They had been sleeping for a short time, Pepe had been on guard as they had agreed to the rotation of guard duty. And he had fallen asleep, he had not meant to fall asleep it just happened. He woke to a sound he could not identify. “Crud I fell asleep. What was that?”

“What was what?” Erin had woken up when he had heard Pepe.

“Some noise came from that direction.” He pointed in the direction of the cart. It was not far but more than a few steps away from them.

They made their way over to the cart and saw the flap was not covering it. They looked in and saw some empty spots, they had been robbed. “Ah crap, of course it was on my watch.”

They went over to wake the others. Everyone was tired and half-awake as the Erin and Pepe explained the situation. Miss Tebesa went over to check her things and came back to let them know what had been taken.

“Looks like we have to find them.”

She nodded, “I’m sorry it would probably be best if we went now, even though it is dark with the moon out there is sufficient light to see by.”

Again, their lack of forethought had caught them with their pants down. They were not ready to go searching in the night, no torches or anything. They were not very good adventurers it seemed. They had to improvise some torches from branches which took time. Time that the culprit had to get further away.

It had been decided that Pepe would stay behind to protect Miss Tebesa, even though he was the one that had lost the items he would not be coming. Manuel smacked the back of Pepe’s head on the way out, it was late, and they were cranky about having to get up in the middle of the night.

Erin took the lead, his training was much more in line with this task, his tracking skills would come in handy. He soon found a trail of broken branches a small dirty rag from whoever had taken the items. Whoever they were, were moving fast trying to get away with their spoils.

The group was moving but not fast enough, Manuel was making noise like a bull in a fine China shop. Bobby and Josh were hampered by their robes and did not move fast enough either. Erin pointed them in a general direction and that he would leave signs of his passing. He sprinted ahead making very little noise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They followed the signs that were left behind for them. Thirty minutes later, Erin stopped them, coming out of the dark giving the rest of a group a scare, he put his finger to his mouth in a motion to quite his teammates.

“What is going on?” This was said in low voices as they came together.

“I think I found them.”

“Them? It’s a group.”

They made their way to the group walking very slowly and with no torch as they did not want to give themselves away. This was starting to look like it might end in a fight with whatever they were going to find.

They investigated a small clearing, there were dirty looking tents, and pale looking creatures. They were there looking through the items they had stolen. One was larger than the rest the others giving this one room, a smaller one reached out to grab something. The leader back handed the smaller one sending it flying a few feet and snarled.

The boys backed away and looked at each other, “Um what are those things?”

“Processing request… Processing Complete”

Error Unable to Comply!

Monster Type: Unknown

Abilities: Unknown

Difficulty Level: Low to Medium

Recommendation: Due to incomplete compendium of monsters this node is unable to give a recommendation.

“Looks like Maria won’t be able to help on this one.”

Manuel looked at his friends, “Looks like we don’t have a choice, we need to get those items back. [Reinforce].”

They moved out of the clearing making little to no noise. The creatures were busy looking at what they had stolen and did not notice the group as they approached.

“[Mark for Death]” Erin picked one of the creatures and cast the spell on him.

[Mark for Death] – Creature1 marked, damage increase on first shot, if critical will take half its HP.

The leader stopped what he was doing and raised its head sniffing around and looked to his right and saw the group. It snarled and made gestures to its underlings, roaring its displeasure at the invading group.

“[Blinding Light]” Bobby did not have many offensive spells, but he could do this. The creatures roared and covered their eyes.

[Blinding Light]: creatures temporarily blind and night vision to reduce by 75% for 120 seconds.

“[Taunt]” At this the creatures roared as they got part of their sight back and ran at Manuel.

Joshed moved to attack, “[Fireball]” the creature to the left of the leader went flying back not moving.

Fireball critical hit. Creature 1 of 5 defeated.

“[Bullseye]” Erin let his arrow fly, the arrow hit the creature to the right of the leader, it stumbled with an arrow sticking out of its shoulder.

[Bullseye] & [Mark for Death] consumed, critical hit miss, 25% of creatures HP taken.

Three creatures had reached Manuel including the leader. The one with the arrow had turned to Erin and moved slowly wary due to his injury. He aimed again and another arrow went flying, this time the arrow hit the creature on the leg further slowing it down.

Additional 25% of HP taken. 20/40 HP

The other creatures wailing at Manuel with their fist, he was able to block with his shield and kept the others back with this sword. The leader getting past his shield landed a solid hit on Manuel sending him flying backwards. That hurt, he had no time to worry about that, he saw the creatures incoming, had to get up make sure they continued to pay attention to him.

Manuel has received damage, 40/54 HP

Able to recover his feet before the next blow came from the leader, blocking it with his shield, “[Counter]!” he slashed at the leader, but the creature jumped back, his lackey on the right taking the blunt of the hit. The creature hurt backed up momentarily.

[Counter] damage missed it’s intended target, opportunity damage to secondary target. 32/40 HP

While Manuel was busy defending himself his comrades were working on the lone creature. Erin had been moving around the field to keep the creature of track. Casting “[Aim]” and knocking an arrow while Josh cast his own spell, “[Thunderbolt]” both releasing at the same time. Both the Thunderbolt and Arrow hit at the same time sending the creature flying into one of the dirty tents.

[Aim] + [Thunderbolt] have caused massive damage. Creatures defeated 2/5.

At this the friends turned to their tank and saw him struggling with the three remaining creatures. The leader was the biggest problem each blow from its fist would push Manuel back. The other smaller creatures the one on the right moving slower due to the gash it had received and the one on the left harrying Manuel any chance it could. Before them the smaller creature on the left landed a blow to Manuel’s sword arm. A scream came from his mouth.

Manuel has received damage, 30/54 HP

Erin sent another arrow flying hitting the hurt creature on the right. This was followed by Josh’s spells hitting the creature as well. But it took time to do this, took time for Erin to knock that arrow, pull, aim, then release. It took time for Josh to cast his spells, too much time. It could all go so wrong, one of them could get hurt like Manuel.

Bobby had been frozen because of the situation, he saw his friends fighting the creatures, but he was too scared to do anything beyond casting his Blinding spell. He felt like he could not contribute to the fight, it was frustrating. He heard Manuel scream, he had to do something, “[Heal]” raised his staff pointing it at Manuel.

[Heal] Manuel has recovered health à 39/54 HP

He cast it again and then again. Saw that his friend’s health went up each time he cast it. He felt better after doing this, being able to move once again. He was still afraid, his friends screaming had frightened and shocked him into action.

Manuel was able to recover thanks to Bobby’s healing, he had been afraid after receiving the hit, it felt like bone breaking, he had heard a crunch. And the pain was unbelievable, when Regi said they could feel pain he had not lied. But his friends were there, he was not alone, they would come through, and he in return would make sure that these creatures only attacked him. He slashed the creature that the other had shot dispatching him.

They all saw the message that three out of the five creatures were dead. The last two were still standing the leader and most dangerous saw his lackeys dispatched and his hits felt stronger. Manuel continued to hold their attention recasting his owns special abilities to keep them on him.

The fight continued, with the group firing on the creatures and the leader, but the leader was fast, he would dodge left, right, then back. The team holding back in fear of hitting Manuel was careful with the last two. They moved trying to get a good angle before trying again.

Josh saw an opening and he took it. “[Fireball]!” It went flying, the leader its intended target, at the last second grabbed his underling using it as a shield, the creature took the brunt of the hit. It threw it to the side and continued to attack Manuel.

Erin saw the creature starting to get up and he shot it. It did not rise again. He turned to see Manuel swinging his sword and trying to hit the leader. It jumped back looked around and howled seeing that all his kind were now gone.

Warning! Warning! Warning!

Leader has gone [Berserk].

[Berserk] – seeing his brethren killed has driven him mad and will not rest until your party is dead.

Affects: damage increase.

This was bad, they had to take him down and fast. Every second they wasted meant this creature could hurt them, even kill them.

Manuel would not let his friends get hurt, “[Reinforce][Wall][Taunt]!” The creature looked at Manuel murder in its eyes. “That’s right come at me, I’m the one you want!” The creature charged, Manuel was ready and held his ground as the creature pushed and wailed at him with his fist. Every hit felt like a three-hundred-pound lineman was hitting him, pushing him back slowly but surely.

The creature saw that it was not gaining any ground and backed off. Manuel was tired, so tired, he could feel sweat all over and he hurt. But he would hold his ground. The creature even through the rage it had an inkling of intelligence, it turned and started to charge at Josh.

Manuel saw its intention and was ready. “No, you don’t! [Hamstring]!” Manuel cut at its legs and a gash opened. The creature was slowed and turned to face Manuel once again. “[Shield Slam]!” It went stumbling back a few feet.

Josh had felt an alarm go off as the creature charged, he was not just scared but terrified of this thing. He heard Bobby scream his name, “Josh!” But he had no time to answer his friend. If Manuel had not done what he did Josh would have been badly hurt. They needed to finish this and now. He pointed his wand at the abomination and fired away, “[Fireball][Fireball][Fireball].” In rapid succession they flew at the creature. The first hit the creature and it stumbled than the second struck, the third missed as it got its footing and dodged it.

They did not give the creature time to regroup, behind Josh’s spells arrow after arrow came. An arrow hit the creature in the leg, one in the upper arm and one in the side. The creature had burn damage and arrows sticking out of it, but it was not down.

Enemy Leader has taken massive damage 75% health dropped.

With all the damage it had taken it was moving slower, but to say that it was no longer a threat would be to sign their own death warrants. It continued to attack Manuel even with more ferocity. How could the thing still be moving after all that?

“Come on, you can do better than that! I’m the one you want! [Taunt]!” Manuel needed to hold the creature; they were so close to defeating it. “Come on guys we got this! Let’s end it!”

This gave them a boost in morale that was sorely needed. Yes, they could do it, it was time to end this thing and recover the stolen items.

Erin buffed himself before taking aim again, “[Marksman][Bullseye]” let loose and let his arrow fly. It flew true, the creature turning his head at the last minute, the arrow impaling its eye. The head snapped back, and the creature collapsed. It was finally over they had won.

Congratulation's!!!

You have defeated the thieves and regained the stolen items.

Currency acquired: 1G 4S 10C

Ding* LV UP!

LV increase to LV3

By increasing to LV3 you have gained 2 STAT Points

They collapsed where they stood, exhausted from the fight. This was going to be hard; they had been hurt, they had been scared and it was not like a video game at all, the last fight had been easy in comparison to this one. The creatures before their eyes started to disintegrate. In seconds they were gone, the bodies and blood all gone. The leader was the last one to disappear, where he had been only a bag remained.

The battle had been merely ten minutes even though to the participants it felt like an eternity. With the adrenaline now gone they felt exhausted. Bobby looked in on Manuel and cast another healing spell on him and brought him up to full health. Manuel now back normal felt a little stiff and sore from the fight.

They looked in the tents and found mostly junk, except for the last one that was a little bigger, likely the leaders. Inside they found some items, a ring, and an amulet and another small bag with money. This was the life of an adventurer it was not going to be easy. They had not signed up for this, well in a sense they had but they were not really given a choice.