Another howl came. This one seemed even closer. That got Howard going. He started moving away from the howls. Not wanting to step into a deep part of the swamp, he kept a close eye on where he was putting his feet. This slowed him down, and the howls seemed to get closer with every step. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he felt like he was about to throw up. He forced himself to keep moving. He looked for shallow spots in the water, or spots of land that he could jump to. Behind him, the howls kept coming. Every so often, a howl would ring out and quickly turn into a yelp of pain. Howard was too busy watching his footing to wonder what might be causing the change. He just kept moving.

He kept on like this for about thirty minutes when the land ended. He came to an abrupt stop. Stretched out before him was a large lake. The water was so clear it looked like he was looking through a window. The shallow water extended another two feet at most, then dropped almost straight down. There was no way he was going to try and swim for it. He wasn’t about to get poisoned by more leeches, and there was no telling what else might be in that water. To his right was a large piece of land protruding above the water. He made his way to the mound and looked again at the lake. There was more room before the drop off here, but that did him no good. If he wasn’t going to swim it, he would have to find a way around it.

“Fuck,” he said, and a howl answered him.

This one seemed to be right behind him. He spun quickly, equipping his sword as he did. This time it didn’t startle him and he held on tight. Before him stood a large gray wolf. He wasn’t saying it WAS a gray wolf, he was just saying it was large, gray, and looked like a wolf. It lowered its head, growling and baring its teeth. Howard knew enough to know that if he made any sudden moves, the thing would attack. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. This was not going to be as easy as fighting the Squirg. He moved one foot in front of the other and bent slightly at the knees. He had no clue if this was a good stance or not, it just felt right.

The wolf took a slow step towards Howard, its snarl increasing. Howard took a small step backwards, and his rear foot slipped into the water. I can’t go back any further, he thought to himself. Better get ready. With his back foot still in the water, he took a slow step to his right. His foot bumped something in the water, and he instinctively looked down.

That’s when the wolf attacked. It lept straight at Howard’s throat. He saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and tried to block the attack. He swung his sword at the wolf. The blade managed to cut into the wolf’s side. It seemed to do little damage. Not much more than a scratch. It was enough, however, to knock the wolf to the side slightly. The wolf crashed into his shoulder, rather than his throat. The force of the blow twisted him around, causing him to stumble. He fell back onto the patch of land with a thud but was quickly back on his feet, sword at the ready. The wolf had rolled into the deeper water and was struggling. It seemed as if it couldn’t swim. Howard looked at the creature, confused. It should be able to swim. One would think that it would be an instinct for such a creature to know how to swim. He watched the wolf struggle, then it disappeared under the water. The speed at which it happened startled Howard, causing him to take a step back. It was under the water for a second or two and then popped back up, gasping for air. It was almost immediately pulled back under.

Howard was reminded of how the bobbers on his line would act when there was a fish on the hook. The wolf’s nose popped up again and just as quickly was pulled back down. Howard decided this was enough of a show for him, and he turned and began to follow the edge of the lake. He had gone only a short distance when a howl sounded so close behind him that he spun to see what was there. Before he got all the way around, the howl turned into a yelp. Howard finally saw what was making the wolves yelp like that. Stretching out of the water was a huge tentacle. It extended at least twenty feet into the air. The end of the tentacle curled around a struggling wolf. The wolf howled in pain as it fought against its captor, to no avail.

As Howard watched the struggle, the tentacle suddenly retracted back into the water. The movement was so fast that he barely registered it as movement. That was enough for Howard. He turned back the way he had been going, only to come face to face with yet another wolf. This one jumped as soon as Howard saw it. He had no time to ready himself, and the wolf hit him right in the chest with its paws. Its claws broke through the jerkin he wore and dug into his skin. The force took them both to the ground. Howard lost his sword as they hit the ground.

It was at that moment that something inside Howard woke. He threw the wolf off of him, using the momentum from the fall. It tumbled away from him and he quickly gather his sword. The wolf was quickly back on its feet and growling at Howard. Howard wasted no time in getting into his defensive stance. The wolf charged. Howard swung his sword with perfect timing. It bit into the wolf’s neck, spewing blood everywhere. The force of the blow spun the wolf and its hind quarters hit Howard, sending him flailing backwards. The wolf quickly got control of itself and charged again. Howard had also regained his balance and was ready. As the wolf rushed toward him, he raised his sword above his head. He brought it down like he would one of those hammers you used to ring the bell at a carnival. The blow was again perfect, and the sword bit into the wolf’s skull, nearly cutting it in two.

Congratulations! You have reached level 2. You are well on your way to making something of yourself. Let’s hope that something isn’t food for some hungry creature.

All stats increased by 1

Skill “Big Smash tier 1” awarded. When this skill is active, any weapon that is swung like one of those hammers that you used to ring the bell at a carnival will receive a bonus to the damage given. If the weapon is an actual hammer, the bonus damage is doubled.

Howard shook the window away and looked around him. Directly in front of him was the wolf he had just killed. Behind him, the swamp carried on. In front of him four wolves were battling several tentacles. They moved so fast, and in such a strange way that he wasn’t sure how many there were. He watched for only a moment, then turned and headed back into the swamp.

He wanted to put as much distance between him and the lake as possible. However, the pain in his chest from the wolf’s attack was slowing him down. The sun was almost set, and he still hadn’t discovered a place to camp for the night. It was getting harder to see where he was stepping. The swamp was also becoming more active. Whereas in the day there had been little noise, the swamp was now alive with sound. There were chirps and croaks all around him. Something jumped into the water on his left. To his right, something screamed in pain, and then went silent. He stopped to take a drink from his waterskin. When he did, he heard what sounded like someone, or something, eating peanut brittle. He realized quickly that the sound was most likely bones being crunched, and he got moving again.

At some point, he picked up a long stick and began to prod the waters to determine the depth. Most of it was fairly shallow, maybe two or three feet deep. There were random pockets that went much deeper, though. In one of these spots, his stick went down so far that the top of the stick was only protruding about a foot out of the water. He began pulling the stick back up when something hit it. It struck with such force that it knocked the stick out of his hands and pulled it under. Howard waited to see if the stick would come back up. It did not.

After about an hour of walking, he stumbled out of the swamp and into a wet meadow. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but he was pretty sure there was a mountain range not too far from him. Mountains meant caves. At least he hoped there would be at least one. One that was not occupied. He quickened his pace as the thought of a place to rest gave him renewed energy.

The wet meadow transitioned into a dry meadow after about five minutes of brisk walking. Another five minutes saw him at the rocky foothills of the mountain range. He began to move quickly up the foothills in an S pattern, trying to find some type of shelter. Just when he thought he couldn’t go any farther, he spotted what he was looking for. A cave.

He slowly approached the cave, wary of what might be inside. Howard stopped just outside of the entrance and stood off to the right side. Peering into the cave, he tried to determine if there was anything inside. He stood as still as he could and listened. There were no sounds coming from inside. In what was probably a ridiculous move, he stood at the entrance and threw a rock into the cave. The rock hit the back wall and bounced around a few times before coming to rest. Howard moved back to the side of the entrance as soon as he had let go of the rock. He waited for five minutes. Then ten. When fifteen minutes, or what he thought was fifteen, passed and there was no movement and no sound. He cautiously entered the cave.

Searching the cave the best he could in the fading light, Howard decided that this was as good a place as he was likely to find. He made himself as comfortable as possible with his back against the cave wall near the entrance. He figured if he was close to the entrance, he could run if he needed to. If he stayed at the back of the cave, there was a good chance he would be trapped inside if the owners came back.

He took out a few pieces of the meat and the waterskin. The water was, surprisingly, still cold. He took a bite of the meat and thought it was the best meal he had ever eaten. Howard tried to eat slowly, but the first two pieces of meat were gone in just a few seconds. He forced himself to not eat the third piece just yet. He took a drink of water and leaned his head back against the cave wall.

Some time later, his eyes fluttered open. There was a dim light filling the cave. He figured it must be morning. Another clue to the time of day came when he read his quest screen.

Noob Quest, Survive the night: Um…let me see, how do I explain this one? Oh yeah! Don’t die during the night. Reward: 1 non-combat skill of your choice.

You have fulfilled all the requirements for this quest. Would you like to complete it now? Yes/No

“Sure,” Howard said.

Noob Quest, Survive the Night: Complete. Reward: Select one non-combat skill of your choice from the list.

Tracking Tier 1: The ability to identify and follow the tracks of common animals.

Crafting Tier 1: The ability to create simple items, such as; clothes, fishing nets, baskets, and the like. The type and tier of the material will determine what can be crafted.

Woodworking Tier 1: The ability to carve, cut, and assemble wood into useful items. The type of wood and its tier will determine what can be worked.

Foraging Tier 1: The ability to search for and identify types of edible resources in the wild. What can be found and identified is determined by the tier of the skill.

Choose now? Yes/No

He thought about the choices for a bit. Tracking would be good if he got a quest to hunt a certain type of creature. But for now, he didn’t think it was very useful. Crafting would certainly come in handy. Perhaps he could make his own armor, or mend what he had. The stuff he had on now was already getting a bit ragged. Woodworking would be great for building shelter, or making shields. Again, this one seemed to be something that might be handy later, but not now. Foraging…now this one seemed to be exactly what he needed. He only had a bit of the dried meat left. That meant he would need food soon. That made his choice easy. “Yes,” Howard said.

Nothing happened. He waited a few moments, then tried again. “Yes, I want to choose now,” He said in a firm voice.

So go on, choose already.

Howard bit back his annoyance at the screen. “Foraging, I choose foraging, thank you very much.”

Skill Foraging tier 1 awarded. You now have the ability to search high and low for those tasty morsels you flesh-bags need to sustain yourselves. This is a passive ability and does not need to be activated to work.

At the thought of food, Howard’s stomach churned. Then something moved in his lap. He froze. There was something in his lap and he hadn’t noticed it. He was so engrossed in completing the quest that he hadn’t even felt the thing. It was heavy. Not heavy like a car tire, but it sure wasn’t a leech. He slowly looked down, trying to prepare himself. If it was a spider, or some other type of creepy-crawly thing, especially one that weighed this much, he was going to flip the fuck out.

There in his lap, staring back at him, were the most brilliant yellow eyes he had ever seen.