9:22 A.M.
February 4
Frostmonth 6
The Unusual Huntress, Limeroom, Veotera
Gary looked down at his somewhat-late breakfast on the table at one of the tavern’s numerous pieces of furniture. He was rather enjoying the hot porridge and thick links of sausage that were clearly made with being a hearty start to one’s day in mind, and it was certainly working to fill his belly up nicely. He wasn’t particularly thrilled with the thin beer that had been served alongside it, however. It wasn’t that he hated the idea - he understood it was a safe way to drink water in a non-modern setting as the very low alcohol content killed anything nasty in the water, plus the boiling that it took to make - it was simply that he had no taste for the bitter drink.
With his Constitution as strong as it was he didn’t really see a need to worry about getting even a slight buzz off the liquid so it was really just down to the fact he didn’t like the sour taste. It was like drinking stale-tasting water to him and it was the only weak part of this breakfast. He’d have to see about figuring out a way to sort that. He hadn’t looked into how expensive tea was around these parts, come to think of it.
So far things had been going well enough. He’d clearly scared off the Velvet Court’s surveillance - or more likely they were appeasing him to theoretically aid their recruitment effort - and so he’d felt safe enough to move more freely leaving Remmy to his own devices. That meant he was taking more contracts from the Delvers, and that meant he was steadily making money while building a Virtual System-augmented mental map of the area around Limeroom. Another thing he needed to source was information about local history and geography. He hadn’t even learned the name of the nation he’d landed in and there was nary a map to be found. Gary felt bad at the idea of pestering the old priest for even more so he’d resolved to solve these issues himself.
He finished his meal, downed the last of the sour-tasting beer, and sat there for a moment organizing his mental list of priorities. He was already getting some light armor made with his windfall from the Ripper Rabbit hunt, having opted to commission some thin metal plates he could center around an unadorned cuirass as opposed to leathers. Gary remembered the explanation from the System during his isekai-ing about how sufficient grades of a Class let them wreck armor with ease and he simply felt safer with metal than treated animal hide. Next on the list was sourcing local intelligence such as maps and names for the area, and he had to admit the tea thing was more of a want than a need.
Gary gently slid his chair back from the table and waved to one of the working women that he was done before moving on towards the corner of the building the Delvers occupied. He saw the man Jack perk up at his approach, having been drawn to the crimson-caped motion of Gary’s tall frame and looking up from some parchments that seemed to be internal documents for housekeeping. He waved a hand at Jack who waved back then changed to a beckoning motion making Gary veer towards him as he stepped up to the counter and leaned forward to speak with the teenager.
“Good morning,” Gary said as he stepped up to the counter himself and gently leaned on it himself. He and Jack were close enough they could talk quietly but not so much that they cramped each other on the furniture.
“Good morning, Gary. I got a request for you.” That was unusual and clearly the thought showed on his face as Jack gently lowered his voice to not quite a whisper before continuing. “The locals have reported an unusual increase in the number of monsters in the area. The swell in the spread of them is indicative of a dungeon forming somewhere in the area.” A thudding heartbeat deafened Gary for an instant. Was this his opportunity? Jack must have misinterpreted the second look on Gary’s face as hesitation and not the anticipation he was currently feeling. “Don’t worry. It hasn’t opened yet or we’d be up to the rafters in monsters by now.”
“Any idea what might be coming out of it?” Gary kept his voice quiet as well.
“Not yet. Usually we don’t know until the damn things actually open up. What I want you for is that we’re sending out the local Delvers on the local lord’s Runee to clear out trouble spots in anticipation of having to focus our efforts on the dungeon. I want to assign you a place that’s given us trouble for a while now. I know your Class is a strong grade just by looking at how you’re sucking our contracts dry.”
Gary nodded simply. He took Remmy’s advice to heart not to casually mention his actual grade. Most people acted like they’d seen a ghost or something when he did. Origins must be particularly rare, then.
“Good. So the spot I want you to handle is an old manor house to the southeast at the base of the foothills there.” Jack rummaged behind the counter and produced after a short time a large piece of parchment. Gary immediately recognized a map when he saw one even before it was unfurled on the counter between them. Immediately he fired up the camera function on his Virtual Network and took photographs of the information. None the wiser Jack pointed to a small symbol that was indeed to the southeast of Limeroom. The actual terrain wasn’t super detailed on the wide-area map here but Gary could easily work with it since it had local landmarks with Limeroom as the central axis on which the map was based. One objective down without any real work on his part.
Gary made a show of tracing the route marked as a narrow road with his finger, acting out for Jack’s sake so he didn’t think anything was awry. After tapping the tiny icon that indicated the manor in question, Gary glanced up to see Jack nod. He’d chosen the right icon, then.
“Reports from local farmers are that the old building’s being haunted.” Oh, and there’s the Haunted House trope. Another bingo card square filled in. Gary nodded and Jack continued. “Now as I’m sure you’re aware the Undead are a particular problem for most of the populace since they’re not strong combat Classes, but this site’s been a problem location for decades. This old manor’s famous for producing a couple of Skeletons now and then but they usually stick to the manor grounds and aren’t a real hassle. What’s come to be the problem is that there’s reports of a ghost of some variety being spotted on the grounds, and that’s bad because it means whatever’s causing the Skeletons to keep coming back is getting stronger.”
Thoughts of ‘Undead’ popped up relevant dictionary-slash-wikipedia style entries about the classical types with accompanying images. The focused thought of ‘ghost’ brought up a worrying length of a sub-list. Skimming them for a moment as he gave it visible thought to buy himself time led Gary to think that he was going to have a problem. He nodded finally before speaking. “So I’m to investigate the increase in activity, suppress the local problems, maybe try and solve the issue?”
Jack gave an ironically amused huff at the last part. “Been trying for decades, Gary. You’re welcome to give it a try.” The gray-eyed teenager gave him a shrug at the statement. It was possible he might be able to solve the ghost part depending on what type he was actually dealing with. Push came to shove 「Quintessence Vivisection」 was well off of cooldown and if it was Undead instead of a straight up corpse he might get cool ghost powers.
“Consider it investigated, Jack.”
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A couple of hours later, Gary was at the manor in question. He stood outside the dilapidated estate and was shocked at how cliche it looked like a haunted house even in broad cloudless sky daylight. The grounds were overgrown and choked with weeds and ivys, the building itself looked like it would fall apart with a violent sneeze from here, and the retaining walls were in bad disrepair. A wispy fog swirled on the grounds obscuring the further parts of the grounds in a smoky haze that curiously didn’t leak through the holes in the out wall or the half-rusted wrought-iron gate he stood before.
He looked back at the road he’d traveled and noted that going by it was well-worn by the people who called out this far home on farms nearby but he could barely see the terrain disturbed from decades of non-use to approach the building. Gary looked around outside the manor, found a decently-high tree, and used 「Leap」 to scale into the mid-height branches. The view from this angle wasn’t too much better, but he could clearly make out figures of a gaunt appearance patrolling through the mist-and-weed-choked grounds.
The Skeletons he’d been notified about. There was more than a couple now; Gary counted at least seven from where he could see the telltale disturbances of mist. It was curious. They were stopping here and there for no notable reason for a time before moving on to the next part of their self-assigned patrol route. He also noted a couple of them went into the manor for a time then came back out. He could tell the individuals because each of them had some sort of identifying damage to their bones while still remaining somehow mostly intact. A missing jaw, part of a hand, a limp from cracked leg bones; the injuries didn’t seem to slow them down.
Gary hooked his pack with his camping supplies on a convenient branch and draped his cloak over it so he could easily spot it later. He checked his weapons and hesitated before simply deciding to leave them where they were. He was still waiting on his armor to be completed, so he was without defenses other than his bracers. The fact these Skeletons were moving like this gave him an idea of how to approach the situation.
Landing on the ground he approached the rusty gate. Using his metal-shod bracers he gave the metal several loud intentional bangs, and every Skeleton he could see from the wide-barred gate stopped and stared at him with empty eye sockets and a flickering darkness within them he could probably only spot due to 「Perception」 and 「Danger Sense」 working together with his Onyx Affinity. The monsters were clearly aware of his presence now.
“May I come in? I’m here on behalf of the local lord.”
Silence dragged on as the Skeletons simply stared at him with that baleful darkness in their sockets before one of them seemed to receive orders from the force controlling this place’s Undead. It moved with what Gary noted was complete silence - he noted down that Skeletons were completely silent in their movements, lacking the grind of bone on bone or any other noise - and came up to the gate. It grasped the equally rusted handle and with a teeth-rattling screech the iron gate was moved open and he was allowed entry. As Gary entered he nodded his thanks to the Skeleton before he approached the front door. The squeal of the gate behind him told him he’d been shut in, and the remaining Skeletons were starting to converge on his position as they strode out of the mist and stopped within what he would call charging distance.
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Most of them were unarmed, but some had dilapidated tools in their bony grips. Gary was confident he could get away still, but the fact that he’d asked for and been allowed entry along with the fact he wasn’t being attacked narrowed down the list of ‘ghosts’ this new entity could be. Gary ascended the stairs to the front door, and politely knocked on the wooden thing. Despite the way it looked this place was feeling rock-solid to him. The Undead energy or whatever it was probably held the house together as well. He was admittedly making assumptions but the evidence was making sense so far. The door opened on it’s own this time, and after bowing his head in thanks he stepped into the darkened interior.
Inside was a main foyer with steps ascending to the manor’s second story. To one side was a drawing room with mostly-rotted furniture, some of which bore signs of being victims in battle. The other way seemed to be a small study with mostly empty bookshelves where the remaining books were probably too decrepit to be moved without turning to tatters in one’s hand. The physical condition of the structure was surprisingly good given the reported age it had been abandoned for. It struck him more as ‘lonely abandoned house’ than ‘haunted death trap’. He risked speaking again.
“Thank you for allowing me entry. I am here on behalf of the local lord to investigate the increase in activity on the grounds. May I speak to whomever is in charge?” He was banking on this supposed ghost being one of the tragic ‘regret chains me’ types and not a full-on situation like an onryo. The fact he wasn’t accosted for being polite was a good indication he would be safe as long as he continued to be respectful. That was probably the big mistake that people had tried to make here over the years. Violence wasn’t the answer; it was the question. In this case it seemed the answer was ‘no’.
A flicker of motion caught his eye. He felt his heart begin to race as he forced himself to slowly turn as the somewhat ornate chandeliers overhead ignited flames in place of light sources long used and vanished. The foyer thus illuminated, Gary finished his deliberate turn towards the motion he’d seen and came face-to-face with the source of the motion.
[https://i.imgur.com/F3Lnj35.jpg]
The woman that stood before him had an ephemeral quality to the eye, and it was then that Gary noticed that with every slight movement as she regarded him coolly her form flickered into transparency for a split-instant. Her long pale green hair was obscured beneath a shimmering veil of lacework secured to her head by a small tiara-like hairpin at the crest of her head. A black button-up long-sleeved top worked itself into a bodice with string lacing in the front and presumably the tied part in back. The outfit flowed into a nicely contrasting eggshell white skirt with decorative glittering trim on the bottom hem. She was well covered; only her face, neck, and hands bearing visible and pale skin. It was a very tasteful display of buxom womanhood, and struck Gary as a fine example of a middle-to-high class aristocrat.
Gary took that in within moments before bowing deeply at the waist towards the ghostly woman. He held the pose for several seconds - it felt more like a thousand heartbeats as his adrenaline spiked at the fact he was in a mansion surrounded by Skeleton monsters speaking to an actual ghost. As he came up from the bow the lady seemed mildly pleased but quickly slipped back into her mask-like mournful expression as she silently willed him to speak.
“Greetings, my lady. As I stated, I’m here to conduct an investigation. Your manor has come into more manifestations of the Undead than is considered normal for the grounds, and the local Delvers have been tasked with determining if this increase is due to the impending emergence of a dungeon in the area.”
The ghost lady’s face remained impassive but the similarly-pale green eyes widened slightly at the implication plainly stated. She turned towards the inner parts of the house as she silently contemplated his statement allowing Gary to notice the transparency effect more strongly. It happened whenever she moved; the longer the movement the longer the disappearance. If she turned hostile his eyes would be useless in a fight. 「Danger Sense」 would have to carry the day, but he was doubting this would be needed in the first place. The woman had clearly reached some sort of decision and turned back towards him to stare impassively at him again.
“Would you permit me to search the grounds? I will be respectful in my task.” A moment of contemplation, then a singular nod. Gary nodded back in respect and noted her gaze never left him as he circled the foyer first, looking for anything that wouldn’t fit into a typical manor’s decor or design. 「Perception」 was going to have to carry the day here as he inspected cracks and scratches across the room, but declined in going up the stairs for now. When one accounted for the fact this building was decades into disrepair, the scratches stood out to him. Stepping back from where they were, Gary imagined himself wielding a longer weapon than his knives and took a pantomiming swing as he walked along the path of the scratches. They lined up pretty well with where a sword or the edge of a flanged mace would catch the walls during a pitched battle.
“Are these weapons marks from the others barging in here or from.. before?” The lady took a moment before responding with a single raised index finger on her right hand. Gary nodded. That tracked. The foyer’s first floor searched, he moved on to the drawing room. Setting foot inside Gary could easily see the flow of at least two separate battles in the room. A spray of blood marred a section of the wall and the furniture was more smashed than he’d originally thought it was. He wiggled a finger as he stood just inside the doorway as he traced the battle movements of the long-gone combatants. A swing here, a desperate defense with half-rotted furniture there. The thought that the Skeletons had increased their numbers through slaughtering trespassers was contemplated but ultimately rejected.
The Undead outside had acted more like house staff than press ganged victims. He was increasingly convinced this was a case of ‘tragic ghost defends her home’ than anything outwardly malicious. The room was also clearly ransacked except for a painting in the dim lighting to one side of the room’s ornate stone fireplace. It depicted the ghost at his back alongside what he presumed was her husband - a sallow-faced lanky black-haired man who was probably living slightly outside of his means if his clothe were an indication - with a swaddled baby held against the woman’s bosom proudly. The smile on her face was reserved and modest, the spitting image of the typical mid-ranked lady of a household like this one once had been.
“I hope the kid made it out,” Gary muttered as he took a picture of the painting and turned to find the ghost’s face observing him critically. She saw him seeing her and sadly shook her head after which she glanced upstairs. Gary’s face went grim. He bowed his head a bit as he crossed past her without further comment and entered the study. This room bore no signs of battle. It was mostly cleared out as the furniture was left intact but Gary wouldn’t trust it to a mouse’s weight let alone his. The bookshelves were very bare, and Gary gently poked at one of the remaining tomes to find it gave way under his touch, which immediately had him withdraw his hand and glance back at the lady watching him. No reaction.
He combed the room. This was one of the likely places to find something of significance, and his hunt was rewarded with a grand total of two ornate metal quill tips that had rolled under the desk that dominated the room’s remaining features. He came up with his prizes and his sense for where Plunderer was inside his head gave him a tiny jiggle of happiness at the find. The ghost had moved into the study and Gary held the quill tips up for her inspection. Sad eyes lingered on the pieces of metal before she closed her eyes and seemed to take a bit to compose herself. Gary gave her time and when she opened her eyes again he tested the desk for sturdiness. Finding it satisfactory, he put the quill tips onto the surface and turned to the ghost.
“I’m going to bring items and place them here. We can sort through what will need to be taken care of once everything left is assembled, okay?” An unreadable look from the ghost before another nod. He moved past her again and headed into the rear part of the manor. Decrepit hallways led him to a kitchen and dining hall respectively. Gary noted that the space directly under the second floor of the foyer where the stairs had their upper landing was inaccessible. A secret room? Probably. The manor wasn’t large enough to need a support base that large. Issues for later Gary.
The kitchen was first on the list. It was a stone thing through and through, rusted implements and utensils greeted his sight. Any foodstuffs here would be beyond salvation and the metals came apart in his hands as he tried to pick up a pot. A butler’s pantry presented the first physical obstacle Gary had thus far faced in the form of a solid locked door. The ghost lingered at the doorway to the hall outside, a subtle frown on the pale face as she saw him rattle the door a couple of times before stepping back to run his eyes over the frame of the offending obstacle.
Plunderer was practically screaming in his head at the treasures that could be inside. Butler’s pantries were where houses like this kept their good silverware and dishes. He looked around and saw the nook that served as a living quarters for what he presumed was the staff. Working his way through the completely smashed ruins of these rooms Gary was struck by the fact that the kitchen was largely pristine and this place looked like it got in a fight with a wood chipper and lost. More points for the ‘tragedy’ angle.
Rummaging through the wreckage Gary came up with discarded coin purses, a few personal effects such as tiny crosses for the local religion, and a keyring. Said ring contained four keys and Gary felt his heart thump. Plunderer was singing his praises as he made his way back to the kitchen, sat the rest of his haul onto the counter, and tried the keys on the locked door. Third key seemed to be the charm as the surprisingly non rusty lock clicked and the door squeaked open as he turned the handle and pulled. Once open, the dull light streaming through a nearby window illuminated a set of ornate boxes. Cracking one open Gary was treated to the sight of pristine silver spoons. The other boxes revealed similar forks, decorated carving and serving utensils, and a full collection of fancy decorated ceramic plates with what looked like gold-plated rims.
Gary quietly moved box after box onto the kitchen’s stone counter, displaying the contents to the ghost lady with every container he moved. If he could get these things out, it’d be quite a haul already. He’d have to either get permission or solve the Undead problem beforehand though. Getting cursed wasn’t his style. Relieved of the containers of high-end dishes Gary was surprised to find there was no wine nor a space for wine here. These pantries tended to lead to such storage places. Maybe that ‘secret’ room was an above-ground wine cellar? He hadn’t checked for a door properly yet. All the items he found were moved into the study, Gary electing to set the containers on the floor to prevent accidents.
The dining hall was next. It was a modest size for what the manor was, clearly intended from the decorating scheme to be something more intimate than formal. This place bore a few signs of battle as well, the most obvious of which was a big chunk smashed out of the table itself with what was probably an ax. The lighting had sprung to life in the form of another chandelier the ghost lit for his convenience. He patrolled the room, stopping at the ax damage and running his fingers to one side of the damaged part as he contemplated.
“Thus far, I’m thinking the story here is your home was raided by assassins.” The lady tilted her head ever so slightly to the side at the statement, her mournful expression unbroken as she heard him out. “The reason I say that is that the damage isn’t extensive through the whole house. It’s limited to places where people would be so far. The servant’s quarters, the drawing room, the foyer where people would try and escape from? All places you’d expect to find people in the late day or early evening. The assault was led by someone who the people here trusted enough to open the door for, then the people they were with gathered up the residents. Only the drawing room has blood splatter thus far, and that’s probably from a Skeleton hitting an intruder.”
The lady shifted uncomfortably at his reasoning before unthinkingly glancing upwards. Upstairs was the charnel house then, Gary grimly decided. He stepped up to the ghost and placed a hand out in a gesture like he wanted to hold her hand to comfort her obvious distress. She looked him in the face before placing her hand atop his. He felt only the barest of pressure from the gesture; the ghost clearly had some substance but not enough to exert real pressure. He placed his other hand atop hers and something about the gesture gave her the strength to manifest more substance to her hand.
“I don’t know what really happened, my lady. I will endeavor to help you find what peace you can. Perhaps their mistress finding proper rest will help those outside?” The woman’s face became a clearly intentionally-hardened mask as she nodded and slipped her hand from his grasp reluctantly. “Onwards and upwards, right?”