Gabriel’s new party was teleported on top of a hill. The hill they were on overlooked a valley. Dotted over the valley were numerous hills of different sizes with rounded doors. Gabriel could make out small figures in twos and fours patrolling the roads connecting the hills.

“Alright mates. Have you guys heard anything about this dungeon yet? It was only discovered a day ago but a lot of people have gone through it since then.” [Crocco] said.

“Nah we haven’t heard much about it. I know the enemies are Hobbits though. 4-foot human like mobs.” Gabriel replied. He was telling the truth too. In his past he didn’t start in Roma and by the time he made it over to this city. Gabriel was too high-level for this dungeon. He only heard snippets of conversation about it.

“That’s right. This place is filled with Hobbits. The hills with the doors are their homes. Even though the doors are small once inside everyone says they open up to be quite large. The hill-houses can have anything from groups of mobs, (Elite) Hobbits or trap puzzles that reward you with a chest. The top party from the guild [Eden] has been the only people who have cleared the dungeon by killing the boss. They haven’t announced where the boss is too others yet though.” [Crocco] explained.

“I recommend, we go and pull over one of the patrolling Hobbit groups for a fight. We can use that to gauge some of their attacking patterns and get a feeling of their strengths before moving to one of the hill-houses.” Gabriel recommended to everyone.

“Sounds like a good plan to me mate. I will take point with [Osiris]. Wifey and [Mouse] will be behind for range support and heals.” [Crocco] agreed and arranged the party formation.

The party agreed as everyone pulled out their gear. [Crocco] pulled out a one-handed mace with a spiked top and a large wooden greatshield. Gabriel unsheathed his Khopesh from his back catching the attention of [Dundee].

“That's an odd-looking sword. I don’t think I have seen anyone else with one of those. It looks a bit like a sickle. What’s it called?” [Dundee] asked Gabriel.

“It is an Egyptian sword called a Khopesh. They are good for slashing and the hook shape helps with grabbing enemy shields.” Gabriel replied.

“It looks badass too. Alright, let’s move out.” [Crocco] said once he saw everyone was ready.

The party walked down the road leading from the hill they were on. Taking them into the valley. The road was wide enough for people to stand four abreast. As the party was about to reach the first hill-house they saw an approaching patrol of four hobbits. Two of the hobbits wielded short swords and bucklers. One of them had a bow and arrow. The last had a wand with a tome.

Gabriel’s party stopped just out of their view.

“Wifey and I only have [Inspect LVL 1]. Do either of you two have higher?” [Crocco] asked.

“Yeah I have [Inspect LVL 2].” Gabriel replied.

“Wicked. We will leave inspecting to you and you can share it with the rest of us.” [Crocco] said.

Gabriel did just that and used [Inspect] on the four-hobbit patrol.

[Hobbit Swordsman LVL 13 - (Hostile)]

HP – 1500/1500

RP – 0/300

Info: Hobbits are naturally sturdy and hold a high resistance to most magic. Their large feet gives them good stability, making them hard to be knocked over.

[Hobbit Archer LVL 13 - (Hostile)]

HP – 1250/1250

MP – 200/200

[Hobbit Water Mage LVL 13 - (Hostile)]

HP – 1000/1000

MP -400/400

Gabriel shared the info with everyone and they made a simple attack plan.

Mouse kicked off the attack with a cross bow skill called [Grappling shot]. A bolar was shout of Mouse’s crossbow heading straight towards the [Hobbit Water Mage] wrapping him up and pinning his arms to he’s sides.

The Hobbit warriors looked towards the party and charged over. The Hobbit archer let out a shot of his own from his bow. He fired an arrow towards Mouse. [Crocco] raised his greatshield and blocked the arrow for Mouse.

“Good shot Mouse. Now you focus fire on the mage first and then the archer. [Osiris] let’s go bit*h slap as some midgets” [Crocco] said with a grin.

Gabriel and [Crocco] met the two sword wielding Hobbits halfway. [Crocco] used his shield to slam against the smaller Hobbit, knocking him back a couple feet. Before [Crocco] swung his hammer down hard. The Hobbit used his buckler to block but it didn’t do much to soak up the heavy hammer. Bucklers were usually used as a parrying shield.

Gabriel was engaging his Hobbit in a melee battle. Their swords wrung out when the slashed against each other, The Hobbits were quite light on their feet, making quick thrusts and slashes with his sword. Gabriel dodged one high slash by ducking wide underneath, coming up behind the Hobbit, back-to-back. Gabriel swung his Khopesh over his shoulder and slammed the hook point of the blade into the Hobbit’s chest.

Gabriel grabbed his hilt with two hands, for extra force and used a shoulder toss. With the hook point stabbed into the smaller and lighter enemy. Gabriel was able to lift the Hobbit off his feet and throw him towards the Hobbit Archer. Who just so happened to have shot off a [Penetrating Arrow] he had been charging up at Gabriel. The flying Hobbit slammed into the [Penetrating Arrow] and the arrow lived up to its name. Piercing straight through the unarmored gut of The Hobbit.

“Crickey!” [Dundee] exclaimed from the back after seeing [Osiris] in action.

“Yeah! Take that you ugly looking children! Big Brother [Osiris] send them all to their rooms! Haha.” Mouse laughed out loud, smiling ear to ear as if he was the one doing the throwing.

Mouse had finished the charge time of his own [Penetrating Arrow]. It whistled through the air as the arrow slammed into the throat of the Hobbit Mage. Spraying out a mouthful of blood.

[Dundee] had just thrown a Strength buff on [Crocco] giving him the extra hand to finish off his Hobbit opponent with a hammer to the face.

[Crocco] met Gabriel as he was finishing off the Hobbit archer. [Crocco] brough his hammer down onto the head of the Hobbit with a hole in his stomach, finishing him off. Another bolt had sailed past [Crocco] and embedded itself in the Hobbit Mage’s forehead. Leaving none of the patrol alive.

“Nice work Mates. That was awesome. Now let’s loot these guys and attack one more patrol before tackling one of the hill-houses". [Crocco] said with a smile as he reached down to loot a Hobbit.

“Wait! Let [Mouse] loot the bodies, he has a couple points in the luck stat”. Gabriel said to stop [Crocco] from looting. Gabriel decided he didn’t want to tell them how lucky Mouse truly was as that could lead to trouble quickly.

“Wow. I have heard the only way to get stat points in luck require special items or quests, as you can’t use your (AP) from leveling on it. Lucky we have [Mouse] than, the drops should be much better. Go ahead [Mouse] and loot your big sister here a dragon” [Dundee] said while patting [Mouse] on the head with a smile.

Due to [Mouse]’s clear eyes and childlike temperament. Most people ended up treating him like a little brother, especially women.

“Okeydokey! Leave to me! One pet dragon egg for the pretty lady coming up!” Mouse yelled while going over to the Hobbit corpses and looting.

Mouse shared with the party what he looted and turned to [Dundee].

“Sorry big sister. There was no dragon egg.” Mouse said with a frown, earning himself another head pat from [Dundee].

Gabriel looked at Mouse and sighed. ‘He doesn’t actually think there are dragon eggs on these low-level mobs, does he?’

Gabriel checked out the loot, which was the usual miscellaneous loot of silver coins and minor potions. Two items however stood out to Gabriel.

[Firebombs (Uncommon) - 5/5 - Req. Ranged class]

AOE Fire damage – 30-40 Explodes on impact

[Flask of Oil (Uncommon) - No. Req]

Releases a litre of oil on impact Highly flammable

The [Flask of Oil] jogged some of Gabriel’s memory. He had a sneaking suspicion on how to clear this dungeon now but he wanted to wait a bit before announcing it to the party.

The party decided to give the firebombs and oil to Mouse after splitting the loot. They moved onto another Hobbit patrol. This time [Crocco] adopted Gabriel’s strategy. With his larger physique [Crocco] grabbed a Hobbit in a bear hug before tossing him right into a Hobbit Archer knocking them both over. The patrol was slayed quickly after. Earning Gabriel’s party one more [Flask of Oil] and some silver.

The party had some pep in their step as they decided to head to the first hill-house. They could only enter single-file through the door, while craning their necks. [Crocco] took front with his large shield held out. The moment [Crocco] entered he felt a strong impact from a large bolt slamming into his shield. The force behind the impact numbed his arm. Feeling as if something was broken. Looking over his shield, [Crocco] saw that inside the hill-house was a large open room.

At the end of the room was four Hobbits with shields and axes, behind them were two mages and finally a Hobbit manning a ballista pointed at the door way. The Hobbit on the ballista was already loading another bolt.

“Oh sh*t! They have a ballista. [Dundee] throw me a heal and stay behind me.” [Crocco] warned. He then activated his skill [Magnet] which attracted any projectiles to be targeted towards his shield for 20 seconds.

Gabriel leapt out behind [Crocco] and chucked out one of his throwing axes to a mage charging up a spell. He managed to throw out one more axe at the mage before having to engage the four axe wielding Hobbits in a melee.

Mouse used [Grappling shot] and tied up one of the mages before running around the room and kiting the melee Hobbits. Gabriel held his other throwing axe in one hand and used it to deflect strikes while slashing out with his Khopesh. The four Hobbits had surrounded Gabriel.

Gabriel took a look around and saw none of his party was near him, [Crocco] was still near the entrance and attracting the ballista bolts while [Dundee] was throwing multiple heals on him. Mouse was close to them firing bolts at the mages.

Gabriel smiled at the Hobbits surrounding him and activated [Sun Flare] sendin out a dome of fire to knockback the axe-wielding hobbits and setting two on fire. Due to the Hobbits being sure-footed they didn’t fall but with two on fire. It gave Gabriel the room too hack the other two Hobbits to pieces. Mouse managed to kill off one of the mages before [Crocco] yelled.

“[Magnet] has 2 seconds left. Quickly kill the hobbit on the ballista!” [Crocco] warned Gabriel.

Gabriel nodded and used threw out his last axe at the Hobbit on the ballista before using [Summon Javelin] three time in quick succession, almost bottoming out his MP. The with a [Recall] on one of the throwing axes impaled in the dead mage, Gabriel chucked the axe at the Hobbit killing him.

A [Lightning bolt] slammed into Gabriel from the side at that moment, shot out by the remaining Hobbit mage.

{-115}

Damage notification appeared in Gabriel’s vision. Gabriel stumbled a couple of steps from the impact before chugging [Minor health potion]. [Dundee] also used a heal spell on Gabriel, as the pressure from the ballista wasn’t on [Crocco] anymore.

{+50}

[Crocco] ran over to one of the flaming Hobbits and activated [Shield bash], stunning the hobbit for 2 seconds. He bought his hammer around and smashed the skull in on the crispy Hobbit. Gabriel joined him after a moment and they cleared off the last two Hobbits together.

“That was a bit of bi*ch. Do you reckon all the Hobbit houses have a ballista?” [Crocco] said while gathering his breath from the fight.

Gabriel was about to reply t [Crocco], when near the ballista a THUMP was heard. A wooden chest fell from the ceiling gathering everyone’s attention. Their eyes lit up at the sight of the chest, everything else was forgotten.