Leonarde Whitewood

“-and that is what happened in town, Prince Leonarde,” Luné said with a smile and calm tone. Though the chairs were uncomfortable, Leonarde could put that out of his mind to hear the story. He was not so vain, like his father or the Nobility. He nodded slowly, finishing picturing the scene. A battle between the guards and the dungeons, and the slavers and a necromancer. From the recreation of a dungeon, to the creation of a new dungeon, to the capture of a member of the Heroes of the World. He smirked slightly, “So Noalen’s here? What have you done with him?” Luné is silent, before looking between the two with a hint of worry on her face. This, naturally, adds to his own worry, and clearly makes the Priestess internally panic.

Luné takes in a breath then speaks with closed eyes, and a calm tone that wavers oh so slightly, “I allowed the siblings to take revenge.” Leonarde’s eyes widen, and he stares at her silently. He then hears the Priestess speak, “He may have been rude, but I do not believe he deserved death.” Luné is silent, clearly waiting to hear the Prince’s response. The Prince stands silently, and closes his eyes. Then when he opens them, he can see Luné is unable to look up at him from her seat. He speaks, calm and collected, “He deserved his fate. Unbeknownst to both of you, he had a past of this sort of thing. We once caught him, and turned him over to the Beastkin, but as you can see he did not suffer any punishment. I believe you did the right thing, by allowing two of his victims to earn some sort of peace, even if it may haunt them one day down the line.”

Luné looks up at him, seemingly surprised by his response. She seems to become a little more calm, as he then continues, “I need to pace a tad, so please do continue.” He starts to move about in lines, still listening to the two. Though confusing both of them, Luné continues, explaining what she has been doing since awakening after the battle. As Luné comes to a close, Leonarde stops pacing, and then responds, “So you are intending to take on all of your former comrades? I will support you as best as I can, not because you are a Hero of our race, but because you are now a cooperative dungeon core. That is rare, and I will not squander this chance.” Luné stands from her seat, and holds out a hand, “Then as Codex, I welcome you as an ally.”

Leonarde smirks, and takes her hand, shaking it, “As Prince Leonarde Whitewood, of the Kingdom of Goldbrooke, I accept your welcome wholeheartedly.” As their hands go back to their sides, he continues, “Though I may not be able to assist you just yet, I shall see what I can do. For now, some information shall suffice, I feel.” Luné nods in agreement, and listens as Leonarde begins to talk, only to be interrupted by the Priestess, “I am happy you two have decided to join hands in this, and walk together, but it is a troublesome situation. If there is ever a time where it comes out that the Prince is working with a Dungeon to kill off the Heroes of the World, there would be major backlash.” Leonarde looks at her, then holds up a hand, “I’m willing to face that risk, and take to the sky in defense of the Kingdom if it ever comes to that. The only problem would be my father and sister, whom both would rather turn me over if it came to that. I may have relinquished my place in succession, but I will not relinquish my life, nor my people.”

Luné spoke, grinning and bringing a fist up in front of herself, “Don’t you worry about that, Codex has your back. You simply need to ask, and we’ll gather up our allies.” Her expression then changes, to a far calmer and slightly confused look, as she says, “Speak of the devils, both just arrived.” Leonarde looks at Luné, then asks, “Really? That suddenly?” Luné nods, and the Priestess speaks as she stands, “Then we should take our leave.” Leonarde was about to agree, but Luné spoke, “No, no. You should certainly stay. Especially you, Prince Leonarde. After all, Grandia sent the Silent Hero.” Leonarde raised an eyebrow at that, not remembering the Silent Hero from Luné’s retelling of events to this point. The Priestess shakes her head, and begins to exit the basement anyway, clearly not wanting to be in the way when the three dungeons begin talking with each other.

A few minutes pass, and soon a woman in armor enters, with a floating Water Sylph behind her. The Sylph looked similar to a young woman, but was the height of Leonarde’s forearm. The woman’s armor was heavy looking, and had a hanging light blue banner with a golden lion’s head on it, roaring. She looks at Leonarde inquisitively, but ignores him for now, as the three step together, and hold out their hands. A flash of light appears between them, and then a few seconds pass, before they each raise their heads as the light fades. Opening their eyes, the woman speaks, “A productive meeting. I will return to Grandia and relay your plan.” The Sylph completely ignores the conversation and starts leaving, as Luné speaks with a smile, “Okay, but first I would like to introduce you to someone.” She looks at Leonarde, who speaks with an authoritative yet somehow friendly tone, “I am Prince Leonarde Whitewood, of the Kingdom of Goldbrooke.”

The woman does a small bow, before responding, “Irae Rein, Queen Consort of Grandia, and the Silent Hero.” Prince Leonarde is startled by this, and immediately does a proper bow, before stating, “I am terribly sorry for my rudeness, Queen Consort.” Irae frowns heavily as he does this, and speaks with an annoyed tone, “Stand the fuck back up, Prince. You weren’t rude at all, I’m a simple adventurer first, and Queen second.” Leonarde is still a bit startled, and now he is baffled, as he stands back up and stares at Irae. Irae then speaks with a smirk, “Put in a good word for us, right? I’m itching to test my mettle against Goldbrooke’s best soldiers.” Leonarde can barely stammer out his response, agreeing to put in a good word, and he begins to try to collect himself again. He had not expected Grandia to send one of its Queens to meet with Luné in her own dungeon. That was a very dangerous thing to do, and the fact they did it shows either extreme confidence in Irae’s abilities or trust in Luné.

Irae begins leaving as she says, “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got things I need to help with back home.” Luné speaks before she gets to the stairs, “Before you leave, how is Sebastia doing?” Irae stops and looks back with a confused look, “What do you mean?” Luné clearly has a moment of panic, and speaks with clear worry in her tone, “She went to you after we had an argument.” Irae shakes her head, speaking in a calm tone, as if it is normal for Sebastia to disappear, “She did not arrive, so she’s either sidetracked or got snatched up by another goddess.” Luné looks worried, as she speaks, “Could you send some cavalry to search the woods? Your Animated Armors and Horses are good with forested environments.” Irae smirks, “Of course they’re good. We train in forests for the fun of it. We’ll find her.” Irae starts exiting the basement, as Luné speaks with worry still plaguing her voice, “Thank you.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Leonarde speaks as Irae exits and leaves the area, “Are you alright, Luné?” Luné is silent, holding a hand to her mouth as she clearly overthinks the situation. Leonarde activates an ability, then steps in front of her, and crouches, getting into her eyesight, as he says in a warm and friendly tone, “Luné, she will be fine. From what I have heard today, she would be impossible to defeat by any bandits or slavers within Goldbrooke’s lands. She’s a strong fighter, and not even the normal soldiers of any army could defeat her. She is safe.” He sees two dice roll in the corner of his eye, both 20-sided, and then two more, both 6-sided. One is a 15, while the other which is golden is a 5, and the six-sided die roll a 6 and 2. He decides the two goes to the 5 as a negative, and the six goes to the 15 for a 21.

A second later he hears Luné speak, “Y-yeah. You’re right, I need to calm down. She’s fine. I shouldn’t be worried, I should just worry about getting stronger.” Leonarde smiles warmly, and begins standing up as he speaks, “I’m glad you are feeling calmer. You need to be able to lead well, or we would never be able to complete your plans. Keep in mind that you are always welcome in my castle. When you need help, the Duchy of Oakshire will come to your aid to the best of our abilities.” Luné nods in response, smiling again as she speaks with a grateful tone, “Thank you, Prince Leonarde. You have always been kind to me, and not simply because of a feeling of necessity.” Leonarde smirks, “I met you a year ago, and you were a simple kid with no idea about the world. Of course I would treat you well.” He begins heading for the stairs, as he continues, “But I cannot stay forever, I need to return to begin drafting a letter to my father. Hopefully he sees you as an asset and not a danger. If he does, then I shall do my best to keep you and yours safe.” He hears Luné speak as he exits, “Thank you.” Leonarde heads off, glad Luné is well, and even more glad to have lots of new things to think about, all of which seemed to be good news rather than the usual bad.

Chase Carolis

Chase was writing in his journal as they walked, smiling happily as he weaved a story from their walk. He glanced at his friend and companion, wondering what she was thinking as she looked around the forest, dragging him along towards the Dungeon Codex. He spoke with his serene smile, “Clove, a question for you, what’s your thoughts on the situation? From the whole slaver siege to a Dungeon coming to the town’s aid?” She looks back at him, then stops for a second, thinking, before she speaks, in her energetic tone, “It's certainly an interesting one. Different to the past situations we’ve found ourselves in. I remember our old home had that dungeon in it that wanted to keep killing everything around it. That was probably the worst one.” Chase nods in response, agreeing with her judgment, before stating, “I think this may be an interesting story, if we add a few details here and there. Though it will likely take far less to make it interesting than that one.”

They continue walking, happily chatting away as Chase rambles on about ideas for stories. Soon they feel the shiver of a dungeon, and they stop, entering a serious state of mind. Chase puts away his journal, and pulls out a book, holding it in one hand, open. Clove grabs her bladed gauntlets off her hips, and puts them on in one rapid motion. They begin walking again, silent as mice. Clove speaks, “Stop. Something ahead.” She points at a bush, letting Chase examine it from a distance. He then speaks, “Sproutling. If we were closer, I could perhaps cast an analysis spell on it.” Clove speaks in a calm tone, “Going to burn it? That would do the most damage. Just need to remember to put out any other fires, this time.” Chase holds a hand up as he lets the pages flutter. A small ball of fire appears over his open hand, coming from the book. Then he pushes his hand forward, sending the ball at the Sproutling, and setting it on fire. He sees a yellow 42 appear.

It begins rushing towards them, Clove rushes forward, and slams her fist into the Sproutling, causing it to crumble into a pile of burning plant matter. Chase quickly casts forth a small cloud, which begins raining, putting out the remaining fire. Chase approaches as Clove pulls a small green crystal from the Sproutling. Standing, Clove speaks, “Let's keep moving.” Chase follows Clove, smiling happily from the first kill of the dungeon. Then they hear something else, a howl. A Wolf approaches from the shadows, flanked by two more Sproutlings. Clove calls out, “Burn the sproutlings, the wolf’s mine!” She runs forward, already punching at the Wolf and dodging its attacks. Chase casts two more flames, sending them at the Sproutlings, getting a yellow 36 and yellow 48. The two Sproutlings begin rushing at him, one burning to death before reaching him, while the other is too slow to keep up with Chase’s backpedaling and evading.

He burns the Sproutling again, then looks to Clove, finding her punching the Wolf to the ground. With a smile, the two walk back to each other, and gather crystals from each. Chase speaks, “These are rather dangerous monsters. They must all have reached at least level 15, since they all have a crystal.” Clove looks at the Wolf’s which is gray, before stating, “The wolves are upgraded, but not anything special yet. They have no affinity.” Chase nods in response, before noticing something approaching, “Something’s coming.” Clove looks the direction he’s staring, and raises her gauntlets, as the Bear enters into the fight, growling and then standing on its hindlegs. This reveals the two Wolves behind the Bear, who begin snarling and barking. Chase smirks, before asking, “Wildflower?” Clove chuckles, then answers, “Wildflower.”

Chase throws his free hand to his side, and his book’s pages flutter. His hood ripples, and his cloak flaps backwards in a non-existent wind. He closes his eyes, and then after a second, throws his hand forward, causing a mass sprouting of wildflowers around the two groups of combatants. This confused the Monsters for a second, before the flowers suddenly spring forward, latching on and yanking them down to the ground. Clove backs up, then runs forward, a group of flowers leaping from the ground and covering her gauntlets. She rushes towards the monsters, and then jumps, bringing her gauntlets down on the bear’s head. With a burst, the flowers expand in territory, then return to normal blades of grass. Clove backs away, expecting the Bear and Wolves to get up. Chase lets out one singular laugh, before exclaiming, “That was way more powerful than normal!” Clove looks at her gauntlets, which no longer have flowers on them, then looks back smiling, “I guess so.”

The two approach the dead monsters, and gather more crystals, before heading further into the Dungeon Codex. As they enter a small clearing, they see a large Wolf, much larger than the rest. It is sitting quietly, and simply glances over at them, before returning its attention to one of the trees. Clove holds up her gauntlets, approaching with caution, as Chase follows, also cautious, but more curious than anything. As they near the Boss Monster, it does not turn to attack as expected and they relax, before hearing a woman’s voice, “Yep, this tree will do!” Hopping out of the tree, a Nekomimi with a large wizard’s hat lands on the ground, startling the two, but not the Wolf. She looks at them, then waves, and says, “Alright, Pup. Let's get back to the Little Lady. I’ve figured out my little spot.” Without answering any questions, the two were gone, and Clove spoke, “We should go that direction.” Chase nods in response, “Agreed.”