Chương 8: Head Trauma is no Joke

It only took Vin about a mile of jogging down the dirt path before he stumbled upon the abandoned town. Located between a handful of the massive trees was a lifeless town without a single speck of movement. As he approached, Vin scanned the oddly quiet cluster of buildings, looking for anyone who could help him. The buildings looked like they'd been constructed from bricks made of pressed-grass; the finely crafted wooden doors and window frames were the only unique features from each grassy home.

Thanks to his newly increased focus, he was able to admire the impressive craftsmanship from afar, and he wondered just how many doors a single one of the giant trees could make when felled. New town discovered! 500 exp gained.

"Huh," he said, glancing at the increased experience gain.

"I guess towns are worth more than villages. Despite the fact that this one is empty." Vin looked around at the vacant buildings surrounding him, even going so far as to poke his head into one or two of them. Like the doors, each of the grassy buildings contained finely crafted wooden furniture and various personal items. He spotted piles of clothes, rotting stores of food, and even a few useful tools. What he didn't spot however, were any people.

"Of course I'd find a creepy abandoned town in the snake infested fragment right before nightfall," he muttered, poking his head into yet another building.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Seeing as nobody would object, Vin decided to snag a few of the more useful items he spotted as he checked out the town. A coil of rope made from tightly woven grass, a lantern with a handful of candles, and a few pounds of some sort of hardtack, the only edible thing that hadn't rotted yet, all made their way into his pack. He contemplated grabbing the pouches of wooden coins lying about here and there, but decided against it.

They no doubt were worth something to these people, but in this new patchwork world? There was no way any sort of standard currency had been agreed upon in the last couple of months. Nibbling on one of the earthy hardtacks that was a bit too matcha flavored for his tastes, Vin continued exploring the town before a faint cracking sound grabbed his attention. Focusing on the noise, Vin thought it sounded like rocks crashing against even more rocks, and he quickly ran toward the source of the clanging.

On the other side of town, just a few hundred feet beyond the settlement's border, he spotted the source of the noise. Two warriors, each wearing heavy stone armor, were battling head to head. They both fought with long stone maces like the one he'd picked up off the fallen warrior and held thick rocky shields. And as far as Vin could tell, both were currently in the middle of trying to bash the other one's face in.

While taking in the strange scene, he realized one of the two warriors was defending the final scout, currently lying face down on the ground, their stone armor cracked and broken in a handful of places. Vin hung back at the edge of the town, watching the two warriors go at it as he tried to make sense of what was happening. At first, he was just worried about interrupting the dispute that the group was clearly having. But after a minute of watching their fight, he realized something strange was going on.

He was far from skilled at combat and had practically no experience, but even he could tell that neither of the two warriors were giving it their all. Each one seemed to pull back on the force of their swings at the last second, or make sure they were targeting a spot on the other's body that was well armored with their strikes. If it wasn't for the warrior desperately defending the unconscious one lying on the ground, Vin would have thought they were just sparring with one another.

After watching the fight for a few more minutes, Vin realized he hadn't made any attempt to hide himself when the warrior defending her fallen comrade finally spotted him, her eyes widening.

"You!" She shouted, blocking a strike from above with a raised shield.

"We need help! Something's happened to Roge!" With a grunt, the warrior shield checked her opponent, knocking him back a few feet and buying herself a moment to breath.

"All of a sudden he turned on us, lashing out and yelling nonsense. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. Help me restrain him!" Roge clearly didn't care for her attempt at a reprieve, as the moment he caught his balance he lunged back at his opponent, smashing his mace into her shield as he screamed at the top of his lungs, his very vocal cords seeming to rasp and shake with the force of his warbling cry." K i l l m e!"

Well that's creepy as all hell, was all Vin could think, watching the two warriors continue their fight. Looking closer, he could see the hairline cracks already spreading throughout both of their sets of armor. He wasn't sure how long the two of them had been at this, but it was clear the battle would be ending sooner than later even if he didn't intervene. While stone cracked against stone and Roge continued to demand his fellow warrior end his life, Vin made his decision.

Cursing, he grabbed the coil of rope he'd picked up and charged toward the fight. Before he could change his mind, he lobbed the coil of rope as hard as he could at Roge's feet, hoping to tangle the warrior up. To his shock, his hastily put together plan worked exactly as he'd hoped. The rope unwound just enough to tangle up Roge's legs for a moment, and the man stumbled, falling to the ground as he tried to step closer toward his opponent.

Before he could get up, the woman brought her mace down with an anguished cry, smashing it into the back of Roge's head and knocking him unconscious. The two of them panted for a few seconds, Vin the first one to break the silence.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded, gesturing to the two fallen warriors.

"Your elder sent me to check up on the four of you when you didn't come back to the village. I found one of you dead from a snakebite and the other three doing their best to save the snakes the hassle!"

"Then Olga didn't make it," the woman said, her already tired expression growing even more weary.

"Leaving our world fragment was a mistake. We tried to send her to get help when Roge went crazy, but in her haste, I guess one of the snakes got the drop on her." Sighing, the woman shook her head.

"Thank you for coming to help us at least. I'm Samtha, leader of our scouting party." She glanced down at her two unconscious party members.

"…or what's left of it anyway."

"Why have you been gone for so long?" Vin asked, trying to make sense of her story.

"The elder said it's been four days. Surely you haven't been fighting all this time."

"No, not at first," Samtha confirmed.

"It took us a solid day to make our way through the snake infested grasses. After a few close calls, we decided to take our time and move slower than normal. We discovered this town that first night and made camp here. The next day was spent exploring the town, trying to figure out what happened to the people and see if there was anything useful we could bring back to our village. We ended up spending longer than anticipated looking around, and so we decided to camp outside the town for an additional night."

Samtha paused, frowning at the fallen Roge.

"That's where things went wrong." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"In the middle of the night, we awoke to Roge clawing at his own face and screaming incoherently. When we tried to ask what was wrong, he attacked us, his screams turning to insane demands that we end his life. Roge is a decent warrior, and any member of our village would be happy to fight by his side. But he was never anything amazing. But that thing that attacked us…" Samtha shivered, looking away from her fallen comrade.

"That wasn't Roge."

"Roge somehow fought us three on one. Not only that, but he was winning. Despite the fact that he didn't seem to be going for killing blows, he played with the three of us like we were children who had just taken up the mace for the first time." Samtha's knuckles whitened and her hand shook as she gripped her mace.

"I've never felt so helpless in my life."

"So you sent Olga to get help? Despite the fact that you were already losing a three-on-one fight?"

"Once I realized Roge didn't seem like he was actually trying to kill us, I ordered Olga to go get help," she nodded.

"Unfortunately, it was a bad call. Roge went berserk when he realized Olga was fleeing, overwhelming us in an instant and nearly killing Korey." She said, gesturing to her fallen comrade.

"Seeing Korey go down so easily seemed to rein Roge back in however, and he returned to pulling his punches, seemingly content fighting me to a standstill for some reason. The two of us had been locked in a strange mockery of a life and death battle right up until you showed up."

"Wait… You sent Olga away yesterday," Vin said, doing the admittedly simple math.

"You've been fighting for an entire day?"

"Our warriors put nearly all our attribute points into endurance, with a few in strength," Samtha explained.

"It's how we're able to wear armor crafted from stone and wield such heavy weapons. Roge could have ended the fight whenever he wanted, but he purposefully dragged it out for some reason, never capitalizing on any of my openings. It was just a battle of endurance, and that's something I could keep up for at least a few days straight."

Damn, dumping everything into endurance might just be the way to go, Vin thought, looking at the warrior who wasn't even out of breath after fighting for an entire day in armor made from solid rock.

"So I'm not sure how to say this… But you do realize you can't just knock someone out and have them be fine, right? Especially your pal Korey there…" Vin looked at the fallen comrade who'd apparently been unconscious for nearly an entire day.

"Even if they wake up, they're going to have some serious brain damage."

"Thankfully, that's one thing we actually don't have to worry about," Samtha grinned.

"Just about all the warriors in our village take Diehard as their first passive. Turns most killing strikes from bludgeoning weapons into nonlethal attacks, and prevents lasting damage from blows to the head. Makes training much easier seeing as you can't blunt a stone weapon very well."

"Oh, well that's good," Vin nodded, relieved he wouldn't have to help carry two braindead warriors encased in stone armor a few miles back to their village.

"Then I suppose the only thing left to worry about is the fact that your friend is glowing."

"What do you…" Samtha's words trailed off as the two of them looked at the glowing warrior still tangled up in rope. Roge's body had begun glowing an eerie, luminescent green, and before Vin could suggest that maybe they should back away, a ghostly image of a young woman drifted up and out of him. New monster discovered! 200 exp gained. The woman floated a few inches off the ground, glaring at the two of them as they stared at her in shock.

She wore a simple tunic and pants with a few ethereal daggers strapped to a belt around her leg. There was an empty sword sheath secured to her back, and her hair was haphazardly cut short as though she'd done it herself with one of her many knives. Despite her smaller frame, her body was wired with muscle, and Vin had no doubt in his mind that the girl knew how to use those weapons strapped all over her.

While Vin and Samtha stared at the floating woman, she crossed her arms and growled, attempting to kick at Roge's head. When her foot went straight through, she seemed to get even more angry, pointing at Samtha and throwing up her hands.

"Why couldn't you have been a Holy Knight or a wandering Cleric or something!" The ghost spat, practically yelling in frustration.

"Come on lady, don't you have even an ounce of divinity inside you?!" Rather than answer her, Samtha turned white as a sheet, taking a step back and nearly tripping over the fallen Korey.

"A specter," she whispered, visibly quaking in her stone armor.

"What's a specter?" Vin asked, slowly taking a step backwards as well while the ghost's attention was focused on Samtha.

"A spirit that has lost its way, trapped in our world and unable to move on," she explained in a hushed voice barely more than a whisper.

"They are most often aggressive and are unable to be vanquished without the aid of divinity or powerful magics."

"Got it in one you stony prick," the ghost said, rolling her eyes.

"And like you wouldn't be aggressive if you were stuck floating around all day, unable to interact with anything or talk to anyone without forcibly possessing someone?" Vin blinked, his foot pausing mid step as he took in the ghost's words.

"Hey Samtha… What do you hear when the Specter's mouth moves?"

"The otherworldly moaning of a lost soul begging to be released from their eternal prison," Samtha whispered, having yet to take her eyes off the ghost floating before them.

"It is the most haunting thing I have ever heard, and I fear I may never sleep peacefully again."

"Psh, dramatic much?" The ghost said, sighing and finally turning toward him.

"What about you, beanstalk? Got any divinity hidden away in there?"

"Er… no," Vin said, earning a wide-eyed look from the ghost.

"Sorry, I'm just an Explorer."

"Hold up, you can hear me?" The ghost asked, her glowing green eyes burning holes into Vin's own. He thought he could make out an equal mixture of longing and fear on the ghost's flickering face, as if she was afraid she'd finally found what she'd been looking for and was worried it wouldn't be everything she'd hoped.

"Yeah, I can hear you," Vin admitted, praying his honesty wouldn't land him in trouble.

"I have the Polyglot passive. Lets me understand and speak different languages. I guess that covers whatever weird language ghosts speak?" The ghost froze in place at his confirmation, even the constant flickering and wavering of her ethereal form seeming to pause for a moment before she screamed, rushing toward him and causing him to trip and fall over at her sudden movement. She tried to take his hands in her own, but they just phased harmlessly through his, sending cold chills through his fingers.

The ghost didn't let that deter her however, as she moved directly in front of his face, her glowing green smile literally beaming at him.

"Finally! Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for someone I can actually talk to?! You have to help me, please!" She begged, floating so close she was practically pushing against his face. Vin tried to scramble backwards, but she just drifted closer, matching his movements and not letting him get away. Finally, he nodded, waving his hands in front of him and doing little more than temporarily disrupting her misty form.

"Okay, okay, I'll help you!" He agreed, trying not to breathe in the ghostly woman before him. He had no idea what would happen if he inhaled a ghost, and he didn't want to find out.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" She cried, finally drifting away from him and doing a little excited twirl in midair. Coming back down, she grinned, planting her hands on her hips.

"It's quite simple really. I just need you to kill me."