Now that I’m without a weapon, we decide to head back to the Darkheart outpost. Asteria takes some of my money and buys up a bunch of commodities, which is smart of her. Considering how difficult it is to get down here, there’s going to be a great market for the trinkets and goods. I spend the duration of her shopping trip in our inn room, curled up on my cmshell bed, grieving the loss of my beloved swordspear. I know it’s silly to get so attached to a weapon, but still, my life, and the lives of the people around me, had been saved by that wonderful piece of equipment…

  The trip back to Darkheart takes the better part of four days. Swimming back to the shore is the worst of it, then using our Stones of Rapid Transference takes us the rest of the way. Asteria sets about selling what she’d bought with my coin, while I get used to having legs and wings again.

  The crew of the Devil Hunter surrounds me, clearly picking up on my mood. Mor attaches herself to me, her artificial wings furled as she hugs me warmly. She’s clearly showing some changes. There’s corded muscle filling her out, and she seems taller somehow, as if her new confidence is letting her stand straight.

  When I finish expining about the failure of our quest to locate the item we were seeking, and the loss of my armament, the looks on Ginger, Tirran and Farne the twin Arcanists, Mackerel, our short-and-cheery human chef, and Morrigan’s faces turn somber.

  I sigh. “Yeah. I’ve got Ulged the smith working on making me something to repce my baby, but… I just don’t know if I can get over it yet…”

  Morrigan seemingly takes it upon herself to distract me as she begins babbling about her training with Genevieve, and I let the young girl’s words bring me a little relief. She’s so cute and kind, I’m so gd we rescued her…

  An hour ter, I excuse myself and head for the inn, looking to get a few drinks and drown my sorrows. That, in hindsight, wasn’t the smartest idea, since I never even made it to the bar. A familiar, nasty voice halts me in my tracks.

  “Oh, it’s the pigeon-girl! Been a while, huh, Handjobadiel the angel?!”

  I freeze, and then slowly turn to face the speaker and his currently-silent companion.

  “What. Do you. Want, Radagon? Haven’t you got the self-preservation instinct of a Toxopsmosis-infected rat? This is the worst time for you to be making yourself number 1 on my shit-list.”

  As Randy bristles, Anri ys a hand on his elbow.

  “Look, we clearly went about this the wrong way. I know I’VE at least been after the Bde of the Ruined King, that sword you got back in the dungeon ages ago, but I should have offered to buy it off you. Getting my ass kicked repeatedly by you and your weird friends wasn’t part of the pn, and my buyer’s getting quite snippy with me. So… name your price and I’ll match it.”

  Randy opens his mouth to protest, and Anri’s fingertip jabs him somewhere sensitive. While he winces and squirms away from her, I sigh.

  “First, yes you SHOULD have led with that. Second, I don’t have it anymore. I haven’t had that bde in months. I had Ulged break it down into materials, which he used to make my swordspear.”

  The silence is deafening. Anri whispers harshly, “So… you destroyed it, to make your dumb spear? Well where’s the spear?! We might be able to undo it!”

  I spread my empty hands. “It got chewed to pieces by a shark the size of a helicarrier.”

  I dig out a handful of fragments, enough to prove my story, and scatter them on the grass. The metal winks and glimmers in the sun, the roughly-rent edges apparent at a gnce.

  Anri pinches the bridge of her nose to ward off a stress-headache.

  “Ohhh my god. Okay, I can still salvage this. I can fix this.”

  She points at me with her free hand. “YOU can help me fix this. I don’t need you to fight the boss, Ancient Lich King Jemistra. That’s what Remington’s here with me for. I need YOU to do whatever it was you did that got you the drop. In exchange, I’ll split the money from the buyer 50/50. Ryker just wants the boss drops.”

  I can’t help but smirk a little. Even Anri’s partaking in the whole ‘Give Randy an incorrect name’ game. Randy opens his mouth to protest again, and the look Anri shoots him makes him reconsider. I shrug. “I don’t mind, it’s a game after all. I may not LIKE either of you, but if I help with this, you two leave me the fuck alone. Deal?”

  Anri holds out a hand. “Deal.”

  I shake, and then send a message to Trinity.

  “I’m going on a quest. I need a spear. Do you have one I can buy?”

  I wait for about thirty minutes, filling Asteria in on the situation. She promises to stay out of sight, but insists on following me in case the pair tries anything. There’s no response from Trinity yet. They must be dealing with a customer right now. Eventually, a message fshes up.

  Sure. Ulged’s left several, we’ll see what we’ve got that’d suit you. He’ll be back in a day or two, and then he told me to put all orders on hold till he’s finished with your new armament!

  A few minutes ter, an item box arrives in my inventory, and I send over some gold to pay for it. Touching the item box icon, I open it, and a new spear appears in my hand, out of nowhere. It’s got a wide, needle-shaped point, and a handle of bckened steel. It’s… functional, I guess, and I hook it onto my back, by the base of my left wing. My shield is on my back as well, between my wings where it’s easy enough to get to while still staying out of the way.

  “Okay, ready when you are.”

  Anri produces a Stone of Rapid Transference, and grabs my arm. Randy grabs the short, slight Puppeteer by the shoulder, and the three of us get teleported to the camp where we’d met Brandia and her father, as well as their soldiers. Now, the area’s under guard, but Argonauts are allowed free access to the dungeon, letting anyone raid the instanced content at will. The quartermaster’s tent looks fancier than most, probably from buying loot off pyers on their way out, and selling supplies to those entering.

  Entering the dungeon, I sigh, breathing in the cool, musty-smelling air. I think back. “Ookay, so… it’s been a hot minute, but I remember the path I took. And, Raphael? No trying to use any traps on me to force a 1-vs-1 this time, capisce?”

  He grumbles, and I start leading the way. This spear’s a little shorter than my old one, so I can at least use it in the confines of these passages. Randy’s armed himself with a nasty pair of shortswords, while Anri’s got her cws on, the bdes sliding down the backs of her fists to lock into pce with a series of ‘snick’ sounds.

  Down the passageway, through the room where Randy got his cheeks cpped by me after I unlocked Tempestuous Affinity to clear my weakness to lightning damage and added Imbue Element- Thunder to my skills.

  He clearly remembers this room too, and kicks at some rubble mulishly as we keep trekking. A handful of the weird cyborg zombies try their luck, but end up in bits all over the floor. They’re so… weak now! This is almost embarrassingly easy!

  I skewer a trio at the same time. “Huh. Look at that, a zombie kabob.”

  I hear a snrrk from Anri, quickly muffled as she tries not to be amused. Randy simply scowls.

  Deeper and deeper, we descend yer after yer into the catacombs of this long-forgotten tomb complex. When we run into the bodies of more ornately-armoured mechano-zombies, I know we’re in the right pce. They look just like they did the first time I came through here, cut in half lengthways, or with massive sword-wounds through the chests, missing heads, or simply crushed into sad little heaps.

  I lead the way down the side passage, into the room where I’d found Zakariah Templeton’s book. The suit of armour that should’ve been there is gone, and the doors still look like they were forced open from the inside by some explosive force of strength.

  “Ookay, that’s all as it should be. Now, we’ll have to pass through the old base-camp, then head towards the boss-room. When we hear the sound of fighting, we should check it out.”

  Anri nods, a feverish light burning in her eyes. I guess the prospect of finally getting that stupid sword is lighting a fire under her. Following the path, I lead the way, putting down a couple of zomborgs as Anri and Randy cover our fnks. They work well together, at least, and we make it in good time. And, sure enough, once we reach an intersection, there’s the sound I was waiting for, metal on metal ringing out like a bell, over and over, and I nod. “This way!”

  I lead the charge, and we crash into the back of a group of the mechanized undead, and I point at the animated suit of ptemail as it tears its battered, nicked, chipped greatbde back through the sternum of its unlucky target. “Help kill all the undead, but DON’T attack the suit of armour!”

  Luckily, Anri’s hold on Randy’s leash is tight enough that he obeys, and we clear the trash mobs in a couple of minutes. I pant as I catch my breath, then ask, “Does anyone have a greatsword on them? It’s gotta be a new one. If we offer it to the armour, it’ll take our gift and leave the one it’s currently wielding. That’s how I got it the first time.”

  Anri pauses, then nods. She begins rummaging through her inventory. I notice she hasn’t been using any puppets, but her ‘Puppet Strings’ ability has been put to effective use, letting her unch enemies at the scenery, scenery at the enemies, or enemies at enemies if she feels like starting an inappropriate workpce romance between two mechazombies.

  Finally, she produces a cymore. Not an especially lovely piece, but the Hollow Knight reaches out and takes it regardless, letting its old weapon ctter to the ground. As soon as the opportunity arises, Anri snatches it up, double-checking.

  “Yessssss! The Bde of the Fallen King, right in my hands! At st!”

  She stashes it away, and I shrug. “So, that’s it, right? I can go? I’ve got other things I would much rather be doing.”

  The girl waves a hand dismissively. “Yeah, sure, piss off. I’ll send over your half ter, once I collect my pay for this!”

  After she leaves, I begin to make my own departure, when a chill runs down my spine. Whirling instinctively, I block the bdes of Randy’s swords with my greatshield.

  “Yep, saw that coming a mile off.”

  “Tch. Seriously, what’s it gonna take for me to KILL you already?!” Randy snarls, and I shrug.

  “I dunno, maybe you should ‘git gud’?”

  “Oh, fuck you!” he swings again, and I bat his left-hand sword aside, starting to get pissed off.

  “I get the feeling you’ll justify this by saying, “I didn’t shake on it, so it’s fine for me to PK you!”, but no matter what, we both know you’d have tried this even if you HAD shaken on it. Your word’s worth about as much as an ogre’s used underwear.”

  Randy’s dual swords blur as he sshes out, using skills and abilities to try and pierce my shield. Luckily, his speed’s about half what I’m capable of, so it doesn’t faze me enough for his liking. He hurls one bde, then the other, comboing into a weapon-switch and pulling a warhammer out of thin air, smashing it sideways to try and beat my greatshield out of the way. I angle the face so his blow skims off harmlessly, stabbing out and nding a nasty puncture wound on his ankle.

  “Kuh! Trying to hobble me, heh? Clever little bitch, aren’t you?!”