On the Trails We Blaze

    “What have you made so far? Anything cool?” she asked, and John thought back to the level one barrier he had made the night before. 
“Just a barrier with a bunch of birds in it. They were all level one though, and I still had trouble with the boss. Since there’s two of us, how about level five?” he suggested, and she nodded in agreement as they walked to a somewhat isolated location in the halls. 

“Well if you’re level five and this thing says I’m ten, that shouldn’t be a problem,” she smiled at him, and he set about making the barrier. He set the random dungeon to level five and, not knowing if it had any effect, thought about wild beasts as he made it.

They were both sucked into a forest much different from the jungle his first barrier had been. It lacked the humidity for one thing, and it seemed much less dense.

Barrier Quest: Clear the barrier!
*Optional Objective: Leave at least one male alive so the village can repopulate!
*Optional Objective: Clear the barrier in less than half an hour!
Rewards: +400 xp, +1 skill point, *+1 Shard of Mercy, *+100 xp, +1 stat point
Penalty of Failure: .5x item drops, .5x cash drops, inability to return
[Accept]/[Decline]

He hit accept and looked around. Some sort of clay path dominated the ground, and John shrugged as he looked over at her, “Want to follow it?”

“One second,” she hummed, as she took out a horn from her school bag. She blew into it, and a hunter’s raiment adorned her immediately. A giant fox came trotting out of the distance, leaving small burnt patches in the ground wherever it went. He cast Spy on it, as it looked really cool.

Ignis
Fire Fox, Level 12
Distant relative of the Kitsune, this fox has all the power of a Kitsune’s hellfire, though none of the divinity. Absolutely loyal to Amy, even without her armor. Amy is friendly toward you, so you might be okay.
Relationship Score: +7

I was right, that thing is totally badass. That’ll make this dungeon a breeze.

“Ignis! I’m going to need your help for this one, bud!” Amy happily tittered, and the fox chirped a positive reply.
Something about that fox was… vaguely familiar. It gave John a weird, tingling feeling at the back of his head as he tried to remember if he had seen it, maybe in some game, somewhere, surely… John put the thought off, as he couldn’t possibly have seen it before. He had only had these powers for a day and half after all, and if it had been from a game, he’d remember which.

The horned armor she was wearing seemed to have little practical protection, and since the fox’s description mentioned it, he figured he’d use Spy on it.

Beast Tamer Apprentice Garb
Epic item. Synchronises the wearer’s thoughts with their bonded creatures and allows the wearer to summon creatures they have previously bonded with. +5 Agi, +5 DR, Light Armor.

“That’s some pretty cool armor,” he remarked as they paced down the path, the walls in the distance growing closer.
“I’m not going to explain it to you because you probably already used that ability of yours on it,” she teased, and she was right.

John stuck his tongue out in response and flinched as he created a wall between him and a goblin, moments before the blade would have pierced his side.

Party Combat Settings Set to Default! All items and money will go to the leader (you).

Well, I’m glad I boosted Agility, I definitely wouldn’t have had the reflexes to stop that before, John thought as Amy leapt over him with Ignis, and the goblin turned to ash in the beast’s maw.

+20 xp!
+$6
+1 goblin dagger (shattered)
+1 goblin shortsword

Note to self, don’t let the fox’s mouth anywhere near you, John thought, and this rang doubly true, as a barrage of arrows turned to cinder beneath a fireball from the beast.

Realizing he wasn’t going to get much experience for sitting and doing nothing, he strafed to the side and created a wall for cover with Mana Construct, which took significantly less mana now.

Leaning out of cover, he fired off two Mana Bolts, which the goblins were apparently weak to.

Damage type effective! 20 dmg!
20 dmg
+50 xp!
+$5.75
+1 goblin crossbow
+5 bolts
+1 goblin silver coin

Apparently, Marksmanship applied to the crossbow, because, despite having never held one, the weight felt natural in his hands. Even loading the thing, something he had never done before, was an easy task.

That was partially because the goblins had much less strength, so their crossbows required less pull. Less effective on humans but still effective on their own kind.

A crossbow bolt from the left slammed into John’s head, which disoriented him enough for him to slowly fall forward.

-12 hp!
Dazed! (1s)

He recovered mid-fall, landed on all fours, and sprung back up, firing a bolt at the aggressor while his cover shattered, littered with arrows.

15 dmg
+50 xp
+$6.49
+6 crossbow bolts
+1 goblin copper coin

He rolled away from a melee attack, dirty sword gleaming ugly in the light. Backing away, he shot a bolt into a torso, firing a Mana Bolt to finish the job.

15 dmg
20 dmg
+50 xp
+$7.35
+1 goblin shortsword
+1 goblin silver coin
+3 goblin copper coin

Ignis and Amy had taken out nearly a dozen goblins in the time it took him to take out those few, and only two were left.
John remembered that Mana Bolt was chargeable and took the goblin shortsword from his inventory as he charged up a Mana Bolt in his offhand using the rest of his mana. The shortsword was balanced poorly, and it was obviously meant for somebody much smaller than him. Regardless, he sunk the blade all the way into one goblin, and fired the charged attack into the other.

90 damage
+50 xp
+$10
+2 goblin silver coins
+5 goblin copper coins
+1 potion of minor healing

Critical Hit! Critical body part pierced!
20 dmg! 5 dmg (10s)

The goblin he had stabbed jumped back, and drank a vial similar to the one John had just gotten.
The wound in the goblin’s chest immediately regenerated with a sickening squelch. John gagged, Amy shuddered, and Ignis hurled a fireball at the filthy creature.

The goblin held up a shield, which absorbed the fireball and grew red hot.

Every other goblin has been slain! This goblin is now a miniboss!

He cast Spy on the thing but was met with a headache and a haughty laugh from the diminutive warrior.
Apparently her attack being ineffectual angered Ignis, and her flames grew hotter as she stalked toward the goblin.

-1 hp! (flame aura)
-1 hp! (flame aura)
-1 hp! (flame aura)

John backed away, and the damage notifications ceased. Weird. I wonder if Amy can hurt me like Ignis can, or if I need to invite Ignis to my party. I wonder how I would even do that… John wondered as he tried to blast the goblin with more magic, but he had no mana left and remembered he had used all the mana he had left to kill the previous goblin.

This didn’t matter, however, as Amy leapt off of Ignis and yelled “Ignis, sic ‘em!”

With a howl --Weird that Ignis can do that, John thought as he shot bolts at the goblin from the backline-- Ignis jumped at their opponent, who immediately pulled out two daggers, hooking the shield onto his back. Apparently, John’s aim rang true as, while the goblin backed away from Ignis, the crossbow bolts sunk into its side.

15 dmg!
15 dmg!
15 dmg!

The daggers melted in Ignis’ mouth as she bit off the goblin’s hand, but it had nicked the inside of Ignis’ mouth nonetheless, and the poison raced into her bloodstream.

The goblin yelled incoherently as it recoiled back, holding up the shield that had absorbed Ignis’ last fire attack with its good hand.

This mattered little to the firefox, as Ignis bit through the shield, taking a bit of magic damage in the process. She didn’t seem to care, as she snapped at the goblin, taking off an ear in the process.

The goblin shrieked in pain and stumbled backwards. With his remaining hand, the goblin pulled a dagger out of his pants. Pants that didn’t have pockets. Blade first.

He threw the sullied blade at Ignis, who was prepared to take it head on. Unknowing to Ignis, that would cause even more poison damage than she already was accumulating.

Wanting to be of use, and just barely getting enough mana in time, John threw himself in front of the dagger, summoning a small shield where it would have hit him.

Taking note of this but more intent on killing the aggressor than thanking John, Ignis let loose a stream of fire which burnt the Goblin to a crisp, killing it and heating some of its items.

Miniboss defeated!
+120 xp!
+$52.98
+1 (bent) Shield of Magic Absorption
+1 (shattered) Permanently Poisoned Dagger
+1 Goblin Virile Poison Antidote
+1 (Boiled) Goblin Virile Poison
+1 Amulet of Avarice
+3 goblin gold coins
+18 goblin silver coins
+65 goblin copper coins
+1 minor potion of magic
+1 minor potion of healing

Achievement Unlocked: Mini-me
Defeat your first Miniboss! You got this after defeating your first boss, which kind of makes this less exciting.

• 1 stat point
• 1 skill point

He used Spy on the Amulet of Avarice, as it seemed like it was either valuable or enchanted.

Amulet of Avarice
Rare item. Jinxed item. This jade amulet has the smug, greedy smile of a goblin with yellow teeth inscribed into it. The wearer of this item will be unable to take it off unless they possess no money (assets not included). Grants 15% chance of any money dropped from an enemy a level lower than the wearer or higher to double.

The urge to put on the necklace was great, and Amy chimed in, “What’s that?” pointing to the green amulet in his hand.

“A jinxed necklace which gives me a nice buff but I also can’t take off unless I’m broke,” he replied, turning it around in his hands.

“Well just wear it and give me all your money when you want to take it off,” she replied, before teasing, “can’t promise I’ll give you the money back though.”

He decided that she was definitely joking, so he slipped the necklace on, and though it felt slightly tight around his neck, the discomfort quickly went away

As they approached what he assumed was the village, he was more watchful for ambushes than before. The stone walls loomed over them, unmanned and barren. As they neared the wooden gates, they began to ready themselves for combat.