The wind whipped at Sally’s face, drying out her wide smile. Even with the metal wheels jostling her as they rocketed over the rough terrain, this was truly quite the experience.
Jackie leaned over the side of the top of the stagecoach to glance down at her, her own wide grin across her face. “You see the weapon I get with this?”
“A big… crossbow?” Sally yelled back, a leaf almost choking her as her mouth opened.
“Twin-linked dual repeating crossbows! We need to find something to shoot!” Her head vanished back atop the coach.
“You really should be inside, Sally.” Chuck admonished her from within.
She sunk back into her seat and pouted across at the Druid squished in between Dent and Fern. “Killjoy,” she murmured.
“It will be worse if we turn up to Humphrey with your head detached from your body because Jackie rode too close to a tree.” He rolled his eyes and glared at her.
She wasn’t even sure Jackie was driving. After they had been teleported to the nearby summoning circle, she had appeared it out of nowhere. An impressive Ultimate that the mobster was unhealthily happy about getting to use. Even the two horses pulling the vehicle looked like they were wearing black pinstripe suits.
Kitten Archie was sleeping on Lana’s lap beside her. They had all been relatively quiet once they had started moving. Being drawn to… well, they didn’t really know what. Theo was no closer to coming back, but she had a couple more allies. She sunk into the red leather bench seat.
“Alright, so we’ll need to split into two Parties going forward. I’m going to suggest undead in one, and the others in the other.”
Chuck nodded slowly. “So everyone present except for yourself?”
“Yeah.” She pulled a face and looked out of the window at the trees flashing past. “The Outsiders are better frontline fighters, so you five can be the backup. I’ll take Edward until…”
Sally sighed. Until Theo could replace him? Until another one of them died? Until the Architect broke something else about the System?
“Dent,” she said. “Give us the details of potential enemies. My brain is fried.”
“Architect, for one,” he began. “Seven with potentially corrupted Players, the rest of the… Red team. Any living Last Word.”
She nodded. Not too bad. Most of those were edible.
“The Architect, can we even fight them?”
Archie yawned and stretched as he woke to join the conversation. “If you’re worried about them appearing and just erasing you with a thought, they aren’t that powerful.”
Sally narrowed her eyes. “But…?”
He kneaded Lana’s lap before continuing. “Originally, the System was designed to be mostly self-correcting. It is part of the reason it has been… tenable after the Architect’s death. There are certain things the new one can change, but your core existence is not one of them.”
She pouted. That sounded like even Chuck wouldn’t be able to un-zombie her if they got to that point. It made the position of Architect sound like less of a god and more of an… administrator. A janitor to keep things tidy and make sure it was a pleasant experience. Well, that had worked out well.
Lana shuffled to try to get some feeling back into her legs. “They’ll have to kill us in the more traditional sense, then?”
“Indeed.” Archie looked up at her. “They’ll be able to summon equipment, cast skills, and create System Monsters. If they are smart, they will come nowhere near us and win out with attrition.”
“If they did show up…” Sally had returned to watch the scenery speed past. “Would I even be able to punch them in their dumb face?”
Across from her, Dent smiled. “I’ve long given up underestimating what you and the Outsiders are capable of, Sally. If you want to do it, I’m sure you’ll find a way.”
She smiled, but she wasn’t so convinced. The Architect was a few steps above Players or even a boosted Unique like the dragon. They were at least more grounded in reality, and their capabilities made sense. What if the new Architect turned the ground into soft cheese and she sunk and suffocated in it?
“We’re about here,” Jackie yelled from the top of the wagon.
Sally opened up her Map, and her little blip was near the mark where they intended to find the others. A weight sunk into her stomach. Maybe she could get the mobster to swing the stagecoach around the area a few times until she felt ready for this.
It slid to a stop, and the horses whinnied from the front. Too late.
Chuck leaned forward and placed his hand on her knee. “We are here for you. You’ve got this.” He grimaced. “You’re really cold, even through your jeans.”
“I have no idea what the fuck is going on.” Fern deflated and tried to work the handle on their side of the wagon.
“It gets easier,” Sally said, almost believing it. Jackie dropped down in front of the window and opened the door as the zombie leaned against it, causing Sally to fall out onto the floor. “Gotta fall downwards before falling upwards, right?” She groaned and righted herself with the mobster's help.
She dusted herself off as the rest of the group dismounted and walked over to join her. A plain of barren stone went out in front of them. Ruined Monsters lay in piles for a distance until the flash of combat drew their attention further ahead. Familiar shapes. Narrowing her eyes, she stormed towards them.
Humphrey wrenched the large maul from the body of the golem and stepped back. Before turning toward the next opponent, he froze. Lucius popped out from his shadow and stood beside Edward, both slowly moving themselves away from the Death Knight.
He turned slowly, to meet the burning glare of Sally standing nearby. Her eyes were alight in bright crimson, arms crossed as her foot tapped against the floor. Shadowed figures stood a way off behind her, but he couldn’t focus on them with her taking up his full attention.
Humphrey dropped to his knee and bowed toward her. “Sally… I’m so sorry.”
“What for?”
“For allowing myself to be controlled. Killing Theo… and then for running away.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Her foot continued to tap on the ground.
“We are trying to find a way to bring him back, if you’ll forgive me. If you do not, I understand.” He continued to look at the dirt before him.
“Stand.”
Humphrey gradually rose to his feet, his head still low and not wanting to meet her gaze.
“Killing Theo was a terrible thing,” she began, her voice quiet. “But you broke my heart when you ran and left us alone. Even if you felt guilty, I needed you. Norah needs you. We all do.”
“I am here now.” He lifted his head. “Lucius reminded me of what truly mattered. I wish to atone for my misgivings and earn your forgiveness, and be there for you once more.”
“Only person you need to forgive is yourself, Humps.” She shook her head and sighed. “Ask Theo for forgiveness, and do not rest until you get to ask him. Good lesson teaching, Lucius. What did Edward teach you, Humphrey?” She raised an eyebrow at seeing the demon being part of the gang again.
“Mostly how to get beaten up by an angel.” He turned with a grin as the demon rolled his eyes.
As much as she wanted to dig deeper into how cool that fight sounded, she instead ran up and threw her arms around the Death Knight. “I’m repressing everything too hard to give a genuine emotional response,” she whispered, “but I’ll just say wah.”
He gave her a pat on the back. “Wah, indeed. I am here.”
“Good.” She released her grip on him. “Also, I brought some friends with me. You know most of them, but I’ll introduce them anyway to set the scene.”
Lucius and Edward exchanged shrugs.
“Chuck, Dent, Jackie, Fern, and a good Lana. But even better…” she bit her lip as the tiny figure moved across towards them.
“Big brother,” kitten Archie said.
“Very little brother,” the Death Knight grinned, kneeling down to pick him up.
Sally spun back to the gathered groups. “Alright, let’s organize into Parties as previously discussed. Chuck, Dent, Fern, Lana, Jackie. Then pops and Edward can join me. Archie, you are too small to-”
She stopped as she turned back to see the cat turn into mist and enter the skeletal face of the Death Knight.
“Humphrey!”
“He started it.” the Death Knight shied away from her as she deflated.
Chuck rubbed his chin. “Not that putting all our eggs in one basket is a great idea, but this was kind of the plan, eventually. Certainly easier than getting the other two out at present.”
[Chuck has left the Party]
[Dent has left the Party]
[Jackie has left the Party]
[Humphrey has joined the Party]
[Edward has joined the Party]
She waved away the notifications. “Ugh, remember when we had actual Class names and loot meant something?” She pouted. “Architect needs to fix that.”
“Are you sure? It’s not like you liked interfacing with that side of things.”
Despite the valid point, she chose to ignore him. Instead, she waved a hand toward all the Monsters being killed. “So, what are you even doing here?”
“Forgetting that we’re incapable of looting,” Edward grumbled, his eyes avoiding the glare of the Death Knight.
“There’s an item that can be crafted…” Humphrey rubbed at the back of his helmet as he looked down at the zombie. “It’s not so much a resurrect, as it can rewind time.”
Sally clicked her fingers. “That’s thinking outside the box, since we can’t use the usual methods.”
Chuck came over to join them while Dent and Lana went to loot around the corpses already on the ground. “Still not guaranteed, correct?” He grimaced.
“No,” the Death Knight shook his head. “With his soul in place, we have a greater chance, but I do not know whether it would reset him back an hour… or longer.”
“System damn it, Humps. If you bring my pup back at level one again, I will personally make you power level him twenty-four seven. I still can’t believe you just vacuumed up that Archie without saying anything.”
“It is too dangerous for them to go alone.” Humphrey shrugged and picked up the mace to rest on his shoulders. “They’ll need to take this chance to be safe within me.”
She waved him away. “Alright, what do we need from these Monsters? I need to grind my teeth on something that I won’t have to apologize to after.”
“An item called [Chrono Juice]. We need one-hundred of them to start with.”
Dent stood up from a little way away. “I have four.”
“Two here,” Lana added.
Sally deflated and opened up her Inventory to retrieve Humphrey’s greatsword. “Better get going then, we don’t have much t-”
“Opportunity,” Lucius finished, helpfully.
Chuck hummed to himself, eyes focused on STAR menus. “Is the [Timesworn Key of Echoes] craft?”
Humphrey nodded.
The Druid murmured something that may have been several curses.
“We can look up stuff like that?” Sally furrowed her brow.
“Yes,” the Death Knight grinned. “You never asked.”
She flexed her hand a few times. “Alright, everyone!” They all turned to pay attention. “Most importantly, Chucky, you need to change your Party name to Insiders. I have mandated it.”
“…done.”
“Secondly, we aren’t putting all our eggs in the Theo deus ex machina. As much as it pains for me to say it, we’ll need to assume that he is dead for good.” She wrinkled up her nose. “With the Architect growing in power by the hour, we need at least a Plan B, or some reasonable plausibility for when we eventually fail upwards.”
They each nodded, other than Fern, who had their usual blank expression.
“So I want the Insiders to focus on gathering stuff for the key with overcooked name. Since you have three Players you can loot more effectively. The Outsiders will go find the last Archie,” she turned to look at the Death Knight, who nodded back.
“Already notified any capable Blue team Parties to assist with some of the other materials,” Dent said, closing down his own STAR.
Sally smiled and looked around at them. The oddest found family you could ask for, but they were hers. “Let’s save the universe!” she yelled out to their medium cheers.
Fern shrugged, raising their arms awkwardly after everyone had calmed already.
The wind whipped at Sally’s face, drying out her wide smile. Even with the metal wheels jostling her as they rocketed over the rough terrain, this was truly quite the experience.
Jackie leaned over the side of the top of the stagecoach to glance down at her, her own wide grin across her face. “You see the weapon I get with this?”
“A big… crossbow?” Sally yelled back, a leaf almost choking her as her mouth opened.
“Twin-linked dual repeating crossbows! We need to find something to shoot!” Her head vanished back atop the coach.
“You really should be inside, Sally.” Chuck admonished her from within.
She sunk back into her seat and pouted across at the Druid squished in between Dent and Fern. “Killjoy,” she murmured.
“It will be worse if we turn up to Humphrey with your head detached from your body because Jackie rode too close to a tree.” He rolled his eyes and glared at her.
She wasn’t even sure Jackie was driving. After they had been teleported to the nearby summoning circle, she had appeared it out of nowhere. An impressive Ultimate that the mobster was unhealthily happy about getting to use. Even the two horses pulling the vehicle looked like they were wearing black pinstripe suits.
Kitten Archie was sleeping on Lana’s lap beside her. They had all been relatively quiet once they had started moving. Being drawn to… well, they didn’t really know what. Theo was no closer to coming back, but she had a couple more allies. She sunk into the red leather bench seat.
“Alright, so we’ll need to split into two Parties going forward. I’m going to suggest undead in one, and the others in the other.”
Chuck nodded slowly. “So everyone present except for yourself?”
“Yeah.” She pulled a face and looked out of the window at the trees flashing past. “The Outsiders are better frontline fighters, so you five can be the backup. I’ll take Edward until…”
Sally sighed. Until Theo could replace him? Until another one of them died? Until the Architect broke something else about the System?
“Dent,” she said. “Give us the details of potential enemies. My brain is fried.”
“Architect, for one,” he began. “Seven with potentially corrupted Players, the rest of the… Red team. Any living Last Word.”
She nodded. Not too bad. Most of those were edible.
“The Architect, can we even fight them?”
Archie yawned and stretched as he woke to join the conversation. “If you’re worried about them appearing and just erasing you with a thought, they aren’t that powerful.”
Sally narrowed her eyes. “But…?”
He kneaded Lana’s lap before continuing. “Originally, the System was designed to be mostly self-correcting. It is part of the reason it has been… tenable after the Architect’s death. There are certain things the new one can change, but your core existence is not one of them.”
She pouted. That sounded like even Chuck wouldn’t be able to un-zombie her if they got to that point. It made the position of Architect sound like less of a god and more of an… administrator. A janitor to keep things tidy and make sure it was a pleasant experience. Well, that had worked out well.
Lana shuffled to try to get some feeling back into her legs. “They’ll have to kill us in the more traditional sense, then?”
“Indeed.” Archie looked up at her. “They’ll be able to summon equipment, cast skills, and create System Monsters. If they are smart, they will come nowhere near us and win out with attrition.”
“If they did show up…” Sally had returned to watch the scenery speed past. “Would I even be able to punch them in their dumb face?”
Across from her, Dent smiled. “I’ve long given up underestimating what you and the Outsiders are capable of, Sally. If you want to do it, I’m sure you’ll find a way.”
She smiled, but she wasn’t so convinced. The Architect was a few steps above Players or even a boosted Unique like the dragon. They were at least more grounded in reality, and their capabilities made sense. What if the new Architect turned the ground into soft cheese and she sunk and suffocated in it?
“We’re about here,” Jackie yelled from the top of the wagon.
Sally opened up her Map, and her little blip was near the mark where they intended to find the others. A weight sunk into her stomach. Maybe she could get the mobster to swing the stagecoach around the area a few times until she felt ready for this.
It slid to a stop, and the horses whinnied from the front. Too late.
Chuck leaned forward and placed his hand on her knee. “We are here for you. You’ve got this.” He grimaced. “You’re really cold, even through your jeans.”
“I have no idea what the fuck is going on.” Fern deflated and tried to work the handle on their side of the wagon.
“It gets easier,” Sally said, almost believing it. Jackie dropped down in front of the window and opened the door as the zombie leaned against it, causing Sally to fall out onto the floor. “Gotta fall downwards before falling upwards, right?” She groaned and righted herself with the mobster's help.
She dusted herself off as the rest of the group dismounted and walked over to join her. A plain of barren stone went out in front of them. Ruined Monsters lay in piles for a distance until the flash of combat drew their attention further ahead. Familiar shapes. Narrowing her eyes, she stormed towards them.
Humphrey wrenched the large maul from the body of the golem and stepped back. Before turning toward the next opponent, he froze. Lucius popped out from his shadow and stood beside Edward, both slowly moving themselves away from the Death Knight.
He turned slowly, to meet the burning glare of Sally standing nearby. Her eyes were alight in bright crimson, arms crossed as her foot tapped against the floor. Shadowed figures stood a way off behind her, but he couldn’t focus on them with her taking up his full attention.
Humphrey dropped to his knee and bowed toward her. “Sally… I’m so sorry.”
“What for?”
“For allowing myself to be controlled. Killing Theo… and then for running away.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Her foot continued to tap on the ground.
“We are trying to find a way to bring him back, if you’ll forgive me. If you do not, I understand.” He continued to look at the dirt before him.
“Stand.”
Humphrey gradually rose to his feet, his head still low and not wanting to meet her gaze.
“Killing Theo was a terrible thing,” she began, her voice quiet. “But you broke my heart when you ran and left us alone. Even if you felt guilty, I needed you. Norah needs you. We all do.”
“I am here now.” He lifted his head. “Lucius reminded me of what truly mattered. I wish to atone for my misgivings and earn your forgiveness, and be there for you once more.”
“Only person you need to forgive is yourself, Humps.” She shook her head and sighed. “Ask Theo for forgiveness, and do not rest until you get to ask him. Good lesson teaching, Lucius. What did Edward teach you, Humphrey?” She raised an eyebrow at seeing the demon being part of the gang again.
“Mostly how to get beaten up by an angel.” He turned with a grin as the demon rolled his eyes.
As much as she wanted to dig deeper into how cool that fight sounded, she instead ran up and threw her arms around the Death Knight. “I’m repressing everything too hard to give a genuine emotional response,” she whispered, “but I’ll just say wah.”
He gave her a pat on the back. “Wah, indeed. I am here.”
“Good.” She released her grip on him. “Also, I brought some friends with me. You know most of them, but I’ll introduce them anyway to set the scene.”
Lucius and Edward exchanged shrugs.
“Chuck, Dent, Jackie, Fern, and a good Lana. But even better…” she bit her lip as the tiny figure moved across towards them.
“Big brother,” kitten Archie said.
“Very little brother,” the Death Knight grinned, kneeling down to pick him up.
Sally spun back to the gathered groups. “Alright, let’s organize into Parties as previously discussed. Chuck, Dent, Fern, Lana, Jackie. Then pops and Edward can join me. Archie, you are too small to-”
She stopped as she turned back to see the cat turn into mist and enter the skeletal face of the Death Knight.
“Humphrey!”
“He started it.” the Death Knight shied away from her as she deflated.
Chuck rubbed his chin. “Not that putting all our eggs in one basket is a great idea, but this was kind of the plan, eventually. Certainly easier than getting the other two out at present.”
[Chuck has left the Party]
[Dent has left the Party]
[Jackie has left the Party]
[Humphrey has joined the Party]
[Edward has joined the Party]
She waved away the notifications. “Ugh, remember when we had actual Class names and loot meant something?” She pouted. “Architect needs to fix that.”
“Are you sure? It’s not like you liked interfacing with that side of things.”
Despite the valid point, she chose to ignore him. Instead, she waved a hand toward all the Monsters being killed. “So, what are you even doing here?”
“Forgetting that we’re incapable of looting,” Edward grumbled, his eyes avoiding the glare of the Death Knight.
“There’s an item that can be crafted…” Humphrey rubbed at the back of his helmet as he looked down at the zombie. “It’s not so much a resurrect, as it can rewind time.”
Sally clicked her fingers. “That’s thinking outside the box, since we can’t use the usual methods.”
Chuck came over to join them while Dent and Lana went to loot around the corpses already on the ground. “Still not guaranteed, correct?” He grimaced.
“No,” the Death Knight shook his head. “With his soul in place, we have a greater chance, but I do not know whether it would reset him back an hour… or longer.”
“System damn it, Humps. If you bring my pup back at level one again, I will personally make you power level him twenty-four seven. I still can’t believe you just vacuumed up that Archie without saying anything.”
“It is too dangerous for them to go alone.” Humphrey shrugged and picked up the mace to rest on his shoulders. “They’ll need to take this chance to be safe within me.”
She waved him away. “Alright, what do we need from these Monsters? I need to grind my teeth on something that I won’t have to apologize to after.”
“An item called [Chrono Juice]. We need one-hundred of them to start with.”
Dent stood up from a little way away. “I have four.”
“Two here,” Lana added.
Sally deflated and opened up her Inventory to retrieve Humphrey’s greatsword. “Better get going then, we don’t have much t-”
“Opportunity,” Lucius finished, helpfully.
Chuck hummed to himself, eyes focused on STAR menus. “Is the [Timesworn Key of Echoes] craft?”
Humphrey nodded.
The Druid murmured something that may have been several curses.
“We can look up stuff like that?” Sally furrowed her brow.
“Yes,” the Death Knight grinned. “You never asked.”
She flexed her hand a few times. “Alright, everyone!” They all turned to pay attention. “Most importantly, Chucky, you need to change your Party name to Insiders. I have mandated it.”
“…done.”
“Secondly, we aren’t putting all our eggs in the Theo deus ex machina. As much as it pains for me to say it, we’ll need to assume that he is dead for good.” She wrinkled up her nose. “With the Architect growing in power by the hour, we need at least a Plan B, or some reasonable plausibility for when we eventually fail upwards.”
They each nodded, other than Fern, who had their usual blank expression.
“So I want the Insiders to focus on gathering stuff for the key with overcooked name. Since you have three Players you can loot more effectively. The Outsiders will go find the last Archie,” she turned to look at the Death Knight, who nodded back.
“Already notified any capable Blue team Parties to assist with some of the other materials,” Dent said, closing down his own STAR.
Sally smiled and looked around at them. The oddest found family you could ask for, but they were hers. “Let’s save the universe!” she yelled out to their medium cheers.
Fern shrugged, raising their arms awkwardly after everyone had calmed already.
