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 name or descriptor, leaving initials to be used by the player characters.

A: Ashcroft - aspiring mage

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

M: Maledictive - the party healer

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

A: "Adustio. Fire Bullet" Ashcroft aimed right at Jorlund's face.

| Jorlund - 25 |

J: "Now I'm not sharing the payout from the snail shell."

A: "If I give you 5 coppers can I shoot you again?"

J: "50 coppers. Hazards pay and a cost of living raise."

A: "I could save you that cost, and not leave you living."

J: "With our Maledictive Devout around, I heal from that amount of damage in 5 seconds."

M: "Leave me out of this, please."

A: "Shall we have a little competition? My magic against your vitality?"

W: "You guys have done that before, remember? Only it was when you had more impressive skills to show off. Jorlund used some battle recovery thing and withstood the damage, but the ground melted so much he ended in a glass-smooth hole and died because of the satiety system. Can we assume this game is balanced enough that it will be a very close competition, and just move on? Here Ashcroft, you kill the snails that are still in my pack. That way, they wont connect to you and we can all get what we want. There are 6 snails left so You, me, and Maledictive each get two shells. Agreed?"

J: "Hey! We should split it evenly, as per normal party guidelines."

W: "You already have one, Jorlund. And consider the second to be your recompense for damaging us. There, fair split."

Jorlund opened his mouth to complain, and then closed it thinking about monetary compensation for taking friendly fire. I got busy pulling the snails off of my body and setting them safe distances away. Naturally, they were still in my pack so they tried to get back to me at their top speed. But they are snails. Ashcroft prepared a spell in each hand.

A: "Adustio. Sgàilich. Fire Bullet. Shadow Bullet."

The first snail burns and the second is obscured and battered. Both are still injured from capturing the snake, and die in one hit.

| snail -27 |

A Kizuna Snail (lv 3) from your pack has died.

0.7 wisdom removed

| snail -27 |

A Kizuna Snail (lv 3) from your pack has died.

0.7 wisdom removed

J: "I dont even get the pitance of experience from these."

W: "Stop sulking, this is your fault."

M: "Are you guys related? You fight like brothers."

The massacre of snails is quick, and we divide the drops as agreed. Jorlund starts scanning the grass around us, remembering the monster we are hunting. He has a small scowl on his face, though I cant tell if it is for losing the argument or for being called out for goading Ashcroft. He is here to play, while I am here to both play and work. Sometimes I feel like a parent, or at least a babysitter, when I have to keep the peace or nag them for something. But they always straighten up when it is important, and I never have to beg them for favors.

W: "So you picked Fire and Shadow?"

A: "I didnt want to spend time crafting when I could be adventuring. You already have some pack-based class so it will be too crowded for summons. Souls sounded very interesting, but the elemental trees rely on Intelligence for their damage value, so picking two means I get a bonus of 3 intelligence from my class per level. Fire is a given, and Shadow has some interesting abilities. A little CC, a few nice evasion abilities, it made sense."

Jorlund started searching in the nearby grass. A few steps in, he drew his stone mallet and brought it down on something. A solid thunk sounded out.

-17

M: "What are you fighting over there?

Thunk.

-17

J: "A turtle."

Thunk.

-17

W: "It has a defense buff skill, which wears off in 30 seconds."

J: "I'll finish it before then."

Thunk.

-17

A: "It looks like you are driving spikes in a railroad or splitting wood. No strategy or finese at all."

J: "It feels as it looks. The thing is just sitting here with its head inside, not even trying to fight."

Thunk.

-17

W: "Every monster has its skill. Slow and steady wins the race."

Dink.

-17

13exp

J: "And there's the finish line."

Jorlund reaches down and retrieves the drop from the turtle. It should be comparable to the snail shell he upset the group for earlier, but I dont say anything about it. I dont want more delays from bickering. Getting an idea, I Spirit Connect to my three Dreameater moths and give them the mental image of the snakes I am hunting. They fly off in opposite directions on the hunt. The connection lasts a full minute, so I receive constant impressions from them about the areas they are searching. One finds a snake and I tell them to stun it and start the fight.

W: "My next snake is this way. If you guys want to spread out and start killing things for the experience, we can all work our way towards the forest edge."

M: "My aura has limited range, so I will try and stay between Ashcroft and Jorlund as they fight. You look like you can handle the snakes well enough."

A: "Good thinking."

| snake -1 -1 -1 |

I reach the stunned snake and decide to try another skill. The snake can't fight and my moths are sucking it's life away. Before the rats join in I pick it up by the neck. The snake is heavy, around 4 feet of muscle. Slime consumption. My mana drops 5 points and refills immediately. My moths land on the snake and continue their slow attack.

+5 mana | snake -1 -1 | +5 mana | snake -1 -1 | +5 stamina | snake -1 -1 |

The moth's stun wears off and the snake starts wriggling, but I use my own stun glare and get another 5 seconds of no resistance. The wisdom bonus from the snails had pushed my mana recovery up to nearly 5 points per second, but the 2.3 mana/s it was now still allowed me to use the slime skill for twice as long as my mana pool itself would do.

+5 stamina | snake -1 -1 | +5 stamina | snake -1 -1 | +5 stamina | snake -1 -1 | +5 stamina | snake -1 -1 | +5 stamina | snake -1 -1 |

The snake comes around again, just as I drain the last of it's stamina and start on its health.

+5 health | snake -5 -1 -1 |

The snake will be dead in 4 seconds, but it yields to our sapping attacks as it realizes the situation.

a Plains Snake (lv 3) joins you +0.8 Strength

My growing pack starts working parrallel to the edge of Brambles Forest while the rest of the party takes a straighter line. I get the sporadic experience notices when they kill things, but as I am not involved in their battles I do not get their damage numbers in my combat log. That keeps it from getting too distracting, and was a good choice by the developers. By the numbers coming in I can guess they kill about two snakes for every turtle, and it is still being shared 4 ways. Before I get too far, I turn around and head back at an angle, then turn and head parrallel again. In this way, I zig-zag through the grass while slowly approaching my party. I get my 4 snakes and the skill announcement quickly.

New Skill Learned! Ambush

If undetected, a hit does 6x damage

passive

It's passive? Always nice to have a skill that costs nothing, and I am going to get a lot of use out of this one. I am now moving along on my path to dealing massive damage. I check my status and skill list.

Werlkhan: Stats Name: Werlkhan Class Animalist0.1 pack: 9 / 12 Level 6 (42%) exp to level 816 2 Rats +1.4 vit Vitality 11.4 Health 246 3 Dreameater Moths +3 cha Strength 12.2 Mana 75 4 Plains Snakes +3.2 str Dexterity 8 Stamina 136 Intelligence 5 H regen 2.1 (118s) Wisdom 5 M regen 1.5 (50s) Charisma 6 Armor 0 Carry limit 134 unspent 0 Money 2s 57c Werlkhan: Skills Skill Cost Cooldown Description Taming passive n/a Force a creature to accept defeat at your hands, and it will join you. Class pack limit 2/lvl Herd Enhancement passive n/a Receive a buff of 10% of a creature's top stat from all tamed creatures Wild Intuition passive n/a Learn the skills native to your pack. Tame similar animals to learn their ability Inspect 0 mana n/a See uses and metrics of some objects Parry (dagger) 10 stamina 1s Using a dagger or short weapon, receive and redirect attacks without taking damage. This is a contest of dexterity with your enemy. Pathfinder 0 mana 1 min Identify the best path to take to the intended destination. Must be familiar with the destination. Stun Gaze 30 mana 3 min Throw your spirit through your eyes at your enemy, to stun them for 5 seconds. This is a contest of intelligence and charisma Mana Thread 1 mana per 3 inches n/a Produce a tangible thread with your mana. Spirit Connection 5 mana n/a Establish understand without needing words. Sharing pain is part of the deepest understanding. You and your target are connected for 1 minute. Slime Consumption 5 mana/s

10s cooldown 10s Drain enemy with a touch. Drains mana first. Drains stamina if target is out of mana. Drains health if target is out of stamina. Drain rate based on Intelligence. Ambush passive n/a If undetected, deliver 6x damage

I switch my collection target to turtles, as I have the snake skill and still a bit of distance to go before I reach my party. The turtles cant be stunned because I cant make eye contact with them, but the Spirit Connection persuation method still works. The first turtle I tame reveals a new problem. The turtle moves a little faster than the snails did, but not fast enough to keep up. Also, they are not good at climbing so it can't ride like the snails did. I pick it up and carry it for now. The 1.5 vitality that it gives me is too good to leave behind. Getting back to the party, I let them know what is ahead of us.

W: "The woods here are a zone named Brambles Forrest. It debuffs your sight and detection, so the wolves get close before you notice them. There is also a mantis monster that gave me trouble. It jumps from tre to tree while slashing you like a ninja, but it has a delay between jumps so if you see one just pound on it to keep it off the trees."

J: "Bladed ninja bugs, pack predators that get close before you see them, and a name that implies thorns and tangles. Sounds nice. I have two hours left before I have to log off, so let's go break things."