Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.
You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.
Click here
Virginia hissed. "But...the afterlife..."
"We do not know for sure, none of us, what happens after we die," Aribela said, quietly. "But I know that being tied to a slowly decaying corpse, feeling every moment, for all eternity?" She shook her head. "That may be worth the life of my sweet Ebba and Thale."
I paused. "I admit," I said, quietly. "I'm leery of frontier justice. If only because half-orcs are often the target of it, no matter how little they may deserve it." I grinned, fiercely. "But it sounds like it couldn't have happened to two more deserving souls."
Aribela chuckled, quietly. She smiled. "It is nice to talk to someone. Who are you, anyway? And what brings you out here?"
Virginia blushed. "He's-" She stopped, then stammered. "Is...a..." She looked at me.
"I'm Rayburn Cog," I said, nodding. "And I'm just a wanderer, heading to Shrouded Hills."
Aribela smiled. "Well, Mr. Cog, I am more than willing to put you up here. I don't often have visitors. And you, unlike my last visitor..." She shook her head. "You have a good air about you." She closed her eyes. "I should have listened to my instincts that-"
"No, Aribela," I said, taking her hand, reaching forward. She stiffened as I gripped her hand, squeezing it. "No. You cannot blame yourself." I paused, my eyes darting to the hearth. There was an empty space there, quite obvious. It was where the holy symbol had been, I was sure. I looked at her and smiled. "Listen, Aribela, you deserve to get at least something back." I smiled.
"Oh?" Aribela asked, arching an eyebrow.
***
The spirit manifested before me as I walked into the cave. Aribela's guest bedroom had been plenty comfortable, even if Virginia had insisted I take the bed and had then insisted on sleeping on the floor, then kept me awake all night by shifting about in discomfort. It had been more than enough to recover our stamina and set out once more. We had made it to the cave again without running into wolves or bears or anything, and so, I was fresh and fully reloaded. Virginia stood beside me, her face grim.
"You...didn't...kill...the evil witch?" Brehgo howled.
"Oh, no, we had a chat. You, my good friend...are a liar," I said. "And if you ever want to leave this plane of existence, you'll tell me where to find your friend, Mr. Fahrkus." I grinned at him, rather impressed with that bald faced lie. Half of playing poker, after all, was not letting on and all that. The spirit hovered there, shimmering, waiting. Virginia clutched her staff tighter still.
"Please...release me..." the spirit whispered, whining. "Please..."
"First. Tell me where Fahrkus is." I growled, stepping forward. A bit of complete nonsense. Trying to threaten a ghost with my physical presence. But it worked. The ghost blinked, floating back slightly, and then the mental location popped into my head. I turned and started to walk with Virginia. As we headed for the cave, I looked back and called over my shoulder. "By the way, I lied. Rot in here, forever."
We walked out to the sound of screeching, to dire threats of being cursed forever, of haunting, of boils and sores and infertility. Virginia glanced back over her shoulder, then looked back over at me, gulping slightly. "Are you sure that was wise?"
"No, but it was rather amusing," I said, grinning.
TO BE CONTINUED
- COMMENTS
Anonymous11 months agoHell yeah! Glad to have stumbled over this story. Your wording is wonderful, immediately merging my mind and imagination with the thoughts of your first person protagonist. It's funny, witty, Virginia is a blast and after three pages you've poured a gallon of subplosts on top of your dear reader. Well done! Off to the next chapter.
DragonCoboltover 5 years agoAuthorDex based builds (e.g, sword and board or archery) are really easy.
Harm is the most broken fucking spell in the game.
Technology is hard to do on a first run! Rayburn Cog is an expert.
...also I cheated and gave him 18 int, 18 cha and maxed out persuasion from level 1.
Ravenhideover 5 years agoHmm. First I'm hearing about the game, which is a shame cuz BG and its Enhanced Edition was a blast. Unlike BG and its EE, there actually appears to be some mods floating around that improve the games resolution, which means I've slapped it onto my wishlist on Steam to buy when I get paid in a few days. That's one of the things that irritated me about Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition: it still used (mostly) older style art graphics that are simply murder on my eyes. Arcanum just by itself doesn't look nearly as bad, and if there's stuff out there to improve it I reckon I might actually get through the game.
Looking forward to the continuation of this!
DragonCoboltover 5 years agoAuthorSadly, there will be less harm spamming than there would have been if my patreons had voted for Lysander V'Neef, the beautiful elven mage. He was option two on the patreon poll, see.
But Rayburn won, so Rayburn is our hero!
But...a certain jeweler may indulge that spam, hmm...
