Ludere online

Pag slid his legs off the side of the bed and he reached over to grab the tablet off the table. This side effect was something that Jorge and the others definitely needed to be made aware of. He tapped out a quick message detailing the effects, sent it, and tossed the tablet onto the bed padding over to the restroom. The relief he felt was immense after he finished his business, washing his hands he made a mental note to keep that in mind. Last thing he wanted was to log out one of these days and find himself suddenly in a waterbed. His stomach rumbled and he frowned. Time to test out the point payment feature. Pags frown deepened. Thinking of the points he was reminded again of the inconsistency across systems and pulled up the web Page for testers and clicked the menu widget, scrolled and clicked on the FAQ tab then scrolled down to the points systems. He marched his brows noting the text indicating that it had been updated within the last 24 hours.

"The Alpha Point system (AP) is a way to reward or demote employees, though all employees can earn points most non players earn a set amount per week based on performance and attendance. Alpha, beta and omega testers do not earn a set amount, rather earning based upon in game actions. Completion of quests, faction reputation increases, clearing a dungeon or defeating a high level opponent, locating bugs or hidden things can earn you points based on rarity, level and difficulty. Points can be cashed out once a month, used to purchase ingame gear through the alpha shop or used with partnered merchants listed below to make real world purchases at a discounted rate. there is a 13:1 ratio points to USD. Points can be revoked by a developer or admin for misconduct. Player points also directly correlate to the player leaderboards (LB) however spending the points or cashing out will not effect ones standings on the leaderboard. Previously there were 325 points to each point on the leaderboard however with the recent update it is important to note there now be a 500:1 ratio of AP to LB."

Pag made a small noise in the back of his throat and glanced over the partners he could use the points to purchase or pay and smiled. With a swipe he closed out the tab and brought up an app to order food. Sure he had snacks in his new mini fridge but he wanted to try it out. Once the app loaded he clicked on a well known steakhouse and grimaced when a notification popped up informing him that the restaurant was currently closed. He glanced at the clock in the corner of the tablet's screen and sighed, backing out to check for a restrain that was open. Apparently taco bell was the only available option at 2:33 am. He released an even heavier sigh and tapped the option.

He was surprised with how easy it was to place an order, once the order was complete and processed another notification popped up informing him of his new balance, asking if he wished to view his transactions. He dismissed it and stood stretching as he tossed the tablet on the bed. He had just enough time to get a shower in before needing to meet the delivery driver in the lobby for his food. The food delivery app was apparently partnered with doordash and made specifically for Alluring Realms employees. Pag peeled his clothes off, tossed them into the dirty clothes bin and stepped into the shower. He let the heat roll over his skin, the bathroom fogging heavily, before he grabbed the loofah and lathered up. He stopped midway, something clicking in his mind. You could use the alpha points for in game gear? That means he could get some better gear that you might not otherwise be able to get in game. Pag felt a smile tag at his lips and he hurried through the motions, a curse slipping from his lips when he stubbed his toe as he stepped out of the shower. He stepped into the room, gooseflesh rippling across his skin as the cool air hit his skin, and dug out a set of clothes. He winced when he saw his toe, he'd likely lose that nail. He glanced at the clock, he had about five minutes before the food was set to arrive and roughly three hours before he could re-spawn if he ate fast enough he could take a quick power nap or walk before logging in. Pag winced and thought of Jorge, he had no way of knowing if he had any way of tracking whether or not he got in exercise but it'd be better to be safe than sore. Pag slipped on a pair of shoes and padded to the lobby only getting momentarily lost once walking in at the exact same time as the delivery person. The both gave a nod to each other and left without saying anything. If there was no verification no wonder Jorge warned him about Xian stealing pizzas. Rather than returning to his room, Pag headed to the small courtyard that he and Jorge had visited, eating the burritos along the way and tossing the trash into a trash can sitting beside a darkened office before slipping out into the courtyard.

Pag ran a quick circuit around the courtyard twice, doing a few half hearted stretches. He grimaced at the layer of sweat he’d managed to build up giving his shirt a small sniff as he walked through the door. He stopped just inside blinking as he watched the first person with a brown wristband he’d seen since hire push along a cart with various cleaning supplies. She glanced at him arching a brow before noticing his wristband. A range of emotions he couldn't place crossed her face before she hurried off down the hall. His brows furrowed as he stood there for a moment, shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets and padding off to his room. His stomach rumbled ominously and he winced. Why did it have to be taco bell the only thing open at this time?

Pag flopped down on the bed, face landing in the pillow. Sleep, he would definitely sleep then another shower, some better food and then log back in. the taco bell had done a number on his stomach and he would be remembering Jorges words of advice about the cafeteria or at least visit the lounge to get his meals here even if it meant setting an alarm in game to remind himself to log out at a reasonable time to get some food that wouldn't obliterate his stomach. He lay like that for a moment, slowly drifting into sleep. Or at least he was trying. The sudden raucous banging on his door made him jolt, his heart racing and no longer sleepy. He cursed silently and rolled off his bed stomping over to the door. He cracked it open marginally and squinted into the light of the hallway.

"Oh uh sorry, were you sleeping?" The voice though uncertain was deep and smooth.

Pag grunted, rubbing his eyes. And looking over the man with a very long and well maintained beard.

"Sorry, ah my name's sterling. Screen name is Hydra, I play a barbarian. Game goes back online in about two hours, a bunch of us were going to meet up in the lounge and chill out a bit before diving in. Are you interested in joining? Drink and food are on the house for all players right now, courtesy of Dave."

Pag scratched his chin and weighed his options for a moment before giving a small nod.

"I've a few others that I'm going to check in with before I head there myself. You want to go with?"

Pag smiled weakly. "Sure, I've only been there once so a refresher on the route would be nice. I'll get changed."

Pag pushed the door closed and loped over to his dresser pulling out a change of clean clothes, peeling the ones he had been wearing off, and slipping the new ones on. He pulled his shoes on and stepped out into the hallway.

"Alright, awesome, well go grab the twins and head to the lounge. Shane and Addy are cool. Total opposites but cool. Shane plays a desert necromancer and Addy plays a spacial paladin."

Pag arched a brow. "I've heard of paladins and necromancers before but not in that context."

"Ah, well like mages and the like there are sub-classes for every other class and some even have sub sub-classes. A desert necromancer is one of the harder necromantic classes. Desert necromancers have spent most of their time dealing with partial bodies and tend to make Frankenstein like creatures because of that, the bodies also rarely have any connective tissue so it means a higher mana cost for initial animations but the creatures tend to be more sturdy. Especially compared to a tundra necromancers creature. Tundra necromancy is the easiest of the necromancers sub classes. The body is usually intact with low initial mana cost with all the tissue but due to the temperature it has a higher upkeep because you have to keep the body cold or it begins to decay rapidly. A spacial paladin is a paladin under Ruhna and can use some minor spacial magic so long as shes pleased with them. Teleportation over short distances, creating micro black holes to destroy enemies. That kind of thing."

"Neat! I’d love to seem them in combat some time, it sounds like they’d be real terrors." Pag said with a smile as they rounded a corner and stopped at a door.

“Oh they are.” Hydra laughed as he pounded on the door and stepped back. "They spend a lot of their time in game competing in the arenas. I’ve never seen them lose a fight. Out of game they usually hang out in Addy's room so this should be the only stop we need to make." He said, glancing at Pag.

The door swung open and a boy with thick rimmed glasses and baby face looked out with a grin. "Sup"

"Heading to the lounge for free food pregame. You in?"

"You know it, just a sec." He said leaning back in the room "Addy, lounge?" He asked

An unseen individual answered quietly enough that Pag would have thought it was just his imagination had Shane not turned back to them with a nod. He stepped out into the hall and stretched, his back audibly popping in multiple places as a sigh escaped him. A tall and well muscled form slipped out behind him, her hair pulled back into a loose bun and a shirt hanging even more loose from her shoulder. Freckles dusted her cheeks and Pag actually had to look up to meet her eyes.

"This is our newest night shift tester." Hydra said, tossing his thumb towards Pag with a broad grin.

Pag gave a small wave. "Brendan. I go by Pagacco in game, usually shorten it to Pag though."

Shane gave an enthusiastic nod. "I go by Grimm in the game. Addy goes by- ooph" he said, cut off by an elbow to the ribs.

"Adalaine, call me Addy or my screen name Capricorn. " she said glancing to Pag before shooting a glare at her brother. "I can introduce myself." She hissed.

Shane replied with only a shrug as he turned to pad towards the lounge. They walked in silence for a moment before Pag frowned.

"How did you guys end up with your current classes?"

"I started out as a cleric, followed a bunch of seemingly random socials to an abandoned fortress in a desert and was offered a quest that would give me a new class option. I can still use my cleric class at will, as long as you get your main class up to a certain point before taking on another you can retain it but won't be able to switch back and forth between the two until your second class reaches, I think, the level 20 threshold." Shane shot off before anyone else could answer.

"I started as a run of the mill swords-woman. Did a lot of social quests and quests for the church and one of the paladins took me under their wing. You can learn just about any class but each time you take on a new class you are starting from level zero. I've only heard of one player taking on more than two and even then I'm not sure if it's not just smoke up my ass." Addy said with a frown.

"What do you mean?" Pag asked, cocking his head to the side.

"There's this dude, goes by the name of ProlixalParagon. No one knows who plays them and there's rumor it's actually a dev or AI that they use to mess with the leader-boards. This guy has, at last count, learned 8 classes and has them up high enough to switch seamlessly even in mid combat. Meaning they’re at least level 40 in each of them. They've only been playing for around 10 months but have logged more hours than some of the players who have been here since the beginning." Neal spoke low and quiet, his deep voice rumbling like distant thunder.

"I've met them! They gave me some gear on my first day in the game." Pag said, a little louder than intended.

The three stopped and looked at him uneasily, Hydra grimaced and opened his mouth before shaking his head.

"They gave you gear? What'd you do with it?" Addy said, turning to face him fully and placing her hands on his shoulder.

"I wore it for a bit. Though it’s probably still laying on the ground where they fell when I unequipped them for my new stuff." He said uneasily. "Why?"

"They only ever do stuff for the sheer chaos. They hang out with PillowHorror, Scout and all the other group c testers. At least in the game they do." Addy said slowly.

Something clicked in his head and Pag jumped, a guttural noise spilling from him. "PillowHorror killed me with a tank my first day!"

The three stared at him, eyes wide, before busting out into raucous laughter. Hydra clapped Pag on the back and shook his head.

"I was stabbed with a lightsaber he had sold to an npc. Took the dev's like 4 hours to get rid of it." Shane said, wiping a tear from his eye. "Most of them are great people outside of the game but group C is pure chaos in game. "

"Is that why they're in group c? C for Chaos?" Pag asked.

"Well we started with 'A' for morning players and 'B' for evening players then there were people from both shifts that just played in odd ways and kept skewing data so they made an entirely new group with dev's set to monitor them. I think there are even sub groups but don't quote me on it." Shane said, shrugging as he started walking again.

The rest of the walk to the lounge was silent, the good kind of silence that you feel comfortable in. It was a shame that it died the moment they entered the lounge. Pag counted at least 26 people milling about in idle conversation or grouped around tables laughing uproariously. He groaned when he saw Dave chatting with a small group look up and motion him over with an arm. Pag trudged over stopping a few feet away, arms crossed.

"Glad to see you made it!" Dave's voice was more oily than a used car salesman trying to push a salvage title on an inexperienced buyer. "This is Tara, shes one of our duel edged employees. She not only tests the game but she's also the one that came up with the coding for the wristbands and everything tied to them. I believe her in game tag is FelineFine." He said, looking to one of 4 people he had been talking to.

She nodded and took a sip of her tea before speaking. "If you ever have any problems with the band, or just need someone to help with quests let me know."

"And this-" Dave said, gesturing to the next, an averagely tall young man with short cropped hair and an honest to goodness cowboy hat. "This is Jason. He's one of our game developers, deals with quest lines, lore and the likes." The man said nothing shuffling in place with a nod as he took a long drink of his blueberry red bull. Dave smiled weakly moving on to the next person. "This is Elaine, your testing groups overseer. She and her people analyze the raw data from your game and watch your play. Gage here is the group C overseer. The two are currently in a bidding war over who gets to keep you. " Dave says with a wink.

Pag grimaced. "I hadn't realized I was-"

Elaine cut him off with a wave of her hand. "You aren't, everything that may even be remotely considered untraditional gameplay was the result of another's actions and how you had to respond to it. Thus far you have played like an average player."

Her statement didn't make him feel any better and Pag frowned slightly. Average? the idea niggled at him, had any of his DM's had heard her say that they'd have thought she was insane. Sure he didn't do things purely for chaos but there were just some things you just had to poke with a stick to see what would happen. He glanced at Gage who was looking at him with a wry knowing expression. Pag frowned, rubbing the back of his neck and glanced around at the people in the lounge.

"Go ahead, don't let us keep you. Get to know some of the others." Elaine said with a slight smile and languorous shooing motion.

Pag took the offered out and wandered over to one of the machines, grabbed a drink, then started towards where he could see Neal, Shane and Addy talking to a few others.

"I'm telling you the new AOE spell I got is incredible!" A familiar voice said as a figure backed towards him.

Pag promptly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. He didn't feel like dealing with Xian today. Pag looked around and singled out a small group quietly conversing out of the way. Two men and two women. Taking a deep breath he headed to them. He mentally steeled himself and stopped a bit away from them. "Hi, mind if I join you guys?" Their conversation stopped and they turned to him in surprise.

"Sure have a seat!" One of the women said with a broad smile. She adjusted her glasses, leaning back in her seat and running a hand through short hair that so blonde it was nearly white.

Two of the men scooted their chairs to make room and Pag grabbed a chair, dragging it over. "I wasn't interrupting anything?" He asked, slowly lowering himself into the seat.

"Not at all man, we were just chatting and waiting for the others to get here. What class you got?" One of the men asked, adjusting his sharp looking leather suspenders.

"Mage, going for Pyroclasm. How about you guys?" Pag asked, opening his orange soda and taking a sip.

"Pyroclasm huh, that's a heavy hitting mage class but very poor in defensive aspects. Literal glass cannon in the early levels, unless you have some good tanks you're toast. Though I hear once you master it and move to the next subclass it's even more powerful and you can solo just about anything. Purely speculation as of right now only one other person that i know of has tried to go down that path but they dropped it after a few days. I'm Dimitri by the way, I'm an arcane artificer" he says as he frowns at his suspenders again.

"I'm Nick, Screen name is Neb. I play a witch hunter. ya know anti magic stuff." He says gesturing to nothing in particular.

“I remember you! We met at the tavern in game. That was some amazing food by the way.” Pag said to nick with a grin then turned to scowl at Dimitri. “And your explosion almost killed me.”

Nick smiled and gave a small nod in appreciation as he looked to the women to introduce themselves and Dimitri mumbled sheepishly.

"I'm Belle, I play a storm's end monk."

“Storms end monk? That sounds interesting, what does that entail?” Pag asked.

“Yeah, has to do with redirection of spells, attacks and such. Say someone, maybe you toss a fireball at me. Well control over it usually ends after it's left the mana manipulation field so once it enters mine I can redirect or reshape it. Higher levels can even do it before it leaves the other person's mana manipulation field or cause it to back blast if their focus is lower than mine. Most people have a fairly small mana manipulation field, even a storms end monk has to do extensive training to broaden their field and a lot of training to raise focus.”

“That sounds pretty cool though, turning another persons attack back on them.” Pag said with a broad smile.

Belle nodded and nudged the other woman who frowned looking away from the clock on the wall.

"I play a swashbuckler, you can call me scout" she said offhandedly, pulling out her phone and frowning. "He's not responding, you guys heard anything? He usually doesn't run late like this." She Sighed.

“You know how Pillow boy is. He’s probably still in a blanket pile napping.” Nick chuckled.

Pag blinked and slowly turned to look for Shane and the others, his mind having ground to a halt. Surely that was a common enough name that he had nothing to worry about. The expressions on Shane's, Neal's, Addy's and even Gage's face told him otherwise. He swallowed hard and turned back to the table to make an excuse to leave.

"So, since we've not seen you around I'm guessing you're the new guy right?" Belle asked as she leaned forward, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as she watched him.

"Uh yeah, I started not too long ago." Pag said weakly.

"Going straight for a highly specialized class right off the bat huh? You know that you'll essentially be a glass cannon like I said, unless you do an insane amount of stat training or multi class into an elemental knight or something right? That class is mostly all damage with no defense." Nick says scratching his chin.

"That would explain a few things." Pag sighed, blinking. "Things just moved so fast that I didn't really have a chance to stop and consider, I just kind of went with it."

"Hmn well even if you managed to get enough points to gain some high tier gear from the alpha shop you likely wouldn't have the stats or titles to use it yet. If you intend to keep the class you'll want to do plenty of stat training. Or you can dump the class and grab a different one. Unless you had a cross class picked out already." Dimitri said with a grimace.

"I'm not at a high enough level yet and havent really had a chance to look into secondary classes yet." Pag said shrugging, not sure if he even wanted to consider dumping a class that he was mostly enjoying so far. A finger tapped his shoulder and Pag cringed turning slowly, relief flooding him when he saw Frank.

Frank smiled and pulled a seat over to the table.”Evening guys, what shenanigans do we have planned today?” He asked taking a hit off his vape.

“Nothing really, mainly just finishing up quests.” Belle said, shrugging. “Pillow boy is the one you want to keep an eye on.”

“I think I need to go ahead and head out, I'm going to grab a shower before I log in.” Pag said standing.

“Aw, c’mon and hang out for a bit. Don't believe everything you hear the others say. Us ‘C’ group testers aren't all that bad. We just like to have fun.” Frank says nudging him.

Pag blinked at him and arched a brow. “You’re a group ‘c’tester and a Dev?” He asked.

“There’s the reason why the other game devs made the title “Living Meme” and that reason is right there.” Scout said pointing at Frank with an exasperated sigh. “Take everything he says with a pound of salt unless he is in lecture mode or you will end up with the biggest headache”

“Sometimes the only way to know how to fix something is to break it.” Frank said with a shrug.

“That's not what i was referring to and you know it.” Scout said, shaking her head.

“It was nice to meet you guys.” Pag said with a weak chuckle. “I’ll see you all around.” He said not bothering to hide his haste or speak to anyone else, just heading straight for the door. He might as well go ahead and log in before everyone else and get started on what needs to be taken care of.

The halls were silent as he padded back to his room where he locked the door, flipped off all the lights and flopped on his bed. Pag took a slow deep breath, closing his eyes and recalling the dial up noise. The feeling of laying in a wave pool hit him and he rolled over to fight the tide of nausea that hit him.

“It's about time.” Aviva said with a sigh kneeling in front of him.

“Sorry, re-spawn time.” He said trying to ease his riotous stomach, slowly standing. “What did i miss?” He asked, looking around. He had re-spawned at the entry of the base, just inside the door.

“We cleaned up all the mess the hobs made and finished exploring the base. If you're willing to donate more of your mana there's a chasm that used to have a massive bridge spanning to a door that should lead us outside.”

“That or a boss room.” Andromeda says from behind him.

“There shouldn't be a boss room here.” Aviva says scowling over Pag's shoulder.

“There shouldn't be but that doesn't necessarily mean there won't be.

“Well there's one way to find out.” Pag sighed standing up and dissolving into a chest searing coughing fit that rattled around between his ribs and forced him back to his knees. “We need to get to the Lunar empire. Fast.” Pag said around coughs and pushing back to his feet.

Aviva gave him a nod and gestured with her thumb in the direction they should go. Pag followed her, rubbing his chest with a grimace. They padded down the stairs, past the shelves and through the door that led to the second set of stairs. Aviva hadn't been kidding when she said they had cleaned up the area. There wasn't any of the dust that he had seen previously and it looked like Toula and Maverick were nearly finished with reorganizing the books. Pag fought the urge to peruse the books again moving closer to Aviva, glancing into the room where the Hobgoblin that had jumped out at them had been but not even seeing a single burn mark. The witch lights in the stairway floated near the top of the ceiling casting a warm glow over the stairs, the previous wall of shadows cast aside. Once they made it back to the hallway where he had been shot Pag saw no hint of any of the foes they had fought back.

“Man you guys really did clean the place.” Pag muttered.

“Dead bodies tend to put a damper on the mood.” Andromeda said dryly from behind.

“What did you do with the bodies?” Pag asked.

“Do you really want an answer to that question?” Aviva sighed as they rounded the corner that the horde of hobgoblins had spilled from into another long hall whose door stood wide open.

Pag considered for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I think I'm good. Oh hey, that reminds me. I looted all the items that weren't trash tier off of them before I died. Should we go through it all?”

“Well that explains why there was only molten yuck in their inventory.” Andromeda chuckled.

“Yeah, lets go ahead and do that.” Aviva said turning back to him and leaning against the wall, stifling a cough in her shoulder.

Pag motioned to bring his inventory up and winced when he saw the damage indicator for his robes, wincing again when he saw the Ring of Shielding he still had equipped. If he had remembered to activate that then he wouldn't have died and had to have dealt with the re-spawn time. He sighed, shaking his head. He would have to do better next time. He focused on each of the items in turn before reading their information aloud to the others.

“One crooked blood stained arrow with a serrated head. I'm assuming that that was the one that killed me. One bent and pitted iron dagger. one bolt of linen cloth. A roasted rat, two baked potatoes, and i'm not sure if those were cooked before or during the fight. One cursed ring of strength that saps your intelligence with a hobgoblins finger still in it. One Mages Dark-steel Vambrace that can either store a chunk of mana that the wearer can use to refill my mana pool when needed or store one spell up to the student levels.” Pag said, summing it up.

“You should take the vambrace.” Andromeda said poking him in the shoulder.

“She's right. Go ahead and equip it, fill it with mana or a spell, so that if you have a mana debt from the repairs you need to have the base do to the bridge you're able to either end the debt sooner or throw a spell out.”

Pag nodded equipping the vambrace.

You have equipped the enchanted item “Mages Dark-steel Vambrace.” Would you like to fill it with 250 mana or one spell?

Pag stared at the notification for a moment before tapping the spell option.

Please cast the spell you would like to store. Please note that any spell above the student levels will be significantly weakened.

Pag activated his Burning wall spell, watching as the mana poured from his mana pool and the flames were sucked into the vambrace dying it a crimson that seemed to flow with fingers of darkened flames. The vambrace on his forearm warmed up emitting a faint glow.

You have successfully stored the spell Burning wall. To activate this spell simply use the keyword ‘Titos’ while focusing on the area or opponent you would like to cast the spell on

Pag gave Aviva a nod. “What about the other items?”

“The others don't sound like they would be worth much if anything, they're probably just above being considered trash tier. You can either chunk them or hold on to them and try to sell them.” Aviva said, pushing away from the wall.

“‘Try’ being the key word.” Andromeda scoffed.

“Right, well lets see to this chasm.” Pag said glancing at Andromeda who was cleaning her nails with a sliver of metal that disappeared up her sleeve when he looked. Andromeda gave him a small smile. "For now, I think that Toula and Maverick should go ahead and hang back just in case we come across more mobs. We can send a message once were sure that way is clear." He said rubbing his neck.

Aviva nodded to him then glances to Toula and Maverick to make sure they'd heard before she led them down the hall and up a set short set of stairs that opened out onto a flat shelf of pitch black rock. The witch lights overhead were dead, only the light spilling in from the stairs and one lone torch offering light to the area that seemed more like the blackness of space spanning the parsecs between stars. The darkness seemed to almost sluggishly shift, turning to look at Pag and he felt a chill shoot through him under the oppressive gaze.

Pag frowned at the ominous notification and waved it off.

Pag blinked at the notification in confusion, cursing as he realized they had never stopped by a temple on the way out of the city.

"What's wrong?" Aviva asked, turning to him.

"Who is Dedisco?" Pag asks. "We never went by the temple to set Ruhna as my god so now I'm being invited to follow him. Is he some kind of minor god?"

Aviva blinked at him." Probably? I'm not sure, I don't know everything in this game. It may be best not to insult him though."

"Right, gods can be dicks. I know. I think I'm going to say no for now though." Pag muttered to himself as he tapped the option to decline.

Pag scowled waving the notification away as he looked across the chasm before setting on the remains of what looked to have once been an elaborate stone bridge.

Pag tapped yes reluctantly watching as his mana pool emptied and the icon indicating a mana debt appeared.

“Well, it's not as bad as what i had expected it to be, but it is offering some options to restore other structures as well?”

“What structures?” Aviva asked

Andromeda shook her head speaking at the same time. “How long is your current mana debt?”

“Well one is a stairway that leads to some place known as the cold-water caverns, the other is some sort of watch tower. The bridge alone put me into a mana debt for-” he glanced at the icon again confirming the time. “24 minutes and 40 seconds” Pag said, scratching his chin.

“I think it's best that we hold off on those for now, but it's up to the two of you.” Andromeda said, turning to watch the bridge slowly reform.

“I agree. It would be best to wait, we don't know what would be in the caverns or what the function of the watch tower is much less how much more of a mana debt you would incur.”

Pag nodded and waved the option away to watch the bridge. Pale blue mana swirled around the two broken ends of the bridge, massive stone support struts and cobblestones seeming to form from the twisting tendrils as if the molecules were pulled from all around as they inched closer together. Pag watched, unable to put a name to much of the architectural concepts that were melting into existence as he watched and grudgingly acknowledged that it was both a neat process and very cool design. The ground beneath his feet gave a shudder and he cocked his head, pulling his gaze from the bridge to the massive mound now lit by the swirling tendrils of mana.

“Hey, uhm, what’s that?” Pag said pointing at the mound, wincing as a resounding grating boom echoed through the cavern. The ground shuddered again, jutting cracks emanating from the stone around the mound that was slowly resolving into the shape of a gargantuan being standing as if from a long slumber.

“Not good, that’s what it is.” Andromeda said with a growl as she pulled loose her bow, an ethereal arrow forming as she pulled the string back.

“Analyze it Pag.” Aviva said, taking a step back.

“How do i do that?” he asked, glancing at her.

Andromeda clicked her tongue and shook her head slightly. “Just stare at it.” she said with a sigh.

Pag stared at the creature until an orange placard rose up above it.

“It’s an inscribed golem boss guys. The tag above its head is bright red.” he said, his voice cracking.

“What level?”

“It just has question marks in the level field.”

Andromeda cursed, sweat beading on her forehead.

“Any chance it's friendly?” Pag asked with a weak laugh glancing to the half reformed bridge then to the mana debt icon. 17 minutes 28 seconds remaining.

“Not likely. you said it has a red tag. That usually means hostile.” Aviva sighs. “What spell did you store in the vambrace again?”

“Burning wall.”

“What's the farthest away you can cast that?”

“I'm not sure, I've not had to cast it farther than a few feet before.”

Aviva let loose a long slow sigh closing her eyes. “Then we will have to get as close as we can before the bridge is fully formed. Cast it as close to the golem as you can, hopefully that'll hold it back for a bit and buy some time until you're closer to repaying the mana debt. Andromeda and I will try to alternate ranged hits on him and try to draw him away from the bridge. Once you have mana back try not to draw too much of its ire.”

“What? You mean that we don’t want to have our glass cannon trying to tank this guy?” Andromeda said with a snort as she slackened her hold on the string of the bow and edging towards the bridge, very pointedly not looking down into the chasm.

Pag cut his eyes at her with a scowl but bit back his words, his teeth clicking as he closed his mouth, when he saw Aviva's face. He took a deep breath and moved towards the bridge, tapping a cobbled stone with his toe before resting the weight of it on it slowly. When the stone didn't fall from beneath him he padded out onto the bridge to a few feet from the edge where the mana swirled, the minuscule tendrils of stone melting into existence as the stones formed in front of him now clearly visible. With each inch added to the bridge Pag edged closer, the two pieces quickly approaching each other until they were a foot apart and he leaped the gap, running a few feet and coming to a sliding stop, landing hard on his knees, as he activated the spell stored in the vambrace pointing at the other end of the bridge where the golem stood.

Pag tossed a grin over his shoulder to Aviva and Andromeda, blinking at their expressions and turning back to look at the roaring wall of flames just as the golem barreled through. "Oh schist." Was all he managed to get out before the gargantuan foot connected with his chest.

Pag groaned and rolled over onto his back, several of his ribs creaking and grinding against each other as he moved to a sitting position. “Looks like we got off on the wrong foot.” He mumbled looking around. His ears rung and the world around his swam seeming to lag behind as he looked to where the others were fighting the golem. Each spell and ethereal arrow that hit it knocked chunks from the stone. Pag leaned on his arms trying to stand but slid to the floor as his arms gave out, a searing pain shooting up them into his chest sending a rattling cough through his lungs as he landed face first on the stone floor. He spent several minutes just fighting the coughing fit, feeling as if he were drowning, unable to even look up at the battle raging on without him.

Once the fit passed he rolled to his side and watched as the head of the golem fell into the chasm, the body standing stock still before clattering to the floor in a wash of pebbles that spilled over the edge after the head. His breath rattled and popped, wheeze from beneath his lips as he lay there staring at his flashing health bar and the various blinking icons indication status ailments he was unable to focus on much less decipher. A violent shudder set in and he closed his eyes feeling exhausted as he took slow shallow breaths fighting back the tickle that told him another coughing fit wouldn't be too far off if he wasn't careful. Yet strangely he felt no pain. His fingers and toes were cold, his face felt numb. All he wanted to do was sleep. he could feel his mind slipping beneath the thick blanket of sleep and he wanted nothing more than to sink into it.

A sharp crack reached his ears just seconds before a searing pain lit up his cheek. Pag's eyes flew open as he took a deep breath only to be thrown into another chest rattling coughing fit.

"Get it together. We don't have time to wait for you to re-spawn again." Aviva tells in his face, her hands on his chest emitting a bright light.

"Did you just slap me?" Pag asks, voice cracking.

"Did you just try to die again? Play stupid games win stupid prizes" she spat at him as the light from her hands intensified.

"To be fair I didn't try to die." Pag said.

"Could've fooled me. You almost succeeded." Aviva growled shaking her head as she stared at his chest. "That golem decimated your chest cavity."

Pag lay there staring up into the darkness, the ceiling hidden in shadows and he felt as if something were laughing at him. He scowled, cursing silently as he sat up ignoring Aviva's glare as she continued to heal him. His health bar slowly ticked towards full, the blinking status ailments winking out before he could identify them until he was left with one final ailment. Tombs rattle IV. He cursed. Then he cursed again when he realized he earned no experience for the golem. He stood and ran a hand over his scalp before sighing with a shake of the head.

"We should get going. We've quests that need to be completed."