Anna took me to a chapel next to the main building, connected by brick but not by doors. As the main door creaks open, we are greeted by a marble bed, with an inviting motherly woman lying in it with her arms open, the light hitting her illuminating it as we enter “This is the chapel of Pasithea, which offers rest in times of need. She watches over us, me, the children, everyone… but… I’ve been having bad dreams, of creatures in the dark, underneath the chapel nya…” She points to a trapdoor to the right of the statue, past the pews and prayer desk.
I feel something from it, dark, foreboding… or that's just the vibe?! It’s kind of hard to tell at this point, all I know is that she is scared… and I'm scared for her. That she has lived in fear of this place, that she considers so holy. “I can take a look, maybe wait outside while I open it moo?...” She hesitates then nods and steps back through the door. I hear the crunching of grass as she makes her way back to the kids.
“Alright, I guess I'll do what I do best… go into the mouth of the beast moo…” I approach the trapdoor and pull it up and open, a ladder goes down into the abyss of darkness… I didn't bring a light… Why do I do this to myself?!
I step on the ladder carefully, trying to navigate around the fact that I have hooves now, carefully careffuulllyyy! As I descend all I hear is my hoof-steps, the darkness makes no sounds… either that means it's empty… or there's hundreds of monsters that don't make sounds… I know what I would prefer! Clop Phew… I hit the bottom and feel the stone under my hoove as it hits, echoing through the room, as I turn around I see a glow instead of darkness, from the corner of the room, behind wooden boxes.
Damn… I guess there is something down here… at least the glow is static… As I approach I see that it's a hole?... Like a thing that's been dug through by a large animal, it goes from the corner of the room and could easily fit me inside standing up… whatever made this was massive! The light comes from around the edges of the hole, blue pure crystals make a perfect ring around it and then go deeper into it. I can’t help but press my hand against it, running it over the beautiful things…
< Dungeon ‘Nightmare of the past’ found >
< You have been the first person to discover this Dungeon, Dungeon is locked to you for the next 7 days, only with your permission can other adventurers enter in this time >
< The Guild will be interested in such a development >
I pull my hand away stunned, O-oh… oh?!
< Received Quest due to pre-requisites met! >
Rescue Anna from the nightmare
Anna has fallen into her own nightmares, beneath the Goddess of rest she waits, complete the dungeon and save Anna
Reward
Silver City Renown + 500
People Associated with the Orphanage will have 1 to 2 levels of increased favor towards you.
5000 gp for first clear of dungeon
5000 exp for first clear of dungeon
Anna’s Childhood Momento (Story Item)
Continuation of questline
Counts towards Guild Ranking Quest
Failure conditions
Must be completed within 1 Week
Anna will perish if not completed by players.
Wait… Anna?! But she was just h-... fuck! I run nearly tripping over the boxes, up the metal bars and out the door.
“Moostress wake up… wake up moo!!” As I exit I see Anna slumped up against the front door of the Orphanage. She had pushed it open and collapsed, half up the stairs, half in the doorway. Cali is shaking Anna, trying her best to wake her up. I have to pull her off her as she clambors to grasp onto her, starting to scream in panic at losing someone else.
“Shh shhh I’m here love, I’m here for you she’s going to be okay!” I cradle her close and yell for help to move her to her bed. A few of the helpers pick her up and take her further into the building. I do my best to calm Cali down. She says she went to follow us when she saw we were missing… Poor thing having to see this…
I yell out for someone to go and tell the guild that there is a dungeon under the Orphanage chapel. The helper instantly panics and runs off before I'm able to tell them anything else… I guess they have the jist of it. I slump down in one of the couches of the main area inside and hold Cali tight… Every so often I hear her say something about if she doesn't let me go I can't leave as well… I hold her closer and tell her sweet nothings. At some point I must have dozed off because I wake up with another hand holding onto Cali. Samantha has joined me on the couch and she and Cali have their foreheads together as she hangs off me.
“Wahaha I hear there's a dungeon to be slain grar!!!” A tall heavily armored beast has entered through the front of the Orphanage. They exude stupid confidence from every bristle of their fur that sticks out of their armor. “I Maximus the Destroyye-!” They are suddenly thrown forward as they seem like they are about to start up a speech.
“That's enough of that you damn moron! I brought you with me because you said you were going to behave! You're scaring the kids!!!” Mershi is standing over him, kicking his side as he pleads for mercy, every kick seems to dent the metal at his side. “You know the rules! The one who finds it gets first dibs! Don't make me strip you of your rank! Tsk!” She spits on him and turns to the Orphanage, instantly changing her demeanor. “Hiii it's your favorite Auntie here to make sure you're all safe~”
She wanders in and everything seems to calm down instantly, by the way all the helpers and children rush over. She seems to be not only a constant visitor, she's also very popular. After a few minutes of placating the crowd and making sure everyone's okay, she comes over and pats Cali and Samantha together on their heads.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Cali looks up and asks Mershi still in my arms “I-I’s Moostress going to be okay moo?...” Mershi smiles at the question.
“Of course! It’s not the first time this kind of thing has happened, the dungeon is connected to Anna, but you know why you don't have to be afraid?” Cali sadly asks back why, “Because your big Moo sister is going to save her that's why!”
Cali looks up at me in hope and I do my best to look cool, pushing out my muscles to inspire confidence in the small moo. She needs something to be hopeful for, even if I might fail. If it's dream stuff… I can say I'm the least qualified with all Ive got going on in mine! But at least I’ll try.
“So you let Anna rest a few days while she gets ready for it, yeah? There's lots of preparation to do before going into a dungeon, we’ve got to make sure your big moo is safe, yeah? So you just stay healthy and ready to welcome Anna back!” Cali looks pumped up and nods, pulls herself out of my grip, grabs Samantha’s hand and rushes to the middle of the room.
“SHE WILL BE THE HAPPIEST TO BE BACK MOO!!” The 2 of them dash upstairs as I look confused in their direction.
“That will keep her busy while everyone gets ready. Heh, kids are too easy to placate…” Mershi looks at me seriously, “You better be ready for this… tell me everything you know”
We spend a few minutes on the couch as I spill everything I saw, the smell of fish not exactly making me feel the best but I hold myself back not wanting to be rude.
“Alright… I'll send someone to check the energy of the area, they should be able to figure out more about it and how strong it should be… If we find out its way above your rank we may have to bring someone else to take it down, most likely me, so you can make the decision then… I’m glad it was you that found it… Goddamn calamity cow we should call you hah!” I can only pout and feel a little worried… Is it an effect of my bad luck or my ‘new’ good luck that this is all happening to me?... I already felt like a calamity in real life.
“I’m going to hope that such a name doesn't stick, thanks moo!” She shrugs laughing and slaps me on the shoulder, throwing me across the couch. She gets up and holds out a hand to pull me up, I oblige and she effortlessly pulls me to my hooves. I really wonder what her level and rank is… but I feel it would be rude to ask. I might be a calamity but I've never been rude!
Speaking of ranks… I never actually opened my rewards to get my Guild certificate! I’m going to need it to actually prove who I am… having Mershi around acted as a ‘ignore this cow she’s with a tough bitch so don’t mess with her’ but myself I just look intimidating!
“It's going to take a little bit to make sure everything’s good on the guild side, so I'll see you tonight at the festival, yeah?” Mershi asks bluntly but not actually expecting an answer, already knowing I would be there, “Anna usually brings the kids there… so I’ll bring them tonight instead, get them out of the building… Anna loves seeing the moon across the clear water so much… it’s a shame I won't see her face there this time…” she looks wistfully at the thought, so much longing in her demeanor… Is it cause the kids won't get to be there with Anna or?… My brain connects some things together like it never has before.
“Mershi… do you like Anna moo?...” She reacts viscerally like I just slapped her across her fishy face, the stuttering, her face going from bluey white to bright red like all the blood in her body has risen into her face, oh! Oh shes got it fucking bad.
“N-no!? W-why would you bring up such a th-thing! I’m doing this for the kids! I would never have ulterior motives!” She looks like she’s about to fight me and I flinch back, she sees this and becomes somehow even more red, before turning around and running out the door… she comes back briefly to drag the still body of the beast man from before with her… I completely forgot about him… I'm sure he's fine? Mershi is really getting more adorable the more I learn about her heh.
I pull out the rewards bag and open it up, getting flooded by notification after notification.
< Received rewards hidden quest ‘Guild Recruitment’ >
< Received rewards for ‘clearing the Arachne Cave’ >
< Received rewards for ‘Saving the life of a child’ >
< Received rewards for ‘Defeating the True Arachne youth’ >
< Received rewards for ‘Uncovering a truth of the world’ >
< Received rewards for ‘Guild Rank Up’ >
Oh… I guess a lot did happen?! I start to go through the notifications, not all of it is ‘stuff’ there's a few things like Titles and renown, as well as restrictions being lifted on the guild, as well as benefits in Silver city, oh and just straight up exp! Oh that's very nice, yup a level up even from just opening a bag, damn!
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500g
1400g
3146g
1000g
Guild Identification Card Rank E
4000 Exp
Silver City Renown + 50
Arachne Fang (Dagger)
Title ‘Killer of a True’
3200 Exp
Silver City Renown + 200
Title ‘Truth Seeker’
Crystal Fragment x 2
Crystal Fragment x 2
2900 Exp
Silver City Renown + 130
The Silver City Guild Master Acknowledges your ‘group’ as ‘Semi-Capable’
The last words and Testament of Ariandel, 56th Daughter of the First Arachne (Book)
Unlocked Ability to Hire transport to other regions
Unlocked The Guild Quest Board
Unlocked Use of the Guild Quarters
Unlocked Use of the Teleportation Array (Requires Visiting other Teleportation Arrays before able to attune to your Guild Card)
Guild Identification Card Upgraded to Rank E
Reduced Price for Guild Quarters (30% reduction)
Able to purchase a Boat in the harbor (Size and pricing depends on renown)
Guild Uniform for official military engagement (SIlver City version) (Cosmetic)
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{ 14995/9000 Max Exp Gained }
{ Level 14 Achieved }
[ Level Up ] { Please assign your 5 additional status points }
{ 5995/10000 until next level }
My poor brain moo make the notifications stooppp!