A young lady with cold blue eyes stared blankly at the crashing waves outside the small cabin window.
"Lady Weis, your father will have discovered you missing by now," the mousy brunette fiddled with her hands as she watched her charge.
"You didn't have to come with me Mags." Finally, the lady turned away from the window, "This will undoubtedly be dangerous."
"I've stayed by your side since you were 5 miss, I won't leave you now." Though her voice was shaky and nervous her hands had stilled, she stood straight-backed and confident.
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A convoy of richly decorated carriages guarded by fiercely armored knights made their way down a dirt road at a swift pace.
"I can't believe Mother is letting Father send us on this farce of an adventure," A young boy no older than 16 complained. The boy had fiery red hair and eyes and was lounging on the soft purple cushion of the carriage and dressed in rich fabrics.
"You can't believe it? I can't believe I'm missing the Charny Ball! Laura told me her father was hiring a Level 13 Illusionist." The girl opposite him was identical in almost every possible way, the only difference being in their clothing. The girl wore an elaborate dress with such excess poof and fabric she took up the majority of their shared carriage.
Before the twins could continue to complain to each other the carriage slowed to a halt.
"Your majesty we'll be setting up camp here for tonight. Our arrival is expected tomorrow." The twins locked eyes and replied in sync.
"We refuse to sleep in such a smelly place, clear the ground of all dirt or start the carriage up again."
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"Bird, bird, bird," Mari hummed as she scrolled through the different species of birds often found near the ocean. Several options caught her eye: the Albatross, the Double-Crested Cormorant, and the Shearwaters.
Sometimes it was the name or the appearance, she even considered the common seagull just because she could imagine several funny outcomes, but she kept coming back to the Pelican.
"It's quite possible a childhood movie influenced me," She told Nuit as she gave the bird the monster core as well as the water affinity. "The Seas Guide, while not often appreciated this bird loves to scoop up visitors and drop them off on all sorts of adventures."
Mari observed the finished Pelican, "Yeah, I was influenced. I'm going to call her Nigelle."
"Okay, that brings us to three new blueprints, time to fill the oceans." Mari lifted Nuit up to her shoulder and got to work.
"It costs 15 credits to make a monster using an already created blueprint, I have The Seas Guide, The Sea Traveler, and the Gravity Jelly. 2 of each would be 90 credits, 4 of each would cost me 180 credits, and 5..." Mari trailed off and scribbled some math down in her notebook.
"5 of each would cost 225 credits. I have 1,226 credits so that would leave me with 1,001, huh almost exactly 1,000." Mari shrugged and decided that it would work and made her purchases.
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Now the sea felt properly filled. Before there had of course been an abundant amount of normal sea life, but now danger lurked beneath the waves.
Contact from Above!
The Gods have discovered your forge
* Greet the Divine Messengers +300c
* Assist in the creation of the Pantheon's Temple outside your forge +500c
* [Hidden] + 500c
* [Hidden] + 1,000c
"Well, that's concerning," Nuit whined from where she sat perched on Mari's shoulders and hid under her hair.
Arrival!
The Warriors of the Realm Suen are approaching!
* Create the Warrior's Cathedral
Create a Hero's Hall + 200c
Create a Hall of Memories + 200c
Create a Hall of Healing + 200c
"It keeps getting worse..." Mari swayed.
The Void!
Don't forget about the danger heading your way
* Raise 10 Warriors to level 10 + 700c
* Raise 5 Warriors to Level 15 + 1,500c
"Can we stop now," Mari asked the room hopefully. "I think I need a moment." With a deep breath, she forced herself to remain calm and reread the first new quest.
"Divine Messengers, I mean I can guess what that means but..." Mari trailed off and then gave a sigh of relief when a small screen popped up explaining things.
"So a Divine Messenger is exactly what it sounds like, they're a step above a priest or priestess as they are created by the deity for the purpose of serving." Mari bit her lip in thought and moved on.
"Assist in making the Pantheon's Temple... So basically it's a way to show respect to the gods who preside over this realm. They'll give me a bunch of credits and the blueprints of what they want and then I'll build it," Mari told Nuit, reading aloud helped her understand what she was reading quicker.
"And then two hidden quests, not much I can do for that. It looks like I won't know what they are unless I complete them." Mari moved on to the next screen.
"Okay, now what is the Warriors Cathedral?" Mari asked, "It is... Oh so it's like a meeting area, and each hall is specialized for something different. The Hero's Hall will maintain a record of all the Warrior's feats, like completed quests, level growth, and advancing floors."
"And the Hall of Memories will be dedicated to any Warriors that die so that they aren't forgotten." Mari paused, she hadn't really considered the possibility that anyone would die within her forge, but if she was honest it wasn't just a possibility but an unfortunate expectation. It would be impossible to keep every Warrior alive.
Mari cleared her throat and shook her head, "Right, um Hall of Healing is what it says it is, an infirmary, it will always have enough beds and basic medicine supplies..." Mari paused and reread the next part.
"Hmm, It looks like the Warriors can work together to upgrade the Hall so that it would have healing potions as well, but they would have to pay using the credits they earn from completing quests within the forge." Mari thought about it for a moment, "I guess I got that earlier when I made the port island and unlocked Credit Systom and General Quests for Warriors."
"And the last one is pretty easy to understand," Mari sighed and for a moment just stood there. Nuit bumped her nose against her cheek and Mari smiled. "Right, there's no time for feeling low. How does one prepare for the visit of Divine Messengers?"
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"I wonder what you'll do next" a multitude of layered voices spoke into the in-between. A glowing finger slowly traced a black tear in the space in front of themselves, carefully repairing it.
"After all, there's only so much I can do." Several tears of different sizes shuddered, and a few big ones began to leak a black inky liquid that stained the white vastness of the in-between.
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