The next morning, Shadow led them to the merchant that he had built up rapport with.

The merchant’s eyes lit up as he saw their approach.

“Shadow! My friend! What can I do for you this lovely morning?”

“Morning, Handelaar. Some of my new party members need some basic gear.”

Shadow turned and gestured at them.

“Handelaar—these are my friends, Orion, Arika, and Honeypot. Everyone, this is Handelaar.”

The merchant frowned in consternation as he looked them over, then his face widened into a vast smile.

“You cast off the party with that rude man, Akano? Good, good! I am happy for you, my friend! What gear are you looking for?”

Shadow returned the smile.

“Thank you.”

He gestured at Arika, then Orion.

“We have a Mage with significant firepower who would benefit from Intellect, and a Mage with more utility-based abilities that may benefit more from defense for the time being.”

“Utility, you say?”

Handelaar rubbed his chin in thought.

“I think I may have just the thing…”

He bent down, sorting through wares hidden from sight. Pulling out a black robe, he held it up for Orion.

“What do you think of this, my friend?”

Robe of Hastened Casting

Common

Robe

Cloth

Armor: 2

Cooldown Reduction: 2.5%

Good, now your mediocrity will be on a shorter cooldown—allowing you to disappoint everyone around you at more frequent intervals.

He smiled at the merchant.

“That’s perfect, Handelaar.”

“Good, good! You will like this then.”

He rummaged again, pulling out a basic wooden staff.

Staff of Hastened Casting

Common

Staff

Cooldown Reduction: 2.5%

Oh, good! An even shorter gap between bouts of mediocrity.

What’s with the italicized snark?

The thought didn’t linger long, content as he was with the staff.

“How much for both?”

“Ten gold for both, my friend.”

The merchant turned his attention to Arika.

“And for you, I have the perfect pieces!”

After a short rummaging, he produced a red robe and another basic staff with a tip of stationary flame.

“What do you think?”

Arika inspected the items and nodded.

“My old staff gave five-percent damage to fire-based abilities—this one gives half that, but it’s perfect for getting back out there.”

“Good, good! And the Robe?”

“One armor and two intellect—much better than this starter tunic.”

She tugged at the garment in question.

“Perfect!” Handelaar’s face crinkled in delight. “Ten gold for both of them—twenty gold total for the four pieces of gear.”

Shadow handed over the gold, and they equipped their new items.

In Orion’s humble opinion, his robes made him look ridiculous.

They were loose and threadbare, making him feel part wizard, part underpass-voyeur. The utility, however, was too good to pass up.

By comparison, Arika’s robes looked fantastic. They seemed tailored to her—the thick, red material looking brand new and giving off a professional air.

“I might buy some more ingredients as well,” Shadow said. “What do you have in stock?”

“Would you like the same bundle as last time, my friend? It has a selection of local fruits, vegetables, and meat.”

“Five gold again?”

“Indeed, my friend!”

Shadow happily handed over the coin, and Handelaar produced a small wooden crate overflowing with ingredients.

“Can I do anything else for you, my friend?”

“That should be everything, Handelaar. Thank you.”

“No, thank you, my friend! That just leaves one last order of business!”

The merchant produced a small pouch—likely filled with the Sensa Leaf Shadow had previously mentioned—and threw it to the Warrior.

“Until next time, my friends!”

As they headed toward the western gate, Honeypot turned to Shadow.

“Should we combine our cash? I see little point in having separate funds if we’re in a party.”

Shadow shrugged.

“Works for me—I’m happy to be the packhorse.”

Honeypot withdrew a small pouch and handed it to him.

“Thanks for being so sharing, guys.” Orion smiled at the party. “I know we’ve teamed up, but your generosity has put us in a much better position.”

“Yes,” Arika said. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it!” Honeypot beamed. “Friends don’t count favors.”

As they sighted the western gate, Orion gave voice to a thought he hadn’t been able to shake.

“What’s up with the people native to this world? They seem…”

“Real?” Honeypot suggested, to which Orion nodded.

“Felsteg called them NPCs,” Arika said. “That means a non-player character, right?”

“Right,” Honeypot said.

“I don’t really get it,” Arika admitted, “but he made it seem like they weren’t even real. They seem like regular people to me.”

“That’s what I was trying to get at…” Orion looked at the sky, searching for the right words. “The Creator clearly has an immense amount of power, but somehow, creating fake people seems unrealistic. That merchant’s eyes lit up when he saw you, Shadow. It seemed, well, too human to emulate.”

“Yeah, Handelaar is the merchant I’ve been selling all my spare loot to, the same one that has been giving me Sensa Leaf, the tea we had last night. He started giving it to me for free after the fourth time I sold to him.” Shadow held up and shook a freshly given pouch, presumably filled with more of the tea. “After he learned how much I loved it, he gives me more whenever he sees me, whether I’m there to buy or sell.”

“I guess I’m just really struggling to understand where they fit into the Creator’s plans,” Orion said. “Assuming non-adventurers are real people, which they appear to be, when did they get here? Have their memories been tinkered with just as ours have, or have they genuinely been living here for generations? Just how long has this world existed for?”

“That’s what I was hoping you would figure out!” Honeypot pointed a finger at Orion in accusation. “You’re the thinky one, get thinking. Oh, and they refer to themselves as townsfolk or townspeople, not non-adventurers. I’ve seen one of the town’s soldiers blow up at an adventurer when he kept calling them an NPC.”

“I guess we’ll just have to ask them about it. Maybe Miriam knows more,” Orion said. “And I’ll keep the terminology in mind, thanks.”

“Ugh, Miriam.” Honeypot shook a fist back in the direction of town. “Just hearing her name makes me angry.”

Orion shook his head, unsure if it was a bit Honeypot was doing, or if he truly distrusted the woman.

Distracted by the conversation, Orion didn’t notice their approach towards the forest until they were almost stepping beneath its canopy. He was just as impressed by the trees on the west side of town as the ones on the south, and was once again captivated by the magical, almost other-worldly appearance of them as the party entered the forest. None of them had adventured out of this gate yet, making Orion squeeze his upper leg repeatedly to relieve some nervous energy.

Shadow let everyone know that the further you got away from the town, the higher the chance you had of encountering creatures or the caves that they spawned in. This meant that as long as they kept traveling, they would eventually find a place to level in. He also taught them how to spot caves on their map, and how to place a mark on the map that would stay until you removed it—just like most RPGs, location pinning was apparently a thing.

After an hour of walking, they followed an animal path off the track, and all set markers on their maps so that they could find the path again. As the de facto leader, Orion told Shadow to lead the way down the single-file track. Shadow wouldn’t need to rush in if they encountered something, but it was best to have his experienced eyes—and levels—up front.

They continued walking along the animal path for another fifteen minutes until Shadow signaled them to stop. Orion joined him at the front of the line, and Shadow pointed out into a clearing just in front of them.

There were two wolves, both lounging in the sun in front of what was obviously a cave entrance. If not for the green, sickly looking growths covering their bodies, they would have looked like nothing more than a pair of overgrown dogs sunbathing.

“Something is definitely wrong with them,” Arika said softly from behind Orion. “That’s not what the wolves I’ve hunted looked like.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“They seem off,” Shadow agreed. “What’s with the green spots on their bodies? I’ve seen a fair few different monsters already, wolves, bears, overgrown birds… none of them had anything resembling those.”

“Behind the wolves, that looks like a cave entrance, right?” Orion asked.

“Definitely…” Honeypot stared off into space. “So why doesn’t it show up on our map?”

“Huh.” Shadow checked his map, too. “I hadn’t realized… that’s really weird.”

“Well then, I guess it’s up to us to investigate.” Orion smiled conspiratorially at his arrayed party. “Here’s what we are going to do…”

***

While the wolf hated being put on sentry duty, she loved the feeling of being outside with the sun on her fur and fresh grass underneath her paws. The blessing her pack had received, alongside the subsequent changes to their bodies, had granted them an intelligence so keen that it was likely never known to wolf-kind. With increased self-awareness, however, came the knowledge that one day soon, the sun would no longer be a source of joy for her. The daylight stung more and more each time her body changed, and she lamented the day when the changes became so vast that the warm touch of the sun would bring only pain.

She tasted fear and alarm as an unnatural flash of black and metal drew her attention. Two bipedal enemies appeared as if from nowhere. They stood above her sister. The gray, shiny substance that was anathema to nature and everything good covered one of the men. Before she could think to act, the armored one brought a stick made of the same substance roaring down, his unnatural blade slicing through the green growth on the sleeping wolf’s neck. Her unaware sister died as she slept peacefully in the morning sun.

The taste of fear turned to fury as she stood up, feral reciprocity demanding she take revenge.

A light touch on her rear, followed by a searing agony on her hindquarters. Whirling, she saw a mess of brown cloth and blond hair running away from her, a tiny gray stick protruding out of the growth on her upper leg—a gift left behind by the fleeing human.

She leapt to chase after them, her jaw open in anticipation.

Thump.

She sprawled to the ground as the blow to her back made her legs give out beneath her.

Laying on the ground, she glanced back to see what had hit her. The enemy in black cloth was holding a giant wooden stick. She realized in an instant that he must have hit one of her growths—there was no other way a simple blow from a stick could have stunned her so.

She channeled all of her anger and frustration at the situation, lifting her head to let out a howl to alert the rest of the pack. If she need die here, so be it. The pack would endure.

She filled her lungs with a sharp inhale through the nostrils, tightened her throat, and compressing her chest, letting out a howl so loud as to shake the very clouds. Instead of a howl, however, a soft hiss was all that escaped, the sound a result of air trying to get past the grey stick that now occupied her windpipe.

As she hit the ground, her life slowly draining from her, a realization struck her; she could no longer feel the soft yet persistent pain that had been present since the blessing. Her green, swelling wounds no longer pulsed and throbbed, and the sun no longer caused her even the slightest discomfort.

With a sudden clarity, she knew what the blessing her pack had received truly was—something even more unnatural than the sharp, gray sticks used against her. It was a curse, one that took over their minds, making them readily accept a life of pain and darkness.

The wind blew against her fur as the sun’s warm rays kissed the skin beneath. Just as the sun caressed her from above, the grass held her body from below.

She felt content as she released her last breath. She hoped her pack would receive a similar release at the hands of these unexpected saviors.

One last thought shepherded her soul on its final journey.

Thank you…

***

“That. Was. Awesome!” Shadow grinned ear to ear as he withdrew his sword from the wolf’s neck. “I love you, Orion. And your ability. I’m so glad I joined you guys. It looks like your hunch about the growths was right, too.”

Orion smiled at Shadow. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. That was well executed everyone, good job.”

“Not that I did anything,” Arika said. “You were probably right, though. My spell would likely have alerted anything inside that den.”

“There’s no harm in not contributing to every battle,” Honeypot said as he reappeared. “I’ll probably feel pretty useless when you single-handedly explode like ten things at once downstairs.”

She jokingly raised both of her eyebrows at him. “Geez, no pressure…”

“Hey, guys…” Orion pointed down at a glowing green bag that had appeared on the corpse of the second wolf.

“Loot!” Shadow said. “Uncommon loot! I’ve seen a few of these bags drop, even a Rare one that gave me my sword.” Shadow waved his two-handed sword, catching the light of the sun.

“What’s the difference between the rarities?” Orion asked. “Could you tell it was uncommon because of the color?”

“More or less.” Shadow walked over and looked down at the bag. “White for common, green for uncommon, blue for rare, and purple for epic. I don’t know of anyone looting anything higher, but it’s a pretty safe assumption that there’s a higher tier of rarity. I heard about the epic drop from a reliable adventurer, but I didn’t see it myself, and any higher than that is just a guessing game.”

“Is it based on the difficulty of an encounter, or is it random?” Orion asked.

“Random, at least to a point,” Shadow said. “We got a Common, Uncommon, and Rare drop in the same dungeon on the same enemies in my last party.”

“So it’s totally random?” Arika asked. “Doesn’t that seem kind of, I don’t know, unfair to you guys?”

“I love it!” Honeypot said. “Who wants certainty? How boring. We could all stand to gain a little uncertainty in our lives.”

“It’s actually kind of a staple in online games,” Orion said. “Loot tables are random. The chance of getting loot, and what that loot is, will often be dictated by RNG. Before you ask, Arika, that stands for random-number-generator. It just means it’s totally up to chance.”

“All that matters…” Shadow bent down and somehow absorbed the bag. “… is that getting loot is sick.”

New quest added!

Quest: Call the Doc

You have learned of a corruption spreading among the wolves in a den west of Valbrand. Report this information back to Captain Blanc at the western gate watch house.

Bonus: discover and eliminate the source of the corruption.

Reward: variable.

The notification came with a weird sensation, and he suddenly became aware of a quest log. He willed it to open, finding the single quest listed there.

“Did you guys get that quest too?” Shadow asked. “I’ve never actually got one before, though I’ve heard they’re usually party-wide.”

After confirming they had in fact gotten the quest, they devised a plan for adventuring into the cave. Honeypot was to scout ahead with his Stealth, and report back to the party if he came across anything, while they would follow at a slow and steady pace behind him.

As they were preparing to enter, Arika raised the hood that was part of her robe. A sausage fell out, smacking her on the top of the head and sliding down her face before it hit the ground with a wet slap.

“Honeypot…” she said.

“Yes, Arika?” He glanced down at the sausage with nonchalant calm.

“Why was there a sausage in the hood of my robe?”

Honeypot appeared to ponder the question. “Who can say for sure why anything happens other than the Creator? This one is but a humble Priest, and while I may sometimes channel the greatness of the heavens, I regret to say that I do not have the answer to the mysteries of the universe. Perhaps it resulted from random happenstance, perhaps it was the culmination of a nefarious plan by someone definitely not present and in the party. Perhaps it was—”

Honeypot's impromptu speech was cut short as the offending sausage collided with his face.

***

As they explored the wolves’ den, it became obvious that whatever was corrupting the wolves was also corrupting the cave itself. There were green-glowing patches of rock scattered throughout the cave system that were soft to the touch.

Orion was worried that they would have to light a torch to see, as it might alert the wolves—along with whatever else might be down there—to their presence. Thankfully, the odd, green sources of light were enough to guide their path.

The way was entirely linear as they traversed deeper. Honeypot would periodically come back and alert them of a single wolf, which they would systematically dispatch with ease.

After maybe an hour of their careful descent, Honeypot came back and said that there was something they had to see. They followed him carefully, and as they approached what Honeypot wanted to show them, a sickly green glow lit the surrounding tunnel.

They approached with caution, and as they rounded a final bend, they could see a giant cavernous room. The green light was radiating from a toxic looking pool at the back of the area. Withered, alien looking plants surrounding it, seeming alive but… altered. Green veins ran up their stalks, and Orion was more than a little disgusted to notice they were pulsing.

In the center of the room was… nothing. No boss to be seen; no big bad enemy to dispatch.

“Did we miss a turn?” Shadow asked.

“No, there weren’t any other paths.” Orion squinted as he surveyed the space before them. “I really don’t like the look of this room. It’s absolutely screaming boss battle.”

“I can’t think of anything better.” Honeypot grinned.

“I hate to say it,” Arika said, “but I’m with the pint-sized psychopath.”

“Alright, if we can lure out the boss, same plan as last time, except you draw the aggro, Honeypot.” Orion waved in the general direction of the room. “Just go in there and be as annoying as usual. That should bring the boss right out. When it appears—”

“Run,” Honeypot finished. “Believe me, I will. And just so you know, I am choosing to take ‘be as annoying as usual’ as a compliment, and I thank you for it.”

Honeypot turned and strutted into the room.

He swaggered like a king in his own domain, somehow making the green room his. Walking right into the middle of the room, he put his hands on his hips and looked around with exaggerated disinterest. He proceeded to say horribly uncouth things about the unseen boss’ heritage, mother, and reproductive facilities. He continued for almost a minute, and was just finishing up on the subject of the boss’ mother’s numerous and unique lovers, when the green pool at the end of the cavern began to bubble and roil.

Honeypot hadn’t appeared to notice the activity, caught in the grips of his passionate disparagement. He did notice, however, when something came flying out of the pool, releasing an inhuman roar. Several more shapes followed in quick succession, releasing wolf-like howls. They landed around Honeypot, surrounding him.

“Well, shit…” was the only thing Honeypot could get out before all hell broke loose.

There were four wolves, all with the same glowing growths as the ones they’d seen outside. They were accompanied by what Orion could only assume was the boss.

The boss was a giant green slime... thing. It had a body the size of a small car, with a dozen small tendrils of slime coming from the main body. The arms waved around in a manner that reminded Orion of those wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-tube-men that you’d often see outside car lots or discount rug outlets.

In summary, it looked ridiculous.

All four wolves lunged for Honeypot at once, who had already used his Stealth ability. Orion could only hope and assume Honeypot had rolled out of the way in time as all the wolves flew true, yet didn’t appear to catch anything in their open jaws.

Shadow was already standing right behind him, so Orion activated his Portal ability. They appeared right behind the boss, within striking range.

“Mega kick of death!” Shadow yelled, activating Vicious Blow and bringing his sword down on the boss with superhuman force.

Shadow yelling what sounded like an anime finishing-move caught Orion entirely off guard. More surprising still was the boss’ response to being sliced with a giant, two-handed weapon.

“Ow! That wasn’t a kick, you buffoon!” the deep voice of the slime gurgled.

Shadow tried to withdraw his sword from the body of the boss, but it held fast. The thing turned and took both him and Orion in with large, gelatinous eyes. The name ‘Doc the Destroyer’ appeared above the boss with a slight flexing of Orion’s will.

“What would be your plan now, gentlemen? Hmmm?” Doc the Destroyer asked. “You are out of your depth, surrounded on all sides, and your physical attacks have as much effect on me as they would a rock.”

The wolves responded as if they understood the slime monster, moving to surround the two new intruders.

“I don’t suppose we could talk you into letting us leave with our lives?” Orion asked, trying to stall for time.

“Oh, no, you won’t be leaving with those, not unless your friend with the creative tongue decides to join us here… then, maybe, I will let the two of you leave.”

“What exactly are you doing to these wolves? Do you really think you’ll get away with this?” Orion didn’t care how cliché he sounded—as long as it would buy precious seconds.

“Oh, foolish human.” Laughter burbled from the giant slime. “I already have gotten away with it. I have spent countless millennia gathering power, seeping the very magical essence out of the land itself to sustain this body. Mine has not been a short-sighted human endeavor that would wither and fall before the endless onslaught of time. Oh no, now that I have this foothold of power, it is a foregone conclusion that I will be the owner of this world. Soon, these wolves will also be slimes, and they will spread out and grow my sphere of influence, creating even more of my kind. Your attacks are ineffective, and even if you could do damage to me, my superior, amorphous body would simply heal it all back in a moment. How will your species feel when it is dominated by a lowly slime dungeon? Surely no one thought this was a possibility, yet here we are. You will all bow before me, subjugated by a mere slime until the end of—wait, where are you going? Come back—”

The monster’s self-indulgent monologue was rudely interrupted by a thirty-meter-wide Explosion engulfing it and its minions in a maelstrom of flame and cinder.