I set a few sticks of dynamite on the barrier that held back the water. I figured that it would be enough to accomplish my goal of clearing an easy route down the mountain. Mr. Snuggles and I went back over to the path that was safe during the last flood and I asked him to stay put while I set off the explosion. I walked back to where I had a clear shot at the dynamite.

Since I still had a ways to go before I knew the fireball spell and couldn't imbue an arrow from a scroll, I had to just use one of my fireball scrolls to set off the dynamite. There was only a short fuse attached to each stick and I wanted to be far away from this particular explosion. I sent the fireball hurtling at the dynamite and ran.

The barrier blew and took the log flue supports with it. A torrent of water once again went careening through the old settlement tearing it apart as it headed down the mountain. We waited there for a couple of minutes to let the water clear out.

"Are you okay?" I asked Mr. Snuggles as he sat there next to me on the path just outside of the settlement.

He tapped once. A notification flashed on the upper left of my screen.

You are now Level 9!

"Sweet," we must've gotten lucky and taken out another group of enemies, "I'll spend my attribute points real quick and we can go loot those enemies."

I opened up my attributes menu to allocate my five points and noticed something strange.

Brawn: - 5 +

Muscular strength. Affects strength, melee combat, and bodily fortitude.

Precision: - 10 +

Hand-eye coordination and vision. Affects accuracy in everything from ranged combat to pickpocketing.

True Grit: - 5 +

Mental Strength. Affects fight or flight response, courage, and mental fortitude.

Nimbleness: - 10 +

Speed. Affects the ability to move quickly, jumping, and dodging.

Blessing: - 10 +

Luck or favor. Affects looting and every other action in a positive way.

"My brawn is supposed to be at 7," I said swapping over to find my ring that increased brawn by 2, "Mae, did my ring unequip when I died?"

"Yes, it did unequip. No, you won't find it in your inventory," she said gently, "When you hit the ground from Tekosh dropping you, your body turned into bright light and disappeared, but you left behind everything that was in your dimensional space and any equipped items."

"Everything is gone!" I said angrily opening my inventory and looking at the grid of squares in disbelief. Sure enough, I only had the basic outfit I started with the first time and everything I had looted from the settlement this time around. "Son of a biscuit. I lost everything."

"I'm sorry, Teddy, I guess the old saying is true," Mae said patting me on the back, "You can't take it with you."

I suddenly realized that my fancy bow was also gone and all my nice arrows. I calmed myself as best I could even though the loss of that amazing bow really hurt. Especially since I wouldn't be able to ask Shamus to make me a new one. I tried reminding myself that I'd only found one rare item this whole time and there is bound to be better loot out there. I haven't even found good, light armor yet.

"Well, no use crying over spilled dimensional space. Will my stuff still be there in a pile where I died?" I asked Mae.

"I don't have that answer, Teddy, but I should be able to lead us back to the approximate point of impact so we can check." She answered. "You landed to the South West of Tekosh's encampment."

"We will definitely have to check that out. Also, is there something I can do or somewhere I can go for some better loot?" I asked Mae hoping to be able to be better prepared for what I've now dubbed 'Operation: Tekosh Kibosh'.

"You should ask the town for quests or if there is a dungeon nearby you could clear out for them," answered Mae, "Those are great ways to level and get better loot."

"That sounds like a plan. I'm going to beef up my Brawn since I am sans bow and arrow right now and we will head to Roseglen," I said while applying my 5 points into brawn. That brought me up to ten in brawn and I felt the power surging through my body when I mentally hit the apply button. I felt like I could lift a car over my head like a trademarked superhero. It probably wasn't that extreme of a difference, but I was excited at the idea of having more strength to hoard even larger items in my inventory. I was afraid that my hoarding mentality was not healthy but then reminded myself that Mae told me to pick up everything I could.

"Let's get down there and do some looting," I said looking over at the big cat beside me. He looked a little sad, "Last time I went down there I found a bunch of meat."

Mr. Snuggles perked up at my mention of food and we started moving the mountain following the path of destruction. It was a good reminder that, regardless of size, a cat is a cat.

We followed the pathway that the torrent of water had cut down the mountain and came to the settlement where I looted all the orcs and goblins the first time through. Either the enemies had respawned or there were just a ton of orcs and goblins in this area. I started looting the bodies and even remembered to go find the large metal chest that had the best loop in the camp last time.

The same as last time the loot was mostly junk quality weapons and armor. There were some healing scrolls, a fireball scroll, and a common quality longsword. I thought about the tradeoff of not finding a buckler this time but I did find a better longsword. I felt a little vulnerable not having any armor and not having a shield. I'd have to be smart and use the extra length of the sword to keep myself at a safe, non-stabbable distance. I did find some meat so it was time to make a big kitty very happy.

"Look what I found," I said waving a piece of meat. He moved so quickly that I didn't have time to react. In a fraction of a second, the piece of meat and my hand were both in his mouth.

"Ow! Let go, Mr. Snuggles!" He opened his mouth enough for me to get my hand out. Mae used some healing magic on me as she laughed.

"What do you expect, Teddy?" Mae said still laughing, "He's still a wild animal."

The pain was gone almost as quick as it came, but it was a good reminder not to treat him like he was my pet. I needed to give Mr. Snuggles the respect he deserves. I also need to remember that sometimes cats are jerks for no reason.

I threw him another chunk of meat to show there were no hard feelings and asked, "Ready to move on and head into town?"

He tapped his paw once and ate the hand-free meat.

"You'll have to be extra nice in town. Can you agree right now to not attack any people or animals while we are there?" I said trying to avoid any issues before they would arise.

He tapped his paw once and we started walking out of the encampment.

That's when I felt the pain in my lower back. I turned in rage and saw what looked to be the same two goblin scouts that shot at me last time. One of the arrows struck me in the back and the other just barely missed hitting Mr. Snuggles. He turned when he heard me turn and growled at the goblins who had both nocked another arrow.

"Let's get them," I said thinking my longsword into my hand.

The big cat tapped his paw once and lept to one side quickly halving the distance while also flanking the goblin threat. I ran towards them like an untrained idiot and took another arrow for my trouble. A healing scroll got me back up to full health and by the time I got within striking distance Mr. Snuggles had already downed his target. Distracted by his buddy being mauled by a mountain lion, the remaining goblin mounted no defense and my longsword slashed through him.

I only got junk quality items from looting the bodies and we headed out on the path towards Roseglen.

We came to the same intersection where the goblins had been before and I realized that the enemies had to have respawned with me. In order to test my theory, I made a plan with my cat friend. I snuck up on the two unsuspecting goblins and was able to land sneak attacks on both downing them in one fell swoop. My guess was confirmed when I looked over and Mr. Snuggles had the other enemy on the ground and was finishing him off.

"Good job, Mr. Snuggles," I said with a nod of appreciation at his work.

I looted the three enemies and received another fireball scroll and more junk equipment for my troubles. Not much further and I would be in town informing Nina about Shamus. We came out into the clearing and the town was there just as before. It was still smoldering from the attack. I ran over to the building Nina was in and shouted her name as I approached.

She yanked her way through the damaged door and said, "Do I know you? How do you know my name?"

She didn't remember me at all. Was her memory reset when I returned? This was so weird. I wasn't sure if this was going to make it more or less difficult to explain what happened to her husband.

"Nina," I started tentatively, "I have to tell you about Shamus. He's gone. I couldn't save him."

Her eyes welled with tears and she dropped to her knees wailing in sadness.

"I'm sorry," I said dropping to a knee and gently placing my hand on her shoulder to try and offer my support.

I heard footfalls as another member of the town ran up to us. I couldn't tell who it was as I had also begun to mourn the loss and had appeared to have gotten a little dust in my eyes. The man pulled Nina into his arms and they embraced.

"Nina, are you hurt?" he said squeezing her tightly.

"I'm fine, Shamus, this man told me you had died," she said as their eyes focused on me.

I stood and wiped my eyes so happy to see my friend who I thought was dead.

"I fell and hit my head really hard," I said. It was the only thing I could think of at the time.

"Smooth," said Mae.