Akira and Varbu searched through the destroyed and damaged stores to find the supplies they needed. Before leaving the store Akira placed some silver coins into the cash box on top of the stores damaged counter as payment for the items they took.

“That trick you did with your sword how did you do it?” asked Varbu while they walked down the empty streets.

“I wasn't trying to do any trick. I just kept attacking them with my sword and the light came out,” said Akira sidestepping the question.

They were silent as they walked through the city headed for the broken gates.

When they reached them both Akira and Varbu used their full strength and tried to close the gates as best they could in order to keep any animals or monsters from entering.

Looking at the gates Akira guessed if a monster really wanted to enter the city they would not be hindered by the broken gate.

“We should find where they came from. There might be more hanging around there, which will cause problems for anyone trying to resettle this area,” said Akira.

“Do we have the time to do that?” asked Varbu.

“It won't take us that long. If there's a few still hanging around we can get a bit more training in. If there isn't any we can leave right away,” said Akira.

Varbu shrugged his shoulders in a 'Do what you want' manner.

With Nox leading the way the three of them were able to find two large stone doors embedded into the side of a medium hill. In the middle of the two stone doors was a large hole. Stone bits and chunks from the door had been scattered all over the ground near the doors.

What they could see from the hole was a path that led down deep underground. Akira stepped through the hole after Nox in order to search the dungeon. He was expecting to see a notification window but nothing popped up.

“No need to search this place, nothing's here,” said Nox who had used his sense of smell that was even better than Akira's when he was transformed.

This place that had once been a dungeon was now nothing more than a common cave.

“It looks like they all left the dungeon,” said Akira as he looked at the ground and saw the numerous tracks left by the Blue deer.

Their power as a heard running together was no joke they were able to destroy part of the stone door with their pure strength.

Akira was happy they only faced a small portion of the large herd that had escaped he wasn't sure if he could have stopped them if t were not for the tight alley in the town.

Now a large number of them were out in the wild. He hoped they would not run into them while traveling.

***

As they moved closer and closer to the capital city of Vussia the sky continued to grow darker. The light during the day was extremely dim compared to every other place Akira had been. It made the day feel more like an extension of the night.

“We should be nearing the next town shown on the map,” said Akira as he pulled out the map from his bag and looked at it.

“I hope it's not another small town,” said Varbu. The small towns had little to sell to them even if they wanted to, and the food was always the same.

***

The Gart monastery was near the town of Vouis which helped bring business to the town. With the nearby monastery selling high priced art and books nearby the small village of Vouis had grown into a small city. During the day the farmers toiled in the fields and at night there were many things to enjoy.

Vouis was not poor like the outer towns and villages but neither was it rich like the central cities and the capital.

The sun was quickly falling and the little bit of daylight swiftly disappeared as if being chased by the darkness.

Both Akira and Varbu were stopped and inspected by the suspicious gate guards. They were allowed to enter the city after a rude warning to not cause any problems.

“Let's find an inn hopefully we can get a good night of sleep in a nice warm bed,” said Akira as he looked around the city trying to guess where the Inn was.

It took them over ten minutes of mindlessly walking around the crowded streets that were filled with drunk and boisterous voices. Many people had been staring at the two as they walked through the streets.

Akira pushed open the door to the [KeepOut Inn] and walked inside along with Varbu.

A male clerk was sitting behind a desk furiously writing on a piece of paper. Akira waited for over a minute trying to be polite and not interrupt the writing.

Varbu grew tired of waiting and hit Akira in the side with his elbow telling him to speak up.

“Hello, is there room for two more people?” asked Akira.

“We're full. Before you ask all the other inns in the city are full you came at this time of the year and expected to get a room?” asked the clerk who was still writing.

“We're new around here. We're just passing by on our way to the capital. Are you sure that there's no place available to rent a room?”

“There is a house for rent it has many large rooms, but you wouldn't want to stay there because it's haunted.”

“Haunted? In what way?” asked Varbu.

“I don't know the exact details, but Everybody in the city knows about it. If you want to rent a room there. You have to go the monastery and ask for the key from them since they own the building,” said the clerk still writing and not looking at them.

The two quickly exited the city and walked to the nearby monastery. The monastery looked like it was hundreds of years old the walls had many cracks and small holes.

When the monastery gate guards heard they wanted to rent the haunted house for the night Akira and Varbu were invited to talk to the head monk.

***

“Out of the few people that have stayed the night half of them have died or gone insane and the ones that were able to stay alive say that all night they heard moans and groans and to many other creepy noises to the point of not being able to sleep. Are you sure you are ok with staying there?” asked Brother Munk.

Ding!

New quest!

Haunted house night party!

You have heard about the haunted house of Vouis. Stay the night and find out why the house is haunted.

Difficulty: F

Reward: Fun night at haunted house.

Will you accept?

Yes / No

“We can handle ourselves well enough. So how much is the rent?” asked Akira only accepting the quest because it was the last place in the city that had any open rooms.

“Well, you are renting the full house so it will be more expensive than just a room at an inn. One gold for a night is good enough.”

Akira and Varbu left the monastery and walked east following the directions that were given to them by Munk.

There was no one around the haunted house, it was all alone no with no other buildings near it also. The silence surrounding this small part of the city was eerie. It was like a completely different world from the energetic nightlife they had walked past a few minutes before.

“This area really does feel different,” said Varbu.

The haunted house was two stories high. The outside of the house looked like any other normal old house. The only thing wrong with the outside of the house was the old blue paint that had cracked and peeled.

“Don't let your guard down,” said Akira.

Akira motioned for Varbu to follow him. As they walked up the steps they both readied their weapons in order to defend against anything that might jump out of the building.

On the wooden door was a small sign with an arrow pointing to a box with a small slit big enough to put coins in.

Akira let out a loud sigh and dug out 1 gold coin and put it into the box where it made a hollow thunk.

He opened the wooden door after using the key to unlock it. The door let out a loud Screeeeeeeeach! Causing Akira to jump back fully alert and looking for any movement.

Nothing happened.

Varbu laughed at Akira who was acting funny and being far too cautious.

“Come on let's check out the building,” said Akira as if nothing happened.

Everything in sight was filled with dust except for a few sets of footprints already on the floor. Akira and Varbu walked around and added to the footprints.

Every step they took created loud groans from the wooden floor, as they searched the first-floor room by room.

The rooms were empty of everything but a bed and a wooden chest for belongings.

They quickly finished their search and found nothing suspicious.

“The second floor,” said Akira.

When they got to the stairs leading to the second floor Akira saw a few steps that led down to a door where the basement was probably located.

“We'll check that out next,” said Akira as he walked up the stairs with his shield in front of him.

The stairs cried out with loud squeaks as Akira and Varbu stepped on each of them.

After searching the rooms on the top floor they were unable to find anything out of the ordinary so they headed back downstairs to check the basement.

Akira tried to open the door but the doorknob wouldn't budge.

“I guess it's locked, so we...” before Akira could finish talking Varbu sent his foot flying towards the door.

With a loud crack, the door swung open and slammed into the wall behind it.

“It's open now,” said Varbu.

“Hey! We're not supposed to be damaging this place. They'll make us pay for anything they find broken.”

“Whoops.”

The air grew colder as he descended the last set of stairs leading to the basement floor. There were no windows in the large basement it looked to be one big room with the only light coming from the lantern Varbu held.

Numerous boxes were stacked at the far end of the basement. There were also two beds with thick blankets and pillows. 'Odd,' though Akira.

“I didn't see anything that would make this place a haunted house. Did you?” asked Varbu.

“No everything looked to be normal. Maybe a bit old but nothing crazy. Where should we sleep?” asked Akira.

“Well, you said you don't want to break things and have to pay for it so If we have to fight, this basement will be a good place. It's open and not a lot of things around to break,” said Varbu.

“That fine,” said Akira tired from the long travel without proper sleep as he walked over to one of the beds and flopped down on it.

***

The house creaked and groaned due to the wind that was blowing against it.

It took Akira a long time to fall asleep due to all the noise that the old house made.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeech! Bang!

Akira woke up from his light slumber. He didn't know what time it was but he felt it had only been a few hours since he had fallen asleep.

He reached over to Varbu and poked him hard to wake him up.

“Shhh,” Akira stopped Varbu from yelling out.

“Something just entered the house,” said Akira.

The sleepiness in Varbu's eyes was wiped away with those words. He stood up with his hands nervously gripping his quarterstaff and followed Akira to the stairs.

As they waited by the stairs the creak and moans of footsteps slowly walking towards the basement door could be heard.

The sound of the footsteps stopped when they reached the door to the basement. Akira and Varbu silently walked up the steps to open the door and capture the person on the opposite side of the door.

Loud thumps of someone or something running up the stairs away from the door could be heard. It was almost as if the person or thing was able to see through the door and was able to see Akira and Varbu getting ready to pounce.

Not wanting to miss the escaping person or thing. The two brave warriors burst out of the basement to chase after it.

Even at their fastest speed, they were unable to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that had stood on the opposite side of the door.

When they reached the first floor they stopped to listen and look for anything out of place.

The sound of running feet had stopped and there were no other suspicious sounds.

“Let's do a quick search of the house,” said Akira.

“Hmph...no such thing as a ghost...” said Varbu muttering to himself while fully alert making sure to inspect every nook and cranny around him.

They searched the whole house for the second time that night but were unable to find anything out of place. There had been no other sounds other than the ones their own feet were making.

“Let's go back to the basement and sleep,” said Varbu.

When they entered the basement Varbu stopped Akira. He pointed towards the far wall where the boxes had been stacked up against the wall.

A few of the boxes had been moved to create a small opening in the wall of boxes revealing a hole in the wall behind it. Akira and Varbu both cautiously walked forward to inspect the opening with the dim light from the lantern still lighting the room.

They were only two feet away when a ghastly head that looked like it came from a tortured undead popped out from the hole.

Upon seeing each other, the head, Varbu, and Akira all let out a screamed of fright at the same time.

“““AH!”””

The head vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

Akira and Varbu both look at each other sheepishly.

“Should we check it out?” asked Akira.

“I think you should go first,” said Varbu volunteering Akira for the job of entering the hole first.

Akira sighed and crouched down with his shield in front of him before he started to crawl forward through the hole that led into a small tunnel, Varbu hesitated a few seconds and then started to slowly crawl behind him. It was harder for Varbu to squeeze through due to his large body.

Bam!

Something slammed into Akira's shield before he could fully exit the tunnel.

“Stay back you ghost,” a male's voice shouted from the dimly lit room in front of Akira.

'He thinks I'm a ghost,' thought Akira bewildered at the situation he found himself in.

“I'm not a ghost. To me it's you that looks and act like one,” said Akira.

“You can't trick me ghost,” said the male voice, before attacking Akira's shield multiple times.

Akira decided that the person attacking him was not a ghost but a human. He readied himself and pushed himself out of the tunnel slamming into the body of his attacker causing both of them to fall to the floor.

After wrestling with the attacker for a few moments Akira was able to get the man under control.

“I'm not a ghost,” said Akira.

“Get off of me,” growled the man.

“What are you doing here? How did you know about this secret room?” asked Akira.

The man was silent and ignored Akira his attention was focused on Varbu who had entered the room and started to poke around the place searching for anything of interest.

“Hey, you! Stop messing with my stuff,” shouted the man.

Varbu ignored him and started to open boxes. A few moments later he reached a large black ornate wooden box that was placed on top of what looked like an altar.

“Stop!” the man shouted again.

Varbu again Ignored him and opened it. His face changed quickly as a multitude of expressions flashed over his face as if it was unsure what to make of the items he had found in the box.

“You should have a look,” said Varbu turning back to Akira.

Akira let go of the man and pushed him away from him before walking over to the black box.

The man jumped back to his feet and tried to tackle Akira but in a flash, Varbu sent his quarterstaff swiftly into the man's stomach knocking all the air out of his body and sending him back to the ground.

Akira looked inside the black box.

It took a few seconds for him to figure out what it was that he was looking at.

The box was full of Underwear. Women's underwear.