P2: Chapter Five

BeAutyBrokEn

She watched the road from a perch on top of a palm tree. With her expanded vision she could keep eyes on the road and the green snarl that was the vegetation of the forest meeting the swamp. Below her, knee deep in the swamp, BuTTherKup squealed with delight. “I found another!” She was pointing at what BeAutyBrokEn was sure was another treasure chest, if so it would have been the fourth. “This one has thirty gold in it, Beauty if you come down I’ll split it with you. Come on Beauty, come down from the trees and help me find more treasure.”

After checking that no one was near, BeAutyBrokEn stuck a few threads to one of the palm fronds. Holding on to these threads she quickly dropped from her perch, using them to control her descent she landed silently behind BuTTherKup. “Beauty?” BuTTherKup called.

“Maybe there .” said BeAutyBrokEn.

“Gah!” Is a close approximation of the sound BuTTherKup made as she spun around. The reeds in her skirt and the beads in her necklace made the sound of a sudden rainfall. “Beauty! You are scary good at that.” She handed BeAutyBrokEn fifteen gold who added it to her stash, “There you go. What do you want to do now?”

“I want to get in a fight.”

“Right, I knew that. Here’s what I think we should do.”

“Why do I feel that this is not going to lead to a fight.”

“No it is I promise. What I was going to say is what I was ready to head back to town, and we could walk on the road and see what come our way. I’m sure we’ll find a fight.”

“That sounds good. Why do you want to go back to town?” BeAutyBrokEn didn’t really want to have interact with other principles right now.

“Well for one I want to see what they have for sale now that I’ve found some money. I’m also curious to see what other principles are doing.”

“Have you been in a fight?” BeAutyBrokEn was trying to understand her friend's obvious reluctance to fight.

“Yes I have. Four actually, I haven’t  won any. This hammer is powerful, but slow.” BuTTherKup shrugged.

“What is your special attack?” BeAutyBroken asked.

“It’s a stunning wink. It seemed cute at the time, it’s stupid. They have to be looking right at me, haven’t been able to get the timing right.”

“You could yell at them.”

“Yell, what do you mean?”

“You know at the beginning of the fight, shout ‘hey or you!’ Or even ‘look here!’”

“Beauty, that is brilliant, seriously I think that will work, at least it should give me a window. I guess I don’t really like fight, it’s not what I’m looking for in AntruA. But you should try it. Every fight I’ve had took place on this road between here and the town, so it’s a good chance we’ll run into some trouble on the way. Put some money in your wallet and walk down that road and you’ll get attacked, I promise.”

“Ok, Let’s go.” BeAutyBrokEn figured heading back to the town was the as good a way to find a fight as any other. I was definitely better than sneaking out here the way they had, avoiding the road. As they walked she moved five gold from her stash and into her wallet. When BuTTherKup saw this she raised her eyebrows and said, “Wow, I meant put like two gold. Five, well five will definitely get you a fight.”

She was right, a tall broad shouldered man jumped in front of them. Apparently he had been hiding in a bush by the road. “Well aren’t you cute.”

StarCroxX

Level 1

Wallet 1AU

“Sweetheart, that is some chance you’re taking walking around with so much in your wallet. Not everyone is as nice as I. Galck.” This last sound was caused by one of BeAutyBrokEn’s threads impacting on the back of his mouth. He grabbed for his face with both hands, instead of going for his sword. “Aaaaagnth!” StarCroxX said when BeAutyBrokEn jerked on the thread connecting to the back of his face and he fell to his knees. A simple swing of her sword finished it, 1 kill +1 xp.

“What’s with the statue about?” BeAutyBrokEn asked after looting StarCroxX.

“You can watch the fight and it will get bigger if people like it. I haven’t seen any that have enough likes to grow much, it doesn’t seem like people are doing it. It’s an interesting idea though.” BuTTherKup touched the little statue, it shivered then grew maybe an inch taller. “I can’t believe you got him in the mouth like that. Were you trying to do that?”

BeAutyBroKen laughed, “I was just trying to shut him up.”

“Well you did. You kicked his butt.”

“Are you two lost, they look lost don’t they.” The voice seemed to freeze BeAutyBrokEn for a moment.

“They sure do, maybe they need help.” A second voice. She turned to face them.

“No! They’re not lost, They’re waiting.” A third voice!

Facing them she let out a slow breath when she saw that it was only three. She looked closer

     BonkerBill                                      CrazyChris                              ZannyZander                                 

                    Level 1                                             Level 1                                        Level 2

                Wallet 1AU                                      Wallet 1AU                                Wallet 1AU

“Yeah right, what do ya think they are waiting for?” This was ZannyZander, who BeAutyBrokEn recognized as the second voice.

CrazyChris spoke and she heard voice three, “Us! They’re waiting for us!”

“Is that true? Are you waiting for us?” BonkersBill spoke and now all voices had a name. BeAutyBrokEn spoke making her voice flirty. “What do you know? We were waiting for you.”

BuTTherKup grabbed her arm, “we can’t!” She whispered desperately, “there are three of them and one is a level two.”

“It’s ok, we can do this, I know we can.” She patted her friend’s shoulder.

“So we are here, what did you want?” BonkersBill asked. All three seemed cut from the same cloth, pale skin and red shaved heads. All three wore matching black t-shirts. These shirts were emblazoned with the capital letter T, under each arm was an 8.

BeAutyBrokEn glared at them, “We were waiting for you.” Then caught up in the drama of it she said. “So we could kill you.”

“HaHaHa,” CrazyChris laughed, “No way. Not a chance.”

“Look at me!” BuTTherKup shouted. CrazyChris and BonkersBill looked and she winked at them. Two jaws dropped a little and both bodies seemed to sag. Behind them, unaffected by BuTTherKup’s spell, ZannyZander took a boomerang off his back and chucked it with a grunt. BeAutyBrokEn ducked and it went whistling past her head.

As soon a it past her she flicked three threads at it trying to knock it down before it came back. The first two missed, but the third hit and stuck. It was like holding a fly on a leash. She watched the spinning weapon as it started to rotate back towards them, she judge it was going to go right back to ZannyZander. He apparently thought so too as he was now standing with one hand, in a thick glove, over his head. Not wanting to let the enemy get his weapon back, BeAutyBrokEn pulled on the thread, hard. The boomerang hurtled from the sky, fast, too fast for ZannyZander to adjusting his protected hand and stop it from thudding into his chest. He collapsed with a slightly silly look on his face. 1 kill +1 xp >lvl +1 xp.

BuTTherKup had taken out CrazyChris. But BonkersBill was still on his feet. Facing BuTTherKup he brought his hand together in front of him, the resulting clap was a concussive explosion sending BuTTherKup rolling like a rag doll. As his hands separated BeAutyBrokEn threw a thread which hit and stuck in his left palm. Ignoring the needle BonkersBill started walking towards her. Trying to stop his advance she frantically threw threads at him with little to no effect as he held his hand before his face. He stepped in range of his clap attack, BeAutyBrokEn knew she was running out of time and pulled on all the threads stuck to him. He was much stronger than she was and able to resist the tug,    then he clapped. The concussion hit like a wall, knocking her to the ground her head spinning. She struggled to turn over to face her opponent while trying to draw her short sword. The scabbard got tangled with her legs and she fell over again. She heard a step, she closed her eyes awaiting the death blow. There was a thud, then the thump of something heavy hitting the ground.

BeAutyBrokEn opened her eyes and looked into BonkersBill’s eyes. The eye’s fuzzed and soon disappeared. She sat up and took BuTTherKup’s offered hand. When she had successfully gained her feet, she shook her head clearing the cobwebs. “What happened? Did you kill him?” She asked.

“Yes!” BuTTherKup’s face practically glowed with her smile. “You can watch the statue and see what happened if you like, But before you do, you need to check out the statue from your fight. Beauty you leveled up!”

BeAutyBrokEn was surprised and ecstatic, more so when she saw that she could add a new skill. Remembering that in the last fight her opponent pretty much shrugged off her attack. She needed something to offset the strength differential she would be facing. After a few moments of thought she added a new skill she dubbed ‘web’ which allowed her to layer the threads to create a net with which she could styme her enemies. At least that was the idea anyway. With that done and her Token pocketed BuTTherKup suddenly asked, “you only have two kills right? Because I only have two kills too, I didn’t level up?”

“I have three xp, I got two for killing the level two guy. So maybe you just need one more to level up. I actually think that I’m not ready to head back to town yet. I want to stay out here and find more fights, get stronger. If you want, we can try and set it up so you get a kill and level up.”

“I don’t know. I still don’t really enjoy the fighting. I’d rather head back to town. I guess we can split up. You let me know if you are in town and we’ll meet up.”

“Right and when you are exploring I will join you as a bodyguard.”

“Hey yeah, I like it. Okay I’ll see you soon. Kick butt out there.”  

P2: Chapter Four

RotheRed

A small ninja sat on the shoulder of a tall mud golem. RotheRed looked at them, his newest recruits. An odd pair no doubt, but he had seen them fight; they fought like demons. The golem was named MaoMao420, the ninja was FreiMarkt. “Are you guys ready for your first mission?”

“Sure man, but we’re a squad we go together, Ok.” FreiMarkt said.

“That’s fine,” RotheRed was planning to do that already, “MaoMao420 due to your higher level I’m putting you in charge of this mission.”

“No. I speak for him. I’m in charge.” FreiMarkt stood up on the golem’s shoulder and crossed his arms in front of his chest. MaoMao420 nodded.

“Do you speak?” RotheRed was curious he didn’t really care one way or the other if the guy choose to be mute.

“Yep.” MaoMao420’s voice was deep and gravelly.

“And this is good with this?” RotheRed wanted to do his due diligence and to avoid any possible drama down the road.

“Yep.”

“Ok then.” RotheRed shrugged, then pointed to his map. “I want you to retrace the path I took to get here from Ourp. Once there I want you to investigate to find if there is any blue influence in the town. Scope the place out then come back and report back to me, Is that understood?”

“Yessir.” FreiMarkt said, they both threw up sloppy salutes.

“Good, but cut that sir stuff, I want everyone to call me Boss is that clear?”

“Yes, Boss.” They both nodded.

“Good, now get out there and start your mission. On your way out tell BrutAl, I want to know as soon as the delivery is here.”

The door closed on them both and RotheRed was left alone with his thoughts. He zoomed out as far as he could on the map on his desk. It was almost completely blank, two small dots connected by a thin line running across the top left of the map were the only blemishes, That pair was just one of six scouting parties he had sent out, None had returned yet. He felt blind, and patience had never been a strength, right now he couldn’t see any other option, Waiting.  

Fortunately there were other distractions, like running this bar if that’s what it was. It had only been a few minutes before knock he was waiting for came. “Enter.” He barked.

Noise poured in as the door opened, “Boss, that delivery is here.” BrutAl said, only his head sticking through the open door.

“Good,” RotheRed said standing up. His sword was hanging on his chair, “come in and close the door,” he spoke while belting it on. “How is it out there?”

“It’s good, busy. It’s good the delivery is here, we’re set to run out in a couple of hours. Boss, I think you should consider getting a second barrel, principles really like this TonicZ,. I’ve had to hold some back to make it last this long. They’re all calling it TZ now.”

“TZ, that’s good, I like that. That’s a good idea i think I’ll get three.” RotheRed took his shield from where it hung behind his chair. He paused to adjust it on his arm, “when I’m talking to the goblin out there, see if you can get the gorilla talking.”

“Ok Boss, should I talk about anything particular?”

“No, no just keep it general, try to get friendly with him. There is something not right about those guys, I’m just not sure what. Ok, let’s go. Close the door behind you.”

After the quiet of his office, the common room was rockus. RotheRed felt the glow of satisfaction at seeing all the tables full, and every patron represented the color red. Some heads turned as they exited the office, they watched as he walked to the back door. He turned to the room and waved to those watching. There was a resounding cheer of “Red! Red! Red!” With the corners of his mouth threatening to twist up, he opened the door and walked out to the waiting goblin.

“Greetings!” The goblin seemed inappropriately pleased with himself. Behind him the gorilla leaned on its cart. RotheRed was glad to see at least six barrels were loaded in the cart, it didn’t seem that supply was going to be a problem. He focused on the goblin the same way that he would to get any other principle to see their information, there was nothing.

“Hey buddy, principles liked that TonicZ right. Did it sell well? I bet it did. It did! I can see it on your face.”

“You’re right, it was just like you said principles love TonicZ.” As RotheRed talked he also walked giving BrutAl the space he would need to start a conversation with the gorilla. “Yes in fact they like it so much I am interested in ordering more barrels.”

“Oh good!” The goblin rubbed his hands together, his exaggerated good cheer creeped RotheRed out. “We would be happy to increase your order size, we even offer discounts.”

This was good news, “what kind of discount are you talking?”

“You are paying fifty gold for a barrel, I can do eighty for two or one-ten for three. Before you ask, remember what I told you on our very first meeting; These prices are not negotiable.” The goblins face went dark and serious as it said this, RotheRed felt as if he was seeing the true identity behind the mask. Quickly that disappeared, the cheerful creepy goblin said, “so how many do you want? Two or three?”

“Uh,” RotheRed was feeling disquieted by the whole interaction, “I guess we’ll take three.” The money exchange was handled quickly, as soon as the money disappeared into the goblins money belt he whistled sharply at the gorilla. “Hey! You! Move!” He snapped his fingers at the gorilla until it gave a snort and looked at him. The goblin held up three fingers, “three! You stupid ape! Three barrells, got it? Three.”

Without any change in it expression the gorilla casually reached into the carted and started to unload the barrels with a single hand. RotheRed signalled to BrutAl, “Go get Chef Bob, tell him he will need help getting the barrels inside.”

“Ok Boss.”

When there were three barrells were on the ground the goblin walked back over to RotheRed. “We would like to set up a regular delivery with you. I can offer a further discount to that end, say three barrels for an even one hundred. every two weeks.”

“Alright, that will work. We pay you at the time of delivery?”  

“No, now that we have a delivery scheduled it will just be that ape over there.” The goblin pointed at the gorilla who was placing the third barrel on top of the other two. “Great it looks like the lug is done, he’ll take your money at the time of delivery, does that work?”

“Sure,” RotheRed said, that feeling of disquiet returning.    

Great! Fantastic! If you want to change the quantity just tell him, On the next delivery I’ll join him to work that out with you” The goblin was already walking away by the time he was finished talking. “Wait!” RotheRed had one last question, “who do you work for!” He shouted to make sure he was heard. “Zed,” the goblin yell over his shoulder.

RotheRed wasn’t sure what he had expected to learn when he had asked, he truthfully hadn’t really expected to get an answer. But he had and the answer had just created more questions. It also struck him as a little sinister. The back door to the Red Room opened behind him and disgorged BrutAl, ChefBobone65, and two principles RotheRed didn’t know. At a quick glance these unknowns were both reping the color red so he took them for soldiers a theory backup by their willingness to take ChefBobone65’s orders. As they set to the task of moving the big barrels into the social room RotheRed beckoned BrutAl over. “Did you get anything from the gorilla?”

“No, nothing. I mean he barely acknowledged I was there. But Boss, he is strong. Did you see how easily he unload those barrels? Look at those two noobs, their struggling to move one together, he did that with one arm!” BrutAl’s gestured to the two soldier who were struggling mightily to follow ChefBobone65 who was handling one himself.

“Don’t forget were all were noobs here. But you’re right he is immensely powerful, did you notice anything else?” RotheRed asked.

“Actually yeah,” BrutAl was looking a little bashful, “I wasn’t going to say anything because I’m not sure that it wasn’t something I did wrong. I couldn't see his name or his level or anything. I tried, I know I did.”    

“You did. The same thing happened to me with the goblin. I think of why they would be able to hide that. I need to know more? Can you follow them without being seen?”

“Yeah I can Boss. I figure out where they are based then I’ll return and report.” BrutAl snapped to order.

“Good. Go.” RotheRed returned the salute, then watched for a few moments as BrutAl stalked east. In the quiet of dusk he turned and entered the noisy hub that was the main social room in the Red Room. He quickly took stock of the room and was pleased that there was a line at the bar and many tables spotted a mug or three. Not wanting to draw attention to himself he quickly ducked into his office.

He was thrilled to see that Chefbobone65 had placed a carafe of TZ, and a glass on his desk. With care he filled the glass and sipped, then sighed. A metallic flavor spread from the back of his mouth, indicating the early stages in the TZ effects. He turned and hung his shield on its spot on the wall, removed his sword belt and hung it on his chair. Each move was distinct, thought through to the nth degree. He pulled out his chair, then sat and unrolled the map, covering his mostly empty desk.

The map was a mostly blank page. two small drops connected by a thin line were the only marks to mar it perfect blankness. RotheRed touched the map with thumb and forefinger of each hand, then moved his hands pulling away from the shape, a bent barbell, zooming in. He needed to get out of here, this bar or social hall whatever it was. He had created it and now it suffocated him. Even with the TZ coursing through his mind, fueling it to go faster slowing the rest of the world, he didn’t know what to do. He just needed to get out, move.

RotheRed wasn’t aware of how oppressive the quiet in his office had become, until the knock on the door shattered it. The door opened before he could respond. three bodies rushed in. FreiMarkt closely followed by MaoMao420 and David23, RotheRed’s bodygaurd. “I’m sorry Boss, they rushed the door. Do you want me to throw them out?”

“No, but please shut the door.” Once this was done he turned on the other two. “What are you two doing here? You only left, what a half an hour ago. There’s no way you could have made it to Orup and back yet.”

“We’re sorry Boss. We were ambushed and defeated,” FreiMarkt said sheepishly. “We thought we should tell you before heading back out there.”

“So who was it?” RotheRed asked.

“It happened too fast. They got me with an arrow so I didn’t see anything. MaoMao says he was defeated by a woman in blue.” FreiMarkt said.

“Do you think she was in the Blue Army?” RotheRed asked MaoMao420.

“No way of knowing.”

RotheRed’s mind was spinning. This was what he had wanted; Something to do. “David get what you need we’re going with them.”

“Boss, are you sure, I mean we need you here.” David23 was all concern, he saw his role as bodyguard to limit the risk as much as possible.

“No I need to be out there. I must know what is happening.” RotheRed zoomed in on his map, focusing on Norca. “FreiMarkt show me where this happened.” The small ninja was too short to see the top of the desk while standing on the floor. He quickly climbed his friend and then lept to the desk from MaoMao420’s shoulder. He went to one knee and pointed to the road just beyond went in to where it crossed into the forest. “The arrow took me here, right after we entered the tree line.”

“You were attacked by at least two, do think there are more. What the immediate concern is what this the advance of a large attack, should I mobilize the whole army?”

MaoMao420 spoke up, “I don’t think this was a large attack. It seemed like they might have been watching the road, trying to keep us from following it further. There is no way to know till we go back.”

“Then let’s go.” RotheRed took his shield off the wall then turned back to the others. “We are going to split our forces, David and I will take the left side of the road, you take the right. Stay close enough that you can see the road, that way we can support each other.”

Freimarkt jumped from the desk, resuming his position on MaoMao420’s shoulder, “We’re ready Boss, do you want us to head out now and scout ahead?”

RotheRed felt the TonicZ moving in his limbs, the anticipation of action moved in his stomach. He finished belting on his sword, “I’m ready. let’s go.”  

P2: Chapter Three

Ragnar

“It’s time, your shift is done, I got a clue.” MoProbs was impatient, bouncing from one foot to the other.

“Relax, you’re scaring the customers.” Ragnar turned to AsLionsMain, “Are you good?”

“Yeah man,” AsLionsMain waved, “Have a good time out there. Hey good luck with your hunt!”

MoProbs ignored the jibe as he lead the way out into the street. “Ok, we’re heading south. HidYKIlla was kicked out of the Red Room an hour ago! I spoke with Chef Bob, He said they kicked her out of town, She was last seen heading south, If we hurry we can catch her.”

They quickly reached the edge of town, and soon the noise and light it was behind them. They found they were walking in the lonely emptyness of the grass plans. Wind moving through the grass turned it into a softly moving sea silver in the light of the moon.

With no trees, the plan was dotted with small dark clumps which Ragnar thought must be bushes, there seemed no place to hide. “Remember,” MoProbs said suddenly, “HidYKIlla can camouflage herself. I know she is close, I can feel it.”

“And do what!?” The voice came from behind them. Ragnar had his axe in hand by the time he had turned around.

“You!” MoProbs shouted as he pointed his sword, “You Tokened the wrong character, now your running has come to the end.”

“You talk big. I’m not running.” HidYKIlla taunted.

“I’m going to take your Token, If you come back, and Token again. I will hunt you down.” MoProbs snarled, flames emerging the from the hilt of his sword. From past experience Ragnar knew that soon the whole blade would be consumed in flame. MoProbs called this his phoenix blade, as the the blade burned it became more powerful, it was also consumed.

HidYKIlla began to draw her wings around her body. “Ohh, fire, not scared. You can’t hunt me, you can’t Token me, you can’t kill me, because you can’t see me.” This was true, by the time she had finished speaking there was only voice.

The flame on MoProbs sword reached the tip of the blade. At that moment the flame flared up, it was no longer a fire it was an inferno. Ragnar, standing a few feet away could feel the heat radiating out. It wasn't just the heat, the blade was now radiating bright, slightly flickering, light. Ragnar heard HidYKIlla hiss, and he could see her. It was her shadow he could see, a black form on the ground. It extended out from two points, here was the body.

MoProbs acted before Ragnar could, with a perfectly executed lunge. The flaming sword struck with a crack as the sword was consumed, a sound that might have been a scream seemed to echo the flash that had resulted in the release of power. Ragnar tried to blink away the spots of light that hovered in his vision, through them he could see MoProbs had ignored the level up statue and was kneeling over the now prostrate body of HidYKIlla, looting it.

Rangar watched as his partner slowly stood up and pulled his Token out of his wallet. Suddenly a light flashed from one of MoProbs’ hands to the other, soon he was surrounded in a small tornado of light. Beams of energy extended out and tore at the body and the level up statue. This only lasted a moment, almost as soon as it had started the vortex of light had retracted back into the hand which held his Token. MoProbs let out a long sigh, looking and fiddling with the face of his Token.

“Wow,” Ragnar said after a moment. “That was intense, what just happened?”

“I did it.” MoProbs said, putting away his Token. “She’s gone, look at the little headstone. I didn’t get the experience for the kill, on the upside I did get her skill, blend. Look here at my sword, It has a notch on it now, that’ s kind of cool. Hey do you want to see my new skill?”

“Of course, do it.”

MoProbs’ outfit had been standard leather armor with a short cape, it was this cap that now changed. In a flicker this cape seemed to disappear, leaving his head floating disembodied a few feet above his legs. Ragnar laughed out loud quickly joined by MoProbs when he looked down at his missing chest. “Whoo!” Ragnar slowly stopped laughing. “So now, mr bounty hunter. Now that we have fulfilled our first bounty should we head back to town to see if we can’t get a new one?”

MoProbs smiled, then looked down the road, south, the direction they had been heading. Ragnar looked too, the land was mostly flat and clear. Far to the west was the faint shadow of mountains, MoProbs turned and looked back towards Norca. “No I think we should keep going, I want to see if this road will take us to those mountains.”

As they walked the light slowly changed and soon they were witness to a stunning display of the world color palette. Ragnar was engrossed in watching the beauty of the sunrise, never had he ever experienced anything like it. Without thinking about he stopped walking and just watched as the black faded to purple, then spreading from the east horizon like fire reds oranges finally yellow. A crescent of bright yellow picked over the world, soon the sun shone sending the last shadows of night back to where it had come.

At night it had felt as though they walked through flat emptiness, a sea of softly waving grass. In the daylight they could see that the land was changing as they got closer to the mountains. The road began to traverse slight changes in elevation, which soon became small hills. As the hills grew in size the ratio of grass to rock changed, The plants around them changed accordingly, becoming more wild, only the most resilient able to maintain a foothold in the rough terrain.

The reached the top of one such hills, both breathing hard from the ascent. Pausing at the crest they saw that the road dipped down into a wide gully where it forked. Ragnar noted with pleasure that one fork head up onto the mountain disappearing around a wrinkle in the slope the other fork continued in the gully running parallel to the mountain as far as they could see. Ragnar started down the into the gully.

“Wait!” MoProbs said as he grabbed Ragnar’s shoulder. “Look, to the right of the fork, what is that? It kind of looks like a door, do you think?” He pointed to a tumble of rocks that leaned against the foot of the mountain.

“I don’t know, I think that is just a trick of the shadow. I mean would there be more here if there was a town, right?”

“You’re right, but those lines look to straight to be natural. I guess we should check it out on our way past. You go first, I’ll watch your back.” MoProb drew his sword as Ragnar started down into the gully.

His first step started a few small stones rattling down the slope. Before the stones had stopped three characters burst from the pile of stones MoProbs had identified as a door. One of the characters spread wings and took to the sky, Ragnar tried to track it but it quickly flew into the glare of the sun forcing him to look away blinking away spots.

“Dudes, chill guys, we’re friendly.” The speaker's face was not yet visible, hidden under the hood of a tie dyed robe.

“If you’re so friendly, what’s with the guy in the sun?” Ragnar was not ready to drop his guard. “Mo, until that guy comes down, keep an eye on the sky. I’ll talk with these guys, ok?”

“Got it.”

“You guys are careful, that’s cool, I dig.” The two characters were closer now, the speaker pulled his hood back revealing the flat head and green grin of a gakko, his tongue came out and licked his eye. He held a twisty wooden staff which he pointed towards the sun. “Up there that’s Evil, don’t worry about Evil. Seriously we are not looking for a fight, Evil just makes sure if you want one, we win it. Look if you put your weapons up, I’ll call Evil down.”

Ragnar focused on the characters in front of him.

LizZard                                                                  Pisces3318

Level 2                                                                 Level 1

Wallet-2AU                                                             Wallet-1AU

LizZard’s robe was tie dyed blues, greens, and yellows overlapping in splashes and swirls. Other than the staff he seemed unarmed. His stooped, friendly demeanor was offset by his companion. Pisces3318 had a stocky humanoid body with the head of a catfish, The eyes looking back at Ragnar were wise and seemed a little sad. He was dressed in rusty plate armor and was holding a trident in one hand. Ragnar felt that LizZard was probably being genuine. If they could get this Evil down, and as long as it wasn’t super powerful, Ragnar felt that if it came to a fight they could win. But they needed to get Evil down. “Ok,” he said and he did, he could hear the scrape of MoProbs’ sword going back into its scabbard. “Call your friend down here and let’s talk.”

LizZard licked his eye again then lifted his staff over his head. “Evil, come down dude, These guys are cool.”

There was a swoosh of air as Evil plummeted from the sky, landing lightly with a large dust billow. When the dust cleared Ragnar focused and saw,

EvilAngel

Level 2

Wallet-2AU

Evil was thin and completely without any gender indications. It had no hair, including brows or lashes. Two small horns graced its pink forehead. It held a bow and it’s wings did the work of cloths. Evil regarded the group then seemed to start to extend its wings. There was a poof, the austir angel had been replaced by a grinning cherub.

“Oh creepy, Evil.” LizZard said.

“Goo!” Cooed Evil, who then bent to place one big toe in his mouth and began to suck.

“No Evil, take that out of your...” LizZard stopped when Evil started to slowly spin, making loud sounds of wet enjoyment. “Nevermind.” He turned towards Ragnar and MoProbs, “I don’t see any red but are you a soldier in the Red Army? What brings you guys to Camp Out?”

“No we’re not in the Red Army. What is Camp Out?” MoProbs said.

“If you’re not a Red soldier, come on and I’ll show you.” LizZard’s smile grew even bigger. He led them to the door in the rock pile. They entered a large well lit cave, the wall behind them was full of scattered holes acting as windows. Three tables and chairs cluttered up the middle of the floor, a fourth table was next to a door in the wall in front. Two prints hung on the other walls, opposite from each other. One showed the sun setting over mountain peaks, the other a sunrise over the ocean. “Welcome to Camp Out!” LizZard cried out, after he had shut the door, his arms flung out in a gesture of welcome. He gestured to a table, then took a seat smiling as he waited for Ragnar and MoProbs to join him.    

“This is incredible,” Ragnar asked, “How did you find this?”

“It was Fish and me.”

“Fish?” MoProbs interrupted.

“It’s what they call me here.” Pisces3318 spoke for the first time, his voice deep and gravely.

“Ok,” MoProb smiled, “did you guys find it like this?”

“No,” LizZard said, “no, there was nothing here when we first got here. We were looking for a place to hang out that wasn’t Norca. We thought this little valley might be a good spot. I was moving a stone to be a table and I found a scroll, the scroll directed us to draw this space. We did, and then it was here. When more characters came we were able to expand using the same scroll.”

“Did you also pick the decor?” Asked Ragnar gesturing to the paintings.

“No,you see it as we found it. It’s super cool right?”

“It is that.” MoProbs said, “You said more characters came, how many stay here?”

“We are a pretty small, loose community of maybe twenty. The only thing we really have in common is that we were tired of Norca,” LizZard said. “Is that why you came? Because you’re tired of Norca?”

“No, not really,” Ragnar replied.

“We’re bounty hunters,” MoProbs interjected.

“Bounty hunters, you’re not here for any of us are you?” LizZard looked amused.

“No, nothing like that,” Ragnar said. “We were just exploring after completing our last bounty when we found this place.”

“You’re saying that characters will put out bounties on other characters?” LizZard sounded sceptical, “and they’ll pay you for this?”

“Do you know about Tokening?” MoProbs asked.

Pisces3318 looked even sadder, “Yeah, I’m very familiar with that hideous act.”

“Did it happen to you?” Ragnar asked. Pisces3318 just nodded.

“I’m sorry, me too,” MoProbs said sympathetically. “That is what we do. We take bounties on the characters who took Tokens. The characters who place the bounty are usually weak and don’t want to wait till they are strong enough to get their revenge.”

“How much is a bounty?” Pisces3318 asked.

“We are starting at twenty gold. That will probably change as we get a better idea of the market.” MoProb said.

“I’ll pay you thirty to get the bastard who Tokened BigBass13110.”

“Wait Fishy, why?”

“He’s right, LizZard, I don’t want to have anything more to do with that jerk. I definitely don’t want to waste any more time thinking about him. But I will happily pay someone else to do it.” Pisces3318 was already sitting up straighter.

“Fish, can I call you that?” MoProbs spoke up quickly not wanting the sale to slip away, “thanks, we can start now if you would like.”

“Yeah, do I pay you now or what?”

“Once the bounty is complete you pay. Fish do you know anyone else, who hangs out here and is like you?” MoProbs said.

Pisces3318 nodded, “yeah, I was talking with four or five others last night.”

MoProbs turned to LizZard, “Do you think I could stay here for a little bit, maybe set up a little office. Put out a shingle, if you will?”

LizZard seemed to think for a moment then shrugged, “I don’t see why not. If you want I’ll show you the scroll and you can add whatever you’re looking for.”

“That would be great.” MoProbs started to get up.

“Hey! What about me?” Pisces said.

“Fish, The Band of The Golden Hand is on the job, Ragnar will take some import information from you then get started on the investigation.” With that he walked away following LizZard, Pisces3318 turned his sad eyes to Ragnar.