We continued searching through the loot that the Terrorinator had dropped, I was curious to see if there was anything else that I would find useful but aside from a silver ring which offered no bonus stats there was nothing that stood out to me. It was like a used wedding band, the surface worn and scuffed, it was slightly out of shape but I figured if anything it could have some value to it so I added it to my inventory. The rest of the items were a combination of crude, rusted and fractured daggers that were of no use to me so I left them where they were.
Raven was making her way through the loot herself, I saw her pick up one or two items that she had taken an interest in, she had opened up her shadow portal and started tossing items in quite haphazardly. I presumed that the Terrorinator’s arm was still in there somewhere and wondered what she would do with it, given his size I didn’t thing she would have the strength to pull the thing out and discard it. She hadn’t drawn my attention to it to help her so I figured I would just let her be and wait until she asked for my help.
She had a serious look on her face as she examined each piece of loot as if she was looking for something very specific, she would pick items up, study them then toss them back on the ground, letting out the odd tut and huff from time to time. I had finished searching through on my side and had not found anything I could tell would be helpful.
“Do you want me to help you look,”
Raven sat up from the kneeling position she was in and nodded, albeit it with a deflated demeanour, her shoulders slumped and her back stooped. She started signing again and I felt useless as even though I couldn’t understand anything she was saying, she kept trying, she didn’t hold back. I studied her hands and gestures but I just couldn’t figure it out.
Raven used her two index fingers to create a circle motion to me then pointed at her eyes and then the loot as if creating an invisible line.
"You want me to help find a ring?” I asked, my heart spiked as I thought about the silver ring I had found just a few moments before. It seemed innocuous but there was every chance that this ring could be exactly what we were looking for.
My positivity was short lived however as Raven shook her head again before thinking for a moment. She made the same gesture of a circle, using her two index fingers a couple more times before her eyes lit up, she then pointed at her wrist.
“A watch?” I pointed at my own and Raven just shook her head again impatiently.
She started tapping at her wrist again before making the same circular motion, before shaking her head and starting looking through the left over loot again.
I scanned over it but there was nothing noticeable, there was nothing. I decided to give Raven some space to look and thought I would search around the outer perimeter of the camp, the loot had fired out in every which direction you could imagine, so maybe something was just out of our line of sight.
The camp was destroyed, the shanties, broken, with collapsed walls and pieces of debris scattered across the ground. The air was thick and heavy, my clothes were sticking too me and the smell of iron hung in the air from the blood that stained my shirt. I felt disgusting and the sooner I could grab a wash somewhere and change my clothes the better. I continued scanning the floor for what felt like a good half an hour, my own impatience growing.
“Shit!” I cursed as I rolled my ankle as I stepped across the roofing, of one of the destroyed shanties, my foot had gone straight through causing me to lose my bale. Feeling. A sharp sting I looked down to see a large splinter had grazed my lower leg, just above my ankle around my shin. It wasn’t a threatening injury but only served to piss me off that little bit more. Kicking out at the piece of roof which seemed to be made out of branches and leaves I launched it a few feet forwards revealing a flash of blue underneath.
“I think I found something.” I called out to Raven, her head popped up like a meerkat looking out for prey in the desert, before she darted across to have a look.
I knelt down, it looked like there was something between me and the item, kind of grid like, like a storm drain. My arms were too big to fit through the gaps.
“Do you think you can reach through?” I asked Raven as she reached me.
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She took no time dropping to her knees and reaching down through the gaps with ease, right up to her shoulder. She started reaching around, sticking her tongue out while she concentrated. When she pulled her arm back out she had something in her hand, it was small and had a blue glow to it like my spirit sword had, making me think its as a rare item.
“What is it?” I asked.
Raven’s face lit up, and she became instantly more animated, bouncing up and down on the spot.
“Is that it?” I asked, “Is that what we have been looking for?”
Raven continued to bounce around. She hugged it close to her body before hoplding it out for me to look at.
*Shadow Bracelet
*Rare Accessory
*A wearable item for those of the Rogue class. A long lost heirloom, with only those who it is connected to knowing its true purpose.*
“Sounds vague,” I said as I looked over the bracelet. It was more of a bangle, it was thick, about an inch in diameter, the surface rough and black. It had cracks andblemeshes against the metal, giving it a slightly rustic appearance that made it look old and well worn. On either side of the outer edges of the bangle were small spikes, varying in size, they seemed to alternate between a tiny spike followed by a larger one, that ran the full way around. Around the outer edge of the bangle were small yellow runes that looked like they had been engraved into the metal, they were glowing, making it look like molten fire was inside. The same was on the inside as it flashed and disappeared as quickly s I saw it. It was like the Frodo’s ring, the one that everyone fought for in the lord of the ring or at least that’s what the glowing symbols reminded me of.
“What do they say?” I asked.
Raven looked at me with a frown.
“On the bangle, what do the runes say.”
She looked it over in detail as if trying to figure something out.
“Does it do anything?” I asked.
Raven shrugged before placing the bangle onto her wrist.
I don’t know what I expected to happen but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed when nothing happened at all. Literally nothing, the ‘Whispers’ quest remained open, there was no further instructions with what to do. Absolutely nothing.
Raven looked up at the sky and pointed.
As Fidget had warned, the sun was finally beginning to set meaning we needed to find some form of shelter for the night. I dreaded to think what kind of creatures would lurk in the forest at night time given what we had come across so far during the day.
“Is there anything else you need from here?”
Raven shook her head, she had her free hand wrapped around her bangle. Whatever that was I felt like there was more to it than Raven could let on, especially with the blatant communication barrier that we had.
“I guess that’s it then. Come on, let’s go and find somewhere, where we can make a camp for the night. I really dont want to stay around here any longer than we need to in case only more terrors turn up.”
With one last look around the camp we made the way out of the camp, using the setting sun as a marker to keep heading in the right direction of this Sy who Fidget had mentioned. The sooner we got to him the better, maybe he would be able to point us in the right direction, Fidget seemed to trust him, whoever he was and she seemed ok. Even if she did come across as a little patronising of what I had seen of her so far.
The sun continued to set as we searched for a safe spot for us to camp out for the night. I say the word safe loosely as nothing about this place was safe at all. What I was looking for was a clear open space, where we would be able to make a fire to keep warm and one of us keep lookout through the night. I had figured if we alternated then at least we would both be able to get some rest, I had explained this to Raven as we walked and through a series of nods that gave me her approval we seemed to have some semblance of a plan. For the time east at being.
We kept going until we eventually found a clearing that was just about big enough, it was kind of oval shape, with a couple of large rocks for us to shelter against, not that I was expecting a sudden storm or anything. The branches above us thinned, giving us an open canopy, it wouldn’t shelter us from any rain but at least it meant there was nothing going to come down on us from above. Or at least that was my thinking anyway. The trees around us were thinner here too, like pine trees, reaching high up into the air, but it meant that it was clear around us, meaning that we would hopefully be able to see or hear anything creeping up on us.
It didn’t take us long to set up, given that we had no sleeping bags or camping gear, it was nice to sit down and rest though and after getting enough wood to start a fire, we set about trying to light the damn thing. By the time we had managed to get the fire started, darkness had set in and my hands were raw from rubbing sticks together, Raven had had a couple of pieces of stone which I assumed were flint and we were able to use it to light up the kindling.
Sitting with my back against the rock I stretched out my hands towards the fire and embraced the warmth that it gave me.
Raven let out a yawn and stretch, arching her back.
“Get some sleep?” I said, “I’ll take first watch.” She was a kid after all, regardless of how deadly she was. She did not waste any time settling down and curling up next to fire, it reminded me of how vulnerable she was, or would be if she did not have two sythes that she clearly wasn’t afraid to use.
As darkness surrounded us, I continued to stare into the crackling fire like it was a TV mounted on the wall back home, and I started thinking about all the home comforts that I took for granted up until now. Mainly my bed and a nice thick quilt and hard pillow.