“I never caught your name,” Afro tree said.

“Dustin,” I casually answered, “yours?”

“I usually go by Pa Pe Roni-” I smirked a bit, “-but with how personal everything feels going by that is a bit awkward,” he nervously laughed, “So just call me Peps.”

I raised an eyebrow, the first one was better but… “Sure then Peps,”

“So what do you plan on doing?” Peps leisurely asked.

I thought about it for a moment, “For now, checking the market,” I replied, gesturing to a hooded figure watching us intently.

Walking up to him, I cheerfully said, “Yo,” to the seller. He nodded but didn’t say a word.

I gestured to the wares laid on the blanket, “How much is all this?” Mostly consumables, few knives here and there.

“Rations go for a gold per five portions, two gold for a mana potion, one for health,” He rasped out, voice sounding unhealthily dry.

“Your throat sounds rather sore, perhaps you should take some lozenges?” Peps said, sounding genuinely worried.

The hooded seller only gave him a withering glare. “A mana potion please,” I interjected before Peps genre blindness got us banned from the only player merchant currently available.

The seller grunted as he took the money, I pocketed the potion and grabbed Peps' arm, “Let’s go,” and dragged him off.

“You’ve never met an RP’er have you?” I asked him once we were out of earshot.

He shook his head, “No, I usually don’t play RPGs,”

“What do you play then?” I asked as I checked over the mana potion. Same glowing colour and size as the last two I had, probably works.

“Mainly trading card games now,” Peps answered.

TCGs? “Like Arcanum?”

He clapped his hands, “Exactly like Arcanum!” he replied in an excited tone, “Do you play as well?”

“On and off,” I replied, storing the potion in my belt, “I tend to spend too much money on packs if I invest in one,”

Peps nodded, “I know the feeling, my kids keep telling me to stop but I have nothing to do around the house,”

“Ehh loot boxes,” I replied.

“Yeah…” he petered off, “Where are we going by the way?” he asked, gesturing to the corridor we entered.

“Grinding,” I simply replied, “What else could we be doing? It’s not like there's-”

A blurred brown dot appeared in my sight. My hours with the goblins caused me to instinctively sway to the right. Peps was a bit slower and the arrow struck his shoulder with a loud thunk.

Mana flowed into my hand as I raised it, “Grow Sporage Poison Spores-”

“WAIT!” a loud voice interrupted. A comically small looking head popped up from behind a bench. “TIS BUT A MISUNDERSTANDING! THEY ARE FELLOW TRAVELERS!” He yelled to someone out of sight.

From the distance, two glowing eyes fell from the ceiling, a figure landing lithely on the floor. That was almost fifty meters away, I didn’t even notice him until I saw his glowing eyes. Dangerous, just because this was a fantasy I shouldn’t disregard the possibility of getting sniped.

“SORRY!” I heard a high pitched voice yell in the distance. ‘Her,’ I mentally corrected. I let my arm relax and fall to my side, hand concealing the Sporage just in case.

“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry…” she repeatedly said as she stumbled to us, “I’m SO SORRY! YOU GUYS JUST LOOKED A LOT LIKE MONSTERS FROM A DISTANCE!”

Hmm… Fair, I did have a jack o 'lantern for a face, and Peps did have a weird head shape. Speaking of Peps, I quickly checked on him, he fell when the arrow got him, but overall he looked fine if a bit dazed. I swapped the staff to the hand where the Sporage was, then offered my recently freed hand. “You alright?” I asked.

He gratefully took it, wincing slightly as his shoulder made a weird grinding noise.

“Ah...” Peps replied, eyes unfocused, “I have a healing spell.”

Ehh, he seems fine for a dude that just got shot. Nodding, I turned to the two who attacked us. The first was a dwarf? No, he wasn’t wide enough, and no beard. He was hairy though, long curly hair falling to his shoulders, probably just a buff gnome actually. He looked like a miniature of every gym buff, except shrunk down to about a meter tall. He was clad in a chainmail vest, with what seemed to be leather armour underneath, a short sword hung from his hip.

The second was a black-haired girl clad in leather gear. A quiver hung on her back and she was still tearfully holding the bow she shot us with. Were those cat ears on her head?

“You two are?” I cautiously asked, they were both in my range now. I could chain Sporage with an Acid Spit and theoretically get them both, however, I have no idea how much damage they’ll do to players, who presumably had higher Constitutions than tutorial goblins.

“Ah, I am Valhorn Hillblight!” The gnome theatrically yelled, “But more importantly! Are thee alright?”

Oh god, another RP’er.

Next to me, I heard Peps trying to pull out the arrow, “No no!” Valhorn yelled, “The arrowhead shape will prevent you from pulling it out, you must break the shaft and push it out, here let me help.” He said as he walked in closer.

Peps gratefully smiled as he shifted positions to facilitate the short gnome. Seeing no current threat, I plucked the Sporage and pocketed it.

“And you?” I directed to the ranger who was still wiping away tears.

“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head.

“I assume you weren’t talking about your name with that one,” I said as I turned to the gnome standing on one of Peps legs. “Ok, I’m gonna push it now,” Valhorn said. Peps grit his teeth and nodded, before taking a sharp intake of breath as Valhorn pushed the arrow through his shoulder.

“That wasn’t… too bad,” Peps said with a slightly forced looking smile. Hmm, I didn’t know what race Peps was but afro tree probably meant he had a high constitution. He was barely bleeding too, only a sticky looking sap flowed from the hole, and it looked like it was clotting. “Cure Light Wounds,” Peps said with a grimace, and the wood began growing inwards at a rapid pace, quickly closing the hole and leaving a spot of slightly lighter-looking bark.

Peps flexed his shoulder experimentally, then poked the lighter spot and grimaced. “It’s a bit tender it seems,”

“Let me help,” I said as I touched his shoulder, “Balm Spores,” and white mycelium grew on him, covering the lighter spot. “It’s better than nothing,” I added as I did the other side.

“I was going to offer a potion…” The gnome said.

“Ehh, best to save stuff like that for when you really need it,” I replied.

Valhorn nodded, “Wise advice,”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, we’re still taking that potion,” I added. They did shoot us after all.

“Tis only fair-” He started before the other girl shoved him to the side and pushed a glowing red potion into Peps’ hand.

“Oh, it’s fine!” Peps said as he pushed it back.

“No no, I insist,” The girl replied with grim determination as she pushed it back.

“Oh no I’m really fine,” Peps pushed it back.

“But I shot you!” She protested as she pushed it back.

“It’s only a scratch…”

Ignoring the Canadian standoff behind me, I turned to the gnome. “You two were planning on an ambush?” I asked.

He nodded, “Yes, we had begun hunting but it was hard pickings. Most of the beasts here would run on sight, they rarely stood and fought unless cornered.”

Ah shit, that makes things more annoying. “Have you tried scouting further? We’re not that far from the spawn zone so the stuff here might be more passive. Perhaps outside the mall?”

He shook his head, “Though we are confident in our abilities, the night holds many dangers, without a proper source of light I am cautious to advance outside, where we lack the cover of this structure.” He said as he gestured around us.

“I can create something similar to a light source?” I suggested, raising a hand palm up, “Grow Sporage, Light Spores.”

Valhorn’s eyes lit up, “That would indeed do! Perhaps we should band together?”

“That would create a fairly balanced party,” I replied. “What’s your class?”

“I am a warrior, and you?”

“Fungalmancer, which is basically a mage but with a mushroom theme slapped on it. Mostly an all-rounder with a focus for AOE damage.”

“Hmm, and your tree friend can act as the healer,” he said thoughtfully.

I gestured to the standoff happening next to us, “And her the DPS?”

“Indeed,”

“I look forward to working with you then,” I said as I offered my hand.

He smiled as he shook my it, “And I do too with you,”

I smiled back, “We should probably break up those two...” I added.

He peeked behind me, “Yes… they have been going on for a while already,”

Myconid and gnome turned to the scene of carnage. Not that you would notice at first glance, they were still politely pushing the potion into each other. I was almost tempted to let them play this out for a few more moments, see how long it’ll last. Unfortunately, that notion was destroyed when the gnome loudly declared, “We’re partying up!”

Two pairs of confused eyes turned to us at the same time.

“Ehh?”

Name: Dustin

Classes: Fungalmancer Level 2

Body

Strength: 8

Agility: 7

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 18

Stamina: 10

Vitality: 12

Mind

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 17

Charisma: 6

Soul

Will: 10

Aura: 10

Perception: 10

Racials:

Superior Darkvision, Fungal Body, Sun Sickness, Mana Dependency, Pacifying Spores, Innate Magic

Class Skills:

Fungalmancer: Grow Sporage

Spells:

T0: Balm Spores, Spore Lights, Sneezing Spores, Acid Spit

T1: Mushroom Meal, Poison Spores

Available Spell Slots:

T2: 1

Equipment:

Leather Armour (Damaged) - One HP Potion - One MP Potion - Basic Wooden Staff - Two Basic Daggers - Herbalism Kit

Backpack - Tinder Box - Mess Kit - 50 days worth of rations

8 Gold Coins

Impact Points: 4