Hell's Glitch (initial draft)

2:10 Village

The old man stood behind Sam with his arms folded in front of his broad chest. He was shirtless and had the body of a thirty year old pro wrestler. He was also taller than Sam by several inches with wide shoulders that almost gave him a T shape. He was dressed in loose blue trousers with a black bandana covering most of his head and was barefoot. His eyes and beard were both a deep shade of grey, as if birthed by the valley itself. Sam's eyes jumped back and forth, unsure of which threat to focus on at the moment. The golem in front of him looked bigger than normal, but his instincts told him the man standing behind him was more of a threat. He jumped to the side and held his weapon up so that he could keep his eyes on the both of them at once. The man was more threatening than he initially thought. His dark muscular physique looked like it were chiseled right out of the surrounding stone and his hands and feet looked like sledgehammers.

"You point that blade of yours at me and it's the last mistake you'll make," the man said in a gruff voice. He narrowed his eyes on Sam, his stony pupils boring holes in Sam's face. The man's mouth disappeared under his thick beard but the scowl he bore was enough to show Sam how he really felt. Sam scoffed and gripped his Corseque even tighter but kept its blade pointed to the side, well away from him.

"You're the one who threatened me, twice now."

"You haven't seen a threat yet, boy. Now, why are you even here?"

Sam held the man's gaze.

"I'm exploring. I didn't know that there were monsters in this village or humans for that matter."

The large golem started shaking, the rocks on its body grinding against one another.

"There are no monsters in this village," the old man said. "There is nothing but peace here and I won't have you bringing violence into the midst of these villagers."

Villagers?

Sam looked around the village and saw that the golem's here looked different than the one's he'd fought so far. The golem's here were smaller on average and composed of smoother blue stones, though there were a few bigger golems around like the one next to Sam who was even bigger than the golems he'd fought in the valley. They also didn't have the same madly chiseled faces or any face at all. Every one of them now seemed to be focused on the tense standoff between the old man and Sam. Some stood still and watched, while others went about what looked to be menial tasks near the gigantic campfire in the center of the village.

"What is this place?" Sam asked staring.

"I've already told you. It's a peaceful village and no one here wants your trouble, so take that blade of yours and whatever bad intentions you might have and leave."

Sam looked around one more time and nodded to the old man. Whatever treasures might have been here, it looked like he wouldn't be able to get them without a fight and he had no intention of fighting a whole village of golems and an old man who looked like he was ported from a fighting game. The old man nodded at the large brown golem blocking the entrance to the village and it moved to the side.

"And stranger, if you come across any other villages like this one, I suggest you show the same restraint you showed here otherwise folks won't be as nice as I have been."

Sam gave the man a final cursory glance before making his way out of the village. He continued on into the valley scouring any side paths he came across for treasure. He came across four dried up corpses and picked up a Shortsword Channeler, another Infinite Lure, a Wishbone, and an Iron Ball. The Shortsword Channeler was cool because it was a sword that could be used to cast magick. If only Sam had any or the stats to cast anything useful for that matter. No, he was content with his pyromancies and his blades. The Infinite Lure was the most useful item in the bunch, because he saw no use in the Wishbone a consumable item that randomly paired him with other players. He already had a Charity Scriber that allowed him to be summoned by other players at no cost to him or the summoner. And the Iron Ball was completely useless as per its description.