Rolly and Ben respawned in the Sedgewick Village Square. Immediately, the effects of respawning hit them. The day was suddenly gloomier; every joint hurt, and it took an effort not just to lie down and give up. At least Ben felt that way; his companion had already taken an antidote. Rolly staggered to his feet and put both thumbs in the air. "HAH! Sucess! Still drunk. This isn't so bad at all. Professor Rolly tests another theory. I'll be back in a few. Got to feed an animal." He staggered off towards the barn and corral area, leaving Ben to his misery.

A few heads turned their way, but this seemed a normal enough occurrence lately not to hold much of the locals' interest. Hearing a moan from his left, Ben realized they weren't the only ones respawning. Jorge, the Blacksmith, had his head on the fountain rim, moaning. Two of the lumberjacks, Jon and Cham, were lying on their backs, discussing cloud shapes. Miriam was using Jorges for a pillow.

Jon noticed Ben. "So, in case you were wondering, being able to cut down a 24" tree in a minute with a small axe does not mean you can actually kill a two-foot tall bush goblin with an axe. Nor does a blacksmith swing a hammer well when used as a weapon. I think Miriam did the best with a shovel, but she was just tossing dirt in its eyes."

Cham disagreed. "I told you that had to be an orc! Maybe a midget Uruk-hai. It was tough as hell. I only did 20 damage on my one hit. It dodged all the rest and barely looked like it was moving. Had to be an orc assassin."

"It's rough out there. We got killed by a wolf, but we did kill some bunnies."

Jorges was immediately interested. "You killed something? Maybe we should go hunt bunnies instead of Urukhai Orc Assassins."

"Well, we did have to gang up on each one to put them down. And they had a nasty bite. But if you see a wolf, run. It killed all of us." Ben got up despite how his head felt. He planned to go visit Matthias and toss Beatrice a couple of apples. A nap in the hay loft sounded like a good plan.

An hour later, Suzette and Ozzy appeared. Jon and Cham were still cloudwatching. Jorges had declared he'd feel better pounding out nails, and Miriam had moved over to Jon and joined the discussion of cloud shapes. Washing his head in the fountain made Ozzy feel a bit better. This lasted until he noticed Suzette dancing around the fountain, spinning on her toes and singing some familiar tune that he just couldn't quite place.

"Well, someone is feeling good. How are you overcoming the respawn BS?"

"Pretty people don't have bad days." She laughed a little, then sat down next to him. "Which is bullshit, of course. I've suffered from depression, night terrors, and anxiety for three decades since my accident. Being pretty didn't help with that, either. But after going through all of that, this little bit of temporary gloom and doom seems pale by comparison. And the CHA increase does seem to help. I'm more confident now, and that boost is counteracting the debuff as well."

Ozzy looked at her with his bleary eyes. She really was pretty. Prettier? Her curly brown hair ran down to the small of her back and was tied in ribbons. Her luminous green eyes and long, pointed ears gave her an otherworldly charm. The people of Sedgewick who saw her smiled warmly at her and waved. She smiled and waved back, calling many by name.

Ozzy's head hurt. Maybe he should find a way to get some CHA. Then again, maybe not dying would be a good thing to start practicing. Despite the headache and gloom, he realized that physically, he did feel damned good. A lot of the aches and pains in his joints were receding as he stretched out. Adding two points of CON to his heritage might not let him win beauty contests but it did make him feel better. The extra STR had felt awkward at times. That feeling was gone now. He felt more balanced as he moved.

Rolly was just coming back from the barn where he'd tossed two empty buckets. Ben appeared from the livery stable with a coiled whip on his belt. "Borrowed this from Matthias. Need to practice some. Do you all feel like wandering a bit in the sunny fields of Sedgewick? We can sit and talk until the last of this gloom fades, and then go find our graves and that loot chest." The others nodded, and they started walking slowly to the rabbit meadow. This time out, they didn't have much of anything except for the clothes on their backs. What little gear they had was in their headstones. At least those would be easy to find, and if the message they had gotten was true, they had a treasure of some sort waiting for them.

The meadow looked as it had before. Fat Rabbits were grazing as if nothing had happened, and the workers were ignored. They could see their headstones in a small clump where they had died. They walked forward cautiously, but no wolf or other predator appeared. Sure enough, a stout chest was sitting about twenty feet past their headstones. Rolly heard a rustling in the brush, and two men stepped out, obviously a couple of the beta players. The first was dressed in a blue robe with white stars on it. His label proclaimed him to be 'MasterTBlaster Level 3 Elemental Mage.' The other man wore a mismatched set of armor and had a heavy crossbow pointed at them; 'Sniperdiperdoo' Blackguard Level 3'. Both seemed overly confident.

"Looky here, Masterblaster, just like you called it. Poor helpless lambs coming back for their stuff. Here's how it works, folks: You all can just touch that loot chest to unlock it and get your shiny things, then drop them on the ground and back away from it in the opposite direction of your tombstones. We'll take the loot and leave. You get back your stuff. Try anything funny and we just kill you again. And again, if you keep coming back. Or you can lose all of your gear. It will annoy us to stay here, but we don't mind the experience we get from killing the rabbits. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how horrible resurrection is."

The group looked at each other, and then by unspoken agreement, Ben spoke. "We aren't stupid newbies; we know how this works. I don't feel like pulling crossbow bolts out of my ass and losing my armor and sword." He walked to the chest, slapped it, and walked away 30 feet. The others followed one by one, doing the same. It sucked, but no one wanted to die again. Pouches of coins dropped, jingling to the ground, along with a large bulky bag and a pair of beautiful leather boots.

"Smart people. It's always easier working with smart people who understand the reality of a situation. "

In the moment the duo's eyes went to the loot, Ozzy and Ben charged. Ozzy yelled at the crossbowman. "Hey, Goblin fondler! Over here!" The crossbow had been tracking Ben but now swung over to Ozzy and fired. The bolt hit Ozzy in the left shoulder doing 80 points of damage. It hurt like hell, but he kept charging. The mage yelled, "Bart, they have a mage! Shoot her!"

Suzette waved her hands in a pattern while shouting gibberish, and then a ring of glowing symbols surrounded her on the ground. Inner and outer rings of runes were circling her in different directions. Rolly saw a person in camouflage step out from behind a bush where he was lurking and launch an arrow at her.

Then, many things happened at once.

Ozzy reached the duo by the chest and threw a punch at Sniperdiperdoo. He dodged the right hook but didn't see the left to his gut coming. His gut wasn't happy. Even with the 5 points of mitigation from his armor, he took 50 points of damage and was knocked down.

Masterblaster was calling out words and yelling, 'Fireb...urgh...,' but Ben's speed across the short distance took him by surprise, as did the whip that wrapped around his throat. He didn't take a lot of damage, but he also didn't have a lot of Health and he wasn't going to be casting spells with his air cut off. Ben was less successful trying to punch him with his offhand and resorted to wrestling with the magician while keeping his air cut off.

The arrow from the camouflaged ranger came close enough to Suzette that it actually went through her hair, barely missing her ear. The Runic Circle had fully formed, and she began to cast a second spell. Rolly moved up towards where Ozzy was fighting and started channeling Health to him. It was costing him Stamina, but he had a lot to spare.

The next round saw Sniperdiperdoo unsuccessful in both his attempts to bash Ozzy with his crossbow or get away from the Butcher. Giving up on both actions, he went for his dagger. Ozzy, on the other hand, was in a good position to start punching hard. His first shot was deflected by the crossbow, knocking it from his opponent's hand. The other hit did 55 more damage when it caught Sniperdiperdoo in the head. Masterblaster and Ben seemed content rolling around on the ground and slapping at each other. Ben wasn't even winded, but his opponent was turning blue.

The ranger hit Suzette with an arrow, doing 60 damage. Her spell, in return, did 30 points of damage as a brilliant glowing arrow streaked toward him and hit him in the face. The runic formation around her collapsed. Hearing Suzette cry out, Rolly moved back to her and started sending her Health.

Ozzy took a dagger in the ribs, and then two hard punches to the face sent Sniperdiperdoo back to respawn.

Ben continued strangling the mage with the whip; the mage could only flail back with his fists as he turned purple.

Suzette took another arrow and returned fire with another glowing arrow of her own. Rolly continued to heal her.

Ozzy started a charge towards the ranger. He promptly took an arrow in the chest that staggered him. But that was the last arrow the ranger would get off. A third spell from Suzette hit him in the face. In total the three spells had barely done a third of his Health, but the last one also blinded him. That was all Ozzy needed to tackle him and beat him with his fists until he despawned.

Ben finished off the mage, and the fight was over. Rolly expended almost all of his Stamina to heal them back to full health. They quickly gathered their coins and items and decided to head back to Sedgewick before something else happened.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

[Your party has slain several Players who ambushed you and instigated a duel:

MasterTBlaster, Level 3 Elemental Mage

Sniperdiperdoo, Level 3 Blackguard

DangerRanger, Level 3 Ranger

You have each earned 250 points of experience that may be applied to skills used in the duel.]

"Not the sharpest bunch. I hate jackals." Ben didn't mind PVP at all, but he considered it a cowardly act to ambush lower-level players. This bunch must have sat here for hours waiting for them. Their little camp confirmed it.

"I want to know when Suzette became a big, bad Wizard Queen! What was that freaky runic aura you had swirling around you?"

"Ha! Yes, I am now the Wizard Queen of Sedgewick! You want to be my minion, Rolly?"

"Nope, just want the cool special effects. How'd you do that?"

"Honestly, no clue how the Runic Aura works. I took the Hedge Wizard ability and got three random cantrips. I hadn't even tried them yet when those assholes attacked. I just started casting to get their attention and cause confusion so you guys could kill them. My awesome new magics are Runic Aura, Sun Arrow, and Bug Swarm. The problem is, I don't know runes, so I don't know what the Runic Aura does. Sun Arrow seems to be a wimpy sort of magic missile, with a small chance to blind the target, and the last cantrip just creates a few insects." She gestured and sent a half dozen beetles towards Rolly.

"Oh, useful for feeding the chickens. They love bugs."

"Hmm, hadn't thought of that. Feeding the chickens is one of my chores at the tavern. Maybe we'll get more eggs if I feed them each day. What sort of loot did you guys get? I have two bags of coins, one with 34 copper and another with 24 copper and two silver.

Rolly was trying on boots. "I got a pair of cool Minor Boots of Leaping and 23 copper. They're really comfortable boots, and they add two feet to my jumping." He bounced up and down several times.

Ozzy had a larger, coarse linen sack filled with stuff that he pulled out to show the others. "Crafting supplies? Can you identify all of this for me, Rolly?"

"Sure, looks like you got a roll of High-Quality leather, a roll of shimmering green satin, two rolls of hand-made lace, and two pieces of Winter Hemlock, with no knots."

Ben tossed a heavy bag of coins in the air. "Alas, I only got one bag of coins with 8 silver and 49 copper."

Suzette looked at her pile of coins. "Why would I get two bags that add up to less than yours?"

Ben smiled at her, "Perhaps there's a hidden Luck stat? Or the gods of RNG love me better. That's a thought. Is this loot random? Feels that way."

Ozzy grinned. "Only one way to find out: We need more loot chests." Everyone agreed with that idea.

Ben gathered up a few things the would-be ambushers had lost. The heavy crossbow and the archers' bow had been dropped and left behind. Both had dropped their ranged weapons in a vain attempt to fight off Ozzy. They also left their packs behind in a hasty camp where several fat rabbits were roasting over a fire. The rest of their gear would be in their headstones.

Rolly immediately went through their packs. He loved seeing what other players packed around with them. "Three pairs of socks, clean. Two pairs of socks, dirty. Underwear, not checking, you never know. Oh, except for this silk pair of boxer shorts. Oh shit...they might be magic. 'Silk Boxer Shorts of Twice a Night' - can confirm they are magical, Suzy?"

"They look magical to me, sort of glowing."

"Keeping them. Hmm, string, a small knife, tobacco! a small clay pipe. Some leather oil, two wineskins, a wool cloak, and a book with a map in it. Surely nothing." Smiling, he tossed it to Ben.

Ben opened it and then slapped his forehead. "Wow, not the brightest of people. The journal mentions, "Going north to spy on ACME in Sedgewick." They were supposed to get back to their Famco supervisor in a week with maps and any info. I think they might be going home sooner. Wonder where they respawned?"

Ozzy shrugged. "Hopefully, far away. How do we want to play this? We can't really say, 'Got ambushed collecting boss loot and killed three spies.' But I also think we should get the info to Billy; he might do something about them if more show up again, and then we won't have to deal with the assholes."

"Agreed," Ben said. "How about this? We take one pack, put in the dirty socks, underwear, and journal, say we found it, and give it to Billy. I can take the two bows into town and either sell them or stash them in the livery stable. Split up the odds and ends as you need, and we stow the rest in the packs under hay in the barn." The others nodded. Simple plan: Let Billy deal with it.

Suzette went up to Ozzy and made doe eyes at him. "Ozz-eeee dearest. Your old pal Suzette is just wondering what you're going to do with that lovely fabric and lace?" Seeing an opening, Ben took Ozzy's other arm and imitated Suzette. "Oh, Ozz-eeee, you big strong man, I bet you would just love to let me have that delicate leather."

Ozzy stopped and opened the bag. "Let me guess. Pretty dress and fancy hats are needed?" Heads nodded up and down. Ozzy's bag got much lighter. "The wood will make nice tool handles, at least." Ozzy didn't mind at all. They'd always shared loot.

"All we got were these useless coins; maybe you can find a use for them." Both of them handed their coin pouches to Ozzy.

"Thanks, Ozzy." The two ran off - Ben to the livery stable to look at hat patterns in the Courier Journals and Suzette to the dressmakers. Ozzy walked back with Rolly and expected that he would head for a beer since he had coins in his pocket, but the Shepherd said a quick goodbye and headed off to check on his animals. Ozzy decided that since he had the money, it was time to see how good the food was at the inn and check out their wine selection.

----------------------------------------

In the village of Brockton, many miles away

The unhappy trio of MasterTBlaster, Sniperdiperdoo, and DangerRanger respawned.

[Your party instigated an attack on another player group. Since they have been given an experience reward, it seems only fair that you take a penalty.

You have lost 250 experience points.]

"Fething Hell! Those cheaters! I lost a complete level in Heavy Crossbow."

"I dropped my Whipowill Bow. Damn! You know what that cost me? Who the feth takes an arrow in the chest and keeps running at you?"

"They had a mage - and a high-level one at that. That was an aura of some type she manifested instantly, plus some type of Elemental Bolt. She had two different spell sets."

"They set us up - that was a reverse ambush. Tank, healer, mage, and a rogue. All dressed up like serfs to take us by surprise - probably armor under the burlap. The tank had to be using brass knuckles; those punches hurt! We've got to report back. The fields of groats and cow herds are just for show; ACME is building a damn army up there and trying to keep it quiet. Must be something big going down."

"Oh shit, my heavy crossbow! How am I supposed to buy a new one?"

"Not much choice; we have to travel back and try to find our graves. All our gear will be there. This is going to suck with no gear, no money, and some dirty ambushers waiting for us."

"Oh shit, our packs!"

The trio trudged off to find the smiling man who had hired them to spy on Billy's village and see if he'd cough up some money so they could replace their lost gear.

----------------------------------------

At the ACME virtual HQ, currently disguised as a stinking barn...wait, no, it actually is a stinking barn.

"OK, Billy, obviously you're in charge - home turf and all. Layla, you're under Billy for now. Get your people moving up to Sedgewick. I'm going to get a bit of muscle heading your way and two more work crews. I have things to take care of down south that I can't get out of until Monday morning. I'll use a teleporter to get North faster. Layla, send your crew up the road, but you take a Teleport to Rowan Keep and get to work. Keep me appraised. Now get moving."

Vern watched the two disappear from the barn to head back into the game world. He was delighted at the thought of a dungeon—and so early in the game. Excellent news all around. Much more than he'd expected. And now he got to watch a new episode of 'The Billy and Layla Show.' It was endlessly amusing to see who betrayed who first.

Now, on to the next bit of drama, which was actually the real reason for this meeting. He hadn't even had to fake a big announcement; Billy had done that for him.

"Who took the bait?"

His head of HR took off his hood and rolled back his sleeve to reveal a wrist comp. Two buttons got pushed, a nano-second went by, and he had his list.

"Anabelle immediately put in a call that got routed a few times but ended up at a drop used by Pentatech."

"Barbara communicated with one of our double agents that she thinks works for Soylenfoods."

"And your pal Sammy used someone else's computer to send a message to a manager at Famco."

Vern considered for a moment. "Anabelle isn't worth trying to turn into a double agent, not bright enough. Transfer her to product testing for Willy's projects. We always need people to work out the kinks in this year's line of Rocket Skates."

"Leave Barbara where she is, but send her a gift of 3 pounds of the green variety."

"As for Sammy, send him North; he works for Billy now. I'm not worried about him. I've watched that boy grow up in the company and he's incompetent at everything including selling information to our competitors. He'll be rattled by the transfer, and we can keep him in the game for a few weeks as a lesson. Transfer Control of Anabelle's workers to Billy as well. I'll let Billy know that Sammy tried getting chummy with the competition. We'll watch him closely, and it will keep Billy on his toes."

"All taken care of, Boss. We should begin moving. You have a meeting with the Board of Directors in thirty minutes."

The last people faded away, and after a moment, so did the barn.