The hero is now gone, but I’m still here, now what? (Undergoing editing)

The town of Kleptor was… normal, safe. That’s why I came here after accidentally killing my master, no one would bat an eye to an Outlaw here and they were treated as nothing more than an everyday, normal thing that the occasional sheriff that passed through the town didn’t bother to catch, or worse, kill.

 

Kleptor was nice, it was safe, and more importantly, it had just enough to get me started- and that was good enough.

 

I arrived in this town some time ago, wearing nothing more than scrapped rags in place of my old maid’s outfit, which I sold for a handful of Nuggets to a passing merchant sometime back.

 

With nothing more than a bag of money and a Gun to my name, I walked into this shanty town without much fanfare, the residents themselves took agreement with my way of things and the people here were mundane, normal- safe. There were no risks involved with their lives and seeing them go about their day without safely and without risks made me want to do the same, if possible, I’d come back here in the future and live out a normal, non-outlaw life once I’ve paid my bounty.

 

I greeted the men and women who passed me by, and they nodded back, though mostly in silence.

 

I… didn’t immediately go anywhere, opting to take to an Inn and rest my exhausted body for a few hours or so before heading out into the nearest shop to buy a bag of supplies, said bag was packed with stuff, and among them was a portable sleeping tent, a few cooking implements, tools, and a lot of rope- that’ll get me somewhere, it was also risk free and so much better than the Dynamite offered to me by the shop keeper or the upgraded gun that the local gunsmith said he would make me.

 

Bag in hand, I decided to buy a wagon and a mule as well, it’s safe, though it’ll slow me down, at least it’s consistent and not to mention, it’ll make my traveling easier. I bought a bunch of supplies from the shop too, just to make sure that I’d survive the night out in the woods.

 

Once that’s done, I headed out, westward, towards the Iron Mines.

 

Hopefully I’d find something useful there.

 

…

 

“Wait, wait, wait, Iron Mines?” Laceresta asked incredulously, “Why?!” She stared at Zathania like she had grown a second head. The Lioness opened her booklet and started reading through the entry for the location, then frowned, “there’s nothing to get there other than the objective of taking over the mine,” she said, “and you don’t have enough Nuggets to both buy and man the mines, you’re gonna have to rent it out if you want to get Nuggets out of it,”

 

Everyone- including Zathania, - stared at the beastwoman with the same incredulous look she was giving the maid and Laceresta stared back, eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

 

The Lioness huffed, “what? I can be smart. Being a general is one of the many things that my father taught me as I grew up,”

 

“She does have a point though…” Neophyte said, the silver haired princess nodding along to the beastwoman’s words as she considered the action that her maid had done for her turn, “you have a lot of Nuggets and you don’t use it to upgrade your gear or even buy armor,” she said, referring Fafnir’s earlier turn, “honestly I would’ve bought the best vest that the shop sold before upgrading my gun to three and buying hellfire bullets before heading straight to the Oaken Lands, I would’ve made a name for myself and taken over the only place with wood in it,”

 

“I would’ve hired a few workers and would’ve gotten more Nuggets in the river for a few turns,” said Fafnir, “but you can do what you want Zathania,” she said in encouragement to the maid, “I’m sure that you know what you’re doing,”

 

“I do,” nodded the maid, “I just want to play it safe,”

 

“You suck then, you can do whatever you want and this is what you come up with?” Neophyte mocked as she grabbed her dice threw it onto the board, “that’s an 8,” she said, “which means that I don’t get murdered by a sheriff the moment that I step into Cheapskate and I get to kill the guy,”

 

“Free Nuggets?” Said Laceresta grinning.

 

“Free Nuggets,” nodded Neophyte, also grinning.

 

…

 

Over the course of my life, I have gone by many names; thief, murderer, parasite, bandit, outlaw, and even sinner at some point, my names, no matter where I go and how far I run, always catch up to me, even if I go to the ends of this square-shaped world, my reputation would follow like a particularly hardy dog, or like a river of blood that flows on the ground that I tread, as if it’s a curse.

 

My reputation comes where I go. I like to think that it is embedded in my very being.

 

I have gotten myself a speedy stallion in hopes of outrunning my past but no matter what, it always follows, always comes. Not even Speedy Granny can outpace the river of blood that flows in my wake, but she was a beautiful thing, with a mane of gold and a spotted brown body packed with dense muscles.

 

And not to mention, the name “Speedy Granny” was catchy and because of that, people knew who she was and she herself had a reputation.

 

It is no surprise that the people of Cheapskate knew who was coming the moment that they saw the spotted brown horse galloping towards their town and when they saw the “White Ghost” and her glistening silver gun riding atop the stallion, their suspicions were all but confirmed and now, they knew who it really was that is making her way into their town

 

I passed by the arching entrance of the town, the sign at the top was torn and worn, but the words were there, “W–com-o-C-e--s--e” - they were faded, but they were there.

 

The townsfolk reacted like normal to my presence; with wariness and vigilance and tucked guns. They were ready to spring into action, that much I knew, and I also knew that they’d lose to me, and from the way they were acting, they knew that too.

 

But they ain’t gonna have a shootout with me- right as long as they behave that is.

 

I hopped off of my horse and started walking, my black boots creasing as I made my way across the dusty path, tumbleweeds and watering wheels attracted my stallion’s attention and I allowed her some respite, she ate and drank for a bit before we moved on and I made my way towards the saloon, and there, the 6 patrons inside greeted me with raised guns, “what brings ya here, Ghost?” Said the man with a scar on his face and a puffy beard, “ye ain’t welcome anywhere so it’s best that ya git-”

 

I looked at the golden star on the side of his chest and huffed, “so a sheriff, then?”

 

He scowled, “ya listenin' to me, bitch?”

 

I took out my gun and with a twirl, pointed it straight to his face, “you talk much for someone who’s this close to my muzzle,”

 

“Heh, the nerve on this bitch-” he prepared to pull the trigger but I was faster, I always was.

 

With a loud bang, he fell lifelessly to the floor and I shamelessly went near his corpse to grab his pouch of Nuggets, I counted them all, a little over 20, bringing my total Nuggets up to 34, I turned to the rest of the patrons, “well, anyone else?”

 

They all moved on and I was free to go to the bartender, “give me a few bottles of whiskey, and that tablecloth too while you’re at it,”

 

“Is that a threat?” In response to the bartender’s words, I threw a small pouch of Nuggets in front of him, he nodded and took the money that I stole from the Sheriff’s corpse without complaint, “fer nough,”

 

I got my bottles of whiskey, tablecloth, and with those items safely held in my hands, I left the saloon silently and went to the shop where I bought a pair of flint and steel.

 

Now? Now I just had to leave town and ride to the Infested Caves, I heard that there were spiders in there this time around, guess that hoofed bastard that called itself a minotaur is now gone, good- it makes it easier for me.

 

I left the town of Cheapskate and rode towards the Caves, I’d get the rumored Ranger’s gear there if I could, and once I have it, I’d start striking down the town of Cheshire and take it over, then I’d move on to their Gold Mine, after that? I conquer more and more, then after that?

 

I pay my bounty and live a peaceful life.

 

But I know that’s impossible for someone like me, so, I’d take over this land and make it my own, give it my own laws.

 

…

 

“So what does the horse that you went with do again?” Asked Fafnir as Laceresta did her turn, which involved nothing more than her searching for the rumored “Hellfire Gun” out in the prairies, said to be capable of firing actual fire out of its mouth and burn the enemies stupid enough to stand in its way.

 

“Eh, nothing much, it just allows me to travel twice as fast, if I want I can go past two objectives per turn, which I did here,” Neophyte replied as she moved her Outlaw to the Infested Caves, two objectives away from her starting town, Cheapskate, “other than that, it also makes it so that other people want to hunt me down for my Stallion,”

 

“A risk it all type of thing then?” Fafnir asked to which Neophyte nodded.
“Hm.” The dragon grunted. “Guess it’s my turn now,” she grabbed the dice and threw it for a roll, “it’s 6 to find the native tribes in the Free Plains,” the dice stopped and she got a 7, “guess I found them,” she moved her Outlaw towards the now available objective, “for my actions this turn, I want to ask what problems the tribes have currently and another roll…” she got a 4, “so they trust me but not enough to give me the full information,”

 

“Yeah,” / ”seems about right,” / ”I don’t think it’ll be a problem for you to take out the Iron Fist Bandits so I think you’re fine,” Neophyte, Laceresta, and Zathania said in reply at the same time.

 

Neophyte placed the objectives for the Iron Fist Bandits on the free plains and Fafnir eyed it, “I move my Outlaw there and roll damage next turn?”

 

“Yes,” Neophyte nodded, “you only need to get a 4 thanks to the bonus from your upgraded weapon,”

 

“Got it,” Fafnir nodded.

 

“It’s my turn now,” Zathania started to the expectant gazes of everyone else which turned to one of disappointment when she decided to buy out the mines and… ride away from it to go to Tattoo, a nearby town.

 

A frowning Zathania turned to Neophyte and the rest of her friends, “what?” She asked as she rolled her dice, she got a meager 3, not enough to make her sudden appearance to the town more impressionable, “I’m gonna hire workers after I earn enough Nuggets from clearing the Cactmen tribe to their south,”

 

“We… know that Zath.” Neophyte gave her a shaky yet encouraging smile, “but maybe you can try to… you know, be more risky?.. Is that the right word?” The princess deflected to the other two who simply shrugged in response, her smile broke, “y-yeah, that’s the uh, right word.”

 

“She has a point though, this is just a game so you can take risks,” Fafnir said as Neophyte took her own turn, and with a roll- that was wholly unnecessary- the lowest that she needed to clear the mines was a meager 2, - she wiped out the spiders currently living inside the caves and proceeded to take the Ranger’s gear inside of it, which she wore to get better protection. After that, she moved to Cheshire to start her hostile takeover of the town, “just look at Neophyte, she’s playing villain but…”

 

“Her Outlaw more or less revolves around it, which is why builds are also important,” Laceresta butted in, cutting Fafnir off, “Fafnir’s Outlaw also revolves around damage but has a hard time doing “constructive actions” while mine is just a sub standard Outlaw but that lets me do whatever the hell I want,” the beastwoman took her turn and did a roll, the 20 headed dice landed on 19, pretty far off from the needed ‘8’ in order to get the special gun.

 

As Fafnir took her turn, Laceresta faced Zath again, “you had a lot of money, you could’ve bought a few bombs, upgraded your weapon, and started a takeover of the Oaken Woods, or if you want, buy a train ticket and see if you can find another job on Center City,”

 

Neophyte nodded at the Lioness’ words, “That’s a good point, you could’ve pulled a heist Zath,”

 

After killing the Iron Hands Bandits, Fafnir finished her turn by going back to the Natives on the Free Plains to tell them that their home is now theirs again, “I agree,” the Dragon said, “it’s not like our Outlaws are in any actual Danger and besides, you only need to upgrade your weapon twice to make sure that no one beats you,”

 

“No one except other Outlaws,” Zath rebuked as she controlled her own Outlaw to move towards the Cactmen tribe and she finished her action by rolling a dice, it landed on a 6, not enough for the 8 that was needed to clear the Cactmen, “ow.”

 

“That’s… uh, 3 Wounds right?” Neophyte said as she opened the booklet, she hummed then nodded, “yep, your girl now has 3 Wounds to her name, that’s 3 more compared to the rest of us,” she grinned before taking her turn, “I start a shootout against the people of Cheshire, she rolled her dice, it landed on a 3, two digits less from the needed 5 to do the action safely, which meant that her character did earn Wounds but not much thanks to her newly found Ranger’s Gear, “guess I’m on a shootout, until next turn” she said calmly.