The early evening brought with it a chill breeze across the fields of Thrimble. Sally pulled a face at the sky, but it remained relatively clear of clouds. The last thing she wanted was for rain to dampen the already miserable world.

As the Dungeon cracked and shifted behind her, finally collapsing now that it had been cleared, she double checked the items she had found from the chest.

[Leather Cap] [+1 Endurance]

[Soft Loaf (3)]

[Bandage (2)]

[Scroll of Earthen Defense]

“What are we thinking?” She turned to the other two. “Rest now or… could we push for the puzzle Dungeon?”

Poppy gave a shrug, while Claude rubbed at his chin and looked out in the direction they’d need to travel.

“My advice is to continue,” Archie said. “Achieving as much strength as soon as possible will help in the long run.”

“Eh.” She looked back to the group of three zombies who had survived the Dungeon, although one was now laying on the floor. “You’re not wrong - and a puzzle sounds a lot easier on the bones than a combat-focused Dungeon… but I don’t want to run us all thin.”

[Poppy: If it’s just a Guardian, then that isn’t too bad.]

The healer shrugged. “Sounds acceptable. Given that you had little issue with the goblins, I have a decent amount of mana still for healing.”

Sally spun up her STAR menus to look at the Map before she turned her eyes to the pair. “Let’s head out. You can give me that juicy exposition while we walk. I refuse to engage with puzzles unless I know what the stakes are.” Too few brain cells to waste on such folly.

“A fair request. We shall walk and talk.” Claude set off, only giving the small trio of zombies a glance before he led the group toward the next Dungeon. “Where do I even begin?”

“Let’s start with why you won’t say the big-bads name.” Sally twirled her sword around before stowing it away in her scabbard.

“It started as a way to distance them from the person they used to be. While he wasn’t the nicest of us as a Player, once he ascended, he… well, the Dungeons plaguing this land speak for themselves.”

She nodded. “So nothing bad would happen if you said his name? Doesn’t make him stronger or alert him to our position?”

“No.”

“Tell me it, then.” She grinned.

“Pippy Wooltop.”

Sally stared at the man as they walked along. He maintained a poker face too perfect for that to be some kind of joke. It just didn’t sound… evil enough. Not that she should be judging people on their names or anything. Actions and intent were more important.

“Okay,” she eventually said, casting a glance down at the cat. Pippy was close to being Poppy… which was a red flag - but again, something she shouldn’t jump to conclusions on. “And they turned all Players into the Dungeons, right? Why?”

[Poppy: We think it started as something more… petty.]

[Poppy: Which spiraled out of control.]

“So…” the zombie rubbed the side of her head. “He was sad people didn’t invite him to Dungeons, so he killed them and made them power Dungeons… and lost himself in the process?”

[Poppy: As best as we understand ^^;;]

Sally hadn’t even faced proper evil before. At first it was the uncaring System that didn’t give Uniques the lives and respect they deserved. Then it was a power hungry dragon who wanted to rule over the world. That wasn’t evil… just greedy. With the false Architect, they were trying to enforce the old System design, but didn’t have any malicious intent as such - not like Seven.

She looked back at the collapsing goblin dungeon, and then over to her trio of walking corpses. One of them was a little further behind, seemingly having an issue with traveling a straight line. Didn’t take much to guess which one it was.

It reminded her of something. Or rather… someone.

Furrowing her brow, she glared at the building up ahead of them. “The Player souls… how are they powering the Dungeons? No wait, let me guess.”

She stopped and turned, stepping over to her wriggly goblin walker. Gently, she grabbed it by the head and pointed with her other hand. “Their souls are in the Monsters.”

----------------------------------------

Pink energy blurred through the air in quick arcs, the clang of the warhammer being deflected or parried increasing in ferocity as Theo’s [Novice Strike] sped up his attacks every time he lashed out at the giant.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Borin turned, knocking the weapon away before jabbing out with both of his - twisting and working against the flurried assault of the vampire. Struck by the shearing force of the attack, Theo’s arms and head were severed and shorn from his body, which collapsed like a doll to the white tile of the circle platform.

He appeared back up at the square platform, a wide grin on his face.

[Warhammer (+294 exp)]

[Warhammer Rank 4 Achieved]

[Warhammer Rank 5 Achieved]

[Warhammer Rank 6 Achieved]

Swiping the notifications away, he was already grabbing the weapon up and running down the stairs.

Borin was standing there ready, a grin on his face. “There’s hope for you yet, it seems.”

Theo said nothing, dashing forward as a pink glow illuminated his sharp-fanged grin.

----------------------------------------

Dent whistled, watching the numbers come up on his screen.

With the flash of blue, Chuck returned to the chamber.

“I wasn’t calling you,” the swordsman rolled his eyes. “Did you even nap?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Power nap.”

He exhaled through his nose. “Right. Since you’re here, though - perhaps you can relieve me for an hour? Be nice to stretch my legs or something.”

“Of course. Everything been okay, I take it?” The Architect moved into his chair and tried to catch up on everything immediately, his eyes darting wildly across three different screens.

“Chat is fully connected. Theo just had a spike in power, so I assume he worked out some nifty way to power level.” He rolled his eyes. “Standard fare. Nothing from Sally recently, but no news is good news, right?”

Chuck didn’t respond, as his eyes were still checking everything.

Dent watched him for a while, to see how long it would take for him to acknowledge… anything else. After thirty seconds, he gave up. With a sigh, he stood from the chair and stretched his back out.

“I’ll pick you some food up on the way back. I assume you’ll be up late?”

“Hmm? Yeah.”

“Okay.” The swordsman looked up at his Chat messages. “Oh, Humphrey wants to talk, so I might be with him. Let me know if anything comes up.” Waiting for ten seconds for any kind of reply, he just shook his head and vanished.

With a wave of vertigo and blue light, he then appeared down by the coast. Sun setting in the distance, he turned his head toward the odd pair of the Death Knight and Edward standing on the stone promenade.

“What can I do for you, gentlemen?”

The demon raised an eyebrow. “How do you feel about oaths?”

“There’s no time for that.” Humphrey sighed. “Although, we are hoping to get to the bottom of something without bothering Chuck, knowing how busy he is.”

Dent nodded. “He certainly is. What’s it about?”

With a brief pause, the pair exchanged a look. “We think Lucius has been kidnapped,” Edward said.

“Hmm? That’s not really possible.” The swordsman crossed his arms. “Not only is he relatively strong, but there’s no PvP enabled here. Let me just see where he is.”

His eyes went up as he worked through the additional STAR menus he had as the Architect’s right-hand man. Well, if Chuck was more of the Administrator, then he would be the Admin Assistant. Something that definitely didn’t annoy him.

“Uhhh.” Dent furrowed his brow, and his eyes darted through the names on his list even quicker. “Where… is… Lucius…?”

----------------------------------------

Archie tilted his head to the side as he watched the zombie discuss things with the others, her arms crossed.

“I’m not saying we don’t kill them,” Sally continued. “But there’s a chance that they are only partially merged into the Monster bodies - there could be a way they could be fully transferred and-”

“Out of the question.” Claude shook his head. “I would not degrade their lives into being Monsters.”

“I’m a Monster, you old prick.” She bared her sharp teeth. “Better they have an actual existence than be lost to the void."

[Poppy: Let’s not argue >>;;]

“Frankly, it’s abhorrent that you are dragging three corpses alongside you. An affront to nature.” Claude’s eyes were aflame. “I should smite them for what-”

“Touch them and I’ll kill you where you stand.” Sally’s hand went to the pommel of her sword. “Better you have an actual existence than be lost to the void in my stomach.”

The healer flexed his hands out, gripping at the air as if to try to get a hold of his emotions. Working his mouth around, the flickering rage in his eyes died out - washed away with an exhausted sadness. Hand clasping at his face, he turned from the others and sighed.

She relaxed and put her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry I called you old.”

He waved her away. “No. It is me who is at fault here. I’ve…” he turned back around to look at her. “I’ve seen a lot of good people die to these Monsters. Far too many. My heart has ached for vengeance week after week - but I am a healer. An impotent rage guides my loose tongue, and for that I apologize.”

Sally smiled and shook her head. Clearly, she had gotten lucky with the Outsiders. Her undead Party were always happy to follow her lead and go along with whatever madness crossed her mind. Complicated people with their own thoughts and history were a lot of work.

[Poppy: I understand what Claude means…]

[Poppy: But I think if there’s a way to bring people back or save them…]

[Poppy: Even if it’s in the body of a Monster…]

[Poppy: Then that’s a noble goal, is it not?]

The healer shrugged and deflated. “Part of me wants nothing more than to save every soul that we can. It’s just… difficult for me to accept. The faces of murderers then being the friends I have lost…”

“Well, don’t start counting your chickens.” The zombie wagged her finger at him. “This was just a proposition. I have no idea if it’s even possible. And even if it is… then we’ve already doomed a bunch of souls to the nether.” She grinned and looked down at the cat. “Welcome to my life of gray morality.”

[Poppy: Being free of these prisons is still a better fate than nothing.]

[Poppy: There are people I’d love to see again…]

[Poppy: But knowing they are finally at peace is good too.]

Sally stepped up to the defeated man. “Less painful than my disagreement with Kenny, but are we able to make amends? You know I can’t do this without you.”

“I will see this through.” He gave her a nod, which turned into a brief bow. “I am thankful that you have the patience for me to be an old fool, and have yet to eat my brain.”

“Gross.” She held her hand out to be shaken. “You probably taste like old socks.” With a grin, she looked back to see the knight shaking a little - probably giggling.

“Let’s not dally longer, then.” Claude shook her hand. “A Guardian and puzzle await our attention before the night consumes us.”

Archie wagged his tail back and forth as he watched the three start off toward the Dungeon, shortly followed by the three slow goblins. His emerald eyes then went up to look up at the pinging messages between Dent and Chuck in the Admin level Chat.

Probably not a good idea to worry Sally.

There was nothing she could do to save Lucius.