Dialog in this story has the speaker's initial in front of it, unless it is bleeding obvious who is talking. NPCs will have some

A: Ashcroft - aspiring mage

J: Jorlund - as close to a dwarf as a human can get

W: Werlkhan - main character, first person naration is from this perspective

Ashcroft did not take too long pondering his stat assignments. He was going mage, and was already skewed in that direction. Since Jorlund was there as a meat shield, he put two in Intelligence and two in Wisdom. Jorlund was going the opposite route. He put two in Vitality and one in Strength, bringing both of those up to 10, and then the remaining point in dexterity. They were like mirror opposites, one with 10 Int / 10 Wis and the other with 10 Vit / 10 Str.

Before we leave the basement, I walk over to one of the tables and pick up a silk worm to inspect it.

a Soulslik Worm (lv 1) joins you +1 charisma

A lv 1 has 10 whole points in charisma? It must be flat 1s in its other stats. Could there be another skill here? I start picking up worms. I get interrupted by a system notice.

Pack Summary

10/10 creatures

+1.4 vitality

+8 charisma

I have reach my 2 per level limit. I release two moths and pick up three worms and see what I was hoping for.

New Skill Learned! Mana Thread

Produce a tangible thread with your mana

1 mana for 3 inches

I wonder what this could be used for. So as not to gain the ire of the mage upstairs, I release his worms. Then the three of us climb back up the ladder. My rats are healing nicely. It seems the monsters only regenerate health when they are not in combat, much like the restriction on players regenerating stamina. The mage was waiting just outside of the small room.

Mage: "Thank you lads. Here's some coin for your trouble. As I have said earlier, my silk production is vital for enchanted armor. It is important to me. Now, what brings you here today?"

2 silver received

Ashcroft steps forward. "I am here to take on the class of mage. Please instruct me in the paths of the arcane."

Mage: "You survived the moths, perhaps you have enough intellect for what I can teach. "

J: "Ha. A stat joke."

Mage: "However you are not yet at the strength where you can step onto this path. I will make you an offer. I need ingredients and resources. You can go out of the south gate and find many things I use. I will pay you for what you bring back. But specifically I need crystallized slime bodies. Here is a bag of catalyst. Sprinkle some of this on a slime to make it crystallize and bring that back. Do this, and when you are strong enough I will show you how to become a mage."

New Quest!

Gather ingredients for the local mage Arknatbo. He will pay you for everything you bring in.

Accept / Ignore

Accept.

W: "So we go kill things until you get to level 5. That is straight forward enough."

A: "And we should look at what is out the south gate while we are doing it."

The three friends leave together and head to the south gate, which is close by. Out of the south gate the ground gently rolls away towards a large lake. The lake is fed by a rivver coming in from the west, curving a little around town. Where the river meets the lake is a small swamp, teaming with monsters.

A: "That looks like a great place for potion ingredients. Shall we go see what grows close to town?"

J: "It's so hard to think of one liners when you guys just talk business."

W: "That's what she said."

J: "Weak, but I appreciate the effort."

A: "Do you guys want to flip a copper for who takes point?"

W: "How about I tell you what I expect, and then Jorlund can get in a bit of tank practice?"

J: "That sounds agreeable to me."

A: "By all means, please do."

W: "Alright. I expect there will be a level 1 something here at the gate. Down in that little marshy area we should find level 2 to 4 monsters. Then as you walk along the edge of the lake or head upstream on the river you will start to see the monsters that are built to fight people with classes."

J: "That sounds right up my alley. Follow me boys, and let's go collect ingredients for the recluse mage."

A couple yards out of the gate and we met our first monster. It was perched on the thickest branch close to the top of a bush, and only caught our attention when it did ... something. Whatever it was, I felt content to just sit in the sun like it was doing, but at the same time I knew this feeling was coming from that monster.

Kizuna Snail - 2

Yep, a snail. And it had a fuzy spiral shell. We each must have been affected by it, because we all stopped at almost the same time and turned to look at it. If I had to guess, the skill will be an area of effect calming one. That sounds like I would rarely use it, and dont really care for it.

J: "Stand back! I shall vanquish this fearsome beast which fills us all with dread and trembling!"

A: "Dude, you're really harshing my mellow. Now I have the munchies."

W: "I think it's pretty clear what kind of ingredient the mage would get from this."

Jorlund hefts his hammer, gives it a test twirl to make sure he is holding it in the balance point, and brings it down full force on the snail.

-11

(11 damage received)

(11 damage on Ashcroft)

(11 damage on Jorlund)

I feel the weight of Jorlund's hammer, but mentally instead of physically. Ashcroft falls over like he was struck, and Jorlund is outright startled. My two rats squeak their battle cry, but dont go charging forward. The snail is still on the bush, which is swaying from the hit.

J: "You little punk. No one hits me with my own hammer!"

Before Ashcroft or I can stop him Jorlund takes another swing.

-11

(11 damage received)

(11 damage on Ashcroft)

(11 damage on Jorlund)

A: "Stop! I don't have your kind of health you hammer fiend! That snail has made some kind of soul binding, so we all get the same damage that it does. Let me get out of range before you do that again."

W: "Me too. That is uncomfortable."

We back up until we are outside of the area where we first felt the affects. And then give him the go-ahead.

-11

(11 damage received)

(11 damage on Ashcroft)

(11 damage on Jorlund)

15 exp

A: "No more snails! That took off near half of my health. It's going to take me at least 20 seconds to heal back up."

J: "I agree it isnt worth it, unless that mage pays a whole gold piece to get his snail fix. It only dropped its shell."

W: "New strategy. Jorlund and I will spread out in front, and scan a larger area for monsters. Ashcroft walks a little further behind while he is healing. If there are other area of effect monsters in this direction, we should be spread out a bit."

We passed eight more snails on the way to the marsh, each one giving at least one of us the happy sensation of sitting in the sun and cool breeze. Finally we get to the marshes, and the ground under Jorlund turns to mud instantly. He stumbles a little before catching his balance, and then yells.

J: "I found something, and it doesnt make me feel fuzy so it should be safe to hit it. Right?"

Ashcroft and I come up behind him and look where he is pointing. An orange and brown banded newt was glaring at Jorlund. If it had teeth, they would be bared.

Mire Newt - 2

My rats squeak and charge while one of my moths flies down and stuns it.

-5 from rat

-5 from rat

W: "Get in there Jorlund before there is nothing left to fight."

-13 from Jorlund

13 exp

A: "I hope there are lots of them. These low levels are going to take awhile. Also, we still need to find at least one slime."

W: "How about we break the party. You guys beat on newts for awhile and I will go find something to tame for another skill. Sound like a plan?"

J: "Good enough for me. I dont need your minions getting between my hammer and my enemy."

A: "That sounds like it would speed things up a bit. Thanks Werlkhan."

You have left the party

We head in opposite directions along the edge of the marsh. The next monster I encounter is a slime, jiggling its way out of a taller patch of marsh plants.

Marsh Slime - 2

I am forced to conclude the monsters here are consistently low. It wiggles itself in a threatening manner, if that is possible, and my pack responds in kind. The other moth swoops down and stuns the slime, giving us 5 seconds of no resistence. Then the rats pile on the slime.

-1 from rat

-1 from rat

-1 from moth

Of course, the slime will have a lot of physical resistance and should be attacked magically. I dont have a magic attack yet, but we have 4 more seconds to see how much damage we can give it. I start hacking at it with my kris.

-4

-1 from rat

-1 from rat

-1 from moth

-1 from moth

-1 from moth

Rinse and repeat, doing 9 damage per second.

a Marsh Slime (lv 2) joins you +0.6 Wisdom

It will be hard to kill these things since we damage them so slowly. I guess I am learning the slime skill next. Then I can take the group of them over for Ashcroft to sprinkle them with powder. Working through the marsh I tamed two more slimes, and killed three newts, and gained a level. My slime fights are pretty much the same. Either a moth is done with their skill cooldown or I am, so the slimes can do nothing. The newts typically announce their pressence by turning the ground beneath me into mud, and drop their toes as an alchemy ingredient when they die. I want to do more damage, so I assigned the two points to strength.

Name: Werlkhan Animalist pack: 7 / 12 Level 6 (0%) exp to level 816 2 Rats +1.4 vit Vitality 11.4 Health 246 3 Dreameater Moths +3 cha Strength 9 Mana 80 3 Marsh Slimes +1.8 wis Dexterity 8 Stamina 126 Intelligence 5 H regen 2.29 (107s) Wisdom 6.8 M regen 2.77 (29s) Charisma 6 Armor 0 unspent 0 Carry limit 102 Money 2s 57c

Level 6 grants me 5 skill points, but nothing has mentioned them before, and there is no way to access them or any information on what I do with them. A question for later. I start circling back to the others, going deeper into the marsh and continuing my fight pattern. Only now I can kill a newt in one hit with my kris (18dmg) and occasionally do 5 damage instead of 4 against a slime. The next slime I tame brings with it the expected window.

New Skill Learned! Slime Consumption

Drain enemy with a touch. Drains mana first, stamina if target is out of mana, and health if target is out of stamina. Drain rate based on Intelligence.

5 mana/s 10 second cooldown

Shortly before I reach them I capture my 7th slime. Maybe the mud pit skill of the newt would be worth learning, after these slimes are turned to crystals for the mage.

W: "Hey guys, do you have any of that slime powder left? I have seven volunteers."

J: "Volunteers? Oh. Oooooh. That's cold, man. Those slimes trust you."

A: "How about we move back into the grass, and then you can kick them out of your pack. I dont want to be gang stomped by your monsters."

W: "That sounds safe. Though Jorlund would have picked the exciting route instead."