We fought and lost against Soul Biter. This wasn't a floor boss, in a dungeon, designed to test the players ability to move up a level. This was a field boss, a creature that should have been beatable at our level. But we were unable to defeat it. We had to retreat for our own safety. Even with the size of our group, we hardly had any effect on it. We were missing a clue, some piece of information, to give us an upper hand.

"Are you just going to stare at your breakfast, or do you plan on eating it?" Karla asked. I looked at my plate of untouched food, I couldn't recall how it even got there. Karla snapped her fingers a few centimeters from my nose. "Hey come out of it. You've been spaced out since we got up this morning. If you wanted to sleep in, you should have just told me." Karla said raising her eyebrows to check that I wasn't spacing out again.

I shook my head and started eating my breakfast. "Sorry about that. I was thinking about that hellhound again." I appologized. Karla cocked her head to the side, waiting for me to elaborate. "I can't help but feel we missed an important detail. Something that would have given us an upper hand during the battle. It's bugging me. I'll probably never figure it out." I sighed.

Karla frowned "I won't go out with someone that's not concentrated on the mobs were going to face. If you want to do something else today, I'm fine with that. But if we're going hunting, I need you to stay focused." she scolded. "Yes Ma'am." I responded. "I'm serious." she pleaded. I held my hands up in front of me, "Ok, ok. I'm just toying with you. I promise you'll have my undivided attention." I said.

"Good. Now finish up, I want to get going." Karla pressed. "What's the rush? It's not as if the mobs are going anywhere?" I said with my mouth full. "We're out of potions, and I need to get my equipment repaired. You wouldn't want my armor to fall off in the middle of battle would you?" Karla said. I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "Don't answer that!" Karla snapped at me. I feigned innocence and finished my meal in an exaggerated fashion.

With our hunger satiated, our equipment repaired, and a decent set of healing potions in our pouches, we headed back out into the wilderness, in an attempt to gain a bit of experience and some col. We passed the farm area and killed a few cows for the hides and the meat, we could always sell them if we decided not to do any crafting. We passed some forested areas but decided not to go in preferring to stay out in the open. I suggested we could go punch some trees, but Karla was not amused and decided to ignore me.

A few other players were either gathering resources or doing some hunting of their own close to town. But few players would venture this far out. We were also quite close to the moors, which, with Soul Biter still alive, was not the safest place to be. As long as we stayed off the moors, we should manage to avoid attracting Soul Biter's attention.

There were many other things to worry about out here: Goblins, wolves, giant mushrooms and snakes. A nice variety of creatures to hone our skills on and plunder for money and resources. At night we would have had to deal with undead and other nocturnal creatures. But even during the day, with only the two of us, we had to be careful to check our health bars and not trigger more than one mod at a time.

"We should rest. We've been at this for an hour." Karla advised. We looked around for a good spot that would not trigger the mobs. "How about the abandoned farmhouse. It's not far and mobs don't spawn there." I suggested. "Alright, but lets head to the road first, we're too close to the moor here." Karla pointed out.

We walked out of the grassy area we were in, then took the road that leads to the moors. "Karla, why do I get the feeling that it's not a coincidence that you wanted to come hunting near that old farmhouse?" I asked. She blushed a little, "I know you're still looking for answers and I thought that you might see something you didn't notice last time. So, no, it's not a coincidence." Karla admitted.

At the farmhouse, I took a good look around it's outside and the room inside, then we sat outside just under the small window, with our backs against the wall. "I can't see any strategic advantage the farmhouse would have brought us during the battle. Come to think of it, the hound's spawn point offers even less, it's basically in open terrain." I said

"Maybe the terrain has nothing to do with it." Karla began "The farmhouse gave us a place that it couldn't reach, but it's not as if we could fight it from there. I wouldn't call that a strategic advantage. We weren't strong enough. That's all there is to it." she concluded. She rested her chin on her knees. I could see the bitterness in her eyes. I leaned my head back against the wall.

"I don't buy it. I think we could have beaten the hound." I said. "The extra dogs that kept spawning prevented us from ganging up on it. If we wouldn't have been so busy fighting them, we would have been wearing down the hound's health much faster. That would have been an advantage." I pointed out. I could see myself taking a swing at the hound.

"It wasn't like we could just ignore the dogs." Karla said. "If we'd have turned our back on them they would have ripped us to shreds. It didn't even matter where we placed ourselves, those dogs covered every angle that the hound couldn't handle by itself. We never had an opening to even get one shot in. There were moments I could have flanked it, but those stupid dogs got in the way. One dog would have been fine, but three ... that just made it impossible." Karla pouted.

"That's it! You're brilliant, you know that?." I exclaimed. I turned towards Karla and put my hand on her shoulder and smiled in satisfaction. "We only have to keep one of them busy." I said. Karla gave me a surprised and confused look. "When we were retreating from Soul biter, we only got troubled by one dog. Nothing spawned in all that time." I blurted.

"So? Well go on. What are you thinking?" Karla pressed me to finish my train of thought. "The dogs will re-spawn only if all three are killed. If we keep one alive we won't have to handle the other two. It would leave openings and free up players to attack the hound. We would cause far more damage, and faster." I said. I put my hand to my mouth and whispered

"We could beat it"