The warm sun and white flowers that danced in the slow breeze of the Rolling Plains acted as a mere front to the monstrous fauna hiding in the very same flora that disguised the zone as a dreamlike painting.

Amidst the lush fields of golden grass, between the many water-filled craters and clusters of bushes sprinted JohnWillStab and Bonifacius.

Behind them, a pair of angry mossbacks, they looked like six-legged hippos with large patches of moss growing on their backs.

Massive foot-prints were left in the wet earth as the group neared their destination.

“JohnWillStab: WE’RE ALMOST THERE!” John all but screamed.

His other two party members, a cheater by the name of ♛ and an auction-house villain, XxFoxlyxX, both stood at the ready.

“♛: Don’t f#*k it up this time…” the frogwoman remarked, bitterly.

She stood next to Foxly outside the town of Levelgreen, a small collection of homes which served as a hub for quests and shopping in the entirety of the Rolling Plains.

JohnWillStab was already level ten; if he remained in the starting zone of Grimwood he simply wouldn’t be gaining a reasonable amount of XP from the quests there.

♛ and Foxly both held large, weighted nets in their inventories, they were ready to use them to capture the incoming mossback which chased John and Bonifacius.

“Bonifacius: Fear not! This time I am certain we shall succeed!” he exclaimed enthusiastically.

♛ rolled her eyes in real life, forcing a smile which managed to fool nobody except Bonifacius.

“♛: Yeah, well, I was certain of that since the f#*king start, too! But guess what, John decided to get caught under the same net as the f#*king mossback!” she yelled, pointing to the large, bloody spot where they scraped JohnWillStab’s remains off the ground.

“JohnWillStab: I THOUGHT I COULD ROLL UNDER IT AND THAT IT WOULD LOOK COOL!” he yelled back.

Foxly breathed a sigh, hoping to shift the party’s focus from arguing to completing the quest, Foxly gestured to the distant hill from behind which appeared the two characters, a large, armour-covered human with a bushy beard and light-blond hair as well as the pale, undead with blueish skin, black hair and a copstache.

“XxFoxlyxX: Here they come…”

Moments later, John and Bonifacius sprinted past the gates of the city, barely missing the descending nets which trapped the two large creatures which were about to bite John in half with their colossal maws.

Looking back, JohnWillStab wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“JohnWillStab: You got them!” he exclaimed, glancing back to the two, writhing creatures, desperately trying to escape their traps.

“Bonifacius: Indeed!” he agreed, shooting the group a thumbs-up.

♛ breathed a relieved sigh, seeing that they finally completed what was meant to be a five-minute quest.

From within the gates of the town appeared a group of NPCs clad in armour and wielding weapons accompanied by what looked like an ordinary chef.

With a solid poke of the enchanted spear, one of the guards zapped the mossbacks into unconsciousness.

“Levelgreen Chef: You did it; and you managed to find two great specimens no less!” the red-haired ogre exclaimed, in his hand was a large meat cleaver almost half the size of JohnWillStab.

He turned to face the guards that came with him before giving them a nod.

“Levelgreen Chef: Alright, move the mossbacks to the shed, I’ll be there in a moment!” he instructed.

The group of five guards did as ordered and dragged the two mossbacks across the town, past the inn and blacksmith and into the wooden shed which looked deceptively small.

The chef turned to face John and his party.

“Levelgreen Chef: Great work! Here’s the discussed reward.”

When JohnWillStab clicked on the NPC and subsequently completed the quest.

His character burst into bright light as he went from level ten, to eleven.

JohnWillStab glanced down to his stats.

“Strength: 21”

“Athletics: 18 (+3 Ring)”

“Dexterity: 16 (+3 Ring)”

“Magic: 4 (+1 Cape)”

“Intelligence: 9”

“Luck: 9”

“Stamina: 8”

“Perception: 11”

“Charisma: 6 (+1 Cape)”

“Weapon Skills: 16”

Additionally, both JohnWillStab and every member of his party received five silver coins, to ♛ and Foxly this was nothing, but to the low-level John and the permanently-broke Bonifacius, any money could come in handy.

Moments later, the chef made his way back to the inn, seemingly uninterested in the captured mossbacks.

John turned towards his party.

“JohnWillStab: Level 11! I really feel like I’m make some serious progress!” he remarked.

♛ leer at his comment but chose not to say anything.

Bonifacius nodded.

“Bonifacius: Thou should receive a new ability upon reaching level twelve!” he exclaimed, this immediately got JohnWillStab excited.

His face lit up.

“JohnWillStab: Seriously? What is it?”

Not one second later, John shook his head.

“JohnWillStab: Wait, no, don’t tell me! It’ll be a surprise!”

He folded his arms as a curious smile gew across his face.

“JohnWillStab: Will I finally be able to summon some sort of dagger-class exclusive power?” he wondered.

He imagined himself slashing a max-level foe in half with just a tap of the blade, after they fell to the ground they would exploded as the now-shirtless John walked away, not turning to look at the explosion.

His imagined version was considerably more muscular than the real one.

“XxFoxlyxX: Yeah… sorry to break it to you… but there’s no redeeming ability for the dagger class when it’s paired with the fist class… it sucks…”

John lowered his head.

“JohnWillStab: Aw…” he clicked his tongue.

Foxly smiled awkwardly.

“XxFoxlyxX: Not to mention… explosions…? How would that work?”

JohnWillStab looked up to his ally with an expression of shock and betrayal, as if Foxly just committed a great taboo.

“JohnWillStab: Hey! Those were my thoughts!”

♛ laughed.

“♛: Hold on, check this out!” she replied before staring off into space expectingly.

She imagined JohnWillStab in the same scenario, dark, barely lit alley, he was backed into a corner by some max-level player.

“Imaginary Foe: Looks like this is the end for you, JohnWillStab!”

Seeing his impending doom, JohnWillStab fell to the ground and began pleading for mercy.

“Imaginary JohnWillStab: P-Please! Spare me and my worthless life!” he exclaimed while crying like a little bitch.

♛’s imaginary scene was interrupted by JohnWillStab non-imaginary cries.

“JohnWillStab: WHAT THE F#*K?! DO YOU GUYS REALLY SEE ME AT THAT PATHETIC?!” he demanded, looking to his friends for some sort of reply.

♛ nodded.

Seeing this, Bonifacius quickly spoke up.

“Bonifacius: Of course not!” he exclaimed, coming up with his own scenario.

JohnWillStab and the enemy stood in the alley, it was raining, the lights flickered as John realized he had no place to go but past the assailant.

“Imaginary Foe: Looks like this is the end for you, JohnWillStab!”

Seeing that he was left with no other choice, he smiled confidently.

Moments later, he replied with a squeaky falsetto, “Imaginary JohnWillStab: I’m sorry, who is this JohnWillStab you speak of?”

Bamboozled by John’s strategic use of deception, the foe left to look for JohnWillStab, he stumbled across a group of players with whom he became good friends, deciding to quit his life of crime and bullying players.

Many years later, an experienced JohnWillStab, clad in fancy armour and wielding two tiny shields instead of his daggers, walked into the small, cosy bakery near where he was almost attacked long ago.

That’s when he saw him, the imaginary foe stood behind the till of his small business, putting icing onto cupcakes and overseeing his children who did the same to help the family business.

When JohnWillStab sat down on the wooden stool in the front, the imaginary foe spoke up.

“Imaginary Foe: Welcome, friend! Is there anything I can get you?” he asked.

JohnWillStab smiled, and with a high-pitched voice replied: “A slice of cheesecake please…”

Bonifacius stood with his arms folded and a satisfied smile on his face.

“Bonifacius: What does thou think?”

JohnWillStab stared at the heavily armoured man with his mouth agape.

“JohnWillStab: SO MY ABILITY IS TO LIE?!” he finally demanded.

“I never realised they think so poorly of me…” John realized.

XxFoxlyxX breathed a sigh as he stepped up to Bonifacius.

“XxFoxlyxX: That makes no sense, how can JohnWillStab change the pitch of his voice through text?”

Bonifacius scratched his head.

“Bonifacius: Thou are correct! My apologies!” he released a hearty laugh.

Foxly smiled.

“XxFoxlyxX: Alright, how about you let a professional handle this,” he began, Foxly’s smile was swiftly replaced with a dead-serious glare.

“JohnWillStab: WAIT! NO! NO MORE!” he cried.

XxFoxlyxX imagined JohnWillStab in that alley, he lay on the ground, blood on his lips and his health near the five percent mark.

“Imaginary Foe: That’s what you get for calling my cheesecake s#*t, a$$hole!” he said, spitting onto the ground as he turned back to his small restaurant.

Wounded and with his pride tarnished in the muck and trash of the shady alley, he gritted his teeth allowing his rage to swell up inside him.

That was the day, JohnWillStab vowed to himself, that he would stop at nothing to get revenge against this low-life degenerate, not capable of making a decent cheesecake to save his life.

Many years later…

“Imaginary Foe: Alright, I think I’m done for today…” he remarked, kicking another low-level player aside in-game.

That’s when he heard it, a knock at his door.

“What the…?” he thought.

“Who’d be visiting me at a time like this?” he wondered.

He made his way to the door, the man clutched the cold, metal doorknob and held his breath as the deep, guttural feeling of regret manifested in his stomach.

“H-Hello?” he asked.

“Yeah, hi, I’m here about the pizza.” Said the muffled voice on the other side of the door.

The imaginary foe breathed a sigh, remembering he did in fact order a pizza.

He opened the door as was met with a blond-haired, scrawny kid in his teens wearing the greasy, orange t-shirt and cap with the pizza logo.

He had the beginnings of a beard and no other remarkable features.

In his hands was a large, cardboard pizza box.

Naturally, the imaginary foe paid for the pizza and took it inside, before locking the door and heading into his living room.

He grabbed a slice and took a bite, then another.

Suddenly, another knock came from the door.

“Did he forget to give me my change or something?” he thought, quickly finishing the slice of pizza in one bite as he rushed over to the door.

He opened it revealing the delivery woman from the local pizzeria.

“A sixteen-inch peperoni pizza, right? That’s going to be… ten bucks,” she said looking up only to be met with the horrified gaze from the imaginary foe.

The world began to spin, his vision got blurry as a trickle of something warm escaped his nose.

Moments later he collapsed.

JohnWillStab whistles a victorious tune as he got into his black van, he removed the fake beard, wig and contacts before switching into some more comfortable clothing.

He stashed the pizzeria clothes away in the same suitcase he used to store the many bottles of poison.

As John made his way to the front seat and started the car, he left the scene wearing the calm, eerie smile.

“Your cheesecake was shit…” he said before disappearing into the night.

After finishing his story, Foxly turned towards his horrified party members.

“XxFoxlyxX: Well?”

“JohnWillStab: WHY DID YOU MAKE ME INTO A LITERAL MURDERER?!” he demanded.

Foxly pouted.

“XxFoxlyxX: You wanted something cool, right?” he asked, unhappy with John’s complaints.

“JohnWillStab: A COOL ABILITY! NOT A COOL CRIMINAL RECORD!”

Bonifacius nodded.

“Bonifacius: While I agree with JohnWillStab in the way thy story seems needlessly vengeful and violent, it was very interesting to hear! Good job, friend!” he exclaimed with a thumbs up.

Foxly smiled.

“XxFoxlyxX: Aw, thanks!”

John breathed a sigh.

“JohnWillStab: Whatever… I hope my ability is something cool!... But… like… not foxly-cool…”

Foxly shrugged, not fazed by John’s comment.

“♛: …”

“♛: The ability is shadow-step.” She replied after looking it up.

John turned to face the cheater with slumped shoulders and a disappointed look, “JohnWillStab: Why’d you spoil it?!”

She shrugged.

“♛: You seemed too happy.”

Bonifacius let out a hearty laugh.

“Bonifacius: Tis good to be able to play like this after all!” he remarked, looking at his party acting in the same dysfunctional way they always did.

Bonifacius tabbed out of the game for a second to check the time.

“Bonifacius: I think I shall log off for today,” he explained.

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: Alright, see you tomorrow!”

♛ sat down on the grass and yawned.

“♛: Yeah, I’m going to head out too, unlike you two losers I have work tomorrow…” she said, glaring at John and Foxly with a look equally belittling and jealous.

Foxly shrugged.

“JohnWillStab: Yeah, see you too,” he replied, already used to the constant barrage of insults directed at him and Foxly by ♛.

Moments later, both of them disappeared.

John scratched is head.

“It’s still a bit too early to go to sleep…” he thought, looking around his pitch-black room, it was lit only by the RGB lights from his mouse and keyboard.

He turned back to face his computer screen and saw that Foxly was saying something.

“XxFoxlyxX: Well, I’m off to Glumington,” he said with a grin.

John raised an eyebrow.

“JohnWillStab: The capital city?” he asked, remembering that it was the place the Steeldew festival took place not long ago.

Foxly nodded.

“XxFoxlyxX: Yeah, I’m going to go pay a visit to a certain Death-Rolling circle,” he explained.

Still confused, John continued to question what Foxly meant.

“JohnWillStab: Death rolling?”

Foxly smiled before beginning his rehearsed act.

“XxFoxlyxX: Oh my, could it be that you are not familiar with the world of death rolling?” he asked with a forced look of shock.

John nodded sheepishly.

Foxly folded his arms.

“XxFoxlyxX: It’s essentially gambling,” he explained.

“XxFoxlyxX: You bet a certain amount of gold, silver or copper, multiply the number you offered by one-hundred and use the /dice command to generate a random number between zero and the number you bet.”

“XxFoxlyxX: Then the next person rolls the number you got and so on until somebody gets a zero, the winner takes the other person’s bet amount.”

JohnWillStab listened to the explanation uncertainly.

“JohnWillStab: So… it’s just random chance?” he asked.

“JohnWillStab: doesn’t really sound fun…”

Foxly laughed smugly, he looked at John in the same way a battle-hardened veteran would look at a new recruit.

“XxFoxlyxX: Alright, let’s play a test round and see if you’ll still think it isn’t fun!” he offered.

JohnWillStab opened his inventory and saw that he had seventy silver.

“JohnWillStab: Fine, I guess I’ll bet 50 silver.” He offered.

Foxly nodded.

“XxFoxlyxX: Sure, 50 silver it is,”

Foxly used the command “/dice 5000” and the number he got back was broadcasted to everyone within a few meters of him.

“XxFoxlyxX: 2330” he said.

John nodded and used the same command.

“/dice 2330”

“JohnWillStab: 115”

“XxFoxlyxX: 15!” he exclaimed.

John never noticed his heartbeat increase as the number went right down to fifteen in a single roll.

His breathing slowly got heavier.

“JohnWillStab: Oh damn, nice…”

John rolled the dice.

“JohnWillStab: 13”

“SHIT! His number went down by one-hundred and I got a fucking two!?”

John’s eyes met Foxly’s, he could see the confident smugness practically radiate off of him.

“XxFoxlyxX: 3!”

Seeing the single-digit number in the chat made John’s heart practically stop.

John stared at the screen.

When John rolled the dice again, he felt the familiar, cold wave of despair wash over him.

“JohnWillStab: 3…”

“XxFoxlyxX: Ouch! That sucks!” he said, rolling the dice again.

“XxFoxlyxX: 2.”

John felt his lips get dryer before he rolled the dice again.

“JohnWillStab: 0.”

John leaned back in his chair as his heartbeat and breathing returned to normal.

“Thank fuck!” he thought.

“XxFoxlyxX: Lucky! It’s a shame you only won fifty silver, lol.” He remarked, sending John the trade request.

John accepted the trade and his total of seventy silver jumped to one gold and twenty silver.

“JohnWillStab: That was f#*king tense!” he exclaimed.

John’s luck stat increased by one.

“XxFoxlyxX: Yeah, and that was only fifty silver! Imagine betting thousands of gold!” he replied.

John nodded excitedly.

Foxly walked over to his undead friend, he wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, but he was too short so his character just awkwardly patted his ass.

“XxFoxlyxX: How about it, are you interested in earning some more money?” he asked.

All colour left John’s face as his character backed away awkwardly.

“JohnWillStab: Sorry, dude! I’m not really into that kind of thing…” he replied awkwardly.

“What kind of degenerate does he take me for?! I’m not some gigolo!”

Foxly smiled as he looked at the visibly flustered JohnWillStab.

“He’s still not sold on death rolling, eh?”

“I bet he just needs a little push!” he thought.

“XxFoxlyxX: Come on, John, we’re buddies, right? Me and my friends will take good care of you!” he offered, he already knew a few of the more frequent gamblers in the death-rolling society.

John couldn’t believe what he was reading.

“JohnWillStab: Your friends?! You’re bringing your friends into this?!” he demanded.

Foxly laughed.

“XxFoxlyxX: Well, it’s your first time, so I think we should make it grand! Get some people in, make it an event you know?” he explained.

John shook his head.

“JohnWillStab: No, dude! I’m not into that kind of thing!” he exclaimed, taking another step back.

“XxFoxlyxX: Come on, it’s just a game!”

The frogman took a step towards him.

“XxFoxlyxX: That said, I have done it in real life before, more as a joke than anything,” he explained.

“JohnWillStab: Dude, I don’t need to know about this kind of personal thing!”

Foxly shrugged.

“XxFoxlyxX: Personal? I don’t really think of it as personal; I’ve been doing this kind of thing since I was a kid, behind the school, in college, at family meetups,”

“XxFoxlyxX: Just between you and me, sometimes I did it on a bit of a legal grey area, if you know what I mean,” he laughed with a wink.

John wiped the sweat from his brow.

“JohnWillStab: Look, I don’t know if it’s safe to talk about this kind of thing online!” he said nervously.

Even if Foxly was clearly a degenerate and possibly a criminal, he was still John’s friend, as such, he didn’t want him getting into trouble.

“XxFoxlyxX: I’m very vocal about this, I think it’s perfectly fine to do with anyone! No matter what, as long as they give you the go-ahead, nothing else matters!”

He smiled.

“XxFoxlyxX: Though, sometimes you need to give people a little push, y’know!”

Confused and a little scared, JohnWillStab turned around and began to run.

“JohnWillStab: LEAVE ME ALONE YOU MAN-WH*#E!” he cried, much to Foxly’s confusion.

Foxly clicked his tongue.

“Damn, I might have been too pushy…”

“Wait… man-whore?”

Foxly and JohnWillStab stood outside the gates of Glumington awkwardly, after explaining the misunderstanding, neither of them spoke for the whole duration of the journey.

“XxFoxlyxX: That whole conversation never happened.”

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: No, it did not.”

Foxly nodded as well.

They stepped into the industrial-era looking town, the roads were cobblestone, the poor homes near the gates were made from wood and had small, glass windows.

The richer portions of the town lay further north, over there, the homes were made from red bricks and had large, grand windows.

Factories and laboratories stood along the south of the city, John could see the tall, red-brick chimneys that filled that air above with black smoke.

Separating the many districts of the city were the many canals through which boats moved, carrying crates and barrels.

“JohnWillStab: What a charming city…” he remarked, looking at group of rats fighting over what looked like a severed arm, the green particles that lingered around the rats indicated that they carried diseases.

“XxFoxlyxX: Yeah, the whole s#*tty district of the city is like this, we’re heading to the north district.” He explained.

As they walked, John passed an alley, inside, a pack of wild dogs devoured some unrecognisable meat.

Quickly John sped up to catch up to his higher-level friend.

“JohnWillStab: What level are the mobs here?” he asked, looking at the vicious canines.

Foxly scratched is chin.

“XxFoxlyxX: Between one and one-hundred,” he explained.

John lifted both eyebrows, not impressed by the joke.

“JohnWillStab: Thanks…”

“XxFoxlyxX: Well, it’s a capital city, what do you expect? All sorts of players could come here…” he rebuked.

The duo made their way across the rickety, wooden bridge, passing over the murky water in the canal separating the poor and rich districts.

John was following Foxly through the maze of alleys and homes until they eventually made it to a dark, secluded part of the city.

A locked, metal door separated John and Foxly from the gambling hub of the entire server.

The ever-confident frogman approached the door and knocked on it.

“XxFoxlyxX: It’s ya boy, let us in…”

Moments later, the door creaked open revealing a massive ogre.

While most of him looked like the typical warrior architype, clad in armour and wielding a large war axe, his head was obscured by a crimson hood which hid his face behind an impenetrable wall of shadows from which two red lights representing his eyes glimmered.

“Lorsdo: Who’s the edgelord?” he asked, the two red orbs turning to glare at John.

“XxFoxlyxX: He’s an aspiring death-roller!” he explained, gesturing to John who waved a sheepish hello.

“JohnWillStab: Hi…”

Lorsdo nodded and stepped aside, letting the two inside.

Within the well-guarded establishment was a group of a dozen players.

Some stood around tables, rolling dice and playing cards, others sat and chatted.

The whole place looked very classy, the floor was made from clean, polished wood, the walls were made from red brick and were decorated with paintings of ships and various animals playing cards.

“NoPissBottles: Damn it!” the human exclaimed, he had light chestnut hair and a tuft of hair on his pointy chin.

Recognising the name and appearance of the miserable player, John made his way over to his table.

“JohnWillStab: Hey!” he exclaimed.

NoPissBottles turned to face John.

“NoPissBottles: Oh, didn’t expect to see you here,” he remarked, his expression relaxed a little.

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: I can’t believe they’re serving minors,” he remarked, struggling to keep a straight face.

Immediately, NoPissBottles’ face became red with rage.

“NoPissBottles: OH, THAT’S REAL F#*KING FUNNY, JOHN!” he exclaimed, reaching for a torch from his inventory, he was getting ready to burn the whole establishment and John with it.

JohnWillStab took a step back and raised his hands in defeat.

“JohnWillStab: Ok, ok, chill!”

After a few seconds of contemplation, NoPissBottles put the torch away and breathed a long, drawn-out sigh.

“NoPissBottles: Anyway… are you here to gamble?” he asked, turning back to the table before him.

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: Yeah, the rest of my group logged off so Foxly dragged me here to try gambling,” he explained.

NoPissBottles looked around the room, spotting Foxly talking to a group of mid-level players, they were already exchanging cash and making bets.

“NoPissBottles: That son of a…” he bit his tongue.

He averted his gaze.

“NoPissBottles: Even I’m not stupid enough to bet against Foxly…” he mumbled.

He breathed a flustered sigh before turning towards John again.

“JohnWillStab: Why? It’s a game of chance.”

NoPissBottles shrugged.

“NoPissBottles: Well, your luck stat does come into play too, I heard his is really high…”

After a few seconds, NoPissBottles leaned back in his chair.

“NoPissBottles: So, how about it, are you up for a game?” he asked.

John shrugged.

“JohnWillStab: Sure, I can only bet one gold, though.” He explained.

NoPissBottles nodded.

“NoPissBottles: That’s cool, I lost most of my money just a second ago,”

And so, the game began.

A few players including Foxly gathered around the two as the dice-rolling began. Since John was the challenged party, he could roll first.

“Here we go…”

JohnWillStab rolled for one-hundred.

“JohnWillStab: 88.” He said, looking at the player who sat opposite him.

“NoPissBottles: 69.” he replied.

“XxFoxlyxX: Nice.”

“Kevin: Nice.”

“Lorsdo: Nice.”

John rolled again.

“JohnWillStab: 54.”

“NoPissBottles: 24.”

“JohnWillStab: 21.”

“NoPissBottles: 20.”

“JohnWillStab: 1.”

It felt as if a cannon exploded beside John, a powerful thump in his chest as the number plummeted into not only single digits, but, well, a one.

He could feel it, the increased blood pressure, the heat, the heavy breathing, the tightening knot in his stomach, the colossal vice in which he sat.

“Kevin: HAH!” his character burst into laughter.

“NoPissBottles: Looks like this is the end, John, m’boy!” he exclaimed, rolling his dice again.

“NoPissBottles: 1.”

“Kevin: HOLY F#*K!”

“XxFoxlyxX: S#*t, dude!”

John felt his throat dry out as he typed out the command.

“/dice 1”

As he hit the enter key, everyone went quiet.

“JohnWillStab: 0!” he exclaimed.

The people cheered as NoPissBottles slumped his shoulders before outright collapsing onto the table.

“NoPissBottles: S#*t!” he cursed.

“JohnWillStab: F#*K YEAH!” he cried, jumping from his chair.

The human turned to John and sent him a trade request.

“NoPissBottles: Damn it! I thought this was my golden ticket!” he lamented.

XxFoxlyxX stepped up behind the man and placed a hand on his shoulder, which again looked like he patted his ass with a smug smile.

“XxFoxlyxX: You know the rules, buddy, pay up… or…” he smiled even wider.

NoPissBottles clenched his fists.

“NoPissBottles: I’m doubling down! All or nothing!” he exclaimed, placing a pile of gems on the table.

“XxFoxlyxX: Tigersblood, moon stones and an uncut mossice…” he remarked upon inspecting the pile of five glimmering crystals.

John raised an eyebrow, he turned to look at Foxly for advice, the frogman only nodded.

“JohnWillStab: Uhm… ok… but I don’t really have anything worth that much…” he replied.

“XxFoxlyxX: He’s the one doubling down, John, you don’t need to increase your bet,” he explained.

John nodded.

“JohnWillStab: Oh, ok… let’s go then!” he exclaimed, looking up to the human.

NoPissBottles wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“NoPissBottles: This time, I’m bound to win!”

Without further hesitation, John rolled the one-hundred-sided dice.

“JohnWillStab: 99”

“NoPissBottles: 89”

“JohnWillStab: 0”

John looked around, uncertain if he did something wrong, nobody else said anything, was that it? Did he win?

As if to answer his question, NoPissBottles slammed his face down on the table even harder, actually cracking the wood in the process.

“NoPissBottles: F#*K!” he cried.

Hesitantly, John collected the gems from the table.

“JohnWillStab: I can just trade you your stuff back, dude, I’m just here for fun…” he said, seeing the washed-out husk of a minor practically sobbing on the table.

Foxly stepped in between the two.

“XxFoxlyxX: Now, now, John, you can’t just give him his stuff back, that’s against both the rules and the moral code of gambling,” he explained.

NoPissBottles looked up at John.

“NoPissBottles: Yeah, I don’t need your pity! I’ll triple down!” he exclaimed, placing his clothes down on the table.

The naked NoPissBottles sat opposite John with a mad grin.

“NoPissBottles: ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE OR NOT?!”

“JohnWillStab: Uhm... I think this is a bit much…”

“NoPissBottles: Are you afraid?! COWARD!” he taunted.

Reluctantly, John accepted the challenge.

“JohnWillStab: Fine…”

NoPissBottles began to laugh.

“NoPissBottles: There’s no way you can win 3 times in a row! HAHA!” he laughed.

John rolled.

“JohnWillStab: 0”

Even Foxly was speechless as everyone except John froze in place, the undead stood up and gently slid the pile of neatly-folded clothes towards himself and into his inventory.

Nobody said anything as John stepped away from the table.

“JohnWillStab: Well, that was fun… I’m going to… head out…” he said, heading towards the door.

Just as he was about to leave, a hand stopped him.

It was NoPissBottles.

“NoPissBottles: We’re not done yet…” he said, holding out his silver sword, it was engraved with gems and rare metals.

John breathed a sigh.

“JohnWillStab: Dude… this is getting a bit sad…” he remarked with a wry expression.

NoPissBottles shook his head.

“NoPissBottles: Come on! Forth time’s the charm!” he exclaimed.

“JohnWillStab: …” he looked around the room awkwardly, hoping somebody else would challenge or at least kick NoPissBottles out.

Foxly walked up to the two once again.

“XxFoxlyxX: It’s against my usually code of conducts… but I feel like we should help those less fortunate…” he began.

Everyone who knew Foxly for over a day knew he was talking out of his ass.

Foxly smiled.

“XxFoxlyxX: How about, if mister Bottles wins, I’ll compensate him for double everything he bet, on top of his earnings from beating you?” he offered.

John raised an eyebrow.

“It seems like a good deal… What are the chances of me winning four times in a row…? plus he’d be getting some cash out of it…” John thought.

He sighed,

“BUT WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF HIM LOSING LIKE THREE TIMES ALREADY!?”

He scratched his head.

“If I back out now, he’ll be left with nothing but his weapons… but if I can somehow lose…”

John turned to the many people in the room.

“JohnWillStab: Alright!” he exclaimed.

Foxly grinned.

“JohnWillStab: But…”

“JohnWillStab: Gambling is about uncertainty, right? And we can all agree the fact I won this many times is a little… boring… predictable even…”

Foxly folded his arms.

“XxFoxlyxX: What are you suggesting?” he asked.

John pointed at his opponent.

“JohnWillStab: He’s allowed to pick any number between the number I roll and one and roll for that number!” he demanded.

John looked around for any source of protest.

“XxFoxlyxX: I guess it’s your game… though I’m against it…” he replied.

NoPissBottles breathed a sigh as he walked up to JohnWillStab.

An almost clairvoyant look of serenity appeared on his face, complemented by a sombre note hidden somewhere in his smile.

“NoPissBottles: Alright, let’s do this…” he said, not bothering to walk back to the table with John.

There was no tension for him in this round, he knew that he was basically handing his sword over.

“I don’t know why… but I know this is it…” NoPissBottles thought.

John rolled a hundred.

“JohnWillStab: 42!”

When NoPissBottles wrote out his command, he knew he was posting his death sentence.

“/dice 42”

“NoPissBottles: 32.”

John stared at the number in shock.

“What the hell is he doing?! He could have rolled a one!” he thought, looking up to the same, confidently defeated look of his rival.

“JohnWillStab: 22.”

“/dice 22”

“NoPissBottles: 20.”

“JohnWillStab: 15.”

“NoPissBottles: 13.”

“JohnWillStab: 4.”

“NoPissBottles: 4.”

“JohnWillStab: 0…”

The crowd erupted into cheers as NoPissBottles let out a meek chuckle.

“NoPissBottles: Congrats, man...” he said, extending his fancy blade towards JohnWillStab.

John accepted the trade; he now carried an expensive sword which he had no way of using since he was a dagger and fist class.

“JohnWillStab: Why didn’t you roll a 1?!” he demanded.

NoPissBottles smiled as he turned towards the door and began to walk.

“NoPissBottles: So I could lose with dignity, John.” Replied the naked man as he opened the metal door and confidently stepped into the dark alley outside.

The pitter-patter of fresh rain serenated his journey back to his guild, naked and broke for the third time this week.

As the door shut, John was overcome with a feeling of regret.

Suddenly, he received another trade.

It was a pint of beer from a player called Kevin.

“Kevin: Nice work, dude!” he exclaimed, patting John on the shoulder.

“JohnWillStab: Thanks,” he replied, accepting the trade.

As JohnWillStab selected the item in his inventory and began to drink it, he could swear that for just a second, he felt the familiar, bitter flavour of beer dancing its way across his tongue.

“What the hell?”

John breathed into his cupped hands and sniffed his breath for any hint of alcohol, his breath only smelled of chicken flavoured noodles and energy drink.

That’s when another player walked up to JohnWillStab.

A blue-haired human wearing small shoulder pads over blue, hide armour and the blue and white tabard of the Silverlight guild.

“Atwoz: Impressive game, light-speed-running-pervert-of-the-field-charge-and-bullet-dodging-and-knife-throwing!” he exclaimed confidently, shooting JohnWillStab a thumbs up.

A few players cheered in the background.

JohnWillStab turned to face the man with a look of newly crafted horror at the sight of his nickname.

“JohnWillStab: Oh no…”

“Atwoz: Oh YES!” he cheered, again, more Silverlight players cheered.

John breathed a sigh.

“JohnWillStab: Hi, Atwoz…” he relented.

Atwoz grinned.

“Atwoz: I would have never expected the likes of you to come to a sketchy place like this, running-man!” he exclaimed.

“JohnWillStab: You’re here too!”

“Atwoz: This is not time to shift blame, running man!”

To John, Atwoz was a less enjoyable source of high blood pressure and stress.

“Atwoz: In any case! I have come to you with a challenge!” he announced.

“JohnWillStab: …?”

Atwoz folded his arms.

“Atwoz: My men have started to truly idolize you, running-man! So much so they stopped idolizing me!” he spoke with a completely straight face, as if he was explaining something perfectly normal.

“Atwoz: I fear that I may be replaced, as such, I need to prove my skill against you, running-man!” he exclaimed.

John breathed a sigh.

“JohnWillStab: Death rolling?”

Atwoz shook his head.

“Atwoz: I cannot prove my leadership in a game of chance!” he exclaimed.

Atwoz shot John two finger-pistols.

“Atwoz: Let’s draw straws!” he offered.

Not wanting to argue of the randomness of picking random straws, John agreed.

“JohnWillStab: Fine…” he relented.

Atwoz held out one hand, John clicked on it and was prompted with a choice of five straws.

John picked one at random, causing it to appear in his inventory.

Atwoz grinned.

“Atwoz: Now, let’s compare!” he exclaimed.

Both of them pulled their sticks out.

Unlike Atwoz’s stick, John’s was longer and thicker, specifically it was two meters long - it said so in the item description.

“JohnWillStab: HOW THE F#*K?!” he demanded.

Atwoz collapsed to the ground.

“Atwoz: No way… how could… this be?” he asked, staring at his tiny toothpick.

John looked down at the grieving Atwoz with a look of pity.

“JohnWillStab: I’m… sorry man…” he replied, unsure of what else to say.

Atwoz stood up.

He removed his clothes and weapons before handing them to John and patting him on the shoulder.

“Atwoz: Thanks for everything, light-speed-running-pervert-of-the-field-charge-and-bullet-dodging-and-knife-throwing…” he said with a nod before leaving.

“We didn’t bet anything…” John thought, glaring at the pile of clothes in his inventory.

One hour later…

JohnWillStab sat in the centre of the room, atop a pile of neatly folded clothes shaped into a throne, everyone including Lorsdo, the bouncer, stood around completely naked.

Lorsdo kept his hood which obscured his face, everything else was either in plain view or pixelated.

Kevin sipped on his beer and looked around, seeing several nude players.

“Kevin: This place looks like a vastly different establishment…” he remarked, turning towards the door, accompanying him was a group of a few other nudists.

John grinned, he stared at the dirt-poor players with a look of smug pity.

A slightly irate, not to mention naked, Foxly breathed an annoyed sigh beside him.

“XxFoxlyxX: Don’t act like this place belongs to you…” he complained.

From behind John appeared a sad-looking man in what must have been his late fifties, he had white hair and a well-kempt beard as well as an apron, the only article of clothing left from his barkeeper costume.

“Wingkeep: Well… actually… we tried to get rid of Mr JohnWillStab earlier… but he won the deed to this place in a bet…” he explained.

“XxFoxlyxX: Mr?”

A visibly heartbroken man turned is head from the end of the room and looked at Foxly.

John gulped down a can of energy drink and tossed it aside, it landed in a pile of about ten cans.

“Bean: I bet my prefix…”

“Bean: What am I without the Mr…?” he asked, taking another swig of hard liquor.

“Mr. JohnWillStab: That’s right! I own this place!” he laughed, guzzling down a pint of beer in one go.

Foxly slumped his shoulder.

“XxFoxlyxX: Seriously, what’s up with your luck!?”

JohnWillStab raised the shades he won from another guy.

“Mr. JohnWillStab: Yeah, I dunno…” he shrugged, taking another sip of booze.

With every other pint, John felt almost a little tipsy in real life.

Foxly breathed a sigh.

“XxFoxlyxX: Well, I guess I’ll head to bed…” he said, sitting down on a nearby stool.

John nodded.

“Mr. JohnWillStab: Sure thing, man! See you tomorrow!” he laughed.

Foxly logged out, leaving John free to gamble with anyone and everyone that would come his way.

Many hours later, John sat in another emptied building which was once an inn.

After he beat them in various games, they all left, most of them broke.

That’s when a hooded figure clad in red appeared, in their hand was a large cleaver.

John cracked open an energy drink, his hands unsteady, if he wasn’t a man of logic and reason he would have blamed it on the virtual alcohol.

“Mr. JohnWillStab: Hey! You here to challenge me?” he asked, seeing the figure.

“???: Your inability to function as intended justified your deletion.”

JohnWillStab raised an eyebrow.

“Mr. JohnWillStab: Eh?”

With another display of insane luck, JohnWillStab dodged a strike from the cloaked figure.

He fell to the ground and immediately scurried towards the door.

“Mr. JohnWillStab: WHAT THE F#*K IS YOUR DEAL?!”

The figure turned to face him, thanks to the poor hand-eye coordination in his current state, John accidentally made his character fall to the ground, unknowing dodging another slash from the enemy.

“???: Your inability to function as intended justified your deletion.” It repeated.