Chapter Three — Crime Spree
Ding! Congratulations, you have snuffed out the unlife of ‘Sentinel Ghost of Threewells by Darkwood’ Level 1! Bonus Exp was granted for ending a monster above your level! I sniffled and held Bonesy close as I watched the ghost fade away. It was the third ghost I’d killed, the third that had responded to my friendly request with nothing but murder and meanness.I had moved towards the main street of Threewells, or at least the street that bisected the town from one wall to the next. I tried to keep low and go slow, only poking my head up to peek into windows and try to spot any more ghosts. So far, I had been lucky.The first few homes were normal enough, with little dining rooms and fireplaces and some quaint furniture. No plates on the tables or signs that people had left in a hurry, so whatever struck the town must have come with some warning.The fourth house in the row was way larger, with thick double doors and a third floor under its peaked roof. A rusty sign out front hinted that it was a shop of some sort, but the sign was unreadable except for the design that was either a chimney or a well. Probably a well.I stood up on tippy toes to see into the big window at the front, then dipped down when I caught sight of not one, but two ghosts floating around lazily within. “Oh no,” I whispered. “Bonesy, what do I do?”“Rrrr.”I was climbing back up to take another peek when a ghastly hand tore out of the wall and grabbed my face. Icy coldness seeped into me before I jerked my head back, but the grip was too strong.Desperate for leverage, I put a foot against the wall and kicked off, tearing myself free of the ghost's grasp, but not without the burning hot sensation of three cuts across my face. I wanted to scream, but that would just make things worse.I picked Bonesy from where it had rolled and spun to face my attackers.The second ghost was coming out of the wall slowly, but the first, the one with the bloody hand, was almost out already. Moving through things slowed them down, which meant that this was my chance.Bonesy swished through the first ghost with a gleeful ‘Rreee,’ then, after I had caught my balance again, I swiped the bone-topped staff through once more.The ghost was looking worse for wear, but the attacks had taken time, and now it was joined by its brother. A glance around revealed a third ghost floating towards me from across the street.I could have stood my ground and fought, but even with one ghost nearly re-dead I didn’t like my odds. I aimed for the nearest alleyway and ran.If my sense of direction wasn’t completely off, it led to a spot near the hole in the wall where I had found Bonesy. I stumbled into the backyard of the large building and, after a glance to make sure it was ghostless, spun around.The three ghosts were lined up now, all of them floating towards me with murder in their eyes.I licked my lips and tasted the blood from my cheek. My cheek that the ghost’s hand had failed to pass through. I was magic.Or magical enough that they couldn’t phase through me. Or they could unphase their hands for the purposes of chopping innocent teenagers up into bite-sized pieces.I wasn’t going to test anything.The first ghost arrived and was greeted with a smack from Bonesy. The ghost, already injured earlier, broke apart in a fine mist. Its brother ghosts didn’t seem to mind all that much, or maybe they were even angrier, but only had one angry facial expression to work with and couldn’t display their heightened rage.I didn’t know and didn’t care. Bonesy swooshed through the next ghost, first down, then up, then down again. The ghost caught the haft, wood smacking into its hand a couple of feet above its translucent head.I stared.The ghost stared.Bonesy stared at the wall.With a crunch, the ghost crushed my spear, rendering it down to mere splinters where it had caught it. Then gravity did its thing and dragged Bonesy down through its ghostly body, killing it on the spot.“Rrar,” Bonesy said, rejoicing in its victory.“W-well done!” I said before the last ghost moved over Bonesy and completely blocked my path to my only weapons. “Ah, can we... negotiate? Please?”The ghost didn’t care.I could have run, but that would have meant abandoning Bonesy and also I wasn’t sure if the backyard had an exit or not, not unless I snuck back into the wall, then up to the second floor, then down the side of the tower again.It was a bad idea. The ghost could cut me off at any moment.Instead, I brought my haversack around, the one holding my showerhead, and held it out in front of me. “I’m sorry!” I shouted as I charged at the ghost.As slow moving as it was, the ghost didn’t have time to so much as twitch before I rammed into him.Cold. So very cold, but also wispy, like standing in front of an air conditioner with nothing on but an oversized t-shirt.I shot through the ghost, suddenly meeting no resistance. Took two tumbling steps and tripped over Bonesy to land on the ground with a splat. Fortunately, I had my trusty haversack to break my fall. The sack that currently held the very sharp, very pointy showerhead glyph.“Owie,” I whined. Turning around, I looked up in time to see the final ghost fade away into a cloud of whitish dust. “Oh, thank the stars,” I said.Ding! Congratulations, you have caused three (3) enemies (‘Sentinel Ghost of Threewells by Darkwood’ Level 1! x3) to give up the ghost! Bonus Exp was granted for killing three (3) monsters above your level!This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Cinnamon Bun class has reached level 1!Stamina +5Flexibility +5You have gained: One Class Point“A what?” I asked. Then a wash of heat running through my entire body distracted me for a moment. It was nice, like being tucked into bed by my mom and getting a warm kiss on the forehead from dad right after.Still, the sensation faded a moment later and I decided that I had spent enough time staring at the sky as it appeared between two buildings. It was getting darker by the moment. I would need to find shelter soon.But first...Class Points: OneClass points are used to upgrade a Class Skill.“O-kay?” I wasn’t going to waste that on cleaning just yet.Bonesy was still stuck to a chunk of wood, but the weapon was now more of a mace than a staff or spear. That’s what I got for working with sub-par materials.I walked through the streets with a bit more confidence. I now knew that I could run through ghosts to dispatch them. Sorta. Anyway, they were now on my level, literally. It didn’t help that I didn’t know how many there were in the town, but that didn’t matter.I moved over to one of the smaller houses I had seen, one of three next to the big. I peek through the window, miraculously still intact, showing nothing of worth, so I pulled the door open.The squeal of rusty hinges had me tensing, but nothing showed up to eat me. Instead, I found the inside of the house to be a horrible mess. There was a crate to one side, a bunch of things tossed into it, furniture was laying all over the place and the paint over one wall was discoloured as if a painting had been taken.Looters, maybe? Or people packing up in a hurry?The home was simple. Four rooms. A small kitchen, a dining area, and a bedroom along one side. There was even a small bathroom tucked away in a corner. It was all messy, horribly, horribly messy.But I had a skill for that!I found an old broom and even a feather duster laying around, as well as some soap in a little pan. The items in the house were in far better condition than those outside. Which wasn’t saying much, really, the place was moldy and dirty and drafty.Still, I started cleaning and exploring. The blankets for the bed were flung out the back door and into a sort of bin I suspected was for composting, judging by the little garden space out back. Then I patted down the thin mattress and found it... usable, if barely. Then came the dusting and the broom and and the tossing out of trash, all done with a speed and ease that surprised me a little. Maybe that’s what a rank E in Cleaning really meant.CleaningRank E — 44%I blinked at the rise in experience. It was getting close, and I still needed some essentials. Like food.Screwing up my courage, I snuck out of the house and visited the neighbour’s place. It was in a much worse shape, the roof having caved in and obvious water damage ruining the floor. I didn’t do much, merely dusted a little, tossed out some things and searched for anything handy, but other than a fire poker that might have served as a non-anti-ghost weapon there wasn’t much.The third house is where I struck gold. Or rather, silver.This home was a bit bigger than the others, with a cellar below and a second bedroom within and a sort of little workshop in the back. The tools were all gone except for some gardening implements that were more rust than anything else.The interior was still furnished. Chairs and tables and beds that still had sheets over them. The closets and chests hid some moth-eaten clothes and the little pantry next to the kitchen had some lumps that might have been bread at one time.At the back were three jars, each filled with liquid gold. “Honey!” I squealed as I brought the glass jars closer. The orange-ish stuff within looked hard and it was heavy in my hands, but recognizable still. Some prying and sweating later and the jar opened with a pop. A sniff, then a lick proved it to be just that.I resealed the jar and went back to searching, almost absentmindedly cleaning as I did so.Everything that looked edible went onto a freshly wiped table. This place was nice. With few windows from which a monster or ghost could see me and enough stuff that I could pass the night.Choice made, I got to cleaning, and it’s thanks to that that I found a loose floorboard. By the time I pried it open with a fire poker it was going dark outside, but not so much that I couldn’t marvel at the six pieces of silver I had found.I was rich! Maybe.Six silver, a fire poker, three medium-ish sized jars of honey, a jar of vinegar that I suspected was apple cider, three unopened bottles of wine and a block of what I hoped was salt wrapped in waxy paper. Not exactly a feast, but I retrieved a clean-ish spoon and took a few scrapes of honey. It was nice and sweet, but didn’t go so well with the sip of vinegar I tried.I wasn’t going to starve, which was nice. I just had to make sure to survive the night.I moved blankets over the windows where curtains once hung and made a nice bed for myself with the nicer bundles of clothes I could find in the middle of the living room. Bonesy kept me company, a thin cloth over his face serving to keep it quiet.“Good night, Bonesy,” I said.“Rrr,” the skull replied.I laid down and thought of my adventure so far. Of discovering a tiny corner of a huge land and of fighting mean ghosts.The smile wouldn’t keep off my face even as I fell asleep while faint glows appeared and faded beyond the windows of my tiny abode.
Chapter Four — Dusting Off History
I settled into a routine of sorts. First, I would circle around the house, Bonesy-maul in one hand, fire poker in the other. Then, if I spotted no ghosts, I would try the front door. The people of Threewells must have been very trusting because few of their doors were locked and those that were opened to a swift kick near their handles.The first three or so homes I snuck into were all fairly similar, but I uncovered little stories and hints of what might have been. A room with a cradle made of delicately twisted wood that had somehow resisted the test of time, a small library with leather bindings that might have once been books in one home. A blacksmith’s house, with hammer heads left here and there and a cracked anvil serving as a coffee table.There weren’t any bodies, none that I found, anyway. Just signs that people had left in a hurry. A sickness, maybe? But no, that would have left signs. Maybe the local mine dried up and the community up and left. There were some things that looked expensive that had been left behind though, things too heavy and complicated to carry if you were in a hurry.I moved back onto the main street, walking a little taller now that I had failed to see any ghosts all morning. I knew there were still some around, but they didn’t scare me anymore.Not much.Okay, so they still scared me, but I was one tough cookie, I could stand up against a ghost. But probably not two.I came to the large building where I’d seen two ghosts yesterday and slipped into it. Almost immediately my eyes grew wide and a grin tugged at me. “An inn!” I squealed to Bonesey.“Rerr,” Bonesy agreed.There were round tables and chairs all around them, a huge hearth against one wall and a long counter at one end with all sorts of bottles on the wall behind it. Rusting lamps hung from the ceiling and the tattered remains of banners were crumpled on the ground. I spun around and took in the room. I could imagine gruff adventurers, pretty elves, stout dwarves and cunning magicians taking a seat and maybe pinching the occasional barmaid’s bum.I giggled in delight, but the sound felt off, wrong in such a dead and vacant place.I had to explore. And then, maybe I could clean up a little. My Cleaning skill was slowly rising and I was getting nearer and nearer to the tantalizing prize of Rank D, whatever that would mean.CleaningRank E — 87%Still no other skills, but I knew they would come!I was itching to get started with the inn, but I decided to explore a tiny bit first. There was a staircase off to one side leading up one floor, with a pretty carved rail and what might have been a carpet once; behind that was the far less decorative staircase into the building’s basement.I went down first, while the sunlight was still angled in such a way that I could see. The basement had a thick door separating it from the rest of the inn, which I found was locked. I frowned at it and kicked the door, even going so far as to lay on my back to deliver a heel-strike next to the brass handle, but that only made the door shudder.No good.Still, no ghosts came through so I was in the clear.I decided to check the rest of the first floor, then make my way up. The kitchens were big, with a couple of stoves and a big oven off to one side. I found bins that might once have contained flour and wheat and a small pantry where I got to add another jar of honey to my collection. There were also jars of what I thought might be jam, but I wasn’t going to take the risk of falling sick with those.The bathrooms only got a cursory glance and the space behind the counter was empty save for a wooden thing that might have been a crossbow tucked where the bartender could grab it in a hurry. It really was an inn for adventurers. A sign hung above the racks of bottles, just like the one outside but in better condition. This place was called the ‘Well Inn Good’ at one time. I barked a laugh at the name and moved on.The only other rooms were for storage, filled with rotten linens and the moth-eaten remains of blankets and suchlike. One room was a small office with a board on a wall that had little keys on rings sitting pretty on rows of pegs. I tossed them all into my haversack just in case before I moved on.The steps creaked as I made my way up to the second floor. I had an idea of what to expect. Probably a row of doors on both ends of a corridor, and I was partially correct. There were doors on both sides of the passageway, with ancient paintings hanging off the walls next to lanterns hanging off of hooks.I made a note to add one to my haversack later. There had been candles here and there and I was sure that a source of light would be handy later.Each door was opened after some searching for the right key and the small rooms within inspected. Most were small, with a little bed and just enough room to move around in.Those on the opposite side were a fair bit bigger, with beds big enough for two and little dressers tucked against the walls. I checked all of them, but found nothing salvageable.Then I found the stairs leading to the third floor-and a ghost.My heart skipped a beat as I took in the lonely form of a ghost hovering in midair, its vacant eyes looking out of one of the windows overlooking part of the town I hadn’t explored yet. I moved up very carefully, sure not to make a sound and wincing at every creak from the floor.Half the top floor was a sort of lounge area, with chairs that looked like they had been comfy once and coffee tables with decaying detritus on them. There were only three rooms here, each one way bigger than the rooms below.They seemed empty, all save one.The corpse was laying on the bed, legs over the side and torso stretched out. It was old, little more than bones and sinew. I wondered if it’s where the ghost came from.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.“Hello?” I tried.The ghost didn’t move.A deaf ghost, or a busy one? I held up Bonesy, ready to strike, then hesitated. This one wasn’t trying to hurt me.I swallowed past my fear and reached out a hand. I touched the ghost’s sides, sending chills up my arm. The ghost turned.We locked eyes.It had a placid, calm face, not a hint of the anger I say in the others. I felt as if I was being inspected before the ghost dismissed me and returned to staring.“I’m sorry for bothering you,” I whispered and the ghost nodded. “Um, can you help me?” I asked.The ghost didn’t say or do anything, he just turned and kept staring out the window to something across the street.I looked around it, careful in case it suddenly moved, and tried to find what it was looking for. It wasn’t hard to find. Across the road, and just visible from where we stood between the roofs of two homes, was a dark pit in the ground. The remains of bricks around it hinted at the presence of a well there once. A form floated above. Dark, malevolent and creepy as all heck.It was a ghost, but one that was dark and broody and probably listened to indie pop.A ding sounded out in the back of my mind.Quest Updated!The Hole Down UnderAn evil root has plunged into the world.You have found the hole. Explore it. Find the root. Destroy it.“Aww, shucks.”
* * *
I cleaned the inn from top to bottom, only avoiding the room with the friendly ghost’s body because I didn’t want to strain our relationship by stepping into his comfort zone. I was nearly done with the second floor when a ‘ding’ sounded out.Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Cleaning skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank D is a free rank!I whooped and cheered. Finally!My skill screen came up next, Cleaning front and centre.CleaningRank E — 100%The ability to clean. Your proficiency and instincts for cleanliness have improved! Clean faster, clean better.This ability is ready to rank up. Do you wish to increase Cleaning to Rank D?“Yes please!” I told the menu.Congratulations! Cleaning is now Rank D!CleaningRank D — 00%The ability to Clean. You are exceptionally good at tidying up and washing off. Effectiveness of cleaning is greatly increased.“Neat,” I said. I didn’t know how that would work out, but it seemed like a valuable skill. Maybe. Maybe I should have spent more time trying to learn how to swing a club or start fires or anything else, but this, exploring and uncovering the story of such an old place? This felt nice.I moved into the next room, broom and duster and dustpan and trash chest armed and ready.I left the room ten minutes later and turned around to take it all in. The furniture was spotless, the bed well made, the floor had just a bit of a lustre to it and the air smelled fresher. All that in under ten minutes. It had passed... not in a haze, I knew what I had been doing the entire time, but each step felt so natural and easy.A giggle escaped. My parents would have flipped if I was this good at cleaning just a week ago.CleaningRank D — 03%I frowned at that. Only three percent for one room where before it gave quite a bit more than that. Not quite double, but close. At ten minutes per room... a bit of mental math later revealed that I was really bad at math. Also, math was something I could do while working. “Chop chop Broccoli, these rooms won’t clean themselves!” I said in a gruff voice, as if I was the owner of this inn.An hour or so later I found myself tidying up the main floor, setting chairs back in place and pushing a hefty pile of dust into a pan that I was going to have to dump in the back. Next, the bathrooms. The stalls were clean enough, but I still splashed some water around and mopped them up, then I used a fresh cloth to clean off the little mirrors above a basin that probably once held water for hand washing.I stared at my reflection and froze.I was wearing a smile as I always did, hair pulled back into a not-so-neat ponytail that was tied together with a cloth ribbon. What drew my attention though were the three slashes across my face. One on my right cheek, two on the left. The blood from the forgotten cut had stained my face red and made me look like some sort of ghoulish madwoman. It didn’t help that my hair was frazzled and my skin needed a good wash.That just wouldn’t do!I found a fresh, less disgusting cloth in my sack, wetted it with my trusty showerhead glyph and dabbed at my face, wincing as I reopened the cut a little. I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed until I knew that it was clean, then stared.And then I stared some more.It clicked after a moment. I had super-cleaning powers. Of course I could clean my face very well. But I never expected it to clean away skin blemishes and pimples.This changed everything!I snorted and tossed the dirty rag aside. Not really. I would never get to show off my pretty skin if I didn’t survive the adventure. It was time to get exploring again. There were more houses to see, and a monster ghost to face, and a deep foreboding hole in the ground that apparently hid a great evil, and of course more stuff to clean.I moved over to the main room, ready to move on when an idea struck me. If I was going to clean the entire town to grind my mad cleaning skills, it would probably be best if I kept notes. A bit of charcoal from the fireplace and a piece of cloth served as a very rudimentary pen and paper.My map was crude, but it gave me something to aim for. I was going to clean the entire town and get rid of every evil ghost around!
