Granny Tacha felt that there had been something suspicious about Molly. Her talk with the herbalist had been mostly normal. However there were a couple of times where she had been acting strange. And Tacha wasn’t sure if it was because she was hiding information or something else entirely.
With her arms crossed, she tapped them with her fingers deep in thought. In a flash of inspiration she looked at the quests description, but found no clues upon further inspection.
Not knowing what to do, she checked on her relationship level with the NPCs she had interacted with, and she was left with an unexpected surprise.
Relationships
Molly Ridger: 12 ˂Acquaintance˃
Hans Macmillan O’Brian: -39 ˂Unfriendly˃
Kirio Kang: 3 ˂Strangers˃
When did it change?
She checked the notification log, but there was no notice of a decrese in friendship. Granny Tacha nibbled on her thumb in thought.
It wasn’t only Molly’s relationship that changed; but the innkeeper’s too. Was the relationship system outside of the system? No, that wasn’t it. She remembered clearly that there was a notification when she first met the two.
And for Kirio, there was no notification at all.
This… wasn’t this an oversight of the system?
Granny Tacha readly wrote up a bug report under the appropriate section of the system menu. She detailed the problems with the notifications not showing up, and upon further thought, she added a few notes on the buggy notifications she had while battling the boss in the underground ruins.
Satisfied, she sent the report, and with a lighter state of mind, she resumed her adventure.
Even if there were still a few bugs, for a game with so many players, it was bound to have quicker updates. It shouldn’t impact her experience too much even if she keeps playing.
She was now considering where to go next. Right away she excluded the option to go back to the ruins. Even if there might be clues left, it would take too much time going back and forth.
Moreover, with Molly’s friendliness dropping, she had consider the fact that her coming back to the village might spread. If she were to waste time going back to the ruins, the culprit that had trapped her and Frӧst in the secret basement might disappear.
After thinking about it, Tacha decided to go to the inn.
Even though Old Hans might not know much about the villagers, she could at least trust his ‘unfriendliness’ since the first encounter. Moreover she couldn’t deny that he had given her information about the ruins despite his poor relationship with her.
If she had to trust the words of someone in this village, then it might as well be Hans’. An old scrooge that trusts money more than his fellow villagers. His morals might not be in the right place, but granny Tacha could at least know what to expect from him.
An one who is blinded by pride and money is easy to predict.
When Old Hans saw her go through the door, his face changed into a scowl “Why are you still hanging around this village in the middle of nowhere…?” he grumbled to himself, as he put his hands under the counter.
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Tacha snorted at the innkeeper’s words “Tsk. Your reaction is the same as usual, you old antique” then, with a teasing look she made fun of the old man “And here I thought you’d be glad to see me coming back in one piece”
Old Han’s face fell at her words, his expression turning into one of midly disgust “I’d be happier if you never come back” then he turned his back on her. She couldn’t tell what he was doing, but it looked like he was making himself smaller “There’s nothing but trouble whenever you come here…” his mumble was softer than usual, but the granny managed to barely pick up on it.
Knowing that he responded the best when challenged with his pride on the line, Tacha tried to pry further “Heh, sounds like the mighty innkeeper can’t even handle a poor old woman”
“What poor!?” he snapped back, turning around “You’re a big trouble magnet! That night, right after you left, someone came to trash the place. Tsk, if only they dared to touch my treasure… I would’ve turned them into swiss cheese”
Huh? Someone had raided the inn? Tacha squinted, her eyes suspiciously resting on the counter, where the old man keeps his precious shotgut, Clarissa as he called it “One of your unsatisfied customers?”
Old Hans scoffed “As if. It was done by an expert. They even left a message” he rummaged through the disorderly pile of papers on the side. After a bit of searching, with a triumphant ‘Aha!’, the old innkeeper took a crumpled sheet of paper out of the pile. Straightening it out a bit, he then handed it over to the grandma “Here”
With a bunch of thoughts swirming around her head, granny Tacha took the paper from Hans and read it. Just the first few words were enough to make her eyes go wide.
‘The sacred shrine has been defiled.
You, who has broken the sacred seal.
The curse of the Wolf God is upon you.
Pray for forgivness,
Or your soul shall be feasted upon in the abyss.
Seek forgivness,
Sinner of secrets.’
The Wolf God. It would look out of place if it wasn’t for the fact that the ruins she had visited held a wolf theme. It might not be a coincidence at all that said ruins were called ‘Amber Jackal’ by the quest description.
Was it actually aimed for her and they just mistook Old Hans for the one that intruded upone the ruins?
“They left just this message?” Tacha handed the crumpled paper back, knowing the old man, he might have trashed the piece of paper in rage at the thought of spending money on the repairs.
Old Hans shaked his head “They kept coming back to leave more of them almost every night after that, but after I set a snare trap under the windows they stopped coming”
Unconciously, the old granny looked at the window not far from the counter. It did not look like any traces were left “They were scared by just a simple trap?” It was hard to believe that someone with the guts to come after this crazy old man would stop at the sight of a ‘simple’ trap.
The old innkeeper did not respond. Instead, he smiled sinisterly. Whatever surprise he had prepared for them, it seemed like it wasn’t simple at all.
“Anyway, after a week of breaking into the inn they stopped. I haven’t even seen a shadow of them” still with the same smile plastered on his face, he sit back down at his place at the counter.
As she was choosing her next words carefully to try and pry more information out of him, the sound of a notification ringed in her ears.
A new clue has been gathered!
Corruption Runs Deep II has been updated.
Corruption Runs Deep II
You have successfully discovered what happened to Kirio’s missing mother.
Now you have two options in front of you: report back to Kirio with the information you know, or you could attempt to discover the culprit responsable to trap Layla in the depths of the ruins before reporting.
* You have found out that an intruder had been threatening and tormenting the village’s innkeeper.
The messages that he had been leaving behind talk about the curse of a Wolf God befalling those who break in his sacred shrine.
You have no doubts that this is related to the Amber Jackal Ruins not far from the village!
Report back: (0/1)
Find the culprit: (0/1)
Tacha scoffed. Rather than the intruder threatening the innkeeper, it seemed that the opposite happened. It was the crazy old man that had scared away the poor intruder.