Not sure I like the Ghost Road.
It’s a way to spend -Resentment, sure, but I don’t know how to move from one point to the other without having to go to all the points in between. I’m pretty sure I’m looking at it wrong, but meh.
I bank Fashionista’s marker, the structure rebuilt, and then go to my void to make sure I banked it, not set it. Transfer back out to the village, and head over to my purification posse to find up what’s up.
“Why didn’t the alarm sound?” I ask, then remember I had an excuse to kick Dinner Party’s ass. “I’m gonna go find out,” I tell them. They’re looking rough, but there’s no Ghost Flame, so winning?
I get a nod in passing and jog to the village square looking for Big Pick. I see, him frowning, arms crossed, Dinner Party smirking, arms crossed, and some rando towering over both of them, frowning lightly, arms crossed.
“You abandoned your post,” Big Pick says, moving in on me.
“Excuse the fuck outta you,” I feel my head tilting to the side and everything feels slightly murderable all of a sudden. “Dinner Party came and said she was giving me a break. I’ve got a witness! Ask the lookout!”
“I was the lookout,” says the tower with hair who is most definitely not my skittish tweaker bald lookout.
“Oh, really. You were the lookout in the tower with me?” Are they for real? There were people there!
“I was,” he says without a moments hesitation. He’s walking into this one with confidence.
“Who asked what the retreat signal was?” I ask. I didn’t pay attention, but I bet it was Dinner Party.
“I did,” he says without hesitation, -- color me surprised, -- and Dinner Party scowls.
“So you’re saying you were below the tower asking the lookout to ask me what the retreat sound was, and you were the little lookout who I was talking with?” I ask him. Where’d she get this guy?
“I --,” he pauses, registering that he was in fact not in the tower and there were other people present when he’d asked.
I turn my head to Big Pick who frowns and registers that this motherfucker was in fact not in the tower with me when this happened.
“She came up to the tower, which didn’t make sense, and said she was there to take over my shift. I knew she meant break, ‘cause she can’t handle a full shift, and then she held her hand out. I took the silk off my bell and gave it to her,” I explain, Dinner Party glaring at me like I’m just gonna let her slide after trying to out me all night.
“She found a bell in the fields... Your silk was missing,” Big Pick turns to the two false witnesses before sighing heavily.
“The monks were attacked the second she took over and she didn’t sound the alarm!” I shout, remembering the main reason I was going to kick her ass. “I had to go over and help them. Where were you?” I ask her and she finally stops looking smug and annoyed enough to look around nervously.
“I --,” she starts, uncrossing her arms but not lowering her hands.
“-- about to get your ass kicked!” I tell her, pointing at her as I close in. Considering how badly she’s fucking this up, I’m gonna be pissed if she can fight.
“Burning Vengeance!” she shouts, pulling out a script paper which burns into a ball of Ghost Flame as she hurls it at me.
[Vengeful Ghost Sect Breathing Technique II]
[3 -Resentment Gained]
[-5 Karma]
[Last Rites II Successful]
[-100 HP]
[Karma +100 Gained]
[100 +Resentment Gained]
[Ghost Pot (+100/0)]
[3 x218 -Resentment Gained]
[Karma +5 x0 Gained]
[20 x100 +Resentment Gained]
[Karma +50 x100 Gained]
[Resentment: +512560/-163071]
[Max Will: 9,579,451]
[HP: 9,578,475]
[Current Condensed Qi: 1,831,238/24,273,894]
[Current Qi: 1,905,490/957,945,100]
[Current Karma: 97,095,577/107,275,977]
I don’t even have to try that hard. Wait. Shit. Did more monks die or are there ghost soldiers in town? This bish...
“I’m going to kill you now,” I say, way past my limit and Big Pick raises his fucking hand to block me as Dinner Party and Big Tower run in two different directions. “And what makes you think you’re safe?” I ask, amazed at the sheer stones it takes for him to decide he has any control over what I do or don’t eat.
“They’re gone now,” he says gently, quietly.
“Yeah, to try again later!” I snap.
Who the fuck falls for this bullshit? They knew what they were doing. They know what side they’re on. It’s not like they got tricked into doing something with no idea what the consequences are. To be fair they probably didn’t know I was one of the consequences, but I’m pretty sure with zombies involved being eaten was on the list!
“We’ve seen them,” a monk says from behind me. Yay, they’re not all dead! “We’ll get them if they try anything,” he says sternly.
Oh, gods, they make stern monk in multiple sizes. My size stern monk!
“If you could come with me, we could do with your assistance,” Medium Stern Monk says, taking a step back and bowing to me. Aw...
“Let’s kick some ass,” I say making sure to stare blankly at Big Pick before smiling at the monk. “Lead the way.”
Apparently with me there they can focus on diffusing the incense smoke versus purifying the area, which helps me out, and somehow heals them. It’s odd that someone got the monks there, probably by just pointing out that there were shenanigans going on, but why is there a cosplay convention for people who don’t know what a simple life is enough to pretend to live one?
What bothers me is that, despite the fact that this is great for my cultivation, there are several people who step up with their armies, try to Ghost Flame me when their soldiers fall, then peace out. Like, I can see the monks aren’t too happy, and I still don’t know what to do with the -Resentment other than finding a safe spot to burn it with a shit to of Ghost Flame, but what the fuck? Like they honestly try to bury us under bodies that fall to the incense and a deep breath, and then they show their faces to try to attack me, shrug and walk off.
[Vengeful Ghost Sect Breathing Technique II]
[3 -Resentment Gained]
[-5 Karma]
[Last Rites II Enhanced]
[-100 x10 HP]
[Karma +100 x10 Gained]
[100 x10 +Resentment Gained]
[Ghost Pot (+100/0)]
[3 x218 -Resentment Gained]
[Karma +5 x0 Gained]
[20 x100 +Resentment Gained]
[Karma +50 x100 Gained]
[Resentment: +516660/-164136]
[Max Will: 9,579,451]
[HP: 9,576,475]
[Current Condensed Qi: 1,831,238/24,274,738]
[Current Qi: 1,905,490/957,945,100]
[Current Karma: 97,098,952/107,275,977]
“Is there a way for me to get some of that incense?” I ask during a lull as the mini armies shift around.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“If we survive all of this, come by the monastery,” one of the monks says, face transformed from a stern frown to a tired grin. “If not? It’s just funereal incense. You can buy some at any monastery.”
“There a way for me to pay with it with work? Reputation?” I ask. I’m trying to get more stuff for the stuff I have. “Donations?”
“We’ll see what we can do,” one monk sighs, slowly lying back from the relaxing pile.
“Hold on,” one monk says, high stepping while showing off the hand bell he’s gotten from somewhere. “Ready?”
We all watch as he stands, taking a meditative stance and chanting quietly. I shrug as I look around, the monks around me looking stern or fighting smiles, and then he rings the bell.
It feels like someone’s trying to make a big silk withdrawal and I think I have a heart attack. For all the advances I made, for the triplets or Shimmering Steel to sneak up on me and stealth drain me? They’ll kill me and then keep me in a recovery coma. I don’t know if there’s anyone like Modesty who eventually feels bad enough to try to help me. So many years...
“No, they’re still alive,” someone murmurs.
I blink and look up into someone checking my pupils. Wonder how well that works. I simulate a lot of weird hunan responses that don’t affect my actual health. Am I capable of having a heart attack? Or is there a bug equivalent? I turn my head, coughing into my hand as I go to my Logs to find out what the fack.
I’ve lost Resentment. Aw... How much? I see names, not numbers. What?
I’ve lost Resentment towards --.
-If I wanted enlightenment, I’d go take a nap!-
Holy shiz nuggets, that scared the shit outta me. Had a whole ass existential crisis for no reason. My heart... Ss. Hearts. I can’t breathe.
“I’m so tired...” I bring up my knees, resting my arms on them and my head on my arms as I take a shaky breath.
“Well, it works better on corpses,” the monk doing a quick health check rubs my back while pointing out at the trampled farmland with the corpse soldiers.
Who are milling about mindlessly. It’s concerning how satisfying it is to see corpse manipulators throwing tantrums and getting bulldozed by their shambling horde. I watch as the monks take turns meditating and ringing the bell before the corpse manipulators finally fack off.
“So we won?” I ask as the “attackers” retreat, leaving behind a scattering of stone markers.
“We still have to purify the village and find out what happened here,” one of the resting monks says, lying on his back, ankles crossed, one arm over his eyes.
“Will the bell help with that?” I ask, looking around to see the morale drop.
“Only works on purifying internal Resentment,” one monk sighs, his limbs flopping out as his head falls to the side.
“So the village still needs to be cleared,” I say, yawning. “I’m gonna go eat something. Then I’m going to bed. I need a nap.”
I stagger to my feet, the monks on duty having to get back up to replace me, and this is some bullshit. They can’t leave. If they do the Resentment will fester into something that’s probably awful, but it’s just a handful of them against what looks like a whole class of roleplaying disciples. The fact that some of the people might actually be villagers is just sad.
I post up under scraggle tree, setting up a table and giving myself a simple, fresh meal just in case I really have been eating corpse dumplings. Monks are vegetarians, right? Not vegans? Or is it like a personal preference.
I’m eating and minding my own business when I hear someone shrieking. I keep eating, trying to figure out why Dinner Party is standing around looking like she rolled through the gutter, pointing at me and screaming. Did they catch her and she’s trying to shift the blame to me? Pffft, again?
I check my logs and she’s screaming about the foods she recognizes. It started with the fact that she’d only had a bite of a shared baked potato, -- apparently food wasn’t provided so people are making do with this weird exercise, -- then she was offended that I was hoarding food, -- my food that I produced, so eat me, not literally. Fuck around and get et if you want to, -- and then she recognized some of my fresher greens as incredibly toxic. And tried to tell me to spit them out. She thinks I’m desperate enough to cook poison and hope I’ll be okay.
I flutter my mouth bits at her and she shuts up. No way in hell that she’s pretending she doesn’t know who and what I --. Oh... Oh, really.
I read as a few people who just thought I was odd and not fit to wander around without an escort, -- nanny or babysitter if I’m understanding the ideas right. It’s so hard to extract intention from text without just going to the deeper mind reading parts. -- suddenly realize that I’m not hunan. The monks know, and the disciples should know. So...
[-100 HP]
[30 -Resentment]
[-50 Karma]
[Ghost Pot: +100/-0]
[Resentment: +521660/-165271]
[Max Will: 9,579,451]
[HP: 9,579,375]
[Current Condensed Qi: 1831238/24275969]
[Current Qi: 1905490/957945100]
[Current Karma: 97103877/107275977]
No warning. He didn’t even have to think about it. He’s behind me, so there’s no way he saw the mouth thing. What else did I do? I’m eating and Big Pick just throws his spear at me. It punches right through me, and I have no indication in my Logs that he has any aggression towards me. His thoughts are literally, ‘kill non-hunans’.
[-100 HP]
[30 -Resentment]
[-50 Karma]
[Ghost Pot: +100/-0]
[Resentment: +521660/-165301]
[Max Will: 9,579,451]
[HP: 9,579,384]
[Current Condensed Qi: 1831238/24275956]
[Current Qi: 1905490/957945100]
[Current Karma: 97103827/107275977]
I tumble into my void wondering why it’s so hard to breathe. I don’t have lungs. What the fack. Am I in shock?
“Get rid of it,” I tell Fuck Face as he runs up and grabs the spear before letting go quickly.
I’m wheezing, going back over the is it a living hunan checklist fuck face, -- Big Pick not Fuck Face, -- sets for himself when picking targets. Is it alive? No? Kill it. Yes? Is it hunan? No. Kill it. Yes? Move on. Da fuq?
My focus narrows as Fuck Face grabs the spear and drags it sideways to get it further away from the center of my body. Is he gonna pull it out through my ribs?! Why doesn’t he pull it out from my back?!
I gasp, heaving in deep breaths. Okay, that’s one problem fixed. Before I can tell him to pull the spear out he starts pushing it in deeper. I watch as the spear head gets further and further away from me. He’s trying to kill me!
“Stop! Just pull it out!” I shriek.
“No. This way is better. The head is too broad, and you keep trying to heal around it,” he says calmly as he adjusts his grip.
“Have you seen the other end?” I snap, wondering if he bothered to check the butt of the “spear”.
...
“Oh.”
He’s honestly trying to kill me.
I rear back, arms shifting, -- ? hello, kill scythes, my old friends... ? How the fuck did I forget I can do this? -- and I slice through the spear coming out the front, hooking and flinging the part behind me away. I fall forward, scythes barely piercing the soil before my movement is arrested, and evict Fuck Face for being a fuck face.
I coil and writhe before crawling away. I need a hug. I curl up, and someone strokes my hair.
I wake up with my head on Aunty’s lap as she keeps stroking my hair.
“Ay-yah, those Resentment tools are nasty business,” she sighs. The what now?
I go to my Logs to find out what she’s talking about, and stare in outrage, growing more and more offended the longer I read that the bullshit continued. I got poisoned. Me. I’m going to kill him. Mr. Be Reasonable fucking poisoned me? I got your ass. I think I’m going to boil blondie and make him watch.
Gained 30 Resentment a tick, but I’m not sure what the threshold for bad shit happening is. Lost 50 Karma each tick? Fuck you, very much. And it hit me 10 times... Just from sitting in me? Why 10? Is that my pulse rate? A spell? Oh, it’s an enchantment. Okay, that’s one mystery solved.
“What the fuck did I do that Fuck Face tried to kill me?” I whine.
He’d grabbed it then let go, hadn’t he. I thought he was afraid of hurting me. Nah, he shoved that fucker sideways. He literally could have just pulled it out. He left that shit in on purpose. No way he thought the Karma hits were better than him just yanking the spear out.
“The spearhead is too broad, my ass!” I snap.
“The monks are calling you,” Aunty says, gently patting my shoulder. “Go.”
“I’ll go, and I’m gonna fuck up anyone who pulls a stupid rock metal weapon on me!” I shout, waking up and limp back into the village.
Probably should have said raw metal or shaped ore instead of rock metal... Tch.
“You’re back! You’re alive!” a giant of a monk says and I limp towards them. He bends down, picking me up, and I wonder how bad I look. “Don’t worry. We’re shielded from your scales for the most part.” Excuse me? “I’ll carry you to the front lines. You just purify, we’ll handle the rest!”
Considering the whole job is purifying, that’s not very reassuring, asshole. I thought these were the good guys.
I’m combing my silk, grooming, before I realize that I’ve got human parts and bug parts. I’m some awful human bug centaur. He’s got my abdomen tucked under his arms, my segmented human-ish legs, -- just the two for full nightmare fuel, -- tucked against the bulk of my body. I’ve got my sickle arms, but they’ve got an opposable grasper, -- I’m a bug with thumbs... -- at the base of the scythe, because I are bat bug?
I shrug and keep grooming before I realize I’m eyeing the monk’s cueball like a giant chocolate candy.
-I’m gonna start eating soon, and I don’t want to get shot again!- I snap, the monk guffawing.
“We’ve managed to gather a few more poison weeds to prevent any of the more desperate ones from trying to do what you did,” the monk sighs, taking a breath and slipping his stern face on. “We lost a few more people who tried to sneak your meal after you left, so we had to recover that as well. We hope you can perform Last Rites for them as well.”
-More bodies, more Resentments, and more spirits. Got it.-
