Half an hour later Marlow was a proud owner of a young pony. Somehow Le0n pulled a fast one on the gate guards. He tricked them into betting more and more. Until there came a tipping point. At which point the guards realized if they went any further could just reject them from entering the city, so they took their winnings and let Le0n in to go buy several permits. One of the things that they had won was one of the guard’s ponies.

Whistling could be heard as the pony owner marched onwards leading his new pet back to the inn where they were staying. Having to pay for an additional stable room was even more embarrassing. Since the rats he originally came into the city with disappeared into the floor bored of the inn. With the exception of the mounts they were rooming with his new pony. Letting himself into the cramped room Le0n bought he opened up the small booklet given to him by Aspin.

“How to become one with the wild. Book One of Becoming One With The Wild. Written by Aspin. Alright Aspin, let's see what knowledge you want to pass down.” Marlow said absentmindedly, feeding Gwaner and then Opal a treat. Half an hour flew by, with the only noise being blacking and soft squeaking of Gwaner and Opal falling asleep on the ‘comfortable beds’ the inn provided.

A loud bang could be heard as something happened below them followed by a stomping as something made its way up across the downstairs room and up the narrow staircase. Figuring that now may be a good time to skedaddle the stomping halting just in front of room two hundred and three, his room. The little door knob shook. And then twisted open. A tall hooded figure stood at the only exit to the room, bow in hand.

The figure reached an arm up and flicked off its hood revealing a smudged face Le0n. moving a finger over his lips, as he closed the door taking up a spot in the small room throwing his hood over his head. Gesturing for him to go back to reading he did so just as Jazz walked into the room.

“Marlow, have you seen AAUGH?”

Le0n had leaped out and threw a small bag at Jazz in one swift move. Jazz who was holding a very large and very heavy pot. This was made apparent as it broke through the old floorboards and shattered an unoccupied chair.

This sudden action was followed by Jazz and Le0n staring up from the hole in the ground to each other, then to Marlow, then back at each other, then over to the door.

Attempting to leave the crime scene they were interrupted by the beefcake bartender staring them down through the hole in the floor. One awkward conversation later they were ten gold lighter and were on dish duty for the rest of the night.

“You know I could have turned out a lot worse you know, we could be kicked out on the street you know. I heard that a monster broke down by one of the gates. The other night.” Jazz spoke loud, high enough to be heard, but low enough to not get caught by the barkeep.

“Oh really, which one is the south or south west?”

“The east gate actually. Why did you hear something different?”

“I actually did. I guess break-ins are becoming more and more common. I wonder what caused these sudden outbreaks? Marlow what’s your thoughts?”

“What a pity, this plate has some nasty gunk.”

“Hesh that is something nasty, the question was any clue why monsters keep on breaking into the kingdom?”

“I think it's just a game mechanic, to keep people and guilds from building a large population to kind of force people to move out and go explore this new world.”

“True, true, or more likely there's an evil mage out there who has vowed to destroy all of humanity and has decided that now was the time to strike. Just throwing a dart in the dark here.” Le0n offered. Only getting a meek ‘Yah’ in reply.

The trio continued to sit, washing, scrubbing, and whipping down the dishes. Letting their ears and thoughts wander. Picking up bits and pieces of conversation here and there, commenting on the out of context phrases they heard.

“Did you guys hear that!” Le0n exclaimed, stateling the pair out of their stupor.

“Hear what?”

“I’ll tell you later. But does the guild ‘hardcores’ ring a bell for any of you?”

“They burned down a barn and threatened a friend of mine.”

“They offered me a permanent job as their alchemist and nearly forced me into servitude.” Jazz stated seriously, damping the mood between the three of them

“So not good guys?”

“Very not ‘good guys’?”

“Oh ok, so should we disrupt their upcoming heist then?”

Silenced rain as the two of them soaked in the new information. Nothing was said between them as the tavern closed for the night. They continued to say nothing until they had firmly closed the door to their new room and ensured that windows were still immovable.

“What exactly did you do here?” Jazz sat on her own bed as the two boys got comfortable on the rugged floor.

“I heard a green cloaked woman talking about an upcoming ‘event’ and was wondering if this place’s basement was still available for ‘rent’. Since they would be under investigation soon and wanted to store some undesirable goods. Occasionally dropping a few odd quotes here and there. Which is what really tipped me off. Then again this could be someone looking for a place to store some weird stuff while she moves.”

“So what should we do about it? It's not like they're going to mobilize their entire guild for this one heist. Right?” Jazz said dantaly, setting her bag on the far side of the bed away from any boys.

“Actually they would. Remember the night I ran into you, Le0n. I was actually running away from Lilith, she’s a thief that likes to use needles from that guid. Anyways I needed some easy excuse to hide and as it turned out I had walked right into a band of people heading out. Reason being why I was running was because I had ‘forgotten’ and had ‘lost’ the guild’s tax money to some local hobos, instead of giving it to the authorities.” Marlow retorted, snuffing out the candle light. Grabbing the pillow Le0n had ‘borrowed’ while he was lending over to check his quiver.

“Honestly I haven’t got the faintest clue of what to do. Where do we even start? Do we start by investigating the Hardcores or do we try to find the person who asked that barkeeper?”

“If we were to ask the barkeep he’d probably kick us out for sticking our nose where it doesn’t belong.” Jazz murmured rolling over to the window. Moving her bag out of the way before the small pillow fight.

“I agree, muph, should we try to include a third party?” Le0n said, swinging his pillow into Marlow’s gut.

“Na it’s too risky, they could turncoat us.”

“Turncoat?”

“It means a person who betrays the party and goes and joins the enemy team.” Marlow spoke, catching the kick of the blanket from Jazz’s bed. Only to toss into Le0n’s face.

“Urm fufler.”

“What?”

“You cheater.” Le0n said untangling himself from the scratchy fabric. Then rudely handing it to Jazz.

“YOU THREE KNOCK IT OFF I’M TRY TO SLEEP HERE, ONE MORE STRIKE, THEN YOUR OUT!” yelled the buff barkeeper.

“Sorry.” The three of them said in unison.

“We’ll talk more in the morning then.”

“Night.”

“Sleep tight.”

“Don’t let the bashers dance on your grave at night.”

“Well that’s a bit dark ain’t.”

“Sorry, just a phase. I heard children singing and wanted to try it out.”

“You do know children’s stories are almost always dark right?”

“I just know that I liked the rym and thought it sounded kind of cool.”

“Hey it’s alright if you like something, but just let logic sink in before you say anything. It’s gotten out of a pickle a few times at least.”

“Thank You Jazz, I'll try that out next time.” Marlow said leaning back he hit the floor boards.

The Next day the trio decided to pool their money and buy better equipment. They would have been done by noon but Jazz insisted they need to go buy fertile soil for her shrubs to grow in.

“Le0n I’m telling you the higher quality of solid we get can drastically improve the quality of potions I can make.” Jazz said, handing a bag off to Marlow.

“And I’m telling you we don’t need to spend two gold coins on a single bag of dirt. Let’s just get this twenty silver one instead. Marlow you ready for strength training?” Le0n spoke, taking the bag from Marlow and replacing it with a much lighter one.

“That is only a medium quality bag, sure I’ll be able to make slightly better potions but if we want to step into the big leagues we need higher quality items.”

“Ya higher quality items not dirt.” Le0ns said, as Marlow hauled the bag onto the makeshift count.

“That will be two gold sir.”

“Deal!” Jazz said, slapping two coins on the counter. Only for Le0n to realize that Jazz had switched out the bags yet again.

“Fine but it's coming from sharing them.”

“No problem then, I just need to sell some of these bad boys then I’m all good.” Jazz said, patting her back full of mysterious concoctions.

Grumbling Marlow held the expensive bag and began to waddle after the two of them. Thinking over his life choices. Sure he had got onto a similar same skill level as Jazz and Le0n, but he still felt miles apart. Even if he trained non stop still a month behind them. He could just magically become a powerhouse overnight. Sure he could send his rat army into the sewer or fields to clear them out, but it just didn’t feel right to get easy xp that way. Then his skills would stagnate. Then he’d have to spend more time training his skill in which he’d fall behind. And thus was the circle of life.

The rat army on the other hand was having a grand time. They had never been to such a big city. The two things the Master said was ‘oo illing nnn ooo tealing’ which was roughly translated by Captain Gwaner. ‘No murdering anything that isn't trying to kill you and go borrowing.’ Which to be fair they did so, for as long as they remembered.

“So where to go next? I heard there's a shop that magically sorts and orginiels itself. Should we go see what’s up with that?”

“Maybe but I think it’s time we upgrade our gear for real this time instead of going and shopping just for you.” Jazz of course blushed and looked away.

“It’s not all for me.”

“Oh. Sure. It is. It’s not like we need this. Herb harvesting book or this jar of ghost goop.” Marlow heaved.

“It's ectoplasm and you know it!”

“Anyways I need a new bow and Marlo still has that stick he calls a spear. We are going to go shopping for ourselves this time. And last I checked we had four gold and seven silver. That is unless you already spent it all?”

“Fine I suppose we could go look at some other things.” Jazz relented signing in disappointment. The trio wandered around until it was late afternoon finally finding themselves in a weapon shop that did not have insane price tags.

“Hello there my good sir do you by any chance have any spears for sale and if so how much?”

“We got a copper wood spear which would be fifty silver, an iron spear made by a novice smith, a few copper, and a few dozen wolfmen javalens, a silver piece for those.”

“We'll take the copper wood spear please.” Le0n cheerfully exclaimed, snatching sparkly wooden sticks from the slim merchant. “Here you go Marlow now let’s go find your favorite ranger a new bow!”

Copper wood spear (common): Adds 10-16 damage on piercing blows and 5-8 damage on blunt damage. -15% stamina drain when using both hands. Durability 98/100.

Flint spear (trash): Adds 4-6 on piercing blows and 2-3 on blunt damage. -2% stamina drain when using both hands. Durability 8/50.

Making up his mind Marlow broke his old spear over his knee. Pocketing the large flint, as a token of his time with Benson. Turning to catch up with his teammates, only to realize that he had no clue where they went.

Heading out on the streets Marlow picked up the dirt bag and looked around for his friends only to be met with unfamiliar faces going about their day. Dred sunk deep into heart. ‘Would they really abandon him?’ ‘No, they were his friends?’ ‘Right?’.

“Squeak!”

Looking down he found one of his rats spinning in circles. Squatting down picked up the frantic little thing. In which it panicked and fell out of his hand. Landing on all fours the frantic rodent took off down an alleyway across the street.

Throwing the bag over his shoulder he took off after his pet. Not noticing the figure on the rooftop looking down at him. Chasing the rat it eventually led him to a sewer grate and continued to spin there until he had turned the corner after which it wiggled it’s tiny body down into the sewers.

Fearing the worst he put down the expense bag and entered the stinky sewers. Plopping down into murky depths finding the water was not as deep as he thought it would.

Broken ankle -20 Health. Please see a cleric or doctor to fully heal from this injury.

His rat squeaked once again and continued on without him. Gritting his teeth he hobbled around the corner. And was immediately blinded by a bright light. Covering his face he made out though his fingers silver and copper galore.

The rat which led here, beamed from it’s shiny pile. It had hoped to receive a treat for its hard days' work. However he was ment with a disappointed glare, followed by the Master pulling out his flute and playing the tune indicating that he should return the horde of treasure he had spent his entire day collecting. He should probably go tell the others before they made the same mistake he did. After all this was the smallest pile they had collected.

Crawling out of the sewer was a pain. Having to hobble home was a quest all on its own. Thinking that maybe some clerics could teach him some basics of first aid and maybe fix his ankle, since he had no clue where Jazz was and the small detail that their regeneration potions were growing shorter by the day.

The only thing he found odd was when he had asked a guard where the nearest temple was. His response was unique to say the least.

“Oh yes the temple is down this road and then take a left, however by order of the king the temple is closed just for today.”

“Well, do you know someone who I can goto to fix my ankle?”

“You're one of those travelers, can't you just magic it away?”

“Sorry I can’t magic my problems away.”

“Oh well just come back tomorrow then, though I don’t think they’ll let you in?”

“Oh, why is that?”

“Well you see, all the clerics, priests, and holy people have been too concerned with each other and haven’t really paid much attention to us common folk.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, have you guys been okay with all us travelers coming in?”

“Sometimes, yes most of the time no. You see when you folks started popping up a small portion of you just didn’t seem to feel anything at all which freaked us out and when we saw you guys come back from the dead we knew we were in trouble. I’m just glad some of them held themselves to a higher standard.”

“So how do you guys deal with us travelers?”

“We'll send you off to prison obviously. It is kinda strange how most of the lot we do send to prison seem to enter into a meditation trance. Can you do that trance thing?”

“No, I can enter a trance, though I have to admit it must be creepy sending some to jail only to have them go to sleep along with everyone you catch that day.”

“Funny thing is that ever since the announcement that your world was closed everyone stopped doing it. So now they are actively trying to break out which just makes my job, so terrifying.”

“That must really be scary.”

“It really is, hey thank you for not trying to press forward into the temple area. It really does make our lives easier keeping the law in check.”

“No problem man, have a nice night!”

“You too kid.”

Waving the guardsmen a farewell, Marlow took off into the night looking for someone who could set his ankle. For it had already begun to swell causing him to lose a hit point every third step.

He wandered for what seemed like hours but in reality he had only just turned the corner. If the amount of perception increases the amount of pain you could feel. Then he would then dedicate the rest of his life to putting every point into constitution. He never wanted to be concerned about every paper cut and stumped toe he got.

However, that did go against what his class recommended to him. Maybe he could find some item that numbed the pain? That seemed like a reasonable item to have, right? KURF!

As he hobbled along an empty street he failed to listen to what was going on around him. Like someone walking on shingles, someone slipping on said shingles, someone recovering from their fall from a rooftop, and some taking aim then thrown a knife at the oblivious tamer.

Somewhat rolling gracefully Marlow turned and faced his asulent, a figure in a forest green cloak. His heart dropped. For the first time Marlow felt on equal footing with this stranger.

“Why did you burn down the barn!”

“Because we were bored, now tell me where the chicken is.”

“You're still on about that, she can’t even lay eggs, you know!”

“Oh we know, we're after her unique skill. It’s quite hard to kill a mage, especially if they know you're coming after them. Since your chicken can take away their ability to cast spells, well they're just normal people, which makes it far easier to do.”

Judging that this farm boy wasn’t going to hand over his magical chicken. Lilith took matters into hand, by throwing a knife. It wasn’t a well aimed knife, just one to frighten the farm boy. What she didn’t expect was a swarm of rats to come crawling out of every nook and cranny of the street.

Rats poured out of every sewer grate, alleyway, and even some baskets of fruit. One was even stopping to sniff and eat the fruit, before handing off the half eaten food to its brother.

Waves of fur and furry roll across the cobblestone streets converging on her position. Reaching into her cloak she drew her last piece of glowing paper. Selecting the ‘Yes’ option as soon as it comes up.

Fire consumed the piece of paper, growing in size until it became the size of a watermelon, then filling itself at the swarm of screeching teeth and claws. Ka-boom! Light and fire engulfed the street burning away most of the swarm.

Exp: 181.3 (Tamed Rat level 1 x 37)(5 per Rat -10% due to the creatures being owned by a tamer).

Little chunks of over roasted meat fell as Lilith glared up through that flames at the now shocked tamer.

“Now listen here, you weakling. I am going to ask you again where your magical chicken is. That was only a warning shot. Try that trick again and I may just open up on civilians next time.”

“She’s at the Rugged Saddleback inn. Second floor third door on the left side.” Marlow painted covering his face from the boiling heat wave.

“See I wasn’t that hard now was it?”