The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

The party took a winding route which approached the Eastern settlement from the South, in order to avoid the scrutiny of the villagers.

Approaching the place where a settlement was marked, they saw a high tower of dense, black-grey smoke bellowing into the air. A few hints of flame rose above the trees, flickering like a constellation of frantic stars.

"Is this the sacrificial ritual the villagers talked about?" Gastlem said.

"Only one way to find out," DicingDevil replied.

Walking closer, they saw a few straw huts at the edge of the settlement. However, soon the looming centrepiece of the area came into view: a huge statue of the deity Dravaistaya, painted in blue-black and with his weapons and tongues stained with a deep blood red. By his side was another large statue, depicting a marble white panther with orange-red stripes which resembled the albatross panther they had seen earlier. Looking closer, Crucis could see traces of blood smeared across the panther's stripes, giving the orange stripes a scarlet sheen.

Around Dravaistaya's feet was a large pile of human ashes, ranging in colour from black to a powdery white.

A large fire had been lit in front of the statues, which looked on from their large, grey stone platform. Crucis could make out the silhouette of a few shadowy people throwing ashes and charred human remains, from around the fire, onto the pile beneath Dravaistaya. Occasionally, a loud chanting sound rang out through the trees.

"It looks like they're having some sort of ritual," DicingDevil said. "I thought that was the sound of some raucous bats, but it seems like it's them chanting something."

"Yeah, it sounded like bats from further away, squeaking and screeching" Danemy said. "What a strange language. Do you think it's safe to approach now, or should we wait and see if this ritual ends?"

"At least they're busy now. If we stay around the outskirts, we should be able to flee if they try to chase us. I doubt they'll leave their ritual behind. But I'll have a look."

DicingDevil raced up a nearby tree, to get a better vantage point over this settlement.

"It looks like they have some sort of religious reverence for the albatross panther, so perhaps they'll give a decent price for the remains?" Starfighter said.

"Yes, they also worship Dravaistaya, like John Hazlitt," Crucis replied. "We should probably be careful, but hopefully they'll also be co-operative."

"Good point, we could try mentioning the deity, to build rapport," DicingDevil said, scuttling down the tree. "If we try approaching from the South-East, there's only one guy there, so that seems safest. Hopefully, he won't be hostile."

He called Crucis, Starfighter and Akshel to accompany him, while the rest of the group followed a few metres behind.

As they approached the settlement, there was a loud metallic shriek as the guard unsheathed his sword. However, as Starfighter deftly held out his palms, showing a collection of teeth and bone from the albatross panther, the guard seemed reassured and placed his sword back in its sheathe.

He addressed the group with a rapid series of clicks and squeaks. Seeing their blank expression, he tried to speak in English, with a low-pitched, throaty voice. "Oh, you are speaking Eng-lish?"

"Yes," DicingDevil said, with an exaggerated nod to confirm.

"I will tell other to speak. He is good at this," the guard replied, before turning to another guard and exchanging a loud sequence of squeaks, clicks and screeches.

The other guard, a tall man with tan skin and messy, orange hair, walked over to greet the group. "Hello. Are you looking to exchange goods with us?"

His English flowed more easily than his companions, although he spoke with a strange, slightly nasal, shrill accent.

"Yes," DicingDevil said, revealing a collection of his own loot from the albatross panther in the way that Starfighter had. He made sure to keep his palms open and far apart, in order to indicate his peaceful intent.

"Okay, that is very good. We will make sure that it is an equal exchange, these are very valuable and rare goods you are bringing."

"Thank you. This place is very impressive, the statues are beautiful."

The guard laughed. "We are the possessed. It is not every day that people compliment our village! Thank you."

"The possessed?" Danemy asked.

"Yes. We are possessed by what people call the 'feeding ghosts.' They are ghosts that live on human blood. Many of us live in this large area, where people come to hunt. This is our religious site, where we all gather to give praise to Dravaistaya."

"So you survive by taking human blood, like a vampire?"

"Or the Reapers, that Dravaistaya sends?" Crucis added.

"We are not vampires! But maybe we are like that, yes. The Reaper... not many people know of that, but it is true, very similar to us. But we are like normal people for most of the day, we seek prey after midnight. Have the villagers told you about us?"

"Yes, they were very scared," DicingDevil said. "We had to sneak past them to come here."

"Very good, you are determined!" The guard smiled. "Many of us used to be part of the villages to the West, but we were exiled after a deadly plague because villagers feared and reviled the god of death. After Dravaiastaya pronounced that a curse was upon the village, they forced us out. We were forced to go into a dangerous, haunted cave where a few villagers had been killed earlier. However, the ghosts were Dravaistaya's servants, and he had them deliver us here, to be a vehicle for his curse. Now we wander the hunting area, bringing back the cadavers of our victims, to offer to Dravaistaya. Please wait, one of our 'experts' is coming, he can tell you the value of your goods."

After a few moments, a shorter man wearing a white, panther-skin cloak walked towards the group. After glancing briefly over the panther remains held by the group, he turned to the guard, and spoke in the language of this settlement.

"He says," the guard translated, "that these are valuable, fresh remains. They come from a male panther, but had been implanted over a female human to create a simulated panther... You did not do this?"

"No, we just killed this simulated panther," DicingDevil said.

"It is a good thing that you did so. If you had killed a true panther, then we would lower the reward, because we know those panthers are called by Dravaistaya to punish the village. But our 'expert' says that the remains of the original panther are still mostly intact. We shall give great rewards for this. We do not have so much gold, but we can give weapons and artifacts that we have created with our technique. They are powerful, and you will appreciate them."

The 'expert' called out to a few other villagers, who quickly walked into a storage building and hefted out a pile of white, polished materials, including many weapons. They carried the materials on large trays towards the group.

The guard turned to them. "Okay, we have some weapons, some spell scrolls, some armour, some other materials. They are made from the bones of creatures nearby, and sometimes humans. Each of you come one by one, and we will negotiate how much your goods are worth."

The group formed a line, with DicingDevil in front. After a short negotiation, DicingDevil walked away with a new level 65 dagger and an enchanted polishing stone which could increase its stats.

"Try and pick up these polishing stones," he said to the group, "they allow you to customize the stats which your weapon gives you. I didn't see any on sale in Kruxol."

Starfighter was up next, and Crucis saw him deliberating carefully over some equipment. He seemed to be familiar with this type of equipment, due to his experience with villages North of Kruxol. He picked out a large [Aimsa Elephantbone Sword], which moved surprisingly smoothly through the air as he tested it, as well as a strange, curved dagger named the [Sickle Jambiya], which had a very sharp edge. Since he had got good drops from the panther, he was able to also trade for an enchanted polishing stone.

"Grab the spears here, since you use 'em," Starfighter told Akshel. "One of them expands as soon as it pierces the enemy, worsening the wound. It's a beaut."

Akshel nodded, and immediately exchanged a long piece of panther bone for the [Expanding Skeletal Spear], which was made from human bone. Along with it, he was able to pick up a polishing stone.

Grisier walked up and managed to acquire a [Skeleton Blizzard] attack, which gained rapidly in power if the enemy was nearly dead. It could increase in power, summoning a large storm of ice and dealing up to 300% of its usual damage, if it was cast on an enemy who died. This hence made it very effective in dealing with groups of enemies, since if even one enemy was weak enough to die to it, the rest of the group would be assailed by a mighty attack. However, it required a water source nearby to be fully effective.

In addition to this, he also acquired a [Blue Moon] spell, which chilled the opponent and made them less able to block attacks for 10 seconds.

After that, it was Crucis' turn to walk up. So far, from what he had seen, the villagers' rewards were worth more than the gold that these panther remains would fetch. Although the approximate gold value of the rewards was similar, these items were rare and quite powerful. So he made sure to inspect the items on offer carefully. The daggers did look strong, but didn't seem like a major upgrade on his existing weapons, and were mostly Strength-based and relatively heavy.

"He says, 'Whew, good haul,'" the guard laughed, translating as the man beside him spoke. "Since you are Assassin, you can have a look at the daggers and swords. What kind of Assassin?"

"Spy," Crucis answered.

"Hey, not so loud! Just a joke. If you are a spy, you can try the [Sandgrass Talisman], it changes the colour of your outfit into a precise grey-green-beige pattern with black stripes, which can effectively camouflage across different environments. We developed it so that we could walk through the trees and the mountainous regions without being detected."

Crucis picked up the red-and-gold, eye-shaped talisman, and saw its description:

[Camouflages the user effectively across several outdoors environments, using a traditional pattern to lessen detection. Your clothing will be modified immediately when this talisman is used. Only available to the Spy sub-class.]

"Sure, I'll take this," he said.

"Good. Be careful, in close quarters enemies might still be able to see you, especially if you are in motion and in the open. It is best used at a longer range, in concealment, or when setting an ambush. In many situations, it is better to not use camouflage, and instead dress as a civilian to blend in. So use this when you are in the wild."

"Sure, got it. By the way, what are these stones?" Crucis pointed at a pile of dusty red stones laid next to the polishing stones.

"Oh, I don't think those are useful for your people. They are a stone we use for ritual, they have some chants and runes engraved on them."

"I see. Well, I'll just have a look."

Crucis picked up the stones, and saw a large quantity of writing compressed onto its surface. There were also four, large runes in chalky white on four sides of the cuboid stone. However, it was difficult to make out, because the stone had seemingly not been rendered fully by the game, and it was still a hazy red blob without clear details.

As he picked it up, he noticed the game begin to lag noticeably. His movements were slow, like when he had used [Arbitrate], and it was almost a struggle to slowly lug the stone up to get a better look. He tried to open his menu, but nothing happened. This lag lasted for 15 seconds, and during this time the stone gradually became clearer and its details started to appear, including the writing carefully etched across it and the three black-spotted grey lines circling it horizontally at the top, bottom, and centre.

Once the stone fully appeared, Crucis felt himself able to move freely again, and his menu popped up suddenly as he was preparing to speak. Awkwardly closing it again, he considered if this stone could be useful. Seemingly, due to its complex ritual pattern and many precise inscriptions, the game had issues with loading it for players and produced lag while the object was loading. It could hence function in a similar way to [Arbitrate], and complement that move by allowing him more lag during which he could move. Combined with the camouflage Talisman, he would be easily able to conceal himself in the wild, then ambush any players that appeared nearby.

"Can I have one of these?" Crucis said.

"Are you sure? Do you have a use for it?" the guard replied.

"Yes."

"Well, we usually use them in twos, so you can take another one for free. This is an oddity, your kind rarely take these. Usually they will complain about any items that do this, which is why you will not find them in major towns."

"Sure, two is fine. In addition to that, can I have a polishing stone?"

"That is fine. As I told the others, you should learn some blacksmithing first, so that you know how to use polishing stone effectively. And one more item."

Crucis gazed over the remaining items. His attention was drawn to an [Enforcer Machete], which converted 25% of the user's Agility and Dexterity to a hidden stat named Primal Force when it was used. This hidden stat was typically only developed by the Berserker and Knight sub-classes, since their sub-class skills included boosts to this stat. It increased their ability to strike powerfully while moving, converting their natural movements into attacks with their weapon. There were a few disadvantages to doing this, including that fighting while in rapid motion was typically less effective, but it was valuable when in pursuit of an enemy or when attacking enemy Mages or archers.

Crucis had also seen a few early videos of Berserkers cutting vines out of the way as their party progressed forwards, and figured that this skill would probably be useful for grinding mobs. It might make up for the lack of AoE skills for Assassins at this stage.

"Can I have that machete, then?"

"Sure, very good choice. It will make you able to attack while walking, jumping or running. The better your dagger technique, and the more agile you are, the more force it will generate."

"Alright, thank you."

Crucis walked out of the way, allowing the rest of the group to move through.

While motion with this machete was slightly slower, he found its attacks surprisingly strong, raising up his hand and cutting out a somewhat thick tree branch as he walked under it. He hadn't expected to cut out the whole branch, and hurried out of its way as he heard it starting to fall.

Without missing a beat, one of the guards came over and grabbed the branch, running into the village to toss it onto the ritual's large fire. The chants of the possessed grew louder as the night started to darken.

As the rest of the group collected their rewards, he heard a sudden ruckus of shouting and kicking come from inside one of the village's huts. The violet flash of a Mage player's robes emerged, dashing away from the village, pursued closely by the possessed.