Nox sat down breathing heavily, his body covered in blood and gore while he tried to calm down a bit. His rifle resting against his shoulder, the muzzle pressed into the skull of a goblin, the goblin he was currently sitting on. The poisonous mist killed most goblins but some managed to escape him. Luckily for him the goblins were quite weak, even their commander died after one bullet to the head. With his skill [ The Marksman’s Gaze ] it was easy to pick him out, towering over the other goblins. After catching his breath he hits the goblin under him with the nuzzle of his rifle.
“Feel like talking now? I heard you screaming in the fight. Maybe next time don’t cry ‘Human, Human!’ to announce your position. I wanna know where the other humans are, the ones with the slaves.” Nox pressed the rifle down hard at the base of its neck. The goblin tried to move but it was a useless struggle. Nox wasn’t heavy but the small goblin didn’t have the strength to push him off. When the goblin finally gave up he turned his head, hate and despair in his eyes but Nox didn’t feel mercy. They wanted to kill him after all, then the goblin started to talk at last. “Hu-mans, to north, many hu-mans, you not kill, strong hu-mans, many blades.”
“I will determine that myself. Thanks for the information.” he pulled the trigger and the goblin’s head exploded in a mass of blood and gore, Nox stood up and looked towards the north. Maybe they moved around the town but was that really possible? He was there hunting the bear he would have seen them. Maybe goblins are just bad at giving directions? Still he couldn’t sit around waiting , Nox shouldered his rifle and set out towards the north.
He usually didn’t curse, at least no in his real life but here? Well it seems the world had a bad influence on him. After finding tracks for the third time only to lose them again afterwards. Still he couldn’t give up, he wanted to earn his place in this world and he couldn’t even find some slavers that moved out with their entire camp?
Sitting down on a rock he let out a sigh, logging out seemed like the best option right now. He opened the menu and his finger hovered over the logout button, but before he pressed it a sound reached his ears. But it wasn’t the cry of an animal, he understood words. Properly spoken, not like the goblin. He jumped to his feet, logging out was off the table as he quickly moved towards the sound, he tried to be as quiet as possible but he didn’t want to sneak his way over there.
Nox pressed himself against a tree, he saw fresh wagon tracks and followed them with his gaze. A stone throw away people moved alongside a wagon, a cage built on it. It seems he found the slavers after all or they found him? He kept his distance, moving from one tree to the next. He didn’t know how long he sneaked after them but they soon reached a cliff, a large hole in the wall with makeshift defenses arranged in a half circle around it. The young marksman spotted many men walking around, guarding the place or cooking meals. Some even had their fun with very young looking girls.
He jumped up a tree trunk and found himself a spot near the canopy, resting on a thick branch from where he could observe the camp. He wasted most of the day looking for this camp and the sun was already painting the landscape in a deep orange. Grabbing his rifle he rested it on a branch in front of him and took aim. Not to kill but to assess the strength of the slavers. Over the next few hours he saw many more of them come to the cave, dropping off supplies or slaves before vanishing into the cave. Around midnight only a few guards remained and Nox opened his pouch, he had enough ammunition for this but he still waited a few minutes longer before loading the first bullet. Taking aim at the guards farthest away he could clearly see his weak spots after focusing on him. He took a deep breath and wrapped his finger around the trigger. After his breathing calmed down he pressed the trigger and the bullet shot from the rifle, hitting him square in the chest.
The man looked down but before he could scream his body dropped to the ground with a thud, the soft ground easily muffled his fall. Nox smiled and loaded the next bullet, aiming at the next one, aiming, waiting and killing him with a silent bullet. This continued until all five guards lay on the ground, holes in their chests.
He climbed from the tree and dropped the last few feet to the ground and made his way over towards them, pulling their bodies into the tree line and looting everything of value, some coins and their weapons. Even two new daggers that were in good condition. Sneaking he made his way over to the cave, the entrance was completely dark but he could see some torches further down. Still sneaking he moved into the cave, his new daggers held in an iron grip as he rounded the corner.
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What he saw next made him nearly puke on the spot, caves lined the walls most of them filled with people. Their bodies were bloodied and covered in bruises. Some even missing entire limbs. He spotted the girls from before, they couldn’t be older than fifteen, their skin covered in scars and blood dripping down their legs. When he got closer all the slaves looked at him but they didn’t scream or ask for help. He just saw empty eyes, there was no fight left in them. No will to live anymore. He felt tears streaming down his face as he grabbed his lockpicks and slowly started to unlock each cage. He was glad Brookr gave him a few more of better quality with his ammunition. The soft click of the locks made him flinch but he couldn’t let these people die. After opening the last cage he continued down the path, deeper into the cave. He couldn’t escape with the slavers still alive.
Sneaking down the path he found no more slaves but the slavers themselves. Sleeping on bedrolls in an open part of the cave. He spotted one man sitting at a fire in the middle, the guard most likely. Nox winds his way through the sleeping slavers and reaches the man. This time he didn’t hesitate, he plunged one dagger into the man’s neck, the other one in his throat. When the man stopped moving he slowly lowered his body down and sighs under his breath.
What followed next was almost merciful, he put one dagger into his belt and slowly worked his way through the room, doing the same for every slavers. He clamped a hand over mouth and nose before thrusting his dagger into their throat. His weapon and hands were soon covered in blood, they all died seeing his face and Nox watched them die. He felt a grim satisfaction with their deaths but after a while it just felt empty.
Finished with his killing them he started the messy part of his job. Because he needed to cut their heads off, for that he used an axe he found next to a slaver. Most of them had dimensional pouches, dropping the heads into them took some effort but in the end he was left with four full pouches and twenty empty ones. It seems the slave business made good money.
With his new pouches filled with equipment and heads he made his way back up the cave, finding the slaves standing around looking confused. He clapped his hands to get their attention but most of them just flinched from the sounds. “Please stay calm, the slavers are dead and I will bring you all back to the town but you need to follow my directions okay? Don’t worry, soon you'll be reunited with your families.”
The man and woman looked at each other before they started to sob and cry, hugging each other and some even grabbed arms demanding if this was the truth. He assured them that it was the truth and not long afterwards they set out. Reaching the town wasn’t nearly as complicated as finding the slavers. They followed the wagon tracks to the path and from there it was just straight towards the town.
When they reached the south gate guard stopped them, the torches in their hands illuminating the slavers that huddled together. Nox simply pulled his contract out and dropped the pouches containing the heads on the ground. “I fulfilled the contract, the slaves are free and the slavers..” he kicked the pouches. “...are all dead, please let us inside the town.”
The guard wanted to answer but was stopped as an armored hand landed on his shoulder. If Nox needed to describe the man that appeared the first word in his mind was mountain. He was huge, a beast of a man and Nox felt nervous, his confidence vanished instantly. The man grabbed the contract and looked into the pouches before inspecting the slaves. He didn’t say anything and vanished again for a moment only to drop a pouch into Nox's hand, it felt heavy and when he looked inside he saw silver coins filling it nearly to the brim.
The man moved back to the guard post and the other guards opened the gate for them. The slaves followed the guards and Nox found himself standing alone. He shook himself, before making his way towards the gate. The huge man called from the window.
“Lad, if I were you, I would go to the bounty hunter guild here in town. I bet they could use someone like you. Good work.” he nodded at Nox and concentrated on some paperwork again.
“The bounty hunter guild? At least this way I get some actual quests”, Nox thought and smiled. It seems the game would finally guide him towards some actual quests. With that thought he logged out in a nearby alleyway. There was a path before him, one he would embrace gladly.