Sitting in the illumination of the dim lantern, Sally’s voice echoed through the small Dungeon as she told her Party everything. Most things. She left out that she wouldn’t be able to return if she died… and that her goal was to absorb Thrimble. Still a good idea to hold some secrets just in case she let them down.
But everything from her appearance in Sanctuary to defeating the false Architect was laid out. They accepted it, even as outlandish as a lot of it sounded. She had to explain the pancake joke three times - apparently they hadn’t heard of them before, which seemed criminal. Claude seemed awkward enough in learning just how many Monsters she was friends with - but he’d just have to come to terms with it, eventually.
Poppy, on the other hand, was enamored with near every exploit and oddball that came into the picture. In some ways, Sally felt bad that the woman was here almost alone - especially with being mute and having a vow to not show her face. Having a wide family that loved you despite your differences probably sounded like a slice of heaven to the knight.
All the more reason she had to succeed. Would certainly be easier to flip the villain switch and just eat and kill her way to the power required to steal the island… but if she was truly like that, she’d still be in the Forest, murdering innocents at the behest of Theo. Which… was actually pretty cold, now that she thought about it. She shivered. No wonder she fell for him.
Although Poppy wasn’t too interested in a romance of her own, she was absolutely all ears to hear about how she and the vampire got together and grew their relationship. Part of her wondered if it was just morbid curiosity over the undead having hearts or something.
Claude wasn’t entirely buying that she was here for good reason, but then again, he looked like he’d had his fill of everything for the day even before she got into it about the talking rat king or the Dungeon that was all in her mind. Eventually, it got to the point where he had to accept it, otherwise his brain would explode. Something she was almost keen to push…
But now, with the weight of the long day fully upon them, they had relented to settling down for sleep.
Sally shuffled up against the wall and pulled the blanket up to her neck. Furrowing her brow, she opened up her Chat.
[Sally: Hey, pup.]
She waited a minute for him to respond, and her eyes went over to Cross. While her created zombies didn’t need to sleep, the goblin had accepted being tucked in with a blanket as he lay prone on the floor. Splayed out rather than in a comfortable position, but he put the effort in.
[Sally: we have a son now]
[Theo: My queen~]
[Theo: huh wat?]
[Theo: Sorry, was mid-battle.]
[Theo: Adopted, I hope?]
[Sally: yeah, he is misguided but has a strong spirit.]
[Theo: Sounds like us. Who does he look like?]
[Sally: That’s not how adoptions works, but…]
Looking back at the zombie, his yellow eyes were staring aimlessly at the wall, and drool was constantly running from the side of his agape mouth.
[Sally: Definitely takes after you!]
[Theo: I’m proud. For real, though, what’s the deal?]
[Sally: zombie gobbo that has some kind of personality]
[Sally: reminds me of how Chuck was.]
[Theo: Odd. Error in your System?]
[Sally: hmmm]
She closed her eyes as she thought about it. If anything, things had been relatively normal and straightforward. Certainly not as bugged as the start of her life in Sanctuary. Maybe that was the problem, though. The vampire might be able to grind out the rules given to him, but she had always shattered her way through expectations and the norm. She needed to think about this more when she wasn’t so tired.
Find a way to exploit the System or gain some undue power to leapfrog the normal progression set out. She didn’t want to stay in this world for too long, being stuck playing by the rules…
Rules were made to be broken.
[Sally: Oh!]
[Sally: You not turning in for sleep yet?]
[Sally: Do you have your coffin???]
[Theo: oh]
[Theo: ohhhh]
[Sally: Theo!?]
[Theo: gotta go, going through a tunnel]
[Sally: …]
Rolling her eyes, she turned over to try to get more comfortable on the stone floor. Although she didn’t know much about the world he was in—and was fine for it to stay that way—hopefully the goof could find suitable sleeping arrangements so that he didn’t start going crazy. Knowing him, he probably thought that he would finish his world before that became a problem. Like her, he had become too accustomed to the patches Chuck gave them, and they had forgotten some of their previous limitations.
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Removing the necessity of the vampire having to sleep in the coffin wasn’t the most filling or exhausting of the changes Chuck allowed them, but it sure made things convenient. She sometimes squirmed around a lot in her sleep, and even the prospect of a double-sized coffin seemed too claustrophobic. It only took one time of sitting up abruptly to throw up and almost crushing her skull in on the metal lid for them to decide against that arrangement.
In this new world… she just felt plain. Not even able to enjoy food anymore - and not exactly having a buffet of Player brains to chew through guilt-free. The sooner she could get back to Sanctuary and her creature-comforts, the better. Their near immortality was something else she had taken for granted, too.
Being able to reattach limbs was neat, though. Her left arm still ached a lot, but it was functional - a relief, as going without would have made this more difficult. Not impossible—she’d gone through half an Event without it one time—but she’d have to be more careful when the stakes were so high.
While her brain was too active to drop straight to sleep, there was also a presence nearby that had her on edge. She turned to see Archie sitting beside her.
“I’m going back home for some updates,” he said. “Share data and look at the plans for the nerds tomorrow.”
Sally stifled a chuckle. “You’re the one that came up with the acronym, right?”
Beneath emerald eyes, the cat smiled. “I’ll never tell. Recall me in the morning, when you are awake.”
“Alright.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Give everyone my love and tell Pops I want to bring him here soon, if he isn’t too occupied.”
“I will. Sleep well, Sally.”
As soon as he had vanished away, she opened up her eyes to glare at the empty space where he had been sitting.
She would not sleep well.
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The edge of the meeting room table cracked and threatened to snap under the pressure of Norah’s tight grip. “What do you mean Lucius is gone?”
Chuck rubbed at his temple - partly to avoid looking into Mummy’s furious eyes. She had returned with the Death Knight and demon, but even after being healed up, she hadn’t lost an inch of the mountain of anger within her.
“Whoever stabbed you,” he began, “possibly did the same to Lucius and took him somewhere.”
“Took him somewhere? Outside of normal places?” She narrowed her eyes around the room. “Was it that goblin?”
“Henkk?” Dent interjected. “No. We tracked his movements for the last two days and there’s nothing odd. Even his ability leaves traces - we’d be able to monitor.”
The Architect worked his jaw. “Seems like they are targeting Outsiders? Two isn’t much of a trend, but we’ve gone over the logs and there’s been no other disappearances reported. Too much of a coincidence.”
Humphrey had been sitting with his hands clenched into fists, staring down at the table. A constant burning of crimson flame behind his helmet. While the others fell into a tense silence, he raised his head to look at Edward.
“Lucius was part of the magic circle creation, yet he was saved by it? He was with us? How is that so?”
The demon was all but a puddle of exhausted boredom, splayed across the table. His dull blue eyes caught the ire of Chuck—probably for sharing out the secrets he wasn’t supposed to—but with a sigh, he sat back up in his chair. “Back when he worked for Ruben and still thought of himself as being a demon, he had a passing interest in ritual circles. He didn’t have a direct hand in the creation of the rite, but bequeathed me his research after breaking away from the dragon.”
“Hmm.” Humphrey nodded. “In knowing this, you still allowed that to be our first stop, even if he wouldn’t have anything helpful to add?”
Edward shrugged. “I was feeling lonely, and you seemed to know what you were doing. This is all too real and serious for me to care any further.”
“The Observer never returned either…” The Death Knight went into his menus to try to recall it.
With his brow furrowed, Chuck turned to Dent. “I want all Outsiders to be equipped as per the Protection: Omni-Orbital Protocol, and turn on CYCLOPS. Ah, if you could start expanding the visualizer for the Interstellar Combined-Universe Plan I’ll join you when… oh jeez, who came up with these acronyms?”
The swordsman shrugged. “I thought it was you, but alright, I’m on it.”
He left for the back room at the same time as a glowing orb filtered into the center of the table to form a ginger cat. Archie stretched out and looked around the room with dull eyes. “Couldn’t leave you alone for one day, could I?”
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In the darkness, a figure ran their tongue across sharp teeth. “Oh,” their low voice echoed around the wide chamber, “this is troubling, isn’t it, pet?” A clawed hand reached out to run along the back of a large rat who sat on the edge of an empty table.
“So close to collecting the Mummy. I was too eager… greedy to claim what I coveted. Now they will make this game all the more difficult.”
The rat squeaked and writhed against the touch of the figure.
“Oh, you want to know more? I have not been able to grasp at the details, pet. They will be protecting the Outsiders now and keeping a closer eye on any oddities in their little System.”
The outstretched hand reached out and wrapped around the rodent, lifting it into the air above their shadowed face. Two eyes of pale white stared impassively at the squirming creature.
“Do not fret. Perhaps it was rash of me to go after the more prized collectables in this world first.” Lifting the rat higher in the air, they then crushed it in their grip, a brief squeal amongst the breaking bones, before the rodent become limp.
Placing the corpse back on the table, the figure turned around to look at the grouped vats, all but one still empty. “The Vampire and Zombie will become an issue if they return. A gamble, pet.” Their head tilted to the side as they regarded the figure of the Shade in the tube glowing a dim green light.
Standing, but remaining frozen and inert, Lucius was like a statue in the container.
A sad squeak came the only reply, as the figure looked back at the rat, who was alive and repaired once more.
“I know, pet. But we have ways of getting what we want.”