Terry hopped up onto a chair, and then up onto the back of the chair, and leaned back against the wall with her head near the ceiling. It looked incredibly precarious and Karl didn't know how she knew the chair wouldn't tilt or slip the wrong way, but she appeared totally confident. Just how high is her agility, anyway? She clapped her hands and cleared her throat, clearly comfortable with giving her report as a performance.

“Okay, so, directions first. Let's call this side of Walnut 'safe side', which is supposed to be west, but obviously Walnut twists up like spaghetti so take it with a grain of salt. The other side let's call mill side. We've been walking up Walnut in the allegedly 'north' direction, with safe side on the left. Then there's the intersection of Walnut and Post Road. Those cut the area up into four pieces: northwest, which is the hobgoblins; southwest where we are; northeast; and southeast, where the mill is.” People nodded that they were generally following her.

“Now. Karl sent me to check on the first two houses southeast of the intersection and then meet you guys here. The first house was bad news, but ordinary. Eight marsh folk, no survivors. I labeled it for you guys and then headed to the second house. There I found six more marsh folk, but they looked like they were traveling somewhere. Not like wandering, more like they had a plan. So I figured I'd follow them a little way before I doubled back.

“This went on for about fifteen minutes. They basically kept getting closer to Twisty Brook, which doesn't say much because, well, twisty. But they joined another group of six marsh folk, and then two scouts came in and joined them and it looked like they were giving a report, and so I decided to do the whole 'err on the side of caution' bit and back off at that point, because this was hours ago and in those ancient days I was still a lowly fourth level rogue.”

You didn't have to be quite so disparaging while quoting that, Karl thought grumpily. Are you making this entertaining hoping I won't be mad at you?

“So! There I was, heading back towards the house I was supposed to, when I made an unfortunate discovery. It seems that wolves can see through stealth. Or smell through it, I dunno. Doesn't matter right now. Anyway, this wolf spots me, and he's sort of between me and Walnut, so I angle away, hoping he was the live and let live type.

“No such luck. The little jerk follows me. I try to lose him without bolting but I can't shake him. I was about to just turn around and take him out as quick as I could, when I noticed that now he had a friend with him. Apparently, it really does work like in the movies. I started to run, they started to chase, they start howling. I end up with ten wolves on my tail, all trying to annoy the neighbors, and it turns out that they're about as fast as me or maybe a little faster. So once it starts getting dicey, I 'err on the side of caution' again and climb up a tree.”

And is that when your leggings got completely shredded and covered in blood, young lady?

“This should be fine, right? Wolves can't climb trees. Everybody knows that. So they surround the tree I'm on, and they're all howling like mad, and I'm thinking, 'dude, you're all right here, you can stop howling now. We heard you ten howls ago.' Buuuuut no such luck. They were calling Big Bad Daddy Wolf and waiting for him to show up.

“Now Big Bad Daddy wolf, or BBD if you're cool, he shows up and he's like twice the size of the other wolves, glowing red eyes, and fur black enough to make a goth swoon.”

She made it back, Karl reminded himself. She survived this.

“So I think to myself, 'Well hello there, Mr. Uncommon Spawn, what are you up to today? And I'm 'erring on the side of caution', right? So I climbed a few branches higher juuuuuust in case BBDs can really jump. Which they can. BBDs can climb trees.

“So no shit, there I was, pinned down by a howl of enemy fur, and the BBD climbing up after me. The good news is, he can do it, but I'm better at it than him. So I decide to find out just how far my fancy Air System upgraded sneakers will take me, and I jump to a different tree.

“The BBD can't do that. He's too big and heavy. So they all start following me at ground level. I keep going tree to tree, but they can keep up. I can't get away from these guys. So I think, okay, we're all out of 'the side of caution' and would you like a side of fries instead? and I gotta come up with a plan while playing Keep away from Furry. So I'm looking around, and we're getting kind of close to the mill, and there are these marsh folk. So I think, let's find out if the enemy of my enemy is crunchy and good with ketchup. And they are.

“I lead the wolves to the marsh folk and the wolves chow down on the marsh folk like an all-you-can-eat buffet. I'm a little disappointed because I was hoping the marsh folk would hurt the wolves too, but it was an uneven fight. Meanwhile I'm trying to err on the side of caution my ass out of there. I'm running like Tarzan and I'm eating about five pounds of pine needles a minute, and then I level. Yes, I actually got experience for getting the wolves to eat the marsh folk, don't ask me why.

“Okay. So I get past the mill, up and across Post Road, and I think I've finally lost the wolves. I've crossed into the northeast area now, less marsh, more up and down hills. I don't have time to assign my stats and read up on my new skills, so I keep going. I figure on sweeping up and around and it's going to take me another few hours at least going slow and erring—?” she held out a hand and waited.

At this point most of the audience said it with her, “ ...on the side of caution.” Karl scowled.

“Then the damned wolves finish their snack and pick up my trail. And I figure I've got two choices. I either try to get across Walnut right then, or I let these furry leeches chase me all the way to Maine. So I go for it. I'm a lot closer to the hobgoblin encampment than I'd like, but stealth should work against them better than on wolves, right?

“So now I'm north of the hobgoblins and I'm back up a tree doing Tarzan again and getting way too much fiber in my diet. I'm trying to work my way west but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to which tree is close enough and big enough. I end up fairly close to the hobgoblins, and figure, what the hell, it could work this time.”

She didn't.

“The problem is, the hobgoblins have cut down a bunch of trees around their encampment so there's a gap I have to get across. Hobgoblins are gonna be the entree but I don't want to be the appetizer. I need speed. So I hang out in a tree for a minute, get my stats for leveling, while the BBD starts climbing up after me. I hold still long enough to lure the BBD up high, make a couple of long jumps, get a two second head start on the pack and then I book it like Usain Bolt on crack, straight towards the encampment.

“I can't keep up stealth at that speed so the greenies see me coming, and now I'm the opening act for BBD and the Pups on tour. They had at least ten archers shooting at me within like two seconds of spotting me; but at the speed I'm going they might as well be Imperial Stormtroopers. Besides, I figure in a second they're going to have much bigger problems.

And that's where your top got so full of holes, perhaps? Karl grumbled mentally.

“Now the layout of the hobgoblin encampment. This is important so I'll draw it out for you later. The hobgoblins are working on this what do you call it, not fusillade—”

“Palisade?” Jake suggested.

“Yeah, that. Walls of stakes made out of tree trunks. They're huge. It's going to be a real fortress if they get it finished. But it's not finished. On the north and west sides there are just these lower things I can jump over. So I do. Now a lot of the archers are shooting at the wolves and the BBD.

Here it comes, Karl thought.

“So, at that point, I could have said 'Ok, mission accomplished', and gotten the hell out of there. But if I did that, there was a chance that the wolves would chase me instead of going after the hobgoblins. I had to make sure that both sides wanted to fight each other. So I ran deeper in.”

It took all of Karl's self-discipline not to yell at her right then. Are you insane?! How did you even survive?

“So the wolves chase me into the half built fort, and then decide they'd rather fight the things that are actually hurting them. So finally I could hide. I went into stealth, and started working my way back out towards the exit.”

“Before I left, I did my best to count what the goblins had for troops. My guesses earlier were low. They had about 30 hobgoblins and about sixty goblins. While I watched, at least a quarter of those died. I think those ten wolves got seriously beefed up by being with the BBD, but the BBD was doing the bulk of the damage.

“Then the big guy came out.”

Everyone tensed and hung on Terry's words as she continued. “It looked like a hobgoblin but was about four feet taller. And I swear it got taller during the fight. Like feet taller. I figure he's got to be another uncommon spawn. He came out with this double ax and took on the BBD. It was a pretty massive fight. The big green guy had more than one healer supporting just him, and a couple of mages with him throwing fireballs and something else I couldn't see well...and eventually he killed the BBD with that axe. He's good with it.

“Suddenly all the other wolves are just ordinary wolves again, and the hobgoblins kill them all. I tried to get another count after that but it was getting a little hot in there so I—?”

“Erred on the side of caution,” the others chorused with her.

“—and stealthed out. Just to be safe, I went northwest for a ways until I was west of here, snuck across Post Road, aimed for this place but got a little lost in the woods, overshot and then followed the sounds of fighting. I figured it was you guys, so I took out the Orc shaman and you know the rest.”

There was silence for several moments. Then Jim, Chenelle, Michael and Jake all started talking at once:

“Go Terry!” “We're so glad you're safe!” “That must have been terrifying!” “Gutsy moves, kid.”

Jim added, “Um, yeah, I don't think anybody's gonna top that. Good job, Terry. That's freaking amazing.” Terry turned a little pink and self-consciously felt her ponytail for a second.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

A fourteen year old with stealth, Karl thought with worry. Then he cleared his throat.

“We're grateful for all the intel, Terry, but the most important thing is that you got back to us in one piece.”

Jake gave an impressed whistle. “So, to sum up, you found two uncommon spawns, got rid of one of them and weakened the other's troops. All by yourself. That's astounding, Terry. Well done.”

Jim started clapping, and everyone else joined in. Terry pushed off the wall, balanced on the top of the chair back with the chair balanced on two legs, and to top it off gave them a deep bow from there. The applause redoubled. With a light hop, Terry jumped down and even caught the chair before it could slam into the wall.

“How are you doing that!?” Annie demanded.

“Cheerleading squad. My agility started at nine. It's up to fifteen now.”

Annie grinned. “Go Stonehill High!” The teens high fived each other.

Karl cleared his throat. “Terry.” She turned to him and looked worried. He looked at her and sighed.

“I want to yell at you. I want to ground you, make you stay in the Safe Zone. But I can't. I can't think of a single thing you could have done better, and you accomplished a miracle for us. You did magnificently well. Thank you.” The teenager looked relieved.

“Now. I need you to draw the encampment and tell me everything you saw about how that giant hobgoblin fought. Because we're going to have to go after them and soon.”

He spent a while with Terry, sitting on the couch while she drew and answered questions for him and others looked on. Karl didn't fully know what questions to ask, but others' curiosity drew more useful details out. Finally he sat back.

This is exactly what I've most feared. A fighter with skill. I have no idea what I'm doing. I've barely gotten any skills, I've never studied tactics or weapons or war. I stuck my damn fingers in the eye of a dire boar! And I've got to go toe to toe with this thing, possibly as soon as tomorrow. The longer we wait, the worse it will get. We've got to get used to slaying uncommon spawns before the next sort starts appearing.

Speed. So much comes down to speed. How can we get ahead of this? How can we move faster?

...Move faster...

“Terry, how did you learn to run so fast?”

“It's a skill rogues get, and the higher my agility goes, the faster I get. I can't do it for long, though. It burns through stamina like a mother.”

“Can other people get it?”

“No idea.”

“How long do you think you could do a normal run? Like a marathon instead of a sprint?”

She blinked. “I dunno. My constitution is only six and I haven't raised it. Why?”

“I think we need to try something.” Karl got up and peered out the window. “We don't have a lot of daylight left, but we could just stick to the lawn...Everyone?” He got the attention of the room almost instantly.

“Who's up for a race?”

* *

“Okay, it's from here to the street, wait for everyone, and then another race back.” Annie was staying inside with the babies. Maria was on the porch as starter and lookout. Everyone else was in a line along the top of the driveway, even Daniel. “Ready? Set? GO!”

Terry had agreed not to use her special ability, but she still took the lead immediately and pulled well ahead of the rest. Karl fell behind as he expected. He was an old man, after all, and his body couldn't take the strain. So he deliberately took it easy at first, and gradually sped up to see what he could handle. By the time he reached the end of the driveway, almost everyone had already lined up for the return race. Chenelle called out to Danny to stop where he was and start from there for the second race.

“Ready...set...go!” They faintly heard Maria call.

This time Karl went all out. To his great surprise, he beat Jake and Chenelle, and almost kept up with the rest. Danny ran up last, out of breath and full of bragging about how he almost beat them all.

Harsher conditions, Karl thought, remembering the very first message from the System. The System does make a huge difference. The power of healing, of growth...for all I know, the Fountain of Youth.

Everyone who had raised their agility commented on how their speed had improved, and everyone who had raised their constitution estimated that they could run much farther before getting tired than they could pre-System. Chenelle raised an eyebrow at Karl as she caught her breath. When he moved closer, she murmured, “Why do I think this little test was more about building your own confidence in your body than anything else?”

“You're just jealous that I beat you.” She laughed a little at that.

The light was fading, and people started heading back inside. “Doug! Hold on a minute, please?” A minute later, they were the only two standing still on the porch.

“What's up, Karl?”

“You still have that sword you looted from the hobgoblin?”

“Yeah, but the orc sword Michael gave me seems better. Why, do you want it?”

“No,” Karl grinned. “I want you to hit me with it.”

Doug grinned back in understanding. “I thought you'd never ask.”

They sparred with looted orcish swords for as long as the twilight lasted. Karl pushed himself as hard as he dared. Twice he slipped up and stabbed Doug lightly, then fixed him up with healing hands. Doug accidentally got a critical strike at the end and Karl was hard pressed to heal himself. Doug called for Chenelle, who checked that Karl wasn't dying and then refused to heal him, calling an end to their sparring practice and ordering them both inside.

Karl looked at his last notification and then blinked it away.

Your skill in short sword has improved (2-->3)

“So, what was that all about?” Maria asked him after he and Doug put the barricade back across the front door.

“I need to get an idea of our abilities both separately and as a group. We've got some tough fighting to do tomorrow and we need every advantage we can get.”

“But why the race? I mean, it was fun to watch, but...?”

“I'm an old man, Maria. My thinking is too hidebound. I didn't even realize that I could run that far, let alone that well. The rules are different now, and we don't have time for me to fumble around still thinking we're bound by the old limitations.”

“Nobody expects you to be a military genius, old man,” Terry commented. “But I get where you're coming from. I didn't know I could jump tree to tree that far until I had to do it.”

“It's more than just fighting. I'm worried about the other survivors. At the rate we've been going, we'll only be able to save a few more people before most of the rest in the area get killed.” Faces grew more sober at that, so he explained. “So we're not going to go at the same rate we've been going. We're going to go faster. A lot faster, unless I miss my guess.”

“We're going to run?”

Karl nodded. “No more of this slow and cautious walking down the street. We simply don't have time. We go barreling forward, and if we get in a fight, we fight, but we'll be that much farther that much faster.”

“But won't we blunder into ambushes that way, make the fights harder?”

“Sometimes. But Terry can go a lot faster than us in short bursts. She'll be able to give us warning sometimes.”

“No pressure,” the teen muttered.

“What about drawing multiple opponents?”

“Then we get them to fight each other as much as us. Terry showed it was possible.”

“You going to run this plan by Danny?”

“Absolutely. But first, unbelievably I actually need to eat again, and second, I desperately need to sleep in a Safe Zone so my mind is sharp tomorrow.”

“You been putting points into intelligence or wisdom, old man?”

“Nope, I got those the hard way, with sixty-eight years of living under the old rules.”

“Sixty-eight?” Terry blinked, looking shocked. Then her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What was your strength when the System started?”

Karl laughed. “Two.”

“Two? And you gave me grief for having a three!”

“Well, mine was up to three before I even met you,” Karl countered. “And I plan on getting it to ten before we fight the hobgoblins.”

“So what's the plan?”

“Like I said, the plan is food, sleep, and then plan! What's for dinner?”

“Canned clam chowder, heated over a green flame. We need a guinea pig. Anybody got poison resistance? Who has the highest constitution?”

**

As the twilight turned to night, it started getting very chilly. Maria pointed out the wood pile and Michael lit the fireplace. The flames were yellow, not green. At least that's still ordinary. Soon the fire was crackling merrily, and looked almost normal as people grew less chilled.

They decided to always have a single person on watch at a time, just in case of a large attack on the building, but for the most part, they were ready to sleep soundly for the first time since the System had arrived. They moved the coffee table out of the way, and the majority bedded down for the night in the living room. Even more than the previous night, the cozy atmosphere led to campfire type conversations before people fell asleep.

“When I am an Evil Overlord, one of my advisors will be an ordinary small child. Any flaws in my plans that are discovered by the child will be rectified before putting the plan into action!” Karl quoted from memory.

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not place the hero in a deathtrap and then leave him unattended,” Doug declared.

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not have pointless countdowns delaying my victory!” Jake offered.

“I've got one! When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not explain all of my plans to the hero just because I have him at my mercy.”

Without the instant access to information on the internet everyone was used to, they couldn't see the 'official' list. Once Karl explained the concept, everyone was having fun thinking up things that they thought would belong on it.

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not kidnap the hero's love interest while taunting the hero.”

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not announce my plans to the public before I execute them!”

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not have single button self-destructs on all my vital machinery!”

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not explain my weaknesses to my enemies, or tell them what they should have done to thwart me!”

“Good one! When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not have an easily guessable password to my master control system!”

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not have my villain name be a simple anagram of my real one!”

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not treat my minions like crap, goading them to betray me!”

“When I am an Evil Overlord, I will not stop to gloat until after I have finished my victory!”

Eventually people switched to sharing old memories, and then split into quieter whispered conversations, and finally, the exhausted group got the rest they so badly needed.