> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
Apple jolts as soon as she steps onto the fifth floor, the question that had always burned inside of her around the Godsent forcing itself to the front of her mind. She looks around the room, the beating of her heart returning fast. Does that mean there’s a Godsent nearby?
Her observations of the room find no traces of them. She does spot that the rough wet stone of the tunnels previously have been replaced with much smoother bricks of the same colour. Still wet.
To either side of this chamber are several massive alcoves, each holding what seems to be a different kind of Sahuagin in statue form. Directly ahead of her is a wide set of stairs leading up towards a set of grand stone doors. She moves to check the statues, wary of their lifelike appearances.
Her fears turn out to be for nothing as she gently places a hand on the stone of the first statue, finding it smooth and cold. What are these statues here representing? Gods? She moves from the Sahuagin statue that’s holding a five-pronged spear to one wielding a net and that similar strip of material that one Sahuagin had used to hit her from afar. They’re the Sahuagin she’d defeated to get here? But that one with the strange weapon didn’t have a net.
Over on the other side is a Sahuagin with the Coral Shield she currently has sitting in her inventory and a regular spear. Next to that one is a Sahuagin proudly holding their arms across their chest in a cross, both hands holding daggers.
Apple keeps moving, finding a total of five statues that are still standing, the last one wielding the sword she also has. There’s a space for a sixth but it’s empty.
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
She flinches as that question pulls itself to the forefront of her mind again. Attempting to ignore it and feeling its presence in her mind almost unshakeable, she starts up the steps towards the large doors, noticing an opening on the left at the top of the stairs, an opening with light coming from inside. Godsent?!
Rushing over, Apple plasters a huge grin on her face as she enters the room, expecting to find a group of Godsent camping out here, probably about to be surprised at her sudden appearance. Which, that’s not right.
The room is empty, the light coming from a clump of Glowmoss on the ceiling above a rounded pit at the centre of the room. No Godsent. Why would there be?
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
>
> “I don’t know, kid.” One Godsent answers, running a hand through their dark spikey hair. They seem to look around as if an answer might pop out of nowhere, tapping their fist into their palm suddenly. “The dungeon. It’s instanced. You need to be in a party to enter or else you’ll be all alone. That’s good for others to know, right?”
She knew that. She did. Why does it feel like these memories are always popping up at convenient times to answer a question or motivate her?
The empty room seems like it would be a good place to camp before facing whatever challenge is behind that door in the main chamber. But… What else could she do to prepare herself other than wait for her Health to reach its maximum.
Her knapsack is set on the floor as she goes through it. She has the Shark Fangs in here, four of them. She’d used one before so… Out comes one of her spears. She could make one of the five-pronged variants herself, that would only leave her a single regular spear that seems weighted to throwing however. Her crossbow could help with that but reloading in combat would be a risky endeavour.
This is the last floor. Why is she saving materials anymore? Isn’t she going to go back to her normal life once she’s out of here? Her mother, her father, her…
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
Apple flinches away from the question as if it had a physical presence. It’s bringing other thoughts up as it does this, the ones she’d been ignoring, pushing down, and avoiding.
> “They created a Graveyard in town…” The Godsent whispers, rushing into the mist without another word.
>
> Apple can feel the terror within her, one of the townsfolk is dead and Godsent are starting to panic. One of them approaches the body, hands over her mouth.
>
> “They can die?” She asks, voice shaking.
>
> “But I thought we can’t take damage in safe areas?” Another asks, looking into the slowing approaching mist.
>
> “We are. But…” Eyes turn to her and Apple feels herself begin to panic further somehow.
No. Her mother always tells her that the Godsent are strange and foreign to their world, not to be trusted entirely but not to be feared.
Apple jolts. That thought. Her mother telling her that the Godsent are str- What. Apple wracks her mind, trying to think of any time her mother had actually told her that. Maybe she was too young when she was told to remember it but… Her mother doesn’t talk. No, that’s silly. Of course her mother talks, her father would have told her if something like that was the case.
> “My QUACKing QUACK!” The Godsent shouts, spinning on the spot as she stamps out the pain. “Why is that coded into the game?”
>
> “Come on, dumbQUACK.” The Godsent that had waved her father off laughs at the female Godsent. “Let’s head back inside before any PKers think we’re easy meat.”
>
> “Whatever.” The female Godsent grumbles, still rubbing the part of her chest the bowstring had snapped across. When she gets close to her father he speaks up as usual to warn the Godsent.
>
> “Watch out with the dungeon, it contains monsters.”
>
> “Eurgh.” The Godsent that had waved her father off before groans.. “Does he have to say that every time?”
>
> The following Godsent laugh at that for some reason.
Why are these memories coming up again? How are they helping her? They’re not!
Frustrated and not understanding why, Apple pulls up her panel, finding her Health currently at 97%. Three minutes and her Health will be full. She exits the empty room, walking by the doors until she stops, noticing something engraved into the smooth stone.
On the left door are four figures, stylised in such a way that they all seem similar if you ignore their clothing. Each of them with several lines behind their heads to show they’re divine. Godsent. Apple feels her hands curl into fists, not from any anger at the represented figures but in effort to stop another memory overwhelming her.
One Godsent has a wide brimmed hat and a staff, another a large bow and strangely pointed ears, the third stands at the front with a large shield, and the final Godsent is leaping over the first, twin daggers in hand. Apple leans up, letting her fingers feel the grooves and indents of the carving.
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
She hisses as her mind feels like it’s too heavy with thoughts. Moving to the other door she finds something she really hopes not to find once she steps through this passage.
Checking her Health, it’s sitting at 98% now and she decides that’s enough. She can’t wait any longer. Rubbing the tiredness from her eyes and tapping her cheeks, she places her hands into imprints on either door and pushes with all her borrowed Godsent might.
The light to her left dims as the doors open, water beginning to trickle through the crack she’d made, through her legs, and slowly down the stairs behind her. She continues to push, the torrent of water growing and continuing to rush past her, starting to fill the lower floor with the liquid and rapidly starting to rise, getting to the base of the statues strangely fast.
Doubling her efforts, Apple feels like she’s pushing against a mountain, but Godsent are more than a match for this challenge!
By the time the doors are open wide enough for her to step through, the water behind it had levelled off to just above her ankles. Looking back she’s startled at the flooded area behind herself. The room on the left of the doors would be useless now and, even without the entrance turning red, there’s no retreat.
She steps towards her final fight, cursing inwardly when the engraving she’d seen on the door matches the opponent ahead of her. In the centre of a large arena space stands a Sahuagin bigger than any she’d seen before, with two extra arms jutting out of its lengthened torso, her foe holds a net in one hand, a piece of throwing cloth in their other hand, and a metal weapon of some sort. Anchor. That’s what it is. She knows this somehow, maybe her Inspect skill ranking up had overcome its faults- not that she sees any panels for this -to tell her. She eyes the material. Sling. Right, she knows that. Did she know that before though?
Shaking her head, she continues forwards, feet splashing through the shallow water and taking her towards the singular fight standing between herself and the exit ahead of her.
The Sahuagin gurgles, grinning its fishperson face at her. It flexes, moving the anchor from one of its hands to the other, the sling spinning lazily, not yet about to attack but threatening to.
The net is Apple’s worry, it could take her out of the fight near immediately, she needs to make sure it can’t do that. Knowing somehow that once she brings out a weapon this fight will start, she gets a little closer to her last enemy.
This feels like the right time to say something cool before a fight but she can’t find the… Words.
Gritting her teeth she pulls a spear from her inventory, the four-armed Sahuagin starting to spin the sling faster now and ready to throw. No, it’s feinting. She moves closer, water splashing behind her as the Sahuagin fake throws with the sling before putting its actual power into throwing the net out to try catch her off guard.
Apple skids, spear out in front of herself to catch a part of the net, as soon as she feels that extra weight she spins the weapon around, catching more of the net and redirecting the weights to clash around her spear, spinning it like the strange treat she’d seen Godsent eating during a festival in town.
Just as she’s throwing the netted weapon away, she-
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
>
> “She’s really optimistic that we’re going to tell her anything useful, huh?” A Godsent with a two-sided hammer comments to the one that had given her an apple.
>
> “It’s quick exp, dude.” The blonde Godsent responds. “Let’s get moving.”
-notices the Sahuagin closing in, anchor swinging to take her head off. She drops just under it, the force from the swing still pushing her off balance and without letting her regain it the Sahuagin kicks out at her, sending Apple flying back through the air and causing her to land in a heap.
93%
She coughs, forcing air into her lungs.
> “If you can hold a sword, you can keep fighting.” He says finally.
Her sword appears in her hands without even thinking about doing so. And unlucky for her that was the wrong thing to pull as a projectile strikes into her ribs, causing her to yell out.
87%
Her sword swaps for her shield, allowing her perhaps a little time as she moves to stand. The Sahuagin is rushing her again and she’s yet to strike it even once! She can’t afford to get distracted now.
As the enemy goes for a downwards strike Apple moves towards it, getting under its range of movement instead of evading to either side and becoming an easy target. Striking out against the creature with the edge of her shield rewards her with a red line across its muscled abdomen. Her small victory doesn’t last long, the Sahuagin gripping her shield with one hand and pulling it to expose her to a punch from its other free arm.
84%
The lower arms are weaker. She pulls a knife, slams the blade into the wrist keeping her shield from her, then throws herself through the legs of the creature. It’s large compared to herself, allowing her to get close like she just had and get away from it but endangering herself to retaliation from the lower arms.
Hearing the movement behind her she leaps forwards almost like a frog in her mind, clearly avoiding a slam from the anchor. She rolls over as her shield vanishes, crossbow appearing in her hands as she lets a bolt loose, watching it dig into the Sahuagin. It roars in anger and pulls the bolt from its bicep, a small circular red mark left behind.
Wasting time isn’t great and so Apple vanishes her crossbow as she pulls herself to her feet, backing away from her enraged foe as she pulls her other spear.
Another spin of the enemy’s sling has her pulling her shield in her free hand but the monster doesn’t allow her to block it, striking a projectile into her shin, her leg protector only doing so much to reduce the damage that has her shout in pain.
79%
Not ready to let her opponent keep striking her with that weapon, Apple rushes back towards the fight, watching as the Sahuagin’s grin grows, getting its anchor ready for a good swing at her reckless charge.
Just as they’re about to let loose a hit that would surely throw her across the arena, Apple drops from her run into a slide, spear and shield vanishing, knife pulled from her inventory and from her belt coming out to slash across the ankles of the Sahuagin as she passes through its legs once more.
The knives both go back to her inventory as she turns, pulls her new sceptre out, and with both hands slams it against the monster's side whilst it’s turning to grab her. A small impact of flames crackles and spits as it meets the wet flesh of the fishperson, looking like it’s far less effective than Apple expected.
She just has time to vanish the magical weapon to her inventory when the hand that was reaching for her grabs her hair. She’d really expected that hit to do more…
Instead of being dragged into punching range like she expected, the Sahuagin throws her by her hair across the arena. The landing is painful-
75%
-and gets a lot of water into her mouth and nose, causing Apple to splutter pathetically as the Sahuagin takes its time approaching her. Has she even damaged it? She’d created red lines like always but this thing just keeps on moving.
No, it’s stopping. And raising the anchor as if to hit her from much too far away. It had thrown her a whole halfway across the arena! And yet, the swing happens, the anchor released from the Sahuagin’s grip with a strange rattling of chains. Directly at Apple.
Throwing herself to the side she’s only slightly too late to avoid the crushing throw from the massive chunk of metal, the weapon slamming into her leg and causing her to spin as she falls.
63%
Apple tries not to cry. Crying won’t help her get through this. The water in her ears from the spin isn’t helping her disorientation. There’s no special trick she can pull off here, nothing in her inventory to pull out for a sneaky save.
The Sahuagin is charging her now, a chain connecting the arm of the monster to the thrown weapon. So it’s not just a regular melee weapon. She should have figured. Her luck is terrible. And really, why did she ever think she could get out of this dungeon?
The kick pulls air from her as she’s not prepared for it. The foot of the creature is half as big as she is. But, even as she skids across the ground and close to the wall of the arena, that didn’t hurt as much? Actually, that didn’t hurt at all? She’s still having difficulty drawing breath but-
Her cuirass looks battered. It had taken the hit but why had it stopped any damage? She’d avoided the damage somehow? Evasion. She blinks.
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
>
> “Light armour doesn’t hinder Evasion but it’s not good for Damage Mitigation.” A Godsent wearing armour that looks like it’s made from the scales of some creature answers. “Evasion gives you a chance to dodge damage entirely but Damage Mitigation reduces overall damage by a certain percent.”
>
> She nods at this, not understanding it at all but thankful for an answer and an apple.
Evasion, like the Crit effect of her necklace, seems to have a low chance to help. Finally pulling in a breath, Apple struggles to stand. That’s helpful but she’s still going to die.
> “If you can see your enemy, you can keep fighting.” There’s a sound of quiet thunder in the distance.
Her eyes swivel to find the four-armed Sahuagin; it’s pulling the anchor back once more in a nearly identical manner as it had done previously. She scrambles to throw herself to the side again, avoiding the metal turning her into a nice coat of paint for the wall behind her.
Once again shaking her head to clear it, she knows that giving up is the worst thing to do here. She groans as she gets back to her feet again, pulling her crossbow and a bolt from her inventory, rushing to step on the hook of the crossbow and load the bolt. She has a little time whilst the Sahuagin gets to her.
The bolt loaded, she drops to one knee and pulls the trigger just as she notices the Sahuagin letting loose its sling once more. Her bolt hits into the monster’s thigh, and the shot from the sling impacts Apple’s shoulder, pushing her back a little.
57%
It hurts. The pain is fleeting but her left leg aches from the hits it’s taken. The crossbow goes back to her inventory, no weapon coming out to replace it as Apple rushes the enemy. It grins, ready for her.
Her hands come back to grab her sword as it materialises into them, throwing the weapons full weight forwards and letting it pull her into the air slightly as the strike leaves a long mark across the left forearms of the Sahuagin, the arms it had raised to block the attack. She’s thinking that was almost something impressive when the monster’s arms rush out to meet her face and chest, getting in two strikes that, once more, fling her away from it.
49%
Her vision feels fuzzy as she starts getting up, noticing the Sahuagin making a noise of victory as it pulls on the chain to retrieve its weapon. Apple really wants to do something impressive but she’s not exactly got a large bag of tricks. And the Sahuagin seems to be doing something, placing two of its fingers into its mouth. The sharp whistling it makes feels impossible with how the creature’s face and mouth is arranged. Magic? It doesn’t matter.
Apple is on her feet when she notices a red and orange blur swim over to the four-armed Sahuagin, soon joined by a green and blue blur that has her feeling sort of nostalgic.
The two Piranha Shark. And…
Piranha Friend
Creatures with ‘Piranha’ in their name are friendly unless attacked and won’t go into a feeding frenzy around you unless your Health is below 50%.
Apple sighs. It knows. It knows her Health. She’d been surprised on the third floor when the Piranha Shark hadn’t attacked her when the Sahuagin dropped her Health below full but didn’t have time to think why. It seems larger Piranha go into this ‘feeding frenzy’ at a lower Health than the smaller ones.
Out of her inventory comes the potion she’d received earlier, cork out, and drinking as fast as she can, the taste abysmal but her Health and Anima both now have two plus signs next to them. Into her inventory goes the empty bottle.
The four-armed Sahuagin points at her, the two Piranha Shark rushing her right away. It would be nice if these were just the smaller one from the last floor…
Out comes her shield, interposing it between herself and the death swimming its way towards her. If she can use their size to her advantage she might have a chance. A knife in her free hand, ready to attempt to outmanoeuvre her new foes, Apple… Sighs, arms dropping slightly. She can’t hurt them, she’s their friend, right?
The charging sharks seem to see a free meal, mouths opening just a little as they…
Stop.
They seem to sniff her as they’re just about to devour her and fight over who gets to keep the neat trinkets she has. Apple isn’t sure why but when she eyes her panel she feels a slight smile on her lips.
50%++
‘-unless your Health is below 50%.’
Heh. Apple vanishes her shield and knife, moving her hands up to pet the Piranha Shark, watching them wiggle slightly at the affection. Then the sounds of rattling chains makes her realise they’re not suddenly alone. She throws herself to the side and onto the scales of the red Piranha, the Sahuagin’s weapon flying by her.
The shark, seemingly assuming this was her plan, takes off into the air, swimming with its partner around the area before beelining for the only other enemy in the room. The four-armed Sahuagin!
She just has enough time to pull a knife as the red Piranha impacts the side of the Sahuagin, allowing her to use the force of momentum to rake another long line across the torso of the monster before rolling when she hits the ground, falling over herself before she can pull herself back to her feet.
The Sahuagin is being bitten from both sides, the Piranha turning the tables on the one that had summoned them.
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
>
> “Adds are the worst when fighting a boss.” The Godsent with the straw hat is telling her. “Most usually have them when certain things happen. Gives you other things to focus on and you should. Always focus on the adds before going back to fighting the boss.”
>
> She really wants to ask what ‘adds’ are but she just can’t find-
Additional monsters. She gets it now. Apple rushes to help her friends, pulling her spear and hurling it towards their shared enemy. The spear strikes into the back of the Sahuagin as it spins to throw the Piranha away from it. The monster growls and continues to turn for some reason. When Apple hears the chains rattling and anchor starting to move she realises this is something new.
She really wants to shout out for the Piranha to get away but- The Sahuagin spins, the chain picking up from the ground, the anchor starting to grind around the arena before crashing, smashing, then becoming airborne entirely as it spins with the Sahuagin.
Apple throws herself over the chain the first time, falling this the second time as the metal hits into the leg she’d already taken several strikes to, causing her to flip and impact the ground, the third and fourth swings go above her head as two small splashes have her looking nearby in the water.
A light blue core and a soft orange core bob away from the dizzy Sahuagin. They’re still so close even when defeated.
Anger builds in her like she’d never experienced before. Apple touches the two cores, vanishing them to her inventory as she struggles to get up. They’re safe now. But the boss isn’t. What had she been thinking before? That she’s going to just give up? No.
She stands steady to charge and yelps out as her left leg almost buckles under her.
38%++
That single hit had taken her down a full twelve percent. If she’d been hit more than once she would be dead already. And a strange new icon had appeared alongside her Regen++. This one shows a single bone snapped in two and a red background.
‘Broken Bone’
She looks down at her leg, it’s not snapped or broken, it has a large line across it but it seems her Godsent abilities have protected her from any actual breaking of bones. It hadn’t protected her from the effects entirely however.
And. They are her Godsent abilities. What will anybody even do when they know she has them? She’s never heard of a Godsent having their abilities taken away. And she’s not borrowing them from anyone! She hadn’t earned them or been rightfully given them, but they belong to her. And that makes her a Godsent. So she should be acting like one.
Turning her anger into fuel for ignoring the pain she’s in, Apple rushes towards the still dazed boss monster, understanding that the attack is deadly but comes with a period where it can’t defend itself. Getting to it she pulls a knife, grabs the wrist holding the sling, slides her knife across the fingers to loosen them, then pulls the length of material away from the monster, throwing the entire thing away from it and removing a weapon from its arsenal.
Her victory is once again cut short as the monster regains its footing as it lets out an angry gurgling noise. Ducking the grab she knows is coming, Apple spins on her good foot, cutting a red line into the Sahuagin’s belly before she steps painfully on her broken leg. A knee from the monster catches her in the ribs, pushing her away and stumbling once more.
34%++
Turning to rush it again one of the stronger arms grabs her throat before she can even react. With its empowered strength the Sahuagin picks her bodily from the ground, hand slowly starting to crush her neck.
32%++
The knife in her hand comes up, stabbing into the monster's wrist. It doesn’t drop her. She stabs again, again, the hand cutting off her airway.
29%++
It’s not going to let her go. She stabs her knife in again and leaves it, pulling out her sceptre with her left hand, bringing it down into the Sahuagin’s face, getting a nice shower of flames and sparks that cause the Sahuagin to screech as it tries to protect its delicate eyes.
Dropping from the grip, Apple lands painfully on her knees, vanishing the sceptre and already pulling her last dagger from her belt to leave it as a parting gift in the Sahuagin’s knee. She’s then backhanded away from the monster.
25%++
She rolls, splashes, and breathes in deeply once her head is out of the water. Looking at the Sahuagin pulling a knife from its knee and wrist, she grins.
Not wanting to let the Sahuagin get back into the rhythm of things, Apple pushes herself back into the brawl, pulling her shield just as another heavy punch heads her way, impaling the fist on the spiked shield even as the pain from the strike hits her.
23%++
Her sword appears, swinging upwards into the armpit of the creature, it screams in pain now, clearly showing that it’s actually feeling every strike she’s landing on it. In retaliation the Sahuagin grabs her wrist with one of its smaller hands and slams a chain wrapped fist into her face.
16%++
Stumbling away, Apple notices she’d lost grip on her sword just as the Sahuagin is grabbing it and using her own weapon to cut the chains connecting it to the anchor. The chains are then wrapped around its meaty fist, sword in its other hand.
Oh, quack.
The Shauagin stomps towards her, Apple pulling her sceptre quickly and striking it against the ground, the flames impacting the water and not liking them very much, a spray of mist and scalding water throwing itself into the air. Using that distraction Apple moves to the right around the Sahuagin, utilising her good leg to power a full body slam into the creature’s side. Before it can elbow her she drops below the swinging arm, vanishes her shield from her left arm and onto her right as the large copper cauldron appears in her left. She then slams it into the wounded knee of the boss monster, making a rather nice gong sound as it does.
The cauldron vanishes as she throws herself under another strike, avoiding a chained fist to the nose. A sharpened bolt appears in her hand, Apple jabbing that into the thigh of the Sahuagin. She’s feeling victorious before something small and blunt slams into the back of her head, causing her vision to go red as she falls.
9%++
It had hit her with the pommel of her own weapon. That’s just not on. Head feeling a little foggy, Apple turns to face her foe, watching how it’s moving a little slower over to her. So it’s feeling the effects just as much as she is, huh?
She ducks a swing from the sword, blocks the returning pommel strike with her shield-
6%++
-and pushes in again, another sharpened bolt in her free hand. This one finds the meat of the creature’s wrist, letting Apple get a hold on her sword as the Sahuagin’s grip weakens. She hears her Steal skill rank up as she returns her sword back to its rightful owner, spinning as she gains distance, bringing the sword up to slide across the boss's ribs.
And then a chained fist slams into her chest and she’s in the air. The world spins fully once before she drops heavily onto the ground, rolling as she does and hearing her sword splash next to her.
Every pain she’d felt this entire fight feels like it more than doubles, her leg screaming at her. She eyes her Health.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
0%++
Why isn’t she dead? The Health protects her from wounds and certain death. But now, with the pain seemingly intensifying massively, she can figure that once it hits nothing, she’s no longer protected. If she takes another hit, she’s dead.
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
>
> “I dunno, kiddo.” The green eyed Godsent responds, kneeling down to her height. She lets Apple take her namesake like she had done dozens of times before, several today, several the day before, and many many more before then.
>
> For the last eleven years of her life, Apple had done the same thing over and over again. Find a Godsent, receive an apple, ask her question, then wander around until she’s ready for another apple.
>
> “It’s been a whole year since this all started, hey, kiddo?” The green eyed adventurer asks her. It’s strange to get questions in return for her own. It’s also strange that Godsent don’t seem to age. Years pass and no signs of grey hairs or wrinkles. And they seem to call every year a ‘month’.
>
> “You keep getting older and I stay the same..” The Godsent chuckles, though no amusement reaches her eyes. “I worry…”
>
> What the Godsent worries about Apple doesn’t know.
Godsent are immortals that appeared in the lands a short while after Apple was born. She’d been an early bloomer, running around at her young age with her one question and her desire for a singular specific fruit.
She’d watched new Godsent come and go, old ones return and meet up with friends, they all seem to know each other. Sometimes a Godsent will change in some way, a new hairstyle, face paints, clothes, but they’re never any older than they were when they first appeared.
And Apple. She’d grown. Not much and not fast, but by the time she was twelve she didn’t feel so worried about her place in the world. She had her apples and her parents. She…
> She can’t wait any longer, with the fight ahead and not wanting to risk her stomach noises hindering her stealth, she bites into the flesh of the fruit.
>
> It tastes better than any apple she’d ever eaten and she’s eaten plenty. Maybe it’s from the hard work she’d recently done or just her hunger playing tricks-
The taste of the cooled apple comes to her lips, she remembers it so clearly. So powerful a memory she’s sure that she will never forget it. Because… That was the first Apple she’d ever eaten. Maybe she’d eaten one before but they feel like the memory of her mother telling her not to be scared of the Godsent. They’re wrong somehow. But that bite? That was living.
The sounds of chains alert her wandering mind to the Sahuagin moving closer.
Pain wracking her body, Apple pushes herself to her feet whilst she pulls her sword back into her hand.
> “And if you can still breathe, you can keep fighting.”
She can breathe, she can stand, she can see her enemy, and she can hold her sword.
> “Observe, plan, prepare, act, improvise. OPPAI!” The Godsent giggles like she’s said something funny-
Apple feels the smallest of smiles reach her lips. Her eyes flick up to her enemy. It’s heavily wounded, it only has its body and the chain wrapped around its fist. Weaker bottom arms, wounded right knee and left hand.
Her shield vanishes into her inventory, it won’t help to defend her against a hit. She pulls both hands to the sword, keeping its weight steady as the boss monster closes in on her. She remembers how a swing had almost pulled her off her feet one time.
She points her sword towards the Sahuagin, then slowly lifts her arms up, watching as her last enemy approaches. Once she’s done here, she’s free. Free to do as she wishes. Free from the constraints it feels like have been placed on her since she was born.
The Sahuagin pulls its arm back and she moves, stepping forwards to meet the strike as it comes. And as the Sahuagin adjusts its strike she pushes her heels into the ground, feeling the wind from the punch pass by her face as she throws her sword forwards, kicking up with her one leg and letting the weight of the sword pull her into a flip up and onto the meaty arm of the Sahuagin.
The heavy sword starts its second spin and is slightly redirected into the neck of the monster. She’d used the weight of the sword to pull her small frame into a full forward flip, allowing her to land neatly exactly where she’d planned, the sword had kept going and slashes through the mist that the four-armed Sahuagin turns into, Apple falling to the watery floor with the large core the boss leaves behind.
She doesn’t even cry out as she lands heavily on her left leg. She just crumbles, eyes looking across the arena as the red exit shimmers and turns blue.
Apple closes her eyes.
There are no sounds but her breathing. The cold of the water soothes her aches and pains. Is this what her apple had felt like when it was bobbing there on the first floor? Had it wondered where she’d gone and if she would leave it there, uneaten, only to forget it and pass onto the second floor?
She’d gone back for it and it had graced her with one of the most pleasant memories she has of her adventure. The victories against the Sahuagin weren’t ever happy experiences, just ones she was glad to live through. The Piranha Shark were nice once she realised why they were angry, but they’re still scary monsters.
Apple floats, she lets herself calm, she lets her tears that she’d been holding back flow. She’d pushed her issues down so that she could get through this dungeon and up to this point. There had been something wrong right away and she’d tried not to focus on it.
Why do the Godsent all seem so vibrant? So full of life and wonder, so strange and otherworldly? It’s because, compared to her and the other people of her world, they are. Apple had only said one sentence her entire life, the same sentence every time.
It’s not that she ‘couldn’t find the words’, it's that she doesn’t have them. If she tried to speak now she knows words would fail her unless she tried to say the only words she can. Her father is the same perhaps. Her mother… Has never said a word in her life that Apple can remember. But she has memories of her being told things. They’re just strange and devoid of details as well as sound. More feelings than memory.
And… Her name isn’t ‘Apple’. She doesn’t have a name. She never had. Something must have gone really wrong when she was thrown into the dungeon.
The nameless girl opens her eyes. The ceiling of the arena is adorned with Glowmoss like stars from the night sky.
She very slowly sits up. She pulls her sword closer from where it had fallen, securing it in her inventory for now. She looks around, spotting her discarded weapons all around the room. Getting up she keeps her weight on her right leg, picking up a spear first and using it to help walk. She collects almost all her weapons before hobbling back to the large core bobbing in the water where she’d defeated the boss monster. It’s simply labelled ‘Sahuagin Champion Core’. She stores that away with her other things in her inventory.
The girl with no name starts to make her way towards the exit of the fifth floor and on to the safe room but pauses in front of that blue shimmer.
Turning back she heads towards the centre of the arena, pulling something from the water. The spear she’d used to trap the net at the start of the fight and… The net itself. She places those into the last two boxes of her inventory with a pained laugh.
And with that, she makes her way from the fifth floor of the town dungeon, passing through that blue light once more.
When the blue light fades, she sees a fair amount of stairs ahead of herself, which, is just cruel to potentially injured Godsent. The nameless girl limps slowly to the first step, hearing voices now for the first time since before being thrown into the dungeon.
“You need to sleep, Thalia.” A woman is speaking rather loud, something a lot of the Godsent do when talking.
Whatever response comes from that is unheard as the nameless girl takes another step up the stairs.
“It’s been too long.” The same woman says. “You should sleep, people will stay around.”
Another step is struggled up.
“It’s not like anyone could solo the dungeon.” An oddly familiar voice says.
> “I think I messed up somewhere…” One Godsent is mumbling-
Right, the Godsent that had made the mistake of switching their Job without understanding how ranking skills works. The rogue.
“I did.” A gruff voice sounds out.
“Me too.” Another voice says, again familiar.
> Eventually her eyes focus on Apple, a smile coming to her lips for a second. “Well, everyone starts out the same. We call it ‘Freelancer’.-”
The Godsent woman with the large pointy hat that had told her about the Freelancer job.
Another two steps are stepped up. She’s almost at the top and already marvelling at the blue ceiling and the sounds of birds.
“Me three.” A voice speaks up, sounding muffled by a helmet.
“Yeah,” the Rogue Godsent continues, sounding dismissive, “but you lot are Alpha players. They’re just some NPC. There’s no chance.”
The nameless girl can finally see above the stairs, finding the safe room floor set out like a large paradise island. Golden sand surrounded by slowly moving water, the walls of the cave area that vibrant blue of a good day. At the centre of the island are two strange trees that she’d never seen before and around those a crowd of Godsent are standing, sitting, laying down, and even setting up and taking down tents.
“You don’t have to wait here if you don’t want to.” The gruff voice offers to the Rogue Godsent. That voice belongs to a large blue furred Godsent that looks like a bear learnt to walk on its hind legs. A beastperson? Very rare.
“I’m allowed to wait here. I got here.” The Rogue Godsent grumbles, folding his arms and then going suddenly silent.
The nameless girl steps up onto the final step, noticing a small sand connection to the stairs that will allow her to cross onto the island. She also notices voices fading out and coming to a stop. Silence other than the sounds of birds and waves.
She looks up at the group, eyes falling on a familiar Godsent raising her head from her chair facing the stairs. The green eyed Godsent stares at the nameless girl, those vibrant eyes widening, a yellow fruit dropping from her hands.
> “What’s something you can tell me that would be helpful for others to know?”
She has to be careful with how she does this. She only has a couple handfuls of words she can say. When the nameless girl speaks up, it’s disjointed, it’s difficult, she has to take a breath between each word to prepare for the next.
“-can- … -you- … -help- … -me-” The nameless girl asks as she stumbles forwards.
The green eyed Godsent shouts something as she springs from her chair, sand spraying up behind her as she rushes for the nameless girl. She gets to her just in time to catch the small girl from hitting the sand of the island.
“It’s okay.” The Godsent whispers, picking the nameless girl into a princess carry. “Yuna!” She calls again, moving the girl into the crowd before a few Godsent start to push others back as the whispering and talk builds up again.
“Holy QUACK.” One Godsent is repeating. “Holy QUACK! How? How??”
“An NPC can solo the dungeon and you can’t.” Another taunts the Rogue Godsent, then there’s sounds of a scuffle that’s broken up quickly.
“They already have a Regen buff,” the green eyed Godsent tells the others, how she knows the nameless girl has no idea, “who has stronger healing magic? They’ve broken something. Raven, keep the others away from us for a moment.”
There’s a muddled amount of sudden chattering as a white light flashes at the same time dark shadows flicker to life for a moment. The duality of the visual is rather pretty. And the white light is making the nameless girl feel better.
She’s laid onto a comfy blanket but to do so someone takes her bag. She tries to weakly protest but the voice of the green eyed Godsent comes once more, soothing this time. “It’s okay. I’m not taking it. I just need to lay you down until your strength returns.”
Trusting her, the nameless girl lets her knapsack be removed from her back.
“Where the QUACK did they get leather armour from?” The Rogue Godsent is asking as another Godsent arrives in full plated armour, a greatsword somehow stuck to his back.
“Back up.” The Godsent in the armour says simply, the voice muffled by the helmet. It sounds like such a threat that the nameless girl is almost worried.
“Yaga, do you have anything you can add?” The green eyed Godsent asks the Godsent with the pointy hat. Yaga. They have names.
The nameless girl chuckles at that thought, of course Godsent have names, why is she so surprised.
“Well,” Yaga speaks up, pulling a thin pearlescent staff from nowhere, “at least their humour is intact. I can raise their Vitality a little but that will only speed up their Health Regen rate. It’s separate from regular Regen effects.”
“Good, thank you.” The green eyed Godsent sighs, catching the nameless girl's eyes and grinning. “You’re being very brave.”
It’s either that small praise or the magic that Yaga is casting that has the nameless girl feeling even better. To show how brave she is, the nameless girl holds her hand up, pulling the Sahuagin Champion’s Core from her inventory, matching the green eyed Godsent’s grin with one of her own.
“Holy QUACKing QUACK. No QUACKing way.” One very potty-mouthed Godsent says. “They have an inventory?!”
Oh, yeah. That would be surprising for them, wouldn’t it?
“Well done, kiddo.” The green eyed Godsent praises her again. “You keep that safe now and we can talk about things in a moment when you’re feeling better. What’s their Health looking like?”
“You really shouldn’t turn off your entire UI, Thalia.” Yaga sighs. “But they’ve just hit about ten percent.”
The nameless girl vanishes the core before showing one finger, then three.
“Thirteen percent?” Thalia (she knows the Godsent’s name now!!) asks.
The nameless girl nods, smiling weakly and showing she can sit up by pushing herself off the ground, arms feeling like rubber. She manages it though.
“What can I get for you?” Thalia asks, checking over every red line across the nameless girl’s limbs.
She mimes drinking.
“Water? I have water.” Thalia answers quickly, pulling a flask from her hip and handing it to the girl, who immediately starts to down the liquid, not caring that she’s wasting a little. She gets a few laughs from that before the large blue Godsent clears his throat.
“Should we maybe get some food in that belly of theirs?” He asks with a light smile that shows sharpened fangs.
“Sure, Blueheart, thanks.” Thalia sighs, falling back onto her rear in the sand, not taking those green eyes from the nameless girl.
Blueheart. That’s another name she has. She looks at the nervous looking girl in white robes, giving a questioning look to Thalia.
“Oh. Let me introduce to you my friends.” Thalia takes the silent question immediately.
“That’s Yuna. She’s probably the best healer around.” The white robed Godsent blushes, pulling her hood up to hide her face.
“That’s Blueheart.” She points at the blue furred Godsent setting up a fire with the most beautiful cooking pot that the nameless girl had ever seen.
“Raven is the one with the scythe.” The nameless girl looks to find a dark haired Godsent holding what looks like a scythe made from the darkest wood in the world and a blade that looks like similarly pitched glass.
“Stenn is keeping the others from crowding you.” Thalia motions with a tilt of her head to the armoured Godsent.
“Yaga is our resident Enchantress.” Yaga sticks her tongue out at the nameless girl, her pointy hat flopping slightly.
“And I’m Thalia. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Thalia finishes, hand to her chest. “Do you have a name?”
The nameless girl frowns. She’d had a name before her realisations on the previous floor. Is it still her name? Can she just choose a name if she desires? It’s just that simple, isn’t it? The memory of the first bite of that fruit still in her mind, Apple opens her mouth and…
Ah.
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t feel like it.” Thalia says gently. “Or, if you… Can’t?” She’s rather perceptive.
Apple nods at that, feeling once more a little better to have her name. Not one she’d just suddenly had, but one she’d chosen to use for herself. It may be the same word, but the feeling is entirely different. Apple is her. She is Apple.
“What about pronouns?” Thalia asks, looking a little more comfortable now before she panics as she realises she’d dropped something earlier, scrambling to find it.
Apple looks up to Yaga to see if she can explain what that was.
“She was asking about gender expression.” Yaga answers her, not entirely sounding right. “It would be easier if we had a pen… Can you write?”
Apple nods.
“Good. Thalia should have a pen on her somewhere. She’s taken up smithing recently and I cannot figure out why. She’s strange.” Yaga laughs when Apple frowns at that last statement. “Calm yourself, child. I mean it with all affection.”
“Found it!” Thalia shouts happily as she shows a golden object before rushing over to Apple, presenting her with the item. “I’ve been holding onto that for a little while now, for a special event or something. For you.”
Apple’s eyes go wide as she Inspects the golden fruit in her hands. Her Inspect ranking up instantly as she does.
Golden Apple
Legendary (Life/Magic)
“You could sell that thing for… I don’t even know how much.” Yaga sighs quietly, rubbing her forehead for some reason.
Apple is simply enraptured with this item. Legendary? What would it taste like? She can feel herself salivating just at the thought. She’s about to bite into the golden flesh of the fruit when a blue hand covers it.
“You give me a few minutes and we’ll get a proper meal for you,” Blueheart informs her, “you can save that for another day, yeah?” The beastperson winks cheerily.
Apple nods, moving her eyes from the apple to the cooking pot Blueheart is adding diced up chunks of meat to. Oh! She can help here! She scrambles to find her knapsack, Thalia reading her intentions and holding it up to her so that Apple can check through the contents. She pulls out the bowl she’d wrapped in Sea Kelp, moving over to Blueheart and offering it out.
“Oho? What am I being gifted?” He asks, taking the bowl in his large hands(paws?) gently, unwrapping the Sea Kelp and looking at it curiously before checking the clumps of white crystals inside the bowl. “Salt. Seasalt.” The Godsent starts to laugh at that. “What other surprises do you have with you, little one?”
Apple thinks for a moment before pulling a handful of Muskgrass from her inventory, presenting it to the Godsent for inspection. He takes a single piece, sniffs it, raises his eyebrows before chomping on a little, chewing thoughtfully.
“Wow. Garlic! They brought me a plant that tastes like garlic. I didn’t even think that was in this-” He falters as Thalia glares at him. “-world.” He finishes before adding a cheeky, “I think I’m their favourite.”
Thalia looks almost offended. Well, if she’s giving out gifts.
Rummaging through her backpack once more, Apple pulls out her spool of Glowmoss thread, presenting it to Thalia with a grin.
Thalia takes the offered gift, looking over it with her mouth slightly open. She rolls a little thread out before her jaw falls slightly. “How… Where did you?” She asks.
Apple pulls the remaining Glowmoss from her inventory in a large clump, showing it all to Thalia and handing it over with the thread.
“Did they… Steal the moss lighting the dungeon?” Blueheart chuckles as he looks over from throwing in some of the Muskgrass to the boiling pot.
“Looks that way.” Yaga murmurs, alerting Apple to her also needing a gift. She remembers the staff the woman had pulled, rummaging once again in her things before pulling out the dozen pearls from her knapsack and presenting those to her.
Yaga’s eyebrows skyrocket so high they could knock her pointy hat off if they weren’t limited in movement. “I can’t accept these at all, child.” She gasps. “You would… No. You keep those for yourself. Those are worth at least a hundred gold coins each. And you’re just offering them like you’re not trying to hoist two dozen gold bars worth of currency on me.”
Apple isn’t exactly sure what gold pieces and gold bars are all about. Does that mean fifty coins is one bar? Either way she puts those back away, looking for something she can spare.
“Child. I don’t need a gift, that is alright.” Yaga soothes the frantic searching. “Relax. How’s your Health doing?”
Name: Apple, Piranha Friend
Health: 34%++
Anima: 91%++
Freelancer
| Strength
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: C )
| Agility
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: C )
| Vitality
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: B )
| Intellect
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: C )
| Mind
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: C )
Skills
| Gather
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: D )
| Inspect
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: D- )
| Stealth
| ◼◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: D- )
| Steal
| ◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: E- )
| First-Aid
| ◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: E- )
| Fish
| ◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: F+ )
Craft
| Tailor
| ◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: E+ )
| Specialisation: Leather
| Alchemy
| ◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: F )
| Fletch
| ◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: F )
| Cook
| ◼◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻◻ ( Rank: F )
Her eyes widen once more as she stares at how high her Vitality is all of a sudden. Is that what they’d meant by that? She checks her little icons showing effects and finds a new one specifically for that. ‘Massive Vitality’.
She gets a little excited at that, trying to figure out a way to show them when Thalia speaks up.
“If you have a status window, you can share it with one of us if you’d like?” She suggests, pre-empting Apple’s next question with, “Just think about us and showing it, some say physically trying to move it helps.”
Apple tries to push on the edge of her status panel, nothing happening until Thalia gasps.
“Wow! Look at you, kiddo.” Thalia smiles. “Four whole unique crafting skills? Proud as heck of you. Three D ranks, one is Inspect, that’s interesting. Steal and First-Aid on E. Tailor almost into D rank. That’s brilliant. What’s this title?”
“Do you have a pen?” Yaga asks. “They can write.”
“Oh, yeah.” Again Thalia starts patting at her pockets, grabbing a carved wooden case from a pocket, opening it and showing off an ink pen that looks like it had snapped in two. Thalia pulls one end out, inserts a small capsule of some kind inside it, then screws the tip on before handing it and a sheet of slightly browned paper, assumedly, pulled from her inventory.
Apple sticks her tongue out as she writes, hearing a chuckle from the two female Godsent near her. Once she’s written out her explanation of the title she hands it over to Thalia, the woman reading it slowly before grinning.
“You made friends with those things?” She asks, sounding proud of Apple once more, “That’s brilliant. I was told to just stay by the gate whilst Raven cleared the dungeon floors to get me here. Didn’t know that was a thing.”
Apple tilts her head, Yaga picking up that question easily.
“She’s a pacifist. Can’t even bring herself to kill a rabbit even in a…” Yaga also hesitates at some strange word. “In a pinch.”
“Oh, what about pronouns?” Thalia asks again like she wants to change the conversation again. “Simpler, are you a boy, girl, or anything else?”
Apple tilts her head at that question. She’s a girl, right? That’s what she thinks anyway. But… She looks down at herself, wearing battered leather armour and a simple cloth shirt and pants below them. She’s not any different to her mother or father. Ah. Her mother is a tailor and father a guard. She doesn’t want to be a guard and she would generally lean towards ‘girl’ for herself as well as wanting to do more things like her mother. She writes down her reasoning and presents that to Thalia.
Once Thalia reads that she laughs for a second before turning it into a cough, grin still on her face as she looks at Apple. “Sound reasoning. We sort of couldn’t ever… Tell, you know? Your hair is longish but you’re still a kid and kids don’t have… Well they’re… Wow, how do I even explain that to her?”
“You can’t really.” Yaga offers, the two of them talking over Apple like she wouldn’t understand something.
“Well, either way. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Apple.” Thalia smiles softly now, getting a returning smile from Apple.
“Food’s ready.” Blueheart shouts out, motioning for Stenn and Raven to join them as he dishes out stew into several bowls.
Stenn, the Godsent in the armour, sits with a few clanks before pushing his helm up to eat. She recognises him! That’s the Godsent that said he likes using a shield and sword! Or, as he put it, ‘sword and board’. Excited at recognising another Godsent she waves a little to get his attention, spoonful of meat stopping before his mouth.
“Yeah?”
Apple materialises her Coral Shield and Sahuagin Hand & A Half Sword to show him that she remembers what he’d said once.
The look on the Godsent’s face goes from a little confused to a near manic grin, eyes almost glowing. “Tell me she’s asking for a duel.” He asks Thalia.
“I think she’s just showing off for you?” Thalia offers questioningly.
Apple nods, vanishing her equipment and motioning to her own hair to describe a ponytail of sorts then holds her hands out like before.
“Oh. I think she remembers you from when you had the ponytail.” Thalia translates, Apple nodding.
Stenn’s eyes darken. “I chased him from the world entirely. And it’s not enough to replace what he took.”
Woah. Scary.
Apple lets him eat as she takes her own bowl, Inspecting it happily.
Filling Ursa Stew (Hot)
Epic
Epic? Is that the rarity between Rare and Legendary? Wouldn’t that be an almost maxed out Cooking skill? Woah. She happily tucks in, blowing on the food below eating happily.
She watches as Raven wiggles a hand to get Blueheart’s attention, she then holds her finger up, pivots it side to side a few times, then motions to the meat in the stew.
“Where?” Blueheart asks, seemingly getting a word from that motion. “There’s a forest to the south with a bunch of large bear mobs. They only come out on a clear night, they’re literally invisible and intangible otherwise. Almost like our shy friend over there.” Blueheart points at a bowl rising from the floor itself, full of stew.
Yuna squeaks as she suddenly becomes visible, sneaking behind Yaga to hide from people. Very shy?
“Cannibal.” Stenn mumbles through a mouthful of food.
“Literally how?” Blueheart asks, throwing his arms up.
“You are a bear, right?” Yaga asks with a light laugh.
“I’m not a bear, I'm just fluffy.” Blueheart grumbles, going quiet as he eats quickly.
Apple giggles quietly at that, enjoying the way each of these people talk with each other. These are the Godsent she’d imagined when she’d picture powerful people travelling together to right the world’s wrongs.
She listens to them banter for a while, switching from teasing Blueheart to trying to coax Yuna out from behind Yaga. Yaga, for her part, seems entirely okay with the younger girl clinging to her as she eats.
When Yuna finally sits down in the little circle they’re making, Apple scoots a little closer and gives her a smile that she hopes will help. Yuna sees the smile and freezes. A few seconds go by and Apple thinks she’s just broken the girl, but then she vanishes from sight.
“She’s really not good with people looking at her,” Yaga explains, “but she’s really fierce when people she likes are in danger.”
Raven starts moving her hands around again, making different signs that the group focus on when they’re happening. When she seemingly finishes, Yaga grins, Thalia sighs, Blueheart chuckles, and Stenn grins even more than before.
“She’s reminding everyone that the last time Yuna got a bit too fierce,” Thalia translates for Apple, “that she got chomped up by a dragon.”
Apple is startled at that. This group has fought a dragon? Did they win?
She scrambles to grab the ink pen once more, stopped by Thalia’s laugh and motion to calm down. “Calm, kiddo. Yaga?”
Yaga clears her throat. “Okay, so, way further south than those special bears Blue just fed us-” She starts, springing into a long story about the group sans Thalia journeying out in search of a dragon that they’d heard rumours about. It involves plenty of bandits, a shockingly large amount of descriptions of meals and walks they’d been on, several side tales about smaller adventures they’d done, and finally the worrying tale of how they found out that the dragon had begun to track them instead of the other way round.
Apple scoots a little closer to Yaga now, listening intently as she recounts how they’d been snuck up on by the creature in the middle of a forest. Apparently the dragon was able to change the colour of its scales to blend in with the environment. It had grabbed Stenn first, not that it could keep him down. Stenn pulls out a large shield from his inventory with a red gem in the centre of white steel. The shield that he’d used to defend against the dragon’s powerful breath. They’d been told it was a red dragon, and thus assumed it could breathe fire. They’d been wrong, it was green. Apple isn’t sure what that means until Thalia informs her that its breath is like spitting acid.
The tale gets specifically intricate, Blueheart chuckling at being described as reckless for climbing the dragon's flanks with his daggers. And then they get to Yuna being eaten. Raven had apparently taken a nasty swipe from the dragon’s claws and needed healing, the healer, Yuna, instead decided to go right up to the legendary beast and bonk it with her staff and start admonishing it for poor conduct.
There’s an invisible but not unheard whine from nearby.
And then the story ends with them all laughing at how the Dragon had gone on to take them all out. They seem in a good mood about a tale where they all died, Stenn even announcing he can’t wait for their rematch.
By the time that tale is done, the bowls are piled up and given back to Blueheart. They’d all had second portions and Thalia had even broken out a loaf of soft bread for the occasion. Happy and satisfied, Apple lets her eyes wander.
Staring at them are… Oh. Everyone. Everyone has been staring at them and now that she catches one of their eyes it seems like a silent bell had been rung to allow them closer.
“Hey,” the Rogue Godsent says first, getting to them before anyone else, “they actually have stats?”
“She.” Thalia corrects easily, patting her pockets like she’s trying to find something.
“She have stats?” The Rogue Godsent asks, staring at Apple in a strange way.
“What’s it to you?” Stenn asks, rising from his seated position, helm dropping slightly to cover his face once more.
“I just… She’s unique, right? They can’t have stats! They don’t… She talked earlier!” The Rogue is trying to explain something, Apple entirely unsure what he’s getting at. Well, yes she can’t have stats but he seems to be getting at something.
“Looking for a duel?” Stenn asks, sounding to be mocking the Godsent. What is going on?
“We just want confirmation! This is going to be the biggest news on the net for a long while! She’s a sentient NPC, an actual AI!” The Rogue shouts, Thalia jumping to her feet and rushing to clasp her hands over Apple’s ears.
Yaga seems to get what’s going on, casting some unheard spell that mutes all sound around them whilst Thalia rushes to start a shouting match with the Rogue Godsent. Unsure what’s happening, Apple sticks by Yaga, watching the others discuss something with the surrounding Godsent. It seems the meeting of them had become a thing out of mild interest but her exiting the fifth floor alive has caused a change in the crowd.
Just in case anything happens, Apple pulls her sceptre from her inventory, holding it ready to swing if a fight breaks out. That’s when Yaga does something to push the bubble of silence away from them but still block outside sound.
“And what is that little treasure you’re holding, child?” Yaga asks, eyes on the sceptre.
Apple shows her the gem on the top, pulls it free and offers each individual part to be checked over, trusting this Godsent enough to allow that. She definitely wouldn’t trust that Rogue Godsent with her things.
“A rare sceptre. That’s very special, where did you find that?” Yaga asks, distracting Apple from Raven leaning on her scythe handle as a Godsent tries to get close to Thalia. That Godsent backs up pretty quick.
Apple shows four fingers, then motions to rise up out of the darkness on that floor and to the left inside a hidden area. She crouches, piles up some of the sand to show the mountain, then jumps her finger around it until she sets a shell from the beach at the top of the hill.
“Ah. There’s a challenge room on floor four?” Yaga interprets, smiling at the presentation.
Apple nods.
“That is a wonderful bit of knowledge to have. Thank you, child.” Yaga smiles down at Apple, making her forget the event happening outside their sphere of silence. She sets the ruby back into the sceptre and hands it back to Apple. “If we can do something about that speech problem of yours, we might be able to learn you some magic.”
Perking up even more at that, Apple looks around for Yuna the healer, she can cast things silently, right? She saw that!
“Ah,” Yaga seems to understand what she’s looking for, “Yuna does speak her spells. She just whispers very quietly. She actually raised her Stealth skill up to max just for that, even Blue hasn’t bothered getting his Stealth to max yet and he’s a Rogue subclass.”
Apple stares back over at the figures getting the crowd to disperse now, it seems Stenn is guiding a few Godsent over to the other side of the island for some reason. The Godsent seem angry and confident about something. Stenn seems like he’s about to hurt them.
With the others returning, the mood is a little more sombre than before, but Thalia grins as the silence bubble is popped. “Alrighty, Apple. If you want we can head out of here? We might need to deal with some big things in the days to come but we can take things one day at a time.”
For some reason Apple’s heart beats a little faster as the group looks towards the one green exit from the dungeon. This is it, isn’t it? She’s leaving, she’s getting out of here. And from now on she’ll be free to do what she wants.
“Can I try one thing before we leave?” Thalia asks, voice full of curiosity.
Apple shrugs her acceptance before a new panel pops up.
‘Thalia Harvestmoon’ has invited you to their Party!
Accept / Decline
Apple accepts, watching as another panel shows her name and Thalia’s for a moment before fading from view, able to be called back when she concentrates on it.
Smiling and taking the hand Thalia offers to her, Apple heads into the shimmering green light of the exit and onto another new adventure.