[F25 | SP] ThREad TiTle NOT fOUnd | <<Down The Rabbit Hole>>

[Acanthus 0]

Quest Link

Her last syllable echoed endlessly off slate gray walls, reaching up into an infinite darkness. She took a moment to compose herself. Her vision was still scored with the image of Edict fighting for his life, pushing Acanthus away in some stupid, storybook “save yourself” moment. Except this wasn’t a storybook, and Edict was almost certainly nothing more than a memory and name on the Monument of Life. The Monument! Acanthus looked around for signs of escape. If Edict wasn’t on the wall, then there was still a chance. Picking herself up, she chose a direction and walked.

The labyrinth here had none of the charm the one on the third floor possessed. The floors were slate grey, the walls were slate grey, even the endless dark just out of sight seemed grey instead of black. Where exactly had she been teleported? A haunting groan trailed through the passages of the maze. Wherever it was, it was not a safe zone. And she had not fully recovered from the previous fight. She picked up the pace.

Labyrinth Roll
235223 | CD 1 | LD 7
1 Darkling Spawns (Come the f--- on)

Spoiler

 

Acanthus | Lvl 54 (33/21) | HP: 780/780 | EN: 92/92 | DMG: 21 | ACC:5 | AA  | LD:8 | PROSP:3 | QTY: 2
Equipped Gear:
Weapon:
  - botan.
Trinket: 
  - worthless ring
Trinket: 
  - empty avarice

Battle-Ready Inventory
HP Recovery 3 | 235046, 235043

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
  - TECH Shift

Skills:
  - Light Armor R5
  - Searching R4
  - Straight Sword R5

Extra Skills:
  - Assault Mode
  - Disguise
  - Forgotten King's Authority
  - Hiding R5
  - Parry
  - Photosynthesize
  - Survival

Addons:
  - Focus
  - Precision
  - Resolve

Mods:
  - Meticulous
  - Night Vision
  - Surpise Attack: Trickster
  - Tracking
  - Vengeful Riposte

Housing Buffs:
  - Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
  - Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
  - Attic (Bedroom): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cannot boost a skill without ranks, or increase a skill past its maximum rank. Cannot boost a skill the user has not learned yet. Ranks obtained using this buff will make the mods of that rank available for purchase. Mods obtained this way are unusable if this buff is removed until the skill is returned to the appropriate rank by way of SP purchase.
  - Basement: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
  - Guest Room: Players can have one «Amenity» in a «Guest Room» and the «Amenity» cannot be recovered. Players are allowed to change which «Amenity» is in the «Guest Room». Multiple instances of the same «Amenity» do not stack. This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.
  - Greenhouse: +2 Gathering EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to gathering attempts.
  - Mega Slime Farm: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Crafting Profession:
 - Performer[2638exp] R5
Gathering Profession:
 - Forager[779exp] R5"      

 

Spoiler

Combat Begins!

Acanthus | Lvl 54 (33/21) | HP: 648/780 | EN: 76/92 | DMG: 21 | ACC:5 | AA  | LD:8 | PROSP:3 | QTY: 2
Darkling | 672/672 | DMG 132

Monster's Turn
Attacks first, from stealth.
235239 | MD 9. Minor Critical! Hits for 133 damage.

Post Action: TECH-A -> Darkling
235239 | BD 3 + 6. Hit! deals 21 * 16 = 336 damage. Stunned!

Ability:
Darklings begin every combat with Hiding active and always acts first in the round. There will always be one Darkling for each player in the group, ensuring that each member is attacked.  If the Darkling successfully maintains stealth, its initial attack will automatically hit. Afterwards they attack normally.

 

 

Edited October 12 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

The shadows leapt from their hiding spot, clawing at her unprepared back. She turned around, sword at the ready. Wait, which sword? This isn’t Ajisai. Where’s my sword?

The creature now came into full view. It appeared to be a human with greying, mottled skin. It bared its long claws and screeched at her. She wasn’t used to the monsters finding her. Usually, it was the other way around. “You’re wasting my time.” With two quick strikes, she stunned the creature before dispatching it. What a frustrating non sequitur. Cardinal must be having a good laugh at her expense. In a stroke of luck, she had been thrown into the maze close to the safe zone. It almost seemed too good to be true.

“Welcome to Lite'tara,” the minotaur grunted. “Take some chalk before you leave.” She thought it funny her last encounter with a minotaur had been so uncivilized. And here, the man was a guard, offering her aid before she stepped out into the labyrinth.

Spoiler

Recovery. 235243 | CD 8. Lol I forgot I didn't have my Recovery stuff equipped. nvm. +4 EN

Acanthus | Lvl 54 (33/21) | HP: 648/780 | EN: 64/92 | DMG: 21 | ACC:5 | AA  | LD:8 | PROSP:3 | QTY: 2
Darkling | 672/672 | DMG 132

Monster's Turn
Stunned. No action taken.

Post Action: TECH-A -> Darkling
235239 | BD 1 + 6. Hit! (Thank freaking god for AA, this fight is makin me so angy) deals 21 * 16 = 336 damage.

Ability:
Darklings begin every combat with Hiding active and always acts first in the round. There will always be one Darkling for each player in the group, ensuring that each member is attacked.  If the Darkling successfully maintains stealth, its initial attack will automatically hit. Afterwards they attack normally.

Loot Darkling
ID: 235241 | LD: 4+9=13 | CD:3+2=5 | Col:7392, Mats:2, [235241a] T4 Rare Weapon, [235241b] T4 Uncommon Consumable (You couldn't even roll a decent drop!! I'm gonna screeeeeeeam)

 

 

Edited October 10 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

She had barely entered the town before she was ready to go back out searching for Edict again. A strange and useless detour, she thought miserably. She quickly changed her items around in the safe zone, fishing for some HP recovery crystals. The creature had taken a sizeable chunk of her health in a single hit. She needed to be combat ready, not equipped with whatever items she’d had. She didn’t recall having these at the start of her quest. Where did they come from? They were obviously made by NIGHT. How did they make it into Acanthus’ inventory? Not to mention the fragment on the necklace was… It was from Edict’s teleportation crystal. It would have been impossible for NIGHT to have that before a few minutes ago.

Time made no sense here. Acanthus couldn’t wrap her head around it, so she resolved to file it away under the “unsolvable mysteries” folder in her mind.

Spoiler

Recovery. +60 HP 708/780

Post Action: Swap out Equipment
worthless ring -> Enduring Thistle
empty avarice -> Evasive Charm

 

Edited October 10 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Popping her HP recovery crystal, she grabbed a piece of chalk, marking walls and lines as she stepped back into the labyrinth. She even entered stealth just to be safe.

After a few minutes of walking, her HUD warbled a broken tune. She looked for whatever dialogue had just been prompted. But scanning her field of vision, nothing had appeared. Confused, she spun around. A lone, ragged quest box hovered, askew and half a meter too low. Squatting down, she tried to read it.

Accept <<Down the Rabbit Hole>>? Please come in so comfy so warm yes. All have we will fun times today! Please trust,

<<ǝloH ʇıqqɐᴚ ǝɥʇ uʍoᗡ>> ʇdǝɔɔ∀ ? P̷͇̽͗̚l̵̥̇̚e̶͕̲͆́a̸̧̫̾̒s̷̻̓è̶̡͈̘͘ ̶̡͍̀ć̶̺̯ò̵̝͖̦̉m̵̲̰̗͐͗e̷̛̛̝̖͈ ̸̙̿͠͝i̴͇͉̒͠ͅṅ̸̜̘ ̴̧̱̣͘͝s̶͔̣̪̈́̎ỏ̷͎̼̔ ̵͈̤̺͆̌c̴̨̪͇̉o̶̠̫̖͒m̶̧͎̓̋f̴͔́y̷̧̖͖͊̂́ ̵̦̯̼̅̓s̸̤͌̄o̶̹̽ ̴̢̻͜͝w̸͍̠̠̃a̵̻̓͜ȓ̶̭͓̥m̷͚̓͑̂ ̶̙̪̋͂̓y̴͎̿̕͝ẹ̸͂̍š̶͖̗͒.̵̨̭͔́ ̵̠̑Ã̷̪̌ĺ̷̈́̾ͅl̶̦̟͉̂̉ ̵̛͓̹h̷͙͕͉͊̒à̸͈̻́̓v̴̺͕̳̄̓ę̸̳̏̕̚ ̵̲̺̗͐w̸̲̪̮̉e̷̞̳̐̇̊ ̷̲̎w̷̩͘̕i̷͕͎̼̇l̶̳̫̐͗l̴̛̮̦ ̶̥̬͎̌̀f̸̛̭͛̓ṷ̸̉n̵̠͂̾ ̸̞̱͑t̵̘̱̕i̵̫̺̟̎̍̀m̶͉̘͊ȇ̶̡͖̯̎s̵̡̐̈̕ ̷̼͙͙̐̽̇ṱ̴͊͝ò̵͚̹̯̀d̵̤͔̀a̸͍̍́͝ͅẏ̷͍̜̖͝!̶̮̭͌̊́ ̸́̄͊ͅP̶̫̫̊̐̓l̵͚̅͜ẽ̴͔͙̰̏͘a̸̧̜̎͝s̶͓̮̞̎͆̚è̸̛͖̣̫ ̵͖̖̩̈́͋t̵͉̙̉r̸̝̺̘͆u̸͎͐́͒͜š̷̢̙͓̌͝t̸̹̓̌̆,̶̦̯̬̚  [no don't press me q.q]

The quest appeared corrupted in the same way the trade dialog had been. It was possible that this could lead her back to Edict. It was also possible Edict had this quest as well, and they would be able to meet up. Assuming he was still alive.

Acanthus looked at the maze around her. She had no idea if the place even ended. The quest was probably a requirement to escape the maze anyways. With some trepidation, she pressed the [Accept] button. Nothing happened. Annoyed, she pressed it again. And again, and again, and the floor disappeared, swallowing her in an inky black void.

Spoiler

Recovery. +60HP 768/780

 

Edited October 10 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

When she opened her eyes, she was certainly not in the labyrinth anymore. She floated upside down in some nondescript primary school classroom. The only notable thing was that the entire room appeared to be frozen as though a hurricane had blown through. Hundreds of sheets of paper held position mid-air, chairs and desks were upended, floating, or crammed in various corners of the room. The blackboard at the front of the room contained half a lecture on fairy tales; the other half contained very crude drawings of genitalia.

A school bell, about ten times too loud, rang in her ears. The doors slid open and pupils slid into the desks. Not students, human students—no, literal eyeballs—rolled through the door and squished into each of the desks, no matter which way they faced or hovered. They seemed to ignore Acanthus, even phasing through her to reach their intended destination. When the teacher walked in, a particularly large nose, Acanthus fought back her sensible urges. :Ma’am I’m sorry, have you seen someone that looks like me?: Her voice came out in a strange, flat tone, as though it had been filtered to remove most of its volume and pitch.

The students stared, while the teacher smelled. Their collected stares proved so intense that Acanthus physically withered under the attention. With a comical sneeze, the teacher blasted Acanthus through the back of the classroom.

Transit Roll
235272 | CD 6 LD 10. Failure. 50 damage.

Acanthus | 718/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Crashing through the back wall of the classroom, she now found herself in a quaint village. Gravity had also decided to reintroduce itself. Acanthus stood up, somehow sore. The pain suppressors didn’t seem to be doing their job. They hadn’t done their job in the forest either. She recalled how the attacks from Edict’s monster had actually hurt—something she hadn’t felt since the real world.

Wait. That wasn’t true. Hadn’t she felt some phantom pains when she just started traveling with Pinball? It was her panic attack from before. Something strange was happening in the game, possibly unanticipated.

A loud crash drove her from her thoughts. A tree-sized foot had just squashed the thatched roof in front of her. Looking up to see what it was attached to, she saw nothing. A large, personless foot wiggled its toes at her. :Far too many body parts for my comfort: she said out loud.

Transit Roll
235273 | CD 9 LD 14. Success! (1/5).

Acanthus | 718/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

The foot appeared to understand; it also did not seem to appreciate her disdain. Picking itself up, it stepped toward Acanthus menacingly. :Well that’s not good: Acanthus mused. The foot then leapt hundreds of meters into the air. Acanthus began to run.

:For such a strange situation, you’re taking this very well: she realized that even thinking produced the strange, monotone voice. It was going to drive her insane. A pack of formula one race cars raced past her, and she nearly shrieked at the suddenness. That was a close call. A thick Tohoku accent yelled back, “HEY, I’M WALKIN’ HERE!”

:Don’t get distracted: she looked up for the foot hot in purfoot—pursuit. The foot was now barely a blip in the sky. It had jumped and simply kept going up. Counting herself lucky, Acanthus slowed down to a walk again. As if sensing the decline in stakes, all the doors in the village slammed open at once. Acanthus jumped like a scared cat. Hundreds, no, thousands, of people rolled out of each door, wearing the same scarlet, conical hat.

Transit Roll
235274 | CD 12 LD 9. Failure (1/5).

Acanthus | 718/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

With nowhere to run she was swept up onto the shoulders of the crowd. They tossed her from person to person cheering. “Worthless! Worthless!” They screamed in delight, like they were part of a sporting event. “Worthless! Worthless!” :Please put me down: she thought as calmly as she could muster. But her voice was drowned out by the crowd, swept up in its own excitement. “WORTHLESS! WORTHLESS!” They carried her with a singular momentum, toward the center of town. The people around her seemed like a sea, and many of them were blending together, clipping, breaking into a T-posed model, before returning to their original space. What would happen if the ones underneath her did that? Anxiety rising in her throat, she looked for a way off of the crowd. But it pulled at her like a riptide, with no end in sight.

“Useless! Waste of space! Hooray!” The crowd was now carrying her toward a large, sunken cistern in the middle of town. The air around it seemed damp, and it sucked all the sound out of the surrounding area. Acanthus now began to struggle in earnest. It was clear that was the direction they were taking, and she hoped it was not for the reason she anticipated.

Transit Roll
235275 | CD 11 LD 8. Failure (1/5).

Acanthus | 718/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Once the ocean of people formed around the cistern, the celebration ceased. An eerie quiet settled over the crowd, almost like someone had muted the program. One by one, the people passed her off to the next person, inching her toward the cistern with a dreadful inevitability. :You—did—this—to—yourself: the voice shook inside her head. It came from the villagers, each one speaking a single word at a time. :—and—proud—we—are—so—proud:

Acanthus was now close enough to see down the cistern. It was not endless as she had anticipated, but looking down, she would have preferred not being able to see. Edict lay at the bottom of the cistern, body mangled and hacked into four pieces. But his eyes were open, and even from the distance she could see that he was staring into her soul.

She screamed as the crowd threw her into the pit; her screams blending seamlessly into the cheers of celebration.

Transit Roll
235276 | CD 7 LD 16. Success! (2/5).

Acanthus | 718/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

The ground hit Acanthus. She stood down, dusting herself on. Something wasn’t left about this place. Her head swam with plots—thoughts. Looking asquare, she panickdly scammed the area for Lawman. No—Edict. She shaked her head. Flowers looked for Edict.

The field stood all around her. Where was the well? Where was Edict? Why were the thoughts coming in spurts that didn’t make sense? She smacked herself, and then herself smacked back. Go ahold of herself, she thought firmly. Take chicken stock of the situation and brew up a plan to run five miles.

Thoughts talked weirder here. Nothing can do about it, however sadly perhaps it may be.

The field was comfortable and pretty. The sun shone down, bright as the night sky, dappling the field in a hazy wash of dark. The wind carried the pleasant stench of asphalt and sewage. In the near distance, she saw a distinct sense of wonder. Might as well get a closer look, she thought commiserably. Walking away from the wonder, she began her journey.

Transit Roll
235277 | CD 9 LD 8. Failure (2/5).

Acanthus | 718/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

She could feel her mind drifting apart the longer she walked here. She had the distanct image of cracked pepper in a bowl of water. Then she sneezed. Wonder was becoming further away with each step toward it. Except wasn’t she walking the other way? She was—she was jogging, not walking. So it should be faster.

Slowly, she jogged into a spring, and slowly she went across the field,  a barren place full of life and laughter. It made her sick with joy. “Stay I could be forever: she yelled in a whisper. :nothing makes Yen anyway, but at least it makes me happy”

Herself slapped Acanthus again. Calm yourself up. You must needs leave, and you know how you must needs leave. She did? She did. Reaching toward the wonder, she grabbed it with her hands and pulled it toward her. The wonder pulled over effortlessly, and she dropped through.

Transit Roll
235278 | CD 12 LD 1. Failure (2/5).

Acanthus | 718/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Hang on, I didn't pass that roll. Why was I allowed to move forward?

:Whatever that was, I did not like it one bit.: She tried to get a sense of her current situation. It was not in the bottom of a well; that much was certain. She sat in a chair designed to be comfortable enough, with a desk that promoted productivity while it turned up its nose at anything remotely interesting. I’m at work, she realized.

The chair next to her creaked. “What a day. Mondays, am I right?” A perfectly normal workplace interaction—except the man was made entirely of sticky rice. “Is there something in my teeth?” Acanthus could only shake her head in response. Regardless, the rice man stuck a wadded fist inside his mouth, rooting around for some evidence. At last, the hand came free with a small speck of rice—which he promptly ate. “Anyways, the name’s Gohan. What’s yours?”

“Um. Acanthus.” The rice man smiled blankly. Acanthus smiled weakly back.

The sheer awkwardness of the situation caused her psychic damage. Her health bar began deteriorating.

Desperate for a direction, her workplace smalltalk instinct took over. “What sorts of projects are you working on?” The rice man looked around furtively. “Actually, I think I’ve avoided the latest round of projects. I may just have a little workation for the next few months. You know, workation—where you try to look busy but you don’t actually do anything.”

Transit Roll
235279 | CD 6 LD 8. Failure (2/5). 50 damage.

Acanthus | 668/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Another rice figure, this one shorter and much more plump, intruded on the conversation. “Gohan!”

“Gohan.” The first man said back stiffly. “Acanthus, this is Gohan.”

“I gathered that.” The plump rice man chuckled. “She’s got a sharp wit. I think she’ll be a good fit here. Gohan, how’s that project coming along?”

“Project?” Despite being entirely white, the rice man visibly paled. “I didn’t think I had any assigned.”

“Oh, you know.” The plump man scooped a large chunk out of the first man’s abdomen, snacking on it. Acanthus jumped back in her chair. “The quarterly psychographics, right? We’ve got to get those compiled. I swear I had you and Gohan working on those.”

“I thought it was Gohan and Gohan, not me and Gohan.” The plump man scooped another handful of rice out of the first Gohan, causing his figure to slump noticeably. “Ah, well, sometimes I get the tasks mixed up! Not to worry,” he said, grabbing an even bigger bite out of the man, “I’ve got another project cooking, just for you. Gohan, Gohan—come on over here.”

Transit Roll
235280 | CD 8 LD 5. Failure (2/5).

Acanthus | 668/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Two other rice people, a tall man and a petite woman, approached the growing crowd. They shook hands with the depleting Gohan, each taking away large chunks of rice and eating them. “Gohan, I want you to head up the metadata compilation report. It’s a big task, so I want you to take Gohan and Gohan for some help.” Nearly collapsing, first Gohan managed a weak cheer. “This is a big responsibility, so consider it a bit of a promotion if you please. I think you’re going to do great things here. Of course, your salary will have to remain the same until we meet next quarter’s expectations…” The plump rice man rumbled on through mouthfuls of Gohan. Acanthus swore she saw him getting fatter with each bite. Even the two newcomers appeared healthier after every mouthful of rice. “Ah, well,” first Gohan sighed as the last parts of him disappeared into their hungry mouths. “Mondays, am I right?”

Transit Roll
235281 | CD 12 LD 19. Success! (3/5).

Acanthus | 668/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“And there goes Gohan. He’s a little too flaky. If you ask me, he’s not gonna make it to middle management.” The plump Gohan swiveled to Acanthus. “Now, Gohan—”

“Acanthus.”

“Sure thing, Gohan. Go ahead and push out those psychographics first, and then we’ll talk details about the metadata report.” Acanthus could already see where this was going. She pushed herself out of the chair and walked around the office, desperate for an exit. The plump rice man droned on, as if Acanthus were still in her chair.

Scanning the office, she was disappointed at the drudgery. It actually made her miss the classroom whirlwind, or the terrifying crowd surfing in the village. This setting reminded her too much of home, apart from the people being made entirely of plain rice. Boring conversation from all around began to seep into her ears.

“Man, the ref’s call last night were something else—”

“How was your weekend? Get caught up on your chores?—”

“You’ll never believe this, but Gohan is actually sleeping with Gohan’s wife—”

“Mondays, am I right—”

Acanthus couldn’t take it anymore. Opening the nearest window, she stepped off the ledge, plummeting twenty floors towards the pavement.

Transit Roll
235282 | CD 4 LD 9. Failure. (3/5). 50 damage.

Acanthus | 618/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Landing firmly on her backside, she grimaced in pain. Not just the physical pain, but the smell—the wet stench of death assaulted her nose. She was back at the bottom of the cistern, now pitch-black. Scrambling with her hands, she felt around for Edict’s body, but wasn’t there. Tentatively, she called out his name. “I’m here. Haru, are you there?”

Her blood chilled for a moment. “Edict, my name is Acanthus.” A pause. “That’s what I’m saying, isn’t it? Haru. Haru.” He repeated the name, like he was testing the word.

It could be a trap. Or it could be Cardinal’s translation algorithm malfunctioning. She’d already seen stranger things today. She was resolved to investigate the voice, but not to trust it. “Edict, where are you right now? I’m in the bottom of a well. I saw your body here just moments ago.”

“Moments? Haru, I’ve been down here for years.” She tried to ignore the strange perception of time—the game was just playing tricks on them. Either way, it wouldn’t solve their current predicament. “So you’re down here then?”

Transit Roll
235283 | CD 8 LD 20. Success! (4/5)

Acanthus | 618/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“I’m not sure. I think I’m in the walls.” His voice did seem to be coming from behind the stonework. “Can you dig out to me?”

Her fingers dug into the grout, prying loose a few bricks. “Sure, but it’ll take a while. Can you help me?”

“No thanks.” Acanthus stopped mid-pull. “No thanks?”

“Yea, no thanks. It’s a lot of work.” Acanthus settled back against the wall, perplexed. She was becoming more and more sure that this voice was not Edict.

“Edict, it will go faster if you help.”

“And then what? We start this cycle all over. We go on quests, almost die, get separated all over again. This world is us pushing a boulder up a steep slope, doing our best to not get crushed, and then it all rolls back down, waiting for us to do it again. And again. Until one day, the boulder wins.”

Transit Roll
235284 | CD 10 LD 6. Failure (4/5)

Acanthus | 618/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

She sat at the bottom of the cistern for a while before speaking. “Have you tried therapy?”

“No. Have you?” She gave a dry laugh. Maybe it was the real Edict.

“This feels like the part where I offer you some incredible, life-changing advice about walls, or boulders, or mazes, or whatever allegories this stupid game has cooked up this time around. I don’t have it.” The silence persisted.

“All I have are my hands. And all I can do with my hands is dig—so that’s what I’m going to do. All this talk of pushing boulders is silly.” She started digging into the grout again. “If you help me, then it’ll go faster.” She worked silently for a few minutes. Then, the sound of scraping from the other side. Edict’s muffled voice came through the stones. “Meaningless, meaningless. Everything is meaningless.” They worked quietly, the sounds of scraping and clacking rock punctuating the air from time to time.

Transit Roll
235285 | CD 3 LD 2. Failure (4/5) 50 damage.

Acanthus | 568/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“Ecclesiates.” Now it was Acanthus’ turn to be lost.

“I just realized that you might not get the reference.” Acanthus combed her memory for the word. “...Christian scripture?”

Edict gave an affirmative grunt. “I just realized I don’t know where or how you grew up, so it might have just sounded like weirdly dramatic language.”

“You would be right. I didn’t realize you were—”

“I’m not. Or I guess it’s complicated.” The sound of stones tumbling was louder; they had made some progress. “I was raised that way. So really I know just enough to be dangerous.”

“I see.”

“I don’t want to talk about it too much. I mostly just wanted to head off any concerns that I’m overly dramatic.”

“No, I think you’re overly dramatic because you kicked me out of the fight so that you could die some heroic death.”

“...It was the best way to keep you safe.”

Everything you say is just another opportunity to hurt the people around you. Just like you're doing now.

Transit Roll
235286 | CD 1 LD 2. Failure (4/5) 50 damage.

Acanthus | 518/780

Edited just now by Acanthus

Edited October 11 by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

“Safe?!” The anger she’d felt on floor three was coming up again. “Edict, I’m in the bottom of a fucking well. I’ve fought minotaurs, run from giant winged feet, and escaped compiling some kind of ‘metadata’ report. Also, possibly turning into rice and getting eaten. And that was all just today.” She angrily tore a stone from its place. “Nothing about this damn game is safe. Stop trying to pretend that you’re the only thing standing between the people around you and total oblivion. Because with or without us, the game will move on.”

Silence settled back in as the two worked. It sounded like there wasn’t much distance left to cover when another thought popped into Acanthus’ head. “Edict, what were you about to say to me when I teleported out?”

After a brief moment, the sounds of scraping stone shifted subtly. Acanthus raised an eyebrow. “Edict. What’s going on?”

“I’m putting the stones back.” Acanthus made an indignant sound. “Trust me. It’s better this way.”

Transit Roll
235287 | CD 3 LD 6. Failure (4/5) 50 damage.

Acanthus | 468/780

Edited October 11 by Acanthus