The sudden bang echoing off the stone walls caused me to stop moving as my brain took a moment to contemplate what it had just heard. Once it clicked in my mind, I took off at a sprint. How stupid could I be, how could I have been so fucking relaxed? The only thing I left standing between Tak and a potential threat was a two foot length of rope.

I turned the corner into the main corridor with thoughts of a bear tearing down the door to the bunkroom, Tak screaming in fear, but I couldn’t make out any noise. No screaming, yelling, roaring, nothing. Just the strong whistle of the wind as it blew through the entrance of the mine.

I quickly slowed my run, switching back into a slow controlled walk, focusing on keeping my presence hidden. Something wasn’t right. If there was danger, at least immediate danger, I would hear it. There was no way Tak hadn’t heard the gate slam open, he would have been prepared to fight against whatever came through.

As I walked closer to the bunkroom door, I started to believe that the wind had just been strong enough to snap the rope or undo the knot I tied. As I got closer, I was able to finally make out some sound from the room as I approached. Tak was talking in a calm voice, though I couldn’t yet make out what he was saying. Letting out a sigh of relief, I was ready to walk over to the gate to tie it shut again when the second voice began to speak.

The voice was deep and gravelly, the kind that belonged to someone who smoked too much for too long. I inched closer to the door, hoping the wind and my meager stealth skills would be enough to hide the sound of my approach. As I reached the door, I could just make out what the man was saying.

“...wolves, Tak? I know you better than most people. You're an adept hiker, you know the ins and outs of traveling through this valley more than most, but there is no way you’d have been able to fend off two wolves, not on your own,” The man said.

“I told you, I’m by myself. And the wolves were already near dead when I came across them, they weren’t hard to kill. I was coming back to town when I came across them and I didn’t want to leave the pelts so I drug them through the snow one by one.” Tak said in return.

As they continued to argue back and forth, I took the chance to look through the crack between the frame and the door. All I could really tell about the man was that he was a dwarf, like Tak. Wearing a grey fur cloak and hood, I couldn’t make out what he looked like with his back turned to me, though he must have been some sort of archer as he had a hip quiver attached to his belt.

While my unranked identification skill only worked on natural creatures and not NPCs, my general knowledge skill did give me some common level information about lore, NPCs, and classes. I focused on the man's back, hoping to pull up some relevant information.

?, Jadestone Guard LVL 5

Race: Mountain Dwarf

Class: Warrior, Scout

Details: You have not met this man. You recognize that parts of his uniform belong to the Jadestone Guard.

Scout

Rarity: Common

Class: Subclass

Description: Scouts are a dexterity based subclass of Warriors that focus primarily on ranged combat. While not as versatile as Rangers, Scouts excel at supporting parties by moving ahead and sniffing out potential danger or setting up ambushes. While Scouts focus primarily on ranged combat using bows, they are also adept with the use of finesse weapons when forced to enter melee combat.

“Why are you lying to me Tak? I’m worried here. Did he kidnap you, that green prick?” the man snapped, instantly pulling my attention back towards their conversation. “What has he told you Tak, did he spring some tall tale about being an Outworlder? He’s a liar, boy, and he’s dangerous to boot. We caught him scouting out the town defenses. He’s dangerous, even as far as orcs go.”

“Fine, he’s here alright! He’s farther down in the mine making sure it's safe,” Tak said, snapping in anger. “But he saved me. He didn’t have to, but he did, and if he hadn’t, I’d either be stuck up in a tree freezing to death right now or being eaten by wolves.”

“It’s all part of his plan Tak! He’s likely part of the attack that killed your pa. What would your ma think, you standing up for an orc like this? You can’t tell anyone back in Jadestone that you’ve helped this filthy green skin. Promise me you won’t tell anyone.” the man said scornfully.

“Geoff, I’m not going to lie to my Ma or anyone else. I’ll take my lumps when I get home for scaring her, but she deserves to meet the person who saved me. The town should know what he did. It doesn’t matter that he’s an orc, he's a good person.” Tak said, confidently.

The man, Geoff, let out a long sigh as he put his hand on Tak’s shoulder. “You're a good kid and your ma and pa were always kind to me. I am really sorry about this Tak, I am, but Vondal made it crystal clear what had to happen if you two ran into each other,” Geoff said as he grabbed Tak by the throat, pinning him up against the table, using his other hand to pull a dagger from his waist as Tak’s eyes bulged in surprise.

Quickly stepping back, I kicked forward, planting my heel where the simple wooden latch secured the door. The latch snapped, the door flying open with such force that I could hear the planks themselves crack when they impacted the stone wall. Geoff spun towards me, shock and anger written on his face. Seeing his opening, Tak lashed out with a wild punch, striking Geoff in his groin. The punch forced a pained wheeze from his mouth and his grip loosened on Tak, who quickly dropped to the ground, rolling underneath the table.

Seeing my opening, I let out a battle cry as I charged in, hoping to apply a fear debuff, but it didn’t work. To make matters worse, he managed to recover from Tak’s dirty blow, deftly dodging my follow up spear thrust. Having lost the element of surprise, we were now facing off on an equal footing, which put me at a disadvantage. Not only was Geoff a higher level than me, having unlocked both a main class and subclass, but he was better equipped, having a complete set of light armor and weapons. Almost on cue, he drew out a wicked looking hand axe as he got into a fighting stance, weapons ready to strike.

We circled each other around the center of the room, neither of us willing to strike first. “Why attack Tak. I’m the one you want dead apparently, though I have no idea why, but why kill him too?” I asked, trying to see if I could learn what exactly was going on, or at least try and goad him into attacking.

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“You think Vondal tells me his plans? I’m just a soldier following his commander’s orders. He says kill an orc, I kill them. He says kill a kid, I kill them. Nothing more to it.” He said as he continued to circle me, looking for an opening to strike.

“Oh, bullshit. I bet you're one of his right hand men. One of the first he calls on to get a job done. I can’t imagine he has too many willing child killers in his midsts. I’m sure you know plenty about what's really going on here.” I said mockingly.

“All I know is if I kill you, you won’t be coming back.” Geoff laughed in amusement. “Some Outworlder you are, not even able to come back from the dead! He’d hoped that the storm would handle you, but he sent me out to make sure the job was done one way or the other. Once I saw your tracks head up here, I knew I’d have to take you out myself.” Almost on cue, as if to say he was done talking, Geoff lunged at me, slashing out with his dagger.

I jumped back, dodging out of range of his blade. Without wasting any of his momentum, he continued to move forward as he brought his axe down in an overhead chop. I just managed to get my spear up in time, catching the axe before it could bite into my chest. Before he could pull away or swing out with his dagger, I brought my knee up, catching Geoff in the stomach and driving the air from his lungs. Losing his footing, Geoff stepped back on his heels. Seizing the momentum, I brought my foot up, delivering a Powerful Kick to his chest, knocking him from his feet.

Unfortunately, even after making solid contact, Geoff was able to resist my attack's stun effect. As soon as his back hit the ground, Geoff kept his momentum going, rolling up onto his hands and back onto his feet. Rushing forward, I struck out with my spear again, hoping to catch him before he could totally regain his balance. Turning his body, Geoff just managed to strike my spear with his axe, allowing him to avoid being impaled. Continuing his spin, he managed to roll up the length of my spear. Getting in close, he stabbed me in the thigh with his dagger, causing several points of damage and a small bleed debuff. Ripping his dagger from my leg, Geoff spun back away from me as he dodged a follow up swipe from my spear.

While it was clear I had the edge in power, Geoff was currently in a league of his own when it came to footwork and speed, and while I didn’t have any idea how much health he had, I suspected his health pool was even higher than mine with his advanced level and dwarven racial ability. Unless I managed to land a couple of critical hits or get some injury debuffs on him, he would be able to eventually whittle me down to nothing. What was worse, he knew it too.

As if he could feel the momentum further swing in his favor, Geoff kicked off the stone wall, launching himself towards me. Realizing that I would struggle to keep him at bay with the end of my spear, I resigned myself to the fact it would serve me better in the role of a quarterstaff, albeit one with a sharpened end. Instead of trying to pull my spear back toward me, to get its point in a position to strike, I swiped at Geoff as he ran in for an attack. Moving to my right dodging his axe, I continued to whip him past me with my spear, managing to catch his arm with the spearhead. He hissed in pain as he took a few points of damage, but he was otherwise unharmed and undeterred.

As the fight wore on, we traded blow after blow, the momentum swinging back and forth. Unfortunately, I found myself unable to land that one big attack to swing the battle in my favor, Geoff simply being too adept at dodging for me to make solid contact with my spear. While I was only able to make shallow cuts or hit him with some unarmed strikes, Geoff was managing to land solid, although unspectacular, hits with his weapons, piling up a few minor bleed debuffs.

While my health continued to steadily drop, what was most concerning was my stamina pool. Each time I attacked or dodged, I used up a small bit of my stamina, and while I hadn’t used a power attack yet, my powerful kicks were likewise eating into my stamina pool. By the time Geoff had me down to half health, my stamina pool was hovering at about 30%. On the other hand, I knew as a mountain dwarf focused on dexterity, Geoff’s stamina regenerated at an incredible pace while he also had a respectable stamina pool due to his race's boost to strength.

The worst part of it all, Goeff knew he had me on the ropes. “Big scary orc. What a bunch of shit. It's almost shocking these people believe your kind are an actual threat,” he said in a mocking tone. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tak finally crawling out from under the table and over to a pile of pots and pans he must have pulled out from the cupboards after I left.

“What do you mean? How else are people supposed to feel after seeing their loved ones killed?” I asked, hoping to keep his attention on me and give me a few precious seconds to gain back a bit of stamina.

“Orcs only do what they're paid to do, and for the most part, they do it poorly,” he said with a laugh. “I will give your kind credit though, you do make quite the boogie man! You look like you were plucked right out of a child's nightmare.” As he continued to laugh, I saw Tak reach the pot he was crawling towards, pulling out a long leather stripe that had been sitting inside. The look on my face must have given away that something was off, as Geoff turned his head back towards Tak, but it was too late.

As if this was exactly what Tak had been waiting for, he tossed the leather cord up at Geoff’s head. Like it was magically controlled, one end of the leather attached itself to Geoff's face as the rest wrapped itself around his neck. I was utterly confused until my battle log started to read off the identification of a creature.

? Whipsnake - LVL 1

Whipsnakes are a nonvenomous species of snake native to most mountain ranges throughout Hazelsong. Whipsnakes are rarely known to be aggressive unless highly agitated or threatened. They make surprisingly good mousers in place of cats.

As if coming to the realization at the same moment I did, Geoff let out a scream so high pitched, it could have shattered glass. Losing all focus on the battle, he dropped his hand axe onto the floor as he reached up towards the snake slowly tightening its hold on the man’s neck. Seeing my opening, I thrust out with my spear, using ‘Power Strike’, aiming for his center mass.

You hit Geoff the Scout with Power Strike for 13 points for piercing damage. You critically strike a vital organ (right lung) for 33 points of damage. Geoff has a punctured lung*. Geoff is Bleeding (Moderate). Geoff will lose 5 HP per second for 120 seconds.

*Punctured Lung reduces stamina regeneration by 50%. Performing actions while you have the Punctured Lung debuff costs x3 as much stamina.

While the bleed debuff was strong and the punctured lung was crippling, I didn’t trust that Geoff wouldn’t rebound and pull off the win if I didn’t deliver another strong attack. Ripping my spear from his chest, I followed it up with a Powerful Kick. Taking a page from Tak’s own playbook, I planted it right between Geoff’s legs.

You hit Geoff the Scout with Powerful Kick for 7 points of bludgeoning damage. You damaged an organ (testicles). Geoff has a shattered testicle. Shattered testicle inflicts Goeff with debuff Pain* (Mind Shattering). Pain debuff will reduce to the level (Unbearable) after 600 seconds, and reduce itself by one level every 600 seconds thereafter. Geoff has resisted stun debuff.

*Pain debuff inflicts the feeling of pain through a spell or an otherwise nonthreatening injury. The Pain debuff reduces a creature's ability to move and think.

As the prompt read itself off in my head, I immediately began to regret my actions. My mind inevitably turned to the same thought every man had when the terms ‘Shatter’ and ‘Testicle’ were uttered in the same sentence. What if that happened to me? My stomach tied itself into knots as another battle prompt read off in my head.

You have inflicted Fear (Minor) on yourself. You will suffer the fear debuff for 15 seconds.

Looking down at Geoff, it was easy to see that he was out of the fight. While the bleed debuff was more than enough to eventually kill him, it was the pain debuff that had done him in. Apparently the name ‘Mind Shattering’ was meant to be taken literally and not figuratively. With his eyes rolled all the way into the back of his head, he was laying on the ground, oblivious to everything around him as blood gushed from his wound and out of his mouth. Not wishing to watch him slowly bleed out, I drove my spear back down into his chest, this time hitting his heart. After a few seconds, he let out one final pain filled breath as his soul left his body.

As if the snake had felt Geoff’s life end, it detached itself from his face, slowly uncoiling its body from around his neck. Tak reached down with his hand, allowing the creature to wind his way around his arm, all the way up to his shoulder, where he sat perched, tongue flicking in the air.

“Hey Tak,” I said, grabbing the boy's attention. “Remind me that I owe you a copper.”