* Looting in Thirty-Minutes or Less

*

“What did you do?” Rionriv shouted as she grabbed me by my collar. “We weren’t ready!”

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand as the voltage from her fingers coursed through my body. There was a zap of innate electricity that surged from her through me, taking my breath away for a moment before I managed to free myself from her grip. Taking a step back, her lightning-fast reflexes took me again.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” I replied hastily, panic lacing my words as I feared the electricity would return at any moment. “B-But this will be fine. Just don’t waste your arcane energy on punishing me. Save it for the monsters.”

I flashed a smile, keeping my hands up as she scowled. With narrowed eyes, Rionriv let go of me and huffed angrily. Taking a step back, she directed her attention to Aesandora,l who had become eerily silent.

“Aesandoral, what’s up?” She asked, slowly approaching the archer.

Glancing over, I noticed the elf had dropped her normally aloof stance to become immediately more alert. Scanning the desolate surroundings, her ears twitched at the faintest sounds.

“Something knows we’re here,” She muttered in reply, drawing her bow. “And is watching us.”

“Well, that makes two of us then,” I said, turning to look at the group. “Okay, the ghoulies aren’t here right now because they’re sleeping in the nearby cave. But they can sense us and give us the creepy crawlies. We have about an hour until sundown, so let’s quickly loot the village, move to the mouth of the cave, and hunt them down before they all awaken.”

With a wave, I began marching away from the creepy, abandoned docks towards the rundown and deserted cluster of homes in the distance. As I did, I watched over my shoulder. The hesitant triop discussed quietly amongst themselves as I gained distance before finally moving to catch up.

Walking to the centre of the village, I eyed the rundown buildings that had been weathered by the site's heavy winds and the horrid, unforgiving sun. Hanging from the tree at the centre of it all, a single frayed rope that had once been a noose swayed in the wind. Then, nearby, a door squeaked as it closed with a thud.

I felt a chill racing through my body as I watched the girls anxiously search around for threats.

It’s exactly as I imagined it! I thought with a grin. Very wild-west ghost town vibes. Spooky.

With a well-placed hand to my head, I closed my eyes and forced the story from my memory. I felt the information from my past life rushing through my present consciousness as the layout of houses appeared vividly in my mind.

“Artificer’s Shoppe.” I pointed to a medium-sized building in the southwest. “There’s a false floor under the carpet in the kitchen; grab all the gold jewelry, weapons, and those iron bars, too. Oh! And look through the debris under the anvil. There should be a magical ring there.”

“Yeah? Okay, on it.” Sharzin said.

Keeping my eyes closed, I listened to her footfalls thudding against the cracked earth as she raced away until they finally disappeared.

I thought for a moment longer before pointing towards a wagon to the northwest. “Psychic’s Vardo. Grab the wine casks and silken fabric, leave the food—it’s poisoned. And check under the divining table; there should be a bag of gold and a ledger.”

“Okay, boss.” Rionriv groaned sarcastically as she stomped away towards the cart.

“And finally.” I inhaled, turning to hug the tree behind me. Reaching up, I trustingly dug my hand into the knot above me, where I gripped the necklace that dangled two platinum rings from its thin chain.

“A necklace from this tree, stowed by long-dead lovers.” Finally, I opened my eyes and tossed the object to Aesandoral, who inspected it before hanging it around her neck.

“That’s pretty neat,” She remarked, going to tuck it into her shirt before becoming distracted by the shiny jewelry. “And how do you know this stuff exactly?”

“I, umm,” I stuttered for a moment. “I can’t reveal my method, obviously. It takes away from its magic. But I do know what I’m talking about. Guarantee it.”

“I mean, I believe you—”

With a glance up, her blushing face hardened, and she nodded in Rionriv's direction, who had already begun to return.

“But she’s always a bit skeptical. Has been since we were kids. She might need some convincing.”

“What are we doing now?” I asked, shocked. “If she’s not convinced after this, then I don’t know what else I could do.”

Rionriv closed the distance with determined steps while shoving the haul of loot into the satchel on her side. She grunted against the weight, clearing her throat before directing her stare at me with the unimpressed look that I was growing familiar with.

“Okay, hopefully there’s more than this.” She grumbled, shifting the pack. “And hopefully, someone else can carry it.”

“There’s more; once Sharzin is back, we can move into the Magistrate’s Manor for a hot minute.”

As though by command, Sharzin emerged from the tree's shadow.

“I’m back.” She replied quickly.

“GYAH!” I jumped, grabbing at my panicked heart. “Don—Don’t spook me like that.”

“Hmph.” Her face scrunched into a pout.

After confirming what everyone had gathered, we pushed towards the creepy manor. That was when I noticed a figure moving behind the curtains of the open windows. My heart began to race once again as I wondered whether this story had stayed true to the lore or if subtle changes would soon complicate things.

With a shake of my head, I reassured myself that I was simply succumbing to the effects of the beasts that slept in the nearby cave system. And since they were still fast asleep, we would be fine until entering their lair.

Taking a deep breath, I confidently pushed through the doors of the manor and began to direct the triop to the various rooms hiding beneficial loot. After a few minutes of searching, they returned with a collection of jewelry, magical items, and a beautiful painting of a coastal scene that I asked to take for myself.

In and out quickly, thirty minutes had passed since we arrived, and we were already on our way towards the caves. A move that was well ahead of schedule, since no scavenging for notes and piecing together the mystery of the deserted town had been required. Because of that, this meant we would have an advantage as we progressed, catching the ghouls as they awoke instead of giving them a chance to break us down over the night.

When I originally wrote this story into the world, I imagined the area before the caves would be where the heroes found themselves at the end of the night, fighting for their lives before daybreak. Alas, as with all stories, I never saw a good place to slip this into the Heroic Triop’s journey. It was a shame, but now it was our risk and reward to benefit from. And if I had a choice in the matter, which I did, we were going to be slaying these sleepy ghoulies while the sun was still up.

“Can we go over the strategy one more time?” Aesandoral asked again as the cave came into sight.

“Well, remind me again of what your roles were? Like when you fought before today, who did what?”

“Aesandoral acted as a shield and drew the monsters’ attention.” Rionriv started, answering on behalf of her team. “Sharzin used underhanded strategies to achieve maximum damage. And I called down the storm to strike our foes.”

I looked between everyone as Rionriv spoke for them. Their gazes appeared wary and unappreciative of these descriptions.

“Mmmhmm—hmm, and everyone’s happy with these roles?”

“I’ve never been a fan of my role,” Aesandoral spoke up, raising a hand to her head. 

She fiddled with her short hair, trying not to make eye contact with Rionriv, who appeared betrayed.

“I like to use my bow from much farther away.”

“And I don’t think stealthiness is underhanded,” Sharzin said as she tugged at her hood. “In fact, I think everyone here could benefit from being quieter.”

“Okay,” I said with arms crossed, nodding my head in agreement. “It sounds like this is the perfect opportunity to try something new. Now, I don’t want to die—so I won’t switch it all up on you. But we’re going to do something very simple, ‘kay? Listen up…”

And then I told them my plan. It was an easy one where I would offer myself as the party’s meat shield if they promised to pop me back up if I became incapacitated. Then, all three of them would be free to do what they did best, and I could also gauge their total capability.

Taking a stick, I drew a quick battle map into the dirt road. I detailed the top three areas the creatures could be, and circling the biggest threat of the magical explosive at the back of the cave. It was rigged to blow if one of the wounded creatures got close enough to touch it—a range of five feet.

Taking a few more questions, I cleared up any issues before retying my laces and tightening the loose fabric of my clothes.