Sally put her dagger away and crouched down beside the goblin, who immediately put his face against her knee. “Did you just talk, Cross?”
“Puh,” he replied.
She whistled. “That’s a start, at least. Maybe feeding you brains can help with your word smartness. Mine too.”
[Poppy: That’s so sweet!]
[Poppy: Although I expected him to say ‘mama’ first <<]
Claude grumbled as he went over to the dungeon chest. “Perhaps he is trying to say ‘please end me’.”
Sally rolled her eyes and looked up at the bard. “Anything to add to the conversation, punk?”
He shook his head. “I care not for the results of what we’ve slayed… I am, however, interested in your divinely delivered blade.”
“Ah, you want a little exposition, huh?” She stood and dusted her padded leggings off. From her belt, she spun [Skeleton Key] into her hand with practiced precision. “This was my weapon of choice back home. It has a broken ability on it, which I should probably check.”
Wrinkling up her face, she brought up the item description boxes. Yep - just the same as in Sanctuary. The more daggers she had in her Inventory, the more defense it would ignore.
She twirled it and stuck it out toward the Party. “This is a stick-up, then. Give me all your daggers.”
[Poppy: I have three!]
[Poppy: But why do you need?]
“It gets more powerful the more daggers I own… and I currently have one, which isn’t going to save the world.” Sally pouted and looked down at Cross, who was watching the slower group of zombies catch up - his own dagger held loosely in his hand.
“Two here,” Claude offered.
“Seven, no wait! I have eight.”
She gathered them all with a nod of thanks. Fourteen wasn’t enough to put it into overpowered territory, but it was marginally better than her sword now - even including the stat points she had used.
“I need a billion more, but that’s a start.” She smiled and crossed her arms. “Wait till you see me fight with a weapon I’m used to.”
[Poppy: There used to be weapon merchants…]
[Poppy: Before all this - it’s a shame.]
Claude nodded. “We could travel to the area and destroy Dungeons on the way. Perhaps freeing the surroundings could allow the System-created to regenerate?”
“I’m willing to try it if there’s no disagreements?”
There were none, aside from the bard, who raised a finger toward her. “Before we travel too far, you should deal with your glowing STAR.”
She pulled a face and brought her write up - indeed; she had leveled up from killing the mimic. “Not bad, I’ll get another skill this level,” she said with a grin.
Her finger went up to press at the golden shape before her brow furrowed. Turning her head to the side, she scowled around at the surroundings.
[Poppy: Something wrong, Sally?]
“Hmm. No. It just… feels like someone is keeping tabs on us.” She ran her tongue across her teeth. “Waiting for our guard to be down.”
----------------------------------------
“Seven… eight… nine… that’s a good number, pet.” Ash’var turned from the filled tubes to look at the rat sitting on the desk.
It squeaked and stood up on its back legs.
“True, pet. Not Outsiders, but still worthy of my collection.” Clawed hands drummed on the nearest empty container. “Number ten should be special though, don’t you agree?”
Another squeak.
“I thought they’d be smarter, too. It feels like they have given up already. We’ll bide our time for the next one… I want to go for one of their most powerful.”
Squeak.
“Ha. You read my mind once more, pet. I’ll start the preparations.”
----------------------------------------
[Unyielding Advance] [Deflect all damage from a target for as long as you move directly toward them. 60ft Max Range, cancels once in Melee Range.]
Sally put her hands on her hips. Pretty decent for closing in on ranged opponents. She’d definitely have a struggle with choosing which skill to take back home when they eventually won… although that opened up a second question.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Going back to Sanctuary with this world in tow was based on her personal power. Technically, she didn’t need to go punch the big bad in the face to save the world - the assumption was that they could be moved along with everyone else and dealt with by Chuck.
But was that narratively satisfying?
It would be nice for the people of Thrimble to be able to go and take back their home themselves. That is what she agreed with Chuck - the world-dropping would be to help save broken Systems, not to just be a cold-hearted takeover.
Alternatively, she didn’t want to possibly die and waste the opportunity to save them because morals dictated she go and stab the god in the mountain. In some ways, being back at Sanctuary as soon as they were able was the nicest thing to do for the people struggling here.
Quite the pickle.
She turned her head over to the group of zombies that had finally caught her up.
“I’m not used to my undead pals being super slow. This is going to go on your performance review.” With a roll of her eyes, she took Cross’ hand, and the Party set off.
[Poppy: Little guy having trouble again?]
The knight kept pace with her and looked down at the little goblin. “Puh,” he announced.
“Oh, no? I guess I just did it by instinct.” She pulled a face. “Not a good idea to get too attached to a zombie.”
[Poppy: You’re a zombie ^^]
[Poppy: And I think you’re fantastic~]
“Thanks, Poppy. Don’t tell Claude, but you’re my fave too.” Sally grinned and looked ahead. The bard was trying to talk to their healer, but the older man was just speeding up - trying to walk ahead even if that put him apart from the rest of them.
“Puh,” Cross agreed.
“Are you trying to say Poppy? Aunty Poppy?”
“Puh.”
[Poppy: I don’t think he is - but I’m a huge fan of pretending!]
[Poppy: Back in my old world, I had a little cousin…]
[Poppy: Aside from the open skull and point goblin parts, they’re just alike!]
Sally looked down at the zombie. He was staring vacantly ahead as he stumbled forward - not that different from her other pals who were already lagging behind. The fact that he still held onto her hand willingly, carried the dagger, and was trying to talk meant he was definitely different. His ability to disable dungeons too…
Her glare went back out to the distant trees and grassy hills. A few dungeons within eyesight… but… There was still the feeling that they were being tracked. A sixth sense developed over way too many Events being hunted and killed by Players.
Poppy put her plated hand on her shoulder.
[Poppy: Don’t worry. Whatever it is, we can beat it.]
[Poppy: I’ll keep you and Cross safe.]
“It’s not us you need to worry about - although that is appreciated.” Sally gestured with her free hand to the other two, now almost at a jogging pace. “You three are the most important. I want you all to live and survive so that you can…” She stopped her tongue before blurting out the plan to take them to Sanctuary.
“Puh.”
“Yeah,” she recovered, “so that you can all be happy. Well said, Cross.”
[Poppy: That would be nice…]
[Poppy: Maybe one day have some cats of my own again.]
If there was one thing Sally would have to do, it would be to make that a reality. Easily enough done in Sanctuary - anything Chuck could imagine up could be created, near enough. Plus, with the near immortality and the lack of need to grind and suffer through life… oh, that’s what brought her here.
She remembered what Lucius had said. One of the reasons everyone got to see him or one of the other handful designated therapists for the world was to make sure nobody went crazy from living forever. It hadn’t even been a year yet since Chuck took over, but it was good to lay the foundations for the future. Then he started asking some pointed questions about insects which she found boring.
In saying that, she did miss the Shade… perhaps she should catch up with him too?
“Hey, Sally?”
Her eyes went away from her STAR and over to Claude, who had paused and looked as though he was a couple of seconds away from causing harm to Kristov.
“There’s a Dungeon up here that might grant you some of the required blades. Similar to the bandit camp, but higher level.”
“Oh? My stomach says yes before my brain can ask for more information.” In saying that, they were supposed to stop for lunch before the mimics got involved.
She followed the direction he was pointed and spotted the Dungeon. Another outpost, but this one was rougher in construction. They even had a couple of cute watchtowers occupied by…
“Are those orcs? No… they have boar-like faces.” She rubbed her chin.
[Poppy: Orcs do have boar-like faces.]
“Neat, subverting some tropes. Although, are your kobolds like little lizards or like little dog people?”
[Poppy: Like lizards!]
[Poppy: Tiny dog people sound so precious though~]
“Sanctuary has the little dog ones.” She winked and managed to not blurt out an invitation to her world once more.
[Poppy: As much as I’d like a peaceful life…]
[Poppy: Maybe one day I’ll be a universe traversing angel like you, instead.]
[Poppy: And then I’ll visit you at Sanctuary! ^^]
[Poppy: You’ll have to introduce me to Theo <
[Poppy: And cats! Lots of cats!]
Sally grinned. “You have my word - if that’s ever possible, then I’ll do my best.” She turned back to the healer who was staring daggers at her - the bard having his kazoo in hand already.
Her boots dug into the earth as she prepared to dash forward. Eye bright crimson, it was time to give the [Skeleton Key] a bit of a workout.
----------------------------------------
Chuck blinked, the data and symbols in front of him changing ever so slightly every second or two. He turned his eyes over to the side slowly, realizing that Dent had been talking to him.
“You didn’t catch anything of what I just said, did you?”
“Not a word.” He shook his head. “Was it anything important?”
The swordsman exhaled through his nose. “Theo’s progression has stopped. Seems he has tired of growth there.”
“Excellent.” Some life returned to the Architect’s face as his brow furrowed. “And Sally’s weapon?”
“Delivered fine. Still needs testing, but looks promising. Sent her a follow-up questionnaire, which she immediately deleted.”
Chuck smiled. “Sounds about right. We should start getting Theo prepared. Things on my end have… they are as ready as we’ll get.”
“He’s already told me the skill he wants to keep, but hasn’t replied to my last message. I assume he is asleep. Ready as he’ll get, too.”
“Ugh.” Chuck flexed his fingers out across the desk. “It’s difficult not pressing the button right now.”
“It’s your call.”
It was. There were still plenty of options that he could check and make sure everything was aligned as expected. With the addition of a Player to bring over, it was a good test to make sure things would be in place for when Sally came back.
The stress of the kidnappings sure hadn’t helped, but he kept himself busy enough where it hadn’t been a constant drain on his soul.
Plus, his revenge plan seemed more airtight by the second.