Roy awoke to the trickling of the rain. He had awoken Cobb at three-thirty and then decided to sleep on the couch; he wasn’t used to being packed in a room with so many others. Through the casement Roy could see the rain; it was mellow now, unlike the heavy downpour of yesterday. Despite that the outside was still flooded and now the water was dangerously close to seeping into the room.

The fog still hung in the air, masking anything past a hundred meters in a hazy stew. Roy looked around the room, Cobb was awake and sewing together several pieces of cloth, he already held a pad a centimeter thick. Lestrat sat opposite, jotting something down into his notebook. Madelyn and Pyrene moved from cupboard to shelf to closet, drawing a list of all the supplies in the house. Simon was in the kitchen cleaning up. Roy couldn’t find Denton so he checked his watch. Denton had taken the second last shift and slept at two, it was only nine. Roy felt refreshed and once again wondered about his high constitution stat.

Still reeling from the previous day Roy occupied his time relocating the essential supplies that Madelyn and Pyrene had identified. Roy was just about to pull out a jar of peanut butter when Denton rushed down, worry plastered all over his face.

“Guys, there’s a sound coming from the master bedroom!” his eyes were still staring up the stairwell as he said this.

They had left the body on the bed after covering is with a thick layer of blankets. It was impossible to bury the body while the water was over a foot deep outside. The most alarming aspect of the corpse had been the swollen belly. When Roy though back to it, it resembled pregnancy, except whatever was inside emitted a faint green glow and a pungent citric odor. Could the monster have used the body as some sort of breeding ground? As the though crossed his mind Roy shuddered and followed the others upstairs, his pitchfork clutched tightly in his hands.

Time stretched on as the group gathered outside the door, Cobb and Roy taking their respective positions around the door. Lestrat formed a ball of earth and now aimed it at the door way. On the count of three Roy pushed open the door. A wave of olfactory force assaulted them; they could almost taste the acid in the air. Roy quickly wiped his eyes and forced himself to regard the strange lifeform that now sat on the bed.

It was formed from a tangle of green crystal vines. Six appendages protruded from its center, each like the leg of a spider. The legs were disproportionally large compared to the body, a sick fascination briefly overtook Roy as he wondered how those great big appendage could move without colliding into each other, how would they twist and turn, how would they distort.

The rest of the group was similarly stunned, but then upon closer inspection Roy realized that the smell was causing them to tear up to a greater degree, obscuring their vision. As the seconds ticked by Roy could feel his only resiliency diminishing. The world began to distort as tears seeped out from his eyes, he needed to act fast before he was totally disabled.

Roy rushed into the room, causing the six legged thing to leap away from him, it darted for the window and smashed into the glass, causing it to crack and break apart. However the impact was not great enough and the creature was now stunned as it lay on the ground. Roy exploited this opportunity and lunged, plunging the pitchfork into its body. Two twangs were caught by the wildly gesticulating appendages but the third found its mark and plunged into its body.

Roy concentrated on the thing as it squirmed, causing the blue screen to flash out.

Pawn of Viridis LV ??? HP 73 / ???

Roy watched as the thing squirmed and the HP drop until it hit zero and the creature burst into a cloud of emerald dust that shifted erratically around his vision before dissipating into nothingness. All that remained was a small transparent cube that appeared to be made out of glass. Roy picked it up and examined it.

 Empyrean Fragment 

There was no body to loot so this would be his only reward for his stunning act of bravery. Roy tucked the piece of crystal into his bag and breathed in the air, he realized that the citric scent was now gone. The rest of the group began to recover their senses.

“Is everyone alright?” Lestrat asked over the confusion, his eyes were red with irritation.

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The rest of the group responded with nods and affirmation. Roy took the opportunity to rub away his own tears and pull the prongs of his pitchfork out of the floorboards. The monster he had just faced differed from the frogs and the zombies. Most obviously it was not loot-able, in addition it had question marks for HP and Level. All of that however was a mystery that could wait for another time. Roy’s most pressing concern was that the monster had tried to escape out the window; it seemed to have a desire for self-preservation.

That meant the creature could think, a fact that had so far eluded Roy because of how game like everything seemed. The zombies seemed mindless, the frogs suicidal, and this creature somewhat intelligent. In a game the monsters would have a superficial AI, the beginner mobs and the lich lord at the end would be no different. However, in this real life simulacrum the monsters were diverse in terms of their intelligence, it didn’t seem to be based on the INT stat either going by what the system had incepted into his mind.

Roy’s thoughts were interrupted as a commotion erupted downstairs. The sound of shattered glass was followed by the loud thump of something against the floor. More thumps, like footsteps quickly followed as the group rushed down the stairs, Cobb in the lead followed by Simon who had been slow to respond to the situation upstairs.

Roy was at the top of the railings when Cobb hit the first floor landing and dove across the hall. An action which seemed to stun Simon as he stepped into the hall, the expression only lasted a minute as a burlesque shape tackled him onto the floor.

The creature appeared to be in the shape of a gorilla, walking on two legs with the support of two elongated arms. However, instead of a coat of fur the creature seemed to be wrapped in vines so thick, they obscured anything underneath. Most alarming however was its head; two pitch black holes adorned the two sides of a disproportionally large sphere.

Simon struggled underneath the creature for a moment before the monsters head split along the center, the two sides of the rift like a jagged crater. Its head spread apart like a pair of foul wings before clamping shut over the boy’s head, ending a short lived struggle.

Lestrat responded by launching the ball of dirt in his hand the creature, a futile effort that the left it unfazed. Realizing the futility of their efforts the group quickly slipped around the beast and dashed for the door. As Lestrat’s shaking hands worked the locking mechanism of the front door, Roy stole a glance behind him and examined the creature feasting upon Simon's corpse.

 Vineborn Brute LV 7 HP 274 / 289 

Behind it, blocked by its body and the narrowness of the hallway, was a second one. Roy could feel his heart skip every other beat as he pressed his back against the wall and prayed that Lestrat would hurry and open the door. They had taken care locking, dead-bolting, and blocking the door to prevent anything from entering. The plan backfired as the brutes had crashed through the casement, trapping them against the front door.

With a click the door opened, letting in the humid air that cloaked the outside of the house. Lestrat rushed out first, dragging along an inert Madelyn. The two were followed by Denton and Pyrene; Cobb and Roy took the rear. The rain had died down overnight leaving behind a faint drizzle; nevertheless, the mist had grown into an impenetrable shroud. From where Roy took guard at the rear, he could barely make out the features of Lestrat only half a dozen meters in front of him.

The outline of the house receded into the mist as they fled, but Roy could faintly make out the shape of the two gorilla like monsters as they burst through the doorway and into the water. The two figures pursued them, untiring and relentless no matter how long they ran.

Undoubtedly they were faster than the creatures, who’s short legs and dragging stride were hindered by the deep layer of water. Despite that, the creature continued at a unchanged pace, one slower than their sprint. A sprint they could no longer continue for much longer, it was impossible to tell how long the creature would pursue them for, but where they would tire, the monsters seemed to remain the same.

“We can’t keep going like this,” shouted Lestrat through gasps of breath, they had passed a second intersection and the slodge through the flooded streets was quickly sapping their strength.

“Why are they chasing us? Why?” Denton seemed to be on the verge of collapse as he shouted in a strained voice.

“Split up,” Cobb quickly voiced, he seemed to be barely winded.

Before anyone could respond the stout looking youth peeled away from the group and turned north at the next intersection. Lestrat gave out a brief shout, but quieted after realizing that there was no stopping the boy. Roy watched the back of the departing member until his view was obstructed by another house. Then he glanced behind him at the two pursuing creatures. Their forms were blurry black smudges some two dozen meters behind them.

Slowly the two figures split up, one disappearing in the direction of Cobb, the other continuing the chase after the larger group.

“Hey Lestrat, I think there’s only one behind us now, the other went after Cobb,” Roy shouted towards the front where the other boy staggered along, one arm around an almost comatose Madelyn.

Roy waited for a response but there was none. It was obvious really, none of them could continue running indefinitely, but there were six of them and two of the monsters. Cobb had split from the group and pulled away one of the pursuers, leaving a single monster in their rear. If they split up only one of them would be caught. Thinking so Roy added the fact that Lestrat would probably not separate from Madelyn.

Lestrat would stand no chance against the monster if he had to protect his friend. In addition, neither Denton nor Pyrene was armed. By process of elimination only Roy would stand a chance, if even that. His hand shook at the thought, he needed to do this. If he stayed they all died, if he split there was a chance the monster chased him, in which case he had a slim chance with the gun. If the monster followed the group he would live.

“I’m splitting going to turn right at the next street!” Roy shouted again, he hoped the quiver in his voice would be hidden by the splash of their steps.

“I'm sorry,” Lestrat responded, his voice barely a whisper in the din.

Then, before he could doubt himself, Roy turned at the next intersection, careful to follow the road lest he step on the lawn and sink into the mud. Then he stopped and leaned his pitchfork agains this shoulder. As he did so he extracted the pistol from his pocket, turned off the safety, and made sure a round was chambered.

The group was exhausted and the monster was catching up. Roy couldn’t leave it be, so he grasped the pistol tightly in his palms and stood facing the street the group ran down. Then the creature was in the opening, slowly lumbering towards the inevitable. Roy held his gun up and aimed at the thing, a small mental tick ever so slightly adjusting his posture. Sights level, body slightly bent, feet apart, and arms straight, pointing at his target. If he hit, he hit. If he missed, he tried. Roy thought to himself as he focused on the enemy.

The creature was slightly bulkier then a man and a bit under 20 meters away. Roy aimed the sights as best as his shaking arms could allow and pulled the triggered. He felt the recoil of the gun as the bullet left the barrel with a bam that echoed in the streets.