I squatted down in the tall grass. There were five tents. A fire sat in the middle of them, and a Jackle face man leaned on a boulder looking at the fire. He had a sword in his lap. An archer stood on Shia's side and Mia’s side was unguarded. The grey-bearded dwarf crept up beside me and lay on his belly. He was muscular for an old man. He was also covered in scars. He looked over the fire and the archer with thoughtful eyes. One of the tent flaps opened and a minotaur stepped out to pee in the grass not far from us. I saw Goar tense out of the side of my eye. The other minotaur scratched his hairy butt and slipped back into the tent.

We waited until the archer turned from Shia and began walking back toward the fire. Then I jumped up from the grass and ran straight toward the man with the sword. My thighs pounded like rifle shots blasting me forward. I roared as I ran. I felt Goar pass behind me and the three dwarves let out their own battle cries as they broke through the tall grass.

The archer stopped and lifted his bow aiming right at me. I watched as Shia slipped out of the darkness. The firelight glinted off her dark eyes and the blue moonlight made her look like a pale phantom. Long barbed vines grew out from her fingertips looking like antlers on a deer. They grew until she was twice as wide with her hands at her sides. Then she wrapped the archer up by the neck and I watched his head spin up and off his shoulders. A blast of red blood splashed across her face and hair. She didn’t even blink.

The man with the sword stood to his feet and held the tip of the blade straight out for me to run into. I snatched the sword away by the blade and smacked the teeth from his mouth with the hilt. With a flick of the wrist, I plunged the dagger end of the Shade tail through the throat of a man exciting his tent to see what the noise was. Then I tossed the sword back for the dwarves. The redhead dwarf grabbed it and turned toward the tent. I looked over to see Mia and the falconites plunge into the first tent and screaming followed.

Raider killed 832 exp.

Level Up!

Goar charged into the tent he had watched the minotaur walk into. The whole tent shook as the two collided inside. I saw the grey-haired dwarf, his short little legs a blur run straight into the tent behind Goar.

The other three tents poured out a mixed group of men and Jackle faces. The centaur ran in and grabbed the bow from the ground. He charged the new group and dropped two with deftly shot arrows. One through the eye and the other in the groin. He trampled a couple of men as he ran through. The elves were right behind him and as soon as they acquired spears began to full-body plunge them through the bellies of the men.

Blood sounded like buckets being dumped into the grass. Body parts were flung into the air as Shia became a wraith in the midst of the overwhelmed sleepers. Goar’s tent bucked in the air. The two dwarves still with me swiped a batch of hot coals into the crowd of enemies and charged in screaming.

Then I saw the lizardman step from his tent. He had large ears like a bat and red glowing eyes. His tail swished behind him as he looked from one massacre to the other. Then his eyes fell on me. He lifted his hands and pushed out. I was thrown from my feet. He raised a hand high above his head his long black fingernails curved down and he made a fist. Then he swung his arm down like a hammer and it felt as if a boulder was dropped on my chest. He swung his arm to the side. I watched Shia and the centaur swept off their feet as if an invisible rope had clipped all of their ankles.

I reached above my head to the boulder by the fire. It was as big as a bean bag. I clutched it just as the lizard man turned back to me. Then I flung it sitting up and following through. The boulder smashed straight through the lizard’s chest. It was like a balloon pooped and flung guts across the tent sides.

BattleMage killed 1634 exp.

Level Up!

Level Up!

I sat up and caught my breath. The grey-haired dwarf ran past now wearing brown pants rolled up at the bottom and black boots on his feet. He had a war hammer in his hands. He rushed past me and dropped the hammer on the shoulder of a wounded enemy with an audible crunch. Then he barreled through two jackal men smashing one through the knee with the hammer.

Goar ducked out of the tent and dragged a minotaur head behind him on the ground. He was winded and bleeding from two long slashes across his belly. He tossed the head at my feet. I wondered if he was angry with me for making him kill his own kind. “I’m sorry,” I said.

He snorted through his nostrils. “There can only be one Goar.” He said in his deep booming voice. He kicked some dirt behind him with his hooves twice and charged in to smash through the remaining standing enemies.

Mia excited her tent with blood-covered falconites behind her. She was dressed in an overshirt that dropped past her hips and had a chain belt around her waist. She carried a brown fur robe across her arms. The fur was long and looked plushy. It had two black stripes of fur down the back. She stopped in front of me while I got to my feet. “You would look good in this.” She smiled.

I touched the fur with a hand it was as soft as feathers without the quills. I took the fur and slipped my arms through the sleeves. They were rolled up by the wrists. The bottom of the robe touched the back of my calves. She slipped a gold chain over my neck and they caught on my tusks. It barely fit around my oversized head. A gold pendant fell on my chest and I looked down at it. It was the shape of the reaper and he clutched a scythe over his head.

The camp grew quiet. All eyes were on me now. I raised my fist into the air and howled. My clan howled with me. “Get the loot and get some clothes on.” I laughed.

I walked over to the nearest tent. The dead body of the minotaur lay bleeding on the floor. Three dead men lay to the sides one of them had his face caved in with a square hammer. One of them smelled as if he had crapped his pants. I grabbed one of the bedding mats from the floor and rolled it up under my arm. I found a spot in the grass and laid the matt down on it. Then I opened up my data pad. “Tootsie.” No answer. “Tootsie.” I called a little louder. I looked up as she was making her way back over to me zipping from side to side to look at the dead grinning and rubbing her hands together as she made her way over. “What is wrong with you?”

“You are finally doing something exciting.” She tipped her head back and moaned, “it gets so boring waiting for you to grow some mountain oysters.”

I pinched my brow together a moment but decided not to endeavor to understand the creepy little bug. “How do I get the skills that lizard was using on me?”

“Telekinesis?” Tootsie frowned. “So impersonal, wouldn’t you rather pull their guts out with your fists?”

“I like to have options.”

“Well, each one of those hand movements costs you twelve skill points.”

“Then I will have to save up,” I noted my data pad once more.

“First you need to open the BattleMage path though,” Tootsie added.

“How do I do that?”

She pointed at the eye symbol in the corner and a path list filled the screen. Archer, Assassin, Bard, Battle Mage, Battle Priest, Beastmaster… The list was long and I already knew what I wanted so I clicked on BattleMage and accepted the affirmation. No exhaustion followed and none of my soul points disappeared. “Did it work?”

“Your first path is free.” Tootsie answered already creeping back toward the battlefield. “Can I go back now, you don’t know how to savor a moment.”

“One more question.”

“Ugh, what?”

“What will happen when they respawn are we gonna have to watch them till they come back?”

“No they will start back at the beginning of their route, they don’t have a player with them.” She looked over her shoulder eagerly. “I’m missing everything.”

“Go Tootsie.”

Shia walked over dragging the Jackal man I had attacked first. Blood poured from his mouth and his cheeks were sunken from the missing teeth. “He is still alive.” She dropped him at my feet. I blinked. Then rose up and sank the knife end of the Shade tail into his mouth pressing down until he stopped kicking.

Raider watchman killed 927 exp.

Level Up!

I smiled I had the points I needed to get my Telekinetic spell.

“I thought you would want to keep him alive let him tell the story. Spread the fear.” Shia said.

I looked up at her. “Next time.”

Then I opened my data pad and began scrolling through the Telekinetic spells under my new path. They all sounded great. I found the kinetic hammer he had used on me but first I decided to acquire kinetic pull. Draw anything your weight or lighter to you. That would have been handy against the lizard. So I spent the twelve points.

Orc

Chief Barker

Pig Face

Level 22

Cost 3 SP

Strength: 25 Hunger 18

Dexterity: 11 Thirst 03

Charisma: 5 Entertainment 5

Intelligence: 18 Concentration 12

Manna: 5 Shelter 0

Constitution: 17 Energy 10

Perception: 15 Hygiene 09

Exp: 22,003

Soul Points: 01

Path of the Battle Mage:

Cost 12 SP

Spells: D grade Kinetic Pull

Skills: Furious Feline: cost 2 mana,

Dex: +3, Claws, time: 1 hour

Carapace Skin: +4 Constitution,

Cost: 2 Mana, time: 1 hour

Phantom Cloak: Cover a target area of three square-meters for 7 minutes (Stage 2)

Cost: 2 Mana

Coin:

$0

Gear:

Shade Tail and Spine

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