‘Monster run? What the blue squashed fruit is that?’ Kit looked back at the dazzling eyes that were twinkling with delight. The man then nodded his head in the direction of Twix. Kit turned to look at Twix.

Twix was currently talking with the crowd. Kit couldn’t see anything unusual going on with Twix, he wondered why the man motioned towards him. Kit returned his gaze to the handsome man.

“Do you want me to tell Twix? Are you scared of speaking your thoughts out loud?”

The man just smiled at Kit and didn’t say anything else. Kit was starting to think that the handsome man was a bit strange. He didn’t hold it against him. Plus, maybe he just found it uncomfortable talking to strangers.

Kit made his way over to Twix and interrupted his conversation. Then whispered the man’s idea into Twix ear. Kit watched as Twix face transformed into a cautious look. This wasn’t what Kit had been expecting.

He thought he might see some excitement, not wariness. Was the man’s idea not good?

Twix leaned over and whispered in Kit’s ear.

“Kit how did you hear about that? A monster run is really dangerous. Many people die on monster runs.”

Kit frowned. Why did the man mention the monster run if it was so dangerous. Kit had never heard of it before. He decided to ask Twix what a monster run actual was.

Twix sighed. “I figured you didn’t know what it was, otherwise, I don’t think you would have mentioned it.”

Twix looked at Kit as if deciding how to formulate a response. “It’s just what its name states. A group of people head out to kill a large group of monsters.”

“Why would someone mention a monster run to solve our money problem then?” Kit was curious why the handsome man mentioned the monster run in the first place.

“Because it could solve the money problem. Killing a large amount of high level monsters would bring in a big haul of monster resources. We could sell them and make a huge profit. But no one would agree to this.”

“Why?”

“Because of how dangerous it is. Only desperate people or crazy people participate in a monster run. The chance of things going wrong is huge. Whole parties have been wiped out trying to gain a pile of resources.”

“It’s not only that. No one would give up their share of the profits to donate to the town funds.”

Kit frowned. This idea although dangerous could solve the immediate problem. He knew their current financial predicament could be lethal for the village. So, was this not a desperate situation then? So far no one else had come up with another good idea.

“Twix, I think we should bring it up. Let’s just put it out there and see what people think. If donating profit is an issue, why don’t we just ask for a portion of money earnt instead of all of it. If everyone is against it, then we can still try to find another idea.”

Kit watched as Twix hesitated.

“Twix how about I bring it up? I can play dumb if it goes south.”

Kit could see Twix battling with himself about what to do. “Twix, it will be voluntary participation. So, if anyone doesn’t want to join, they don’t have too.”

Kit watched as Twix was getting swayed. Kit became excited. He really wanted to experience a monster run now that he’d heard of it. Though he felt a little guilty because it wasn’t as dangerous for him as it was for the NPC’s.

Kit watched Twix eyes. “Twix, we need the money for the village. It’s just an idea, not a done deal.”

Twix nodded his head at Kit’s words. Kit felt a jolt of excitement course through him. If people agreed, then it would fix the finance issues plus he might even earn some funds for himself.

“Can you get everyone’s attention for me please?” Kit could hear the excitement in his own voice.

Twix knocked the wooden table with his staff. The loud clanging got everyone’s attention. Kit stepped forwards to speak.

“Hello, I have an idea that I want to put out there. I just want to raise the idea of a monster run, as a possibility of a way to raise the funds.”

Kit watched as a strange atmosphere started to form inside the room. No one spoke but the eyes in the room started to dance around. Kit watched as heads swayed from side to side as everyone was looking at each other.

Farrell stepped forwards with a cautious step. “Kit, this idea is a little dangerous. Although we of the Forsaken state are all experienced warriors, a monster run is not something to be taken lightly even for us. The chance of success is low.”

Farrell glanced at Kit then continued. “The cash rewards are high if successful, but the chance of death is not worth it for most.”

Farrell stepped back to a murmur of agreement. Kit looked at the faces in the room. No one had out right rejected the plan. Kit could see a look of greed on more than half the room’s faces. He had a feeling he had a high chance of convincing half the room to participate in a monster run.

“I’m not familiar with how a monster run works. I just thought it sounded like a good solution to our problem. I thought we could split half the profits with the village and the rest split between those who participate.”

Kit watched as more of the room started to nod their heads along with Kit. This spurred Kit on to continue convincing the crowd.

“If all of us participate this should reduce the risk of failure, right?”

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A middle-aged woman wearing a leather breast plate raised her voice.

“You want it to be a village event?”

“Yes, I think more people that participate the safer it will be, yes?”

The woman frowned. Kit could see the cogs turning over in her mind. “That mightn’t be a bad idea. Although the profit would be a lot less, the chance of surviving would be higher.”

Discussions started to break out around the room. Kit watched as excitement started to fill the air. Twix walked over to Kit.

“I never thought to take such a large group. Most of the time it is only around twenty people that participate. This could actually work.”

Kit had a chuckle at how fast Twix had changed his mind about the monster run. He looked over at Mars to see what his expression was. Mars had a wary look as he was glancing around the room as if searching for something.

Kit walked over to see what was going on. “Mars, what’s wrong?”

“Someone is influencing the room.”

Kit blinked. “How, and in what way?”

“It feels like they have amplified feelings of excitement and acceptance.”

“Why would someone do that?”

“Kit, look at the room. Don’t you think it is strange that there is not more resistance to your idea of a monster run. If it is dangerous then there should be caution and refusals to participate. I can only see growing approval and glee.”

“No one is questioning anything about your plan. Someone in the room really want this monster run to go ahead. I just don’t know if their intentions are to help or hinder. I think we will need to be very careful going ahead, if this plan is agreed to.”

Kit’s growing excitement was put on hold after hearing Mars thoughts.

“Then should I shelve the plan and seek an alternative?”

“I don’t think that’s an option now, look.” Mars gestured towards the crowd.

Kit swung his head towards the gathered people. Kit sucked in a breath at the sight of all the smiling and laughing faces. Now that he was paying attention to the atmosphere in the room, Kit thought he could feel an invisible pulse thumping.

With each thump the excitement inside the room would grow. The more it thumped the more animated everyone became.

“Let’s do this!” A shout sounded from Kits left.

“Yes, let’s do it!” Another voice joined in. Soon the room was filled with sounds of people shouting their approval.

Kit watched as the room boiled with euphoria. He felt like if he didn’t stop the surging emotions in the room soon, something bad would happen.

“Kit, we need to stop this now. Let’s end the meeting for now. We can talk about this after.” Kit was glad Mars seemed to have the same thoughts as he did. He had wanted people to agree, but not like this.

Kit quickly headed towards Twix. Kit was horrified when he saw a fanatical look on Twix face. “Kit we should go now. With all of us going we can’t be defeated.”

Kit slapped his hand over Twix mouth. He didn’t want Twix’ fever to spread to others. If they left now without a plan Kit could tell they would be doomed.

“Listen very carefully Twix. The room is being influenced right now. I want you to calm down and look at me.” Twix eyes focused on him. Kit watched as the fever subsided in his eyes.

“Cancel the meeting now. Get everyone out of the room.”

Kit removed his hand from Twix mouth.

Twix struck the wooden desk, and a loud clang broke out over the noise of the crowd.

“It is agreed we will hold a monster run. We will work on the details later. Now everyone let’s head over to Kit’s restaurant for a bite to eat!”

Kit watched as the fever in the room swung to him.

“YES, FOOD. Let’s go now.” Like a human stampede the room cleared.

“Sorry Kit. The only thing I could think of that would distract them all was the prospect of good food.”

“They won’t tear down my restaurant, right?” Kit was worried after seeing how fast their attention and fever had swung over to his restaurant.

“No, the influence should fade by the time they get there. But don’t delay too long going over, just in case. I will chat with Grandpa about the influence in the room. It is lucky you noticed it.”

“Ahh that was Mars, I had no clue.”

Kit left the town hall to head over to his restaurant. He had only rebuilt it yesterday and didn’t want anything to happen today as well. As he stepped outside the silver haired man was waiting for him.

“Young master Kit I apologise.” The young man’s soft voice tickled Kits ears. As if to prove his sincerity the silver haired man bowed. Kit went on instant alert. Was this the man that had influenced the room?

“What are you apologising for?”

“I wanted to give you a helping hand with getting the others to agree to the plan. I seemed to have gone a little overboard. I didn’t mean to incite the room into a frenzied state. Please except my humble apologies.” The handsome man bowed once again.

Kit didn’t know whether to be angry, terrified, or thankful. This man freely admitted his mistake, but he had also almost caused a disaster. Kit became more cautious of the stranger, he didn’t know how to take him.

Was what he said really his motive in influencing the room? Then again, Kit thought he could have kept it secret that it was him that had affected the rooms atmosphere. Kit was baffled on what to think or say to the man.

As if the man could read his mind, he spoke once again.

“Let me explain my actions please. I have been looking for a home for a very long time. This is the first time I have visited a village and not been given the cold shoulder. In fact, I have been made to feel very welcome.”

“Most people can guess my profession from my appearance. As you can imagine I’m not very welcome in most places.”

Kit looked at the man once again. If it was easy to figure out his profession just by looking at him, Kit thought he must be slow. He had no clue what it should be.

“Umm well I’m glad you feel welcome and wanted to help. Also, welcome to Spartan Fire, it’s great that you want to move here.”

Kit kept looking at the man trying to figure his profession out. After a short while he realised, he was being rude. Luckily the man seemed to find Kit’s actions funny.

“I can’t figure it out and it’s killing me. What’s your profession?”

The amused look disappeared in an instant on the man’s face.

“Necromancer.”

Kit mouth formed an oh. He had heard that being a Necromancer was hard and not many players decided to go for this profession due to being shunned by the NPC’s.

Now he understood why the man had been happy about his welcome to the village. An NPC necromancer would find it harder than a player to be accepted. Kit just didn’t know whether this man was a player or NPC yet.

Kit was assuming NPC because players could interact with other players outside of the game. He knew he was a bit different to everyone else that usually played with their friends from the real world. So far Mars was his only real world friend inside the game.

“Well as long as you don’t mean Spartan Fire any harm, you are more than welcome to join the Spartan Fire family. The more the merrier.” Kit smiled at the silver haired man.

“Family?”

“Mm, I would say it’s more like a large family than a small village, at the moment. By the way what’s your name?”

Two different coloured eyes crinkled at Kit. “Peaches.”

Kit blinked. Did he just say Peaches? Well in an odd way, it suited him.

“Pleasure to meet you, Peaches. By the way what made you think of a monster run anyway?”

“It is one of the only times people are happy to have a Necromancer in the party. I wanted to leave a good impression on everyone before I officially joined the town.”

From what little he had heard from Peaches, Kit guessed that he really didn’t have any bad intentions in influencing the group. He just wanted to be able to make a good impression to be accepted.

Kit wondered how lonely a man must be to go to these lengths to be accepted by people. Then another thought struck Kit. ‘Is this another friendless weirdo? I really am collecting a rag tag group of weird people. Damn it, I really am!’

With that thought Kit felt more friendly towards Peaches. He would have to introduce him to Mars and Twix.

“Peaches you should come to my restaurant at closing time tonight. We will be working on the plan for the monster run. I would like your input because you have experience at this.”

Peaches raised his eyebrows in surprise, then nodded. “I will see you tonight, Kit.”

Kit left Peaches to see if his restaurant was still intact.