In some lore Goblins and Orcs are simply different sizes of the same creature. In other lore they are different races or different colours. I’m not sure if it mattered here, because either way these huge creatures were more than capable of splattering us across the road.

“Mud! Bug swarm in their eyes!” I called out to Saelyn, she nodded. Turning my attention, “Little help here?” I yelled over my shoulder as I readied my arrows, a hasty plan forming.

“Parvus Cataracta! Amasio Cimex!” Saelyn shouted, pointing at their feet, then at their heads.

As each orc stepped into the mud I fired an Ice arrow to its legs, freezing the mud, buying us time. The Orcs bellowed in pain and frustration. The bug swarms were distracting them, and their feet were locked in place. Their plan to smash us quickly had met the enemy. Us.

And we were having none of it.

I knew Tehlmar would turn to his fire arrows, so I reached for my electric ones. I worked my way down the line of orcs. By the time I had shot my fourth, flaming arrows were sprouting from their chests beside mine. The shockwave of Eldrin’s arrows thundering past me told me he was in this fight too. I had to trust that the goblins behind us were all down.

I really wanted to know how Eldrin made his arrows do that. But again, later.

Red numbers continued to climb out of the orcs, but they were still standing, bellowing, and swinging their clubs. Several of them had gripped the arrows and torn them from their chests, casting them to the ground.

The ice at their feet started to buckle and crack. We stepped back.

“More mud to freeze!” I yelled at Saelyn.

“No! Lightning arrow! Give me one!” Saelyn hollered.

I hesitated, “What? I...?”

“Now!” Saelyn shouted, interrupted me with a look of absolute determination on her face.

I drew and nocked the lightning arrow, activating its charge. I looked at Saelyn’ outstretched hand like she had lost her mind. Then, trusting she knew what she was doing, I held it out to her. She grasped the lightning arrow and held the point aloft, chanting and gesturing from the sky to the Orcs.

“Alvoki Fulmo!” she shouted.

Suddenly, lightning split the sky. Somehow, Saelyn was calling down lightning on the Orcs.

***

The shockwaves knocked us back off the road.

After we stopped skidding across the field behind us, we slowly picked ourselves up and stared at the smoking Orcs...or what was left of them. We were the only ones standing as far as we could see.

The three of us turned to Saelyn, who seemed to be alternating between looking shocked and sheepish.

“When did you pick that up?” I asked her, still shaking my head to get it to stop ringing.

“I can’t create lightning, but I thought maybe I could control it a bit if I had something to work with. After all, my control over the elements is increasing, but I can’t exactly create them yet, except for water.” she shrugged, “It seemed logical, especially with lightning arrows sticking out of their chests and their feet in water, even if it was mostly frozen.” she started walking towards what was left of the Orcs, explaining her thought process.

“So it seems.” my guide said from beside me. “It appears this is indeed part of the Control Elements spell grouping, although I don’t believe anyone has ever attempted it while holding a Lightning Arrow.” If my guide showed emotion, I’m pretty sure that would have sounded impressed.

“Whatever doesn’t kill you…” I trailed off.

“Desperate times?” she said sheepishly. “But it worked, and now we have another weapon...and it looks like I gained a level as well.”

“How about, only if we’re far enough away next time?”

“What happened to ‘Whatever doesn’t kill you?’?” she said with a smirk, and a wink.

I’m sure I at least scratched her with the look I shot her.

With a sigh, I followed her over to see if there was anything worth salvaging.

***

That night over the low fire, after we had laid out perimeter traps and tended to our weapons and bellies, we decided to sort through the salvage we had collected so far. We had found a small clearing, deep in the woods. Between the thickness of the trees, and the screening of our tents and blinds, we figured we should be safe enough to hide out for the night. If anything approached us, the traps and alarms should give us plenty of notice. Out beyond that I heard Saelyn cast “Caligo Nebula Tenebrae”, raising a low fog bank.

Most of the Goblin salvage was in poor repair, and anything wooden was fed into the fire. It was the best use for the clubs and short staves many of the Goblins carried. The javelin and spear heads were set aside, but their shafts went into the fire. Everything metal was repacked into storage.

Nothing was left of the Orc weapons, or the Orcs for that matter.

Goblin raiding parties didn’t typically carry much in the way of coins or other treasure, mostly so they had more space to carry loot on the way back, and these Goblins hadn’t appeared to be high enough up in the pecking order to warrant anything like potions or scrolls. However, there had been copper and silver coins here and there among the dead, and we had collected what we found. As Rangers on an official mission, we were allowed to use whatever we found in the course of furthering the mission, with the understanding that whatever was left at the end would be turned over to the leadership at the encampment to fund future activities.

After all, all the training and equipment the Rangers provided us had to be paid for somehow, and anyways, I thought it was better to be rewarded with useful items than bulky coins I had to carry, even if we did have ways of reducing their encumbrance.

***

By dawn we were up and packing the camp away. We ate a cold breakfast to save time and set out on the trail of the Goblins once more. None of our traps or alarms had been disturbed, and no tracks had entered the fog Saelyn raised.

After several more attempts to ambush us, each one stronger than the last, I had another notification:

[Class: [Ranger] - 2/[Sorcerer] - 2/[Druid] - 1] (1)

This time I was torn, but in the end I went with another Ranger level and hoped it wouldn’t be too long before I levelled again. Surprisingly, I saw that five of my Skills were flashing with an indication that I could choose three of them to increase. I figured being able to shoot on the move was going to be the most useful new skill, based on what we had run into so far. Then more arrows, and faster shooting won out over the others...at least for now. It was times like these that I missed being able to sit down with gaming manuals and figure out how to advance, but I guessed this way was more like real life.

[Class: [Ranger] - 3/[Sorcerer] - 2/[Druid] - 1]

[STR = 15]

[INT = 14]

[DEX = 15]

[WIS = 14]

[CON = 14]

[CHA = 13]

[Health = 53/65]

[Chi = 37/40]

[Mana = 20/20]

[Craft: Lv 5 - Bowyer]

[Craft: Lv 5 - Fletcher]

[Craft: Lv 5 - Sylvan Weapons]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Quarterstaff - focus]

[Skill: Lv 5 - Longbow - focus]

[Skill: Lv 5 - Shortbow - focus]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Appraisal]

[Skill: Lv 5 - Woodworking]

[Skill: Lv 5 - Tracking]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Hunting]

[Skill: Lv 3 - Dressing game]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Cooking]

[Skill: Lv 6 - Intimidate]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Spellcraft]

[Skill: Lv 3 - Arcana]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Concentration]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Nature]

[Skill: Lv 4 - Geography - Sylvan]

[Spellskill: Lv 4 - Elven Sight]

[Spellskill: Lv 4 - Arcane Armour]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Hush]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Stillness]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Empty Hands]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Detect Arcana]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Read Arcana]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Use Arcana]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Read Languages]

[Spellskill: Lv 3 - Summon Companion/Familiar]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Phantom Strike]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - ]

[Spellskill: Lv 1 - Craft - Arcana]

[Skill: Lv 2 - Rapid Fire]

[Skill: Lv 2 - Multi-shot]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Quickdraw]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Dodge]

[Skill: Lv 2 - Melee Fire]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Ranged Fire]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Running shot]

[Skill: Lv 1 - Reflex attacks]

***

The encampment was huge. Bigger than Springbrook. We had followed the smoke trails in from some distance away. And we were right, it was far south of the Apprentice Dungeon. Hundreds of Orcs and thousands of Goblins milled around in the valley below us, gathered around fires, sparring, or doing whatever it was they did when they weren’t hunting us. We sheltered under our cloaks, blending in with the underbrush along a cliff's edge.

“This is...wrong.” my Guide said. “It shouldn’t be possible for this many creatures to gather together, and certainly not ones this strong after the Ranger encampment was almost destroyed.”

“What do you mean?” I looked over, questioning.

“Opponents are supposed to match the abilities of the Apprentices and Players as they gain power. The Apprentice Dungeon is supposed to be an important test before they move beyond the Apprentice area, but this…” it waved to indicate the mass of Goblins and Orcs below. “...is far more powerful than that. It shouldn’t be possible. There should be a barrier around the Apprentice area keeping them out. Something must be wrong.”

“A barrier?” Saelyn asked. “I thought..."

“Yes, a...filter, if you will.” The guide carried on when Saelyn trailed off, looking thoughtful. “Something that assesses the power of a creature and either permits or denies it access. Anyone can leave an area of lower relative power and enter an area of higher relative power, but they may not be able to return if they are too powerful. There are many filters like this throughout the realms. Otherwise we would be overrun with monsters and no one would survive long.”

“How does the system prevent a creature from staying in a lower level area and dominating it as it rises in power?” I asked.

“The system restricts rewards, eventually the creature, or player for that matter, will likely become bored with its existence and want to advance. As well, experience rewards are influenced by the relative levels in the opponents. If you gain too many levels above your opponents you essentially stop gaining experience. You stop levelling and stop gaining anything. Besides, most creatures don’t know to ask about such things.”

“Alright, why isn’t it working? ...and what can we do about it?”

“I do not have answers to those questions. It is beyond my knowledge.”

“Who would know?” Saelyn asked.

“Completing the Apprentice Dungeon provides greater insights into the workings of the world beyond this zone. Perhaps that will provide the answers you seek?”

“Looks like you two are heading back to the Encampment to report on this gathering.” I said to Tehlmar and Eldrin, waving at the sprawling camp below. “While Saelyn and I head over to clear the Apprentice Dungeon. If they can spare anyone to help us, have them meet us there.”

“The Dungeon?” she asked, puzzled. “Shouldn’t we be more concerned about this?” waving at the mass of greenskins.

“The two of us aren’t going to make a dent in this, or even the four of us.” I answered grimly. “We have to do our jobs as Rangers and the most important part of that is to get this information back to the people who can organise a proper response to this, starting with seeing to the fortification of places like Springbrook.

“As for us, we need to level up and find out the rest of the things we’re supposed to know by the end of the Tutorial. Remember, we should have finished that before now. We need to find out what we’re missing, and hopefully why the System is doing all this…” I waved at the valley, “...when it shouldn’t be possible.”