Karla screamed as we fell from the edge of the cliff. It went straight down for three meters before changing to a steep slope of loose sand and rocks. For a brief moment after hitting the sand slid gracefully as if we were skiing. Then our feet got caught in the rocks and we tumbled head over heels, down the slope.

I came to a stop by slamming onto a flat outcropping of rocks. I looked around quickly to see where Karla was. She had had the sense to stab her katana into the earth to prevent falling further. She laid there motionless. "Karla. Karla!" I was whispering as loud as I could. "Karla, say something!" "You idiot! I can't believe that you just did that ... " Karla hissed. "Quickly, we've got to get to those rocks." I interrupted her. We crawled, as quickly as we could, to a rockier place on the cliff that was out of sight of the edge we'd just jumped from.

I put my finger to my lips. Karla restrained a curse, and listened intently. We could make out Kabel's voice, but the replies were unintelligible "You let them get away, you idiots! ... I don't care; you shouldn't have let them escape. ... If they're dead we won't get anything." Kabel stopped talking and I guessed he and his men were looking over the edge of the cliff trying to see where we were and whether or not we were still alive. I didn't try to look as they might be able to spot us. "Let's get out of here." I heard Kabel say.

We waited a good ten minutes before doing anything. Karla looked at me still angry. I looked away as I took out two health potions; our health bars were both in the red. My hand was shaking uncontrollably as I handed Karla a potion. "Are you ok?" Karla said as she took the potion. I shook my head, tears were streaming from my eyes and now my whole body was shaking as the fear and tension, that I was holding back, surfaced unrestrained. Karla grabbed me and held me tight, as if to prevent me from exploding. We stayed that way for a long while. I felt safe in her arms and it helped me to slowly regain my composure.

Our little outcrop of rocks was in that odd transition space between the plateau and the valley, so we were not bothered by mobs spawning randomly and attacking us. Also it was unlikely that Kabel and his gang, or anyone else for that matter, would attempt to reach our location. I was near impossible to climb up from the valley floor and I don't think players would be crazy enough to try it from the top. This gave us time to asses our situation before we executed our next move. Once we left the outcrop we would not be able to return to it.

"So, what do you want to do?" Karla asked. "I'm guessing you don't want to stay here for three days while we wait for our cursors to turn green." I commented. "No, not really. Even if this rock seems fairly safe I would feel a lot better spending the night in town." Karla said. "If we waltz into town during the day we'll get hassled by the NPCs not to mention the players if they spot our orange cursors. We'll have to sneak in at night." I replied. Karla nodded in agreement. The prospect of going through the wilderness at night was not thrilling for either of us, but our options were few. We spoke little while we waited for darkness, partly out of fatigue but mostly because Karla still seemed a little angry.

As night fell, we carefully half-slid, half-climbed down to the valley floor. We carefully made our way to town trying to avoid any unpleasant encounters. But mobs are difficult to completely avoid. We disposed of those that did attack us as quietly as possible, making sure we weren't drawing any attention. At the edge of the town walls we couldn't see any players, only a few NPCs. The NPCs wouldn't prevent us from entering the town but it was best to avoid getting their attention. "I'll slip in to town and search for a deserted alleyway. I'll signal you from the entrance if it's all clear." Karla suggested. "Shouldn't we stay together?" I asked. "No! We'll draw far more attention together than I will alone. My agility is higher than yours, which helps me when I skulk around. I'll signal you when I'm sure no one is in the vicinity." Karla commanded.

Karla opened her menu and equipped her cloak and pulled the hood over her head as far as it would go, then took off for the gate. I kept out of sight as best as I could, always keeping an eye on the gate. Karla pressed her body against the stone just outside the gate. She peered through the gate, then went inside. She quickly retreated back out, crouched down, and mashed her body against the side of the gate. Two players appeared at the gate, chatting as they left town. They looked like they were going out to take on some mobs, and luckily they weren't looking in Karla's direction.

Karla slowly got back up after the players left. I could tell she was hesitating. She took a deep breath and I saw her disappear into town. Time passed and Karla was nowhere to be seen. "What's she doing?" I asked myself, frustrated that she had not shown herself. "*Bing*" as if to answer my question, I received a message. "Go to the gate and turn left at the first side street. Run!" I quickly looked around then took off for the gate. I entered town and some NPCs turned to look at me. Also, I could also see some players further in town. No time to hang around. I found the side street and turned into it. I went about the length of one house before I saw some players coming out of a door a few meters away. Where was Karla? I stood there frozen in the street. "That's it I'm caught. The players will rat me out" I thought to myself as I cringed. Just then a hand grabbed me and pulled me to an alleyway, slamming me into the wall.

"Gotcha!"