[ Main Mission: The Evil That Dwells ]
[ Main Mission description: Ever since the sacred Sankara Stone was stolen, evil has come to your village. Now, help has been sent by the gods in the form of three foreigners. Guide them to Pankot Palace so they can carry out the gods' will. ]
[ Main Mission time limit: 2 days, 4 hours, 32 minutes ]
19 and a half hours had passed since Rumor entered this incursion, instilling a certain sense of urgency. He wasn't worried about failing the Main Mission, but as someone who had done so well in his first incursion, there was no way he would be satisfied with barely passing.
While the gains from completing the side mission weren't bad, overall they paled in comparison with what he had acquired in the same equivalent amount of time in the Star Wars universe.
But there was no easy way he could fix that. He couldn't abandon the main storyline characters, or he would fail the mission and be erased. But there also wasn't anything else for him to do.
Except talk. So Rumor put all those years working as a storyteller to the test by constantly interacting with the main storyline characters.
Willie was easy. As long as he complimented her and flattered her inexistant survival skills, he could raise his relationship by dozens of points at a time.
He paced himself, however. Not only he wasn't a big fan of her character, but he also knew Indiana Jones lusted after her, and he didn't want to lose his hard-earned relationship with the archeologist over some spoiled singer.
Short Round was a bit trickier. Although it seemed like he had the Asian boy eating from the palm of his hand with each wild story he told - mostly different iterations of how he killed Night Terror - the actual number of relationship points he got from Shorty was far lower than Willie's.
Clearly, having been orphaned young and forced to survive on his own - very much like Rumor actually - Shorty was much more cautious than he looked like.
Indiana Jones was an oddity. He rarely gave Rumor points, but when he did, it was usually a large, round number all at once. 30, 50, even 100 points, but very few times.
Rumor's biggest progress was with Indiana Jones' mount, the oldest elephant. After petting and scratching her the entire day, not to mention feeding her several fruits - although her favorite was still the one [ Delicious Unknown Fruit ] from earlier - she now wrapped her trunk around him every time he came close.
At this pace, he estimated the elephant would be considered tamed by the time they arrived at Pankot Palace, which would give him at least another achievement.
It was while he was thinking about that that his head snapped to the side and he narrowed his eyes at an innocuous patch of jungle.
"Come out."
The group stopped when Rumor did, most looking in the same direction and seeing nothing. Only Indiana Jones had a thoughtful expression.
"Who are you talking to? There's no one there."
Willie complained, but Rumor ignored her. His hand moved towards the hilt of the knife strapped to his waist.
"Last chance. Come out, now."
His only answer was the rustling of vegetation. Whoever it was, they were leaving.
Not that easy.
"Stay here."
Rumor barked a single order over his shoulder before shooting out into the jungle at a speed twice as fast as a normal human's.
In seconds he was gone, leaving a bewildered couple of main storyline characters and fellow guides, and a suspicious archeologist.
...
Rumor didn't even need [ Hunter Sense ] to see the traces of his quarry. The glimpses of brown skin and red cloth he saw amongst the leaves was enough.
He was quickly catching up. About 400 meters into the chase - which felt a lot farther in a jungle than it would in open ground - he saw his prey look over their shoulder and panic when the man saw how close Rumor was now.
Jumping over a raised root, Rumor used [ Grav-Leap Boost ] to power his final sprint, and plowed into his target, sending both of them crashing into the underbrush.
His skin was a lot thicker than the man's, who was covered from head to toe in scratches. Jumping on his back, Rumor smashed his elbow on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.
Only then did he have the time to fully take in the person he had been pursuing, and his eyes narrowed.
Red clothes, red paint, a wickedly sharp dagger on his waist. No doubt about his identity.
[ Thuggee Cult Member ]
[ Species: Human ]
[ Strength: 6 ]
[ Dexterity: 5 ]
[ Vitality: 5 ]
[ Temperance: 9 ]
[ Spirit: 8 ]
[ Appeal: 5 ]
[ Skills: Cultist Faith lvl 2 ]
[ Special Skills: None ]
[ Description: A low-level member of the Thuggee Cult. ]
Likely because the man was unconscious, his temperance and spirit didn't affect Rumor's [ Observe ] as much as they should have.
The tester frowned. If the man, who was likely a lookout for the cult, was a just representative of the general attributes of a Thuggee cultist, he might be in trouble.
Rumor didn't fear physical confrontations with his current stats and equipment, but other than his title ability, which had a long cooldown, he was ill-prepared to fight those who relied on mental attributes.
Plus, there was the cultist's skill. Rumor's face turned ugly when he read the description.
[ Cultist Faith lvl 2: Passive. Increase physical attributes by 10% whenever in the vicinity of another believer of the same cult. Further 2% increase for every level on this skill. Current increase: 14%. ]
What a bother. Especially when Rumor thought about how many of the people in Pankot Palace were actually cultists in disguise.
Hauling up the unconscious body, Rumor hogtied that man's hands and feet, then threw him over his shoulder.
In the original movie, Indiana Jones and company never saw those lookouts - or maybe the archeologist didn't believe them important enough to bring up.
But it made sense for the Thuggee Cult to have eyes on the surrounding area, especially if they were kidnapping villagers to mine for them. Plus, there were the British forces currently stationed there.
Instead of just killing the cultist and being done with it, Rumor was more curious about what Indiana Jones would do.
The trek back to where he had left them was slower since he was carrying a deadweight, but he managed it in just 10 minutes.
When he emerged from the jungle, Willie gasped, while the other guides dropped to their knees and started praying to Shiva. They recognized the dreaded attire of the Thuggee Cult.
"Wait, where are you going!?"
The singer yelled after Rumor's 'fellow villagers' when they ran away a few prayers later, but the tester ignored them. If it didn't happen now, it would be tomorrow, when they saw the statue worshipping Kali.
"Let them be, Willie. They are scared."
Indiana Jones had come down from his elephant, and was now crouching next to the man Rumor had unceremoniously dropped to the ground.
"A Thuggee cultist."
"You have have a good eye, Dr. Jones."
"Indy."
"Sorry, Indy. But yes, it's one of them."
The archeologist looked up at Rumor, one eyebrow raised.
"And yet, you don't seem scared. Or surprised."
Rumor shrugged.
"The British and my countrymen who follow them may have proudly announced that they destroyed the Thuggee Cult, but we, the common folk, have always known some of them remained. As for being scared... Those bastards took children. I'm not afraid of them. I'm enraged."
Despite not really being a member of Mayapore Village, Rumor still greatly disliked anyone who would kidnap, enslave, and hurt children. That was just human decency.
[ Your relationship with main storyline character Indiana Jones has increased to Neutral (470/1.000). ]
As expected, acts of bravery were appreciated in the adventurer and archeologist's eyes.
[ Your relationship with the Thuggee Cult has fallen to Hostile (0/5.000). ]
[ Your reputation in the Thuggee Cult has increased to Unknown (400/1.000). ]
The messages popped up at the same time as Rumor finished speaking, and he narrowed his eyes. Either the guides were running their mouths - or one of them was a cultist in disguise.
It wouldn't be unexpected. The Thuggee Cult had to have quite the information net and control over the region to be able to expand to the scale they did while staying hidden from others, especially the British.
The large increase in reputation was probably due to the fact he had already gained the cult's interest beforehand.
Putting those thoughts aside since they didn't matter now, Rumor looked at Indiana Jones.
"I brought him over because I thought you might be interested in talking to him, Indy. If you aren't, I'll... Take care of him."
Neither of the three main storyline characters missed the chill in his words. Indiana Jones narrowed his eyes.
"I do have some questions I would like to ask. Bring him with us, I'll talk to him when we stop for the night."
Rumor shrugged and nodded, picking up the unconscious cultist to drape him over the largest elephant.
"Won't be too long now. About 10 kilometers down the road."
At their rides' pace, that was another 2 hours. And they happened to be 2 very interesting hours.
Four times Rumor suddenly dashed away from the group to chase their unseen watchers. Four times he came back alone, although in the first two it was with a satisfied smile on his face.
Those two times, he had caught up to the Thuggee Cult watchers and killed them. They were weaker than the low-level thugs from the Star Wars universe, only having [ Cultist Faith ] as a skill.
His relationship with the Thuggee Cult fell further into Hostile, while his reputation increased slightly as he saw no need to hide it.
Unfortunately, his boldness ended up bitting him in the ass. The last two times he felt eyes watching them, it seemed the cultists had smarted up, and started running away much earlier, so he was unable to catch them.
It wasn't all for nothing, however. The second cultist had dropped a very interesting item.
[ Thuggee Cultist Sash ]
[ Rarity: 1-Star ]
[ Effect: +2 Temperance when resisting mental attacks. ]
[ Restrictions: None ]
[ Durability: 13/15 ]
[ Description: A garment worn by members of the Thuggee Cult to showcase their devotion. ]
[ Observation: Can be brought out of this world. ]
It wasn't bad at all, and Rumor immediately equipped it. The only downside about it was that it occupied the belt spot of his armor while providing zero defense, but seeing as he didn't have a belt for the moment, that was negligible.
"Halt. We are stopping here for tonight. There isn't a better camping spot the rest of the way."
Rumor brought the lead elephant to a stop next to a small body of water, an offshoot of the main river.
Satisfied, he tied the pachyderms to a sturdy tree - not that it would stop them if they wanted to leave, but they were well-behaved. Then he dragged their prisoner down from his ride while the others dismounted, and tied him up against a different tree.
The man was still unconscious, and if Rumor were a better person, he might have started to worry about how much damage his elbow had caused.
Since he wasn't a better person, he just made sure the knots were tight before picking up a long stick and using his blade to sharpen the tip.
"Indy, I'm sure you know how to start a fire. I'll be catching fresh dinner while you do that."
The archeologist tipped his head to Rumor, and the tester nodded back before walking towards the stream.
The water was a murky brown, and he couldn't see shit swimming in it, but he had no doubt it was full of life. Hopefully full of fish too, and not just crocodiles and snakes.
Now, Rumor wasn't an expert fisherman by any means. But he did have dexterity far above that of a normal human's, and it impacted not only his speed, but also hand-eye coordination.
A short hour later, he returned to the campsite with 4 fish in hands. They weren't that big, but combined with the rations the group had brought, it would make for a hearty meal.
Surprisingly - or maybe not - the one to clean and prepare the fish was Short Round, who seemed quite adept at it.
"Ugh..."
The delicious smell of the fish cooking over the campfire must have woken up their captive, because the cultist groaned and pulled against his binds.
Rumor, pretty much immune to most sorts of moral quandary now, didn't even look in his direction.
"Here, Shorty. Try this."
He passed a skewed fish to the boy, who glanced between it and their captive before shrugging and starting to eat.
Willie simply grabbed another of the fish and turned her back to the cultist, acting as if he weren't there. Rumor lifted an eyebrow in quest surprise at the action. As the character really that cold-blooded in the movie or was this a The Mind thing?
Indiana Jones was the most humane of them, and offered his own skewer to their captive. The man was bound to a tree, but could still take a bite if he so wanted.
Instead, he spat on the offered food. Indiana Jones quietly looked at the secretion before placing the skewer back over the fire and taking the last one for himself.
Runor looked at him in exasperation. Then he sighed and picked up the fish, wiped the saliva, and started eating. He wasn't about to waste it just because it was gross. He had eaten literal trash before, this was nothing.
"The divine Kali will strike down all of you, filthy outsiders! I curse your entire lineage, traitorous scum! You will be--"
The cultist cut out abruptly when Rumor glanced at him. There was only pain promised in that gaze if he didn't.
The group finished their dinner quickly while their captive glared at them. Whenever he started to raise his voice beyond mumbled curses, or tried to struggle against his bindings, a simple look from Rumor made him still.
Not long after the sun fell, Willie and Short Round gathered around the fire and laid down to sleep. They were exhausted, not used to such exertions as they had been forced to endure since their unfortunate escape from Hong Kong.
That left only Rumor, Indiana Jones, and the Kali worshiper still awake. Tester and archeologist exchanged looks and turned to the cultist, who shuddered.
"Have you calmed down? Then maybe we can talk like civilized men."
The Thuggee Cult Member opened his mouth to curse Indiana Jones, only to stop, his stare gaining a decidedly blank quality.
"Daaaahhh..."
Rumor knew right away that the archeologist must have used one of his skills. He wished he knew which one. That's the sort of information that might fetch a nice price amongst testers, not to mention it could be useful if he one day found himself at odds with the main character. After all, anything could happen in an incursion.
"You are a member of the Thuggee Cult, correct? That is quite fascinating. Your group was thought to be disbanded. What can you tell me about it?"
Even Rumor could feel the almost hypnotic quality of Indiana Jones' voice. Their captive shivered in clear struggle, but it was brief. His meager 9 points in temperance, while still above Rumor's, evidently meant little to a main storyline character.
It drove the point home - and quite effectively at that - that Rumor was nowhere near close to be able to mess with a main character. And it would likely be several incursions before he got there.
"Ahh... We have hidden, but never... ugh... never vanished. Divine Kali protects... ack!"
The cultist stopped suddenly, bending his upper body and straining against the ropes binding him. Rumor frowned.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. Usually I can be very persuasive, but with fanatics it's always a--"
"Aaarrrghh!"
A shrill scream coming from the cultist made both Rumor and Indiana Jones jump, while also succeeding in waking up Short Round and Willie. Even their elephants and some birds who had been nesting on the trees above them stirred.
"Huh? What was th- Ahh!"
Willie's yell of horror, while annoying, was merited this time around. The cultist had started to convulse, despite Rumor's best efforts to hold him down, and was also coughing blood.
"Aaaaaahhhh..."
That lasted for about half a minute before, with one last drawn out and weak groan, he went still. Rumor checked his pulse, shook his head, and turned to Indiana Jones.
"What the hell was that?"