Hell's Glitch (initial draft)

17 Sedwin the Silver

The cave had been cleared out and the merchant was nowhere to be seen. Sam silently berated himself over his idiocy. He had tipped his hand way too early to the merchant. He should've played it much more carefully with the sensitive information that the king had given him regarding his pursuit of Rondo, the Cutthroat who butchered his family. The problem was that he had expected the game to be a lot more straightforward. The fact that NPCs could react so drastically to things he said had produced a monumental change in the game's structure. It allowed for more chances at failure from what Sam could tell. He had to be a lot more careful. His blunder might have messed up the king's plans in finding Rondo.

Sam left the cave, heavy with dark thoughts. His pity party was cut short when a generic Cutthroat class enemy attacked him. The Cutthroat was clearly male this time and like the others, was dressed identically to Sam. He wasn't a complete revenant like the female Cutthroat Sam had fought, but his attack pattern was much more predictable than hers. He wasn't as fast as her and only used one knife to attack. Sam dispatched him easily enough and was given six hundred souls for his troubles.

"Where the hell did he come from? Did he follow me from somewhere?" Sam wondered aloud. He walked further into the forest and was attacked again, by another generic Cutthroat. After dispatching that one with a few well timed thrusts of his Rapier, he was awarded another six hundred souls and even more questions.

"These guys weren't here before, what gives?"

He took a swig from his Soulfire Flask to heal the damage he took in the two fights and kept moving forward with his eyes peeled for more enemies. It didn't take him long before he was attacked by two of the Cutthroats at once. After a tougher bout, he put them both down and took another swig of his flask, since they'd got him down to half health this time. One of them had also dropped some item called a Boatman's Coin for him to pick up. He couldn't help but feel that this increased proliferation of Cutthroat class enemies in the forest was caused by the merchant's absence somehow. Maybe the merchant had sent these men after him.

Sam made sure the coast was clear before opening up his menu and examining his new item.

Boatman's Coin

A tradable coin for those who work in a shadowy profession.

A dark metal coin with the image of the hooded boatman of the underworld on one side and an iconic winged serpent on the other. Cutthroats receive one of these for every completed contract. In Heimfall they've become a calling card, symbol of power, and currency for those who follow the Cutthroat Rondo, particularly the assassins residing in the Forest of Woe.

There it was. The coin was a symbol and it showed that whoever carried it was most likely a follower of Rondo. Did that mean that all these Cutthroats now chasing him throughout the forest were following Rondo's orders? That was a scary thought. Sam recalled back to the merchant's words when Sam had questioned him about his clothes.

"I'm in an assassin's forest, why would I dress as anything other than an assassin?"

It was as good an excuse as any, but it was a very convenient excuse as well. Easy and convenient...

"That bastard is Rondo. I'll bet one hundred frickin' dollars on that being the case. I'll kill him for lying to me. No, I'll kill him for the king's family...the scummy bastard."

Sam continued forward into the forest and noticed that he was unconsciously heading in the direction of where he had been killed by Caesar before. He almost doubled back right there until he saw a tiny white light on the ground ahead of him. It might have been some sort of trick, but Sam chanced it. The light was not unlike the light that came from the Sinner's Scriber, the only difference being the color really. As he approached, he found his assessment to be correct. The light was coming from some sort of message, similar to what he wrote before invading other tester's planes. He knelt down and read the message when he was close enough.