Fracta ran across the barren landscape, heading for the mountain in the distance. Her 6 limbs were more suited for traversing the cavernous interiors of hollowed out asteroids, and on this high gravity world her mass was twice as much as she was used to; nevertheless she was making good progress, with over 132 chronos remaining on the countdown to reach the lounge. Once more she attempted to reconnect to the Hive, pouring all of her energies into establishing a link, once more she was met with failure.

Never had she felt so alone in all her life. It was well known that to be out of contact with the Hive_Gestalt for this length of time could cause serious, sometimes irreversible psychological damage. That’s why the Tesek’s most recent exploratory forays into the outer planetary system and the Oort Cloud had required the careful placement of hive relays along the way, allowing the collective empathic flow to reach the colonists.

When the Vogels announced that she was the selected champion, the species elders had quickly created a seed of racial energy for her, to fortify her on her journey, bolstering her will and giving her the strength to carry on.

Looking inwards and feeling that warm seed of hope implanted in her core once again, Fracta managed to shrug off the disconnection fugue and set her sights on the mountain and the lounge at the top, now coming into view.

The mountain was steep sided, almost perfectly conical in shape, with a flat plateau at the top upon which the lounge sat. Now that she had halved the distance to the base of the mountain, Fracta could see a set of stairs cut into the the sheer rock slopes, spiralling around the flanks of the peak and ending at the lounge. Fracta judged that the staircase began halfway round the right side of the mountain, so she adjusted her path accordingly.

Taking a look on either side of her, Fracta suddenly noticed that she was not alone; to her left she spied an upright figure, also walking in the general direction of the mountain. On her right she noted another shape, also heading directly towards the stone staircase at the base of the mountain. As all three of them were heading towards the same point, their paths should converge shortly before reaching the base of the mountain.

Fracta had got through the class selection and tutorial, aided by the strange machine voice in her head. On its advice, she had chosen the Scout class, as her race was more naturally suited to guile than head on confrontation. The tutorial chamber, with its omnipresent lighting and lack of nooks and crannies had not been an ideal testing ground for her new Skills, but she had overcome all of the system-generated hazards thrown at her, nonetheless.

Suddenly, she noticed that the figure walking parallel to her on her right had simultaneously sped up and altered course slightly, meaning their paths would intersect before reaching the mountain.

The cilia covering her thorax and abdomen involuntarily stood upright and pigmented chromatophores in the surface of her skin activated, causing her to change color rapidly - an involuntary process from an evolutionary past designed to scare off predators.

When the approaching figure was only a couple of hundred meters from her, it uttered a bestial roar and charged quickly across the remaining space between them. Fracta scrutinized the creature as it hove into view.

NAME: Ztiral

RACE: Tawg

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil

HEALTH POINTS (HP): 90/90 +10

MANA POINTS (MP): 30/30

REWARD: 230 Coins

Total Attribute Points: 97

Bearing down on her rapidly was a creature that would be at home in the worst nightmares of the Tesek race; a red hued insectoid, its carapace clad in overlapping shielded segments, fully 3 meters in length. The beast walked on four legs with two further manipulators at the front, one holding a long metallic spear of some kind. From the other end of its long abdomen a large stinger extended out, curving back to hover menacingly over its head. From ridges inset in the front of its carapace, two beady black eyes stared menacingly at her, and below them a grim mouthlike orifice was guarded on either side by a couple of ever moving mandibles.

Belying its animalistic first impression, the creature had some sort of crude electronic component bolted to its head, no doubt some sort of mental augmentation.

An overpowering aura of killing intent emanated from the thing, extending several meters all around. Waves of almost palpable hatred swept over Fracta, causing her to shudder and lose concentration briefly.

“For the the Tawg Empire! And Clan Maboa!” It shouted. Fracta had no time to wonder how the creature was able to speak perfect, unaccented Tesek, before it was upon her.

Fracta immediately deployed one of her new skills, [Shadow Walker], and to the insectoid, it was as if she simply vanished into thin air. Moving quickly, Fracta ran in a circle around it, excreting a double thread of metallic silk from the spinnerets at the end of her abdomen. After a couple of circuits, the Tawg was completely wrapped up in the sticky threads, which despite their fragile appearance were stronger than steel.

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Fracta’s race had long ago disdained their planet’s surface, preferring instead to move skyward and populate their star system’s asteroid belt. Evolving in space for aeons had tweaked and improved some of their natural abilities, such as web spinning.

Unable to maintain its balance, the creature stumbled, tripping over its own legs, and sat down heavily on the ground, temporarily incapacitated.

Deciding to beat a hasty retreat, Fracta immediately continued on to the staircase at the base of the mountain. Her [Shadow Walker] skill had already started to fade as she moved rapidly away.

Suddenly she came to an abrupt stop, in excruciating agony. Looking back along the length of her body, she saw the heel of Ztiral’s spear protruding, the rest of its length embedded between her sternum and abdomen, pinning her to the dusty desert floor.

Bearing down on her fast was the red insectoid, roaring in fury, still partially wrapped in tattered lengths of her spun silk.

Bracing herself against the pain, Fracta pushed her abdomen upwards and to the side with all of her limbs, freeing her from impalement and leaving the spear still stuck in the ground. Groaning in pain, she hastily purchased and drank a health potion from the store, before turning to the Tawg bearing down on her.

“Why are you doing this?” She cried angrily, whilst simultaneously guessing the answer. It dawned on her that The Tawg would both gain coins from killing her, and at the same time eliminate a potential rival in the upcoming tournament. A child of the Tesek race would never have thought along such lines, as harmony, cooperation and empathy were enshrined in their society from birth.

“We can help each other!” She cried out in one last, desperate attempt to derail the Tawg from the course it was intent on.

“Tawg does not parlay with genetic garbage. Tawg over all!” Hissed the insectoid coldly, before activating another skill, causing the air to quiver around Fracta.

Fracta tried to move away from the Tawg to gain some more space to defend herself, only to discover that the skill the insectoid had activated was some kind of ranged attack, designed to slow down an opponent; Fracta felt as though she was wading through a thick gel, every movement was about three times slower than normal.

Quickly she deployed the other skill in her arsenal, [Paper Weight], which speeded up her movements and decreased the effects of gravity. Running sideways, she went on the attack and sped towards the insectoid, who was taken by surprise with her sudden change of tactics.

Scuttling rapidly up its flank, Fracta latched herself onto the insectoid’s back and, using a knife she had looted from an NPC earlier, stabbed down through one of the gaps in the creature’s armor. Bright pink blood welled up from the wound she had created. In response, the Tawg attempted to hit her with its fearsome stinger, stabbing down at her repeatedly. Still boosted by the [Paper Weight] skill, she easily evaded its strikes, jinking from side to side nimbly while retaining her commanding position astride the monster.

Stabbing down at another gap in the Tawg’s armor, Fracta managed to once again draw blood. Despite this she noticed that the creature had lost very little HP as a result of her attacks, whereas she had only half her Health Points remaining, despite the healing effects of the store bought potion.

Abruptly, the Tawg activated all four of its legs, propelling itself high into the air and then crashing back down, causing Fracta to lose her footing and land in a heap in front of it. The Tawg quickly seized advantage and grabbed her third limb with one of its manipulators, which Fracta now saw were equipped with shear like claws at the end.

Snip… and her leg was gone. Black ichor began to ooze from the stump, and Fracta wailed in agony. She knew instinctively that the leg would regrow within weeks, but the sight of the empty space where her third limb should be sent a visceral shiver of fear through her.

The insectoid chuckled harshly, sensing her fear, and moved forward to cement its advantage, reaching out for another of her limbs to snip off. Suddenly it froze in mid-lunge, its senses alerted to a movement nearby.

Fracta looked round also, grateful for any cessation in the fighting, however temporary. Striding towards them from their left was a strange, upright creature, tottering along on two limbs, with another pair of limbs hanging uselessly at its side.

NAME: Jeff Nostro

RACE: Human

ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good

HEALTH POINTS (HP): 80/80 +10

MANA POINTS (MP): 70/70

REWARD: 230 Coins

Total Attribute Points: 67

Fracta took the opportunity to move back whilst the Tawg was distracted, but did not attempt to escape the scene immediately. Instead, she took another look at the strange figure facing them. In shape it reminded her somewhat of a medicinal root the elders grew in the caverns of Aureli, used to treat constipation.

A stubby, hair topped node sat at the top of a column like trunk, equipped with fleshy protuberances on either side, no doubt some sort of sensors, plus a beak like structure in the middle above which two startling blue eyes resided. The being was covered in a fleshy, delicate looking outer skin, over which it wore garments of some kind. Fracta sensed a warmth and positivity in the being’s aura, but also noted a steely determination underpinning it.

It proceeded to open its pink rimmed slit like mouth, and spoke. “I think we are all here for the same purpose, the survival of our species. I see no reason for us to fight. Rather, let’s work together to get through this.” Jeff paused, no doubt waiting for a response. Once again Fracta noted that the creature, or ‘Jeff’ as she noted from its system stats, spoke clear unaccented Tesek. No doubt the tournament was utilising the same translate function on all the entrants.

Fracta immediately spoke up. “Jeff, I agree. I wish only for harmony and peace. Ztiral, I beg you, reconsider your tactics.”

Ztiral growled and reached down to pick up his spear, lying in the dust at his feet. “Weak, decadent, degenerate. I will gain great honour from destroying you, and thus eradicating your species from the universe.”

“Wrong answer pal.” Jeff sighed, a long black blade appearing in his hand.

The fight that followed was brutal, but short. Fracta harried the Tawg, sniping occasionally with her knife and entangling its limbs with her silk, whilst Jeff hacked off large chunks with his blade, empowered with a Skill that enabled him to easily slice through the monsters integument.

Finally, Jeff and Fracta stood panting, looking over the Tawg’s smashed and dissected corpse.

They were awarded the reward coins equally by the system, and both of them immediately purchased more Potions of Healing from the store to revivify them after the arduous battle.

For a moment they stood in silence, their mood somber, as they both knew that the killing of Tawg condemned its entire species to death and enslavement by the Vogels.

Jeff turned his eyes towards Fracta and she noted the corners of his mouth quirk upwards slightly; reading his aura, she detected a note of amusement as he spoke.

“Hi Fracta, I’m Jeff. Good to meet you…” He held out one of his upper limbs towards her, the 5 digits at the end pointing towards her.

Fracta hesitated for a moment, still disturbed by the human’s bizarre anatomy. However, realising this was a symbolic moment, she also extended one of her pedipalps towards the man, cilia along its length lighting up and strobing a rainbow patter of friendship. And all of a sudden, Fracta did not feel quite so alone anymore.