You are interrupted

"Hey! Fuck-tard! You took my gem!" you suddenly hear from behind.

Your head jerks up and you spin around. It's the rogue and he looks angry.

"This dark one only purchased that which you desired to sell," you reply, keeping in character.

"Yeah... well... I wanna buy it back. How much?" he stammers.

"Ten million gold," you answer.

"What!?!" he screams. "You only gave me a hundred for it!"

"Perhaps on your next level up, you should put some skill points into barter," you reply.

"Hey, fuck you! I paid RL money for that! I'll just kill you and take it back," he threatens.

"My inventory is enduring. No matter what, I'll never drop it," you say.

"Then I'll just kill you for the hell of it!" he screams angrily, unshouldering his crossbow.

You spin around, snatching up the staff and cast Summon Skeleton. A swirling of unearthly darkness appears in the center of the floor and a skeleton, carrying a rusted sword crawls up from the underworld. A slight purple glow emanats from his empty eye sockets. Immediately it attacks the rogue.

"The fuck?" the rogue calls and shoots a crossbow bolt at it.

The bolt hits the skeleton which crumples into a pile of dust on the floor. You quickly raise another one which closes in on him before he can load another bolt. He drops the crossbow and unsheathes a short sword, which he's obviously less proficient with. As the two fight, you reach across the counter and bash him with your staff. It doesn't do much damage but every HP counts! With a great slash he destroys yet another skeleton and then turns his blade on you. As he rushes around the counter, you cast Raise Skeleton again. Just in time! It appears behind him and scores a critical hit which puts his HP into the red. A crack to the head with your staff scores a critical hit as well and renders him confused for five seconds during which the skeleton delivers a killing blow. The rogue cries out and then falls to the floor. Unfortunately, his body disappears before you can loot it. What a shame. Still, his crossbow remaines at least. You add it to your inventory.

Now what? If you stay here, he'll just respawn and- Wait! Why do you suddenly feel so different? You check your stats.

Name : Infernal Shopkeeper

Class : Level 2 NPC (Evil)

HP : 20/20

MP : 5/5

STR : 2

DEF : 2

Strengths : -10% damage from dark magic

Weaknesses : +10% damage from devine magic

Special abilities : Barter II, Enduring Inventory, Diplomacy I - You are extremely tactful with your words. As such, you can often sway others to your way of thinking.

How- how in the HELLS did that happen? You are an NPC. You can't earn XP. So how could you level up? But then, you didn't earn it. Your new companion, whome you will call Mr. Bones, did. He just shared it with you. Holy shit! You just found a glitch in the game! With this, you really can effect the world around you. And your not waiting one more moment to do it, either!

While you have ventured outside before, you've never gone far. The undead inhabiting the outskirts of town have always been a good deterrent against a level 1 NPC with no combat skills. Besides that, you've always felt strangly drawn to your little shop. But now that feeling's gone and you're connection to the shop's inventory has been severed. All that remains is the gear you have equipped and the rogue's crossbow. You wonder if it's a side effect of exploiting the glitch. And if so, what else might come of it? In any case, your truly free now.

"Come on, Bones. We're leaving," you say, jumping the counter and heading for the door.