We trekked through the woods in search of prey. A cave bear thought to challenge us, but my spear-skeletons alone dealt with it easily. After a few hours of walking, we started encountering more dangerous prey. A 10-foot long snake ambushed us, but Aaron slashed off its head without a second thought.

“I gotta admit, this is pretty boring,” Greg complained.

“It’s just because we have such a large group. If we find a dungeon, we’ll make short work of it and get lots of XP,” Tom reasoned.

“Yeah, we can probably take anything in the vicinity if we--” Drew was cut off as a massive bird swooped down and grabbed him. Greg immediately launched an arrow, and Gabriel struck it with a quick lightning bolt. The bird screeched, but continued flying. I cast [Mana Bolt], but the meager damage didn’t seem to do anything more than irritate it.

“Zero, make a stairway!” Tom shouted.

“Gabriel, use [Vortex of Fire] if you can!” I yelled to Gabriel as my minions formed a skeletal stairway. Tom raced up it, jumping off of the haphazard ramp of bones and grabbing onto the tail feathers of this monstrous creature. We sprinted after it, launching Mana Bolts and lightning as often as possible. Gabriel managed one Vortex of Fire, but the bird flew right through it. Drew struggled to get his daggers out, and the bird slowly climbed higher into the air as he thrashed about. Identify revealed the creature as a Roc, but I couldn’t see its health. Tom climbed onto the beast’s back, but a flap of its wings sent him tumbling towards the ground. He screamed as he fell, flailing through the air. A thought to my minions, and a cursed skeleton detached the arm of a spear minion and launched it at Tom. The spear skewered him through the gut, pinning him to a tree and halting his descent.

His screams reached new levels of agony as Rich frantically healed him. Meanwhile, Drew managed to get his daggers out and slashed at the underside of the Roc. Blood fell, and the Roc dropped Drew with a screech. He plummeted to the ground, cloak billowing out above him. I tried to have another spear thrown, but my minion missed. He hit the ground with a sickening crunch! And I winced in sympathy. Rich rushed over to his body and continued healing him. I sent a cursed skeleton crawling up the tree to retrieve Tom, then sent out my remaining 7 minions to secure the perimeter.

“Gabriel, what’re you doing?” I asked as he crouches down to pick up the fallen feathers.

“They’re crafting ingredients!” He informed me animatedly.

“Tom is almost dead!” I shouted back. He ignored me and continued picking up the feathers.

“Rich, can you save Drew?” I yelled to our healer.

“I think so, but I’m honestly not sure. He’s bleeding and it’s slowly outdoing my healing capabilities,” He replied with a grimace. Gabriel jogged over and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small vial filled with a dull red liquid.

“Here, I made this,” He tells Rich, thrusting the vial into his hand. Rich opened Drew’s mouth and poured the potion down his throat. Continuously healing him, the blood gushing from his wounds slowed to a trickle.

“Gabriel, what was that?” I marvelled.

“I found them in the cabinet at the guild hall. I only have 3 left, and they don’t restore much health,” he replied. Drew coughed and sat up with a wince.

“I’m fine, the bleeding effect stopped already,” Drew informed us.

Rich continued healing him until his health is over 75%, then rushed over to Tom. I jogged after him, but I didn’t vomit like he did. Tom’s face was ashen, and tears rolled down his face. One of my cursed skeletons cradled him, and Rich healed him as fast as he could. I called for one of Gabriel’s potions, but I wasn’t sure if it’d be fast enough. I could tell from my psychic link that my minion had gingerly retrieved him from the tree, but that the spear alone had done 90 damage and applied a bleeding effect, leaving Tom with a measly 13 health and dealing 2.2 damage per second. Rich healed him again, but the damage from the bleeding escalated a bit as soon as Tom moved. I yelled for Gabriel to hurry, and he tossed me another red vial. I snatched it out of the air and poured it into Tom’s mouth. He gulped the liquid down greedily, the dull red drink restoring color to his face. Rich continued to heal him, and his health steadily rose back up to 100%. Tom got to his feet and opened his mouth to say something, but I raised a hand to interrupt.

“Tom, I’m sorry you had to go through that. But, I felt and still feel that I did what was necessary to save your life.” I hid my nerves, but I was anxious for his response.

“I know.”

A short while later, we happened across a dark cave. With eager grins all around, we stomped inside. Not a hundred feet in, one of my cursed skeletons died, quickly followed by another. I swore and ordered my minions closer to our group. Gabriel’s imps launched flame in circles around us for visibility, but the cave appeared empty. I absorbed my fallen minions for the 2000 Bone Essence they awarded.

The imps’ flames revealed movement along one wall, and Gabriel cast [Lightning Blast] at the position, eliciting a screech from our unknown assailant. I grunted in pain as something large barrelled through our group, knocking me to the ground and reducing my health by 35. My skeletons scrambled to their feet, already pouncing on our foe. Flames lit up the cave as imps performed their incendiary duty, revealing the monster attacking us.

I was horrified for a moment, the creature was so terrifying. Eight feet tall with six thick legs and razor sharp mandibles, the beast was a sight to behold. An Identify revealed it as something called a “Mercurial Ant.” I launched a mana bolt at it, but once again did very little damage to its health bar. My minions clawed at its sides, gouging shallow furrows into its skin that didn’t bleed. My spear-minions were much more effective, punching through its thick skin and leaving deep wounds that bled green fluid.

Aaron hacked at its legs, chipping away at its health bar slowly but surely. Tom batted aside its huge mandibles while Drew danced around it, slashing with his daggers. A well-placed arrow from Greg elicited another screech as the Ant flailed around with one less eye. I seethed inwardly at being so helpless in combat, but contented myself with directing my minions. The mandibles clamped shut on one of my skeletons, smashing the spine and killing it instantly. I absorbed my fallen subordinate as Bone Essence, already forming a large spear made entirely of Bone.

Reducing my Bone Essence by 250 from 3000, I jabbed at the creature with my new weapon. My hard spear punched through the hide, and I smiled in grim satisfaction at my handiwork. Rich healed Aaron after the ant batted him aside with a massive leg, and Aaron leapt back into the fray with a yell. Gabriel, perhaps the most effective, lit the ant on fire through his imps, harassing the insect with lightning the whole time.

After a few minutes, the battle was over. My minions had been reduced by two more, but we’d emerged victorious. Varying shades of grey and black energy swirled around my friends as they unlocked their classes. Grins crept onto everyone’s faces as they read up on their new abilities.

“Well, what’d you guys get?” I asked eagerly. Aaron had become something called a Death Paladin, Gabriel had become an Infernal Summoner, Drew had become a Shadow Rogue, Rich had become a Blood Mage, Tom had become a Berserker Monk, and Greg had become a Dark Archer.

They informed me on their classes: Death Paladin was pretty much just a paladin focused on damage dealing and negation. Infernal Summoner was a hybrid Summoner/DPS that had less minions that were stronger. Shadow Rogues were just hybrid Assassin/Rogues that focused on burst damage and movement. Blood Mage allowed Rich to pay healing spells’ cost in health rather than Mana. Berserker Monk was a DPS/Mobility class that focused on damage negation/deflection and martial skills.

Aaron unlocked an ability called Shadow Shield that created a dome of Death Energy around him, blocking 200 damage. The dome was large enough to shelter two people, and Aaron had to be one of them. His basic ability, Mortal Touch, made his attacks deal a flat +2 Death damage.

Gabriel first unlocked the ability to summon a harpy, a small, bird-like demon with 2 Constitution and 20 Dexterity. He also unlocked a spell that summoned a whip made entirely of fire that had base 15 damage and a range of 30 feet and lasted one hour.

Drew’s basic ability was backstab, a common Rogue ability that doubles the damage an attack does against an enemy unaware of his presence. His choice ability was Shadow Step, a short-range teleport that allowed him to travel from one shadow to another.

Rich’s new healing spell was Life Transference, a sustained spell that costs 20 health per second and heals a target for 10 health per second. Mark for Death, Rich’s chosen ability, marks a target for 5 seconds. If the target dies while marked, Rich gains 20% of their max health as healing.

Tom’s base skill, Soft Landing, reduces fall damage by 50%. I couldn’t help but grin at the irony of his delayed luck. His other ability, Crushing Blow, allowed him to expend mana and stamina to ignore a percentage of his target’s armor.

Last but not least, Greg’s basic ability imbues his arrow with disruptive energy. An enemy hit by the arrow will have whatever casting he was trying to complete interrupted. Not too great, but oh well. His second ability allows him to pay 200 mana or stamina in order to make his arrow pass through 2 feet of matter. No more meat shields!

After summarizing our various abilities, we cracked some branches off of the trees around the cave. Gabriel lit them on fire to make torches, and we trekked back into the dark entrance. Now that it was dead, we could see a lot more information about the [Mercurial Ant]. The insect had 490 health! It also gave 450 xp! All told, I’d lost almost half the minions I’d brought with me. On the bright side, I’d received a welcome notification:

Ingenious! You have discovered a potential research opportunity: Bone Items

Continue pursuing this knowledge to unlock a hidden skill!

Kick-ass! I inspected my spear and received the basic item prompt, telling me that it was a [Bone Spear (Well-Crafted)] that had base 12 damage and 30/50 durability. My current Bone Essence Reserves sat at 3750. I created 2 more spear minions and kept 750 in reserve.

“So, do you guys want to go deeper into the cave?” I asked. Eager confirmation met my query as the others were anxious to try out their skills. The cave was filled with broad tunnels leading deeper beneath the ground. Stealthily, Drew crept forward ahead of us as a scout. We walked for a few moments before he motioned for us to prepare an attack. Flames coiled around Gabriel’s fist, and Greg nocked an arrow flashing with purple and dark energy. We rushed further into the tunnel, Greg launching an arrow that passed right through the outer shell of the Mercurial Ant, piercing its inner body and dealing a ton of damage. Gabriel’s whip of fire lashed the ant’s face, charring one of its eyes and eliciting a scream. The insect rushed forward, clacking its mandibles together menacingly.

Having already slain one, we could all see its health bar dipping below the 40% mark. I pressed forward with my spear, stabbing once before rushing back to preserve my meager health bar. Aaron stood at the forefront of our assault, hacking at its face and slapping aside mandibles with the flat of his blade. As the ant’s health dipped beneath 10%, Tom rushed forward, leaping over the other members of our group. His fist bristled with black and white energy, slamming down on the ant’s carapace with earth-shattering force. The ant’s exoskeleton crumpled like a soda can, spurting blood all over as the insect died. We collected our experience with glee, and Gabriel inspected the corpse.

“Man, it sure sucks we don’t have any bags of holding to carry all this sweet loot back to the village,” he lamented.

“My minions aren’t really doing much damage, so I could probably send the two cursed skeletons to carry back some of the loot,” I offered. He agreed that that sounded like a good idea, and I formed a bowl of bone at the cost of 50 Bone Essence. We filled the bowl with blood and sent my minions off with an Ant corpse.

The tunnel we fought in opened up into a slightly larger cavern with a fork in the path. One path was significantly steeper than the other, and we couldn’t see down either of the paths. After much deliberation, we elected to take the shallower path with the intention of coming back later. Our spirits high, we entered the darkness.