Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 021 - Part 1

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That Which Haunts

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TheirWorld

Though she expected to be haunted again, the voice didn’t come to her even after she sat for a few minutes. The gobo’s corpse turned into a treasure chest as she stared at it. Pushing up onto her knees, she crawled over to it. Inside there were five tokens, a fair number of coins, and to her surprise - a couple of items! They were her first real items! She took them out and inspected them.

> <<[ Patchwork Silk Robe (Unidentified)]>> > > << It appears to be a simple, colorful silk robe.>> > > > <<[Citrine Staff (Unidentified]>> > > << It appears to be a simple staff, perhaps magical in nature. .>> > >

Even though it wasn’t identified, she equipped the robe - which was basically just a step up from rags - and put the staff in her inventory. While she didn’t like her dagger, she felt safer using it for now.

She started going through the boxes in the room one by one. In one of them, she assumed, would be the item in question. Rifling through each in turn, she found very little of interest; most of what was in the boxes was junk items like spoons and scraps of metal and cloth. She did find a bottle of wine that she decided to bring back for the gatekeeper. Finally, in the third box, she dug out what she had been looking for.

Unlike Ororos’s riddle which she had solved by sheer luck, Guin was pretty confident that she knew the answer to the rabbit’s riddle. Gingerly, she lifted the cloth wrapped item out of the box. Unwrapping it revealed a book which looked to be bound in fine leather. It was a beautiful item. She slipped in her pack and went thought the rest of the boxes. She came up with a few items and an iron helm which she decided not to wear for now. She never did like hats.

Satisfied, Guin began her way back to where the three fools waited. She slayed all those in her path along the way. The cave had already spawned a handful of gobos before she left, and she took care of them efficiently. By the time she exited the cave, all four of the skills she had been using leveled up.

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Use of stat points aside, her skills were leveling up much faster than she thought they would. The tutorial learning bonus was no joke. Entering the main game would be as crushing to her in game now as the real world was to a graduating high school senior.

Tik-Tak joined her with a happy bounce as she exited the cave, and together they pressed on. By the time she was through with all the Moarbits and the Beedants in the area, both were up to ‘C’ rank and she could finally see their health bars.

Back in the location of the Fools, Ororos was waiting for her with a toothy grin.

“The girl has returned in one piece, it seems!” he exclaimed with an amused sounding voice.

Jeek appeared out from her hole. “So it has,” she said. “Welcome back candidate. Did you find the treasure in the cave?”

Guin pulled the book out from her inventory, still wrapped in the cloth. “Is this what you were looking for?”

“Wohh,” said the rabbit in wonder, taking the book in her paws greedily, unwrapping it without second thought. It was the most emotive Jeek had ever been in front of Guin. “Yess, yes! This is it! I am impressed!” She began to flip through the book.

“Well then,” Ororos said. “We shall take our things back now - hopefully they have been of use to you!” he held a paw out, and Guin gave him back the dagger. She also returned the foot to Jeek - who was too preoccupied to notice - and held out the cloak for Lili, who she assumed was in his usual tree.

As expected he hopped down a moment later and landed on her shoulder. He took back the cloak, and said rather sheepishly, “Miss candidate… I know that you have just returned from Jeek’s quest, but I wonder if you might do me a small favor as well…”

Tilting her head, Guin asked, “What could I do for you?”

“You see…” he began, seemingly ashamed of himself. “I forgot which tree I lived in.”

Like a comedy act, Guin, Ororos, and Jeek nearly fell over hearing the squirrel’s words.

You have lost the items: Jeek’s Lucky Foot, Fang of Ororos, and Lili’s Family Tree.>

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Lili the Black Squirrel has asked you to find something: “I forgot which tree I lived in.”

This quest is optional. It can be skipped.>

>

“You -” Ororos began to exclaim, hackels up. Instead of yelling, he decided to just chase after Lili. Jeek sighed and took her book and paw back into her hole.

Then, in her left ear, a now familiar - though, now rather disgusted sounding - voice muttered, “Foolish rodent. I say, girl, I offer you a… proposal. I will give you an extra chance to guess who I am. You can guess who I am once you finish the quests of all three fools - or, you can name me now and I shall give you the answer to the final...erm… Poor excuse of a riddle. If you are wrong now, there shall be no punishment - I am starting to find this game of theirs dull. Call out what I am, and I shall appear before you.”