The 2 hour walk to the Searing Gorge went by with no hick ups. Along the way Cuzen brought them up to speed with the situation concerning the guild.

“So where to start, best to start at the beginning I guess. I met him at the training hall when Tinker left. At first I was skeptical. But we had a more than in depth chat about various things. We started by talking about stats and skills and how that ties in with levels. After that we talked about classes. It seemed that they do not just want adventures. From merchants to architects they accept all, It seemed that the other co founder of the guild is merchant class. He runs the money and gets all the other information that normal adventure type classes like us do not know or focus on. He gave examples like politics, supply and demand of items or resources. But it seemed they already have so much money they are going to take over their first town. Gambit is in charge of getting the adventures types and protecting their assets after diplomacy fails.

They focus on quality over quantity so most of members are above average players. They seem to be over 200 members strong already. Most operate here in the Heaven Kingdom and they have a chapter near the south of the continent. He said they are focusing there because according to the hardcore players the south and east of the continent or Rosenheim Kingdom along with smaller nations will open soon as the newest starting location. They are divided into 2 main groups within the guild. They are Scribes and Knights. Scribes are under the command of Major the merchant and co founder of the guild. It’s funny how the one with a military name has nothing to do with it, but that is not important.

They have ranks in the guild, thus everyone knows where you belong and know who to take orders from or ask if you have problems. They have a talented seamstress that makes all the black coats and does the embroidery work. If we are to be accepted in the guild we must have our own black coats at all times. Lucky they only demand a person to wear them in the guild house or at meetings. O yes, they have a guild house in the capital. Not all guilds have them but like I said they know what they are doing and they could afford a house. I can almost afford a horse, and they have already bought a house for the guild. They only got it about 2 weeks ago, so it is still new and needs some work.”

The others were impressed by this news, even Tinker was leaning towards joining this guild. “So how do we join” Yuri asked before he could.

“Well think of this way, to clear the dungeon in less than a week is our test. If we manage to clear it in less than 5 days we will have more freedom in the guild. Think we should aim for that as our goal. With the freedom we won’t be forced to go on mandatory level ups with the guild and will have freedom to go and do what we want until a big raid or siege happens.”

“What big raids and what sieges?”

“According to Gambit the top guilds are currently forming parties of 20 to 50 and some even a 100 to raid a dungeon and farm it all. It seems they do this when they discover a new dungeon for the increased drop rate and experience. Or when they want to kill a level 100 boss they mass in numbers and just overwhelm it. After that they brake in smaller groups since they know the tactics of the boss and farm the loot. Well the talks of war are growing, not full scale wars, for now just guild wars. There are many locations and areas That he claims will soon come under player control. In time they will want to expand their area of control and other guilds will want what others have. Gambit speculates that in about a year most of the small guilds will be disbanded or will have to leave the center continent if they wanted to operate with no outside influences.”

“That brings me down to the goal of their guild. They know they won’t emerge the strongest guild in the Heaven Kingdom, but they would like to be part of the strongest. Sometimes some guilds consume a guild and all members come part of the new guild, or they from an alliance. Thus they keep their own names and function as a branch of the stronger guild. Only time would tell I guess. At least they do not number in the thousands and you just a number, seems they are a functional community. That reminds me, both leaders are not Korean, they are French. So the time when we are online will be similar to theirs. They do not discriminate against race and only want above average players and it is just a bonus if they fall into the same time zone.”

“So that means we have 5 days to kill 1600 monsters on level 2? Think we can do it. It’s still early in the day and we have time, we pretty well stocked up. How will he know we are done in 5 days or that we don’t just kill them today and log out for a week and then come back?”

“He said they had an assassin that is farming level 3 that would check up on us a few hours from now.”

“Then it won’t be hard. 1600 monsters for us, 600 venom sacks for Tinker. Think spiders number the most so it won’t be hard to collect sacks.”

“I need the silk though, it is used in tailoring, my skill is not high enough yet so that I can use it, but I want to stock up so that I have it when I get around to it.”

“It works out, as I am harvesting the meat and venom sack, Lina gets the silk. Yuri can scout the next location.”

“Did you say meat?”

“Yes, white spider meat. Can make a stew with it. When you don’t have a lot of money you live off the land. Like wolf meat it will taste nice, just in real life I think they will be terrible.”

“Whatever, we will see how it goes. According to the information there are 2 Type of spiders on level 2. The medium to small green ones that paralyze if they manage to bite you. The bigger brown spiders just do poison damage over time. Also they hit hard with their big legs. There will also be goblins that level will be between 40 and 60. There are 3 types, Goblin shamans that cast bloodlust, cures poison and cast minor heals. 2nd are the scouts and worker goblins that are small and fast. Lastly there are the warrior goblins, big fighters that hunt and defend them. The biggest of them will be the leader for the group we encounter. If you kill him early in a fight the smaller goblins tend to retreat.”

The town did not seem big but it had a stone wall with spikes inside and atop it to keep out monsters. It seemed to be busy, since all players between level 10 and 100 could quest in the dungeon. Since the capital was in walking distance it became a location a lot of players that want to grind can come. They went straight by the town to the dungeon so that they can start.

Yuri led the way through level one, they saw other groups and encountered no enemies. The second level seemed a lot like level one but a person had to go down a huge row of steps. The Dungeon itself was darker, it seemed that low level dungeon and caves were well illuminated. Neither of them had a torch but Lina could cast a spell that attaches light to a person and gives vision to yourself and nearby allies. It turns out that mages and wizard have many spells. Most prefer to learn only combat spells for hunting, but Lina learned all that she could. She claimed that a person never knows when that one spell will come in handy that you will need once per month. It was a good lesson to learn.

Torch light

A magical light that attaches to a friendly user, illuminating a small area for an extended duration.

Brightness depends on level and the skill of the caster.

Costs 50 mana to cast and 10 mana per hour to maintain on level 1. Each level increases mana drain. Lasts 4 hours.

WARNING. Mana drain effects the friendly user and not the caster

As they entered level 2 a party of 8 were leaving, they seemed to be smiling and had high spirits. Yuri claimed he had the basic way to the boss memorized but he suggested that they just start killing from the left and finish the quest as fast as possible. There was a big room that arced into 4 paths, they went left. Yuri added that this path will lead to another room and that one will branch out again and that will continue all through the dungeon. That is why they were going to go left each time and see how it goes. The first room they encountered had nothing in it. The room appeared to have been cleaned out by another party. They made another left and got to another room that seemed to be empty. At the third room they finally encountered their first enemies.

They were a group of goblins. 1 Shaman, 4 warriors with 1 seeming to be the leader and 3 scouts. They started buffing up, Cuzen explained he would lead the charge and go straight for the leader. Tinker should be close behind him and start killing the other warriors. That would leave Lina free to use aoe spells on those goblins that are not close to them. Yuri would shoot at the shaman and any goblins that try and make a run to those 3 standing at the back. Zomger will curse the shaman first to make his spells cost more mana and then he would rotate between cursing the other goblins and healing Cuzen most likely. With the plan laid out, all that remained was the attack. Tinker morphed agility, since he would face many opponents he would probably need the extra speed to evade better.

They all took a deep breath and Cuzen charged. He did not yell and was well halfway into the room before the entire goblin pack noticed. The goblins screamed and yelled in defiance. At about 20 paces from the goblin leader a scout tried to intercept Cuzen, Tinker was speeding up to intercept the scout. He was almost close enough to engage and would do so if Cuzen would just side step and carry on with the charge. Cuzen on the other hand had other ideas. He bashed the goblin close to him and went on with the charge without even slowing down. Tinker did not know Cuzen that well but later he would discover another one of his life sayings. It went something like this. ‘If faced with a wall in front of you, a lazy person would go around it, where a hard working person would go over and a tank would go through it.’ At about 10 paces from the goblin leader the others were closing in around them.

Cuzen used his leap and landed shield first into the raid leader, which stumbled backwards and fell over a stone. Tinker stabbed at the other 2 goblins as he ran past them to get to Cuzen back. He would cover his back side while he hits the leader and keeps the other goblins approaching from that side busy. With his rear covered Tinker could focus on those goblins in a 180° field. It appeared most of the goblins came running down at them. Tinker took a few blows from a rusted sword and a spiked club, but on a whole he parried most of the attacks and was dealing damage. About 2 minutes into the fight he killed a scout that kept stabbing at him with a spear. It took about 10 more minutes to kill the remaining goblins. The fight went according to the plan.

Only 1 goblin had the courage to charge down at 3 humans standing to the side of the fight. He did not last long. Yuri used his rapid fire on the goblin to shoot as many arrows into the goblin before he managed to close the distance. Lina used her most powerful single target fire spell called Pyroblast. The problem was that it took a while to cast. The goblin was about to attack Zomger who stood with his wooden club in 1 hand and a small wand in the other. The goblin only needed about 3 shots from the club before it fell dead to the ground. During these 3 shots Yuri got of 5 more bow shots. With the goblin dead Zomger could go back to healing and Yuri could focus on shooting the shaman. As any spell caster would tell you that it is not fun to try and cast spells when you are under attack. Lina only managed to cast one aoe spell. Now that the remaining goblins were all bunched around Cuzen and Tinker she shot fire balls instead.

The delay for attacking the goblin was time Zomger could not heal those fighting in front. He returned his focus on healing his allies. He was able to curse about half of the goblin group before he had to focus on healing. As the goblins died around Tinker the others that were attacking Cuzen came to attack him. It seemed that Lina chose to shoot the goblins attacking him since he was the closest and Cuzen had plate armour to protect him. With no more goblins attacking, him he went to help the tank. The goblin leader and a scout remained slashing it out with Cuzen.

Since he had the aggro of both, his main focus being on the leader he flanked the goblin and ended it with a few blows. At about the same time Cuzen hit the leader with a mighty blow and Yuri arrow hit as well. It was hard to tell who delivered the killing blow between them, but it did not matter. What mattered was that only the shaman remained off to the side. Tinker dashed towards him. The shaman was standing in a small ditch and they had just fought the leader on what seemed to be a small rise with in the cave room. He had the inspiration to leap in the air and land with his full body weight behind the thrusts of both his swords. During his brief air time an arrow and fire ball hit the shaman. Tinker delivered the killing blow, both his swords points stuck out at the end of the shamans back. Only a person that delivers the killing blow could perform an attack like this were weapons pierced all the way through the body. In normal conditions it would only pierce flesh a small distance and feel like you are stabbing a wall.

The system was made this way to prevent warriors and other classes with a lot of hit points to fight battles with a pike or javelin in their bodies. Arrows on the other hand worked different. Most arrows that hit a target disappear on contact. Since those that hit monsters, humans or solid objects are counted as broken, they evaporate into the nothingness. Those that hit hay targets or the ground that do not take any damage can be retrieved for later use.

With the battle over the others started looting, Tinker informed them of his book and what he needed to do. He could see the envy in all their faces as they grasped how useful a book like this can be with the added extensions he is working on. He chopped the leg and arm of the shaman and added it to the book. To his surprise nothing was usable, not even the blood, and next was the head. Nothing was usable either of the goblin. It would seem that since they are so in abundance through the kingdoms that goblins were nothing special. Before he moved on to the torso of the part something caught his eye. It would seems that the feathers that shaman use to decorate themselves in might have uses. It depended all on the type. These he got were just plain raven feathers and would do nothing for him.

He would from now on collect feathers from other shamans they encounter. Some shamans might have a feather or 2 of a rare or even mythical beast. The torso had the same result in his book. Seemed that he would focus on shaman feathers and spiders this raid. When he was done the others had already looted the other goblins and were watching him. Lina face showed she did not approve of what he was doing. Zomger and Cuzen seemed impassive while Yuri seemed to be smiling a bit. The loot was a few silvers and a club that Zomger claimed. The rusted swords and small spears would not get much money in the market place. Best to move on and keep inventory spots open for the other items. This room that they were in would lead to another room. Yuri claimed it would be about a 50% chance to get goblins or spiders. Each group of monsters inhabited a room. As they were cleared out or wiped by players other or new monsters would move in. It was near impossible to guess who or what was in the next room since they changed daily. They were warned by Gambit that if they encounter mainly spiders they should be close to the spider boss, it seemed no goblin wanted to live near the cave of the spider queen.

In the next 2 rooms it was the same. The amount of goblins was different but the result of the fight was the same. The loot stayed the same and although each shaman had different feathers it seemed none of them had any special effect. In the room after that they encountered the first group of spiders. Before they started attacking they had a look inside and decided that they must have a quick team talk. First up was Yuri that pointed out that they had killed about 30 goblins in the past 3 cave halls and that instead have having 30 kills to his quest completion he only had 10. He said the 10 were from the last hits he got on mobs. Cuzen looked and was on 4 while Lina was on 6.

Zomger was oddly enough on 6. It seemed as him being a support, he had got 20% of the overall kills in a fight. Tinker was on about 7 last hits on goblins so it all added up. Since he did not have the quest it did not show, but it was not the end of the world. Tinker could probably leave the last hit for his companions but it is hard not to thrust or strike an enemy if you went through all the sword forms and techniques to create an opening. For now it was decided that they would kill and fight normal and see how the kill count looks after the day.

Back at in the cave they counted 8 spiders. 3 big spiders and 5 small ones. The small ones used their speed to bite openings and preferred to bite above other means of attack. The big spiders would use their 8 legs as weapons for physical attack. Sometimes the spiders would screech if they have eggs in the room, then others would come help. Sometimes it would attract goblins as well looking for an easy opportunity to attack already wounded spiders. The plan was that Cuzen would run to the big spiders and try and agro all 3. Then Tinker should attack just 1.

The smaller spiders will either attack their backs or run to the others. Yuri and Lina should focus them and Zomger will curse and heal as he best sees fit. With that they attacked. It seemed that the plan started out well. Cuzen was tanking 2 big spiders and was being bitten from behind. The remaining small spiders took it on themselves to bite Tinker while he attacked the last big spider. He focused on the big spider because it could stagger a person, the constant bites on his back and legs were just an annoyance. It then occurred to him that he should fight like the small spiders. Always be moving and look for openings. The big spider in front of him did a good job to keep up but the pesky small spiders struggled to catch Tinker blind side after that. Cuzen stood his ground and took the small bites like a champ, which was the up side of plate armour. The spiders were about as hard to kill as the goblins. They did not do as much damage as the goblins but they had poison and big hairy legs on their side.

The battle took about 10 minutes. Then the fun part started. First he chopped of a leg and put it into the book. It had no effects and seemed to be normal. Next was the head which was pretty much a dead end as well. The body on the other hand contained the venom sack he needed. A person had to cut out the sack if you wanted it. What only remained was the meat. It was white and was not a lot, but was easy to cut out and edible. Yuri agreed to remove the meat and sacks and split the meat in half and give Tinker all the sacks for his quests. Lina used this time to harvest what silk she could. It was not much, but she claimed at the end of the quest she could make a wardrobe from all the silk they get from the next few days. She did not specify how big it would be but Tinker assumed the worse. The big venom sack he added to the book and it could be used as a poison, the type that does damage over time and kills the cells. The small venom sack could be made as poison to paralyze an enemy. They were about an hour inside and killed just over 40 monsters. If they kept this up they could finish in about 4 days.

After about 6 hours of killing more spiders and goblins Cuzen called for a halt. It was time to eat and restore mana and shake off the fatigue. During all of this they did not need to drink a single antidote. Zomger cured them after each spider battle. It was between Yuri and Tinker to provide the meal. Yuri was not his cheerful self as he walked up to Tinker.

“Is it alright with you, that we alternate turns for meals?”

“Yes” He thought that he had never seen Yuri this serious before.

“Good, now comes the most important part, how we decide who goes first. Some people would toss a coin but we do things differently. Here in this group we fight for the right in the most gruesome way.”

Tinker was dumbfounded, the way Yuri was going on it seemed they were about to stab each others with daggers. Yuri hand was already behind his back where he kept his dagger and he stood ready to stab at a moment’s notice.

“You ready he asked” but Tinker had no words, he stood with one foot forward and made ready to strike with his right hand sword at a moment’s notice

Someone in the back round added “oooooo they are so into it”.

“Fine, let us do this on three.”

“ONE”

The others stopped what they were doing to watch and Tinker still had no idea what was happening.

“TWO”

Yuri still had his dagger sheathed and was starting to smile. Tinker was afraid that Yuri might punch him so he decided to catch the first with an open hand.

“THREE”

Yuri moved his hand from his back and Tinker did the same. He could not see an object in his hand instead Yuri showed a fist at him. He was expecting him to lunge, but he stood still and so did Tinker.

“Awwww shit, I lose. I knew I should have played scissors.”

Then in came to him. They just played rock, paper scissors. On some level Tinker had to see it coming. This was not a weird group that stabbed each other, instead they were a merry bunch that solved hard choices by using a children game. Why they named it the most gruesome thing possible, he did not bother to ask.

“You may have won this round but I will have my vengeance in this life or the next.” Yuri said it in jest and was already taking out a flat pan to cook in. Seemed like he was going to make stag burgers. He had the bread and seemed to have stock up on lettuce, tomatoes and a lot of different cheeses. Tinker did not buy cheeses because he could not afford it. He currently had just over 50 gold and was relatively poor compared to other people of the same level. Gold was another taboo subject to talk about.

The others in his group did not mind. Lina had about 100 gold, Zomger and Cuzen had over 200 while Yuri had nearly 600. He did not mind telling how much he had, only how he came by it. Everybody had their guesses and Tinker assumed it was the black market or something similar. He could not think what people can sell on the black market that normal vendors could not. He would have to look into it and maybe get into the action as well. Tinker took this time to repair his leather. It took only minor damage but he had nothing better to do. Lina was rolling up the silk into better and more user friendly rolls for future use. Zomger took out a book to read and Cuzen seemed to be talking with himself. He was not really talking to himself but it looked like that, as a matter of fact he was talking to Gambit. It seemed that the assassin that was going to check up on them should arrive near the end of the day. It seemed he was near the boss room and would have to go from there to them.

They went back to killing more spiders and goblins for about 8 hours. During this time they fought against 18 spiders in one room. Their health dropped low but they pulled through. It seemed as they advanced deeper into the dungeon the amount of enemies increased and so did their time in dealing with them. They still managed about just fewer than 40 kills an hour. If they keep at it, they would be done in 4 days and a bit. The assassin that was supposed to come and find them had to log out so he would look in on them in about 3 days time. It was decided that they would log out and all be back around 8 pm in the real world. That was about a 12 hour brake in the game. Tinker agreed and would log out as well. There was not much more he could do. They were in the dungeon now and to go out and come back would just not be practical. Besides they had played nearly 7 hours straight and it will be good to look after his body. With that they all logged out.

Scot went straight to the bathroom and then the kitchen. Duncan was nowhere to be seen and Cliff was cooking up another feast by the smell of it. He raided the fridge and decided to go check out the TV. He did not have shows he followed so he watched news to catch up on local and global affairs. Locally the English cricket team was preparing for a test series, they seem to be on a losing spree so there is a lot of pressure on them. Abroad a volcano erupted in the pacific isles. Other than that it seemed to be the same old news. Israel and Palestine were still fighting. Hollywood seemed to have it fair share of new scandals and movies. Right before he wanted to go back up to his room a quick report came up that claimed that Unicorn stock options are at a record high and still seemed to be climbing. They did not talk much about the game but more about the business side of things. It seemed the west was not interested in the game and only the money.

He took a bath and went back to his room. He still had about 2 hours to kill before he needed to log back in. He surfed the Dark gamers union web page and saw nothing new or of interest. He decided to jump on forums and see what they had to say. He was not looking for something in particular and just read the topics that got the most hits. What caught his attention was that Unicorn was hacked for the first time. They did not release the details but only said the following at a press conference.

“It is true that our servers were compromised over the weekend. We would first like to assure the many users of the game that their financial and personal information was not leaked. The culprit only wanted to interface music from his computer to his avatar. Our techs found the anomaly as he was transferring his first song into his capsule. In less than 20 minutes the police arrested him. What he was doing was a clear violation of the terms and conditions on the contract a person signs when buying your own capsule. We at the Unicorn corporation would like to remind the public and all its users that we value security as much as fun.”

It seemed no minds have gone missing yet but Scot was not too worried. It would appear that Unicorn was on the ball of things. Next he read that some television shows in Korea were going to make shows that show the strongest players and their impressive feats. He did not have the channel on his TV but the videos would be in an archive somewhere where he could watch it. He kept looking at more things to increase his knowledge about what is happening in and around the game.

Tinker Logged back in before 8 so he was the first in the cave. He looked around in the cave and saw a couple of mushrooms. He harvested it and noticed he already had them in the Alchemy book. The Greenhouse really was a wonderful place that helped to boost the number of samples in the book. The loot they got over the last 13 hours or so was not impressive but at least he could sell a few clubs and a pair of boots. It seemed that spiders and these particular goblins were not rich in item drops but made up for it in experience given. The most note worthy item they picked up was a pair of gloves that was made for hunters, scouts, rogues and so forth. Yuri received the item.

The others all arrived within 5 minutes of each other. They rebuffed and moved deeper in the dungeon to their next victims. After 4 hours they stopped for snacks and returned. They entered a room that seemed to be similar to all the others. This room however had 23 spiders. They had not faced these many before so they had to revise the basic plan they had been using. Instead of charging in they would fight here where they entered the room. If they were lucky not all the spiders would attack at once and if they did Cuzen and Tinker could choke them at the entrance. Yuri would shoot the nearest spider to set things in motion. As soon as the first arrow hit a high pitch sound started to echo through the entire hall and adjacent hallways. It was not a pleasant sound but it did not seem to affect them.

About half of the spiders came charging down on them. They seemed to be more aggressive than the other spiders they had faced. They fought as best as they could. Tinker was taking more damage than usual, he could not risk dodging all the attacks and making an opening. Just as soon things were starting to become overwhelming half of the attacking spiders left and ran to another hallway. It seemed that goblins heard the sound and wanted in on the action. With half the spiders attacking they managed to kill them all and access the situation. They seemed to have killed 7 spiders. While 6 others were losing badly against the goblins. The remainder of the spiders were still standing at the back. The group did not know what to do so they waited and took the chance to heal up a bit more before they had to fight.

The goblins killed the 6 spiders and charged towards the others at the back. A few minutes in the goblins seemed to be winning. A new group of spiders came rushing through another hallway to help out their kind. With the new reinforcements the goblins would lose. Cuzen decided it would be a good idea to attack the spiders from their side and see how it goes. He charged and leaped in shield first, bashing a spider. Tinker was close behind already 3 attacks into his rotation. Yuri was shooting away while Zomger cursed them all. Lina was not using fire to light them up, instead she was still in the process of casting her strongest aoe fire spell. It was called Flame strike. For 30 seconds the ground targeted by the spell would pulse with fire. Its weakness was that a person could just move out from the area and take no damage. The problem was both goblins and spiders did not want give up the advantage. By the time the goblins realized they were losing badly it was too late. Spiders seemed to have the ensnare skill that captures enemies in a web for 5 seconds.

As the fire stopped pulsating only a handful of spiders remained. They were dealt with quickly and the looting of the fallen could start. They noticed a couple of eggs in the back. It was the reason why the spiders defended so fiercely and why the goblins wanted to take them. Spider’s eggs were great for cooking and had many bonuses. They were divided among Yuri and Tinker for future use. Tinker added it to his book and noticed that he could fortify a lot of attributes with it. The group went on attacking and clearing many rooms and even encountered another party. They nodded at each other and went their own ways. They went on with this till it was time for bed. In this day they were about 25% to completing the quest and close to leveling up. It was a good day. They would meet the usual time and continue.

The following day was the same. They encountered 3 more rooms were spiders called for backup. In the one room they counted nearly 150 corpses after the battle was over. Many reinforcements of spiders and goblins arrived and they stood in the corner and waited for the main battle to be done before moving from the good defend able position.

About halfway during the third day a man approached them. It was odd to see a person alone in here so they assumed he was scouting for his group that was not far behind. He was about 5 foot 10 and wore a black cape with a dagger and short sword at his side. It was hard to make out facial features with his hoodi in the way.

“Greetings I am Quantum, It took me a while to get to you guys but since you keep going left it made things easier.”

“Hey, did Gambit send you?”

“That he did, he informed me about your situation. So I am here to monitor you guys here for a while and see if you are capable warriors.”

“Ok, so how long does it take and what are you going to do?”

“Anything from 5 minutes to 5 hours I guess. If you guys die now I am not going to wait around and just tell Gambit you full of shit. Other than that I will follow you guys and see how you handle battle. Just a heads up I am not going to help.”

“Charming fellow” someone said in party chat. On their way to the next chambers Tinker wanted to know more about this hooded stranger.

“You mind me asking you a few questions?”

“Not really, no.” He said short and half in thought.

“How are you able to walk around without being attacked by the monsters and what were you doing on the 3rd floor?”

“Well I just sneak by rooms with goblins and spiders in. Assassin class makes for some good sneaking. On the third floor I follow other parties. I fight the single monster that does not attack the party. Sometimes the party sees me, other times they don’t. When they do see me one of a few things happens. They ignore me or ask me to leave. Of course I refuse to leave and that results in them trying to kill me or ignoring me. Sometimes they invite me in the party and I act like a scout and I can hold my own in battle.”

“Really, they try and kill you. Won’t that result in them getting the murders mark?”

“I think so, I have not died yet and only one party tried to kill me. It was kind of funny and it happened a while back. They chased me right into a spiders nest and the lead warrior got stuck in a spiders trap. When about ¾ of them died trying to help out their buddy the others fell back. I was watching from the shadows and rated them as below average players. They were new to that level and could probably have won but they did start at a disadvantage and all members of the group were not there from the start. When they all left I looted the dead and found a few nice items I am going to sell when I leave here.”

It was an entertaining story. They did not know much about the assassin class and just assumed that they spent time killing people and not do any real raiding. Not many people wanted a lot of assassins in a party. They were only good at disarming traps and scouting. Other than that they had no mob control and could manage 2 targets at one time if they were skilled. They wore mainly cloth and could equip light leather armour. Only those that raided equipped leather. Most of the time assassins stuck to the cloth for more speed and stealth.

As they entered the room with spiders Quantum did what he said. He moved away from them to observe the battle. They counted 11 spiders. They would just fight how they normally do. Tinker and Cuzen would keep the big spiders busy. Zomger would curse them all and start healing those 2 in front when they start taking damage. Lina saved her aoe spells and like Yuri focused more on high single target damage. In less than ten minutes the fight was over and they looted. Walking to the next room Quantum who was just there to observe had a few questions of his own.

“Why did you spend so much time looting and what not?”

“Well Lina needs the silk for when she one days get her tailoring high enough to work with it. Yuri and Tinker both have cooking skills and stock up on free spider meat, which tastes a lot like chicken. Also Tinker has Alchemy and needs the sacks for his quest. He is not here on the same quest as us. He almost has enough and the rest that stay over he claims he needs later to use in alchemy to make poison potions for the shady types like you. That is if he one day learns the alchemy skill. It is a C rank quest he is busy with, just to learn the alchemy skill.”

“I thought of getting it, but who has the time and getting the ingredients is also a problem”

“I hear you man, I am a black smith and I can only repair my armour and make basic swords that rival sharp sticks.” They both chuckled at that.

They went to another cave. With more spiders which numbered near 15 they started the attack. To their surprise Quantum who was observing engaged a spider that was running past Tinker and Cuzen towards the other 3. He finished it off fast and went to attack the small spiders harassing the others. After the fight there was some confusion.

“I do not know where you are from buddy but what you did now is not just observing. You are messing up our last hits and taking the loot and experience.”

“Well I am not doing this for the experience, these little guys do not give me much. As for the kills, even if I kill a good amount you should still reach your quota. It comes down to the loot. If I knew I would run into you guys I would have stocked up on the silk, meat and sacks for later use. The problem is that nobody at the time wanted it and nobody, not even NPC merchants were paying for it.”

“So you are going to sell the items back to us at high prices? That is not very nice of you.”

“No, you guys seem to think of me as the bad guy. I will give you the silk and even the meat for free and all I ask in return is free meals when we eat.”

“What about the venom sacks?” Tinker shouted as he walked closer to the group after finishing up his last looting.

“I think this can go two ways. Either you buy them from me or I give them to you. In return I get first picking on the poison potions you make at low cost price?”

“What if I say no?”

“I will still keep the sacks for a while. You will probably need them sometime in the future and since we going to be in the same guild the chances are good we will make a sort of arrangement.”

“Really and why would we join a guild with people like you in it?”

“For starters I am going to send a glowing recommendation to Gambit that you join. Your fighting skill is just above average and that alone will get you in. The other qualities you guys have like cooking and alchemy will only secure the guild invite. I would like to point out that I am an assassin, killing people and being a nuisance is literally in my class description. Being a noble paladin or brave knight I leave to the others.”

“Whatever man, let us get going. Much needs to be done today and I’ll think about the sacks.”

They went on and fought well. With Quantum their progress also sped up. As they stopped for their first brake they reluctantly gave Quantum his helping of spider stew. He said something about how this explained how they did so well with no dedicated healer and with the fast restoring of fatigue from the food. The increase in health also helped. They fought onwards and were nearing the end of the 3rd day. When they stopped to rest up. It was afternoon in the real world. They agreed to be back at 6 and play late into the night till this quest got done. Nobody asked Quantum but he said that works for him and he will be back that time as well.

When all of them came back they sat down and talked. Cuzen suggested that they start working their way back to the entrance. Somewhere along the line they should finish up. All agreed and was about to move out when Quantum suggested they go back to the entrance via the boss room. The others were not convinced so he sugar coated it. He explained how it was on the way. With mostly spiders in and around the boss room, they could harvest more silk, meat, eggs and venom sacks. According to him the boss room was loaded with Eggs. They talked about it and decided to do just that. A few hours into the day they all had finished up their quest to kill monsters. Tinker had finished sometime during the previous day and had just been stocking up on venom sacks. He agreed to sell his first poison potions to Quantum for cheap. At the boss room they took a longer than usual brake.

They had to make sure health, stamina and mana was full before they attacked. Quantum explained the tactics. Cuzen would fight the spiders on the left of the boss with the help of Lina and Yuri. He and Tinker would fight those on the right. The Queen will flee at the start of the fight to the roof. Well out of range of most attacks. When all her spider lings are dead she will come down. Then Cuzen would tank and get the agro on her. In the third and final stage spider reinforcements will come. During this stage they all will attack the Queen. Tinker will have to kite and taunt the spider reinforcements that arrive and keep them off everybody unless they attack Cuzen. He asked Quantum why he did not do it. His excuse was that Tinker can take more damage and his damage output will be needed for the boss. During this phase 2 spiders will come at the start and every 30 seconds after that another would join the fight.

Tinker could not kill a spider in 30 seconds, thus he just needed to kite them and keep them busy while the others kill the queen. Quantum explained it will take about 2 to 3 minutes to burst the Queen down at the final stage. When the queen dies the toxin she releases kills all spider lings alive, so the fight will end with her death. Zomger was advised to focus more on healing than curses this fight. They would need it more. Tinker used his potion to increase his poison resistance. Since he would need to kite and fight many spiders. It will only help lessen the damage he was going to take.

The battle went well. Zomger managed to keep up with the healing, nobody stood around in poison gas clouds. There was a moment in the last phase where things were looking bad. Tinker had 5 spiders on him and he was about to taunt the 6th, but it decided it wanted to attack Cuzen so he left it. He counted down the 30 seconds and was about ready to run towards the 7th spider when a gas cloud filled the room. They had done it. Tinker and Cuzen were near death and managed to survive by a few hit points. Cuzen was attacked by the boss and that is how he lost most of his health. Tinker had to dodge and evade 2 spiders.

At the start he was even counter attacking them. When the third came the counter attacks went down to a minimum. With the fourth spider it became all about evasion. But no matter how much you block, duck, dive and roll. Spiders will get you. They drank their anti dotes and started with the loot. It was a good many eggs, silk, meat and venom sacks. Just like Quantum predicted. When it came to the loot he said he needed nothing and would gladly take what they did not want. The Queen dropped a pair of boots that allowed the user to make less noise when walking or running. Yuri claimed them. The other items were not that impressive and the gold drop was low. The amount of eggs they got would make up for the loss.

As they left the chamber another group arrived. They seemed to have come the kill the boss. They were 14 people in total. When they saw the Queen was not in the room they wanted to know how it went and how many had they lost. When they claimed to have lost nobody the others wanted to know how it was possible and what their levels were. They explained it was due to them knowing the tactics and their average level was just above 50 at the time. They made a smart remark that levels are not everything. The other party was not amused and did not believe them. Regardless this group had cleared out the way to the entrance and they could travel without distractions. With moral high they left to go back to the capital.

Quantum invited himself along for the journey.