Kenshiro and the gray-skinned creature stared at each other, the door clattering behind him. His eyes grew wide and the grip on his fire poker tightened.
The creature was about four and a half feet tall, with a prominent forehead and short pointed ears that stuck out to the side. It had bright, intelligent, yellow eyes and a gnarled mouth with no nose. The most astounding feature of the creature, however, was its gray skin, which was similar to that of an elephant in texture and color.
Unlike the imps, the creature wore a tattered brown and black robe, stained with blood on its left side. Its arms dangling, mangled, broken, and bent in an unnatural position.
Kenshiro stood in the doorway, maybe five feet from the creature in the robe, mouth agape. Silence sat between them like rain waiting to fall from the clouds.
The silence between them did not last long, Kenshiro being the first to break the stalemate. He dropped his head and charged at the elephant-skinned creature, chucking the fire poker as he hit the creature in its left side, crashing into its mangled arm.
“Whaahahharagh!” the creature cried out as Kenshiro and the monster fell to the ground, Kenshiro punching and swinging into the creature’s stomach.
Left uppercut, right uppercut, left hook. Both uppercuts smashed into the creature’s stomach as the left hook caught air and the creature doubled over in pain, only to come up with a small dagger that had been hidden in its belt.
The knife caught Kenshiro in the cheek and upper lip, splitting his mouth from lip to nose and catching his teeth. His freckled face now speckled with his own blood.
-2 HP popped into the left corner of his vision but he barely noticed.
HP: 16/20
MP: 17/17SP: 14/17
Kenshiro’s face contorted as the pain reached his brain. “Ahhhhhhhh!” Kenshiro screamed letting rage enter his voice and fists. He rammed himself into the creature’s bad arm again, delivering two more left hooks into its side.
The creature screamed as its mangled arm got pulverized by Kenshiro. Kenshiro leaned into the punches before catching another slash to his own shoulder, splitting his hoodie.
Kenshiro took another swing, less wild but full of adrenaline and anger. His fist caught air as the gray creature attempted to create space by leaping backward. As the space between them opened, its hands began to exude a darkness.
Kenshiro didn’t wait to see what would happen. He leaped at the creature, tackling it to the ground, interrupting the incantation as they began to wrestle in the mud, blood, and sweat. They fought and shoved on the ground, kicking away bones and dust on the stone floor.
The gray-skinned creature fought for position, trying to stop Kenshiro and subdue him. Kenshiro, on the other hand was fighting for the knife.
-1 HP
HP: 15/20
MP: 17/17SP 11/17
The creature shoved him down, elbow on neck, gaining the top position, its strength surprising Kenshiro in the mess. As he gasped for air, Kenshiro wrestled away the dagger. As the gray-skinned creature looked down at him, suddenly coming to the realization of their own folly as Kenshiro wrenched away the weapon before planting the dagger in its chest.
Kenshiro’s chest heaved as the creature looked at the dagger in its chest, to Kenshiro’s face, and back to the dagger. Its eyes wide, gurgling blood, it slumped onto Kenshiro, twitching as it died on top of him.
+500 EXP
-50 EXP (Conduit of Souls)
Heaving, Kenshiro rolled the body off of him. He lay on the ground trying to catch his breath and collect himself. His mouth tasted like iron, his split lip bleeding profusely. He covered it with his hand and sat up, chest rising and falling rapidly. He felt like he couldn’t get enough oxygen as he lay on the stone floor.
“What… In the actual…” Ken started before deciding to save his breath.
For a while he just stared at the ceiling. It was dark and steepled, lit with more blue and green flames in sconces adorning each of the four sides, lighting the room from above. The stonework was simple, but imposing, the four walls held up by thick beams made of the same dark stone.
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Kenshiro sat up as his breathing calmed. He breathed through his nose, his lip still bleeding and took in the new room. The room was plain but messy. There was no art or distinguishing features aside from its austere plainness. A couple of couches and cots littered the room. Bones of what he hoped were animals were spread around the space, making the room feel like a morbid lounge area.
Kenshiro stood and walked over to the creature. He kicked it over revealing the dagger embedded in its chest, the hilt of the blade now covered in ichor. The creature’s face seemed frozen in pain. Then again the creature was so ugly maybe it always looked like that. Grimacing, Kenshiro pulled the dagger from its chest as more sanguine lifeforce gushed out of the creature.
The Identify icon hovered in the corner of his vision and Kenshiro Identified the dagger.
Item: Ritual Dagger of the Kindred Few
Rarity: RareEffects - Astral Killer: Sacrificial Rituals performed with this dagger harvest Life Energy. Additional damage to Outworlders based off of Insight.
Use Skill Eater on Astral Killer?
Y/N
The information on the dagger’s screen disturbed him. “This is a sacrificial dagger? Used in what? What the hell is this place?!” Kenshiro asked the screen. Wishing for some kind of answer.
Kenshiro ignored the Skill Eater on the dagger. Worried that it would destroy the dagger if he accepted it, remembering what happened to the two imp’s bodies once he used the skill. Even if he hated the idea of whatever this dagger was, it was better than his fire poker.
Turning his attention to the creature he Identified it as well:
Ing’tur Kendra (M)
Race: Dru’Ven
Rank: 1
Class: Cultist
Use Skill Eater?Y/N“Dru’ven huh? And it has a name?” Something in Kenshiro’s stomach turned as he stared at the creature.
Unlike the imps. This ‘creature’ had a name, a class, a rank, and a race. While it didn’t seem intelligent, if it had a ritual dagger and wore clothing, that meant it most likely wasn’t unintelligent. While it didn’t exactly speak, who was to say that it couldn't speak. The idea made Kenshiro’s heart sink.
He took a step back and turned away from both the corpse and the ugly, cold, stone room. Before him were four doors. Two doors that stood side-by-side, a door further where he entered from, and another wider door near the corpse of the Dru’ven.
Kenshiro pushed down the concern growing in his chest and moved toward the two doors, muttering as he walked, dagger in his hand.
“That thing tried to kill me. I was defending myself. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t protect myself and try to save my wife.” He rationalized aloud. “Plus, I don’t even know if it’s fully sentient or intelligent. I just knew it had a knife, it was hurt, and I didn’t want to die. I still don’t want to die. I just want to find Tara and leave.” Kenshiro increased his speed and marched across the room, the stress rushing him away from the body behind him.
Still muttering, he opened the small reed-thatched door, almost like one would find on a small hut on the Discovery Channel or something. With a wide and loud swing, the reeds clattered against the stone as Kenshiro swung it open, only to reveal a toilet. The smell of feces and ammonia hit him like a wall of filth.
The toilet was Japanese-style, more of a hole in the floor with a handle and a place to put your feet on either side. A pile of what appeared to be toilet paper was in the corner. Kenshiro closed the door and closed his eyes, pressing his head against the wall in exasperation.
“If I rush, I die faster. Chill out, lock in, and move on.” Kenshiro told himself, eyes closed as he rested his head against the cool stone.
Opening his eyes, he gripped his dagger and brought it up close to his face, preparing himself for another gray-skinned creature behind this door.
He opened the door and was met with a narrow staircase that curved down and slightly to the left before disappearing from sight. Kenshiro glanced back at the body of the Dru’ven and walked down the stairs.
The stairway was short and led him quickly to another door made of stone, with a long handle on the left side. Kenshiro pulled the door open a crack, listening beyond for any noise. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake he’d just made. After waiting about twenty seconds and hearing nothing Kenshiro yanked the door open and jumped into an empty square room.
Unlike the other rooms this room had no lights, just a faint glow from above in the center of the small room.
Kenshiro took another step forward, his footfalls eerily loud in the stillness of the room. Ken’s heart sank as he heard the door click behind him. He rushed back to the door, it was held tightly shut by some unknown mechanism.
Something dripped from above. A wet, slapping sound echoed through the small chamber, making Kenshiro freeze in his tracks. His heart skipped a beat. Slowly, he looked up, just as a thick, gelatinous blob began to detach itself from the ceiling, near the glow.
“No...” he whispered, dread pooling in his stomach.
The blob fell with a soft *plop* onto the stone floor. It quivered for a moment, then began to shift and undulate, pulling itself into a loose, amorphous shape. Kenshiro took a shaky step back, gripping his knife tighter. The thing—whatever it was—pulsated rhythmically, almost like it was alive, but there were no eyes, no limbs, nothing human or even animal about it. Just a blob of translucent quivering goo with a key inside of it. The key, which looked very much like a classic skeleton key, seemed to be stuck inside of the blob.
“What the hell is that?” Kenshiro whispered, his voice barely audible. As Identify appeared in his vision with Kenshiro accepting it without much thought.
Creature: Lesser Ooze
Rank: 0
Description: A scavenging ooze that survives off of the fecal matter and trash of the cultists.
Loot: Small Key, Small Beast Core: Ooze
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