A few hours later they rounded a bend in the river and spotted what William could only describe as a shithole. A series of rundown shacks stood around the base of a large rolling hill. He wouldn’t even trust the buildings to survive a person walking into them, he was surprised that a stiff breeze hadn’t knocked them over.

“Yup, never been to Silverstead,” Victor laughed.

“This is…” William muttered while looking at what amounted more to a pile of rotted firewood than a town.

“Fuck no!” Skunk yelled out. His fellow deputies turned and glared at him.

“Damn Skunk… couldn’t let him think it for more than a few seconds?” Victor said with an annoyed tone

“Way to fuck up a jest!” Jakob laughed at him.

“This is the mine. These were where most the miners lived, the actual town is a mile further downriver,” Sheriff Teddy explained. William had noticed that he had glared at Skunk for ruining their fun as well. He shot air out of his nose at their attempt, it was just a good old-fashioned prank on the fucking new guy.

“So there’s nothing left?” William asked.

“A bit but not really worth it for a few bits of silver dust. Been years since anyone's bothered. Why? You plan on going down there Billy?” Jakob sneered as he tried out the nickname.

That was a name William hadn’t expected to hear. It’d been a long time since he was called Billy but that wasn’t why he didn’t expect it. He didn’t understand how two different cultures would end up shortening William to Bill without someone suggesting it. The spook experiment idea had just gained more evidence.

“Billy? Give the man some respect, he ain’t a kid. Will… Will Tempest,” Victor suggested the more expected nickname.

“Yeah… I agree with the old man. Billy Tempest sounds like an outlaw name,” Skunk threw in. William thought about it and couldn’t help but agree… Billy Tempest sounded exactly like what the outlaws in the old movies would have been named or even the modern criminals he'd dealt with. They’d of course have a nickname, Billy ‘the slayer’ Tempest or something but he could see it.

“Huuhhh… Or you could just ask him,” the Sheriff threw in while shaking his head at his subordinates, “My apologies, a man should be able to pick what to introduce himself as… Except for Skunk, he earned that.”

“Umm… William or Will is fine,” He informed them while the aforementioned Skunk looked like his boss had just betrayed him. He’d have a hard time answering to either one. He may be nineteen according to the window but the thing was broken, he was twenty-nine and had spent a decade being called Remington or Remmy… Billy ‘Remmy’ Tempest? Nah.

“Alright Will it is!” Jakob decided on what people were going to call him.

The Sheriff gave a click of his tongue to the mutant demon horse he was sitting on and it began moving again. They all followed with Jakob whistling a tune and soon made it around the next bend in the river. Just past it was the town of Silverstead.

Will looked at it and decided… Slightly less of a shithole. The town expanded on both sides of the river with a wooden bridge crossing it. All together he couldn't imagine more than two thousand people calling it home but that included all the houses on their side of the river. The near side was full of houses that looked much like the shacks near the mine did. Some had collapsed on themselves and others looked like they'd caught alight and were left to burn.

On the other side of the river, Will could make out people moving around and a collection of better houses with a handful of decrepit ones around the outer edge. They made up at least half of the far side.

“We good to go, boss?” Jakob asked as they entered the main road and made their way towards the bridge. It was a relief as it looked in better shape than nearly everything else in the town.

“Yeah… Think so,” Sheriff Teddy said after a moment, “We don't need to write down we hung anyone today.”

William gulped at how casually the sheriff brought up hanging someone. What made it worse was of course his name was nearly the one they had to write down. He could only wonder how often it happened.

“Alright, well come on Will. Give ya the one-bit tour… you don’t have to pay,” Jakob offered as they got across the bridge. He rode his bakarna over to a rail and hopped off. He wrapped the reins over the pole and whistled at a young boy, tossing the kid a coin, “Bring him up to the stables. Feed and water… none of that shit mixed with grain either.”

“So this is Silverstead?” Will asked the obvious, looking around the town. many of the buildings on that side of the river were in decent shape and were made out of wood with a few brick buildings thrown in. There was also a large brick building at the end of the road that looked like some sort of school, church, or town hall with a bell tower in the center. There were a dozen or so people outside but the noise of at least one nearby building told him that at least as many were in there.

“Yup. So, there’s the town hall. Just to the right is the stables. Left you’ve got the mayor’s house… Big building on the corner is the general store across from that is the jailhouse. The barber… butcher… baker… Doc's place… old mining office… and this here is the saloon,” his idea of a tour was to stand next to Will and point vaguely at each of the buildings as he quickly went through them all, “Come on.”

Jakob steered Will by a shoulder and another hand grabbed his other one, Will looked over to see Skunk grin at him with Will's bag in his other hand. He could only get a bad feeling about what was happening. He was torn between them hazing him, or leading him to a beatdown. They directed him up the steps to the wooden boardwalk that connected each building and into the door of the saloon. Despite the movies, it had wide-open double doors instead of the weird swinging gate thing.

“Our home away from ho-” Jakob said before he was accosted from the side by a top-heavy woman wearing a corset that nearly made her breasts explode from her outfit.

“You got my fuckin’ money?”

“Whoa, listen! Betsy… Now's not the time, we’re showing a newcomer around town,” Jakob smiled at her.

“I’ll give him a free fuck! You want me to do that? Been sayin' I will, I'll it in a heartbeat,” Betsy blurted out which wiped the smile off Jakob’s face. He started digging into his pockets and fumbled a couple bills and coins out. Will had no idea what she was talking about but she looked over at him. She gave him a flirtatious smile with a wink while she pushed her cleavage up even higher. Skunk rescued him from his confusion though, he pulled Will further into the saloon.

“She ain’t talking bout you. She’s talking about his old man,” Skunk said with a grin and sat down at the counter, “Two whiskeys.”

“His dad? Why would she…” it didn’t help his confusion much.

“Would you want to crank one out in the same wench that your pops were wrestling with?” Skunk chuckled as the bartender put the drinks in front of them, “First one’s on me.”

That? ...Will could kind of understand. Using sex as a weapon was a bit much but he could understand a little why Jakob suddenly thought it wasn’t a laughing matter. An easier solution would, of course, be to stop sleeping with prostitutes but he wasn’t going to judge the man he'd just met.

A second round was soon ordered, paid for without a word by a humbled Jakob. Either the embarrassment or the handprint on his face had killed his mood. Will did get to see how much he paid and dug out his money. For the sake of good relations, he put a coin down and bought the third round for the group.

The night went on and on as they started laughing and telling Will jokes. Different prostitutes came up to talk to them and one brunette ended up in Will’s lap when Jakob disappeared with Betsy. He knew he was making a mistake but it had been a long time since he drank and the stuff they were pouring was stronger than what he remembered.

The next morning Will woke up with a throbbing headache as he lay on a hard surface. He opened his eyes to see a plastered ceiling and a moment later a blue window flashed in his eyes. The sudden intense light made him cringe.

Secondary Class available!

Hunter- common

You’ve survived in the wilds and brought down numerous beasts big and small. Unlike for sport you have downed your bounty and took what was needed from it. An honest calling for those who wish it.

Dexterity +1

Strength +1

Vitality +1

Unlocks basic class skill: [Tracking Sight]-Active

Unlocks utility skill: [Tracking]- Knowledge based, [Animal Processing]-Knowledge based

Accept as Secondary Class? Y/N

Will was too hungover and tried to dismiss it without saying no. When it didn’t go away he accepted it.

Class Accepted…

Detecting training…

Class upgraded… Experienced Bounty Hunter-Common

Detecting feats…

Class upgraded… Vigilant Bounty Hunter- Rare

Attribute gained: 100+ Bounties

Attribute gained: Fear the Hunter

Secondary Class applied:

Vigilant Bounty Hunter- Rare

You’ve survived in the wilds and cities. Brought down numerous beasts big and small, both the wild and the sapient. Unlike for sport you have downed your bounty and took what was needed from it or them. You have done this in accordance with the law. An tough but honest calling for those who dare it.

Dexterity +1

Strength +2

Vitality +2

Perception +1

Unlocks basic class skill: [Tracking Sight]-Active, [Forceful Takedown]- Active

Unlocks utility skill: [Tracking]- Knowledge based, [Animal Processing]-Knowledge based, [Restraints]- Knowledge Based

Will suddenly wished he had just left it alone as he felt more information pour into his already cloudy head. He barely was capable of assuming the reason for the upgrades that were now tormenting him was from his time hunting pirates with the fleet but he wished that didn’t count. His only solace was there wasn’t as much information under [Restraints] that he didn’t already know. When he was done he laid there for a moment, trying to recover.

“Was wondering about your second class,” a voice came from the side. He turned his head and saw the Sheriff looking at him from the other side of iron bars. He sat with his feet up on a simple desk and a cup of something steaming in his hand while he stroked his mustache, “Not sure how you got to be nineteen without getting it but then again your first is lower level than it should be...”

“Huh?” Skunk grunted and looked up from a wooden bench across from the Sheriff.

“Go back to sleep skunk,” Sheriff Teddy said as he stood up and walked to the cell, “Don’t care but you lied to me yesterday… I know every man has his secrets but got a few questions to ask. You lie, I’ll know… got a skill.”

He sipped his drink and tapped his head. Will wasn’t sure if that was true but then again [Identify] worked and the nanites had just changed his eyes again slightly. Why wouldn’t they work as polygraphs and transmit the information?

“You on the run from something? Fleeing the law?” The sheriff stared at him. Will wasn’t sure if it was an intimidation technique or how the so-called skill worked. It could have just been the sheriff.

“Ah… no,” he answered… He might be considered Awol at the moment but he wasn’t fleeing and it would be sorted out when he got back to the fleet.

“Intend to break the law here?” The sheriff moved on to the next question.

“No.”

“An occultist?” he immediately asked, a bit of disdain in his voice at the word.

“A what?” Will had no idea what that was!

“Answer,” Sheriff Teddy said calmly but Will couldn’t help but see his hand move towards his weapon.

"Sorry, no,” Will went with the ‘no idea what it is, so obviously I’m not one’ answer.

“Messing with any dark magic?” another weird question came.

“… no.”

“Looking for work?” the sheriff asked in a threatening tone. it was the first time his voice had been anything but calm.

“No- Maybe,” Will was caught off guard by the last question. He looked at the sheriff who was smirking at him. Will had slipped up but now that he thought about it, he would need a way to survive until he was rescued. Best way to do that was to buy food.

“Good enough,” the sheriff walked back to his desk and sat down before putting his feet back up, “Skunk dropped you in there last night to sleep it off... A pence for a cup of coffee.”

“Aren’t you gonna let me out?” Will asked as he sat up on the wooden bunk.

“It’s not even closed,” the sheriff snorted and when Will looked, he realized the door was slightly ajar. He got up and walked over, the door opening with a creak that made Skunk roll around but the man didn’t wake up.

Will walked out and looked around for the coffee maker, after a moment he spotted a kettle sitting on some sort of hotplate. He inspected it but it did smell like coffee and the sheriff was drinking some already. Will dug into his pocket and pulled out a pence. He'd learned that the prior night and placed it into the sheriff’s hand when he reached out for it. Will took a mug that looked relatively clean and poured himself a cup. He had never been much of a coffee drinker but he wanted something to rinse out his mouth.

After drinking half the cup he looked at the Sheriff who was reading a newspaper, “You mentioned work?”

“Gunslinging, bounty hunter… Bounties,” he didn’t even move his head to look up. He pointed with his cup to Will and then a few pieces of paper on the wall before going back to his reading.

Will walked over to the papers and looked, there were six in total with bounties ranging from a single dollar to a thousand. After spending around two dollars the night before he realized how much he was looking at. As tempting as it was though, the lines warning of the dangerous gang leader was enough to deter him from that. He looked at a ten dollar one instead.

Bounty!

$10 for the man who stole

a five shot, 0.3 revolver from

Deathbane Ranch.

Young man, gray shirt

Non local. No identify.

Wanted dead or alive.

Only dead if he shoots first!

Under the crossed-out word was a hastily scratched amendment to the bounty that Will imagined was from the Sheriff. Will looked down at his shirt, it was tan. He decided to stay away from the Landry clan now, they were willing to pay to have the man hunted down and shoot someone that didn't even match the description... The bounty wasn’t even for the recovery of the weapon, they just wanted him dead. A man that Will was nearly mistaken for. Next he looked at another 5 dollar one.

Bounty!

$5

goblins been raiding my barn

Killed two of my milking cows

Hunt them down.

15-20 total, bring ears as proof

to Lemar Ranch

Not paying per ear!

Will took that one down and studied it. He had heard of goblins of course but he doubted it was little green men with sharp teeth. It was probably the name of a species of wolf or other wildlife… Like how goblin sharks existed. He walked over to the sheriff’s desk after taking down the Deathbane bounty. He placed both in front of the man. He moved his paper aside and looked at the two bounties. He took the Deathbane one and crumpled it up before looking up at Will.

“Head out of town going north. Follow the road, Lemar Ranch is only a mile out. Big barn, can’t miss it…” he said and glanced down at Will's waist, “I’d buy more bullets first. Outhouse is round back if you need it.”

“Okay? Thank you,” Will had been expecting some sort of register or log to track that he’d accepted the bounty.

He picked up the slip and walked out the door, blinking in the bright sun before he quickly went back inside. The sheriff pointed at the corner of the room. Will collected his things, strapped on his holster, and put on his hat before heading back out with the rifle slung. He went behind the jail and took care of business before he returned. After a moment’s thought, he walked across the street to the general store and walked in with a cowbell announcing his entrance. His hungover state did not agree with it.

“Be with you in a second!” a man’s voice came from somewhere in the back. Will browsed while he waited and looked at the sacks of flour, hard biscuits, and a few canned goods. His stomach growled, reminding him it’d been a day since he’d eaten anything more than jerky. Which there was a bin full of.

He picked up an apple, a biscuit, and a piece of jerky. He didn’t have much money left and he didn’t think it’d be smart to ignore the sheriff’s advice.

“Ah! A new customer!” a balding, gray-haired man walked from the back room and took his place behind the counter, “That going to be all for you?”

“Do you sell ammo?” Will asked after looking around and not spotting the ammunition.

“’ Fraid not. Gunsmiths two doors down though,” Will nodded and set his breakfast down on the counter.

“Let’s see… that’ll be a dime,” the man said cheerfully. Will nodded and dug through his coins and held one out to the man. His smiling expression changed as he looked at the coin, “And that’s a nickel…”

The man stared at him while Will dug through again and came up with another coin, “Ah… sorry, not from around here.”

“Uhuh,” the man obviously thought Will had just tried to pull a fast one on him.

Will took his food and made a hasty exit. He walked two doors down and entered the local gunshop. The small shop was dull but behind the counter was a line of various types of firearms with the owner sitting on a stool cleaning a rifle.

“What’d ya need?” he asked but didn’t look very enthused to have a customer.

“Umm…,” Rather than risk another misunderstanding with a man that looked well-armed. Will pulled out all the money he had and set it down on the counter, “As much 0.5 revolver and 0.3 rifle ammunition I can get with this… Whatever you suggest for goblins.”

The man looked at the money and reached under the counter he pulled out two boxes of ammo and set them on the counter before taking all but two bits… twenty-five cents. Afterward, the antisocial gunsmith went back to working on his weapons cleaning. It reminded Will that he would have to buy a weapons cleaning kit when he got back to town.

He took the boxes and headed out. Once he was past the outskirts, he got his weapons ready. He filled up the last few spots on his belt and put two more rounds into his rifle. He started heading towards the ranch and ate his food.

“Alright… Hunting goblins…. Just need to figure out what they are, where they are, and if I can even kill them….”

Name: William Tempest

Race: Human-Variant

Age:19

Class: Prodigious Gunslinger lvl 1

Secondary: Vigilant Bounty Hunter lvl 1

Profession: N/A

Level: 1

Health: 102/130

Mana: 75/75

Stamina: 116/120

Vitality: 13

Active Effects:

Hungover- Half total Mana until effect wears off.

Endurance: 12

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 14

Intelligence: 15

Attributes:

Variant Human: +1 Vitality, +2 Strength

Marskman +2 perception, +1 Dexterity

100+ Bounties: +1 Vitality, +3 Luck

Fear the Hunter: Provides fear effect against bounty targets-Active

Focus: 8

Perception: 10

Luck: 6

Utility skills:

[Identify] lvl 3

[Tracking] lvl 1

[Animal Processing] lvl 1

[Restraints] lvl1