"Did you get any sleep??" I look up from my work, a dagger made from a boar tusk .

"Do what now?" I ask Victoria, as she looms over me, her battle skirt dangerously close to my eyeline. A flirty smile spreads across her lips as she sees me seeing her.

"Anything to eat, yet?" She's bold now. Not that I'm complaining. I just worry the reputation level gain is too quick. Then again, Kona is at the same level and she definitely doesn't talk to me like this.

"I could always go for something…" She adds some swish to her turn, and I try not to peak but I do and an approaching Dawn catches me and smiles.

"I see you're just as charming in game," she chides and lightly punches my shoulder. And when I say lightly…

[Dawn Nobel punches you for 2 damage]

"You guys are ridiculous! How are you dealing damage to me like this?" I complain to no one and everyone as I pick myself off the ground. I sit back amongst the pile of material.

"I even go so far as to make some improvised gear for everyone and I'm still the human punching bag." Now my tone is less whiny and more teasing as I open my palms to the items around me.

"Say what now?" Dawn questions as she grabs a pick axe and stores it in her bracelet.

"I mean, I could maybe sell this gear when I get back to Kes Rentas, but its such a loooong waaaalk…"

"Did you sleep at all, Ardacen?" Ramona places a claw on my shoulder, looking over everything. "It doesn't look like it." Elsbeth and Kona join us shortly after.

I stand, dusting the dirt from my behind, "Sorry, I got caught up in the newest aspect of my Skill." I pass out the equipment to the four of them.

"Let's see. For Ramona and Dawn, I have a pair of bracers and greaves, since you two are the best front liners of all of us. I used the cobra scales and some leather. I know its not much, but without a smithy or metal, we gotta do what we gotta do, right?"

Dawn speaks up as she's excitedly equiping her new armor, "I just got a new mission to get 50 iron ores. Once I accomplish it, Victoria said she'd try to contact Mika about getting us a forge and refinery."

"Awesome! Guess we'll keep an eye out for some veins, yeah? So, the wolf pelt mantles seem to work well enough to add some defense and they're not too difficult to obtain or create if anyone wants one."

They all nod in agreement. "Okay. Now, at first, I thought the giant lizard spines were going to be flexible, but they most certainly are not. I only managed to make three short swords through trial and error but I think Elsbeth should get at least one to upgrade from her single dagger."

"I would prefer my katana, so she can use two if she would like." Elsbeth nods her head and places them in her quiver. Clever, since I forgot to make holsters for them.

"Then I guess I'll just hold on to the one just in case. Kona? Can you wield your staff with one hand?"

"Yeah, why?" she asks lazily, an absent minded Dawn scratching behind her ears as she listens to me.

I wonder about the dreamy drooly look on her face and think better of it, "I can't make much else at the moment for you, but I hope a shield for you can be helpful." She grabs it and starts a pushing battle with Dawn and her shield. "I guess that's it for now. I don't really know what's going to happen when I activate the entry panel, so it's best that we are as prepared as we can be."

Elsbeth is praticing with her spine rapiers, I managed to give them an edge with my claws. I'm actually quite impressed with the Alpha Wolf's Pride Feat, not sure it intendid for me to use it like that, but that's where we're at for now. The others are doing the same, getting used to their movement and new gear. I also gained enough XP from crafting that I leveled up to 7 putting my points into Agi, bringing it up to 27.

A letter notification pops up below my rainbow bars (all the NPCs call the three bars in their vision "rainbow bars") as I finish up allocating stat points.

[Message From: Richter Pryce

[Hi, dude! How's it going? Leveling up out there in the wild? Listen, remember how I told you I was joining the thieves guild? I ended up being stuck in a Bandit group! Like, real bandits! Anyway, our graduation test is supposed to be a raid on some group out in the direction you said you'd be in and I don't wanna accidently "raid" you. We'll be out there in seven days.]

[Message From: Ardacen Winters

[Thanks for the heads up! It kinda sucks that another player and I are part of that group now. I know you wont be able to change their minds, but we'll do our best to keep an eye out for each other. Okay?]

[Message From: Richter Pryce

[Its a real bummer, dude. I'll let you know when we head out there.]

[Message From: Ardacen Winters

[Thanks, bro. By the way, what level are you?]

[Message From: Richter Pryce

[Top of the class at level 3! Its hard work grinding in the city, since the monsters are so stingy with the XP and players keep dying and getting death sickness. You?]

[Message From: Ardacen Winters

[Um. 7]

[Message From: Richter Pryce

[Dude, what the hell?! I wanna switch teams for sure!]

[Message From: Ardacen Winters

[For sure, man! Double cross for the win!

Well, that's an interesting developement. I find Victoria and let her know what's being planned. Her emotions jumped from one end to the other and finally settled on a mix of frustration and anxiety, "How can we trust this, Richter? What kind of man joins that rat nest and expects trust?"

"Well, at least it was a warning, right? What can we do? If they're early, I doubt the arts and crafts gear I made will stop a large enough force of bandits."

Gorm joins the converstation after getting his stew ready for the day, "I knew a guy who joined the Thieves Guild and he did something similar. They put together a couple of groups, usually totalling around twenty. Then they raid an enemy country's outlying settlements. I'm guessing Lord Bertrand is having them target us on purpose."

Victoria sneers, "That bastard…"

An idea pops into my head. A crazy idea pops into my head. A crazy, schmazy… okay, I couldn't rhyme crazy with anything good. "Let's take Linqs to the dungeon!" They both stare at me, jaws on the floor.

"Ardacen," Victoria puts her hands on my shoulders as she tries to console me, "that might be the worst plan for us."

"No, there's a large cave before the actual entrance. We can fit everyone inside and form a defensive position. We'll be protected on all sides. Maybe we leave a few wagons here for a trap?"

Her hands squeeze my shoulder as she considers my words. Gorm's deep voice is slow to say the words I hope to hear, "That… may… be a good idea."

We leave behind the three largest wagons after emptying them, using only seven large carts. The big ones wouldn't be able to squeeze through the trees anyway. There are about eighteen of us walking and one driver and seven passangers per cart. Total, there is seventy four. I don my mask and walk in the center of the line, hoping the effect it seems to have is in the shape of a field and I can affect as much of the train of carts as possible.

Ramona and Dawn take point, both knowing where the dungeon is and being tanks can take a hit or two. Gorm and Elsbeth carry the rear; the Elf keeping her senses up and the Half-Orc to absorb possible damage. That left a sleeping kitty in the cart behind me and Victoria beside me.

"So," I start, getting the teasing ready, "Duch-"

"Don't." Her tone is serious, but the smile on her face is playful.

I decide to get permission, "Is it okay to ask?"

She sighs, "No, but thank you for asking first. A lot of people just blurt it out, like its a simple answer. The political world is one I was thrust into against my will, drowned in it for a while, then tossed out with the other undesireables. I was a soldier once…"

That explained quite a bit, actually. I never served, but a lot of family and friends from high school did. They would share stories, and even though it's no where near as bad, I worked in kitchens and bars. Old school chefs and bartenders treat you like trash and it's up to you and your strength of will to rise up and be someone of use.

"Do you consider yourself the leader of Linqs?" I ask.

"Goddesses, no. I'm just one of the few with all of my parts."

"They look great, by the way. Your parts, I mean."

She gives me a playful jab on the same spot that apparently everyone had a meeting about to make sure they keep the bruise active. But this time it didn't hurt. It dealt no damage. Her fist, still pressed against my arm, loosens into a hand gripping my arm. Her hand slides down and tangles with my own.

[Reputation +110 with Victoria Grandersil]

There's probably a big goofy grin on my face, but it's being hidden by the mask. I'm picking up something strange with my senses. I turn my head towards Victoria, and I can feel her heart beating like crazy from her hand. But, I'm feeling it in my ears, like my ears are throbbing to her heartbeat. Not just that, but my nose is picking up new information off of her.

Something personal, that she probably isn't ready to share with me just yet. Through contact, I can sense her emotions! I'm pretty sure if I could read her thoughts as well, I'd have some pretty high ratings on the show.

We make it there without incident, though I'm a little disappointed that I still haven't been able to test out my battle prowess. Only a few carts could actually fit in the cave and still be able to turn back around. The rest we try to hide in the shrubs several yards away from the cave. We cover them in branches and leaves. By now, however, the sun would be setting in a few hours, so we set up the camp inside the cave.

With torches and magical lights lit, the cave is made more visible. And right there, on one side of the wall, is a large vein of iron. We only have one pick left since Dawn took one for her own. I pass on using one and poke at it with my claws. The feeling is so strange to me, its as if I was digging my hand through packed clay. My fingertips dug into the vein and I pulled out a piece of ore.

[Received: 1 * Iron Ore]

I am a human swiss army knife! Adaptable indeed! I toss the ore to Dawn and she thanks me. It's her quest anyway, she could use the XP more than I can. The revelation that Richter was only level 3 AND supposedly top of his class of players made me thankful that I chose this path instead of staying in the city.

It was a gamble, for sure, but it looks like its paying off. Still, once the word gets out about all this, we might be swamped with recruits. I manage to extract fourteen more pieces and it brought Dawn to a total of forty two.

Then, I heard those strange whispers again. "You hear that, too, Dawn?"

She shakes her head, "Maybe its your puppy powers?"

"That is probably the least cool way to describe what I can do."

She shrugs and continues to mine the ore. I look around to see if anyone else might have noticed it, but to no avail. I decide to try and ignore it for a while, hopefully the group will be ready tomorrow morning. I set aside some time before bed to craft a set of greaves and bracers for myself using the remaining cobra scales, remembering that aside from Kona, I am the least armored. I may have the highest Agility, but I didn't want to be one shot-ed by something tomorrow.

[Job XP ineligeable, converting to Class XP]

[Received 12XP]

[Equipped: Arms: Improvised Green Cobra Bracers

[Dura: 75/75

[+2 Armor]

[Equipped: Legs: Improvised Green Cobra Greaves

[Dura: 75/75

[+3 Armor]

I want to know what an Agility of 33 (+3 only during combat) will translate to, but its too late to practice. I skipped sleep last night and I want to be well rested for the raid. I find where my future party is sleeping and joing them. Victoria is the last one up and is about to sleep on her thin mat, probably because she gave away her new ability's set, when I hold up both pairs of bedrolls and pads and smile mischievously.

She matches my smile and struts silently over. I'm almost lightheaded with how unbelievebly sexy this woman is. She takes a set from my hands and kisses me on the cheek. We lay the bedrolls close to one another without joining them, however. Without a word we both know what the other is thinking, "Never, ever, the night before a big fight. Save it for the field." We bid each other good night and turn away from each other before falling asleep.

Spoiler: Ardacen's Character Sheet

[Basic Info: Ardacen Winters

[Race | Subrace: Human | Custom

[Height/Weight: 5'9/165lbs

[Class | Subclass: Novice

[Level: 7

[Experience: 834| 1000

[Multiclass | Subclass:

[Artisan Job Classes: Cook 3 | Alchemist 1 |

[Copper/Silver/Gold/Platinum: 75/2/0/0

[HP/MP/Stamina Regen Delay: 8sec/8/sec/8sec

[HP/Max/RegenPerSec: 65/65/3

[MP/Max/RPS: 52/52/3

[Stamina/Max/RPS: 43/43/3

[Combat Modifiers

[Strength: 1+1

[Dexterity: 27

[Arcane: 20

[Faith: 1

[Defense Modifiers

[Agility: 27+6

[Armor: 11+1

[Willpower: 10]

[Main Hand: AWP Claw

[Durability: n/a

[Type/Range/Ammo: Dexterity/Melee/0

[Base/Modified Damage: 4/31

[Off Hand: AWP Claw

[Durability: n/a

[Type/Range/Ammo: Dex/Melee/0

[Base/Modified Damage: 4/31]

[Head: empty

[Durability:

[Armor:0

[Shoulders: Grey Wolf Pelt

[Durability: 60/60

[Armor: 1

[BodyOver: empty

[Durability:

[Armor: 0

[BodyUnder: Simple Cloth Tunic

[Durability: 80/80

[Armor: 1

[Arms: Improvised Green Cobra Bracers

[Durability: 75/75

[Armor: 2

[Hands: empty

[Durability:

[Armor: 0

[LegsOver: Improvised Green Cobra Greaves

[Durability: 75/75

[Armor: 3

[LegsUnder: Simple Cloth Pants

[Durability: 80/80

[Armor: 1

[Feet: Simple Leather Boots

[Durability: 80/80

[Armor: 1]

[Face: Mask of the Grey Wanderer 1/3

[Bonus: +3Agi, +1Str, +1Armor

[Neck: empty

[Ear Right: empty

[Ear Left: empty

[Wrist Right: empty

[Wrist Left: Simple Bracelet of Storage

[Ring Right: empty

[Ring Left: empty

[Waist: empty

[Spells: Arcane Bolt I, Assassinate]

[Skills: Minor Survival Craft II, +Wolf Senses, Stealth I

[Critical Stab I ]

[Feats: Adaptibility, Varient Hunter I, War Party Leader I, +Alpha Wolf's Pride]

[Major Quests: none

[Minor Quests: Recycle, Get the Girl, One Small Step]