They followed the howling until they reached a small clearing. Eight wolves were circling a tree a little over a hundred paces away, snarling and snapping at something. After a moment, the sun broke through some clouds revealing a plump man clinging to a tree’s lower branches. Dean assessed each wolf before crouching back down. All level one.

“Not too bad,” Will said, “I think we can save him.”

“And kill some wolves.” Ben grinned.

They notched arrows to their bows before moving out from behind the bushes and targeted a wolf. Dean loosed his arrow, hearing the sound of his friends doing the same and immediately grabbed a second arrow from the quiver.

His first arrow flew true and struck a wolf in the haunch. The impact knocked the wolf over in a squeal of pain. He noted that two other wolves were struck with arrows as well.

Dean vaguely wondered who missed but didn’t have time to register the thought with wolves charging toward him.

He targeted the closest wolf and fired. His shot caused it to stumble but failed to knock it down. A second arrow hit the one right behind it, knocking it off balance.

Dean managed to get one more shot off before switching to his sword, seeing one wolf stumble as two arrows struck it. It didn’t rise. He turned his attention to the nearest wolf that, a moment later, lunged at him. He twisted and stepped to one side to dodge the teeth and managed to bring his sword up in a counterstrike that bit deep into the wolf’s side. The body flew past him and landed on the ground where it rolled a few times before coming to a stop.

Dean rose to his feet as he glanced around. Ben was pulling his sword out of a dead wolf before he raced to the other side of the clearing where Ryan was holding three wolves at bay. Will was closer, surrounded by two wolves.

Dean immediately lunged for the nearest wolf attacking Will, driving his blade down into its back. The strike sunk deep snapping the wolf’s spine in two. It collapsed without making a noise.

Will saw the creature die and the other wolf. He switched to an attack just as the wolf was preparing its own. Will’s ferocity took the wolf by surprise and it fell back off balanced. Will used the opening to stab the wolf in the face, driving deep and hitting its brain.

Dean yanked his sword out of the now dead wolf and looked around for his other friends. Between Ben and Ryan, the remaining three wolves were already dead. He checked the others health as they approached, seeing that none of them had taken any damage. Maybe the first quest had been harder than normal. He hoped that was the case.

They made their way over to the tree, where the man was slowly climbing down. He was having a hard time of it. Dean suspected the man didn’t climb trees all that often, probably didn’t do much of anything active on a regular basis, if his thick rimmed glasses and the ink stains along the sleeves of his robe were any indication.

“Hello,” Dean said.

“Thank you for saving me,” the man said, “My name is Barric.”

“Our pleasure. What were you doing out here anyway?”

Barric smiled at them, “I’m traveling to Torial.”

“Are you a merchant?” Dean asked.

“Buying or selling?” Barric asked.

“Neither.” Dean said.

“Of course. Let me know if you need anything.” Barric said.

“Do you need help reaching Torial?” Dean asked.

Barric looked at him, “It should be safe now thanks to you.”

“Alright,” Dean said slowly, “Then we’re going to leave now.”

Barric said, “Thanks again for helping me. Here, take this as a reward.” Barric reached into his robes and produced a small book. Dean took it and scanned it.

Item: Spell Book – Healing

Uses: 1/1

Durability: 1/1

Description: Learn the Basic Spell – Healing

With that, Barric turned away from the group and started walking in the general direction of Torial. Dean gave the others a confused look.

“It’s a game, remember?” Ben gestured towards Barric’s retreating back, “Can’t I at least pickpocket him? He’s not even in the city so no one else will see.”

“No.” Ryan said flatly.

“Take the fun out of it.” Ben mumbled.

Dean handed the book to Ryan. Ryan took the book with a grin and immediately opened it. The book’s pages began turning on their own, slowly at first then with increasing speed, until the pages were flipping so fast that Dean felt a breeze from it. When the back cover flipped over, the book immediately crumbled into ash. Ryan looked down at his hands in confusion and involuntarily tried to dust them off on his pants even though none of the ash clung to them.

“That was cool.” Ben said.

“Totally.” Will agreed.

Ryan started healing them one at a time, waiting after each cast for the fifteen second cooldown timer to expire, as they skinned and looted each wolf.

They gathered up after and were about to set off when Will said, “Hang on.” He pointed deeper into the forest away from the river, “I want to check out that building and those workers.”

“What workers?” Dean asked. He tried staring in the direction that Will indicated but couldn’t see anything through trees.

“What building?” Ben said beside him. They looked at each other in confusion, shrugged, and followed Will as he set off.

“See those guys standing around outside?” Will said.

“No.” Ben asked.

Will ignored him, “There’s only one reason a group of workers stand around like that.”

“They’re taking a break?” Ben suggested.

“There’s some kind of problem that’s keeping them from work.” Will said. A hundred paces later, Dean caught the smell of woodsmoke. He was completely amazed that Will had been able to spot the building, since he still couldn’t make it out. After another hundred and fifty paces, they reached the side of the building, barely discernable from the rest of the forest.

It was a log building, with a thatched roof, hidden by large bushes and thick vines that snaked their way over trellises erected along the side. Will led them around the side of the building where they spotted six men sitting around a small firepit. Most wore plain spun wool shirts and basic leather vests, over tan trousers. Each had a thick axe by their side and grumbled to each other.

They stood as Will approached and gathered together on the other side of the fire, where they eyed the approaching group warily. “What are you doing here?” A tall man demanded. He was balding in front but the rest of his salt and pepper hair tied back by a thick leather cord.

Will held out his hands to show he wasn’t carrying any weapons, at least none in his hands, “I couldn’t help but notice that your group is sitting around instead of working.”

The man grunted, “What’s it to you?”

“We want to help.” Will indicated his friends behind him. “What’s wrong?”

“Wolves,” another man spat. He blinked and glanced around, surprised that he’d spoken up at all, before haunching his shoulders and taking a few steps backwards.

The first man grunted again, but nodded, “Aye, wolves. One in particular, an Alpha Wolf.” He pointed in the direction away from the castle. “It’s taken to hunting these woods and killing beast and man alike. I won’t risk my men dying for wood, not with that thing about.”

“We could help?” Will suggested, “We can hunt it down and kill it.”

The man eyed each of them in turn, “You look the sort. For coin, I take it?”

“No,” Ryan stepped forward after giving the others a pointed look to keep them quiet. Ben gave him a sharp look, but after a moment, he sighed and nodded his assent. Ryan nodded in satisfaction, “No, we won’t take your coin.”

The man’s eyebrows shot up, wrinkling his forehead, and stared at them in shock and confusion. A thought struck him, and he glared at them, “Then what are you asking for, instead?”

“Nothing.” Will shrugged as he glanced at Ryan, “A quest, for experience.”

The man nodded slowly as he thought it through, “A quest is all?”

A Quest notification popped up.

You’ve been Offered a Quest

Title: Kill the Alpha Wolf

Reward: XP

Description: An Alpha Wolf has taken to hunting the woods surrounding the woodcutters lodge. Kill the Alpha Wolf so that the woodsmen can return to work.

Will accepted the quest and glanced up at the man. “Done.”

“We’ll see.” The man said before turning away from them and sitting down beside the fire. The other woodsmen followed suit, completely ignoring them.

Will turned to the others with a grin, “See, told you they needed our help.”

“Smart ass,” Ben muttered under his breath.

“What’s with the ‘no coin’ thing, Ryan?” Dean asked.

“I wasn’t going to take their coin.” Ryan insisted.

“Why not?” Ben demanded.

“Because I’m not going to, alright? They’re laborers, so they don’t make a lot of money to begin with, probably just enough to make ends meet as it is and I’m not about to demand they go hungry just to start working again.”

They continued through the woods, continuing to crouch behind nearby cover before moving forward. They encountered several more groups of wolves along the way, neither as dangerous as the Barric encounter.

After another hour, they spotted a large field riddled with several different types of flowers and herbs. They set about picking the nearest plants, slowly working their way across the field, when Dean heard a noise from the other side. He looked up to see several wolves emerge from the tree line staring straight at them. His stomach tightened as more continued to emerge into the clearing until eight wolves stood at the edge. A wolf twice the size of the others emerged from the woods. Dean scanned it.

Alpha Wolf

Level 5

Health: 250/250

Will licked his lips and took a few steps forward. He told the others, “Take out the smaller ones first, then we’ll work together on the Alpha. Stay together, don’t let them surround you.” He looked at Ryan, “Stay in the back. Use your bow when you have a chance but keep healing us.” Ryan nodded. The wolves growled and started running towards them.

The Alpha was faster than the others, speeding well ahead of the others. Despite that, the group didn’t target it with their bows, concentrating on killing a few of the weaker wolves before being surrounded.

All four arrows struck home, dropping a different wolf’s health by a third and knocking two of them off their feet. They got off three volleys, killing two of the wolves before they were close enough to attack and leaving the rest of the smaller wolves injured.

Dean was a few paces ahead of the others, and the Alpha lunged at him as Dean rolled out of its way. The Alpha pivoted, using its agility to turn faster than Dean could react, and bit his arm before he could get back to his feet. Instinctively, Dean swung his sword wildly at its body, forcing it to dodge out of the way. Dean felt the healing spell activate on him, the quick burst of tingling warmth spreading across his skin for a few seconds before dissipating, leaving his health twenty points higher. Dean lost track of the rest of the battle as he concentrated on the wolf. It didn’t stay close enough for Dean to engage it in a drawn-out exchange, instead dancing back and forth before darting in for a quick attack and leaping away just as quickly. With its higher speed and agility, the wolf was able to attack at will, while he was only scoring glancing blows before it was out of his reach. Thankfully, the creature’s bites and claws weren’t very strong, only five or six points of damage with each attack, but Dean was still losing health faster than the Alpha.

Knowing he was losing the fight, Dean decided to change tactics. He let the wolf leap in for a massive blow, dropping his health by fifteen points, but it allowed him to recharge some of his stamina, so that he could lung at the Alpha the next time it was about to attack. The move took it by surprise and couldn’t dodge in time. Dean’s blade sank deep into its chest, but the Alpha retaliated by biting his thigh. It yanked hard and Dean was knocked off balance and thrown to the ground. He recovered enough to sit up and swing at the Alpha as it tried to bite other leg. The strike cut across its muzzle causing it to yelp and leap back. Growling, the wolf locked eyes with him.

His own health was in the red by then, at less than twenty points, while the Alpha’s health still remained at sixty. Dean noticed that it wasn’t putting any weight on one of its front paws and knew he didn’t have to worry about it flanking him. It was small blessing since he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to put any weight on his own leg.

A tingling warmth flooded his body, and he felt his wounds start to close. It brought his health back to thirty-six points. The healing stopped after a few seconds as the spell finished its course.

Dean was still losing the battle and knew he couldn’t defeat it without doing something different. He decided it was time to take a gamble and hope for the best.

He positioned his sword so that it was almost flat with his leg, his knuckles white against the hilt. This was definitely a stupid idea, he thought. He locked eyes with the Alpha, then glanced away. It took the bait and leapt at him. Dean sensed the Alpha shift its weight, knowing it meant the Alpha was about to attack, and thrust the sword up and towards it. Unable to dodge mid-leap, the blade sank into the Alpha’s stomach and the momentum caused the Alpha to impale itself up to the hilt. It thrashed around for a second as the last of its life leeched out of it, ripping apart Dean’s chest piece and tearing out chunks of flesh. Luckily, his ribcage kept the wolf from hitting any major organs, but his skin turned to minced meat. Dean watched his own health bar drop from yellow to red. It started blinking a furiously at him as it dipped even lower. It stopped moving within a hair of emptying out.

Dean focused on it to pull up the actual numbers. It read ‘4/100’. He started shivering uncontrollably as the thought of how close he had come to dying washed over him.

His health dropped to three unexpectedly and he bit back a curse as he noticed the bleeding status icon beside it. He read the prompt and did curse then.

Status: Bleeding

-1 Health every ten seconds.

Dean rolled the Alpha’s body off of himself and turned to look over at his friends. All three were pretty beat up and still trying to hold off four wolves. He watched as Ryan tried to cast the healing spell at him, but a wolf darted in before he could finish it and Ryan was forced to dodge.

Exhaling, Dean rested his head on the ground as he watched as his health dropped to two. His vision started becoming blurry and fading to black as it dropped to one.

The familiar tingling warmth rushed across his body with a sudden intensity that jolted Dean. He sucked in a large, ragged breath of air as his vision cleared and he blinked against the returning light. His health jumped to twenty-one, before immediately dropping to twenty. A second later, he would’ve been dead.

The bleeding status changed to read:

Status: Bleeding

-1 Health every fifteen seconds.

Dean slowly climbed to his knees and checked on his friends. All of their health bars were below a quarter health. There were still four wolves circling them, but Will and Ben were dashing back and forth between two wolves to give Ryan the necessary time to cast the healing spell on him. As he watched, he saw the wolves moving to put more distance between themselves making it impossible for the two to keep them distracted.

Dean changed to his bow and sighted on the wolf with the least amount of health. His arm was still weak and he couldn’t pull the bow back all the way, but he hoped it would be enough. It had to be.

The arrow took it by surprise, giving him an automatic critical strike and killing it instantly. No longer contending with two different wolves, Ben rushed the other one, killing it with a few quick slashes. Ryan stopped trying to cast heal, drew his sword instead, and pulled one of the wolves away from Will. It only took a few seconds after that for them to finish off the wolves.

Dean lowered the bow, sighing as he did so. Ryan immediately cast heal on him as his health dipped below fifteen points. The bleeding status icon disappeared. He sighed in relief.

“That was intense.” Will said as he sat down beside Dean.

“Definitely a close one,” Dean agreed, “I almost died again.”

“We weren’t that far behind,”

“My mana’s tapped out,” Ryan said after casting another three more healing spells on the person with the lowest health each time, “I have to wait until it’s recharged to keep going.”

Dean checked his health and experience points again. He whooped aloud at the notification that popped up after pulling up his status page.

Congratulations, you’ve reached Level 3

You have 5 experience points to allocate to your stats.

He quickly allocated his points, dumping two into Endurance and Dexterity, and the fifth in Luck. He closed the page to find the others had already finished leveling up and were busy looting the wolves.

At Dean’s insistence, Ben and he searched the other side of the field to look for their missing arrows, as the other two picked the rest of the flowers. After collecting the arrows in the field, they headed under the forest canopy to search for any arrows that had flown that far. Once under the shade, Dean saw a large outcropping with a cave on its side. He walked over to the entrance and peered inside to discover the wolves’ den.

It appeared completely empty and Dean figured that all the wolves had come out to fight them but drew his sword just in case. The cave consisted of only one cavern about ten feet across, but deep enough that Dean couldn’t see the back wall. The ceiling was only a few inches taller than him giving the cave a feeling of being oppressive and about to cave-in on him at any second, but he pushed those feelings down as he worked his way towards the back.

Ben joined him part way, “Do you think this is a good idea?”

Dean just shrugged and said, “Probably not.”

Ben rolled his eyes and said, “At least I know I can outrun you if something starts chasing us.”

“Thanks.” Dean replied, “Glad to know you’ve got my back.”

Ben grinned, “I do. See?”

He took a few steps back and waited for Dean to start walking again.

“You can be a real dick sometimes.” Dean said as he started slowly exploring the cave.

“It’s one of my many talents.” Ben said.

Dean shook his head but didn’t turn around. The cave took a turn twenty feet that had blocked them from seeing the back wall. The cave only extended another ten feet after that.

The back area was littered with bones, rubbish and wolf droppings. They wrinkled their noses at the smell and started rummaging through everything. Dean found a couple deteriorating coin purses among the bones and several more gold coins littered across the ground amounting to forty coins total. Most of the equipment was moth eaten or rusted over, but he was able to locate two iron swords that looked like they weren’t completely rusted through, an old wooden staff, and a bag full of iron ore. He scanned each item as he found them.

Description: Iron Sword

Quality: Well-Made

Rarity: Uncommon

Weapon Type: One-Handed Sword

Range: Melee

Damage: 17-20

Critical Hit: 8%

Durability: 2/20

Weight: 2.5 lb

Attributes: None

Description: Iron Sword

Quality: Adequate

Rarity: Common

Weapon Type: One-Handed Sword

Range: Melee

Damage: 12-15

Critical Hit: 7%

Durability: 3/10

Weight: 2 lb

Attributes: None

Description: Elemental Staff

Quality: Well-Made

Rarity: Rare

Weapon Type: Magic Staff

Range: Melee, Ranged

Damage: 15-17

Critical Hit: 5%

Durability: 10/10

Weight: 2 lb

Attributes:

-5% Mana Cost for Elemental Spells

+5% Damage for Elemental Spells

Iron Ingot x5

“Hey, look what I found.” Dean exclaimed as he held up the staff.

Ben looked over and checked the staff, “Not bad.”

Dean said, “Do you want it? I mean, being the Sorcerer and all.”

Ben took the staff and stored it in his inventory before saying, “You’re not the only one to find something. Come look.”

Dean followed Ben over to a pile of junk where he’d had found a small chest buried underneath everything. Inside was a large coin purse, several gemstones and a cloak. Dean scanned them:

Description: Cloak of Shadows

Quality: Well-Made

Rarity: Rare

Damage Resist: 15-17

Durability: 6/8

Weight: 4 lbs

Attributes:

+10% Stealth

+3% Ranged Attacks

Moonstone x4

Garnet x4

Emerald x3

Ruby x2

Amethyst x2

Diamond x1

Sapphire x1

Gold x80

“Not a bad day’s work.” Dean grinned, “Let’s rejoin the others.”

The other two were still in the clearing still collecting herbs. After they had finished, Ryan said, “Alright, I need to log out. My wife and kids should be home pretty soon.”

“Not here.” Ben said, “We need to get to an inn or something.”

“Why?” Ryan asked.

“It’s not safe. You can still get attacked by monsters when you’re logged out.” Ben explained.

“Alright,” Ryan said, “But we need to hurry.”