At five till seven the next morning, we had extra gear, food, and coffee in travel mugs packed in my van. Blaze and I were geared up, standing in my driveway, talking to our police escort. He’d parked his patrol car on the side street beside my house so he could pull directly out onto 19th Street.

  All three of us watched the guild get ready across the street. They had nine people waiting for the spawn. The Holden couple from last night were there too. Looked like they’d be splitting into two groups for the fight.

  “Officer Phillips, you should ask to join one of their parties,” I told him. “Even if you only get one shot off, it’ll help, and you’ll get the experience.”

  “No thank you. I’ll watch. We have to leave as soon as it’s done.” The way he politely declined made me think, without even looking, that it would’ve been his first time in a spawn fight. “How long will it take?”

  “Two, three minutes at the most. Sometimes less than a minute. With two parties, it might last a minute, minute and a half. A three-party group last night took them down in eighteen seconds. I timed it.” He looked at me like he didn’t believe it, so I set the timer on my watch.

  We were standing next to the back of my van when the blue glow of the portal appeared through the doorway across the street. Blaze and I were ready to cast REVEAL STATS on whatever came out. I’d take the big one and the Kobold on the right; Blaze would check the other two. Unless the spawns changed again, which they might.

  They did. It was going to be a tougher fight. Two Goblins came out, each with two Kobolds. I hit both Goblins with REVEAL STATS and got the same result: Level 3 Goblins. The Kobolds were still Level 1. The guild used the box technique again. It worked until a Goblin broke through a shield… he didn’t survive the spells that hit him immediately after.

  One minute, seven seconds. I showed Officer Phillips my watch. He didn’t look thrilled. Maybe he wished he’d been part of it.

  [Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [It’s some sort of store. We’re waiting for you.]

  “Blaze, let’s go. It’s a store.” Officer Phillips was already moving to his car.

  [William of Brinsford:] [IRREGULARS] [It’s a store!]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford] [We know. We’re waiting for you. Shadow’s with us.]

  As we pulled out, I turned on my flashers. I hoped other drivers would realize I was following the cop, not running from him. Or maybe he was running from me? I was behind him. All I knew was it was the fastest I’d ever driven across town, even in the middle of the night.

  Bhaarrt, Ingrid, and Shadow were waiting when we got there. So were Chief Jackson, Matt Bledsoe, and a crowd the police were holding back.

  “Will, good morning,” the Chief said. “We’re having problems keeping people from going in ahead of you. I threatened them with you being, quote, ‘very unhappy with them if they did.’ That stopped most of them.” He grinned.

  “Oh? So now I’m the bogeyman too? Gee, thanks for nothing.” We both laughed. “Did it come in right at seven or take some time?”

  “The change started at seven sharp. Body and dash cams say 7:03:20 when the glow disappeared. Why?”

  “Just more data for figuring out the system. Creature spawns take just under a minute now. Looks like size makes a difference. We can let the people working on system patterns know.” He nodded. I got a JOIN PARTY message from Ingrid and accepted. Blaze join seconds later.

  Turning to our party, I asked, “What do we have so far? I see four doors and signs. Anything else?” The doors were clustered on the left half of the old K-Mart’s front wall, glowing light Mana Blue. None were where the old entrance used to be, though the last was close. From left to right: STORE, REPAIR, QUESTS, TAVERN.

  All the words were in the light blue color I’ve been calling Mana Blue.

  “Shadow and I did a quick recon,” Bhaarrt said. “Just these four doors along the front. Back and sides are blank stone walls.”

  “Thanks. Which one should we go in first?” I asked.

  Shadow jumped in. “STORE will take the longest. REPAIR and QUESTS will be shortest. Bhaarrt likes beer, so TAVERN last. I had a class that talked about store sizes and what draws more people in. Intro to Retail class: more options means longer browsing and spending.” She shrugged. “Easy A.”

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  Ingrid nodded. “Unless we have something to fix, REPAIR is quickest. QUESTS next, then STORE. I’d like to see what quests for Healers are like.”

  She added, “The three of us don’t need repairs.”

  Bhaarrt just grinned, pointing at his wife. “What she said.” We all laughed.

  “Blaze?”

  “I’m with Ingrid. And since I’m technically on duty, going into a tavern is strictly for investigative purposes.” She turned and grinned at Matt. “Right, Matt?”

  Laughing, he said, “Of course. All part of your official investigation. I’m right behind you the moment you say it's safe to go in, especially for that place.”

  “I agree with everyone,” I said. “Who am I to stand in the way of an FBI investigation?” I glanced back at the gathering cars. “We need to move. I don’t think it’s dangerous, but we need to get in before someone tries to break through the police line.”

  We headed for the REPAIR door.

  The closed door looked like something found in an old castle: dark wood, iron bands, big rivets. No handle. I pushed. The door vanished, leaving a faint, translucent Mana glow. My hand passed through it with no sensation, so I stepped forward. The others followed.

  First thing I noticed was the smell of old leather, oil, and sweat. A low, worn dark wood counter stretched ahead, marked with years of light metal scrapes.

  Behind it stood the first Dwarf I’d seen since the game started. Four feet tall, dark brown clothes, walnut leather bracers, patch apron made of various shapes and colors of leather scraps sewn together, braided beard tucked behind it with a few bits sticking out to one side.

  The area beneath the counter was open. He stood on a platform behind the counter, lifting him up so the counter was just above his belt line. His large reddish nose and light brown eyes were the only clear features I could see under his dark brown hair and beard. Both were starting to streak with a few gray hairs.

  “Whatcha want? I don’t see nothin’ to fix, ‘cept that ugly hunk o’ iron your uglier friend’s wearing. Should be out back in the scrap pile.”

  “How much to repair something?” I asked, somewhat amused.

  “Don’t know. Can’t tell ya till ya got somethin’ to fix. Now git! All of ya. Don’t come back ‘til ye got work for me.”

  Figuring it best to git, I thanked him, and we left. The doorway reappeared as a Mana glow when I touched it.

  “It looks like he can only repair game items,” I said, once we were outside. “Otherwise, it’d unbalance things.” The others agreed.

  We crossed to the QUESTS door that looked the same as the REPAIR door and entered. Same glow, same effect when I touched the door.

  Inside, smoke with a roasted hazelnut scent hung in a blue haze. A tall, thin man in light blue robes sat in the back right corner on a dark wood chair carved like old church steeples that was higher than the point on his hat.

  The curved long-stemmed pipe sticking out of the corner of his mouth was more of a bone white with a bit of yellowish tint around the fire bowl. With the pipe in his mouth, he looked like Ian McKellen’s Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings movies. The Peter Jackson ones. Well, if Gandalf wore Mana Blue instead of gray. Even sitting down, he was as tall as me.

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [They’re scraping more than computer games now. At least there’s no gold question mark over his head.]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [PARTY] [Yeah. Thinking the same. What’s on that board next to him?]

  “Welcome, young seekers of knowledge and adventure,” the Gandalf clone said, pipe stem waving at the quest board, smoke curling Mana Blue into the air around him.

  The board had wooden strips hung on hooks. Only two, but room for a dozen.

  “Search ye the QUESTS for each of your classes. Ye may choose one or two, and when ye have done as bid, return for your just reward.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, then looked at the board. At the top of the board, it read MANA MAGE - LEVEL 9. “Shit. It looks level and class scaled.” We each took down both boards and read them.

  [Ingrid:] [PARTY] [HOLY HEALER Level 6. Easiest quest is Heal 10 people for at least 160 points total. Next is cure 15 Level 3 diseases. WTF?]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [NINJA Level 5. BACKSTAB 25 levels worth from behind and the other is steal Chief’s totem from a goblin camp without getting spotted. Since when do goblins have camps?]

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [It tells us they’re coming. I’ve got Imbue 1000 MANA points or kill 90 levels with only MANA BOLT.]

  [Blaze:] [PARTY] [Same for me but FIRE BOLT, 50 levels. Other is stop 500 points of damage with FIRE SHIELD. It must be based on our level, spells and skills.]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [PARTY] [Kill 60 creatures or tank 6 Level 7 Bosses. Damn!]

  “Ye can find your rewards on the back.” Gandalf told us, puffing smoke at the board.

  I flipped the strip.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Party] [The imbue quest gives a free level of the spell. The other one gives a free MANA BOLT level.]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [PARTY] [6 free points of STRENGTH or DEFENSE.]

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [PARTY] [Free levels for BACKSTAB and VANISH.]

  [Ingrid:] [PARTY] [Free level of HEALING or CURE DISEASE. It’s a pattern all right.]

  [Blaze:] [PARTY] [Free FIRE BOLT or FIRE SHIELD level. It’s definitely a pattern.]]

  “Can we take both?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at the quest giver.

  “Ye may choose both, but may not return less ye fulfill both…or died trying.”

  “We may as well take both,” Ingrid said. “A free level’s worth it.”

  “I’m mostly attacking from behind anyway,” Shadow added. “I’m in. Got real good picking my spot after I borrowed an anatomy textbook Ingrid had at home.”

  One by one, we handed over the strips. Gandalf puffed smoke in each of our faces, triggering QUEST ACCEPTED on our Character Screens. A new QUESTS line appeared with our objectives.

  After some coughing, we thanked him and stepped back out. We checked in with the others in the parking lot, letting them know what happened.

  “I’ve got some ideas about what’s going on,” I told Matt, “but I want to finish exploring the store first.”

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai9-C_TisPk

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