by Aaron Oster
“You think we can make a break for it now?” Sam whispered as the pal-tees continued swarming about in a panic.
“We still have no way out of this cage, simian, or have you forgotten?”
“Call me that one more time, and I’ll snap that stick of yours!” Sam threatened.
“You would not dare!” Gordon replied, sounding aghast.
“I would, and I will!”
A pal-tee came dashing through the square then, bloody claw-marks marring his face. He pounded on the Chief’s door a couple of times before he was ushered in. He didn’t stay for long, leaving only a minute later. However, the process repeated itself several times over the next half hour.
Pal-tees would come running back from wherever they’d gone, injured in some way before coming back. Sam had to assume they were fighting whatever that thing was that had so badly frightened them and were coming back to report to the Chief. If it was so dangerous, he had to wonder why neither of the super strong pal-tees were going out to fight.
After another few minutes, a large group of pal-tees returned, all looking weary and most of them injured. Sam finally began to relax and lowered his staff then. It looked like whatever had made those terrifying noises was either dead or had been driven away. One of the pal-tees separated himself from the rest of the group and headed to the Chief’s house, while the others went home.
“What do you think that monster was?” Sam wondered as the little pal-tee entered the Chief’s house.
“No idea,” Emma replied. “But whatever it was, I’m glad we don’t have to deal with it.”
“Indeed,” Gordon put in. “That cry was unnatural, to say the least.”
“So, you’re saying that you don’t know what that was either?”
“If I did, I would have told you,” the dog huffed in response to Sam’s question. “I have a vast store of knowledge of monsters, races, and locals all over Somerset. But this is new to even one such as me.”
“Gotta agree with the fleabag on that one,” Baron Von Tweet said. “That thing’s downright scary!”
“I do beg your pardon. you misbegotten miscreant!” Gordon exclaimed. “I am clean and free of all fleas. Do you hear me?! I. Do. Not. Have. Fleas!”
“Alright already. Take a chill pill, dog. No need to get so upset.”
“Now that is rich coming from one such as yourself,” Gordon huffed. “The man who falls into a fit of rage at the slightest of provocations. Why, if I were to receive a stick for every time you lost your temper, I would be set for life.”
“Well, seeing as we’re all going to be eaten in a few hours, that won’t be very long, now will it?” Sam shot back.
The two of them glared at each other for a long moment. Their faceoff was soon interrupted when the Chief’s door opened, and the pal-tee exited. He stopped outside, let out a long sigh, then headed to his house.
“You know,” Emma said. “I could be mistaken, but that doesn’t look like the face of someone who won. You’d think they’d be happier to have killed or driven that creature off.”
“You do make a good point,” Sam replied, looking toward the Chief’s house.
If he listened very carefully, he could still make out muffled voices, though he couldn’t hear anything clearly.
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” he asked Gordon.
“Indeed,” the dog replied. “There is currently an argument going on between the Chief and his wife. The one named Hoze Butcher is also in attendance, though he seems to be staying out of it.”
“What are they arguing about?” Sam wondered, remembering how cowed the woman had seemed when he’d last seen her.
“They seem to be discussing the thing that the others had been fighting. Apparently, this is a regular occurrence, and she wants her husband to go after it himself…”
A loud scream echoed from inside the house then, followed by crashing plates. Then, the Chief’s wife stomped out of the front door, turning to yell back over her shoulder.
“You’re both a couple of cowards, that’s what you are!”
“Don’t argue with me, Vaab…!” the Chief began saying, but she slammed the door before he could finish his sentence.
Sam wondered if either he or Hoze would come after her. But as she stomped over to the next-door hovel and went in, it became increasingly obvious that they wouldn’t.
“You don’t see something like that every day,” Emma muttered, though she seemed to be oddly pleased.
“Well, it looks like the excitement’s all over,” Sam said, suddenly feeling very tired.
It had been a long and stressful night, and they were still going to be eaten in the morning. He didn’t much feel like sleeping and began to once again try to think of some way out of here. If this was modeled after a game, then there had to be a solution. No game ever put someone in an impossible situation. It wouldn’t be fair. Just as he thought that, a loud gong-like sound went off in his head and a notification flashed before his eyes.
DIVINE BOON
You have gone for an entire day without breaking a rule! As such, you have been granted a divine boon!
Effect: Charisma doubled when interacting with pal-tees
Duration: H 23 : M 59 : S 59
“Finally! A way out!” Sam exclaimed, making everyone jump.
“What? You figured something out?” Emma asked.
“Yeah!” he said excitedly. “I got a Divine Boon that doubles Charisma when dealing with pal-tees. How about you?”
Emma grimaced.
“Got a Divine Curse that slows reaction speed by 50% for the next eight hours.”
“Really? What rule did you break?”
Emma seemed a bit embarrassed but told him all the same.
“The one where I had to seduce someone before the day was over. Guess I’m just not hot enough,” she muttered, pulling the front of her robes closed until only a hint of cleavage remained.
“Wait…” Sam said, his mind finally catching up with what she’d said. “You were trying to sleep with me to keep a rule?”
“Don’t get me wrong,” she said, sticking her fingers down the legs of her pants and pulling out two pieces of fabric. “You’re really cute, and I wouldn’t have minded it at all. But I do generally like to move a bit slower. I’m also not normally nearly this forward. Though I do have to admit, it was nice to get those reactions from you. Means you like me, even if you don’t want to admit it just yet.”
Sam couldn’t even find the words to express how he was feeling right now as Emma fastened the two pieces over the hole in her pants, zipping them up to form a seamless whole.
On the one hand, he was extremely angry that she’d tried to use him that way. The gear she’d gotten could have been made more modest at any time, but she’d chosen to keep it that way and toy with his emotions all day, just to satisfy the requirements of a rule. On the other hand, in the past, she’d straight out told him that she liked him and would likely keep pursuing him. It made him glad now that he hadn’t done anything, even if he had nearly caved in the end.
“Ah, that feels much better,” Emma said, straightening and brushing down the front of her pants. “It was nice to feel sexy and dress like that for a day, but I don’t see how anyone could be comfortable dressing like that all the time.”
It seemed that while the Overlord was a total creep, he did at least give the option to dress modestly, even if none of the women in Somerset seemed to think they should. His emotions were still all mixed up, so he decided that for now, he would settle on cold indifference. Regardless of what she said, she’d still tried to use him.
He was a romantic at heart, and had he actually gone through with it and then found out the truth after, it may very well have broken him. What she’d done was understandable, given their situation. But it highlighted the fact that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him. Someone like that was not girlfriend material in his book. Not that I’ve ever really had one of those.
Sam allowed his thoughts to trail off there, deciding that he’d had enough disappointment for one night. He now had a way out. All he had to do was try and convince them to let him go. With a doubled Charisma, he was bound to get a reaction out of them. Pulling up his status, Sam checked the rule of the day. He didn’t want to accidentally blunder into one and inadvertently hurt his chances of escape.
RULE OF THE DAY
Complete the Quest
Before Sam could begin to puzzle out what that meant, the door next to the Chief’s house opened and his wife exited, looking far less angry than before. It seemed his chance to escape might have come sooner than he’d thought!
8
“Um, excuse me,” Sam called out as the Chief’s wife began making her way back to his house. “Vaab, was it?”
As soon as he spoke, the woman let out a squeak of terror, jumping nearly a foot in the air.
Oops. Guess she wasn’t expecting anyone out here, Sam thought.
The woman turned, fixing them with a glare. It softened, however, when her eyes fell on Sam and he gave her his most winning smile.
“What do you want?” she asked, sounding hesitant and not coming any closer.
“I was just wondering what all the commotion was about,” Sam continued. “You seem pretty upset. Is there anything we can do to help?”
The woman seemed to struggle with herself for a moment, but it seemed his boost to Charisma helped, as she made up her mind and came over to the cage.
“Good job,” Emma whispered. “Now, just get her to let us go.”
Sam ignored her, keeping his focus on the Chief’s wife as she stopped just out of his reach. Now that she was up close and in relatively good lighting, Sam could see she was even prettier than he’d first thought. By this point, he was used to the Overlord’s taste in women, so it didn’t really surprise him much.
“I…shouldn’t be talking to you,” she said, keeping her eyes down and biting her lip.
It didn’t escape Sam’s notice that the woman didn’t have the same odd accent, nor did she speak in the same dialect as the pal-tee men. He wondered if all of the pal-tee women were like this, or if it was limited to her. Seeing as he hadn’t seen so much as a single other woman since they came here, he didn’t have much to compare to.
“It’s alright,” he replied, softening his voice and leaning on his Mental Manipulation skill. He hoped that if he combined both the skill and the boon, he’d be able to get them all out of this mess. “You seem upset. I noticed that a lot of your men came back injured after fighting that monster.”
The woman hesitated for just a moment more before finally looking up to meet his eyes.
“The monster you heard wasn’t a natural one, like the creatures you’d normally see in a Dungeon. The creature that plagues our village was once one of us, though that must have been centuries ago.”
This was an interesting development. It seemed that they’d somehow stumbled right into the middle of a quest. The only question was if he’d be able to trigger it.
“Would you care to tell us the story?” he carefully asked. “We’re not from around here, so we don’t really know your great history.”
The woman let out a snort.
“I wouldn’t exactly call the kidnapping and slaughter of children a great history,” she said bitterly. “But fine, I’ll tell you the story.
“Once, long ago, there lived a pal-tee named Gimple. He was a great warrior, but he had an insatiable hunger for the flesh of the living. He would eat anything. Animals, monsters, those of the other intelligent races. This wasn’t unusual for one of our kind, so no one thought anything was strange. At least, until the famine hit, and our supply of meat began to run dry.
“We are usually able to subsist on our crops when that happens, but Gimple’s need for meat was too great. People began disappearing during the night, their bones discovered days later, stripped of all meat. At first, we thought it was some horrible monster, but only when guards were set around the perimeter of the village, did they find out who was really responsible.
“Gimple was exiled for his crimes because he was too powerful to be killed. The exile did not stop him, though, and he continued taking the weak and sickly. It wasn’t until he took his first child that the true horror began. One can only commit so many heinous crimes before someone takes notice and does something about it.
“Gimple gained a taste for the flesh of pal-tee children, and for his crime, the Overlord struck him with a curse. He condemned Gimple to live forever, in the dark, as a horribly twisted beast with a hunger that can never be satiated, no matter how much he eats. He has grown tall and thin, his figure bent in on itself, and his skin leathery and worn. We call him the Shtainerzeid and use tales of his ferocity to keep our children away from the woods that border our villages.
“It is a dangerous place to venture, for anyone, especially at night. The remains of his victims wander those woods, tearing anything they find to pieces. Every so often, the Shtainerzeid leaves his forest to hunt for more children. It is a truly terrifying way to live, but with my husband and Hoze Butcher here, it doesn’t dare enter the village. But this time…”
Vaab trailed off, her voice cracking with emotion as tears began streaming down her face.
“This time, he took my little Yingel. My only son!”
Sam felt his heart twinge in sympathy for the poor woman as she began bawling.
“He’s such a good boy but always wanders where he shouldn’t. We sent people after him, but they couldn’t even make it more than a bit into the forest. My husband and Hoze refuse to leave the village, claiming that they’re needed here. But what kind of man won’t go after his own son?!”
“Oh, you poor dear!” Emma said, coming up to the bars and reaching out to her. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“Don’t touch me, human!” Vaab yelled, quickly backing away and glaring at her.
“Let me handle this!” Sam hissed before turning back to the distraught woman.
“It must be horrible to lose your only son. Is there anything I can do to help?”
The woman turned back to him and her expression softened.
“I…I…”
Sam plastered the most sympathetic look he could possibly imagine onto his face, then laid it on thick, leaning into his boosted Charisma. He was sure his Mental Manipulation skill was rapidly leveling and once again lamented being forced down this path.
“I understand your pain. Losing family is something that no one can ever truly understand unless they’ve experienced the same kind of loss. Though we may not be friends, we would all gladly go and save your son.”
Vaab looked into Sam’s eyes, hers now red-rimmed and gleaming. She stared at him for a few long moments then slowly nodded.
“Very well, I will accept your help. But you must do one other thing in addition to saving my son. Many other mothers have suffered from this, and we cannot continue living this way. Kill the Shtainerzeid, return my son, and we will let you all walk free.”
QUEST AVAILABLE
Bane of the Pal-Tee: The Shtainerzeid is a legend as old as Somerset itself. Stalking the night and stealing children away to its lair. This creature must be stopped if the pal-tees are ever to live in peace.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Objectives: Bring Yingel back alive, Kill the Shtainerzeid
Rewards: 20,000 XP, You get to live
Well, Sam thought as he accepted the quest. At least the rule of the day makes sense now.
Completing this quest was the only way any of them would escape with their lives.
“Ouch. Completing a quest like this won’t be easy,” Emma said, dismissing the notification.
“Thank you for agreeing to save my boy,” Vaab said, moving to open the cage. “Just a warning before I let you out. If you try anything, I’ll scream, and my husband will come. You won’t survive the experience. Do I make myself clear?”
Sam and the rest nodded the
ir understanding.
“A lifeline has been graciously handed down by our Illustrious Overlord,” Gordon crowed as the cage was opened. "We would be foolish to go against his wishes, no matter what!”
“You’re a bit of a fanatic. You realize that, don’t you?” Sam asked as they left the cage.
“Come follow me. Quickly, now. Before my husband realizes I’ve let you out.”
Vaab turned then and began heading swiftly for the outskirts of the village. Without hesitation, Sam followed, jogging to keep up with the surprisingly fast woman.
“Wait up!” Emma called, fiddling with her sword and running after them.
Barry flew overhead, seeming elated at the chance to get away, and Gordon bounded along excitedly, stick clutched in his jaws and his tail wagging non-stop. It was almost as though they hadn’t realized that they were heading toward the most terrifying forest Sam had ever seen.
Fog clung to the ground, heavy and thick, and drifted through the air in lighter wisps. Moonlight filtered down, illuminating the bare, blackened trees and making visibility even worse as it reflected off the fog. There was an air of menace so heavy it was almost tangible, and the smell of rot that wafted out was somehow worse than the stench of the pal-tee village.
“I won’t go any further than this,” Vaab said, stopping a good ten feet from the first of the trees. “Just be careful. The Shtainerzeid may not be in his lair. Listen for his cry, it is unmistakable. He likes to wander the forest, and seeing as he just took my boy, he may be out looking for more. A single child never satisfies him…” she trailed off with another shudder, then turned and sprinted back to the village.
“Great, she’s gone,” Emma said. “Now let’s make a run for it.”
“That would be a very bad idea,” both Gordon and Barry said at the same time.
