Imperious 003 - Lesser Skeletal Hound

The skeletal hound was coming back. Anna dismissed the quest window. She didn’t have time to think about quests and how gamey the whole thing felt. She didn’t even have time to panic. She dipped her head through the opening she’d made in the bars and scrambled through, catching her foot on a portion of the cell and stumbling. She hit the ground and rolled, clawing at the wall and pulling herself to her feet. She spun on her heels and took a quick look around. The main hallway leading out of lock-up was where the hound had gone. She couldn’t go that way. She turned towards the portion of the hall where she’d seen the camera and only saw a dead end. Behind her there were two more cells and then a door.

She hurried over to it and grabbed onto the handle, Please, please, please! She pulled down and it stayed firm. Shit! Locked.

She rounded on her heel and charged back the other way, Do I go back in my cell? What’s the point of that? Fuck me sideways, this is bad. I need to get past that thing. She slid to a stop where the hallway leading out of lock-up junctioned with the cell block and pressed her back against the wall. She took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to steady her rapidly beating heart. She heard the clatter of the creature’s footsteps somewhere in the distance. It was getting closer. She needed to think. Somehow it had ignored her earlier when it had passed by her cell.

It looked right at me and just walked by. Can I do that again? She thought as she heard something clatter. Probably the beast stepping on the door it had knocked over earlier. She flattened herself even more, swallowing hard and closing her eyes. Invisible, I’m invisible. Nobody. Just look right past me. Ignore me, ignore me, please ignore me.

Clickclickclick clickclickclick clickclickclick.

The hounds claws may as well have been thunder in her ears. She pressed her lips together hard. Either it ignores me, or I’m dead. 

The steps halted. She heard an odd rasping sound, a hiss that could have been a breath. It was almost at her ears. She opened her eyes and looked. It was right in front of her. Its eye just inches away as it turned its head slowly left and right. She held her breath, it wasn’t reacting. The hound stalked forward and into the cell block, rounding the corner and walking past her. She could have reached out and touched it as it passed her by. She waited until only its tail was close and slowly, very slowly, took a step towards the hall leading out.

No reaction. Another step. She rounded the corner and started a slightly quickened walk, doing her best not to make a sound as the clicking of the monster’s claws echoed behind her. The door to lock-up was on the ground, bashed in and bent. Past it was the small room where they’d booked her. She stepped around the fallen door as her heart fluttered in her chest, grabbing onto the door frame and pulling herself over the fallen hunk of metal. Something buzzed in her head and she frowned at the distraction.

You have acquired a new skill:

Stealth (Mortal-Common-Base)
Sometimes it is best to avoid a direct confrontation and seek fresh advantages. Your ability to remain hidden from the eyes of others improves as this skill does.

The window appeared so suddenly it startled her. She let out a small gasp and clapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes going wide as she dismissed the prompt with a thought. Tears welled in her eyes when she realized the hound had stopped moving in the cell block. Fuck!

Anna ran.

She barreled past the desks where papers were strewn everywhere, some tipped over in the small square room. She grabbed one and wrenched it into the path behind her, charging towards the opening on the opposite side of the room that led to a set of stairs going up. The hound was moving now, barreling after her. She raced up the darkened stairs, clinging to the rail on her right before nearly crashing into the door at the top. She fumbled with the handle and threw it open, diving through and slamming it behind her. She turned and looked around.

This part of the precinct was an open space with desks and computers everywhere. All of it overturned and broken. It seemed like the entire building had been lifted up and dropped. Book cases were flat on the ground and even the water dispenser was laying on its side, a puddle forming around it. There were plenty of doors leading into the various offices but all of them were shut. She turned to the first one on her right that had a plaque indicating it was one of the interview rooms. She ran for it as the thundering of footsteps rushed up the stairs.

BANG!

The door exploded behind her and she whirled just in time for the hound to leap at her. Without anything else to lose she held up the crowbar and braced it with her free hand. The hound collided with her, its jaw caught around the weapon as she was knocked onto her back, the air driving from her lungs. It snapped down at her, clawing at the floor around her body. She wrenched her shoulders left and right to avoid the bladed talons on its feet and kicked, driving her boot up into its bony chest. “Get the fuck off me!” she roared.

It didn’t even budge.

She tightened her grip on the crowbar and yanked it to the right, then to the left, trying to throw the creature a little off balance as she kicked it again. She could hear the carpet and flooring beneath it tear around her head as the creature struggled to get its claws on her. It’s shoulders were too wide to angle its limbs that way, though. She wrenched again and it finally stumbled a little, slipping to the right as she planted a foot on its chest and pushed. It fell off of her as she rolled out of the way and she lunged at it. Bringing the crowbar down over her head and striking the side of its skull.

It let out a hoarse, unholy whine of pain as bone cracked beneath the blunt weapon before she felt something snap out and strike her in the right side. Pain exploded in her arm and she nearly dropped the crowbar as she stumbled back, looking for the source. Its long, thin, bony tail whipped up and back own at her as it moved to get to its feet, snapping its undead jaws. She fell back, getting some more distance as her arm throbbed. It scrambled to its feet and lunged again, this time though she managed to roll out of the way as it crashed into some of the upturned desks. 

Splinters flew into the air and she charged before it could recover. Lunging towards its head again. The thing was made of bone, there weren’t any organs to hurt if she struck its body and limbs. Its tail whipped towards her again and she felt a cold pain in her thigh. She ignored it, her head pounding, her mouth open in a scream she couldn’t hear. She brought her weapon down on its head again and again as it struggled to extricate its limbs from the tangle of metal and wood beneath it. 

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The sound of her bludgeoning the skull over and over carried around her. She didn’t even notice  as its tail delivered one wound after another to her, striking her in the side and back. Only when it finally stopped moving did her brain register that it was over and the pain finally began to eek its way into her senses. Its head was a shattered mess on the floor, its flaming eye extinguished. She let out a strangled gasp, dropping to her knees and hanging her head as she rocked in place. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she wheezed, dropping the crowbar and clutching at her injured side. “It hurts.”

She felt a buzzing at the back of her mind. Another window no doubt. She ignored it in favor of checking her wounds. There were no puncture wounds on her torso but she could tell she was probably bruised all over. The armor had saved her life. Even so, she was bleeding from her legs and she had a nasty gash on the back of her neck and a trickle of blood from the top of her head. She tried to stand but could only sway a little before she fell back onto the ground and groaned. It took several minutes for her to come to her senses enough to drag herself to her feet and look around.

I need first aid, she thought only to nearly slap herself, I bet there’s first aid in that fucking backpack, Anna you moron. You left it downstairs!

She turned away from the body and hobbled over to the door to the stairs and dragged herself back down, her vision swaying as she continued to bleed on the ground. She stumbled through booking and back into lock-up before finally finding her cell again. She found the backpack and after some effort she got it out, dropping it onto the floor in the hallway and digging through it. There was a canteen of water, a bedroll as she spotted earlier, bandages, a sewing kit, another nondescript bottle that reeked of booze when she opened it, a couple small boxes of what looked like old chocolate balls and a single vial of red liquid.

Box of Minor Ration Pills (Mortal, Common) x3
This box contains ten ration pills which can be consumed for enough calories and nutrients to get you through three days worth of exertions. Ration pills will incur a small amount of mana taint when consumed.

Potion of Minor Healing (Mortal, Common)
This vial contains a single dose of a minor healing potion. It can be consumed to heal flesh wounds at a rapid pace at the cost of a small amount of mana taint.

She stared at the words as her tired mind tried to wrap her head around it. Okay so the pills can keep me fed, looks like there's nearly three months worth of food in these three boxes, got it. That’s… kinda crazy but I’ll take it after making objects out of thin air by breaking magic tokens and fighting a giant skeletal dog, she let out a small manic laugh, What’s mana taint?

No notification appeared with an explanation, Ah okay, fuck me then, right? She leaned against the wall and panted, holding the vial in front of her face. I’ve only got one, she thought and looked down at the sewing kit and the bandages and pressed her lips together. Damn it. She cursed inwardly and opened the stinky bottle of alcohol again as she examined the most dangerous wound on her thigh. She whimpered and poured the liquid over it, gritting her teeth as it burned. She quickly set to work sewing it, nearly blacking out a few times before finally wrapping a bandage around it.

By the end she was so tired she could barely hold up her head, even the irritating buzzing of waiting notifications couldn’t keep her awake. She passed out on the floor of the lock-up hallway, regaining consciousness with the sound of her growling stomach and the hollow ache of hunger. She sat up and rubbed her head, she felt a little feverish but not nearly as bad as she had when she’d passed out. She popped one of the ration pills into her mouth and chewed, wrinkling her nose at the grainy chalk-like taste and taking a swig of her water to help her swallow.

A feeling of fullness immediately came over her and she felt warmth rush through her limbs as the hunger vanished and she felt her strength rally with it. She let out a contented sigh, noting an odd sense of something lingering in her body. It felt like tiny spots of heat inside of her veins. That must be this mana taint stuff. Mana, like magic from a game? She scoffed and held her head, Just roll with it Anna, you haven’t woken up from this nightmare yet. I don’t think you’re going to. She took another sip of water and gathered up her things into the backpack, throwing it over her shoulder and making sure not to forget her crowbar. 

“Okay, let's get out of here,” she muttered and made her way back out and up the stairs, her leg still ached with every step but it could be worse. Fortunately the hand-rail was still there because the dizziness hadn’t passed either. She stopped in the ruined office area of the precinct. The corpse of the skeletal hound was laying there on the ground. “Son of a bitch,” she grumbled and marched over to it, giving it a swift kick. The bones rattled and some of them scattered, whatever was holding the thing together wasn’t there anymore.

Would you like to loot Lesser Skeletal Hound and convert it into essence? Yes/No

She squinted and tilted her head, “...yes?”

FSSSSS!

The bones began to bubble and hiss, a cloud smoke that stank to high heaven rose up off of it. It smelled like an old car battery and manure. She held up an arm to block her nose and took a few steps back as the bones dissolved into a fine white powder. She coughed and heaved, doubling over once and nearly losing her very precious lunch. She spat and wiped her lips before glaring at the remains.  

You have received: 50 Iron Coins and 125 Essence Points

She felt something flood through her body, rushing into her before abruptly stopping. She looked down at herself in confusion, trying to figure out what it was. There was an odd sense of incompleteness after the feeling, like there wasn’t enough of it. Whatever it was, it felt frigging good, like she’d gotten a little closer to something better for herself. She took a moment to search her pockets and even check her backpack again but she couldn’t find the coins it mentioned. Weird. Maybe I’m missing something, she thought.

She rubbed her head again as the buzzing intensified, “Oh right, I think that buzzing means I have more of those notification things,” she muttered and looked around, I should find a place to sit down first, I’m starting to feel feverish again. Also I’m talking out loud to myself. That’s unhealthy.

She turned her eyes towards the doors leading out of the room and if she recalled correctly, the lobby. There was a couch out there. While I’m at it I’ll take a peek outside and see if there’s anyone else here. I can’t possibly be alone, can I?