When Lillia returned to the cathedral, Havoc made her knight him right away. He was eager to set up his entire blacksmithing station. He had a whole new location mapped out further away from the fire.
The reason it had to move was that as a reward for another Hearth, the dungeon had added a table and benches. It felt like a subpar reward until Lillia realized the other hearth had ‘given them’ a literal palace as another Hearth.
At least on the hearth vector, fair was fair. Even if the table meant Havoc had more places to put gross meat he decided to try cooking.
At least he hadn’t been cooking when Lillia arrived, which meant she’d had the stomach to ask him about Vianaffir.
Talking about how she’d reacquired the weapon had led to an awkward dance of a conversation for Lillia. Havoc, in his usual thoroughness, had asked about each point. The first line of questions: She fought Eisel as a boss, what did she know about that? Was simple enough. Lillia was allowed to talk as much as she wanted about the fight, even about the conversation they’d had during it.
As soon as Havoc followed up, she’d gotten into trouble. What was her theory on how he found her again? She couldn’t explain that well without getting into the conversation between life and death. The further Havoc pressed into the connections the harder Lillia found it to speak. Whenever she tried to say something or answer a question the deal considered ‘off limits’ her tongue felt numb and she felt a gloved hand guiding her thoughts away from the proper answer.
The deal, in technical terms, didn’t prevent her from talking about it. It simply forced her to lie around it. That felt worse.
Havoc grumbled several times before finally dropping the questions and moving back over to the blade. Him being frustrated with Lillia’s answers wasn’t novel, it was just usually because she didn’t pay as much attention to detail as he wanted her to.
Havoc leaned over the blade as it was laid out on the table. Even broken, it was still beautiful and shining. He considered the sword for a long time, occasionally running his clawed thumb across the break.
“When my grandfather taught me to work metal,” he eventually began, “There was a long list of hobgoblin blades he made me memorize. He told me if I worked hard enough and did good, clean work, I’d get to work on metal that lived through the old stories.”
Havoc sighed and his whole body moved with it. For one of the few times since Lillia had met him, Havoc seemed old.
“I gave the same talk to my grandson, Blather. Told him that he’d be the one in the family to repair hollowed craftsmanship.”
Havoc frowned. It lingered for a long time.
“I haven’t thought about that in ages. About that conversation. I think I’d forgotten it. I think I’ve forgotten a lot.”
“Havoc.” Lillia stopped short of reaching out for him. She hadn’t known Havoc for that long, but she knew that hug was the preferred form of physical comfort.
The Hobgoblin met Lillia’s gaze for a second, nodded. He forced the sorrow out of his tone in the next words. “Well, guess Grandpa was right. Time to get to work.”
Lillia stepped forward. “Havoc.”
“What?”
She could hear it on his voice. He was already annoyed by the upcoming attempted comfort.
She skipped over that part. “What do you need from me?”
“You? Time. Not too much of it, but enough.”
“You don’t need materials or anything?
Havoc scratched his chin then picked up the bottom half of Vianaffir. “It’s a legendary blade, Lillia. Nothing we’ve found in here is going to affect it.” He held the sword up, checking it against the dim, flickering light of their shoddy chandelier. “Something like this wants to be reformed. It just needs hands to do it.”
Lillia matched Havoc, staring at the blade until he lowered it. It looked like a broken sword. She didn’t understand how it could want anything.
“You’re going to go talk to Thorne, right? See if she’ll help.”
“That was the plan.”
“I’ll take care of this. You take care of that.”
Lillia went to follow his orders, but stopped halfway through the turn. She lingered for long enough that he turned his gaze back to her.
“Havoc.”
“Yeah?”
“The next two things: Nennia and Eisel. Are you g—”
“What are you gonna do to them alone, kid?” Havoc asked. “Don’t ask stupid questions.”
“But—”
“Kid, I’ve been getting killed in a basement over and over again before you convinced me to come out here. If I gotta get my skull smashed in a couple times to keep a promise and get to work on legendary blades. It’s worth it for as long as it lasts.”
Lillia didn’t have time to find words before Havoc continued.
“If you get all sappy right now, I’ll run myself through so I don’t just sit through it.”
“Okay, Havoc. I’ll get to work.”
“Yeah. I will too. Grandpa would have had a fit if he found out the legendary blade was a human one.”
“Thank you, Havoc.”
“Don’t start with me.”
Lillia left Havoc to do his work. Heading down the stairs to the first landing. She was supposed to be checking the hunting lodge, but she checked Havoc’s door first.
Locked.
This time, there was no scrolling error message. Lillia couldn’t know if that was progress, but it felt like it.
At least the door was still there. She hadn’t thought about it before, but the implication of another room appearing here could have stripped all of Havoc’s scrolls, all of his written memories away.
She didn’t know if he’d ever planned on reading them again when he wrote them. Or if he remembered that he’d written them, but if they got out, they’d become important study material for a hobgoblin headed home.
One problem at a time.
Or rather, one potential solution at a time.
Lillia opened the door to the hunting lodge. Thorne was sitting in one of the chairs around the center table, her feet propped up around the cutlery.
“Well, there you are, sugar. Was starting to get worried y’all would start the adventure without me.”
Thorne being there didn’t take away the smell of stale alcohol that permeated the room.
Lillia was stuck in the doorway. She’d expected an empty room and to have to hunt Thorne down somewhere in the Hunting Grounds.
Thorne read the princess like a book. She was used to staring at gormless prey. “Havoc’s making noise up there for a while, and I figured y’all might have made some progress.”
“We cleared the siege room Havoc probably told you about.”
Thorne sat up and removed her feet from the table. Lillia realized how much that had been bothering her. “You two cleared a third-floor room?”
Lillia nodded.
Thorne leaned in. “All on the back of that adventurer thing Havoc was talking about?”
That wasn’t quite the whole truth, but it was Lillia’s sales pitch. “I couldn’t have done it without him.”
Thorne leaned back in her chair and cackled. She clapped twice. As she laughed, the sound of buzzing lingered in the room. “So you’re telling me you can give me all that? All the freedom out of my room and the ability to carry as many weapons as I want.”
“I actually don’t know if there’s a limit.”
“Hey, as long as it’s more than two proper pieces and seventeen knives, it’s an upgrade.”
“Seventeen?”
“Oh sugar, don’t tell me you’re down to the single digits. You gotta carry more side arms or—Well I suppose you actually don’t. Ain’t that just the fun of it.”
Lillia had come in here expecting a lot, but Thorne’s excitement hadn’t be part of her plan. She’d come here focused on Thorne’s previous promise of needing something from Lillia.
Maybe them conquering the siege—as she didn’t know about the cheating—was proof enough for her.
“Now,” Thorne kicked herself up out of the chair. Lillia swore she saw her coat flutter. “Originally, the plan was that I was going to run you through a trial or two, but a gal’s got to be honest with herself. The honest truth is I want in on whatever madness you’re cooking up.”
Lillia figured it was better to be honest. “Even if that madness is hunting Nennia?”
“Oh girl, threaten me with a good time. A chance to tussle without the risk of the permanent end? You have to love it. Even if it might take a bit of thrill outta that hunt.” Thorne was smiling. Lillia didn’t like that smile.
“I have an idea that might work for having both you and Havoc be adventurers at the same time,” Lillia said, “but I think—”
“Oh sugar, please tell me you’re about to suggest we test out how this thing works on me at all before we climb into Nennia’s lair.”
That was correct, but it brought up another question. “I thought you would enjoy the thrill of hunt if we went in there before—”
“Part of the thrill of the hunt is preparing for the hunt, sugar,” Thorne approached, and then walked past Lillia through the door. She dragged her finger along Lillia’s shoulder as she did. “Stick around long enough and I’ll be sure to show you how it’s done.”
Lillia held her breath as Thorne’s nail caught in the strap of her dress. The deep inhale that came after confirmed that Thorne smelled like Honey.
“You planning on coming for the hunt, sugar? Hard to test my skills out in a cramped room like this.”
Lillia nodded.
Thorne was willing to help, which was step one. Thorne was a little too willing to help, which was another problem for another time.
The Hunting Grounds had been ready from the moment Lillia and Thorne arrived. Unlike the previous iteration, that had formed itself in real time, this version seemed to know what it wanted to be.
Was that because Thorne was here? Or because Lillia had burned it down during her last adventure down into the dungeon?
As soon as they were through the door. Thorne cracked her neck to either side and stripped off her fancy jacket, tossing it to the side of the door. Once her jacket was off, two thin, transparent wings buzzed in place. Lillia recognized the motion, it was like shaking her hand awake after sleeping too long.
“Feels good to be out, don’t it?” Thorne asked. “I know it ain’t the fresh air but it’s closer than anything you’re going to get on this side of the dungeon.”
“This side?” Lillia asked.
“Tutorial side,” Thorne said. As she spoke she bent over and grabbed something hidden within the long grasses. A leaf-wrapped package tied closed by twine. She began opening it. “You need to get through the third floor to see any more of the place and, for obvious reasons, I wasn’t about to do that?”
Lillia nodded. “Yeah, it seems like they’re worse than the floor—”
“Sugar, watch it before you say somethin’ about me you don’t mean.” Thorne finished upwrapping the package. There was a bow inside, it looked like it had been folded somehow without breaking it.
“See, I…” She dragged the word as she strained through the process of unfolding the bow. “I’m part of the tutorial, but I ain’t what you’re supposed to fight durin’ it. Or did you forget the entire point of killing the Ambusher was to impress me?”
Lillia looked out over the horizon. She didn’t see anything to hunt.
“Havoc is a monster, and he was brought in here from outside. So is that girl he was talkin’ about from the amulet.” There was bowstring wrapped around Thorne’s armband. Lillia had just through it was part of the outfit until Thorne started to string the bow with it. “Cathria, I think?”
“Yeah,” Lillia said.
“I’m closer to your skeleton friend, Rickshaw. The dungeon’s my home. I don’t follow the same organizational structure as the monsters within.”
Something moved far out in the plains. Lillia caught Thorne’s eyes darting over to the movement as she went to point it out.
“If it’s not…” Lillia tired to find the words. “If you’re not trapped with Havoc, then why would you help me? Do you even need worry about dying outside of your room?”
“First, I ain’t just helping you out of the good of my heart. We’re trading your goods for my services. Second, I gotta worry about dying anywhere. I ain’t a dungeon monster. I don’t come back. That is unless this plan of yours works.”
Now the bow was strung. Thorne tested the weight of the draw several times, but never let go of the string. Lillia didn’t understand why she hadn’t tested it. Thorne’s wings began to buzz, quickly becoming a blur behind her.
“You’re willing to try to fight Nennia and go against the dungeon because it’s going to be fun?”
Thorne settled, her wings slowed. “Well, that, and I’m a sucker for a cute girl who’s nice to me,” she said. “You’d never believe how belligerent a lot of those adventurers are. There’s a reason I don’t usually show up to visit. You saw how it was with the first beast ya killed, I just left a note. I—”
Thorne cut off her sentence as she watched the horizon. Lillia tried to follow her gaze and track what she was looking at. As far as the princess could tell, it was just an empty landscape.
“Alright, here, let’s get this show movin’ and get on out there. I didn’t come into the grounds to just stay by the door.”
Lillia nodded. Time to do it then. “I, Lillia, Heiress to House Ashvalin and—”
Thorne held up a hand. “Wait, wait, wait. Let me do this.”
Thorne waved a hand. The text in front of Lillia shifted.
[Quest Received: Give a Mouse a Cookie]
[Use Emergency Knighting to grant Thorne the status of Adventurer.]
Oh. Oh! Thorne could give quests.
[Reward: Thorne’s Favor.]
Lillia looked from the promise up to Thorne.
“Nothing mechanical, just means I like ya,” Thorne clarified. “Only got so much to give away and gonna use it on this.”
Lillia nodded. Fair enough.
A deep breath.
The dungeon’s name for the quest was calling her out. She knew it. The same way that it had called out her use of the chitterpede armor earlier.
Of course, it was right.
Lillia wasn’t supposed to be in here. Princesses didn’t belong in dungeons. Princesses shouldn’t have to form parties.
What princesses were good at was pushing until they got their way.
She would take anything the dungeon gave her and make it regret giving her an inch.
“I, Princess Lillia of House Asvalin, name you, Thorne, as knight.”