Town Gone South
!
[Deserve to Die]
Foes within three spaces take 1 extra point of damage. (Personal)
The world spun with me at its center, a top from which someone had chosen to play a sick game with. Lurching forward, I fell to my knees with a horrible sensation churning within the depths of my gut as my arms braced against the warm dirt. Whatever abhorrent spirits I had downed earlier in the night exited out through my throat in the form of a rotten elixir promising death instead of life.
My throat burned as my vision swam upstream, chest bruised from the abuse while the pressure was quickly built back up. There was a mistaken moment where I tried to take in a new breath, one more than I apparently deserved if the blistering hot puke had anything to say on such matters. A turbulent minute passed, from which my status as human and not a fleshy faucet was returned to me. Though my body was left in a state half shaken from the near religious experience.
Not a divine holy journey, but one that was closer in origin having been forged by the devil than anyone else. Swallowing the bile that threatened to come up and burn my throat a second time.
"God fuck me," A violent series of coughs pounded against my skull, the sense of weakness weighed like iron chains rubbing along my bones. A new colder gust of air that spoke of the wilds bought a moment to gather my strength, "Just fucking let me die already."
I'm not much of a religious man, but at that very moment I prayed that I had not crossed into some ancestral native american burial ground. Or in the off chance that I had, my prayer was a request for my death to be a swift one.
The smell was abhorrent, of a level that almost made me wonder how I could let myself go by such an extent. My body objected, but I moved all the same out of the way and collapsed once I was away from the toxic puddle of filth I left behind. Simply to lay dead to the world on the forest floor, sucking in desperate breaths so that I could return to a sense of normality.
The forest was deathly silent, a fact that the headache that occupied my mind greatly benefited from. Had I been in a better state of mind, there might've been some hope that it would be a detail sober men would notice. In my case, I neither had the patience nor gave a single shit.
If Slenderman was going to wreck my shit for trespassing, well there wasn't much that I'd be capable of doing about it.
'Special place in hell' sounds like the name of a great fucking drink, because I am in that special place reserved for me. The absolute moron.
My stomach was a turbulent river when I swung myself onto my back, and brought myself into a sitting position. Fumbling around, my limbs finally felt like they belonged to me again when my eyes adjusted to the new level of light. Dropping my pack onto the grass, and taking my shirt hoodie combo off of my back so the article of clothing slick with my sweat could stop strangling my torso. The world felt so wrong when it should've been so right.
Reddit was a mistake, even more of a mistake than the mothers of the demented freaks who use that site by not ridding the world of them before they could get the opportunity to make an account. God willing, I was going to strangle Bushlash_420. Safe natural psychedelics my fucking ass.
Probably after I skinned Kyle alive when I got back to camp, tAkE sOmE vOdKa RiGhT aFtEr YoUr RuM aNd CoKe. 'It'll be fine, I promise~' Fucking asshole.
"Fssss ah," I sighed in genuine relief after finishing off with what little water remained in my hydroflask, an overpriced piece of shit with but a single redeeming quality. Having had it gifted to me long ago.
My fuming eventually cooled off, after finally ejecting the miasma that had been festering in my gut it allowed me to regain a measure of sobriety. With no target for my anger to vent itself on I was left to stew as the last vestiges of such an unnatural sensation fled my body.
"where the fuuuuuuuuuuc," My words came out in a slow manner, a thick southern accent slipping through the cracks with the sudden realization that I wasn't where I just was. The only response I received was the continued silence, a complete absence of birds chirping of any sort. I hadn't expected much given that it WAS winter time but my mind should've been able to gather some clue, "am i?"
I was in the middle of the damn woods, a forest just like the one I have been camping out in, but different. Wrong, incorrect even. The air was cleaner if that was at all possible, and I damn well didn't recognize the trees that surrounded me. As out of it as I already was, you couldn't mistake tropical foliage belonging next to pine.
Oh, and there was no snow coating the ground. Or the trees themselves, so there's that. Though I did have to shake my head free of any leaves that caught a ride aloft of my hair.
My head crashed back into my rucksack, a hiss left my lips as bone brushed up against some random piece of metal. Lacking real bite left I readjusted, my eyes drinking in the warm sky that lay above the cold earth along my back. The breeze across my bare chest reassured me that I at least still resided within the same time of year, but when I tried to turn on my phone I was met by a red battery icon.
Ah, yes. Fuck me I guess.
What an utter shit show of a situation I'd managed to get in. Oh of all the places to end up, somehow I managed to find myself a place beyond any cell tower's reach. I'd take the veritable cancer rays of a 5G tower if it meant I could get half-decent reception, sell my soul even so that my phone would have a reliable connection with 2 bars.
I'd have to let the thing charge and attain some level of power before trying to make a call, hopefully I wasn't too far away from a cell tower. This little romp had been. . .
'Fun'
But, I had better things to do than suffer from food poisoning in some backwater jungle. Namely the second half of a drive for a new years party was waiting for me, and more alcohol than I had blood running through my veins. As warm water colors mixed into the dawn of a new year, light clinks from my absentminded searching of my pocket occupied the small clearing that I'd found myself in.
The overcharged emotional daze that I'd been stuck in by my frustration quickly drained out of me, leaving an emptiness in its place. If I could collapse in on myself more than I already had, then that probably would've happened at this point, but even laying there felt like too much of an effort to exert. Like I could've broken the surface tension of the floor and sunk to some other depth. I don't know what other point beyond rock bottom there is to hit, but I was bound to find out if there was one soon.
Patting my thigh twice once I had located what I had been looking for, forgoing my wallet or phone for my lighter and a box of death.
The lighter was close to dead empty, light splashes could be heard as I shook it back and forth next to my ear. Unclipping the case from the rest of the device, I stared down vial to eyeball how much of the colorless oil that I had left. A screw loose part of my brain suggested that I'd be better off drinking the stuff.
It went ignored.
A bright yellow erupted from the jet, a long tail of fire stretched out in front of me. My eyes flickered open in surprise, before I squinted at the thing in confusion. With a sensation of numbness passing through the very same hand that was holding the lighter, a feeling I mistook for fatigue. I hadn't expected the aging piece of flint to bring a flame to life so easily, the damn thing had been acting up for more than a week now. Not to say that I wasn't pleased by this turn of events, just pleasantly surprised I suppose. Soft orange emerged from the tip of a cigarette that I leaned the flame against.
Branding does matter though the amount I had left earned a measure of my ire, letting out a 'tsk' with the idle realization that I'd have to get more sooner or later. Though I could've sworn that I had more than like, around half a dozen left. My nerves quieted as I let the cigarette simmer against my lips, an all encompassing familiar warmth fell over my form. A thin veneer of smoke flowed out of my mouth with a breath like a physical yet artificial shield to keep away the winter cold.
Oh, if mo- my brother could see me now.
Fuck.
It was a bad habit with no better sign of proof than the literal feeling of acid eating away at me. Though, that had been more prominent in the beginning and going away with the more time that I spent with it. My joints cracked when I stood up, stretching out my limbs as I lugged my body back onto my own two feet. Eyes on the horizon hidden past the thick treeline as I trudged along.
!
"AHHHHH! FUUUUUUHHHHHHH," My heart had jumped straight up past my jugular when the next step I took snuck deeper than I was expecting. What I had dismissed as merely another one of the forest's clearing turned into a sharp drop off straight down towards the sea. Unable to stop I fell onto my side with legs dangling over the edge, "ACK! puffhhah, dear god ohh fuck. . ."
My body slammed face first into the ground, quite loudly against my relatively quiet and quite woody surroundings. Thus, marking the second time that I made an absolute fool of myself on this oh so 'special' day.
The sounds of far off waves crashed ominously against the cliff face, the most recent hit ripping a chunk of rock from the mountain. An involuntary gulp passed while my heart still raced as blood pulsed and throbbed throughout my body. Lets just say that I very carefully crawled away from the cliff's edge, and just laid in the dirt waiting for my heart to stop racing.
Once the adrenaline had fled my system the pain from landing flat on my chest hit me in full force, releasing a selfish hiss once it was safe to do so. A hiss unobstructed, when it should've been accompanied by a cough or hacking up death itself after accidently swallowing a certain something. The realization of what had dropped from my mouth ran me through a second later, and the sense of defeat came the moment after.
Ugh, what a fucked up day.
Well. . .
I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore, but it doesn't seem like I'm getting a golden road anytime soon. So that blows. Up we go again I suppose, and let's hope to not make a fool of ourselves a second time today. Though it'd be best to ignore how I may have already jinxed myself.
New rule, no speed walking. Not until I find a road, might even manage to extend my life expectancy by a tad if I happen to be lucky.
. . .
The cool liquid washed over the bridge of my nose, doing wonders to relieve the pressure that had been building at the base of my skull. Not my proudest moment to end up looking like a wet dog drying itself, but the relief was well worth it.
A light sigh of relief was quickly interrupted as I spat out some of the water that had slipped down my nostrils, forcing me to gag and cough it up. My head was completely soaked by the small waterfall that I came across, though calling it a 'waterfall' would probably be too generous. By small I mean like a 10 feet drop. The beginning of a river's rapids, a small drop off before a creek gained speed as it developed further downstream. The soft pitter patter of river water flowing from a mountain that I could spot in the distance, had formed a small waterfall down to the part of the forest that I had been walking through.
While the light sloshing of water was clear in my ears, there wasn't much else in this empty forest. Crunching of dried fallen leaves notwithstanding.
Ordinally, I would've been creeped out by now, but my growing thirst took higher priorities over any smidge of paranoia. Honestly I wanted something interesting to pop up, not that there was much of anything that could mildly cure my boredom. The frat boy in me wanted to set off some of the fireworks that I had handy, while the sober part vetoed that idea.
Nice jungle-ish foresty place, be a shame to let it burn. Smoky bear would not be pleased.
Lots of palm trees and big fluffy ferns, though most of the plants were closer to dead shrubs given this time of year. Some of them had clear signs of doing quite well to hold on in spite of the changing season, part in parcel with the tropics I suppose.
Fight the power and all that, or mother nature in this case.
In recent times, the value of bad news has taken a huge hit and depreciated in value greatly. Being stuck in some god forsaken forest and all. The goods news looked not much better considering the best thing available that counted would be, 'I found a river!' And it would be depressing to report that I had a singular tangible bit of good news that I'd been blessed with. Mostly leaving me to wonder how in the Sam hell I managed to get so lost, even propose the idea of abstinence to repent.
An involuntary shiver brought me out of my thoughts, the sensation of cool water washed over my fingers. My vision coming back into focus revealed just how much water had managed to fill up my flask, a significant part of my long sleeve shirt had been soaked through. While probably not the most pure thing out there, running water was better than my other options. I let off a short prayer to avoid dysentery.
While the weird hydro flask that I kept on my person was being defined by relatively clean water. I saved my personal flask for rainy days. Though not of the kind meant by bad weather. After all, quality alcohol is hard to come by. Such was my train of thought with being lost out here.
Now all I needed was a Mcgriddle and I'd be right as rain.
My boots would need a bit more than spit and polish, lathered with loads of dirt from not watching where I was stepping. Though waddling through a stream certainly helps, my general appearance was closer to that of a wet rat than a human being. So not that much better than my usual state of being.
But as nice as the falling water felt as the liquid caressed my skin, there are only so many hours in the day. And this was winter, freezing to death wasn't all that appealing to me.
Felt like my ears had just popped from the air pressure, the world around me coming into focus even more so than it had when I zoned out while collecting water. So when I decided to stand up, my habit of falling onto my ass kicked in once again. It had officially been upgraded from minor annoyance to,
There's a certain amount of shame that comes with the inability to walk on my own two feet, an implication of an incompetent toddler could be made. So I stayed face planted into the dirt for about a minute until my lungs began to burn and forced me to sit upright. Probably would've gone better if I hadn't downed what little alcohol was left in the bottle before I filled it up with water.
Waste not want not and all that.
I know you're supposed to like, cook the water you collect. Something about germs or another, but unfortunately like with many things. I don't happen to have a water collection and purification kit on me right now. Left it in my other backpack. Next time I'm randomly venturing through the woods, I'll remember to bring it with me.
Can't say much on the eastern front, just a nice quiet time. That is, apart from the soft splashing of the stream. . . I should follow it, especially to wherever it's flowing down into. Stay by the water and stay alive, maybe find people along the way.
Half the truth is that I don't want to deal with my hangover, while the over is that I'd need the liquid strength for the challenge ahead. A really big hill, closer to a mountain that grew from the cliff face that I had been building distance from. The snow that painted the top half of the landform sent a chill down into my bones, I felt it without even needing to be there.
Following the river would've been safer, but I needed to know the local. Maybe find a road or distant town with the height it would give me.
Why did this fucking mountain have to be so much more steeper than the ones I'd usual hike? A low whine left me to cringe at the sounds I could make, grateful that I was stuck in butt fuck nowhere so one could hear that.
This better not be a weird fucked up japanese game show, laugh as we kidnap and dump a clueless American into bumfuck nowhere. Watch as he stumbles around the goddamn woods, as we take 20 different camera angles of his antics before he travels far enough to reunite with civilization. Give him like an hour to win 4 grand, call it Forrest Grant, or something equally retarded. . .
Man, I'd watch that.
"Pfffff," My frustration had been bubbling under the surface for a while, looking for the others and failing to find any trace back to our campsite. Glancing at the path I'd planned out to take following along the stream freezing in place as my eyes caught the gaze of another pair staring back into mine, "fucccK!"
I dropped my water bottle's cap, the metal pinging of the stones that made up the riverbed. My hydroflask almost joined it before I got back control from the brief panic that had swept over me.
Catching sight of a deer's corpse on a wednesday afternoon scared the damn bejesus out of me, a shiver of disgust soon followed a certain realization. The body was upstream of me, farther along before the small waterfall where it could have tainted some of the water I just stored. Sighing as I collected the fallen cap, I put filling my bottle with cleaner water on the list of things to do.
Groaning out loud toward no one in particular, I picked up a stick and poked the deceased animal. Its body that seemed to have collapsed at the edge of the stream didn't so much as twitch at my prodding.
"Well," Actually, now that I think about it. I haven't seen any wild animals this entire time. Something that I would otherwise chalk up to my awful vibe, but given the circumstances I had at least expected a sparrow or two. My hairs were on end at the implications, "This isn't concerning at all!"
You could've cut my sarcasm with a blunted butter knife.
Fucker was dead seven ways to sunday, gone, donezo. Decay hadn't set in yet, retaining the same sort of musk that most animals had when I crouched down to examine it. Skin was cool to the touch, and while I was no mortician the poor thing couldn't have been dead too long now. Though there were not observable wounds that I could find, and no blood shot eyes that might've suggested something like rabies.
Damn thing had just dropped dead.
With my previous mildly bored replaced by building anxiety it became increasingly obvious that this weird hybrid of a forest and jungle was really. . . quiet. Too quiet. Like if there hadn't been so many leaves to make my footstep so much louder, and a hangover to get the better of. Then I might've noticed the lack of annoying bird calls, in retrospect my lack of spatial awareness would make me the perfect horror movie victim. To which I patted one of my jean's pockets to verify the existence of my switchblade in an effort to calm my nerves.
My situation really reminded me of the whole 'if a tree falls in a forest' to an uncomfortable degree. I totally didn't smack a tree trunk to check for the vietnamese.
"Infant death syndrome? No," For the sake of putting my own growing worries to rest about the creepy as hell forest, so I sucked my hesitation and pried open the dead deer's mouth. The errant thought did cross my mind 'that if it had died to rabies or something, maybe I should have some gloves for this'. My hands made a quick retreat with excuses for having them in there was running low, "Hibernation, no. . . Man, I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to do this."
After wiping my hands clean of its saliva, the examination was considered done and over with. While my hands were melting at mere exposure, my performance probably ranked just above that of a frog's dissection. A click snapped my mind back into the present moment, steel gleamed under the winter sun's light.
Flesh blood of dead prey ran down the length of the blade, corpse giving not but a twitch as a reaction. It was still bright red, a far cry from the darker more coagulated shade that I had been anticipating. My switchblade pointing down at the floor as I was crouched down next to the animal's corpse.
The metal took on an odd shine where a pastel replaced the steel's silver sheen and developed into a deep maroon. Small intermediate drops of blood collected at the blade's edge to form crimson orbs. The sound of the drops falling to the floor concealed by the river water trickling past.
Peta was going to have a field day with me, then again I might have a better case against them. Urgh. Let's just chalk this one up as a mercy kill, and zombification prevention.
CRACK!
And that? Well, let's just say that a broken neck generally proves to be better insurance than a cut open throat. If the thing still somehow manages to get back up onto its own four feet after that, then I'll straight up kill myself.
drip, drip, drip. . .
With the few last drops of animal blood tapering off, my brain zoned back in. My tongue released an irritated click at the messy pool of blood that was mixing into the river. At least I wouldn't have to fully bleed the damn deer for lunch.
The pelt would've been nice to keep if I had the space for it.
.
. .
. . .
. .
.
"Uagh," The strange animalistic sound that came out of my throat ached as it did so, errant cracking of bones followed suit. Fastening my scarf tighter, a light breeze dared to rustle the fabric of my clothing.
The afternoon air proved itself to carry a far much more chilling edge to it than it had earlier in the day. Releasing an exasperated huff after my shoulder hit bark, I stopped for a moment to catch my breath once I had crested another hill.
Turning to face where the breeze originated from, the forest that I'd left behind was hauntingly beautiful. Long shadows cast by the afternoon sun brushed against the floor as the wind waxed and waned to the dusk's last strands of light. Following the rustling trees with my eyes, the same forest that I had traveled through was nearly entirely covered in darkness.
This place loved hills, full of more oak and birch than the pine back home.
Fluffy clouds with faded greens and browns painting the land, baren greenery from the chill as dark smoke rises. Smoke?
I pushed aside a low hanging branch that had been obstructing my view, the light pinprick of pain that came from it swinging back at me forgotten. My legs were burning from having their rest cut short, the jelly feeling faded from the forefront of my focus once I crested the hill. A building sense of hysterical glee at possibly finding my way back to camp was snuffed out in an instant.
Where I expected to find crackling fire amongst a dozen mismatched tents was, a village burning to the ground.
There was too much smoke for it to be anything else, well a forest fire probably but the building and road carved a space from the wilderness. Of the sheer amount of the stuff, the black filling the sky seemed to put the approaching dark purple night to shame.
As one of many bad decisions that I would likely regret in the morning, my limbs protested my choice to head down from the hilltop. Dirt and dust were kicked up into the air, with some of it coating my jeans. My glimpse at the burning buildings grew sharper as I got closer, abandoned carts and stalls littered the street even at such a distance.
The roof of the house nearest to me collapsed in on itself, the fire consuming it in a sudden crash, and almost snuffing itself out. The frame and foundations remained as the blaze grew back to its previous height, the whole thing sending a wave of heat in my direction before returning to normal. A blistering level of heat briefly washed over me, smoke buffeted past my body and a mistaken breath forced me to cough uncontrollably for a moment.
"Is anyone out here! Hellooooo?!" My own shout largely went unanswered, in the distance I could hear metal scraping and clanging against itself. My eyes began to water from the smoke brushing past my face, entering the village limits was something I approached slowly. Taking care not to be crushed under any debris as I continued my search.
Buildings at the edge of town were completely ruined, a mix of wood built upon brick and mortar foundation. From what I could gather the roofs had gone up in flame the quickest, great swaths of homes that had been created close together fell apart because of it. And the bodies. . .
Oh god the bodies.
There weren't many, a lone arm or head of bloodied hair peaked out from the wreckage about every other ruined building. Covering my face became a high priority to maintain as I was forced by the smoke surrounding me, said smoke was fully intent on lingering about before moving on. The few rays of twilight light that have managed to pierce through the clouds only succeeded in revealing more of the carnage.
What I thought of as some fever dream had quickly devolved.
Of the times that I thought that my eyes found a survivor a dead body was the only thing left. The sounds of fire crackling all around me, surrounding me on all sides with an overwhelming intensity, and the heat being equally if not worse.
My head swung from side to side in a near hysterical manner. Getting stuck in one direction once I spotted the shadow of someone walking around the corner of a street away from me. Without thinking I called out to them, "Hey you! You gotta turn back and get out of here, this place is falling apart!"
Almost stumbling to the floor I saw the man turn back towards me with what little I could make out depending on the fire raging around us. Clad in thick furs, and leather with a fantastical looking axe in his offhand. While in the other held he held a woman's limb body by the collar of her ripped shirt with a pool of I assumed to be her blood pooling below them.
There was a pause as we caught sight of each other, both of us focusing on different details. His eyes seemed to focus on my belongings, and on the intricacies of my clothings. Or something else by his gaze moving up and down my form. While a realization grew that he was likely responsible for the village burning, and much more if the woman's partially undressed corpse lying in the dirt was anything to go by.
Shit.
"[Hope that] I [haven't frightened you young man]!" A man ahead of me bellowed, coming to rest on the handle of his axe while the head was soaked in blood. Stepping forward he bore a smiling face and a lackadaisical grin, with sweat mixing with the blood along his face. Nervously hoping that he wouldn't pursue, I tried backing up hoping that I could return from where I came from. However his crazed eyes only became tighter with every step back I took, "I [can tell you're not from around here boy, it must be hell to be the only person among savages. Even living with some tainted blood of your own]."
I felt something pushing against my skull as he spoke, but chalked it up to frankly threatening look his presence made. Something not helped when he gestured back behind himself with a thumb at the dead woman.
"I [hope you didn't have somewhere to go so urgently, it's a bad time to travel with the empire cleaning house. And the locals aren't good for much other than slaves. If that," There was plenty of concern and not unfound ones that he'd turn his blade on me if he did so with so many others. That assumption was later supported when he began to close in on me, taking something in hand as he did so. "I [can tell you are of more reputable sort than these feral folk, so allow me to show you some Adrestian hospitality! I'll even include safe passage back home, all at] a [very generous price]."
The madman's gaze became hungrier for lack of a better word, if I was close enough I might've seen that my reflection took up the center. His grin grew wider as he raised the axe that he had been dragging through the dirt over his head.
"[Or, how about] I [take it off your dead body]."
[Enemy Phase]
"Uhhhhh," I spent valuable seconds sputtering, my lizard brain jumping at the clear aggression, but unsure on what to do in such a strange situation. Time went at a snail's pace for a single second as my eyes followed the gray axe head painted a dark maroon with innocent people's blood fall. Stupidly my right arm raised a hand as if it would be enough to halt the strike before it connected, "Relax ma-!"
Perhaps it was simply a delusion that I had been kept under ever since arriving in this strange place, that I was just dreaming. Because when the metal plunged into my flesh, it broke bone oh so easily.
Laceration!
- 7 HP (18/25)
- 4 Res
My sight went white for a second time in my life, unadulterated agony spread from my arm traveling into my chest. A poison that wormed its way through my nerves, lighting a fire when my blood ignited in the air as if it was still connected to my body. There was something terribly wrong with me, so obviously so that I would not have had to see the damage with my own eyes to be certain of.
A spray of my own blood shot forth ahead of me, my body jerking as the Fighter pulled his axe free. I screamed an inhuman sounding thing, yelled till my throat was raw and out of breath.
It hurt so much, my eyes had gotten misty from the heat and smoke but this was a league of its own. This was something I simply wanted to end, my heart racing as every color mixed to create a dazzling night sky that could be seen through the smoke. One I might've admired if it had been natural, and not the product of immense pain.
10 Damage! (20/30)
115 Exp!
Finally sucking in a breath my heart settled somewhat, the pure raw panic that I had been under shifted enough for my brain to think. I could hear my own blood bubbling up from my veins and out, as a chill went down my spine that sent me to my knees. Catching myself before I hit the ground with my other intact forelimb.
10 Damage! (10/30)
115 Exp!
On my way down, I could see that the other man was lying on the floor. Groans that felt like they were miles away reached my ears, my only wish was that he was at least experiencing a fraction of the pain that I was. That his nerves burned like mine we're doing. Swearing for it to be true, "Aerggg! fuuucc-!"
LEVEL UP!
'\[2/'
Commoner
HP: 25 0 Mv: 3
Str: 8 1 Lck: 6 0
Mag: 13 0 Def: 8 1
Dex: 6 1 Res: 13 1
Spd: 9 0 Cha: 2 1
-9999999999 Experience points until the next level up!
[Player Phase]
LEVEL UP!
'\[3/'
Commoner
HP: 25 0 Mv: 3
Str: 9 0 Lck: 6 1
Mag: 13 1 Def: 9 1
Dex: 7 1 Res: 14 0
Spd: 9 1 Cha: 3 0
101 Experience points until the next level up!
Spots of white covering my sight receded once I had time to rest with my remaining arm holding me up. The sight of what was left of my arm had sent me into a brief panic, the injured limb splitting in half until it stopped as it reached my elbow. Forcing my gaze onto the paved dirt below me, my traitorous eyes settled on the growing pool of blackish crimson under me.
The pain forced me to do little more than clench my eyes tighter until the bile threatening to come up my throat subsided. Every sensation coming from inside of my gut urging me simply to curl up and die.
I pushed through it and stood up, instead approaching the bastard as he was trying to sit up. My own eyes were clenched so heavily that I was almost blind, further blurred from the agony leaking through my tears.
I fumbled around my jeans, unorganized and sloppy from having to make due with my left hand. Just patting my legs in a half blind manner, desperate to bring a lone polished wooden handle into view. A distinct click brought out the blade into scorching nighttime air, the murderer lifting up his own axe to meet my knife face to face.
The bandit's form lay above where I was holding my knife, flipping the blade into a reverse grip as I went on the offensive.
2 Damage! (8/30)
9 Exp!
My pocket knife slashed at the maniac's face, his eyes wildly searching mine while he yelled something incomprehensible. Missing his eye by a mere centimeter at best, but still managed to tear free a torrent of blood as my blade carved a path along his visage.
His next strike made me scream out in pain, quickly running out of breath to do just that from the axe head stuck in my flesh. Feeling something solid crack as the blade separated from where it had gotten lodged in my torso.
Laceration!
- 5 HP (13/25)
- 8 Res
His retaliation was hell, a bolt of lightning to my blood and bones when the bastard lodged his axe into my side. Breathing hurt like an oil burn as my blood flowed out from the gaping wound in my abdomen. The pain lessened, spread across two points as my body screamed at me, and it became easier to focus for a moment.
Critical!
3 Damage! (2/30)
28 Exp!
While I had finally managed to tear a great hole in the man's shoulder, there was a lighter spray of blood coming from the wound next to his jugular than I had expected. My attack hadn't been close enough to his jugular to be as devastating as I needed it to be. My strength faded with every second that I had to fight to keep my knife from being peeled out of my fingers. Eyes wide as he tore my hand off of it to replace it with his own hand desperately grasping at the blade still embedded into his neck.
[Enemy Phase]
Having to struggle against him as he managed to use his axe to wedge it between us and push me off of him. Dropping his axe to the floor, one hand holding the knife stuck as the other went back into a pouch to bring out a bottle of twilight looking water.
He coughed up something, what could've been blood at the distance between us. Something that couldn't be seen clearly in the dusk's twilight, his silhouette stood straighter after the liquid was gulped down.
Groans broke free where I had been hoping for a visceral scream after I landed my hit, and I wasn't entirely sure if it was more mine or his. I wished that that gurgling noises as that liquid went down his throat would be the last sound one that he had made, but he just wouldn't fucking die!
[Player Phase]
I had wanted this to end hours ago, would've wished for it had I not been in so much pain. Adrenaline replaced my need to breathe, just long enough so I could finish this. At the protest of my aching body, the axe that he had abandoned was scooped up as the bandit wretched my knife free from his shoulder.
He needed to be disarmed, now.
Laceration!
5 Damage! (7/30)
23 Exp!
A pained blink later, and he was yelling something unintelligible as his own axe sunk into leg. Shattering bone as it went into the limb with a sickening crack when the strike connected.
- 2 HP (11/25)
There was a light sting against my chest, modern steel cut into my flesh. A new pain that I drowned under adrenaline, my assailant reeling from the hit I had landed, but still able to put up a fight. He wouldn't be able to for much longer.
Jerking back, the weaponized farm tool was discarded as it was torn free from the Fighter's leg. The metal appeared warped as it was torn free from the criminal's flesh. With such and exposed injury all it took was a single kick for him to fall to the floor.
His knees gave out from the sudden drop, and it only took another swing of my leg to launch my knife from his hands. With an already weakened grip that he had on my knife, the thing went flying through the air out reach.
[Enemy Phase]
There was a tense moment, too tired to pursue him as he crawled away and took another swig of that damn bottle. Tentatively trying to put back weight onto his leg so that he could stand.
[Player Phase]
I tried to raise my arms, only really managed to bring up my maimed right arm about half way up as I approached the outlaw. Some part of him should've seen it coming, to expect that I wouldn't have chosen to continue to fight fairly.
Even so he brought up his fist to fight me man to man, not taking care to guard his still injured leg. Abandoning any attempt to get my knife back and risk some scuffle on the ground, my leg fully wound back as he drew closer.
Stun!
1 Damage! (16/30)
5 Exp!
CRACK!
I wasn't entirely sure whether it would still be vulnerable, but my pain addled mind had latched onto the idea. Bringing him down to the dirt once I had swung my leg.
[Enemy Phase]
His knee just shattered upon contact, the leg bending at a disturbing angle. Where I expected to hear groans of pain, a shrill scream of agony erupted. The right bastard yelling curses at me, "You fucking dasdard! My fucking leg! You little shit! I'll kill you, you fucking bra-!"
[Player Phase]
1 Damage! (15/30)
5 Exp!
My boot silenced his mad ranting, a sickening crack came from pressing my foot against his face. Feeling little bits of what I had broken to be about the center of where it had landed, deducing what I had shattered to have been his nose. He screamed something as he tried to stand up while gripping onto my legs, "Geht off of meh you goatfucker!"
Stun!
1 Damage! (14/30)
5 Exp!
Steel came down on the man's broken leg, prompting an animalistic scream to escape the murderer's snarled lips.
[Enemy Ph-Player Phase]
1 Damage! (13/30)
5 Exp!
Cartilage was repeatedly crushed under the force of my steel toe boots, feeling more like a thin paste as my foot moved across his face.
1 Damage! (12/30)
5 Exp!
One of his arms desperately tried to push me off of him, pathetic brushing against my legs as it went down.
[Enemy Ph-Player Phase]
1 Damage! (11/30)
5 Exp!
Lifting my right foot above his head, the momentary glimpse he took to look up at me was deeply gratifying. One so full of dread.
1 Damage! (10/30)
5 Exp!
As it should be.
[Enemy Ph-Player Phase]
1 Damage! (9/30)
5 Exp!
I didn't stop, wouldn't stop until the adrenaline faded and the pain itself forced me to take a pause.
1 Damage! (8/30)
5 Exp!
He'd curled up by now, lighter cracks filled the street when he tried to shield his face with his hands.
[Enemy Ph-Player Phase]
1 Damage! (7/30)
5 Exp!
Everything just blurred together, a mixture of tortured sights and sounds iron in air as when I could smell at the same time. It was rancid, the whole experience as terrible as it was cathartic.
1 Damage! (6/30)
5 Exp!
I could taste it all, on the tip of my tongue. A mixture of copper from the blood, my sweat pouring off of my skin in great divots.
[Enemy Ph-Player Phase]
1 Damage! (5/30)
5 Exp!
"Puhlease hwave merhcy-!"
1 Damage! (4/30)
5 Exp!
Just staring down at the bastard's hands as had failed his face as my foot repeatedly came down upon him. I couldn't stand this bastard's ridiculous begging, how fucking dare he even try.
[Enemy Ph-Player Phase]
1 Damage! (3/30)
5 Exp!
The voice didn't sound like mine. Even if intellectually that I knew them to have come out of my own mouth, "Just lay down and die!"
1 Damage! (2/30)
5 Exp!
Just following a rhythm that resonated in my soul, a bundle of stress unwinding a little more as my leg went down each time.
[Enemy Ph-Player Phase]
1 Damage! (1/30)
5 Exp!
With a louder crunch coming from when my foot came in contact with his skull, feeling my leg sink in deeper than it had before. I didn't stop until his body went limp, not feeling safe until I knew for certain that I had broken something underneath my steel toe boots.
1 Damage! (0/30)
9 Exp!
In the end? He looked broken, like a dog's abandoned chew toy. The body I left behind resembled the rat that I believed him to be. A rat that a dog had decided to trap in its jaws, smacking it half a dozen more times against a wall well past what any poor rodent would be able to withstand. I didn't feel any better, really doubted that I was in any better shape.
My stomach rolled, curling me to the point of puking, but nothing would come up. The only consolation was that he could no longer threaten my life. Something had broken inside of me, glass shattered as fire ignited some sort of deranged human shaped molotov.
God I wanted a drink, but it would hurt to much to go looking through my pack
Just existing hurts, so much.
LEVEL UP!
'\[4/'
Commoner
HP: 25 0 Mv: 3
Str: 9 1 Lck: 7 0
Mag: 14 1 Def: 10 0
Dex: 8 1 Res: 14 1
Spd: 10 1 Cha: 3 0
80 Experience points until the next level up!
I collapsed to the floor, away from possibly kneeling on the man's corpse as the pain became overwhelming. Like some fleshy church pew, hoping everything up to this point had just been a bad dream. Hoping it would be a good enough barrier as I rested my knees against the dirt, my blood and his mixing together into some sacrilegious bastardization of communion.
Made no better as I scrambled for the bottle that I had seen the man drink during our fight, searching his dead body for the bag he held at his side. Struggling with the bottle with a single arm, instead I tore the cork out with my teeth to reveal the starlight inside. There was an odd feeling that came over me when I cracked the vial open, simply staring at the substance as I weighed the risk.
The pain won out in the end.
I was simply alone with the agonizing level of pain throbbing through my ruined limb. Beating the man to death had been a rush, of a sort that had taken me far farther than I would've ordinarily dared to go otherwise. Not trying to move, barely breathing because even that hurt to do. Hoping as the suffering faded by a few degrees.
Even if I managed to have a completely still moment, my heart beat without my permission to do so. What remained of my injured arm throbbed in time with bleedings ebb and flow. The agony remained even if the worse pangs had vanished.
2 HP (13/25)
8 Res
Allowing myself a moment, not quite praying, just simply kneeling with my body so void of energy. I could make out the shouts of other people now, their screams too. Distinct and different, the others of terror a mixture of men, women, and children. While I was here taking a few seconds to catch my breath before willing myself to stand. Before I lost the capacity to rise to my feet, holding onto the nerve to escape while I still could.
There was a part of me that wanted to continue searching, but I didn't have it in me. Only enough to grab my switchblade and stow it away in the likely case that I would need it again.
Instead I felt like a kid again, just someone who had broken a bone for the first time. Wanting for it all to go away, Unwilling to stick my neck out for people I didn't even know, every step I took reminded me of the price I'd likely pay.
All I wanted now was to just go back home.
Leaning on walls seemed so tempting, with my steps so unsteady as I refrained my gripping onto my ruined limb. My pace amped up, a tighter hold fell over my individual steps after becoming more aware of the potential danger that I was in. Slower, yet steadier. The heat dissuaded me from wandering too close. Whatever shred of my common sense remained repeated a single sentiment, 'The fucker is dead. That's all that matters. Keep going, it's just a little longer now.'
What had been an idle thought had turned into some insane chant to keep the dizziness from blood loss at bay. There was nothing that I could do for my arm, not in the state that I was in. I could still FEEL my hand, damaged and in two separate numb from the pain. The warped flesh exposed precious nerves to the open air, each tendril of a smoke or refreshing breeze made me yelp.
I would kill for some painkillers.
There was a fact stuck in my head, a metaphorical timer that I'd become aware of since getting hit. Initial spray had dwindled down to a light but consistent flow of red down both sides of my wrists. My progress on losing blood had slowed, but it wouldn't be enough.
"[Come out now and you won't be harmed]!" I could hear something, someone out there that happened to sound closer than the screams I'd heard in the distance. Turning the corner of the street I saw a man shouting some orders at people farther away from me, "[Do it now, or we'll start taking heads, how about we start with this little shit here! We get paid either way, but you can choose how painful it all has to be]!"
Of course, there'd be more of them. There's always more, why am I surprised? Birds of dastardly feathers are bound to flock together.
Bandits, more than one if the distant silhouettes signified anything by the way they surrounded a largest building. The only one it seemed that they hadn't managed to burn down with several bodies lay in the dirt with thin lines jutting out of them. A still burning torch lay on the ground a few feet away from having hit the building alight.
Looking past them, my eyes had a clear view of the building that these bandits had chosen as their target. It appeared to be an old traditional style tavern, something straight out of the middle ages with all of its ground level windows boarded up. A sign written in a language that I can't decipher hung above the entrance by a single hinge, '[Sweetblood Inn]'.
I was running out of options, between turning back and bleeding to death in some back alley or get cut down by some rat bastard bandit fuck. These 'people' were simply more of the same sort of filth that I had recently taken the life of. What had happened to me was bound to occur to whoever had chosen to seek refuge inside. Easily self-evident by how some child was grabbed by one of them, struggling all the way as a boy was handed off to man sharpening his sword. Tuning out the screams as best as I could, a woman's cries joined her child's before the boy suddenly went silent.
His mother's sobbing the only sound left apart from the crackling of far off buildings burning to the ground.
My vitality was just slipping through my fingers, with a growing desire for deeper sleep so I could escape the pain. The heart in my chest pumped furiously, anger building in the depths of my gut at crossing paths with more of the Fighter's ilk. At being a coward, of knowing my death was coming either way yet hesitating just because it hurt to act.
[Player Phase]
Coughing up a litany of swears I knelt closer to the floor as I approached, wiping the blood coating my knife against my rain pants. Beads of sweat and blood flowed off the metal. One of them in the middle of stretching spotted me crouching towards them, yelling out at his comrade who I'd been sneaking up on.
The switchblade was functional in my offhand, even if I wasn't as good with it. It would have to do. It wasn't what I had particularly wanted, but I'd rather be able to say that an attempt had been made. Would've liked to say that I know how to fight, but that would be purely talking out of my ass as a simple street brawl this is not.
6 Damage! (22/28)
9 Exp!
Doing well to plunge my knife in the Myrmidon's clavicle, feeling bone push against my blade as I tore it out.
-2 HP (11/25)
The retaliatory strike shook me down to my very bones, the aftershocks sent me back through the throes of agony. I had been too slow to move back after my opening strike to avoid it. A sloppy glancing blow at my chest that the man was able to make after unsheathing his blade and raising it against me.
Critical hit!
18 Damage! (4/28)
26 Exp!
Though, I doubted that he'd be able to land much else. After slicing open his retina and all, his off hand too occupied with clutching his own face.
[Enemy Phase]
Laceration!
-2 HP (9/25)
- 3 Res
Falling to the floor, the raider cleaned the fresh spray of blood that had spilled over his face. Jumping to his feet to land an upwards slash on my remaining arm capable of holding onto my knife.
The warm scent of blood hung in the air, the exchange of strikes left me with a coppery taste in my mouth. A deeper, more ancient instinctual part of my brain churned, burning with indignation as new pain blossomed in my chest. Pain redoubled its efforts to get me to pass out as the air continuously threatened to worsen these wounds, my right arm simmering with an ungodly heat.
Both sides of my mangled arm lit up like a newly born white star, perfectly revealing how much damage I had sustained. I wanted to puke from the sight of exposed bone, yellow fat, and skin that had been peeled away to expose the muscle underneath. I felt it bleeding even though I was certain that the Fighter's drink had closed my once open wounds.
Foooovvvvvmmmm, fpfpfpfppfpf!
17 Damage! (0/28)
49 Exp!
My suffering peaked as my burning arm flash froze the air around it, a ring of white with sigils came to life for a moment before it collapsed. Smoke was trapped within shards of ice, glowing with an intense and unnatural heat that radiated from the gray crystals. Some missed, but enough hit their intended target. Hard to dodge such a thing at a range of five or so feet.
LEVEL UP!
'\[5/'
Commoner
HP: 25 1 Mv: 3
Str: 10 0 Lck: 7 1
Mag: 15 1 Def: 10 0
Dex: 9 0 Res: 15 1
Spd: 11 1 Cha: 3 1
141 Experience points until the next level up!
"Hahhahaha," I raised my knife in anticipation for his next attack, my pain evident in my laughter's tone. The exhaustion that had been creeping up on me all evening pulled it down at the same time, slowly making me more and more delirious. However it seemed that I had dealt more than enough damage to him, falling down dead at my feet after taking a single step towards me.
The bandit's body littered with frozen spikes fell to the ground, with a pool of blood quickly forming under his corpse.
"[MAGE]!" The Myrmidon that had spotted me screamed, turning his back to me in order to retreat from the battlefield. His fleeing got cut short buy an arrow catching him in the jugular, sputtering for the next few feet trying to repeat what he had said. Before collapsing and taking a dirt nap, "[Fuck the bounty, there's a nemesis-damned mage]!"
A rather large man burst through the set of double doors, two others that I couldn't quite make out at his side. All headed towards liberating their friends or family that were being used as bargaining chips. Unsheathing his short sword, the next closest Myrmidon to me sprinted at me, and buried his blade into the crook of my shoulder.
A slick sensation of wetness made its way down one of my earlobes.
CRACK!
-2 HP (7/25)
The hit sent me reeling, but I'd basically hit the limit of how much pain that my body could be in. Feeling fire bite down into my flesh after my attacker wrestled the blade free once it became lodged into my collarbone. Something chipped in there, a fracture that made it impossible to lift my only working arm anymore.
Little sparks wafted off of my broken hand, a deep chill settled in on the space where my middle finger would've been. Half delirious as I let the instinct take over, bright markings of glowing orange flashed into existence. Air got so much thicker when my exhaustion almost made me fall over, the bloodied stumps at the end of my arms sparked.
pffffffffffllLUUUUCOOO!
17 Damage! (11/28)
20 Exp!
Two tendrils of flame burst out from my splintered arm, with my very blood being used as fuel to spew fire onto the bastard. It didn't end until I took a nosedive for the ground as the energy holding me up ran out, or it might've been the smoke that choked out any available oxygen.
17 Damage! (0/28)
39 Exp!
My veins pulsed the second after I thought of such a thing, small flames gathered at the edge of my fingertips and that very same flash hit the fucker a second time. There were patches of white where his face would be, previously only a pattern of peach and red littered the same space. The world felt smaller, darker, and slower after killing him. My eyelids falling halfway as I battered him with flame.
My little stint as a living human flamethrower had worn me out. The backlash from what I had just done hit me all at once as my skull made contact with the ground.
Split palm still outreached in the direction of the bubbling corpse I made. My own body felt so frighteningly cold in the aftermath of what I'd done, time jumped with a slideshow level of pacing every time I blinked. Several pieces of gravel took on a hot white color, dimming with every flutter of my eyes in the wake of the blaze I'd wrought. My knife sitting clutched so tightly in my grip that my knuckles shone a similar coloration.
Bones that resembled paper mache more than sturdy calcium bound things, unsure of my own ability to breathe. A breast plate that ached in time with a dozen other wounds, feeling as if it were squeezing the life out of me.
Spots of black littered my sight whilst strength faded from my limbs, and my grip on reality loosened bit by bit.
The other figures were still in view, mainly runners who were deciding to run from their failed assault. Others from the defenders mopping up the remnant before tending those who had been captured. My mind was left all sluggish after pouring so much of myself into EVERYTHING that I'd done,
All the fire burning the town to the ground seemed to paint the sky a desolate black, featuring various shades of gray. I noticed a Her staring down at me long after she actually appeared within my field of vision.
Her visage was sharper than the world around her, easilier to map out even more so than my own body that should've been closer. My eyes stuck examining her form even knowing how close I was to passing out from losing so much blood. A woman my age clad in tight black leather, with a short asymmetrical bob cut to go with it. Shouting at her companions as she squinted down at me when I blinked, "[Alexej! Get] a [vulnerary quick!} Or [you are going] to [lose your little savior]!"
Her actual face seemed off, though my mind lagged behind on what exactly it could be. Long fluffy patches stuck out from the top of her head, my delirium causing me to giggle as I thought them to be cat ears.
Their mouths were moving, shouting or screaming words that I couldn't make out when people with a Mediterranean skin tone approached. Sounds reached my ears, but it was closer to noisy gibberish that was unclear in my deteriorating state. My last breath came in a lethargic manner as consciousness slipped from my grip, and I left this nightmare behind.
Chapter 1 Note:
Game play elements are still more or less a background element to the story, treated half way between dnd stats and fire emblem when it comes to mechanics. Still using a calculator dot net's random number generator. I still don't want to get into the weeds too much, so calculating exp gains will probably be the most detailed part that you guys will get to see.
During my first attempt to write the story, but with how I've retroactively changed how dialogue/translations work. I would have to rewrite the entire fucking story that I've developed up to this point. I'm using Byleth's stats as a foil/benchmark for what I was aiming for. (90/370%)
And thus I introduce the new and improved line up of starting stats.
HP: 25 Mv: 3
Str: 8 Lck: 6
Mag: 13 Def: 8
Dex: 6 Res: 13
Spd: 9 Cha: 2
HP: 40% Mv: 3
Str: 35% Lck: 30%
Mag: 60% Def: 35%
Dex: 40% Res: 60%
Spd: 50% Cha: 20%
Currently, Lv 5 Commoner, Experience: 64/146
HP: 26 Mv: 3
Str: 10 Lck: 8
Mag: 16 Def: 10
Dex: 9 Res: 16
Spd: 12 Cha: 4
Inventory:
Steel knife (1 Mt, 1 Wt), etc
Fighter, Lv 6 (4 Mt Iron axe, 4 Wt)
HP: 30 Mv: 3
Str: 11 Lck: 5
Mag: 4 Def: 9
Dex: 7 Res: 4
Spd: 7 Cha: 7
Myrmidon, Lv 5 (3 Mt iron sword, 3 Wt)
HP: 28 Mv: 3
Str: 9 Lck: 5
Mag: 4 Def: 6
Dex: 8 Res: 3
Spd: 8 Cha: 5
Calcs:
(Assuming that I've understood the Serenes Forest forum I found and the wiki correctly, this SHOULD be accurate. I'm not going to maintain autistic levels of notes on everything, but this should give me the general ballpark of what I'm working with.)
Combat Exp:
(Attackers combined Damage - Defender's combined Defense) * Enemy's tier bonus * (Enemy level/Your Level, 'Catch Up bonus') * Boss/Monster Bonus * Kill Bonus = Awarded Exp
Enemy tiers: Unique (1), Beginner (1.15), Intermediate (1.3), Advanced/DLC (1.45), Master (1.6). There is no difficulty modifier for exp, just a comparison that caps out at 5 level difference. Boss bonus is 2 if the enemy is a boss or is a monster class, 1 otherwise. The amount of exp awarded is doubled if a killing blow is landed. Experience gained is rounded down, and lv 50 is normal level cap.
I could do more math(maybe put a 'difficulty level' to this story but I'm going with 'realistic' instead), but I don't wanna make it more complicated than it already is.