Chapter 2

  Holy Thlump, we leveled up!

  “Rise and shine, sleepy heads,” Delphi said with cheer. “You guys slept almost the entire skytorch away after all that partying.”

  “Mmmm.. those adventurers were so crunchy and juicy that it made me realize that Delphi might be tasty,” Swaggle said with a yawn.

  “I am not food!” Delphi protested.

  “He’s right. I doubt he would taste good. I have two points on this fact one, no meat. Two, he’s probably stale,” Hooknose states with confidence.

  I don’t know how to take that. I should be happy that you don’t see me as food, but that description is mean and horrible. I do have feelings. You may not see them, but they are there. Also, please stop describing food. I have never had and never will taste it. I understand the concept of juicy but will never get to experience it.” Delphi says with sadness.

  At this, Bobbi grins evilly, thinking to herself she must only describe the best, most exquisite meals in front of Delphi. Then giggling, she says, “Of course, we should be more mindful of you. Everyone, apologize!”

  “Hang on, what are you up to? I can count on one bony finger with my joints the number of times you apologized to anyone, and it always ended with Kelvin scolding you.” Delphi states with suspicion.

  “Nothing. Do you want an apology or not? I just don’t want to hear you whine, is all.” Bobbi insists. “Now apologize!” she demands of the other two.

  Without a second breath, both Swaggle and Hooknose give Delphi a somewhat heartfelt apology looking at Bobbi, who never uttered a word of remorse.

  “Hey, I just realized we beat adventures,” Swaggle yells with excitement.

  “Yes, we know,” Delphi says.

  “Yeah, but the creator said we get stronger when we beat them, so we should check and see how mighty we have become,” Swaggle says.

  “Oh yeah, how do we do that again? Delphi asks.

  “Unbelievable! You’re the literal boss, and you don’t know?” Bobbi says with disbelief.

  “It’s not that I don’t know. It’s that I don’t remember,” Delphi replies with chagrin.

  “With a great sigh, Hooknose began to explain. It’s not complicated. In a safe place, simply say *Status*, and your display will appear in your view. If you want to see the sub-menus, simply say *Abilities* or *Spells* To go back, repeat status.

  “Wow, that was like a tutorial or something,” Swaggle and Delphi say simultaneously.

  With an annoyed look, Hooknose begins saying, “that is the exact words the creator told us when we were spawned. After a brief moment of silence, they all say. “Status!”

  “So who became powerful gods of destruction and doom?” Swaggle asks with hope.

  “Not me. I’m still level one,” Delphi replies.

  “Same,” Bobbi grumbles.

  “Yeah, me too,” Hooknose replies.

  “So am I,” Swaggle lets out with defeat. Then perks up again and says, “But this means we just gotta kill some more!” At the mention of killing, the very forest fills with bloodlust coming from the group.

  Breaking the tension, Hooknose ponderingly asks. “Did anyone notice the debuff called Unknown Debuff?”

  “Yeah, I have that,” Delphi replies.

  “Me too,” Swaggle says.

  “It can’t be that important, and the creator would have told us if something terrible was there, so let’s go kill something,” Bobbi says with a knowing smirk.

  “Okay, time to go,” Swaggle says with mirth.

  “Umm... hang on a second. I think we forget something important.” Delphi exclaims.

  “Important?” Hooknose asks.

  “Yeah, I just can’t put my bony finger on it,” Delphi says as he sits down on a bag of stolen treasure that leaks gold coins. The clinking sound of gold and silver coins catches the Ears of everyone but Delphi.

  “Loot!” The three exclaim. “Yes, that’s it, the loot all that treasure they had stolen it’s ours now, meaning the creators. It must be around here somewhere, and we must find it before we leave. This is an order as your boss.”

  Bobbi slowly walks towards the bag, pulls it out from underneath Delphi, and proclaims snidely. “Order complete, boss. Now we go.”

  “Yeah… we should continue.” Delphi sheepishly clacks.

  The calling of birds fills the forest as dusk begins to fall upon the land. The four monsters wander aimlessly through the poplar maze seeking their next challenge. As the skytorch sets, the four make camp and prepare for a good night of rest.

  When the Skytorch rises, it finds the group rousing, already preparing to begin their daily march, but with the dawn of a new day, little do the comrades know they have company.

  “I’m starving. When’s breakfast?” Swaggle complains.

  “It’s as soon as we find some,” Hooknose says.

  “Curses, I want to eat, oh look, berries,” Swaggle says with frustration, then excitement. As Swaggle runs up to the bush filled with delicious berries, he stops and asks. Are bushes supposed to have snouts and paws?”

  “No, why?” Bobbi asks.

  “We might have some trouble then...” as he begins to back away. Suddenly the undergrowth roars, and a large brown bear, compared to a kobold and goblins, runs towards the group. Without thinking, Delphi charges the bear, taking a low stance, and jabs at its side, landing a solid blow that slows the attacking bear down.

  But not in time for Swaggle to get away, as the bear raises a large paw and slashes at Swaggle, who barely manages to roll partially out of the way, having part of his left leg torn into. Screaming in agony, Swaggle asks for healing and casts his spell [Conjure Flame] in the bear’s face causing it to rear up on its hind legs and roar in pain.

  Bobbi Swiftly casts [Natures Mend] on Swaggle while cackling. Small thorny vines sprout from Swaggles skin and begin to suture the wound closed. Hooknose draws his blade and charges the bear. The goblin warrior lets out {Warcry} drawing its attention.

  Seeing the exposed underbelly, Delphi releases {Staggering Fist} to the bear’s stomach and a sickening crunch can be heard as it lands on the ribs. The bear, enraged, swings at Hooknose with all its might, landing on Hooknose’s shield damaging it, and breaking his arm.

  With bloodlust in his eyes, Hooknose readies his blade for a retaliatory strike, thrusts it into the bear’s stomach, and drops on one knee, turning the blade upwards and thrusting again towards the heart. The beast falls silent and then cold onto the ground.

  “Can I get this fixed, Bobbi?” Hooknose asks with trepidation.

  “Of course,” Bobbi replies wickedly. “[Natures Mend]” Bobbi cast again. A stone cast forms around Hooknose’s arm, snapping the brake back into place.

  “Dammit, Bobbi.” Hooknose Yells. Then pulls out his sword from the dead bear’s belly.

  “Holy thlump, we leveled up!” Swaggle exclaims with Joy.

  “Huh! What do you mean we leveled up?” Delphi asks.

  “Didn’t you see that message from the creator just now? Eh, regardless, let’s take a look.” Once again, the four, in unison, open their Status.

  “Oh, I got a new spell.” Swaggle said with Joy.

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  “Hmmm... it looks like I got a new spell as well.” Bobbi says greedily.

  “It seems I got a rather useful ability,” Hooknose said while scratching his chin.

  “Ha, finally, another boss ability added to my repertoire.” Delphi proclaims while throwing his arms in the air Triumphantly. Now that we are unstoppable killing machines let us go forth and bring doom to those pesky adventures. Swagggle yells with bloodlust inciting the others around him once again, filling the forest with dread.