I ran after the guys, pushing myself to the limit. I just barely saw the springy ginger hair of Laurel ahead of me in the distance.

A popup obscured my vision momentarily

Congratulations! You've gained the Running skill! (001/200)

I swiped it out of the way, and almost fell over a merchant's cart that rolled into my path. I dove over it and rolled, tumbling back to my feet, not stopping.

A second popup activated

Congratulations! You've gained the Acrobatics skill! (005/200)

GODDAMMIT! These popups are gonna kill me!

I swiped the second one away, and managed to avoid any mishaps, and sped through the main gate. and streaked down the road towards the goblin encampment.

It seemed that a few players had discovered the goblins already, Nathan and Laurel had managed to place themselves between them.

A large man wielding a war club, who was clearly a professional sportsball player of some sort in the past looked down at Laurel (which was a feat in of itself, as she was right around six feet tall!) "Hey lady, those goblins are here in the newbie zone. They're fair game."

Laurel looked worried, "No, we brought them here for a quest! They're moving into the city!"

The tall man tapped his club against his shoulder in frustration. "Look, lady, first of all, that's the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Secondly, who ever heard of a quest like that? Especially at low level? I don't believe in PK, so unless you move that admittedly fine ass of yours, I'm going to smack you down on the way to those green stacks of experience behind you."

I arrived, chugging along, my stamina nearly completely drained and took a place beside Laurel and Nathan, who had drawn a dagger but held it out of sight, behind his back. I rested my hands on my knees and panted.

"She, -woof!- She's telling the truth, Look behind you, some guards are coming to keep the peace."

The large man craned his head around and saw eleven guards charging this way, their chain armor jingling as the rings bounced against each other.

"Dammit," he whispered under his breath, He looked back at Laurel, "Where did you get the quest?"

"The guild," She replied, obviously relieved that the unnamed man wasn't willing to start a fight with the town guard hoofing it this way.

"Tsk," He muttered, "That place is a madhouse, I'm not about to go there right now."

I fell on my rump, exhausted. from the exertion. I stared at Laurel and Nathan. They didn't seem at all phased by the running.

"Say," I began, "Did you guys skill up from the run here?"

"What? No. Why would we?" Nathan asked, sheathing his weapon as the trouble wandered away, annoyed.

"Because I did. several times. I even got new skills, Acrobatics and running."

"Woo! How'd that happen?" Nathan asked as Laurel headed towards the approaching guards.

"I had to do a running dive over a merchant's cart. I landed on my feet and kept running." I flopped back on the grass, " I was really pushing it too.

(Mister Garcia. I'm pretty sure that's because of your indomitable talent.)

"Yeah?" I sat up after a moment, "You have any details?"

(Well your character was pinging the network pretty hard when you went all-out, Especially when you got that new skill. I'll analyze the data and get back with you.)

Nathan held an arm out for me, which I took and pulled myself to my feet with his assitance.

"Thanks, bud. I'm glad we got here in time."

A popup opened in front of each of us:

Congratulations!

You have cleared the quest

GOBLIN SUBJUGATION

Quest parameters have changed, adjusting reward...

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

Please receive your Quest reward from Lord Bauhaus

Nice! The Lord must have spoken with Ragweed and accepted the offer.

"Hot damn! Two levels! Whoever saw that kind of reward from a rank f quest?" Nathan crowed."

"Spaz!" I shouted, "We gotta go back to the Lord's place."

"Sec!" she replied, speaking to the guards that had now gathered in front of her. She gestured to the temporary encampment that the goblins had begun setting up. As she finished, she waved to the guards who headed to speak with the goblin villagers. She trotted back to us and hung her arms around my neck.

"Sup, you level three badass, goin my way?" She waggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

I kissed her. I found that many of her statements usually end on in a kiss. Not complaining. Nope.

"Lets go turn in this quest, you lovebirds." Nate nudged me and headed back to the gate.

Laurel stuck her tongue out at him, "Spoilsport."