I met up with Jen and Barry so that we could figure out a plan of attack. I didn't want to skip out on the experience and it would be a good test for our new load-outs. I had a lot of confidence in myself and the people I was with.

After giving them a basic layout of the camp we talked about strategy.

The plan was to try and get rid of as many of the little ones as possible by getting them to chase Pips out of the far side of the camp where he could run up a tree for safety. Then I would pick off as many as possible silently. When they got wise we would all start firing or in Barry's case throwing axes. Then we would switch between ranged and melee attacks as needed.

We all agreed on the strategy and got to work silently moving to the close side of the camp. We would be close enough to help each other, but far enough away to hopefully confuse the enemy.

Pips scurried through the camp and about a dozen of the little lizard guys ran after him. We got lucky and the big one followed as well. He was quite a bit slower but was still scary. Once they were out of camp I found the first target that seemed like a good option and fired off my first sneak attack. What I didn't realize was that when the lizard took the arrow it would simultaneously let out a horrific screech. So much for sneak attacks.

Theodore: Open fire!

I fired at one after another of the little ones trying to thin their numbers. I realized how much better I was with a bow than when I first began on this adventure. I could shoot an arrow about every three seconds since I didn't have to worry about a quiver with my inventory capabilities. I was landing a kill shot on about three out of five arrows which I figured was acceptable.

Jen started shooting bolts and was hitting on about every other shot. I was impressed since she had limited training with the weapon. I think the fact that it had basic sights on it made it a little easier to score hits, but I thought she was doing great.

Barry might have hit one or two of the things, but throwing axes is a lot harder than shooting an arrow or bolt. It was humorous watching the axes fly back to his hands though.

The ranged-only phase of the attack ended after about forty-five seconds. We have had to have dropped about twenty of the little guys which I thought was decent. The big one hadn't returned yet but a few of the smaller ones had started to come back so I figured the big one wasn't too far behind.

Barry ran out duel wielding the two axes. He was incredible. He was chopping the little guys up like he grew up on the bayou. Between his axe-work and our shooting, all of the three-footers were dealt with in quick succession.

As the last compact crocodile creature took an arrow and expired, the giant one poked its head out of the trees, looked at us, and snarled. It had more-or-less human body-builder proportion arms. It used its massive forelimbs to push the trees on either side of the creature away forcefully. The trees toppled over showcasing the power of the beast.

"Don't let that thing hit you!" I yelled not thinking a message would quite get the point across.

Barry backed away from the creature put both axes together to form the greataxe and threw it with two hands overhead with all his strength. It spun end-over-end through the air and sunk into the croc-boss's soft underbelly a good six inches. The monster went to dislodge the weapon but it had already started its journey home. The greataxe landed softly in Barry's hands and he was ready to strike again.

Barry dodged a swiping tail and continued moving. We spread out a bit and kept shooting and relocating while Barry chucked his weapon at the behemoth every chance he got.

The monster's lack of speed was its ultimate downfall. We plopped down by the body exhausted but otherwise unharmed. Pips came and sat on my shoulder.

"You did great Pips," I said to the little hero. "If you hadn't drawn off the big one I don't know that we would've come out of that without injury."

I focused back on my human companions. "It might not have been the prettiest fight, but I think we did well. What do you guys think?"

"I had a lot of fun. It was great to be on the good guy's side of the fight," said Barry.

"Although no one got hurt, I feel like we need to go over more contingency plans next time. We need to talk through more backup plans," Jen added.

"Agreed. I haven't been in many fights where I had allies. Most of the time it was just me rolling with the punches," I said. It made me think about the lead-up to my fight with the dragon. I did think of a ton of scenarios for that fight and I should've done the same here. I credited my Blessing attribute for the luck involved in this fight and promised myself I would do better for the sake of this team.

Over the next few days, we fought a few more packs of the crocodile creatures, a couple of mixed goblin and orc packs, and a pair of bandits. I tried to get the team on board with not killing the bandits since I had vowed to not kill any more human NPCs, but it just didn't work out that way. It ended up that either they would die or one of us would be seriously injured. Barry made the choice to protect us and took them both out.

It did confirm that any team kills gave me XP as well because an old friend showed his face in the form of a level-up notification when the bandits went to live on a farm in upstate New York.

Level up. You are now level 13!

Even though the level up was a welcome sight, I told myself that from here on out there would be no more human NPC deaths by my hand.

The bandit encounter had happened soon after we found the main road heading West toward Wolfhill. As we walked out of the tree line we saw the enormous city in the distance. I decided to use the time to spend my points, I ended up putting one point in each attribute, and then I checked out where I stood at this point stats-wise.

Brawn: 15

Muscular Strength

Affects strength, melee combat, and bodily fortitude.

Precision: 15

Hand-Eye Coordination and Vision

Affects accuracy in everything from ranged combat to pickpocketing.

True Grit: 15

Mental Strength

Affects fight or flight response, courage, and mental fortitude.

Nimbleness: 15

Speed

Affects the ability to move quickly, jumping, and dodging.

Blessing: 17

Luck or Favor

Affects looting and other actions in a positive way.

I applied the points and felt that familiar surge of power course through my body. Next, I viewed my main stats page.

Theodore: Level 13

Thief Arrowmancer

HP: 170/170

MP: 170/170

XP: 150/13,000

Only one more level until I hit level 14 and get another Special Ability. I thought back to when I received 'Friend to Animals'. It ended up being so much more powerful than I first understood. I was excited but at the same time knew that this one was quite a way off. The extra thousand XP needed per level was really starting to stack up. I exited menus and focused on Wolfhill.

"There has got to be thousands of people in that city. What did your father do for a living?" I asked Jen. I hoped her answer would give us some insight into where to start our search.

"He did a little bit of everything and just generally helped everyone in town when they needed it. For a time he was the leader of the town guard which was when he met my mother and took an arrow to the knee. He retired from that position and helped with city projects and other tasks. At one point he was the mayor's go-to advisor. That is probably why everyone would love him to be in charge. The town was better off when he was there. I don't know why he would leave." Jen seemed to really miss her parents. She must have been very in love to agree to leave Bettyford. Love makes you do crazy things though.

"We will start with the town leaders then. I bet he just needed a place to utilize his skills. Either way, we will find them." I glanced over and Jen smiled at me gratefully.

The rest of the journey was a peaceful walk. We stayed quiet for the most part and just took in the details of the city as we moved closer.

We came up to the main gate and it was securely closed. I saw a rope hanging to one side of the door that went up to a pulley and then through a small hole high in the wall. I went over and pull the rope and heard a faint ringing bell noise on the other side of the wooden entryway.

After a few seconds, a small door about five inches square opened inward toward the city. I hadn't even known it was there and it gave me a bit of a jumpscare. A man put his face up to the window.

"Who pulled the rope?" He asked.

"I did," I said.

"What do you want?"

"We are looking for this woman's parents. We've been told they came here."

He glanced over to Jen. "Names?"

"Roderic and Mina Rhodia," she stated.

The little window door slammed shut. We listened at the door and heard nothing.

"What do we do now?" Barry asked.

"Wait for a change of guard? Maybe we'll get a nicer one next time." I started moving over to pull the rope again since the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but before I could pull it I heard a faint call behind the door.

"Open the gate!"

"We're in." I glanced at Mae, Pips, Barry, and Jen who all gave me slight smiles as the gate started to move. "We made it."