Chapter 5: Caught in a Hare-y Situation

The group chatted as they traveled through the woods, keeping their voices quiet as they stalked through the underbrush. They boys teased the girls for only starting with an 18 Body score. Which quickly turned onto Riley as he got called out for being only level 1.

Before he had gotten there the group had discovered that you could inspect someone by focusing on them, revealing their name and level above their heads. It hadn’t worked in the arena so Riley hadn’t had time to notice. It was also why the group had offered him their points, assuming he didn’t get very far in the tutorial.

While embarrassed at being found out Riley was also a little touched that they still offered to group up with him. With their lives on the line he wouldn’t have blamed them for waiting for someone competent. Riley was itching for a fight so he could prove that their trust in him wasn’t misplaced.

As they traveled further from the clearing, they had spawned in they started to see tracks of animals. Riley inspected the first bird he could flying overhead.

Woodland Thrust - Level 1

Casey — who had taken point scouting as the group’s rogue — found a game trail traveling along their direction which they followed.

During a lull in the conversation the rustling of the bushes ahead caused the group to pause. Riley took point, drawing his sword and readying his shield.

The first thing he saw was two large ears. The rest of the creature hopped out of the bush.

Bunny - Level 1

“Aww, he’s adorable!” Heather said, crouching down to it’s level. A few more bunnies hopped after it, all pausing in the middle of the trail as they caught sight of the group of humans trespassing in their woods.

Before the standoff could continue a blur ambushed the bunnies, moving so fast no one had time to react before the first bunny was gripped by the neck. The rest of the fluffle scattered, hopping through the underbrush and disappearing into the forest.

Riley identified the ambusher.

House Cat - Level 3

Keep the bunny gripped in its jaws the cat brought its hind feet cat’s feet towards the bunny’s belly and kicked, disemboweling the bunny. The cat got to its feet and calmly began cleaning its paw.

“Razz-pizzaz! Did you see how fast that thing is?” Scott exclaimed.

“Did that cat just level up?” Casey asked, horrified.

Riley scanned the cat again. She was right, the level was now showing at four.

Heather stepped forward, crouching down and reaching her hand towards to the cat. “Aw, who’s a good little hunter,” she said.

The cat paused its cleaning to glare balefully at the hand. Heather retracted her hand.

“Maybe we don’t antagonize the little murder monster.” Riley said, still holding his shield at the ready just in case.

The cat, ignoring the humans, finished cleaning its paw and stalked off into the forest.

“Guys, the store sells kibble,” Heather said. Everyone turned to stare at Heather. “What, it’s cute!” She defended herself.

“Uh, hey guys,” Scott said.

“You can’t actually want to befriend it,” Riley said.

“Guys?” Scott repeated.

“It’s so cute I just want to shove its whole face in my mouth like omf,” Heather said, as if that explained everything.

“Guys!” Scott yelled.

“What?!” the group yelled at him in unison. That was when they noticed that they were no longer alone. Ahead of them on the game train was a fluffle of bunnies. A few level ones, more level fives, and a one standing a head above the others.

Rabbit - Level 10

Looking back Riley saw another fluffle with a rabbit at their head behind them as well.

“Is it just me, or do these guys look pissed?” Scott asked.

The rabbits were gathered around the corpse of the bunny. In unison the bunnies started thumping their hind legs rhythmically. It sounded familiar to Riley. It took him a moment to place it. It sounded like the drums of war.

“Guys,” Riley said, “run!” Taking his own advice Riley crashed through the bush to the left, westwards and started running. There were bunnies in this direction and Riley raised his shield just in time to deflect a fluffy missile. He could hear the sounds of crashing behind him as the group followed and Riley lowered the shield enough to see ahead. His sword descended and Riley cut a path forward not checking to see if any of his blows were fatal.

Bunnies threw themselves at Riley at every opportunity they could. He managed to keep his shield in the way of most of them but some got through, leaving large bruises on his thighs and shoulders. He had to kick off a few of the bunnies who were trying to gnaw through his boots.

Riley could hear the sounds of fighting from behind him, Heather casting some spell a blue bolt of force at regular intervals intercepting some of the bunnies flying at Riley. A rain of arrows skewered and entire fluffle to his left sparing Riley a few nasty bruises. He resolved himself to get a full set of armor as soon as he could. This was no way to tank.

Riley was in a world of pain and he swung his sword as far as he could, trying to hit as many of the bunnies as possible. With each hit healing energy lessened some of Riley’s pain. But the damage was accumulating faster than he could heal. Soothing light entered Riley’s body and relieved him of the worst of the pain. Some of the bruises rapidly turning the greenish-yellow color of a ‘looks like it got worse but is actually almost healed’ bruise. His pace picked up as he lost a limp he didn’t notice he had and Riley put on more speed as he crashed through a particularly thick section of saplings.

He saw Casey step out of the shadow of a tree ahead of him. He had been certain she was behind him with the others a moment ago.

“Hey!” Casey screamed, drawing the attention of the entire mob of leporids, “come and get me you Caerbannog wannabes!” Casey took off parallel to the group. Riley turned to follow but he was stopped by Scott.

“Don’t. She’s drawing them off.” The thwack of an arrow pinning a rabbit to a tree accentuated the statement and Riley chose to trust in his team mates. If Scott wasn’t worried for his sister then Riley had no right to be.

Level up notifications rolled in and Riley quickly assigned the points to his Body attribute, unable to focus on the individual notifications.

Riley’s whole world was the constant raising of his sword and the thumping of rabid rabbit’s attacking. Every so often the soothing power of Nermit’s healing flowed through him but it did nothing to relieve his exhaustion.

Riley led the group through thickets and clearings. He jumped over logs and splashed through streams and still the bunnies came. Casey appeared again, this time on the right, and she drew off another wave of the enemies. Somehow, she was able to navigate through this mess with ease. Riley wanted to ask her about it but she was soon gone, and Riley’s world fell to pain once more. Still, he ran. He ran not for himself but because he was the tank. He was the first line of defense. Without his shield the group wouldn’t be able to make headway without being staggered by the momentum of the monster-turned-missiles. There was no thought of glory, no thought of the experience he was getting. There was only one thought going through his mind, they trusted me.

Riley ran. He ran and ran and ran. Miraculously the group stayed with him. Heather’s spells slowed and eventually Scott ran out of arrows. He was forced to purchase more from the store as they were running, Riley managed to transfer Scott all of his points. He silently thanked the system for being so intuitive.

Eventually the forest around them started to change. The trees grew larger and thicker. Reaching higher and higher towards the heavens, their branches like fingers trying to grasp a piece of divinity. With the change in the trees came a change in the mob as well. Slowly the pressure lessened, and then faded away altogether.

Still Riley kept running. He ran for another few minutes, just in case. He only stopped when Casey appeared in front of the group once again, waving him over.

Riley’s lungs were burning, and he wanted nothing more to do than to bend over, put his hands on his knees, and catch his breath. Instead, he slowed to a walk and raised his arms above his head and paced in a circle. According to one of his martial arts instructors this was a more efficient way to catch his breath. His legs protested the treatment, but Riley needed to be ready to run in case they were still being chased.

It was only now, in the calm after the storm, that Riley began to process what just happened. That had been too close. Even after the lessons in the arena Riley had still been taking this too lightly. He had thought they would be fighting goblins, perhaps better equipped goblins, but goblins all the same. Nice, easy, beginner mobs. The bunnies were a surprise but fit that niche as well.

What didn’t fit were the numbers. There was too many of them. How was a single party supposed to fight those numbers? The thought jogged Riley’s memory and he pulled up his list of active quests.

Stop the Unending Horde (Optional)

Casey must have had the same thought because she said, “I think we just met the unending horde.”