2-10: Chasing Ghosts

The plan is to drive straight north then follow the cost up past the Cannibal Plains to Horse's treasure. The gang nears the coast in the dark, in the wee hours of the morning, where they stumble upon a quiet little village. Doesn't seem like a cannibal village.

The buildings seem in good shape. The windmills spin dutifully. But the gang doesn't see a single person here. Even in the dead of night, there's been someone hanging around outside in every settlement they've visited so far—guards at the very least. Walking down the lane without a single person in sight puts the gang on edge, expecting an ambush.

No ambush comes. There really doesn't seem to be anyone here. The gang decides to mark it on their map as "Ghost Village".

The ghost village is right on the edge of cannibal lands, near the cannibal village Jam, Horse, and Outlaw Farmer just had to escape from.

Zooming out lets us see where the gang has travelled so far. Sho-Battai, where Jam started out, is the city in the middle of that cluster in the northeast. In all their travels since then, they've still only seen a tiny corner of the world of Kenshi.

Being on the edge of cannibal territory might explain why the ghost village is a ghost village. It's worth investigating regardless. The bar here is the settlement's only public house, as it were, so the gang starts there rather than going right to rifling through people's homes.

Having fought a beak thing on the way here, the gang is pretty busted up, so those who need to climb into the beds on the bar's roof. Riddly starts poking around behind the bar counter. It's a little eerie—there's plenty of perfectly good fresh food just sitting here. The people here must have vanished very recently. Hoping to find some kind of hint as to what happened, Riddly keeps rummaging around.

Eager to learn more, Riddly scours the bar for more texts but there's no more to be found. She passes the diary pages to Ells, who reads them over and agrees they should try to find the tale's thrilling conclusion while the others sleep. Gingerly they go from house to house, trying not to disturb people's belongings too much as they search high and low. Everything here being in immaculate condition makes it feel somewhat as if everyone just headed out for the night and could come back at any moment even though both know deep down that there's no one left to return. They have ample time to search but it avails them not—there's no more diary entries to be found. They can only assume cannibals got the writer soon after that second entry.

Out of things to do, Riddly and Ells take to strength training, slinging a couple of their comrades over their shoulders and doing laps around the village while the rest heal up. A passing tech hunter gives them a weird look but keeps the silence the Ghost Village's name evokes.

It's night again by the time the gang is ready to get back on the trail of Horse's treasure. True to his directions, they stick to the coast and slip past the cannibal heartland, only a couple times having to duck out of sight of roaming bands.

On the way, they spot what seems like a town off to the southwest. Burn identifies it as Deadcat, a town associated with the fishing village to the east where Jam, Riddly, Ells, and Outlaw Farmer met Horse. Technically, Deadcat is a faction to which all the people in that village belong. Horse counters that the town is right in the middle of the Cannibal Plains; while it may once have been Deadcat, it'd be a bad idea to assume it's safe.

The gang decides Horse has a point and gives Deadcat a wide berth. They keep trekking up the coast. By morning, they've left the Cannibal Plains well behind. This is where Horse's treasure is supposed to be. The "tower of sand marked by a flock of birds, protected by a giant beast".

A few of the gang entertain notions of throttling Horse and throwing his body in the ocean but cooler heads prevail. Frankly his story sounded like a ten-storey tall tale from minute one anyway; can they really be all that mad at him after choosing to pursue it?

Whoever's fault it is, the gang is here. They may as well explore. This far northwestern corner of the world is called the "Leviathan Coast". There's a strange beauty to the purple rocks and sand here and not a single settlement in sight. And what of the eponymous leviathans?

The leviathans are true to their names, making towering palm trees look like no more than houseplants. I forgot to actually select the leviathan for this screenshot so you could see how absurdly strong it is, but an adult leviathan has around 80 Strength, around 50 Toughness and measures the HP of each body part in the thousands. Fighting one would be hilariously suicidal. It's a good thing they're peaceful. You'd have to attack one or get right up in its personal space for it to decide to fight.

Continuing up the coast, the gang admires the majestic leviathans from a safe distance. When they eventually round a corner, they see signs of some kind of settlement after all!

On a closer look, this thing hasn't been anything that could be described as a "settlement" for a long, long time. Who knows how long it's been since anyone has lived in this rusted old can? As grody as it looks, though, this may be cause for excitement. This may be the kind of old ruin that has treasure inside. Maybe Horse wasn't as full of crap as everyone thought. Ells, being the sneakiest, volunteers to sneak up and crack it open.