{System Error} - Everyone! it’s the mushrooms. I think they are absorbing our mana. If they are cut, they steal mana from any mages nearby to heal themselves.

  {Barry} - Are you sure?

  {System Error} - Yes, we tested it.

  {Barry} We?

  {Rositilda} - Can confirm.

  {Barry} - OK

  {Barry} @everyeoneworldevent Don’t hurt the mushrooms for now. They will use mana steal if harmed.

  “This is bad,” Rose said, looking out over the battle. “This must be why our lights didn’t work and my spell isn’t doing more than make the corpse twitch.”

  “Ayerelia looked like she had serious mana drain after healing me. It was a major wound but shouldn’t have been that drained. Not at the start of a fight.”

  “This is going to bleed us dry. All the goblins have to do is keep poking us and wait till our healers are out of juice.”

  “Death by a thousand cuts.” I agreed. “But what can we do about it?”

  The hafling looked back at the corpse and shrugged her shoulders eloquently.

  {Prolly Satan} @everyoneworldevent If you have any ideas, tell your squad leader. We will try to work out a plan together.

  {Barry} - So guys, any ideas?

  {Ayerelia} - So these things are sapping us? Like just sitting there and depleting our stores just by existing?

  {Barry} - That sums it up.

  {Ayerelia} - So get some physical types to go slice and dice them.

  {Rositilda} - That could kill us. Anyone who relies on mana. When Elizabeth cut just one, it dropped my mana a lot.

  {Ayerelia} - It didn’t do much to mine.

  {Barry} - Rose, you were right beside the mushroom when it was cut, correct? And Ayerelia, you were out in front at the fighting?

  {Rositilda} - Yes

  {Ayerelia} - I was

  {Barry} - Let’s test this. Elizabeth, when I say so, cut that shroom. @mages pay attention. Look at your mana now, and if you can’t, don’t use it for a moment.

  {System Error} Ready

  {Barry} Now!

  I stabbed the mushroom again and sliced downward, trying to cut a bit deeper this time. I had to catch Rose as she almost fainted.

  {Rositilda} - I was right beside it and it took half my mana store.

  {Ayerelia} - That hit me for about a 16th of my mana reserve.

  {Vampress} - That hurt. It got almost half of mine.

  {Pallidaddy} - About a 3rd

  {Barry}- Who’s the furthest?

  {Colossal Soup} - I think me. I barely noticed. It might have gotten a few ticks off my tank.

  {Barry} - I can’t see you. Where are you?

  {Colossal Soup} -Almost the middle of the cavern.

  {Barry} - Thanks guys. Back to fighting, though save your mana where you can.

  Barry and a couple of the squad leaders came over to inspect my mushroom.

  “We need to kill these if we want our healers to be able to heal. We don’t have enough mana potions.” Freya was saying. She was a tall tiefling, our only tiefling in fact.

  “But if we kill all the mushrooms, it will get dark.” Prolly Satan argued.

  “At least until we get enough of them killed. Then our mages can use their lights.” Freya countered.

  “We have to figure out something,” Barry said a hint of desperation in his voice. “The only way out is through. That door behind us isn’t going to open.”

  I sat there listening as my strength recovered from the healing. Was it taking so long because of the mana drain effect? This felt like a puzzle. Back when Rodney and I were looking for fun date options, we had tried an escape room. We had failed miserably, and it had caused an argument. If he had listened to my idea, we likely would have solved it before the timer had gone off.

  This felt similar. Thinking outside of the box was how we would get out of here. Not smashing and bashing. At least not just smashing and bashing. Strange, I loved puzzles, but thinking about this was difficult, not fun. I wanted to smash, not think. I shook my head. I still needed to be me, not just Beth the Barbarian.

  The door … something about the door. Or light? Hmm, I ran my hand along the floor. Everything in here was damp and spongy. Except the door.

  “Hey guys.” I tried to break in.

  “Look, we have used up way too many of Aubie’s mana potions already,” Satan was arguing.

  “We don’t have a lot of options here.”

  Would they listen to the barbarian? Maybe not. Probably I should go scope out the door and see if it would work anyway. I stood and left the trio arguing. The fighting was in pockets. The goblins were intrenched behind outcroppings and under ledges. We couldn’t hit them, but they weren’t able to do much to us either. It was mostly a stalemate other than when someone on one side got brave. Then there was a flurry of activity until one side retreated to safety.

  It was an uncontested walk to the door. All the goblins were at the other end guarding the exit. They knew as well as we did that the door at the entrance wouldn’t open.

  I looked up at the beam of wood baring the door. Why would you bar it from the inside? Yes, it swung inwards, so barring it from the other side wouldn’t make sense. But if you wanted to keep the players in, it just seemed weird. Reaching up, I ran my fingers along it. It was wood. I tried pushing up on it. It moved a little; it was very heavy. But that was fine; I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t magically adhered to the door.

  “I don’t think we can go back that way,” Copperbeard said, startling me.

  “No, I don’t think we can.” I said, thinking that my club wasn’t going to be much use.

  “Then what are ye doing messin with the door?”

  “I have an idea. Do you know who has a big war axe? I am pretty sure I saw someone with one.”

  “Er. I think you are right. There is someone with the knight class who has one. Don’t remember their name. Snake? But what is your idea?”

  “I want to make a bonfire.”

  He just looked at me and then looked up to the door. “Aye, that could work.”

  I grinned down at him. Happy that my idea wasn’t too crazy. I messaged Barry, and we got it all arranged.

  Vyper, that was the name of the knight, was sent along with Pallidaddy as his huge sword might be of help.

  In the meantime, the mages were all herded to the north wall.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Chop the door?” Vyper said, looking at me.

  “No, just this up here.” I smacked the beam with my hand.

  He tilted his head. “I don’t know if I can swing and hit that high. You want to try?” He held out his axe for me.

  I took it. It immediately felt odd in my hands. Like the blade wanted to tip to the side. But we needed this wood. “Stand back.” I told those standing around. Copperbeard had stayed, saying he would head over with the other magic users when the time came. I hadn’t thought much about it, but he was as much a mana user as Ayerelia. His singing was just a bonus; really, he was just a caster.

  They all shuffled back as I hefted the axe. I swung it up and managed to miss the door completely!

  What the fuck. I understand I had no skills in bladed weapons, but I wasn’t trying to fight with it, just hit a stationary target.

  I tried again, this time smashing the side of the axe into the beam.

  Shagrined I handed it back to Vyper, who seemed to be relieved to get it back. I hadn’t broken it, but I saw him surreptitiously checking it over.

  “I guess you’ll have to try,” Copperbeard said to him.

  Vyper chopped away at the beam as close to its hinge as possible. It took him a bit as doing it so high up drained his stamina. I still found that intriguing. I had one of those yet never seemed to run it dry.

  With a great crack, the beam broke free, and that end fell to the ground. Vyper and I lifted and jiggled the beam until we got it free from the latch on the other side.

  He and Pallidaddy took to hacking at it to make kindling and logs. This took longer than I had thought. The beam was hard and dense. I said so but Copperbeard assured me this was a good thing.

  “We want a good hardwood. And not rotten, so it burns well. This fire needs to burn bright for a while; we don’t want it going out before we are done.”

  Never having thought of how wood burns, I just nodded. This would likely be helpful in making better campfires. You don’t know what you don’t know.

  Once the beam was chopped up, we messaged the leaders, and they sent people to come help us bring it all to the centre where they were waiting.

  “We have some oil here from one of our alchemists. It should help get the fire going.” Barry said, producing a glass flask with a pale liquid in it.

  I stood back and watched as he and Copperbeard swiftly made a neat pile of kindling, the smaller bits at the bottom, and Satan carefully drizzled the oil over it before they then piled the bigger pieces around in a teepee formation.

  “Everyone move back.” Barry said. When we had all moved back towards the door, he said, “Ok Vampress, now!”

  The fire mage stepped forward, downed a mana potions then thrust her hand out towards the waiting wood.

  At first, the fire that shot from her hand looked weak; it somehow dripped versus blazed from her palm. I didn’t know fire could do that. She set her jaw and drew her brows and tried again. This time it was like she had lit a flamethrower. A bright stream of fire launched toward the kindling. It landed, sending sparks skittering across the floor like cheap fireworks.

  At first, I thought not much was happening. Then I heard a crackle, then a pop. A small flickering glow started. A few moments later, flames were licking the wood and reaching up higher and higher.

  “Lets go destroy some magic mushrooms!” Barry said and jogged off to the north wall. I ran after him, my fingers itching to hold my club.

  Action at last!

  My club wanted to bounce off the mushrooms. It was a huge disappointment as those around me sliced and chopped the mushrooms. I had tried [Hit] on a large shroom and ended up hitting myself in the head when it bounced back.

  “Hey!” someone called. “The bigger bits are starting to glow again.

  “Chop them up smaller.” Came a reply.

  Or bash them into mush. I spun my club around and went looking for any bits that dared to try to survive.

  We had been at this when the goblins figured out what we were up to. They didn't like the fire at all, but they skirted it to attack those of us furthers from it. This slowed us as fighting the goblins took attention away from beating up the fungi.

  “Try not to die; the healers can’t come over, and it will take a while to drag you over to them.” Barry said as he jogged past, checking on the progress. We had been checking in by chat, but it was decided we should focus on our task as we were unsure how much light we would have.

  10XP!

  I had decided that fighting goblins was a better use of my skill than making mushroom paste on the floor and walls of the cavern. Maybe I could make goblin paste?

  I found Dekka harassing a group of goblins that were trying to get a group of us to stop destroying a clump of mushrooms. They didn’t even pay attention to me as I approached them from the direction of the fire. That was interesting. I stopped to watch for a few seconds. Yes, they seemed to avoid looking at the fire at all costs.

  Smiling, I ran up to the group, keeping the fire at my back. I grabbed the first one and flung it to the ground hard. I heard a snap and a scream. Aiming at the largest one’s head, I used [Targeted Hit]. Its head exploded like I had hit a watermelon with a baseball bat.

  10XP!

  Were these things weaker? Or was I just getting into the swing of things? Heh, swing of things. I laughed at my own joke and swung my club into some kneecaps. Their screams of pain and fear filled my heart.

  10XP!

  I caught Dekka’s eye as she darted in trying to bite them as they tried to stab her with their spears. They were focused on her as she was opposite of the fire to them. Her tail was wagging as she dodged and nipped at them.

  I hit another one.

  10XP!

  I didn’t even bother to use a skill. Weaklings. Pathetic. Trying to hurt my friends while they are working.

  0.01XP!

  Looking over, I saw Dekka with a goblin, its head in her mouth and her doing the terrier death shake.

  Best doggo.

  Ow, the one behind me poked me in the calf with its spear. I spun and brought my club down on its head.

  10XP!

  Two rushed me at once. But they did it with their eyes closed. Stupid. I dropped my club and grabbed them as they reached me and lifted them into the air by the straps that they wore for clothes. Then, as they dangled there, I smashed their heads together. Once —

  10XP!

  — twice, three times. The one was still squealing. Like a rabbit. Silly goblin. I smashed it on the ground.

  10XP!

  CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE LEVELED UP - you are now a level 8 Barbarian! +3 to Str + 3 to Con +1 to Spd

  No time for that! I blinked it away. I picked up my club and looked around. There were no goblins around. No alive goblins, I corrected myself.

  “Get back here!” A voice was yelling at me. Friend's voice. There were no more goblins. There was more behind that wall that stuck out over there. I could go run over there and bash those goblins.

  “Elizabeth!” The voice insisted.

  I turned to see who the voice was coming from, in case it was someone I should hit. Not it was a friend. It was … Barry. Of course, I shouldn’t hit Barry. He was a friend. Why had I even thought of hitting a person? I shook my head.

  “Come on, it’s time to switch sides; the fire is getting low.”

  Switch sides? He wanted me to fight on the side of the goblins now? No, he wouldn’t ask that. I saw Dekka running happily over to the far side of the cavern. A bunch of people — the mages — were coming over this way.

  Then I remembered. The plan, my idea. I shook my head trying to clear it. I am Elizabeth. These are my friends. Troubled, I jogged to the other side of the cavern.

  With almost half of the mushrooms destroyed, the goblins were definitely weaker. Dekka and I went out hunting them as the others destroyed the mushrooms. The cavern was getting darker, so while they were weaker, their darkvision gave them an advantage.

  Using the fire to hide my approach was losing its effectiveness. The first group I tried sneaking up on saw me well before I got to them. This one had a shaman. She, for it looked like a female, pointed her long staff at me. A gloopy, glowing light shot out of it. I dodged, but it hit my foot, splashing as it did so. Gross.

  Reaching out, I grabbed the staff and hit the nearest goblin with it. Her eyes burned with anger. Her look of intelligence gave me pause, but then one of the goblins jumped on my back and, reaching around with its long spindly fingers, tried to cover my eyes.

  No, it was trying to gouge out my eyes! Rude! In a sudden move, I dropped my right shoulder and stepped back, throwing it off balance, then I reached up with my right hand and grabbed its head.

  Thinking of my dog as it dangled there trying in vain to hit me, I shook it hard, snapping its neck. I then threw its twitching corpse at its friends. That would have been a good corpse for friend Rose.

  The room was gloomy. The goblins moved like shadows. But I could bash shadows.

  A new, fun game.

  10XP!

  Whack a shadow.

  10XP!

  Maybe there is a goblin —

  10XP!

  — maybe there isn’t.

  I grinned and stepped forward to swing at another shadow.

  And fell over. My foot didn’t work!

  Well, fuck.

  I managed to get upright by doing a somersault maneuver. My ankle didn’t work, but it didn’t hurt. So as long as I stood in one place, I could smash the ones stupid enough to come within range.

  10XP!

  There were still so many. The not working issue of my foot was moving up my leg. My knee started acting weird, like it was going to go out on me.

  10XP!

  10XP!

  0.01XP!

  That wasn’t me. Well, obviously that last one wasn’t me. The goblins around me looked up. I tried to lunge forward to take advantage of their distraction. But I fell over again. The goblins swarmed me. It was hard to keep them back. I got stabbed a few times, and this made me angry. I should be on my feet fighting them. Not on the ground. Cowardly goblins should let me stand!

  I could see their cunning, evil looking faces, their black, pupilless eyes as they laughed at me. They were going to kill me on the ground. I growled at them.

  Wait. I could see them. They were lit, not by the flickering light of an open fire, or the sickly glow of the mushroom lights, but by clear light. They also noticed and nervously moved back towards the shadows of the nooks and crannies in the room.

  Looking up, I saw mage lights. Then, legs as people ran past me to get the goblins.

  We had done it! The mushrooms must be cleared. Coming back to myself, I looked down at my foot. It looked fine; the leather of my shoe didn’t look markedly different from it had before. But I couldn’t feel my leg. I poked my thigh. I could feel that. I, anyway, poked just above my knee and felt nothing. Leaning forward, I pulled my trouser cuff out of my boot to expose my skin.

  My leg was black. Not a smooth, nice ebony but a sickly black with hints of green and purple.

  I don’t know if I had an expletive strong enough for this contingency.