“It’s right this way dearie, oh do be careful, the basement roof is a little low for such a strapping young lad like yourself.”

Following behind the little old woman Corvo silently acknowledged her statement by ducking his head a little as the walked down the groaning steps into the old woman’s basement. It had taken surprisingly little time for Corvo to find a job, after Muiri had led him to an inn in the monster district Corvo had sent her off at the entrance, after her insistence that she could get home safely on her own. 

When Corvo had sat down for dinner an old human woman of all things walked right through the door. She was so small no one, not even the goblins, took notice of her. Almost instantly her eyes had landed on him and she made a beeline straight for him. 

And that was how he found himself in the old woman’s house the next day following her into her dark, dusty basement to deal with some giant rats that snuck in.

”Oh I’m so glad I didn’t have to ask those people at the guild, the receptionist is always trying to flirt with me you see, and I keep trying to tell him I’m married...”

Frankly Corvo might have tried asking her a few more questions about the job or her why she had walked into an inn full of monsters to see her request complete. Except that so far she had talked enough to hold three different conversations with herself and Corvo really wasn’t good at handling these talkative, cheery types. Also she was senile and he suspected she was secretly a witch and would turn him into a frog if he said the wrong thing.

It’s not paranoia if he’s right.

 “Well anywho I’ll just let you get to it dearie, do knock when you are done and I’ll let you out.”

Before Corvo even realized it, the old woman was back at the top of the stairs and the door was closing behind her.

“Well that’s just great...”

Ignoring his unease Corvo begins looking around the dark basement and tried not to think about how his socks were starting to get soaked from the ankle high water.

“I swear if a little boy in a raincoat and a creep ass clown come out of this water I am gone.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Drip 

Drip

Drip

The air whistled as sharpened steel passed through the spot Corvo’s head vacated. Overextending, the mysterious figure was caught off balance when Corvo’s leg swept his feet from under him. A blade swung through the air again only this time it found its target in the downed mans neck.

However, unlike what Corvo expected, the assailant simply grasped the blade buried in his neck with his free hand and held it there. Corvo was forced to let go of the blade and jump back as the silhouette swung at him from its awkward position on the ground. 

Now without his weapon Corvo watched in the dim lighting as his opponent unsteadily worked its way to its feet, the blade still buried deep in half its neck. Corvo rose his hands into a boxers stance and resigned himself to a difficult fight in the dark.

So it comes as no surprise that he was caught off guard when a sconce that he was sure hadn’t been there before suddenly lit on fire. As if this were some kind of signal two more sconces to the left and right of the first one lit up. This process repeated itself until the whole room was lit up and Corvo finally got his first good look at what he was fighting.

On second thought, he wished it had stayed dark. The half rotten thing before him was still wet from where it had been laying in the water for who knows how long before he’d walked into that “basement” its intestines spilled out of a cut in its abdomen and the incredibly stale air only helped to accentuate its pungent undead stench. 

”Giant rat my black ass.”

 The zombie shuffled forward with surprising grace, for an undead. It’s sword whistled through the air with the barest hint of genuine skill. Now that he could see his foe Corvo effortlessly ducked inside the sloppy swing and grabbed his sword still half buried in the putrid gray flesh of its neck. With a powerful yank the blade cleaved the rest of the way through the undeads neck and firmly ended its unlife.

 Panting a little bit from the short fight Corvo glances around the room and decided that whatever had happened he was not in some weird old witch lady’s basement anymore.

”On second though who can say, maybe all weird elderly witches have partially flooded tombs for basements.”

The walls had turned into worn stone covered in ancient depictions and faded words. There was no sight of the stairs that had led him down here, not that he had really expected to see it in the first place. Pulled from his musings, a loud creak echoed from behind him, water splashed as Corvo spun in place with his sword pointed in front of him as two wide doors that definitely hadn’t been there before either opened slowly for him.

Light filled the tunnel as more sconces started to catch fire in pairs mysteriously. Idly Corvo found himself wondering why he wasn’t choking to death on smoke as he began walking forward, deeper into the mysterious, flooded tomb.

”At least there are no clowns here...”

The words echoed off the ancient walls as the wide doors slammed closed behind the Variant with a resounding thud. Distantly, Corvo would swear he heard an old woman’s tittering laughter behind those doors.