Chapter Four:
A Series of Poor Decisions
I'm rich. After a long time of negotiating (a posh person's term for haggling), we settle on a generous sum that I assume is significantly less than what I should be receiving. What can I say? I'm not really much of a merchant. Here's the thing about large sums of money though, you just don't walk around with it. Ever. Matheus gave me a bank slip to transfer the aforementioned large sum into a new account for myself.
Honestly, I was pretty glad about that fact considering I would probably be mugged or arrested for theft if a presumed peasant like myself was just carrying around a ton of coin around town. It was a bit worrying going to the bank to get the coin transfer. To be frank, I don't know how to read. I just have to assume what the slip said is the correct amount. Put learning to read at the top of my to do list. Everything went smoothly though, and I was able to withdraw a reasonable amount from my new account.
In only a few days I was able to purchase all my needed supplies, and I headed home. There are many things I could and likely should be doing at this point. Having a proper house built for me in Himalpoint being the most prudent, now I find myself back at the rundown shack I call a home. How would I do so without raising suspicion from people in town though? Why does the local hermit have enough money to afford that?
Bah, I can worry about such things when I have more money. Just pay people to be quiet or something. There is this growing itch in my mind that has me glossing over the details. There are many things that I should be doing right now, but I find myself actually doing the one thing I really shouldn't be. What's that, you ask?
Well, I'm currently circling the inner area of the abandoned city. I should really come up with a name for it considering how long I'll be here. Pushing those thoughts aside, I am actually scoping the area around the palace. Logic would dictate that I go back to that building that has literal stacks of gold or raid one of the places with tons of jewelry. That would be smart.
Anyways, while I worried before about the giant bat monsters that can swoop down silently to kill and then eat me, they mostly don't wander near the inner city since there is less food. I've been mentally marking down the locations of where the few bats that nest here. There's actually a reasonable gap to the southwest of the palace that someone could sneak to the wall, likely unseen.
As well thought as this not a plan seems to be, actually sneaking towards the palace walls is slightly panic inducing. One benefit of the main lighting coming from giant luminous mushrooms is that the level of light is not uniform. I distract my mind by trying to try the dimmest path and make it to the wall. In retrospect, it was a relatively short distance even if it felt like a kilometer worth of sneaking. I scale the wall with the help of my grapple and repel down the other side quickly. Being on top leaves me too exposed.
The wall provides a great amount of shade from the light, in fact the entire palace region is poorly lit. There are no luminous mushrooms, no moss or lichen, no pig creatures. The ground is perfectly paved, and all buildings are intact, as if in defiance of the ravages of time seen throughout the rest of the city. I wonder if the emperor's palace in Bernandt has the same feel. Set apart, regal.
But still deserted.
Tempting though it may be to head straight to the palace, I'd like to first scout the outside. Being here is already a bad decision, no need to compound on that. Grapple hook in hand, I move along the perimeter. I'll scale the wall if anything goes wrong, though I'd like to avoid that. I chose where I scaled the wall for a reason: not getting eaten by giant bat monsters.
The palace itself is a work of art. Black interlaced with silver designs with a massive tower rising from the middle. Rounding to the front of the palace reveals the main palace grounds. There is a pond surrounded by bare earth, likely a garden of sorts. Statues are erected here and there, though I can't make out their details from this distance. It was probably a beautiful sight to behold back in the day, however long ago that day would have been.
Hmm, if there was anything else I would think stood out was the fucking dragon sleeping in the middle of it.
…
It was a dark brown creature of massive proportions, leathery wings tipped by claws folded to its sides. Massive ears topped its head and a squished fleshy face revealed giant fangs, fur covering the whole creature with a large tuft on its majestic chest. Wait! That's not a dragon, that's just a bat. A massive dragon sized bat. Nothing to worry about at all, ha ha ha.
Saner men than I would just pack up their bags and manage their losses. But go with me here. The definitely not a dragon is sound asleep right? It's too big to fit inside the palace proper too. No harm in taking a side door in and poking around a bit, right? It would be a crime not to. Just make like a mouse and scurry about where it won't notice me. Let me just circle around the back side of the palace and find a service entrance or loose window. Somewhere not near the bat-dragon. Out of sight, out of mind.
It's times like these that the wisdom of a certain gonzo journalist would come in handy: "We can't stop here, this is bat country." For self-preservation, if not plot progression.
Plot twist, he survives getting bit by a bat only to die of rabies months later.
@Copacetic_Emu And here I thought he gets bitten by the bat and transforms into Batman and starts fighting crime.