For some reason, my three party members picked up ASL instantaneously. At times I struggled to come up with relavant words and phrases and just emphasized the use of the alphabet to spell out certain things. I asked Elsbeth if she would share her story with me and she said she would when we got back to Linqs. She had a pained look when she brought up the memory. I remember seeing it moments a go on Kona's face. I'm sure Ramona and Victoria have a similar past. I often forget that, though they were born from data input, they all "lived" a life. There is no script, no predetermined storyline. Every piece of history is being created organically as every second ticks by. Teaching them to sign brought up my own memories: hospital rooms, uncomfortable fold-out chair beds, my mother sobbing in a dim light when she thought I was asleep.

My sniffer brings me out of my deeper thoughts, detecting a scent different from the rest. If monsters are shades of red, locations a shade of green, then blue must be some sort person! The trail veers off our intended path, down a slope and toward what looks to be a cave.

"This way," I whisper to Kona and Ramona and I touch Elsbeth's arm to get her attention. I motion for her and I to use Zoom once we clear some of the trees , which we do. It isn't much, but it helps us spot a pack of wolves harrassing something stuck in a tree. El taps my elbow and signs four letters.

"Dawn?!" I accidently shout, attracting the attention of the largest of the wolves. We watch it look up towards us and growl menacingly. The others stop and turn to us as well. Elsbeth makes a motion with her hands and thumb, one dropping out of the grip of the other.

"Yeah," I grumble, "shit."

**********************************

How did this happen? Dawn Nobel is clinging to the trunk of a fairly tall tree with no food and dwindling water. No food means all three of her bars stop regenerating. No water means her HP, MP, and SP drop over time. Dawn looks down at the pack of grey wolves, their constant growling and barking are like taunts for her to jump into their midst.

"Sorry boys, I deal with wolves all the time, and just giving them everything they want isn't something you do."

As a notable figure in the Cosplay, Stream Gaming, and Blogging communities, Dawn garnered a lot of attention by being the grand prize winner of the first FIVR Real Time Strategy tournament.

Red Colony Wars was the first and greatest FIVR RTS game produced in the last few years, even after its sequel was released, the original continued to be more popular. RTS games are different from RPGs in the line that RPGs focused on the individual, while RTSs focused on the community. Every citizen and building has to grow stronger and more efficient faster than the others did and then dominate the landscape.

So, when Dawn received her invitation to play Arc, she wondered a couple of things. Was she being taken seriously as a gamer or did they expect her to be eye-candy for the viewers? And would her experience, mainly RTS and the occasional first-person shooter, translate at all in this game? So far, the answer to the last question is a resounding no.

"Dawn?!" her name echoes from some distant, familiar voice.

She watches the wolves turn and bolt after the voice's source, and breathes a sigh of relief. After double checking her immediate surroundings, she climbs back down and picks up her storage bracelet. Withdrawing a ration she stuffs it in her mouth.

[Debuff removed: Starving. HP/MP/SP Regen return to normal.]

All of her points start regenerating by the second (2/25HP, 6/24MP, 2/11SP). From the base of the tree she tries to observe the battle, but a few other trees and the distance obscure any fine details. What she can see is four people fighting off the pack of wolves, one of them is handling the large alpha by themself.

"Come on, come on…" she urges her regeneration to work faster. Her MP hits 10 and she casts a quick Spell. She makes sure all her points are full before drawing a simple iron mace and small, wooden buckler, rushing over to join the battle. She takes a quick glance at the notification before clearing her vision.

[Healing Hands: +11HP]

****************************************

"I'll aggro the alpha," I call out as Kona and Elsbeth loose volleys into the oncoming pack, managing to kill a couple, "Do your best, with the pups. You're stronger now, remember that."

Five grey wolves and one big bad alpha arrive in a collision of teeth, steel, and fur. The alpha is twice as big and tall as the other wolves, and disengages me just to stare at me menacingly.

[Alpha Wolf, Level 6, Boss Tier 1,

[??/??HP ??/??MP ??/??SP

[Analyze ability too low to discern description.]

I could almost see the words, "Good Luck!" at the end of that notification.

My goblin shortsword glows a dim yellow as I get into my battle position and we start to circle each other. My eyes comb over the large beast, trying to spot any sort of weakness or old injury, but this creature is in it's prime. Young enough to be bold, but wise enough to not just jump on us from the start. His face is even with mine, his body arching back so that he stood as tall as a horse. Paws move, in sync with my own, step for step. They're the size of throw pillows and most likely strong enough to bypass my armor. So getting hit isn't an option, though I should--

It lunges toward my left halfway through my step, its body a blur. I notice almost too late that its claws mean to shred my arm. I'm already used to the smaller ones doing something similar but less as impressive. My toe barely reaches the ground before I use it push off into a half spin, sweeping my leg in the dirt and blindly driving my charged weapon forward.

I feel the shortsword punch through the resisting skin and muscle, and I grip the handle harder in anticipation of the tug. I don't have time to pull back, the wolf bounds past me releasing my weapon with its momentum, putting us back to square one, except now he's bleeding from his side.

[You deal 48 piercing damage]

As it lands, an orb of purple energy smashes into its face.

[You deal 17 arcane damage]

It reels back and clears its sinuses, but by the time it looks back at me I'm already all over it. It flinches back, using a paw to put distance between us and catches me on the chest. It rips its claws down with me along with it, shredding the old vest and slamming me into the ground.

[Alpha Wolf claws you for 24 damage!]

[Alpha Wolf slams you for 10 damage!]

[Minor Leather Vest destroyed!]

My air is forcibly removed and I gasp hard to retract some back into my lungs. I grit my teeth, trying to ignore the pain of losing half of my HP and give a gurgling shout, "Crit!" stabbing into the wolf's sinewy leg with a glowing shortsword.

[You deal 48 piercing damage!]

Something snapped in the wolf's leg and it practically rolled over me, pressing me with its massive body and covering me in blood and dirt.

[Alpha Wolf tackles you for 10 damage!]

I meekly pull a health potion out and drain it quickly, almost choking on it. The pain in my body quickly recedes but a bit still lingers in my chest and diaphragm from earlier.

[Minor Health Potion: +20HP]

(26/50HP) Damn, that was close. From the ground I can see two wolves remaining and attacking the party. Elsbeth has a dagger drawn and Ramona is in bad shape. Kona isn't visible from my position on the ground. I stumble to my feet and look over at my foe. Its lips are drawn back as far as they can go, baring every dripping tooth it has, and keeping its damaged leg from touching the ground. It tries to move on it with as little weight as possible but to no avail. Its chin hits the dirt and it pulls itself up as fast as it can.

We're looking each other in the eyes, but suddenly it glances behind me. I thought it was to his remaining pack when I here Kona shout, "Ardacen!" I instinctively drop down into a crash position, and feel a clawed body land on my back, springboarding off me.

[Grey Wolf claws you for 8 damage]

With my lowered Defense, the smaller wolf is able to do some actual damage to me (12/50HP). A bolt of energy whistles past my head and smashes into the little guy's backside, familiar purple energy ending the creatures life. I use that as a cue and sprint in to face the tier one boss. I leap into the air, bringing both weapons up for a finishing blow, but the creature anticipates me and hinges its jaws wide open.

As luck would have it, at the apex of my jump, a mighty crunch crumpled the beast and its eyes shut with pain. That gives me the advantage I sorely need, driving both weapons into its skull.

[You deal 29 piercing damage]

[Goblin Shortsword destroyed!]

I fully land on the creatures in a bloody heap, the notifications temporarily losing my attention. With great aches and pains, I make my way up on my hands and knees. Before me stands a short, smiling girl, with deep, ocean blue skin and similar colored long hair. Black horns with red tips curl back from atop her head and then curl forward like a big horned sheep. Her eyes glow like embers, darting from me, then to her friends.

She places a hand on my shoulder, "Healing Hands!" They glow white and so does my shoulder.

[Dawn Nobel heals you +11HP]

She smiles at me, "Thanks," and moves past me to her friends.

Kona immediately squeels with excitement. "You're alive! We knew it! We were so worried when you didn't come back yesterday! What happened to you? Why did you go so far East?"

Kona is pratically bursting into tears, when her friend puts a hand on her head and heals her. "Hey! I didn't need that!"

I'm standing now, smiling to myself, trying to remove all the blood, dirt, and remaining vest pieces from my person. I go over the last few notifications as the alpha's body evaporates.

[You defeated Alpha Wolf!]

[200XP, 4*Silver will be divided among all party members]

[Boss slayer! As the last to attack the boss when it died you receive a bonus!]

[25XP, Mask of the Grey Wanderer]

[Boss Raid successful! Received: Feat!

[War Party Leader I: Party size 4/7; Mentally issue commands, one way use only, +10% shared XP]

[XP will now be shared evenly in party!]

[Adaptibility Activated! You learned a Feat!]

[Alpha Wolf's Pride: At will/ Hands become claws as dangerous as sharpened steel, dealing 3 (base) slashing/piercing damage, +1 (base) per level. You may add Dexterity total instead of Strength when modifying damage. +3Agi during combat.]

I'm drooling, I know I am, and I wipe at the corner of my mouth. Only one item dropped, but everything else is icing on top of icing. I briefly wonder if my other Feat (Varient Hunter) somehow aided in the gains, but dismiss the thought just as easily as it popped into my head.

I grow and retract my claws like a fledgling super hero, giggling to myself. I pause and withdraw the Mask from my bracelet, which is showing signs of being full again. I check out my new toy before trying it on.

It's a grey mask that looks like an angular wolf, a line of small triangles representing bared teeth. The material is strange, its really difficult to place what it is. Hard and inflexible, like steel, but extremely light like foil. At first I thought it was mithril and nearly screamed in a high soprano, but excitement made way for confusion when I realized it lacked the luster of real mithril, just a simple, dull grey.

[Mask of the Grey Wanderer: Face, 1/3set

[+3Agi, +1Str, +1Armor, ???]

I'm inching the mask towards my face when a clearing of a throat interrupts me. I look around to see the four ladies standing behind me.

The demon looking girl extends her hand to me, "Just wanted to say thanks…"

I can see her glowing eyes aim higher at my name and see the realization wash over her face.

"Well, well, well, Mr. Winters. What are the odds, huh?" Its cute seeing her place a hand on her hip, cocking her head to the side.

"I didn't think I'd see you so soon either. What's with the, um, what race are you?"

Her laugh is short, and seemingly full of relief, "I don't look anything like my IRL self, do I?"

"Not in the slightest!" I look her up and down a few times.

Kona seems hesitant to butt in, "Guys its almost night and some of us don't have Darkvision."

Dawn points at the cave, "There's nothing in that cave except for a strange rock. Those wolves attacked me before I could explore it. We could easily camp there for the night and head back in the morning."

I make sure all our points are topped off and invite Dawn into our party. Ramona takes point again, with Elsbeth following close behind to aid in threat perception. Dawn is walking between me and Kona, telling her tale from the beginning. "Even though I have very little experience with FIVR RPGs, I play enough RTSs to get the gist of the game."

Kona crosses her eyes and squeezes her temples, "You guys say funny words someitmes!"

I ignore her and continue our conversation, "So you're THAT Dawn Nobel? NobelConqueror? Dawn the Don?" Seeing a Infernus blush is odd, her cheeks still turned pinkish, but with her dark, blue tinted skin it was barely visible.

"Uh, yeah, those are my call signs in games. Anyway, I chose Infernus as my main race mostly so I can hide my identity."

"So why didn't you change your name?"

She shook her head, "I didn't have enough time! There was so much information to sift through! Anyway, it also gave me a weak fireball spell to start off with. The damage is based mainly on my level. I chose halfling as my sub-race because of the agility bonus but I didn't think it would have such an affect on my height! Now I'm stuck as a four foot demon baby!" We both laugh as Ramona and Elsbeth welcome us into the cave.

Up close, I estimate the diameter of the entrance to be roughly twenty two feet, since it isn't in the shape of a perfect circle. Ramona and Kona are the only ones without some sort of darkvision so we decide not to venture too deep. We find a clearing behind some large rocks and stalagmites and set up a rest area.

I clear my throat to gather everyone's attention, "We'll do two shifts to keep watch. El, if you don't mind, you and I will be sleeping first, getting your four hour meditation cycle? And during our watch I can help you craft more arrows?"

At the same time as my instructions, I was signing, her glimmering blue eyes darting between my face and hands.

"You didn't…" I look over at Dawn and smile, her own disbelieving grin spreading across her face. "Is this why you're some legendary player?"

"I… what? No, I figured I was more infamous than famous. Anyway, after we catch our four the rest of you get some sleep okay?" They all nod in agreement.

Elsbeth is about to lie on the ground when I stop her, summoning my bedroll. I offer it to her, she tries to politely decline, but I insist. I sit back against the wall of the cave which, thankfully, slopes back ever so slightly and close my eyes. Within moments my unofficial skill drifts me off to sleep.