Hell's Glitch (initial draft)

8 The Merchant

The cave in front of him was so dark that Sam couldn't see where that voice had come from. Whoever was in the dark had a great advantage over him. He lifted his Deflector defensively, unsure of what to expect next.

"No need to fear o' traveling soul. I mean you no harm." the man whispered, sarcasm creeping into his voice. Sam kept the Deflector up. He didn't trust whoever this man was. The man seemed to sense that and just laughed at Sam derisively.

"Can't see me, can you? Well, maybe this'll help."

Sam heard a striking sound and suddenly a flame jumped to life in the man's hand. The torchlight cast a glow all over his features as he placed the torch in a standing sconce then leaned against the cave wall. He was shorter than Sam's avatar and had an average build. His hair was short, stringy, and russet and his eyes were the same color as his hair and were focused on Sam. He bore a tired looking half-smile and wore the exact same dark clothes that Sam did. Sam wondered how clearly the man had seen him in the dark.

"Now, that better?" the man asked.

"At least I can see you now. Who are you and why are you here?" Sam asked. The man laughed.

"Always with the who's and why's. Not a particularly fair set of questions, seeing as how you haven't introduced yourself yet."

Sam remained quiet.

"You don't need to say a thing. Your story is written all over you, killer. An undead Cutthroat, eh? Well, that's certainly new. You haven't lost your quintessence yet, so there's something you want to accomplish, eh? I wonder what that could be in this forest."

"I woke up here." Sam said, nearly glaring at the man.

"No need to be testy. I'm just here to offer a warning."

That was incredible. The NPCs (non-player characters) could actually respond to a player's emotions as well as their words. No other game on the market had that kind of sophistication to it. The digital man responded as precisely as a real man would, picking up on Sam's annoyance as well. Sam looked around at the gear the man had around him. It was halfway out of a large sack that sat on the ground next him. Sam saw some weapons in it and some armor as well.

"What's that?" Sam asked pointing at the sack?

"Ah, those are my wares. There's a lot of treasure to be found in this assassin's forest. Most of it dropped from adventurers like yourself after they...expire." he explained.

"Can you show me what you have?"

"Hehe, sure. My items will keep you from losing that precious quintessence of yours."

A menu opened in front of Sam with the man's item stock neatly categorized into sections for consumable items, weapons, armor, ammunition, and miscellaneous items. For consumables, he had some Absorption Herbs to heal poison and some Bandages to stop bleeding wounds. The herbs were one hundred souls apiece, but so very worth it against the enemies of this forest. Sam currently had approximately no souls so he'd have to brave the forest without it for now. He flipped over to the weapons just to see what the man had. His selection was pretty crappy. He had possibly every type of weapon from daggers to axes, but it was all basic stuff. There were a few swords there, but all of them required too high of a strength stat to wield properly. Sam only had a six in strength. The only good thing Sam spotted here was a simple mid-sized wood and metal shield. He looked at its stats and found it to be to his liking. It had a nice balance of physical defense and stability even if it was lacking in most other categories. The shield had cost a whopping twelve hundred souls. In his current state, Sam found that to be worth it.