I do not own Bitter Bits, A German Spy, or The Darkest Dungeon. This is the rewrite of Chapter Three.
"Well done Franz" A voice behind the German said, with clapping following.
Franz turned and glared at the elder goddess, "Is this just a game to you Ayn? Why The Penetrator? Why was this necessary?" He shouted.
Ayn chuckled darkly, "Oh Franz, you know nothing," The chuckling stopped, and she looked at Franz with as serious a look as she could muster, "I need a champion. I have enemies all around me, and I need someone who can be my right hand. Someone who can go out and handle my affairs without me going out myself, and I needed to know weather or not you can handle fighting demons without any assistance"
Franz started digesting what Ayn had said. "So you want me to work for you" he stated flatly.
"Not for me, with me. I need someone I can trust, someone who won't stab me in the back" She conjured up two chairs made of black wood with red velvet cushions, Ayn sat down on one of them, and gestured for Franz to sit down on the other.
"How can you be so sure that I won't try to kill you?" Franz asked as he sat down in the chair.
"Because," Ayn smirked, "You know that I can kill Nic and his little party, once he forms it anyway, at any time I want, and the only thing stopping me is the fact that Nic was my friend. That and seeing him try to conquer my dungeon will be entertaining" She chuckled darkly as the last words left her mouth.
"So let me guess, I serve you and you won't kill Nic." It wasn't much of a question.
"No, no. I just won't kill him directly" Well at least it's something Franz thought.
"Fine do I have to sign my soul over with a contract or something?" Franz rolled his eyes at the thought.
"Careful Franz, you almost choked on that sarcasm," She smirked again " and yes you do. With blood preferably, though any bodily fluid will do"
Good work Franz "Alright, guess I don't have much of a choice. I'll sign the stupid thing" I am going to die in some horrible way because of this, I can feel it
Ayn gave a sly smile, "You really don't. Now give me a moment to write up the paper work for you to sign" She snapped her fingers and was enveloped in a black aura, which soon disappeared, revealing that the elder goddess had left the room, leaving Franz alone to sit in the chair.
The German buried his face in his hands, "What the hell have I gotten myself into"
Nic's chest felt like he was chugging molten lead as he sprinted down the stone hallway. His foot falls against the hard stone along with his panting breath were his only companions. He had been running for what felt like five minuets, but distance running was never his thing. Finally he stopped and collapsed against the side of the cobblestone wall, his lungs doing their best to strangle him.
Can't stop, must keep going. I don't know how long Franz can last With tremendous effort Nic forced himself to stand up, and while he was in no condition to run, he started walking towards the exit.
The walk felt as though it took forever, and the burning in his lungs and legs didn't help, but eventually after many grueling minutes Nic sighted a bright light at the end of the passage. With renewed strength at the sight of his salvation, Nic burst into a light jog towards the stream of light. As he exited the passage, Nic noticed the town that was a scant for hundred meters from the entrance.
I don't remember the town being so big before He thought as he stumbled past the threshold of the cave exit. Out of curiosity, he turned to look and see how big the cave was, but to his shock and amazement as he saw an enormous manor. It had spires that were at least 10 meters high, and the whole place radiated a sense of death and dread.
Maybe there will be a few mercs in town who will help me if I promise all the loot that we find With this thought in mind, Nic started walking down to the town to hire his team. With a half-assed plan in head, Nic walks over to the tavern on the edge of town. Or at least Nic assumes it a tavern, the name is "Drunken Idiots Here" after all.
The first thing that hit Nic was the stench, the place reeked of body odor and cheep alcohol. He recoiled at the miasma, doing everything in his power not to retch at it. Mustering his willpower, Nic waded through the throng of drunken idiots and gambling men towards the barkeeper. Nic couldn't believe the man that he saw before him.
He looks like what would happen if Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a kid His arms were the size of tank barrels, and his torso was a barrel that was barley contained by a tight white shirt. His face looked as though it was chiseled out of marble.
"Are you going to order something?" The Barkeeper asked Nic.
"Uh, yeah. Can I get a pint of whatever you recommend?" He shuffles over to the bar and sits down on a stool. Panic rises in his throat as he realizes something Shit I don't have any money
"Judging by your expression I'm guessing that you left your coin at home" Nic turned and saw a man in a white cloak with a gold mask. Strapped across the man's back was a sword that was at least four feet long and about a half a foot wide.
How the hell can he wield something like that. Then again Franz has used some pretty wield things as weapons
"Yeah you can say that" Nic mumbled.
"Don't worry about it, I've got you covered" The man then placed a leather pouch on the table, clinking with the sound of coins as it landed against the wood.
"Why?" What does he get out of it?
"Cause I saw you come out of the Dungeon, not many people do that and I want to hear your story" The man lifted his mask slightly as he brought a mug up to his lips.
"Is that all?" Nic casually replied, the barkeeper set a mug down in front of him. Inside the mug sloshed a dark brown liquid that reeked heavily of alcohol. Seems a bit strong for beer, at least I think it's beer. He took sip of it and almost spit it out. It was disgustingly sweet with a biting after taste that put bullet ants to shame.
"First time drinking Martin's mead?" The man asked with a warm chuckle.
"Martin?" He looked back at the drink again and had to admit that it had some weird appeal.
The masked man nodded towards the barkeeper. Oh, of course
They sat in silence for a few moments while Nic finished his drink, and with a nice buzz filling his head, Nic began his tale.
"So my roommate found this book called the Necronomicon and became obsessed with it. After reading the whole thing in about half an hour she sacrificed our friend Eli to some eldritch horror and became a demigod/demi-eldritch thing. She turned our house into that mansion that you see at the top of the hill. So after hunting down a few weapons and some magical artifacts me and a friend of mine, Franz, went in after her to try to kill her. Saying we failed would be an understatement. I'm not sure how long we were in there since I don't remember the town being so big before we went in."
He had gathered a small crowd within a few minuets. The bar was deathly quite as the bearded man continued to recount his tale.
"We ran into heavy resistance almost immediately. We had to fight through at least a hundred snake women and five giant tentacle monsters before we found her. Within five seconds she had us running back the way we came, then Franz said he would go and hold he off so I could escape and get a proper party together to go and kill her. So I would like to ask if anyone would like to volunteer. You'll get a portion of any and all loot and gold that we find in there, as well as anything that you can carry out of there"
The tavern went quite. Then several mumbles were heard through out the bar.
"Not worth it if you ask me."
"He's frigging crazy."
"I doubt that there's even any loot in the place"
One by one, the tavern regulars resumed their ignoring of Nic, as well as Baldwin.
"That could have gone better." Nic sighed heavily.
"It could've gone worse as well." Baldwin replied as he shook his head, "Last guy who tried to get a quest going to the darkest dungeon started a riot that leveled half of the town."
Great, now I have to worried about being crucified "Why did he try to get people to go?"
The leper let out a heavy sigh, "He was the heir to the mansion, and after his old man offed himself he came back to claim it." He shrugged, "From what I heard, he was bound by the will to clear the eldritch out of the manor before he could own it." The masked leper took another long drink before continuing, "The town burned for three days before we managed to quell the last of the fires. Me and my team were the only ones who agreed to go through with it. We killed a good number of some of the bigger nasties before the heir died of a heart attack"
"Would you be willing to help me?" Nic asked, he was hopeful. The leper looked quite capable, and if the rest of his team was as impressive as he looked then they just might have a chance.
The leper was silent for a few moments, as he stared into his drink. "Why the hell not?"
"Thank you" Nic downed the last of his drink.
"I'll talk it over with my team mates, but I think that they will be with me on this. It's too much money to pass up on" He said, Nic could almost hear the smirk behind his golden mask.
"Fair enough, how long do you think it will take to get your team ready to leave?"
The leper scratched his chin a bit before responding, "Give me an hour or two, then meet me in front of the mansion. I'll take care of provisions and equipment as well."
"Thank you. Now that I think about it, I never got your name. Mine's Nic, what's yours?" Nic extends his hand towards the leper.
"Baldwin" He shakes Nic's hand, crushing the South Carolinian's hand.
"Pleasure" Nic cracks a sly smile I have my weapon, now I just have to aim it, and pray that it hits
AN: Last of the original rewrites. I will continue this story using this new continuity from now on. Please tell me what you think of this new continuity, any and all criticisms, suggestions, and ideas are welcome.