tunnels without the enemies knowing that there was danger lurking about. Now that he killed the guards, it was only a matter of time before the enemy would be alerted.

OK, what now," Jack said to himself very softly.

Pulling his focus to the present, Jack let go of what he should have done and focused on what he should do. It was risky, but he just needed more information to make decisions. Jack kept lookout peering over the barricade as he waved Tom and Solaria forward. Jack sat there watching for long enough to say reasonably confidently that no guards patrolled inside the village. The nearest cover was a pile of sacks filled with something ten yards or so beyond the barricade on the left. From where Jack was, a kobold could be mear feet away from the pile without him being able to see it, though.

Looking at the others, Jack said, " We have no way to know how many are in there and no clear way to approach unseen. We can call it now and go home, or we can try to stealthily recon the area to get a better feel for the situation. So?"

Tom just grinned, "I'll give it a go."

Lance was resolute when he said, "I've come too far to not give it a try."

Solaria was just nodding in excitement. Jack set himself to the task ahead and felt the excitement building inside him. Jack spoke his thoughts out loud in hopes that someone else might provide the answer.

"This would be better with a way to signal each other, but here is how I think we should do it. Lance sneak up to those sacks and look for another hiding place you think you can make it to. If you see nothing, you think you can make it to come back, and I'll go up to at least that a look around. If you see someplace, you think you can make it to motion me, and I will come to hide behind the sacks while you move forward. Solaria next then Tom and like that we will leapfrog around until we have a better idea of the layout to act upon. If we stay close enough together, we should be able to group up if a fight becomes inevitable. That's all I got, but keep in mind the further in we go, the less likely we can make it out." Jack said with all due seriousness.

None of the party wavered to Jack's stare, and Lance was sent forward to begin the infiltration. Lance made it to the sacks and waved Jack forward only a few seconds later. Jack was silently cursing the young man who had undoubtedly not watched long enough to be sure the way was as clear as possible. Still, there was nothing to do now other than proceeding because if he didn't, the boy would be far from reinforcements if he alerted someone. Jack left his spear because it could be awkward, and he had no idea where he might be hiding next.

Jack made it to the sacks unseen and was relieved to see the camp's state and, more importantly, its inhabitants' state. The camp was far smaller than Jack had feared and was apparently a hunting camp of sorts. In cages along the back wall were all manner of subterranean creatures and humanoids. One group of pens stacked neatly three high held animals like spiders, snakes, and a scorpion with a stoneish exoskeleton. Another group of cages was larger and mostly empty except for the three that held prisoners. One held a human who, along with his clothes, was filthy and haggard-looking. The other occupied cages contained dwarves who looked recently captured by their relative cleanliness and the myriad of recent small wounds that must have been acquired in their apprehension. Jack noticed how the only four tents had been clearly visible from his earlier position by the barricade, making it appear as though the area was full of them. There were undoubtedly more of the creatures than would fit in four tents. He saw bedrolls and makeshift sleeping areas haphazardly arrayed all over the place in no particular fashion. All told there had to be fifty or more of the creatures, and Jack could see none that looked like children or particularly small versions of the others.

The creatures had not prioritized security in the camp's set up, and the tents blocked any view down the tunnel that Jack could now see was the only approach. The odds were still overwhelming, but Jack began to view the mission as at least possible. Jack motioned Solaria forward to his position behind the sacks. He moved behind the nearest tent were to his horror he heard the sounds two of them mating. Jack looked behind him in the barricade's direction until he made eye contact with Tom, then pointed his index and middle fingers of his right hand toward his eyes then pointed further down the tunnel behind Tom. The intention was pretty clear, keep your eye on the tunnel behind you. To Solaria, Jack made the same motion but towards the kobolds all drunken and passed out or well on the way to it. One empty barrel ale, mead, or something of the sort was middle-ish of the group, on its side, next to another barrel Jack was guessing was not yet empty. Lance, he motioned to him and when the man was close enough to hear him whisper.

"There are at least two of them in there uuummm having fun," Jack said.

Lance's face went through what would have been a funny train of expressions in a less severe situation in less than two seconds. First, Lance's brows furloughed in thought. That expression was replaced by shock when he realized what Jack meant. The final expression was the main attraction, though. When Lance placed that act with these creatures, his face contorted into a very memorable grimace of disgust.

Knowing they were on the same page, Jack spoke up, "I plan to go in there and kill those two. If you don't want to tag along, I won't hold it against you. If you do, we move quickly and get it done before they notice we are there. If we are lucky, any noise will be considered part of the action, so to speak."

Jack pulled up the tent's bottom, peeked inside, asked Lance to hold the edge, and slithered in without hesitation. Lance didn't want to look, but some twisted part of him had to look. When Lance did look, he didn't care at all about the sight because that lovemaking mother fucker wore a crown, the crown he no doubt needed to complete his quest chain. Inside the tent was a horrid mess and contained, besides the two creatures, a chest, a small table with a chair, and a mound of hides used as bedding. The king did not die quickly, even if he never got a chance to fight back. One of Lance's first stabs must have pierced the king's lungs as it went hilt deep and into his partner. By the time the king tried to call out for help, nothing but bubbly blood and the faintest sound came out. Lance stabbed the enemy a dozen times before the beast stopped thrashing about and another six before all movement was done. Jack quickly moved to opposite the entryway of the tent and waited for a response. There was no response, so Jack rightfully assumed that what noises were heard had been mistaken for the sounds of the king's activity.

When he was sure no one was coming, Jack went to the back of the tent. He lifted the flap and motioned Solaria and Tom to join them. The four players searched the room and the heap of clothes on the floor. They found a key ring, a small bag of coins and jewels, weapons that appeared bearly serviceable, four small potion vials containing, according to the label, Alchemist's Fire. Disgusting half-eaten remnants that had been discarded all over the place without concern.

Everything Jack could see, including the tent itself was old, stained, and worn. Everything except the chest that was beside the table in the middle of the tent that is. The chest was solid and well crafted with substantial brass edges and a seriously heavy-looking lock. Jack was amazed when he went over to try the keys on the chain to open the chest but found the lock had absolutely no keyhole. Jack looked at the bottom of the lock and then the back, still not finding any lock whole and dropping the lock to hang with frustration. Lance provided the answer by telling Jack that he had seen charmed locks for sale in a magic shop that would only open by their owner's will.

" Unless someone has a better suggestion, I think Sloaria should use her Mass Confusion staff. We should throw this Alchemist's Fire into the sleeping group and try to stay hidden while madness ensues. I imagine these keys open the cages, and that guy looking half-dead is the priest we need to save or avenge. With any luck in the chaos of confused enemies, we can free the prisoners or, in the very least, make our escape. First, though, we should try to clear the other tents."

None of the players wanted to fight such overwhelming odds but also couldn't think of a better way to approach the problem, so they conceded. The players cleared two of the three remaining tents carefully. The last had five kobolds playing a dice game of some sort and kept snapping back and forth to each other in their guttural language. Though not as drunk as the rest of the kobolds, these guys definitely were not fully aware. They hadn't even noticed that the tent's edge had been lifted for the human to survey the situation. With no way to approach and take care of these creatures without alerting more of the beasts, Jack let them be. There was nothing else to do, so Jack nodded to Solaria, who began focusing on the staff. Within a few seconds, she began to cast the spell. Perhaps ten seconds later, she began to waver unsteadily on her feet until Tom grabbed her arm and supported her.

Jack peeked around the edge of the tent to survey the scene. The awake kobolds blinked and looked about in confusion, obviously suffering the effects of the spell. Then the players let the vials fly, and it was awesome. Each vial created a patch of fire roughly six square feet, but the patches overlapped in plenty of areas. The cavern erupted into guttural cries of agony as the creatures awoke to searing pain. The icing on the cake was the fact that they lashed out at whatever was near them, making those kobolds not suffering from confusion or burns defend themselves against the others who were attacking with complete abandon. Not wanting to lose the chance to dispatch enemies while they couldn't protect themselves, Jack began sending arrows into the group, barely aiming at all. The other players needed no prompting to also abandoned their hiding place to send volleys into the enemy.

From the edge of Jack's right field of vision, he saw the dice players come out of the tent clear-headed enough to be an issue. There was something wrong. He couldn't find it at first, but a shiver ran down his spine when he saw it.

"Back to the barricade now," Jack said, sharply enough to gather attention.

Jack took his time. He inhaled a long slow breath as he drew the bow, held it for the briefest moment, then released. The kobold raising the horn froze in shock as the arrow shot towards him, but it was not his time to die. Another kobold knocked into the one with the horn. The wiry reptile took the arrow instead and paid with his life. Then the sound of the horn pierced everything.

Jack was already running, and he waved the others to keep going. The last one over the barricade, Jack grabbed his spear and ran. The barricade would be their death because it was too broad, and the creatures could overwhelm them. They needed to make it to the narrow caverns they came in from. In that tight space, Jack could almost cover the cavern's width with his one shield, and if he gave his spare to Tom or Lance, they could overlap shields and hold a horde of the smaller creatures.

The party had been moving about ten minutes to Jack's guess when he heard another horn blast. Jack was sure that was the sound to advance, and when he listened to the chorus of vicious cackling in response, he knew that was the right of it. Every minute that past this sort of echoey static sound grew larger. Jack knew it was the echos of the sounds of hundreds of nails on the stone cavern floor. Knowing the source of the sound made it no less annoying, and to Jack's frustration, the echo of the sound made it really hard to tell how far away it was. Jack was hopeful they would make it back to the cavern's narrower parts. What had felt like hours when they were approaching cautiously was flying by now that they were at full sprint.

They arrived at the cavern they came in from and kept going until the first turn they came upon.

"This is it. This is where we kill them." Jack said, surprising the players.

Not noticing the surprise, Jack unslung his backpack and cut the straps holding his extra shield. He began speaking with precise to the point words.

"Lance, take this shield and get beside me. Remember they are smaller than us so we'll have to crouch. Tom, I need you to sing a song that helps our defense if you can make us a wall that would be better. Solaria take the spear," Jack handed her the weapon, then continued, " and give it to Tom when he is done playing. As soon as the song is over, both of you get tight behind us. Solaria get behind Lance. He will be easier for you to cast over. When the first kobolds hit our shields, Solaria begin a cast. When it is ready, just lift your hand above Lance and let it rip with so many of them in such a small area your aim won't need to be exact. When I say now, Tom pop up and stab with the spear only a few times at most before you crouch again. When I say back, take one step and stay close. We have to move together."

That was it. Jack handed Lance the shield, and they shuffled a bit, getting into place. Tom must have decided what he could do or just decided to wing it because he began to strum something with a familiar ring that Jack didn't place until the first word. Still, it literally took only the first word.

" Well I won't back down, no I won't back down

You could stand me up at the gates of hell

But I won't back down

Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around

And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down

Gonna stand my ground, and I won't back down"

By this time, all the players were tapping along with the beat even if they didn't have Tom's love of classic earth rock. Jack had begun beating his shield with his short sword's pommel and actively putting his mana into it.

"Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out

Hey I will stand my ground

And I won't back down

Well I know what's right, I got just one life

In a world that keeps on pushin' me around

But I'll stand my ground and I won't back down

Hey baby there ain't no easy way out

Hey I will stand my ground

And I won't back down

No, I won't back down"

Jack had been in the military and had felt the power of singing in unison with far larger groups than this, but he had never felt what he felt at that moment. Less than a minute later, the players felt the first of the enemy crash into the shields. As Jack had expected, the enemies came disorderly. The rear kept moving forward, pressing those in the front until they were pinned by the pressure and unable to do much. Solaria released a bolt.

"Now Tom," Jack said.

When Tom stood up, he saw the genius of Jack's plan. The tunnel turn meant that the rear kobolds couldn't shoot arrows or even see what was happening in the front. The enemy was defenseless. Those who could have done something to help their comrades were pushing forward in a frenzy to get to the enemy. His stunned immobility was broken by Jack.

" Tom, get to work or get down." his voice was strained by holding back the weight of the pressure against his shield.

Tom's momentary shock wore off, and he began stabbing viciously with the spear. It was perfect, he thought as he easily stuck over Jack, who was crouched. Tom also saw the damage Solaria's bolts were causing, and many enemies were dead but unable to fall.

` "Tom down," Jack said, less burdened now that some creatures no longer added to the surging enemy's force.

As soon as he was crouched, Tom heard the call.

"Back"

"Back"

They all moved. The players moved two steady steps backward. The dead or wounded enemies fell and got trampled. The living creatures moved forward over their fallen brethren to reach the humans.

"Back"

"Back"

Two more rounds of attacks were called out, then Jack listened for arrows. He couldn't see anything or moving his shield to look over the edge—one more round of killing and then.

"Back"

"Back"

One more round of holding while Tom speared and Solaria fired magic bolts, and the enemy wasn't advancing anymore. Jack peeked above his shield to see that the creatures that remained were using the tunnel's turn to avoid the bolts. Time to go on offense, Jack thought.

" Forward"

Over the bodies of the dead, they went.

"Forward"

Bodies shifted, crunched, and oozed beneath their weight.

Jack kept the party moving forward steadily and began slamming the short sword's pommel into his shield.

"Forward" thump

"Forward" thump

"Forward" thump

All of the players leveled up twice while the killing was happening. Soon Tom caught on to the beat Jack was making and began strumming along with him, and when they rounded the corner, the enemies took one look in horror and fled. Again the players made their way to the kobolds camp. The enemy was broken and didn't mount any organized resistance, but they did run into more than a few stragglers. Although they were back on the cavern's broader area, the enemy never came at them more than two or three at a time. Some simply scurried off into the darkness before the approaching players. Now that they had the momentum and the wider area served the players who could spread out a bit and use their chosen weapons easier. Lance could finally use his bow and was deadly efficient walking with an arrow nocked and ready.

All told by the time they reached the camp, the players had killed another fifteen or so on top of what had died in front of their wall. To Jack's reckoning, having never known the numbers of the enemies in the first place, there could be anywhere between five kobolds on the low end and twenty on the high. If the kobolds were going to mount any defense, it would be in the camp, and Jack warned the others.

"Be ready. If they're going to fight, it will be in the camp." Jack said.

There was a fight in the camp, and it was the hardest of the day. There was no ambush or favorable environment to give the players an edge. The small creatures came from every angle. Jack threw his spear at one of the approaching animals. The lean reptilian twisted getting only the faintest slice on it's left shoulder as the spear went flying by. The kobold's luck didn't hold because it died a moment later when one of Lance's arrow hit squarely.

Time slowed as Jack pulled his short sword and felt a blood lust well up inside him. There was no more time to think as the next kobold swung a nasty rusted mace at Jack's chest two-handed. The smaller statue of the creature allowed Jack to take the blow on his shield easily. My turn Jack thought. He stepped forward, stabbing with his short sword and landing a vicious strike that hit the kobold's left cheek squarely destroying the cheekbone and causing the eye on that side to hang loosely. Another of the beasts lunged at Jack's exposed right side. Jack spun, but he couldn't get out of the way. The tip of the kobold's short sword pierced Jack's overcoat and ripped open flesh and armor alike. Dozens of the little metal pieces fell to the ground, and Jack suffered a long deep gash to his side. Jack punched forward, putting the pain into a crushing blow with the edge of his shield.

Jack heard bones breaking as the shield connected with the enemy's elongated jaw. The kobold's knees buckled instantly, and it fell dead or incapacitated. Then anger overtook Jack, and he roared a challenge. The three enemies standing before Jack hesitated, but Jack refused to have it. The warrior leaped forward, swinging a powerful overhead strike at the one in the middle. The smaller warrior lifted his sword to defend himself. It was no use because Jack was bigger, and his height gave him the leverage to swing through the feeble defense and embed the short sword in the creature's skull. Jack was aware that a strike landed against his shield from the kobold on his left but paid it little mind. As Jack wrenched his sword free the kobold's broken skull, the one on his right sunk a dagger deep in his thigh. Jack lashed out at the attacker, but the swing was wild, and the smaller creature quickly ducked out of the way.

Jack was in trouble, and furthermore, he knew it. To emphasize the point, the kobold on this left swung its club, hitting Jack more on his back than on his shield, pitching him forward. Jack didn't fight it but instead went with it like he had learned years go from a hand to hand combat instructor. Having stood up facing the opposite direction after rolling, Jack could now see his friends who were all in trouble. There weren't more than fifteen creatures, but they had the players separated, every player facing at least three enemies. They would die soon.

When he saw his friends' fate, Jack's heart was filled with sorrow, which was soon replaced with an all-consuming Rage. They were his friends and in this world, his people. He would not could not let them die. Jack reached in deep, the kind of deep that went beyond the self to something vaster and bellowed his defiance to the universe. In this magical game, the universe was free to respond to his defiance with power.

Jack had felt all manner of things in battle, both in this world and on earth. Jack had felt a slowing of time before. A wave of anger so powerful he genuinely had to hold himself back from doing really dumb shit just to get at the enemy. Never before in all his life had he felt this. The Shout caused everyone to stop. The enemies stopped and turned their heads or even their entire body to see Jack. The players too stared at Jack. Seeing his friends lives in such a precarious position, Jack lept forward in a frenzy of violence. The last thing Jack could clearly remember was leaping forward and opening the nearest kobold's neck with a backhanded sword slash that sent a warm spray of blood across his face. Then he was a madman killing without any regard for his own life. A score or more injuries from the mundane to fairly vicious went unnoticed. He killed with sword, shield, and fist. He clawed, bit, and stomped like an animal. His friends couldn't help even if the players were inclined to jump into the fray because any attack could hit Jack, so erratic were his movements.

When he finally began coming out of the spell, Jack was straddled over an enemy's corpse. His fist was pumping steadily down like piston into what used to be the creature's head. It now would be unrecognizable had it not been connected to the rest of the body by sinewy strands. Jack promptly stopped the futile motion realizing in shock that he had destroyed his hand, breaking all the major bones and some of the minor ones in his rage-filled abandon. Jack tried to stand, erupted in blinding agony as the pain of his countless wounds finally reached his conscious mind. He unheroically toppled over, added a nasty lump on his forehead to his other injuries, and died.

Did I die, Jack thought. The spell had worn off, and he felt pain, so much pain, then darkness so absolute it was both comforting and terrifying at the same time. But he was thinking and thinking meant alive, right?

With almost terror, Jack knew where he was. He was in the fucking void again. He calmed himself in time to hear the voice from the beginning this time.

"You have died. You can respawn in Pendershold cemetery or at your residence. You can also wait in the void for up to five days to be resurrected. If you respawn, you will lose any unspent points, current level progression, and anything you are carrying."

Jack knew had leveled at least once since he entered the cavern and didn't want to lose those points, so he decided to wait for his friends. Jack was going through all the fucking prompts, trying to read them because he assumed he would be there for a while. Jack still hadn't understood half of them and was genuinely shocked when a prompt appeared.

Do you allow Father Doronee to resurrect you?

Yes or No

Hell Yes! Jack selected mentally and began an ascent into consciousness that brought sweet pain to limbs that hadn't been there moments before. His head was on Solaria's lap, and she was sobbing. Jack coughed harshly, and the girl laughed in delight. Jack saw the blood all over the woman's robe.

" I am ruining your pretty robe." Jack said weakly." Bag, healing, potion."

Solaria hushed him softly, and Jack relaxed then lost consciousness again. Solaria knew that there weren't any healing potions because they, along with mana potions, had been used to get Father Doronee well enough to resurrect Jack. That point appeared to be a barely living miserable lump from what Solaria could tell. The priest was meditating to regain some more mana to hopefully heal Jack enough so he could walk. Solaria was holding her savior in such a mixture of emotions she was near catatonic herself. The young woman beneath the adult exterior couldn't precisely process all that had happened. She just kept replaying it in her head as if there was a piece of information that could bring her world back together.

She had locked eyes with Jack before he, she didn't know the proper words for his actions, saved them. Jack had saved them, that was true. He had killed a whole bunch of kobolds, that was true. He had also committed an act of such ferocious violence that it had broken some remainder of childish obliviousness to this hyper-real game.

Solaria needed Jack to be healed because he was the port in the storm. When the tides of battle had raged about them throughout the day, Jack and his presence kept them calm and safe. He had amazed her at every turn. Jack never wavered. Jack never stopped looking out for her. Jack never lost his cool, until the end, which was forgivable because she saw it on his face before the shout, he chose to trade his life for theirs. Solaria needed him to live. The woman set herself to do healing magic even though she didn't know-how. Her will was already set. She just needed to clear out the near hysteria.

"Easier said than done." the young woman mumbled to herself.

She tried to clear out the panic and found once she got the slightest grip on sanity, it was easy to haul herself the rest of the way. The spell helped her, too, as she pushed out all other thoughts and focused on her need for Jack to be well. When Solaria knew all of her will was dedicated to her purpose, she began feeding her mana into it. With her eyes closed, Solaria couldn't see what was happening, but she could feel the power flowing into Jack, who shuttered and coughed. Suddenly Solaria knew she was in trouble because her mana was being pulled. The woman had never experienced this before. Solaria had to focus on getting the mana flow to slow down before she pinched the connection off completely, exhausted.

Jack awoke again and stayed conscious this time.