Lanek stepped to the side of the door as it shook from repeated impacts and tossed the lit orb across the room, hoping the noise would attract the creature. He crouched so that the beast wouldn’t notice him. The bar securing the door broke apart and the door burst inward. He held his breath, even as his heart pounded so loudly that he was shocked that it wasn’t echoing throughout the room.
A white hand gripped the frame. Not pale or any kind of natural skin tone, but the color of bleached bones. Each finger was tipped with jagged, broken fingernails. The creature hunched as it entered the room, rising to its full height once it had cleared the doorway, its attention fixed on the orb. Even standing upright, the creature’s back still seemed hunched forward with every vertebra protruding obscenely.
The creature seemed to tower over Lanek’s own frame, with long spindly arms and legs. It didn’t look powerful, but one look at the remains of the door that Lanek couldn’t have broken himself reminded him that the creature’s looks were deceiving.
Moving as quietly as he could, Lanek moved behind the creature and readied his blade. He must have tipped the beast off somehow, as its head began to turn, far more than it should have been able to without shifting its torso. It was far too late for it to dodge, as Lanek’s dagger sunk into its lower back, piercing the skin and muscle far more easily than he expected.
The creature attempted to turn and swipe at its assailant, but it found that its legs would not obey it. Instead, the creature fell forward as all strength fled its legs and Lanek leaped upon its back.
Lanek felt the beast inhale underneath him, so he let go of his dagger and wrapped the chain around its neck to prevent it from shrieking. He didn’t know if there were others out there, but the last thing he needed was for this thing to attract unwanted attention. The creature flailed at him, but its arms were unable to bend enough to give it room to swing with enough strength to dislodge him.
Changing tactics it placed its hands underneath itself and started to push itself up as it turned its head even further than before, teeth snapping at Lanek’s face from mere inches away. Staring at the hideous visage before him, Lanek’s blood ran cold.
There were no eyes in that skull, just two dark pits. Neither was there a nose, just a vertical slit where it should have been, pulsing every time the thing breathed. Its mouth was what truly disturbed him, though. It was far wider than it had any right to be, extending to where ears would be on a normal person. The teeth gnashing at Lanek’s face were like needles, and there were three rows of them lining the hideous thing's mouth.
Lanek tried to scream when a long tongue whipped out and wrapped around his neck, but his air supply was easily cut off by the appendage. He released the chain and braced his arm against the creature’s back, the tongue inexorably pulled his face closer to those horrible teeth. Panicking, Lanek used his free hand to pull on the chain closest to his dagger, trying to pull it into his hand.
The thing’s spittle splashed on his face, warm and foul-smelling, when Lanek finally felt the resistance on the chain decrease as the dagger pulled free. He wasted no time in pulling the dagger into his hand and slamming it home into the underside of the creature’s jaw, hoping that it would be enough. The beast thrashed wildly as the blade pierced through its maw and into its skull. Not taking any chances, Lanek twisted and scythed the blade within the wound, hoping to put this thing down for good.
After what felt like hours, the thing finally fell still and its tongue went limp. Gasping in great lung fulls of air, Lanek scrambled away from the body and collapsed to the floor. At that moment, a chime sounded in his head, causing him to jump to his feet in shock.
A blue screen came into being before his eyes.
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Initiating system...
By defeating Lesser Gaunt (lvl 5), host has met the minimum requirements for integration (Gain 1 level)
Oh, no.
Lanek laughed, a bit of hysteria leaking into the sound. He tried to will the blue screen away and was pleased that it complied. He would take a look at it once he was in a safer location. For all he knew, the gaunt had companions in the area that would come looking for it or even scavengers looking for a free meal. Collecting the orb and chain whip, he made his way back out to the alley via the cellar. No sense in giving away his location to anything that may be watching the front door.
Setting off, Lanek decided to make his way toward the wall at the edge of the city. He hoped that the edge of the city would be less dangerous. Also, he could escape into the wilderness if he found a gate. It could very well be safer in the wilderness, although he kind of doubted it.
Making sure to step lightly, Lanek moved toward the wall, cutting through alleys whenever possible to avoid being in plain sight. He passed many buildings in various stages of neglect as he made his way to the wall. A few times he paused to glance into a building. In most cases, there would be dust on the floor. In some cases, he would back away quickly and make himself scarce as he would see strange tracks in the dust. Clawed tracks. Large, clawed tracks.
The city had clearly been abandoned for a very long time and something new had moved in. Was the city abandoned because of the gaunts? Or was it vacant long before they showed up?
Lanek paused in an alley and wondered just where he could hide out for the night as dusk began to set in. Even if he made it to the wall before full nightfall, there was no guarantee that he would be able to find a place to shelter, much less a secure place.
Leaving the alley, he approached the most secure structure he could could find: a two-story structure that appeared to be made entirely of stone with bars on the windows. There was a sign hanging in front of the building, faded with age. From what he could make out, the sign depicted a shield with some type of feline creature in the center. Was it some type of heraldry? It didn’t matter, the bars on the window promised safety despite the door hanging open.
He entered the building cautiously, checking for tracks in the dust. Seeing no tracks or claw marks, he closed the heavy banded-iron door behind him and dropped the door bar in place. After pausing for a moment, he also locked the door. Sure, it wouldn’t help all that much if the bar failed, but it satisfied his paranoia.
The interior of the building is not what he had expected. At the far end of the room was a counter going the length of the wall with what he guessed were privacy dividers splitting the long counter into stations, much as you would expect to see at a bank. However, this clearly wasn’t a bank as there was a single archway leading out of the room into a bar area or perhaps a common room judging from the various tables and chairs scattered throughout.
A thought kept tickling the back of his mind as he gazed at the room. His eyes came to rest on a notice board resting next to the bar, which caused the thought to surge to the forefront of his mind. Could this really be an adventurer’s guild?
From the bar area, Lanek could see a staircase leading to the second level and a sliding door between the bar and notice board. Curious, Lanek opened the sliding door and found traces of a medieval kitchen.
Climbing the stairs, he found a series of rooms on the second floor. Most of these doors opened into small bedrooms with a bed, chair, desk, chest, and washbasin. Each bedroom also had a small, shuttered window that was thankfully too small for someone to fit through. Lanek figured that these rooms were likely for adventurers to rest up or have a cheap place to stay if they were strapped for cash.
As true night finally fell, Lanek felt his skin begin to crawl. Why was he feeling so uncomfortable? He had his answer moments later as the night erupted into a cacophony of shrieks, howls, and wails. Face paling, he abandoned his exploration and rushed back down the stairs. He ran from window to window, making sure that every set of shutters were closed and latched. He didn’t dare look outside, but he could hear familiar, hateful shrieks sounding out alongside howls that were almost familiar from his camping trips, but just different enough to be disturbing.
Lanek crawled behind the bar and covered his ears, struggling to get himself under control. Sadly, this was not proving to be easy with the noises assaulting his ears and how utterly helpless he felt. Needing to distract himself, he focused on the blue screen from earlier, willing it to reappear.
System Initialization and Integration Complete. Welcome, Lanek.