Chapter 131: Catharsis

Chapter 131: Catharsis

As Crucis wandered quietly through Kruxol, he saw a few empty areas still filled with spotlit performers in glittering white and gold shirts. These must have been hired by Darys to interrupt and annoy planned gatherings by anti-DeathGang elements. The performers danced flamboyantly in groups, taking it in turns to sing, with slogans like 'Glory to DeathGang' and 'Hail Victory' hung behind them in glitter and neon lights.

Their songs were mostly decorative, upbeat, often meaningless strings of words to accompany the rest of the performance. Walking around, he heard a snippet of one male dancer's loud singing.

Fallen leaves, it's fall, it's fall, yeah, babe

I know, I know, I know, yeah, babe

When you come around, baby, don't say a word, yeah, babe

'Cause I love you, love you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, babe

It's fall, it's fall, yeah, babe

I know, I know, I know, yeah, babeL1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

When you come around, baby, don't say a word, yeah, babe

'Cause I love you, love you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby

A few DeathGang members were gathered by a thatched-roof building in South Kruxol, watching as one group of dancers performed Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' by request.

Walking back up North, Crucis saw Gastlem approaching from the distant East, with a few hints of blood on his sword. Gastlem had run off to take care of a few people who were trying to stir up trouble after the speech, and had seemingly taken a few kills in the process. Crucis noticed that, like Danemy, Gastlem was wearing a semi-transparent, silvery-black bandana around his neck which was used as a public signifier for DeathGang Elites.

He waved Gastlem over.

"Hey, congrats on the promotion," he said. "Had fun at that tussle?"

"Oh, yeah. Was quite easy, nobody high-level."

Crucis noticed that Gastlem was holding a book in one hand. "What you reading?"

"Oh, this?" Gastlem laughed. "Not really reading it, it's a Light Novel I looted from one of the guys out East. It's one of those silly 'choose-your-own-adventure' books. It's pretty funky, have a look."

THE RISE OF THE GREATEST HERO: A CYOA

Page 1.

You're off to slay the dragon!

What is your reaction?:

a) Nervous. A dragon? That sounds terrifying!

b) Bemused. We're off to... slay the dragon? Oh, well, of course. A hero wouldn't worry about little things like whether a dragon will fry us all to stroganoff (!).

c) Enthusiastic. Woah, cool! A dragon!

d) Determined. I'll do whatever it takes! This dragon won't get the best of me!

e) Underwhelmed. Slaying a dragon? How typical. My, my, I've sold out.

"Suppose we chose 'e'?" Crucis asked.

Gastlem pressed this option, and the book automatically skipped ahead a few pages.

Page 5.

"It's just a summary, nothing that special," he replied, smiling. "Alright, so let's go to the feast now. You guys should have some bear meat, right? That should be interesting. By the way, I managed to purchase some capsaicin crystals, quite a steal. I'll tell you where to get that later. But we're keeping it hidden, since if it was a free-for-all then our guys would all mistake it for salt and take too much, roll around the floor, and not recover for three days. Stuff burns. I'll give you guys a try if you want."

"Yeah, go ahead. Today was a tragic day, evil won and the better side lost," Crucis said, "it's reasonable that we all cry some tears over it."

"A sad day indeed. Anyway, does anyone have some mink meat left over? Mink meat is usually awful, but according to Darys the gem-furred ones have decent meat that 'tastes like shrimp.' Yeah, I don't know how that works. Worth a try, though."

"Yeah, I've got a bit," Akshel said. "I think Grisier does too, he must be on one of the tables already. You can ask him."

"I'll hand mine over, too. Wasn't really sure what to do with it, so I hung on to most of it," Crucis said. "So how do you plan to prepare the bear?"

"Over here, there's not that many food options available," DicingDevil said. "There's not that much available in terms of seasoning, but we did manage to get some onions, garlic, also some sage because that's apparently a specialty in this region. But mostly we're just eating the cooked meat."

"That should be fine," Crucis said. "Let's go."

"Yeah, I'm just famished, honestly. The mink will probably be disgusting, but I'll probably still eat it," Danemy said glibly.

DicingDevil led the group to a large, chalk-white hallway, where DeathGang members were gathered around a few tables or standing by the walls eating. So far, they were mostly just eating small appetisers made with vegetables, and a few had made wraps out of a few pieces of rabbit meat. For a feast, it was a fairly minimalistic affair, but for most players in the game it would be a luxury.

Darys was sat at a table in the centre eating hummous, made from chickpeas purchased from Sanra, but he sat up and waved to welcome DicingDevil.

After saluting back, DicingDevil turned to the group. "Alright, hand over the meat, I'll take that to get cooked. It's probably cheaper if we pool it together. Since players aren't allowed to handle the fire in the kitchens, people have to use NPCs to heat stuff up properly." They handed over the meat. "There'll be some fried grasshopper coming around, try some out, it's a DeathGang specialty." He smiled mock-assuringly, then walked away towards the kitchens on the left.

"Bonsieur," Gastlem said, walking back from a brief meeting with Darys. "Our leader wants us to clear out some farmland for chickpeas, says he got OudNasser to go all the way to Sanra for the seeds. At this rate, he's just going to make me turn DeathGang territory into a culinary hot-spot."

"Having his General take a dangerous journey to the West, just for chickpeas?" Danemy said. "Our leader is quite a connoisseur."

"Honestly, OudNasser was probably going to Sanra anyway, and Darys just told him to pick these up. But that's not the story he told."

"At least OudNasser got compensation, he seems to be enjoying the hummous," Crucis said, glancing at the central table where OudNasser sat alongside Darys and some other Generals and Elites.

"Yeah, those two have similar tastes," Danemy said. "Story goes, and I don't know if it's true, that OudNasser had started narrating tales from Sinbad the Sailor and the Odyssey to liven up a trip to a dungeon. Darys enjoyed it enough that he kept chatting even after logging out, and found that OudNasser knew the game much better than most, so he made Oud a General. This may or may not be mostly made up."

"Whew, it's only been three days, and you guys already have lore. Impressive!" Crucis said.

"Yeah, that's the word. 'Lore.' Exactly. Not 'made up.' If it looks good, and it feels good, then surely it is true."

Soon, a DeathGang member walked over to the group, carrying a large platter of fried grasshoppers. "Spicy ones on the left, normal salt-and-pepper on the right. Only choose the spicy ones if you trust Dicing, I didn't," he said politely.

"Well, you'd better trust him now, Kan. He's going to be the next Vice-Leader," Danemy said, grabbing one from the left.

"I trust his leadership, just not his ability to not burn out my tastebuds for days."

"Hush! You will eat the spicy bugs!"

Crucis also grabbed a grasshopper from the left, while the rest of the group grabbed as grasshopper each. The DeathGang players seemed quite accustomed to it.

"So, what's this like?" he asked.

"It's a bit like seeds or nutty sardines, kind of fiery though," Akshel replied. "These ones have maybe a taste of anchovies? Our guys make a habit of looking for good places for grasshoppers, so we keep finding more savoury ones."

"Always pursuing culinary excellence, then?"

"Exactly!"

Akshel ate the grasshopper gleefully in one bite, then staggered backwards a step as the spice kicked in.

"That grasshopper hopped jolly high," he commented, shaking his head.