Abernathy manifested three more small balls of the clay, and four lengths of twisted twine. He also brought a small square-shaped tool that was about the size of my thumb.

  Abernathy: Fire, stick one of these fuses in and light it with a spark from this sparkstick. The explosions arent very big, I was worried they wouldn’t be enough to break the locks, but if you're class adds to explosive power then I have no doubt. Aimed explosions are incredibly strong.

  I repositioned myself in the small cage to be facing the rear of the wagon, where the locks of our cages were situated. It was pretty difficult, and I had to stop two times to catch my breath and reposition my body to get out of being stuck, but I managed. Abernathy easily moved around in his cage. He molded a bit of clay around the locking mechanism outside of his.

  Abernathy: The lock cylinders are weaker than the bolt, put the clay there.

  He handed me a ball of clay and a bit of twine, then affixed a much longer piece of twine fuse into his own clay. It was long enough to reach my cage. He also handed me the sparkstick, which was a bit of flint attached to a revolving circle of rough steel.

  Abernathy: Hopefully your bonus will work on mine as well if you are the one to light it. Flick the steel wheel on the sparkstick to produce sparks. Try to light mine first so it has time to burn before yours. But what are we going to do after we blow the locks?

  Chanter: I have an idea, can you make three more long fuses like yours? And hand me the rest of the clay?

  Abernathy handed me the requested ingredients. I pulled three Copper coins from my inventory and coated them in the clay, embedding the fuses.

  Chanter: Alright, I am going to blow the locks. Jump out the back of the wagon and run. Look for cover or a way to escape. They wanted us to be quiet earlier so hopefully we can find help.

  Abernathy: Okay, understood.

  I reached through the bars, balling my hand into a fist and pulling up the party menu. I extended a party invitation to Abernathy. He widened his eyes before reaching through and quietly tapping his closed fist to mine, accepting the party invitation.

  Abernathy: I didn’t know parties were a thing.

  I stored the three clay-covered coins in my inventory so the wicks wouldn’t get pulled out or damaged, then aligned the sparkstick to face Abernathy’s longer fuse and flicked the wheel. It made a soft chik sound and a small ember leapt from the device. It missed the fuse. I flicked it a few more times in quick succession and one of the embers ignited the wick. I watched the flame run along the length of the fuse and began frantically flicking the wheel again on my own fuse when the time seemed right. It caught as well, and I saw Abernathy crouching against the back of his cage, back to the front, covering his important bits from the explosion. I didn’t have enough room to do the same. I did my best, holding my arms across the front of my face.

  Two muffled explosions sounded, one after the other. The muffled thwumps were much softer than I expected, but still loud enough to garner a reaction as the cart slowed. I kicked, and the cage’s gate flew open. I crawled out as Abernathy did the same next to me. The locks lay in twisted pieces on the floor of the cart. I picked them up and put them in my inventory. The cart came to a stop.

  Chanter: Go!

  I leapt from the cart through the back, which was nothing more than a sheet of fabric with a vertical slit in the middle for a door. I rolled as I hit the packed earth of the road, turning and pulling the first makeshift coinbomb from my inventory.

  Abernathy had fallen face-first to the ground. I flicked the sparkstick several times as he started to rise, igniting the fuse on the first coin. A weasel beastkin, different from the one from the forest, sprinted from around the right side of the cart. I threw the coin at him. For a fraction of a second I saw abject horror cross his face. He tried to duck out of the way, but the throw had been aimed at his chest. When he ducked down, it placed the top of his head directly in the coin’s path. It hit the top of his head, covered in a stained leather cap. The clay mixture stuck to the helm.

  I pulled out another of the makeshift bombs and lit the fuse just as the one affixed to the weasel’s head detonated with a muffled thwump and the sharp snap of broken bone. Blood shot out of every orifice on his head as the explosion was directed down, and a multitude of copper shards, remnants of the coin being destroyed in the impact, were directed into his skull.

  The other weasel-man, this one recognizable as the original, ran around from the other direction. I threw the coin at him, but he dodged out of the way. He looked over at his fallen companion in terror, looking back at me and turning to run away. I pulled the last coin from my inventory as Abernathy stood, lighting it.

  The elven man shouted after the fleeing beastkin, leaping from the elevated seat at the front of the carriage. I threw the last coin at him. He batted at it with the mancatcher in his hands. The coin hit right at the center of the spiked ‘U’ at the end of the pole. It stuck fast to the end of the pole. The elven man saw the sparking fuse and threw the mancatcher at me like a spear. I cursed and jumped to the left, avoiding the thrown implement by inches.

  The coin detonated and the mancatcher fell in three pieces. The elven man glowered as he pulled free a long iron cudgel.

  “Nothing but trouble. Not worth the coin I would get for you across the Levaddi Mountains. I’ve had it with you.” He advanced, raising the cudgel to strike.

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  I pulled the webbed knife out of my inventory and jammed it into his stomach. The blade split through the webbing enough to bite deeply into his torso before getting stuck.

  The webbing had firmly attached to my hand as well. I was unable to return the blade to my inventory while it was buried in the elven man’s guts, so I did the only thing I could think to do. I yanked my hand back.

  Evisceration. It just sounded hardcore. It was equally as disturbing, and a hundred times more disgusting, when experienced in person.

  The webbing had affixed to his… insides… which became outsides when I yanked the blade backward.

  Suffice it to say — he would not survive long after I removed the knife. I returned the knife to my inventory, now labeled as Offal-Infused Blood-Soaked Webbed Knife. Disgusting. I had serious doubts about ever pulling it out of my inventory again.

  I glanced around and saw Abernathy staring between me and the elven man, who lay on the ground desperately trying to scoop his outsides back inside for a few moments before vomiting and laying unconscious.

  -DING-

  Welcome to level 7! New Stat Points available for distribution!

  Hidden Quest complete! Escape the slavers’ grasp! Reward: 5,000 experience points, Copper Coins x10, 1 Copper Escapist Chest , 1 Copper Survivor Chest. Bonus Chest! 1 Silver Party Chest.

  “Holy shit.” Abernathy said. His voice was high-pitched, almost a squeak. “That was brutal. I didn’t know hidden quests or bonus chests were a thing.”

  I pulled the Copper Escapist Chest out first. It had the same wooden, cooper-trimmed design as the other copper chests I had received. The emblem was an open lock with a pick protruding from the keyhole. I received Lockpicks x20, 1 Small Flask of Oil, and Copper Coins x20.

  I opened the Copper Survivor Chest next, which had the same design but with an emblem depicting a humanoid running with bound hands held ahead. It contained 1 Concealed Knife, Firecrackers x5, and another small sack of Copper Coins x20.

  I inspected the concealed knife, which was a curved blade no larger than my thumb secured in a small sheathe that could be affixed to any number of places by the leather strips that emerged from the sheath in tiny, intricate braids. I knelt and tied it to my ankle before pulling the last chest out of my inventory.

  The Silver Party Chest was more ornate, with a darker wood and silver trim. The emblem showed a group of people sitting around a table with small cups. I wondered what kind of party it referred to as I opened the chest. I sighed as I looked down at the rewards. I mean they weren’t bad, but I had expected more from a Silver chest after getting a cool little knife from the Copper one. I received Minor Healing Potion x10, Pack of Streamers x5, 1 Satchel of Glitterdust, and… 1 Discoball.

  “Discoball? Seriously?” I held it up.

  Abernathy looked over. “Discoball? Wait, really? Did you get that from the Silver Party chest?”

  “Yeah, along with some streamers, a pack of Glitterdust, and some healing potions.”

  I pulled one of the healing potions out. It had the same item description when inspected, but had a handwritten cover that read ‘Hair of the dog’. I inspected the Discoball, which was roughly the size of a basketball in my hands..

  Discoball. Party Item. Non-magical.

  Attach it to a cord, shine some lights, and set it to spinning for a good time! Dance the night away!

  I inspected the glitterdust next.

  Satchel of Glitterdust. Party Item. Non-magical.

  A small pouch of multi-colored glitter. Has glitter been invented yet in the world of Veil? No, but that doesn’t mean it's too early to start the party!

  “I got a twenty pack of… red cups… and a pong table? This table could actually be useful though.” Abernathy scratched his head.

  “Not what I was expecting from the Party Chest. I thought it might be related to grouping up or something.” I sighed, looking up and down the road.

  “We should get back to town,” I said, looking around. The road was empty, but far in the distance I could see a group approaching, walking towards the city. I walked over and tried picking up the elven man.

  I remembered the sharp pain I had felt at the prior assault and ran my fingers over my ribs. They were a bit sore but seemed to have healed for the most part.

  An idea formed. I bent and picked up the elven man, deciding to try something. I tried putting him in my inventory. To my surprise, he vanished, appearing in my inventory as a Disemboweled Corpse.

  His inventory, which consisted of Gold Coin x10, Iron cudgel, Copper Key x1, Minor Healing Potion x5, transferred into my inventory. I ran over and did the same with the other corpse, gathering Silver Coin x5, Bottle of Gin, Woven Hemp Lasso, and Iron Dagger.

  “You can loot entire corpses?” Abernathy said with a mixture of disgust and awe.

  “Yeah, I never thought to try it, but it might actually be faster than just looting them. Their inventory automatically gets added to your own, apparently. Here.” I handed him five Gold and three Silver, glancing back to see the travelers were close enough to make out three people.

  I kicked some dirt over the blood-stained ground and walked around the front of the cart. Abernathy followed. Two mules were harnessed to the reins. I climbed up on the bench behind them, helping Abernathy up.

  “Know anything about driving a cart or mules?” I asked. Abernathy laughed.

  “Nothing at all, but it beats walking!”

  I handed him the reins and looked around for the weasel beastkin. He was nowhere to be seen.

  The western road was composed of condensed earth dappled occasionally with jutting stones. Wide, low hills spread out in every direction, long grass standing about three feet high, swaying in the wind. Large stones lay scattered among the hills. The hazy outline of mountains loomed in the distance far to the west. I could see homesteads and large fenced areas that held massive cows with thick, curly fur.

  Abernathy looked uneasily at the reigns, then at the donkeys. He clicked his tongue and flicked the reins. The donkeys began walking, one flicking its tail. Abernathy pulled one side of the reins and the donkeys obediently turned in a wide half-circle, aiming back towards the city.

  “Looks like you got yourself a new cart!” I said to Abernathy as we made our way back to the city.