After having observed the Amber Fox, Jason sneaks back to the group. “Okay, that is definitely an undead. In fact, it sounds like a rare subtype. Not something we should find in this forest at the very least. Here is what I got.” and he sends the description to them, “If there was any doubt before I am 100% certain this is our goal now. Also, while I can’t be certain I think that thing is healing a little fast so we might want to get in there quick.”

Rosha interjects, “But bosses will heal out of combat. Not exactly a new thing though I assume you saw something to mean it is even beyond that.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t just healing normally. There was the normal wounds slowly closing stuff. However it looked like there was sap leaking into the wounds and solidifying as well. I think it might have a regen ability.”

James raises his eyebrow, “You sure this is your first quest? From what I have heard, bosses with regen don’t show up till after your level 10 or you’ve tried cheesing how bosses don’t heal in combat. Anyway, I think we should just go in. If we wipe early then there is enough time to talk about it tonight and try again early tomorrow.”

Rosha seems to realize something, “We should probably get some contact info from each other. As it is, we can only talk by physically being in the same location. Being able to talk out of game would probably benefit us at some point.”

“Okay first share contact info then just charging into combat”, and then Jason sends a quick irl friend request to the other two. After they accept the group starts down the path. The fox notices them soon after but just ignores them as it obviously guards the flower. Finally when they reach the edge of the clearing it turns to them and positions itself to attack.

“James, I will try and tank it so focus on interruptions and healing. I think we will actually need it this time. Rosha, just use James as a shield to start so we can get a feel for this. I plan to dodge tank it though if that falls through I will duck behind you, James. Onward, to Victory!”

As Jason charges towards the Amber Fox, Rosha can’t help but comment, “I thought we weren’t going to plan”, before following James in while holding fire so she doesn’t get aggro.

The fox seeing Jason rushing towards it hunches down. Then the Amber on the legs seem light up and it pounces, leaving a trail of sparkling amber dust behind it. Jason unable to react in time can only bring his arms up and let himself fall backward to absorb the shock.

*-6*

When he crashes onto his back Jason brings goes into a backward roll and gets his feet under the fox. Then with the momentum kicks the Amber Fox towards James.

Seeing the damage Jason took James is about to cast a healing spell. However he decides maybe a shield bash might be better for his own health. With a loud crack of metal on crystal the fox is smashed to the side leaving a spray of amber behind. The partly healed wound on the foxes shoulder seems to crack further as it lands.

Quickly recovering Jason gets up and positions himself behind James while waiting to see how the fox responds. When the Amber Fox gets up instead of just charging them again it goes to get between the group and the flower. James takes this chance, “[Heal Minor Wounds]”, and a few mystical hand motions he raps his knuckles on Jason’s shoulder.

*+3*

“Now don’t get hurt too much, a bit of a cool down on that before I can do it again”, James states before bring his shield up and prepares to attack. With a flip of his wrist the whip quickly slashes through the air and wraps around the foxes injured leg. The Amber Fox tries to pull its leg free but a quick pull by James, trips the fox before it can react.

Rosha takes this chance to join the fight. While the fox is falling over she pulls her bow back and shouts, “[Piercing Shot]”. After releasing the arrow it develops a slight glow and seems to start spinning rapidly before impacting the Fox’s, cracked shoulder. The arrow barely manages to penetrate but it widens the crack.

No longer missing half his health, Jason strides forth. As the fox gets up he just straight up kicks it in the belly. The Amber Fox turns to him and takes a swipe but Jason pulls his foot back before it can hit. At the same time another arrow shoots in, chipping off the tip of the right ear. As the fox turns to look, Jason extends his foot again in a sidekick pushing the Amber Fox off balance. James takes this chance to wrap the other front leg and trips it once again.

Suddenly a glow emanates from the Amber Foxes throat and it releases a roar. A visible shock wave passes through the air and pushes everyone back. Given some space the fox ignores Jason and charges at Rosha.

James doesn’t take this lightly and quickly slams his shield down and readies himself against the charge. A clang rings out as the Amber Fox collides. With that James gets pushed back a couple steps.

*-2*

The fox staggers a bit and James takes the chance to use a skill, “[Binding Whip]”. A quick thwip and the whip coils around the front legs, holding the fox in place. “Quick, it won't hold it long”, Jame shouts.

With that prompt Rosha and James both start just bashing on it. Being right next to it Jason just stomps on its back. Rosha however has to rush out from behind James and she takes this time to draw her daggers. Once she is up and close though those daggers seem to just flash around creating numerous white marks.

They actually manage to get a lot of damage done in that short amount of time. However even before the binding skill ends things go sideways. The Amber Fox looked very brittle and then suddenly the amber just seems to explode outward off the skeleton.

*-3*

Jason is grunts as he gets sent back down to half health but stands his ground.

*-5*

Rosha who had gotten right up in its face with her daggers took the brunt of the blast and was knocked over onto her back.

*-1*

James on the other hand had already been blocking with his shield and only received glancing blows.

The Amber Fox is now standing. Most of the amber has come off the bones but still some remain. Now what was once like a sculpture has taken on a much more undead form. While the bones are still coated, it truly looks like a proper skeleton finally. Then if growls and dashes backward.

“James, your full tank now, go guard Rosha as she gets up. Losing it’s coat seems to have upped it’s speed. Rosha, you and me need to be behind his shield right this instant.” and Jason quickly moves into a defensive position next to Rosha.

James clomps into position as the Fox charges back. Getting into position leaves him open and the Amber Fox gets a series of swipes in on his side.

*-1* *-1* *-1* *-1*

But he blocks it from getting to Rosha. With this chance she scrambles back up to her feet. Not wanting to get into close melee again she puts equips her daggers onto the bow and unstrings it.

Jason and James both take a swing at the Fox to give her the chance. The whip is dodged by the Amber Fox as it is clearly averse to being captured again. However this puts it directly in the way of Jason’s punch.

*-1*

Jason grunts in pain. Where before it felt almost like a real animal the amber is now rock hard. Being down to only 5hp he ducks behind James and asks him, “Can you heal yet?” but a quick head shake shows otherwise.

While the boys are playing around Rosha takes the chance and swings her bladed short staff. The Fox moves out of the way but still gets glanced. As it is dodging Rosha reverses the staffs direction and turns the swing into a stab. It connects solidly on the skull of the Fox and leaves a gash on the amber down to the bone.

James follows this up with a smack from his shield. However the Amber Fox uses this as a chance to get in under his shield and slashes at him again.

*-1*

Jason doesn’t take too kindly to this and sends a quick kick to knock the fox away. While this works there doesn’t seem to be any damage. Not taking kindly to this though the Amber Fox gets a swipe in on him as well.

*-2*

Rosha on the other side of James thus gets a nice big opening to take advantage of it. A hard smash down with the staff and a big chunk of amber on the fox’s head shatters off. James seeing this as a weak spot and slams the butt of his whip down on the same spot and Jason follows it up with an elbow drop. As his elbow impacts it the skull of the Amber Fox just shatters into pieces.

At this the group all back up and prepare for any death based hijinks. Luckily nothing seems to happen and Jason lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. This had been the closest to death he had been since joining the game. The others are relatively okay but he only has 3 hp left. Not wanting to trigger anything they wait till James has his heal back.

*+8*

James looks relieved at the amount healed, “There we go, that's more like it. Honestly 3 hp? Such a bad heal. Even this isn’t that good, just average. Anyway, Jason it is your quest. Go pick that dang flower and we can skedaddle out of here.”

Jason can only shrug at this. It isn’t like he has all that much hp at the moment. Going over to the flower he carefully scoops the flower up along with some of the soil. Being careful with it he places it in a pouch that Rosha is holding out for it. Finally after all of this the victory screen pops up.

Besides this Jason also gets another screen popping up.

Akhier

Things I wanted to mention but didn’t:

This blurb is specifically because I told someone else this already in a comment and I wanted to do it properly.

Everyone but a few groups think that gaining stats through training isn’t a thing after you level up a few times. What is actually happening is that the System doesn’t consider stats from level ups to be a true part of a person's ability. People don’t see this because of how it works. If you trained and got +1str then leveled up and got +1str you would be at +2str. However if you leveled up and got +1str then trained for +1str you would only show up as +1str. As you don’t get any message from turning outside stats into personal stats then except for the stray point in a stat outside of what they are increasing, most players don’t see any training stats past the first level or so. One effect of this I am willing to tell you all right now deals with skills. This is actually a big mystery for the majority of people in NeoRealm (both players and npcs). Most skills have a minimum stat requirement to learn it and then level it up beyond certain points. A melee fighter might gain the skill [Piercing Shield Charge] which requires 100 Strength. Most people who get this skill will only be able to go straightforward. However at some point a person might find that they can suddenly curve the path of their charge. The reason for this is that they would have gotten to 100 personal strength. The system will let someone with use a skill when your status displays 100 strength (even if only from a gear bonus though to learn it you can’t include the gear bonus) however it doesn’t let someone modify or personalize a skill. While I used a melee fighter this is most obvious with magic. A magic missile is a ball of colored light shooting at someone. With a high enough related stat you could make it look like mini dragons (though this would require a lot of work as the System does try to keep things standerdized somewhat, a simple color change is much easier)