Mythica, book 1, Chapter 8.

Chapter 8.

Sabine grabbed a mug of ale that had miraculously survived the fight intact and tried to blend in with the crowd. Pressure built across her entire body and there was some pain as whatever Gnessos was doing to her began to happen. Concentrating with her undead gaze, Sabine could see tendrils of dark energy enter her body, wisps of the energy came from the headless body of Darvak, but that wasn’t the only source. Some came from other patrons, leading Sabine to believe they had been involved in dark deeds resulting in the death of someone else recently.

Curiously, a small smattering of light, just tiny particles that sparkled like dust in the sunlight, joined the dark energy. The light came from a young woman that had just entered the tavern. As the flow of energy tapered off, Sabine remembered Hamish’s instruction and concentrated on her status. The now familiar text appeared in her vision and Sabine dug in, somewhat excited to see what might have changed. She found that if she wished, only the items in her status that had changed could be displayed.

Sabine Giroux.

Revenant, Rank 1.

Gnessos’ Favor: 12/500.

Mana: 100%.

Traits:

1. Call of the Grave. This ability has improved, and you now will receive an indication of how far the graveyard is that you are currently tracking.

2. Eyes of Undeath. This ability has improved, and you can now sense the undead just as you can sense living beings. The normal radius for this ability is only a few yards, but you may now concentrate and use your mana to extend the range. Beware, using Eyes of Undeath in this manner requires your total concentration and may leave you vulnerable to unexpected threats.

3. Soulbound. A portion of your power has been siphoned off and given to your advisor Hamish. Speak with Hamish to discover if he has gained any new abilities or knowledge due to this infusion of power. Normally, you can only summon Hamish once every 24 hours. When you attain a new rank, this timer is reset.

4. Enhanced body. By attaining rank 1, your revenant body has begun to improve. These improvements are a percentage increase over what the body possessed when it was still alive.

Strength: +15%.

Durability: +10%

Abilities:

1. Channel Mana. You can now channel your mana to enhance both your weapons and your armor.

2. Rapid Healing. This healing ability is now more efficient and will require less mana when active.

Sabine’s review was interrupted as a scraggly-looking orc walked over and pulled the axe that had decapitated Darvak from the post it was lodged in. He started to wipe the blood off the blade with a dirty rag. He swiped Darvak’s purse as he pulled the body away, causing Sabine to curse. She should have thought of that before getting distracted by her new rank. Funds were sparse and she could use all that she could get her hands on. Seeing her gaze, the orc picked up Darvak’s boot knife from off the floor and tossed it onto her table. He didn’t say anything, just gave her a small nod of respect.

Slipping the knife into her boot, Sabine thought about the changes that had just occurred. The enhanced body wasn’t a huge percentage increase, but she could feel it. Everything else seemed to slightly improve as well, nothing groundbreaking, but enough to make her job a bit easier. She noted that the favor she had gained from Gnessos went back to zero when she reached a new rank. A few points had spilled over, likely the excess of what was needed to reach rank one. She now needed over 500 favor for the next rank, but with that bounty board she spotted on the other side of the tavern, she was sure to reach it before long.

Hammerhead made an announcement, the same woman that had contributed the sparkles of light to Sabine’s new power was seeking adventurers to form a party and rescue her sister from orcs. It was the kind of job that would take far too long and was likely to lead too far away for Sabine to consider it. Not only that, Sabine preferred to work alone given her current state. The last thing she needed was for her mask to fail and for her party to turn on her for being undead. Hearing the reward of only 200 silver was also a solid no for Sabine. Divided among a full party, it wasn’t enough to entice her to join. A raiding party of orcs powerful enough to gather captives was no pushover.

Making her way through the crowd, Sabine approached the bar and the bounty board behind it. There were several items listed, most of which were above her current ability to handle them. She did have hope that as she gained higher ranks, her powers would grow to where some of the more difficult tasks could be taken on with little trouble. A few of the offerings were bounties for bringing someone back alive or to locate a hard-to-find individual and kill them. Those would be too much of a struggle for someone with no knowledge of the area and no connections.

Her best bet would be to take one of the bounties tied to killing some threat nearby. That narrowed things down to three possibilities. The format for the board was pretty simple, the name of the bounty, whether they wanted the bounty alive or dead, and how much was offered. Sabine assumed that higher rewards indicated higher-risk bounties. As she looked at the board, her status screen changed, highlighting only the bounties that she was interested in.

1. Clear goblins from the nearby farmland, 10 gold.

2. Bandits along Westwall Road, 50 gold.

3. Deep denizens of the forlorn pits, 30 gold.

It wasn’t enough to go on, and Sabine didn’t know this part of the country very well. She waited for a while, hoping to see if someone else asked about the bounties. Hammerhead gave her a nasty look after she had stood there for a while, prompting her to spend some of her meager supply of coin on a fresh mug of ale.

Her body didn’t need to eat or drink, and when Sabine took a sip out of curiosity, a sick feeling welled up in her gut. Looking inward she could see the swirl of dark mana burn off the liquid in her belly. A small bit of mana was consumed in the process. Eating and drinking were now a detriment to Sabine, something she would need to avoid unless there was a need to keep up appearances.

As the night passed, the crowd thinned. She had to fend off a couple of drunks that thought her drinking alone was some indicator that she wanted their company. A growl and glare tended to fend off all but the most oblivious. One or two required a good shove, giving Sabine a chance to try out her newly enhanced strength.

She felt good, and powerful to an extent, but Sabine was wise enough to not to put too much into her power. Sabine was still weaker than most strong men, and nowhere near as strong as an orc. Sensing he was about to close up for the night, Sabine risked asking Hammerhead about the board.

“Excuse me, Hammerhead, what’s with the bounty board? How does that work?” Sabine asked.

“Decided to try your hand at something other than roughing up my customers, eh? Well, it’s simple and in case your slow I’ll spell it out for you. You do what it asks, and I hand you the coin,” Hammerhead snarled back.

“Yeah, I get that, I’m not an idiot. What I really need to know is how to find these bounties, I’m not from around here,” Sabine said.

“Ye find a group or ye hire someone to guide you,” Hammerhead said, spitting into a mug and wiping it with a filthy towel.

“Any recommendations for a guide?” Sabine asked. Hammerhead was gruff and insulting, but she had dealt with worse.

“You got coin?” He asked.

“How much?” Sabine replied.

“Ten gold and I’ll get you in touch with a local who knows the area and can handle himself in a fight,” Hammerhead offered.

“Out of my price range, I was thinking about taking on the goblins, but ten gold is exactly what the bounty is,” Sabine said.

“Looking at the easiest thing on the board, are ye? Well, that’s been up for a while, and nobody seems willing to find the time to deal with it. I’ll tell you what, one of the nearby villages put up that bounty and the coin they’re offering is all they can afford. Since I need them to keep my kitchens supplied, I’ll cut you a deal. For half the bounty, I’ll tell you everything I know about these here goblins and steer you in the right direction to find them,” Hammerhead said.

“Deal, what can you tell me?” Sabine asked.

“To the northeast is a small farming village, about a month ago, they started seeing things in the woods. Some livestock went missing, and then, people started to disappear. At first, it was just a drunk or two, walking late at night home from the pub, but then entire families started to disappear. The local militia formed up to find them, but got ambushed by goblins and was forced back,” Hammerhead said.

“How many goblins are we talking about?” Sabine asked.

“That’s the thing, there weren’t that many, only a dozen or so in the ambush. If they hadn’t got the drop on the militia, they would have likely been driven off,” Hammerhead said.

“If it’s only a dozen, why don’t the locals take care of the problem? I’ve fought goblins before and they’re not that tough to deal with unless they outnumber you by a fair bit,” Sabine said.

“Aye, which has me wondering a bit about this whole thing. The militia reformed and tried again, but this time, they all disappeared,” Hammerhead said.

“How many militia members are we talking about?” Sabine asked.

“They lost a few in the first ambush, so about seven or eight remained. After that, the farmers now hold up at night in the town, gathering for protection. Sometimes, their homes and fields are raided, but so far, the goblins haven’t been that keen on taking advantage of the situation. Go see headman Gilroy Sarkis at Golden Harvest Village, he’ll point you toward where the attacks have been happening,” Hammerhead said.

“Sounds like something I can handle; what do you want for proof I’ve done the deed?” Sabine asked.

“Ears, left ones only so’s I know you’re not counting the same gobbo twice. Bring me at least ten and we’ll call the job complete. Mind that I don’t hear anything bad about you from Gilroy, I value my trade with that village, and I won’t have you causing trouble or trying to pull a fast one on me,” Hammerhead warned.

“Ten left ears, and I get five gold. How about something to sweeten the pot, got any spare gear around that you aren’t using?” Sabine asked. A pair of daggers, one of which was garbage, wasn’t exactly an arsenal for Sabine.

“I’ve got a few bits and bobs that I’ve collected over the years. I’d be willing to part with some at a better price than you’ll find in town, but not before ye’ve proved yourself,” Hammerhead said. That wasn’t ideal, but maybe the goblins had some gear that might be useful. After all, they had taken out a militia patrol.

“Fine, I’m off then, to the northeast you said?” Sabine asked.

“Aye, follow the road north and look for a small trail that branches off a few miles from here. It’ll lead you right there. Used to be a sign, but somebody swiped it a while back. Are you leaving now? It’s the dead of night, not the best time to be galivanting around these parts. I’ll give you a deal on a room and you can set out in the morning,” Hammerhead said, likely trying to milk her of the last few coins he could by renting her a room before she left. Sadly, Sabine didn’t think she had enough money to purchase a night in the stables.

“I don’t mind traveling at night, and who knows, maybe one of your other bounties will cross paths with me on the way,” Sabine said.

“Watch yerself out there, I just wasted all this breath talking to you and I’d hate to think it was all for nothing,” Hammerhead said as Sabine left.

Outside, a few drunks had slumped over wherever they could find a spot, and that orc Hammerhead employed, Sabine had overheard his name was Rawhead, was rousting them off the property. Other than Rawhead and the passed-out drunks, the last few patrons were leaving, most of which were shuffling their way back to town in various stages of inebriation.

It looked like nobody would be joining her on the road north, which was fine with Sabine. So far, her body hadn’t needed anything resembling sleep, so she hoped to keep moving through the night and hit the village sometime around dawn. Once there, she could try and locate where these goblins were. She would be greatly outnumbered, but with her abilities, Sabine figured she could pick several of the goblins off one or two at a time without much risk to herself. Ten kills and ten ears would see this job done, not a problem for an experienced warrior such as herself.