“Damn Mongbats!! It’s the second time this week they do this t’me!!!” Kaz spat on the ground. He was upset, and rightfully so. Kaz was just a simple miner trying to make a living by mining ore and selling ingots, and for no apparent reason, a band of Mongbats chose poor Mr. O’grady as the victim of their mischievous pranks. What the Mongbats were doing was sneaking up to Kaz’s packhorse and stealing his pickaxes, shovels and any ingots that were in the horses pack. Now this probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to you or me but to Kaz it was. Not only did it take a long time to make more shovels (Kaz was a fair Tinker, not a great one) but this time they took ALL of his ingots so Kaz had to walk back to town and buy a shovel from the provisioner’s shop then go back and mine more just to…well, you know how it works. Anyway, he was not happy this day.On his way to buy another shovel Kaz decided to stop by his house and pick up his prize weapon, an accurate dagger of vanquishing. It took him almost a year to save up for that dagger and he was proud of it. Whenever Kaz went to the pub for a pint he would wear it on his belt for everyone to see.

“I’ll show’em who’s boss. I’ll slice’em up with this here vankerish dagger! They’ll wish they never messed with Kaz O’grady!”

He made it back to his mining spot and started to mine again, hoping they would come back this time. After about an hour he heard his packhorse whinny. Kaz peeked out of the cave and saw that his horse was looking around desperately so he walked out of the cave and saw 4 or 5 Mongbats coming up the path towards his horse. This time Kaz was ready!

He ran up to the nearest Mongbat with his dagger held high, let out a yell and swung his dagger, rather clumsily, at the Mongbat. You see, Kaz had never used the dagger before so he had no idea how to fight with it, but on this day luck was on his side and Kaz opened up a nice gash on the shoulder of the Mongbat. The Mongbat shrieked in pain and ran off bleeding all over the ground as he went. The other Mongbats stopped and stared at Kaz for a few seconds then turned and ran off shrieking and cackling. He had done it! Kaz had fought off the enemy with Grandmaster skills and a warrior’s prowess!(or so he thought).

That night Kaz went to the pub and had a pint of ale. Actually he had a few pints. Kaz told his story over and over again about how he slew the dreaded Mongbats. After about four ales and ten stories the Mongbats turned into Frost Trolls but that was ok. Kaz was on a roll and his friends enjoyed hearing the story evolve.

The next day Kaz was feeling like he was on top of the world. He could mine whenever or wherever he wanted and nothing was going to stop him! Kaz was feeling so good he decided to go over to his mage friend’s house and see if she could gate him to Fire Island. There were some great mining spots on that island although it was a very dangerous place. His friend, Lilith, was a Grandmaster Mage who was very smart and very wise. She warned Kaz of the dangers of mining on Fire Island but he was adamant about going. She finally gave in and opened up a gate for him. Kaz thanked her and stepped through.

When he arrived on the island Kaz went to a mountain and began to mine. He hadn’t been there more than 5 minutes when, you guessed it, some more Mongbats came up to him. These guys weren’t there to steal shovels though. They attacked Kaz all at once and rolled him to the ground scratching and biting him. Then just as quickly as they came, the Mongbats got up and took off running. Kaz thought this was a bit strange but he wasn’t hurt badly so he shrugged it off and started mining again. He mined for about an hour and decided to go to a nearby cave to mine some valorite. Someone had told him there was a nice vein in that cave. Kaz had only been in the cave for a few minutes when he heard his horse scream! He ran out of the cave thinking that the Mongbats had come back but this time it wasn’t Mongbats. It was a DAEMON!!! The poor packhorse didn’t stand a chance. By the time Kaz got to the horse the Daemon had killed and looted it and was just starting to eat it. Without thinking Kaz ran up to the Daemon much like he did the Mongbats the day before. He yelled at the Daemon and reached for his dagger and…..it was GONE!!. You see, Mongbats know a nice dagger when they see one.

Kaz turned to run, took one step and was frozen where he stood. He was unable to move as the Daemon ambled slowly up to him. A paralyze spell isn’t a good thing when you are on the receiving end of it. The Daemon struck him once and almost killed Kaz with that one blow. As the Daemon readied himself for the final blow, one thought kept going through kaz’s mind……”Damn Monbats!!!”

 

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