Chapter 38: Searching
About an hour after the bandit incident, I went to explore around Erisia to find better loot. There doesn't seem to be any sign of civilisation anywhere, yet there are so many people attacking me. I'd expect to find like a small camp somewhere but there isn't any.
As i'm walking around seeing if there is anything I can just nab, I find an old ruin standing alone by a cliff. Finally, something that resembles civilisation. As I climb up a wall to level with the ruins, I spot a lit campfire. I'm filled with excitement thinking that there could possibly be something I can loot in there. As I peek my head around the corner, all I see if a guy sleeping. It's noon, how is anybody still sleeping at this time? I get a closer look, and I see that this man is an Etrean, dressed in an orange and black coat. He's got some wounds that are still healing, looks like he got them about one and a half weeks ago. He doesn't look like he's got anything worth taking except his stiletto but I'd rather not use a toothpick. I can't even throw one properly.
I walk out to the left of the ruins and keep walking and searching for something, anything. I see an old weathered wagon that had been toppled over onto its side. I go to check it out to see if there's anything interesting and to my surprise, nothing. The most notable thing there is that there are a few broken glass shards and a cork. Maybe some hobo was drinking here earlier.
After around a half hour of walking, I come across. a camp. Not the small campfires the trio of bandits have but an actual camp with some work of a civilisation. It has a wooden fortifying wall with a watch tower. It seems as though it's been occupied by bandits. I can spot one right outside the wall, keeping guard and one on top of the watch tower. They say curiosity kills the cat, but I ain't no pussy so ima do what I have to do.
Chapter 39: Sneaking
My first target is the guard out in front. It'll be hard to draw their attention without them alarming someone else and the watchtower will be able to see everything. I'm cooking up some ideas but almost none of them would probably work. There is one that I can think of that wouldn't be too hard to pull off but it requires a very high luck stat for it to actually work. Might as well, what's the worst that could happen?
"What the f..." the guard says softly under his breath. He noticed the person that had fallen over and collapsed a few meters in front of him
"Everything good down there? Need me to come down?"
"Nah you can stay up there, keep watch. I'm just gonna check out something."
The guard slowly trots over to my 'dead' body. I can feel the vibrations of his steps along the floor, with each step getting closer and closer, my heart beats faster.
"Who tf is this guy?" He speaks to himself again "Yo, ima be gone for a while to take out the trash"
"Yea all g dude, be back quick" The watchtower guard responds.
He picks me up on his shoulders and starts walking in the direction i had come from. As soon as he was a few meters around the corner and out of sight, i strike. Being on his shoulder, it wasn't hard to knee him on the face, directly on the temple to be specific. While doing so, i had also elbowed him on the other side of his face. He was slightly concussed and had been dazed and he dropped me all while being confused as well. Hastily, i pull out my sword and strike the back of his head with my hilt, making sure i don't do anything to damage the Bandit Uniform. Good thing the Pathfinder's Manuel taught me how to knock someone out from behind. Without sparing any time, as i don't know how long this guy would stay unconscious, I begin taking off his uniform and putting it on myself as a disguise. I stuff my clothes away in a bush, in case a hobo would come to take it. Wouldn't want my drip being stolen. As for this guy, maybe I'll just leave him here. Don't really think i can carry him to the cliff anyway. Definitely, nothing will go wrong.
Making my way back to the bandit camp, I do a few breathing exercises to calm my mind and prepare myself for what I'm about to do. As i'm walking towards the front gate, i start to panic just a bit at the thought of being noticed by the tower guard.
"Hey, you the new guy?"The tower guard asks. New guy? My streak of good luck is pretty good so far.
"Yea, this the place I'm supposed to be at?"
"Mhm, should be. Though, I thought you were an Etrean since your name was Roy Ytreshi."
"I was adopted into an Etrean family that had the last name Ytreshi"
"Right, well in you go. Enjoy your stay."
What an idiot. Etreans are known for their racism, why would any Etrean family adopt an Adret?
Chapter 40: Behind the scenes
The camp wasn't as noisy as I had imagined, rather peaceful. There is a well in the centre of the camp while a campfire towards the far left of the camp with someone resting there. Further ahead, ramps and staircases are leading to the back inside of the camp, probably some storage place or residences. I don't have much time left as the real Roy Ytreshi could be coming whenever and would blow my cover.
I walk past the guards towards the back to see if I can dig any useful info up just because, and possibly bring this camp down from the inside. Walking past the guard resting at the campfire made me skip a beat for a second. I had heard the noise of metal being unsheathed but he was only sharpening it with another knife, however, he did look at me as if I were an enemy. Maybe because I am, but it seems like he's already caught onto my disguise. Or he could possibly just be a racist since he was an Etrean.
In the back, there wasn't much to see. Found an opening to a dim area that looked to be some storage room or something else important. Walking inside, I see a few pages next to a candle laying there, waiting to be read. I flipped through the pages in a candle-lit room barely enough to illuminate the text. I could only read a few sentences like this gang called "Goldency is employing various bandit gangs to find someone" This someone might be a bigshot. I couldn't stick for long as I heard footsteps drawing closer, I knew that my chances of being caught to low but never zero so I wouldn't want to risk getting seen in a room I'm not sure if I'm allowed to be in. Is there another way out? If I walk out then that's 100% over for me, I gotta find a hiding spot quickly.
There were crates that were stacked against a corner so it was a perfect hiding spot, quick and easy access. I jumped in the corner just at the last minute before the person came into the room. I heard the rustling of papers, probably the ones I had read. Then there was silence. Nothing happened for a while until the footsteps came closer to my corner. At this point, I'm shitting bricks as if I weren't already doing that ever since I got to this island. I peer through a crack between the crates and see them coming closer to me, there could be a chance they'll spot me sitting in the corner so I have to play dead as I had done before.
"YO wtf." she said. She turned around and shouted "Ayo, I nee-" but was cut off by me choking her out from behind (pause). She started to claw at me and began to draw her knife but it was too late as she started to black out. I would refrain from killing girls as much as possible because I'm that guy, but when push come to shove, I gotta do what I gotta do ig. She was a Felinor too which was a shame. I'm aware that lots of other people may treat an unconscious Felinor girl d e v I o u s l y however I am a man of honour and pride. No matter how submissive they are, I will not touch an unconscious Felinor.
I stuff her in the corner I was in and went back to exploring the camp. I wanted to find out if they had any information about some vigil or anything else so I went back to the pile of pages. Scrambling through, I find that they've spotted a duo of both the Kingdom of Etrea and the Central Authority "duking it out" or so whichever scout wrote this report. It had later stated that one of the Etreans ditched his friend and ran off. Maybe that was the guy Kronk and Brick were looking for. Another page is talking about some "High power". "A khan male in a white coat had thrown potions that seemed to have a mind-breaking effect on Squad 49. Squad 49 reported back before venturing out again with a pale look on their faces and one of them long gone. The Khan was later seen being accompanied by an Etrean male in a black and orange coat, most likely to be affiliated with the "Knives of Eylis". The khan is also capable of killing a Megaladaunt single-handedly. Estimated power to be around 4-6"
Perhaps this bandit gang has people who can manipulate applications of the song just like me. I want to learn more. "My, my, who do we have here?" A voice speaks from the doorway "A new recruit, I see"
Chapter 41: The Job of a Scout
I could barely hear his footstep, who is this guy? "Hmm, let me guess. You must be thinking 'who is this guy? why wasn't I able to hear his footsteps?" Seriously who tf is this guy, a mindreader?? Raise your right arm if you can read my mind. "I'll tell you who I am, Zote the Mighty! My blade 'Life Ender' can cut any vessel or bug clean." He says after raising his right arm against the doorframe. "I see that you are reading one of my many valiant stories, well I'll tell you this much. Those stories are merely watered-down versions of my greatness. I had purposely left out the parts where I had wiped the floor with the enemies just so that viewers like you can have a good time." This man has an extremely high ego. Partially because he's a Vesperian with a mask decorated as a teary-eyed being.
"Have you seen a vigil run around this island anywhere lately?" I ask after building up the courage to converse with this man.
"Hmm a vigil you say...Nay! However, i did see a wounded one hobble towards the Tower Struck lands not that long ago"
"Tower Struck lands? Where is that?"
"Oh but why would you want to know? Is it because of this vigil or are you just trying to run away? Away from your problems into the wilderness?" The muckspout says.
"Look, Mote the Zighty. Jus-"
"Zote the Mighty you insolent swine!"
This fucker with the mask is really pissing me the fuck off right now. He's lucky there's an unconscious person already under my belt and i don't want to risk any more danger to me whilst I'm here.
"Tell me the direction the vigil went in"
"If you head over to the left of the camp, you'll be able to see an opening to a cliff. To the opposite of the cliff, there's the entrance to the Tower Struck lands. I don't know where he went afterwards. I dare not step foot in that area." He says this in a more serious voice than before which buys my trust to the statement.
"Thanks, Zote, I'll recommend you to the higher-ups if i get the chance."
"Do not fret, for i, the Great Scout of Erisia, Zote the Mighty, will not need your assistance of any kind!"
He says as i depart from the room praying the idiot doesn't see the body in the corner.
Chapter 42: A Disguise and The Original
I heard a ruckus building up at the front entrance. It was an Etrean being questioned by the watchtower bandit. Fuck...Roy is here. I trot down the stairs and hide behind some barrels and try to hear what they are saying. "Who are you? State your identity!" The watchtower guy says.
"Roy Ytreshi! How many times already??"
"That can't be true, Roy Ytreshi already showed up earlier! You must be a fake!"
"What do you mean 'showed up earlier'???"
"Just earlier, a man came and said he was Roy Ytreshi, the new guy! So if he's Roy Ytreshi, then who are you?"
"No stupid, you're asking the wrong question. If I'm Roy Ytreshi, then who is he?"
Both men stand there puzzled. Almost as if they had gone mute for a solid 5 ish seconds.
"Describe the 'Roy Ytreshi' you saw," said someone else. I'm guessing it may be that Etrean resting at the fire.
"Well,.. he had the uniform of a captain. He also had a sword."
"What race was he?"
"An Adret."
Now all three men were silent for a straight 20 seconds.
"Now that i think of it, Trevor has been gone for a while now..." says the watchtower guy, puzzlingly.
A fourth guy comes rushing over and panting "Guys, guys! Reyna's out cold and stuffed in the corner of the storage room"
Fuckkkkkkkkkk...
The watchtower guy climbs up to his post and rings a bell signalling the entire camp "Intruder alert! Red Spy! In the base!"
The real Roy Ytreshi exclaims "A red spy is in the base?!?!"
Blue spy you fuckin idiots.