I blinked, staring into the distance as a lanky blue troll strode up to me. He wore a patchy brown vest, with a V-neck and buckled leggings. I raised a brow at his bare feet, grinning when I saw that he only had two rather large toes. His twin tusks protruding from the mouth of his toothy smile made me chuckle. He waved and looked me over.

“Ray?" I asked, nervously.

"Here it’s Quintus. So call me that. Quin works too when we’re in-game."

"Um...okay...." I nodded, unsure.

Ray - Quin - continued, "Have you done a quest yet?"

"I picked some fruit and killed some boars." I said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the questgiver I had just finished speaking to - a broad shouldered orc woman brandishing a meat hack.

"Big heap tutorial mode.” Quin rolled his shoulders. “Yeah, it gets better." He adjusted a leather strap across his chest and checked my weapon. “Looks good, but the next quests might be a bit more difficult. Want some help?"

"Sure, that’d be great," I lifted my fingers, "Kinda out of mana though." Without mana, I couldn’t cast spells. Without spells, I wasn’t very good at killing things quite yet. I hoped that would improve as I gained more levels.

Ray - Quin - reached into a soddy little sack tied to his belt. He pulled out a skein of something that was larger than the bag itself. My brow furrowed.

"Oh, it’s bigger-"

"Magic bag, yeah. I have four of them. They hold 10 things in each one."

"10 things? Even if they’re massive?"

"Yep. It’s...complicated." he shrugged, handing me the skein. "Drink."

I took it and gulped lukewarm water. My face twisted in slight disgust, but when I inhaled, my fingers crackled with magic. "Wow, that helped a lot!" I said, impressed.

"Gotta relax and have some food and water after battles. It helps perk you up. Restores health and mana." I nodded and took another swig. "So," he pulled a longsword from the scabbard on his back, "What next?"

I read my quest log. "I need to find this scout. He hasn’t reported to his post in a while."

"Ah, let’s go then. I’ll cover you. The mobs around his location are aggressive."

I raised an eyebrow, "Mobs?"

"Enemy NPCs."

"NPC...." I tapped my chin, pondering.

He sighed, "Non-player character."

"Ah."

We searched the area. Giant scorpions prowled the hills. I could hear them chittering at each other, scraping the dirt with their legs. One of them spotted us and screeched. I readied a lightning bolt, channeling magic into my hands.

Quin ran at it; no, he charged. He was fast. His blade sliced through the thick carapace like it were butter. I hadn’t even finished casting before it died. I tried not to look too impressed as we continued.

We came upon a very dead tree on a flat expanse. Large rocks circled the tree, and a figure slumped against the trunk. I raced over, forgetting all else. It was the troll scout. I landed on my knees and took his shoulders. He twitched and I sighed with relief.

"Are you okay?" I asked, "What happened?" Concern leaked from my voice. I knew he was dying.

The scout coughed weakly. "Big scorpion. Leader...making them attack. Kill it..." he groaned, slumping further into my grasp.

"We need to get you help. You need medicine.”

"Antivenom." I heard Quin behind me.

"Antivenom?" I asked him from over my shoulder.

Quin rubbed his tusks in thought, "He needs antivenom from the big one that stung him."

I leaned the injured troll gently against the tree again, then stood, determinedly. "Okay. Let’s go get it."

Quin stepped in front of me. "Cres, you’re too low level to take on that scorpion yet."

I glowered, "Then help me." He hesitated, rubbing his long neck nervously. I stiffened my stance and stepped in front of him. "Then move. I’m going to save him."

"I don’t-"

"Running out of time here.” I gestured to the troll. “Dying dude."

Quin sighed. "Fine," he said, slouching. We left to head to the pit where the scorpion leader resided.

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

I gulped as I gazed down at the pit. It was so full of scorpions, some were crawling on top of one another. Two of them gnashed at each other, starting a fight over a spare spat of land. The first creature slammed a thick claw on top of the other’s back, causing it to screech and skitter away.

"That one," Quin pointed to a large blueish scorpion. It was at least twice the size of any other scorpion, and it looked like it was sleeping. "It’s level six."

"I’m..."

"Three."

My face hardened. "We can do this." I looked to him. "You can help, right?"

"Yeah, but I can’t guarantee your safety. I should be fine, but you..."

"Well, why don’t I wait up here and you get the stinger?" I asked.

He shook his head, long pointy ears flapping softly. "You have to participate. Help fight and do damage if you want experience and the quest item."

I bit my lip. I wasn’t sure how long the troll had, and I knew I couldn’t just leave him there. I looked at Quin and nodded. "Okay, I’ll be careful."

"Are you sure?" He asked seriously.

"I have a heal. Just try to keep as many off me as you can."

He nodded and we descended into the pit.

Quin charged. Four scorpions immediately ran to him, pincers raised to attack. I crept up to follow, readying a lightning bolt. I targeted the scorpion behind Quin and fired. The scorpion screeched, its carapace blackened and crackling. It looked at me angrily. Quin noticed its attention shifting. he lifted a thick foot and slammed it onto the hard ground. Thundering waves of force crackled outwards and stung the scorpions surrounding Quin. I covered my ears at the sound of the stomp. The scorpions raged at the sound, forgetting me completely, and turning back to attack Quin.

I channeled another lightning bolt and flung it at the same scorpion. It keened and fell, dead. Quin slashed two scorpions and they split in two - four halves of scorpion fell to the ground at his feet. Two more remained. They were in poor shape, but others were looking towards the ruckus, tails poised to join the fight.

I ducked behind a nearby rock, channeling another lightning bolt. I peeked out and fired it at one of the injured scorpions. Its carapace sparked and burnt as it fell. Two more had joined the fight. Quin was looking weary; as he drew back for another cleaving slash, a scorpion pegged him in the stomach with its tail. Quin still brought his sword down to attack, but it was weak. It barely penetrated the scorpion’s carapace. Quin clutched the bloody wound in his gut. I cringed. Another scorpion took the opportunity to land a tail stab in Quin’s back.

Quin went down on a knee, spitting blood. I leapt out from the rock, channeling another spell. A fourth scorpion chittered behind me, but I didn’t stop casting. The heal went off, surrounding Quin in a dazzling green aura. His two wounds began to knit together, and he stood ready to fight again. He slashed quick, taking out the scorpion in front of him.

"One more!" I shouted with glee. I could cast again, but Quin now had the situation under control. Conserving my mana, I let him kill the last scorpion.

"Yes!" I punched the air as Quin wiped his brow. "Great job!"

He looked at me and gave a thumbs up.

Then his eyes widened. "Cres!" he rushed at me as I heard a clicking behind me. I turned just in time to see a giant blue tail coming at my head before pain split my consciousness and I blacked out.

I came to quickly. I blinked, shaking off the stun. I hadn’t even fallen over. Quin was in between me and the scorpion, in a violent spar with it. He had two new wounds, and they were oozing a greenish goo. Venom. I started casting a heal. It went off and Quin seemed to perk up. Just as the heal went off, the blue scorpion turned to me and swiped. Its tail hit me in the side, knocking the wind out of me and sending me flying. I rolled away, gasping for air as pain throbbed at my ribs.

Dizzy, I looked toward Quin. More venom dripped from his half-healed wound. I had to heal him again. I scrabbled at the ground, dirt flying around me as my fingers scraped the hard earth. I sputtered, my brain threatening to shut down. What was my health at? Low. But so was Quin- and he was the one fighting. I had enough mana for one more cast. I had to get closer.

I pushed past the pain, scrambling up on all fours and crawled closer, doing my best to avoid nearby scorpions and stay conscious. The smaller scorpions would probably attack under normal circumstances, but Big Daddy Scorp had taken over. The little ones continued with their own squabbles and whatnot.

I made it close enough to cast just as Quin went down. He wasn’t unconscious but the blue scorpion had knocked him over and stunned him. He was weak from the poison. The scorpion looked at me. My heart sped. There wasn’t much time.

It came at me, kicking up dust and dirt, chittering angrily. I rolled out of the way, barely avoiding the stinger as it crashed into the ground, cracking the earth with the force of its attack. I saw my target: a hole where Quin’s sword slash had damaged the carapace and cracked it open. I scooped my staff off of my back and charged.

Aiming carefully, I thrust the staff into the wound. The scorpion screamed, thrashing around and causing me to lose my grip. I fumbled, but was able to dodge a few blows before backing away. Now was the time to use that last bit of mana. I casted. My brain fuzzed, hitpoints low, but I pushed through. The cast went off.

The scorpion was still flailing around, trying to get my staff dislodged when the lightning bolt hit. My staff cracked as it acted as a lightning rod, drawing the spell through the wood and into the scorpion’s wound. With a horrible screech, the massive scorpion twisted and flailed. Sparks of lightning crackled around its body in its death throes, and it went down. It was dead.

I exhaled, relief washing over me. I wobbled toward Quin who blinked woozily at me.

“You okay?” He asked, grunting as he sat up painfully.

I reached down and picked up his sword. Panting from the exertion, I dragged my way over to the scorpion and sliced off its stinger. I looked at Quin who only had enough energy to  nod.

We helped each other recover before taking the stinger back to the scout.

He survived, and we all made it back to the campground.

I logged out immediately after that, to Quin’s surprise. He called me on the phone while I was driving minutes later.
“What happened? Where’d you go?” His gruff voice crackled over the phone static.

I grinned, my other hand gripping the wheel, still feeling the rush of the battle in my bones, pumping the gas gleefully as I sped out of the driveway.

“I’m going to buy that damn game.”