Chapter 1

  Immediately the status display popped up in front of me displaying my character in all of his level one glory.

  Name: Bertram Framer

  Title: FirstMan

  Race: Human

  Class: N/A

  Level: 1

  Statistics:

  Health Points: 8/8

  Mana Points: 25/25

  Stamina Points 50/50

  Vitality: 8

  Strength: 10

  Dexterity: 8

  Intelligence: 8

  Wisdom: 8

  Charisma:10

  Endurance: 10

  Luck: 6

  Equipment:

  Quarterstaff

  Simple Cloak

  Simple Leather Boots

  Simple Leather Gloves

  Inventory:

  Simple Pouch (Empty)

  “System, party interface.”

  Party Interface: Filled Slots 1 of 5

  Brigitte Suneid

  Level 5

  Class: Warmaiden

  (Unconsious: 6/8 hours)

  Death’s Door- Due to Hyper Beam Attack from Corrupted Golem

  Wounded- Upper shoulders and neck have suffered severe burns that require medical attention for full recovery (Recovering)

  Vitality: 16 (-6)

  Strength:14

  Dexterity:18 (-4)

  Intelligence:14

  Wisdom:12

  Charisma:12 (-2)

  Luck:10

  I breathed a sigh of relief that she was going to regain consciousness so soon. I had seen players and creatures under for days because of the same attack she had suffered from. System, mapping” I said after examining Brigittes status.

  A large virtual sheet of vellum unfurled in front of me showing my immediate region on a smaller square of parchment overlaying the vellum which displayed the map in it’s entirety. I immediately concentrated and zoomed in closer on our location. I saw our markers, green for myself and blue for Brigitte. Her marker had a circle surrounding her arrow marking her as a party member. A thin blue ribbon ran beside us from up in the reaches of the mountains down past towards a copse of woods about a mile away from where we were now. I scoured the map for any markers denoting towns or outposts of any sort. The only one I could spot immediately was the name of the river that ran next to us. It was named The River Ilith and I saw it branched off into multiple smaller streams that sank into the ground in the center of the region I had found myself in. I saw the keep we had absconded fro, it’s marker flashing red as it was currently being occupied by opposing forces. I toggled the info panel on the keep and was provided with a shocking piece of information.

  Wasters Want

  Keep of The StoneWardens(NPC Guild)

  Status-Overrun

  The StoneWardens? Those guys are no joke.

  I had met several from their guild on a few different runs of mine and every time I did I had been unsure of my own status as an adventurer. They were true powerhouses and the guild had been around for years. The fact that they lost an outpost to a couple dozen orcs and a golem set a sense of foreboding in my bones. First I spawned in one of the toughest regions of the world and now a famous guild had been ousted from their own home?

  Putting those thoughts away I zoomed out more on our current region hoping to come across some road or something. It took me zooming out a few times before I finally caught an emblem come into view. It glowed a soothing pink color. My breath caught in excitement. “Yes.” I breathed out. I stood and reached down hoisting Brigitte on my shoulders again. Somewhat refreshed, I followed the river towards our goal.

  It took longer than I wanted it to reach our location. Brigitte weighed upon me and I could only bemoan my level status. The rivulet of water running beside us had grown into a bubbling stream and the undergrowth had cropped up all around us. Thick fronds of ferns hung over the water and trees had begun to crowd my path, their thick roots making my trek all the more difficult. It wasn’t until I was almost upon our destination that I discovered a path not marked on my map. It was well traveled but not paved or anything that would validate it’s existence in the game as a true path made by the A.I. I breathed easier now my steps more sure down a path carved through the wilderness.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The whole way my nerves had been on end. We were making our way out of The Gilded Ridge and into The Lost Rhine. I had never come to this region as it’s quests never suited the ones I usually took. You see I was always a magic user. Always. If i didn’t have access to the Winds I was just another disgruntled player amongst millions. These types of regions were made for the Rogues, the Tanks, the Warlocks. In my opinion that is. I much preferred the flat golden plains of the Capital to spread destruction on World Events consisting of massive monsters and encroaching armies. The crown was always hiring adventurers to purge hives of Inoy or curb the advance of the Dark Armies of the North.

  Now I was a clean slate with no outlet for the Winds around. I had no way of safely gaining skills or levels in these regions either. No one came out here below level fifty. The creatures that prowled this far south were known for their brutality and viciousness. I was lucky even now, two hours into our trek, that we had not been attacked. I heard some noises in the distance every now and then but nothing that was close enough to warrant a reaction any greater than treading carefully.

  Rounding a bend in the path I saw a signpost staked deep into the soil. Welcome travellers. The Caged Wyvern. Behind the sign the the path expanded outwards into a large entrance to a small well lit building. A small fence enclosed the whole place and right next to a battered and worn door a tall metal cage sat. Inside the cage a stone sculpture of a wyvern sitting on it’s curled tail flared it’s wings open at all that approached and it’s face was affixed mid roar it’s teeth bared menacingly. A sign hung swinging from the eave that covered the entrance upon it the words The Caged Wyvern. I could hear the soft notes of some stringed instrument floating out of the building. I approached the door with relief before freezing in place as the instrument cut off and I heard rough, distinctly monstrous laughter float in it’s place.

  “No no no. Not here too.” I retreated as quietly as I could watching the door. I heard a chair scrape up on hard wooden floor and heavy steps walked around. It barked something in the now all too familiar orcish language and began moving towards the doorway. I scrambled back looking frantically around for a hiding spot. Nothing better stood out except the surrounding bushes off the main path and i shoved my way into them dropping Brigitte unceremoniously on the ground beside me. I crouched down and pulled my staff from my inventory into my hands grasping it nervously. The door opened and the hulking form of an orc stumbled out of the inn the light silhouetting him. The face of the creature was even more misshapen than normal. His dim yellow eyes glowed in the dim light and a thin white scar ran from his chin to his forehead. He made his way around the fence pointing and laughing at the carving of the wyvern as he passed it. My hands were suddenly slick as I handled the staff. He’s absolutely smashed. The orc wasn’t dressed in the wargear the other group I had encountered was. Just a filthy linen shirt and pants that didn’t even reach his ankles. The only other adornment was a sword strapped to his waist by a wide belt, it’s edge exposed and jagged. A smile began to creep across my face, albeit still nervous, a plan began to form in my mind. The orc made his way around the building and disappeared behind it. Brigitte had been able to kill these types of orcs with ease. While she was level five and had been well equipped the stats weren’t that big of a difference.

  I groped in the dark until my hand came in contact with Brigittes belt. I reached a little further and grasped a dagger she had sheathed on her belt and drew it out softly. While the staff was larger I knew I wouldn’t be able to maximize the orc’s vulnerability like i could with a sharp blade. Feeling slightly more prepared I crept up to the gate and around it keeping my eye on the door the whole time. I could hear inside more sets of feet stomping around, even a laugh or two. The noise was beginning to fray my nerves when the stringed instrument started up again. I shook my head in disgust slightly. Those monsters shouldn’t be so gifted with instruments. Usually it was war drums or horns you would be hearing when confronted with orcs, but every now and then you found them playing on silky strings in a wayward cavern. The sounds echoing off the walls. I made it to the wyvern in it’s cage safely enough. I couldn’t hear as well with the music playing but if the orcs demeanor was any indication they all had helped themselves to the inns liquor. Making my way around the building I caught sight of the lone orc. He was relieving himself against the back part of the fence. I caught a string of sound coming from him and realized he was humming along to the tune. I crept up behind him taking care with each step. I made it about halfway.

  The orcs sharp ears perked up and he turned around still pissing, one hand gripping his manhood the other reaching for his sword. I leapt forward closing the last several feet between us as fast as I could. I saw the orc open his mouth and with a grunt my arm whipped forward like a ballista launching the dagger at the creature. He stumbled back in surprise raising the hand that was going for his sword up over his face. But it was too late and the spinning dagger imbedded itself in the orcs mouth causing him to choke in surprise. I was not even a second behind as I cleared the distance with a leap my hands clenched into fists which I slammed into the daggers pommel pushing it deeper into the orc. He fell back, the garbled cry dying in his throat before it could be unleashed. I fell on top of him and we both toppled to the ground. We spun and I ended up under the beast. The weight knocked the breath out of me in a wheezing whoosh of air while I desperately tried to twist the orcs head in any direction to cause the dagger to make it’s way deeper. The orc, meanwhile, just twitched on top of me, a thick severed tongue falling out of it’s mouth in a cascade of blood.

  Orc Scout Level 5 Slain

  Level UP!

  Please allocate attribute points.

  Level UP!

  Please allocate attribute points.

  I froze. Two levels. The blood didn’t stop. The music hadn’t either. I was still undiscovered. I lay there for a few more moments before the smell suddenly overwhelmed me. In disgust I pushed the body off of me and rolled onto my hands and knees. I stared at the body before I quickly retrieved my dagger and touched my hand to it to loot the body.

  Set of Roughspun Clothing

  Orcish Sword

  I took both of them and a countdown timer appeared over the orc’s head.

  6 hours til decay

  I dragged the body to a more shadowed corner of the gated yard before I began to scout for entrances to the inn. The front door was all well and good for a normal inn but what I needed was a window or some sort of break in the building to see how many more of the creatures lay within. It didn’t take me long to make my way back to the front of the inn but the place was honestly locked up tight. All of the windows around the exterior were curtained and barred, and the building was in overall good repair. The only other way inside I had spotted was a set of heavy cellar doors leading into the base of the place. I could only assume it was a larder of some sort and the way it was set directly up against the inn I knew it was directly under the flooring of the main room of the place.

  I made my way back to the cellar doors after some thinking and inspected the handles to make sure they weren’t obviously trapped. With little other option other than to retreat back into the woods or take care of the drunken raiders I slowly opened up the doors leading down below. They opened without a sound thankfully and I padded silently down the cold steps into darkness. The first thing I noticed was the cold. Definitely a larder of some sort. Then my eyes slowly adjusted and I noticed that thin streams of light floated down through the floorboards up above. Here and there the light was blotted out by thick shadows. I couldn’t tell if they were tables, chairs, or orcs. I studied my surroundings and saw there was a shelf, large trunk, and a small fire place set against the wall adjoining the cobblestone wall that squared off the basement.

  I made my way cautiously over to the chest first and slowly opened it. Inside was an unadorned hammer, what looked like a pair of ingots, and the broken hilt of some type of sword. The hammer had a wooden handle, the head of the tool flat on one side and rounded on the other. The weight of it tugged my hand down slightly. Good. The ingots were a different story. I had seen my fair share of ore as it was a vital component in the creation of ritual circles and crafted talismans. This particular ore was one I hadn’t seen before though. The hilt of the weapon was even more baffling. A long tail wrapped its way around the grip and the pommel of the weapon was the head of a wyvern. It’s face was contorted in the exact same expression of the one at the entrance to the inn. The difference only a small shining green gemstone shining in each eye of the beast.

  Quest Received!!

  Forge the ancient blade of the Wyvern. The innkeeper of this particular location has been searching for the Lost Cavern of Lotti. Within is a powerful forge that can bring forth the true potential of the Blade of the Wyvern.

  -Locate the Lost Cavern of Lotti

  -Find and question the innkeeper