“I hate this.” Maya fired another Wind Whisper into the giant mushroom monster.

“What do you hate about it?” Andy slashed at a giant spore that drifted in his direction, knocking it out of the air with a single blow, then following up with a flurry to kill the others.

“I don’t know. Something about mushrooms just creeps me out.” Maya fired another Wind Whisper into the thing’s wide-cap of a head. “They should be in caves or on trees, not walking around the middle of the city.”

They’d respawned in the middle of a battlefield. Kalyx City was under attack by this giant… mushroom thing, and it was definitely not going peacefully.

“Is this your first random event?” asked a player she’d never met before, the one with a black and orange striped cloak who was throwing ninja stars at the giant shroom-man.

“It’s definitely a first for me,” Andy said, continuing his ongoing attack on the spore cloud.

More players ran in as the battle continued, the shroom monster stomping on market stalls and smashing his arm through houses that splintered to dust and exploded in spectacular fashion, scattering NPCs who ran around screaming for help.

The cloud of dust, spores, and screams attracted more and more players as word of the limited boss event spread.

“I didn’t even know monsters could spawn inside towns,” Maya said after firing off a Wind Word. “Though maybe I should have.” She’d stumbled upon a lizardine cult under Kalyx that one time. Perhaps they’d periodically summon a giant mushroom monster every now and then.

As more and more players surrounded the massive shroom creature, its attacks sped up in tempo. It smashed its arms out and sent players flying, but the outcome was inevitable. It was surrounded and doomed, it just didn’t realize it yet.

She had to stifle a chuckle that would have thrown off her attack as one of the giant mushroom’s feet crushed a familiar-looking gazebo into the ground. She could guess what quest would be showing up in the next few hours.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

When a contingent from the mage academy joined the fight, the battle drew to its end quite rapidly. Then the players dispersed, leaving Maya and Andy standing amid smashed market stalls and the worried or disgruntled mutters of NPC shopkeepers.

“I thought hiring travelers was supposed to stop the random monster attacks,” muttered one older man as he set about wearily repairing his archery equipment stall with a stack of wood stashed beside a nearby house. More NPCs helped themselves to the stack, which she realized was there for just such a purpose.

“Come on, let’s help,” Maya called, hurrying over to pick up some lumber herself. She saw a familiar duo, Shary and Elaph working together to rebuild the produce stall, and took her armload of boards over to them.

“Ah, our hero returns!” Shary said, patting Maya’s arm with a friendly laugh as Maya helped Elaph hold a board in place. “Thank you.”

“And you fought the giant monster!” Elaph was starry-eyed, paying more attention to Maya than to the repairs. “You’re amazing.”

“A lot of people fought the giant monster,” Maya pointed out. “It wasn’t just me.”

“And how many of them do you see helping out?” Shary asked. “I only see you and that young man there.”

“That’s Andy. He’s a friend of mine.”

“I like him,” Elaph declared firmly.

“I think I do too,” Maya said, watching as Andy set about helping with the repairs, bantering casually with the nearby NPCs as though this were entirely ordinary. “He’s a good one.”

Within a half hour they had the market back in order, and players began filing through to purchase items, or visit the Travelers’ Hall.

“So, where to next?” Maya asked, dusting off her hands in time honored ‘job done’ tradition. “Is there any more repair we should help with?”

“I think everything’s back together,” Andy said, and Maya saw that he was right. Even the buildings that had been smashed were back in place, looking as weathered as ever.

“Hm. Alright. Onward to the wilds?”

Andy agreed readily, and they proceeded to spend the rest of the day grinding through the wilds. They fought bandits, they fought vasps, and they even saved a small NPC child from being drowned in a rare oasis by an angry water spirit.

By the end of the day, Maya, Andy, and her two pets had all increased in level, and obtained a nice pile of basic loot that could be sold, turned in for quests when they came up, or used for crafting.

“Did you ever do your trickster quest?” Andy asked, as they trekked back toward the outpost.

“I think so.” She checked her log.

Trickster Day 21: Spend at least thirty minutes in a dungeon without any equipment over Normal quality.

“No, looks like I didn’t.” She’d not even looked at the quest at the time. “I guess we need to find a local dungeon.”

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