The undead security officer moans and twitches and drags his upper half after her as Ryuk swaps out magazines and loads up with knife marbles. Even at close range, it takes three shots to penetrate the zombie’s ASF helmet and put him away.
Level up!
Ryuk Matsuzaki Level 9 Ballistics Mage
HP: 291/291
ATK: 76
MATK: 97
DEF: 58
MDF: 39
LUCK: 10
New marble acquired! Molten marbles contain a fiery lava core that spreads when the marble strikes the target. BONUS! Molten marbles can also be used for cooking and keeping warm.
“I got a new marble!” Ryuk tells Tamana. A pouch appears on his belt and he retrieves one of the smoky black marbles, which is warmed by a fiery red core. “Cover me while I load up a mag.”
They crouch behind a partially crumbled wall. Ryuk strips out the knife marbles and refills the magazine with his latest acquisition as Tamana keeps watch.
“See any zombies?” he asks her.
“Two approaching from your left.”
“Got it!” Ryuk braces his arms across the top of the wall, and almost before he even thinks about firing, the two orc zombies burst into flames.
-75 HP! -73 HP!
Tamana laughs with sheer delight. “That’s an awesome marble! I … ” She turns to Ryuk and he sees the happiness in her eyes. “I know it hasn’t been very long, but I really really missed this. Missed us, and I am so glad, so very glad, to be back with you.” She sighs, hesitates. “I only wish we had spent more time together up there, in the real world.”
“We have this world, Tritania,” Ryuk tells her. “I’ll be an RPC here sooner or later, and I swear, Tamana, I will be here every day until then.”
She casts her eyes down. The moment is theirs, even amidst the terror and despair that has washed over the village. “You don’t have to.”
“We can explore other worlds as well. I’m sure that there is a way to do so. And I know I don’t have to; I want to. I’ve never known what it is like to lose someone. I’ve been so caught up in finding you that now that I’ve found you, I’m just … I can’t express how I feel at the moment.” He bows his head to her in shame.
She moves closer to him. Ryuk picks off an incoming geriatric zombie; it bursts into flames and collapses to the cobblestones. It writhes, twitches, and sizzles as the molten lava consumes it.
A door kicks off its hinges and Hiccup exits with his plunder.
Golden necklaces set with rubies and sapphires dangle from the goat horns on his helmet; strings of pearls adorn his neck. He clutches golden goblets, silver tableware, sacks of rupees, jewelry boxes, a platinum samovar, and a thick stack of back issues of Goblin Holes scrollazines. “What?” he asks as he sends the items to inventory, “the place was abandoned!”
Tamana’s eyes narrow as she gives Hiccup a disapproving look. “You really shouldn’t steal other people’s stuff, you know.”
“Well, it’d be pretty fickin’ pointless to steal my own stuff, wouldn’t it? Look Little Tammy Trueheart, if I don’t steal it, somebody else will, or it’ll just go to waste, so it might just as well be me in the first place. We good?”
Tamana is not good, but says nothing. Hiccup takes her silence for acquiescence.
“So who’s down for stealing, I mean looting, I mean borrowing, our way back to the other two?” He lifts his snout into the air. “I believe they’re that way.”
“You can smell them?” Now it’s Ryuk’s turn to be skeptical. A zombified female orc spills over the wall and lands right in front of them. Hiccup brings his ax down onto her skull before she can get to her feet.
Instakill!
“Damn skippy that was an Instakill, and damn skippy I can smell the lizard queen from a kilometer away! Hell, my goblin organ of olfaction is so sensitive that I can even smell FeeTwix’s snake oil social media bullshit too. ”
He jerks his ax out of the back of the orc’s head and gives her a kick, just because. “Get a load of this one. I’m telling you guys, some of these zombie orcs look suspiciously like the hookers – I mean sexual surrogate specialists – that I spent quality healing time with back in Sotla. Methinks the Sage is doing a bit of recycling. But, no matter, who’s down for some more plundering and pillaging, in that order? There are a couple of good-sized homes with the doors hanging open and a bunch of shops with the windows broken out over yonder. You two in? Let the ransacking commence!”
Ryuk looks to Tamana and shrugs.
He generally plays it safe in life, which has translated somewhat to the way he plays the game. However, as soon as he started changing things up, his luck changed for the better and now he’s here, with Tamana.
By emphasizing the differences between who he was and what was holding him back, he discovered a new mode of being. The new oblique quote from Hajime comes to him: Faced with a choice, do both, which he takes in this situation to mean: loot and save the day.
Side Quest: Will you join Hiccup as he loots his way to FeeTwix and Zaena?
Rewards: Treasure and experience points.
Risks: You’ll encounter an ASF patrol, and you and your party will be fined and incarcerated.
“Let’s see what we can find,” Ryuk finally says, “but let’s keep a low profile.”
“Thata boy, Marbles!” Hiccup claps him on the elbow. “I see many kids in your future with the nuts you’re sprouting – many, many kids.”
(0)__(0)
“There’s the one.” Hiccup points at three-story white house situated behind a fence tipped with sharpened fleur-de-lis. A sign across the front gate reads The Bannons. The gate hangs open and immobile zombie corpses litter the yard, interspersed with the partially eaten remains of their victims – another last stand that didn’t end well for somebody.
Cries in the distance catch Ryuk’s attention. “We really should do what we came here to do, and quickly.”
“That’s what we’re doing!” Hiccup assures him. “Come on kid, you wanna get the cooter, then you gotta be the looter – and hey you even got a shooter. I’ll bet that’d suit ‘er. Ha! I kill myself sometimes.”
Ryuk glances to Tamana and she looks away, her cheeks suddenly red. “I’m not trying to impress her,” he mumbles under his breath.
FeeTwix: Where the fickity fick are you guys? We’re knee deep in some shit over here!
Hiccup: That’s your own damn fault! And stop stealing my lines!
Ryuk: What do you mean by ‘here’?
FeeTwix: Town square. How long until you get here?
Ryuk: No telling. We’re doing a bit of looting as we make our way to you. Hiccup’s idea.
Hiccup: Damn skippy it was my idea. We’re gonna be rich, boys – rich I tells ya!
FeeTwix: If you see any pretty necklaces, swipe them for me so I can give one to Zaena. And hurry your asses up!
Hiccup: I’ve picked up a couple of pearl necklaces – do you want me to give her one?
FeeTwix:┌∩┐(ಠ_ಠ)┌∩┐
One of the Bannon’s upstairs windows crashes outwards. A zombie with Chiup hog jowls and a face covered in age spots juts his head out and hisses as he clutches at the window frame.
Mr. Race Bannon Level ??
HP: 666/666
ATK: 9
MATK: 23
DEF: 121
MDF: 116
LUCK: 45
“I’ve got this.” Ryuk draws his magic slingshot and places a molten marble in its pouch. He pulls the bands back and waits for the zombie to frame itself in the window.