Post by researcherwisemon on Jul 3, 2016 0:56:41 GMT
> DAVE+BRO: Send REPLY to DAVID
Through John as the TIMEY WIMEY MESSENGER, they send their REPLY to DAVID at roughly the same time they received their letter, giving him equal time to compose a response.
Of course, Most of their "REPLY" Is made up of them fighting over the pen and drawing a bunch of dicks everywhere. It's mostly DICKS, and very few WORDED REPLIES.
What few worded replies there are good comebacks to his shade, though, David muses, but nothing that he COULDN'T HAVE PREDICTED ages ago... which he did. David gives John another LETTER almost immediately after receiving THE REPLY.
John begrudgingly accepts this task as the TIMEY WIMEY MESSENGER, though he says he's not DELIVERING ANY MORE LETTERS after this.
He had no idea how right he would be, given that by the time DAVE AND HIS BRO would compose another REPLY, everyone would be in the SAME PLANE of TIME AND SPACE.
> DIRK: Arrive
You arrive at the ENTRANCE to HECATE'S PALACE.
Unlike almost EVERY OTHER DENIZEN DEN IN THE GAME, Hecate seems to have set up shop on top of the TALLEST NATURAL STRUCTURE on LOSAS, towering above the SUN CLOUD LAYER.
There is a HANDY DANDY STAIR CASE to CLIMB, next to it is a WARNING about falling down them written in the TROLLISH COMIC SANS FONT.
You proceed to ignore the WARNING and begin CLIMBING.
> DIRK: ASCEND
You PASS BY several PAINTED SIGNS on your way UP.
Some are PICTORIAL REMINDERS of the WARNING SIGN at the bottom of the stairs. Mostly FOOLISH CONSORTS tripping and ROLLING DOWN HILL to the bottom.
One is a rather CLASSY RENDITION of the MYTH of the man who was forced to ROLL A BOULDER up a HILL for ALL OF ETERNITY. The name escapes you at the moment, but the MYTH, the LEGEND, does not.
Then, there's a MORE RECENT PAINTING of a BLUE-HAIRED HUNTRESS shooting down INDOMINUS PROTOTYPED UNDERLINGS with a SNIPER RIFLE. You can tell this one is MORE RECENT than the others because the PAINT IS STILL WET. You can TELL THIS by the fact that there is a SECOND SIGN hanging off of the first one that says, SUCCINCTLY, "Wet Paint."
It seems SOMEONE has a sense of humor.
> DIRK: Meet with Hecate
You reach the SUMMIT.
Before you lay a vast, sprawling TEMPLE covered in the CORPSES of INDOMINUS PROTOTYPED UNDERLINGS.
Confused, you touch one of the DEAD IMPS, and it DISOLVES INTO GRIST upon contact.
It seems that if a DENIZEN kills an Underling, they DON'T POP unless a player is there to collect it? Or, maybe, this is just a VISUAL REPRESENTATION of the HIDDEN GRIST CACHE that all Denizens guard? Either way, it's RATHER DISTURBING, to say the LEAST.
Or, just maybe, it's just a HIDDEN HUNTER'S SKILL that prevents UNDERLINGS from turning into GRIST, and instead just leaves behind bodies? That'd be kind of CREEPY, if that were the case.
You FOLLOW the DEAD BODY ROAD deeper into the TEMPLE, where you suddenly CROSS PATHS with TWO MORE sets of DEAD BODY ROADS.
It seems SOMEONE WAS BUSY actually hunting UNDERLINGS.
You suddenly feel VERY NERVOUS about being under a set of POSSIBLY REAL CROSSHAIRS.
You DRAW YOUR SWORD as you CALL OUT to the DENIZEN.
DIRK: Hecate! Are you there?
DIRK: It's me, your Prince of Heart.
DIRK: Dirk Strider, in the Flesh.
DIRK: I'm here for your sword so we can scratch.
DIRK: Let's make a deal, shall we?
Suddenly, there is a MELODIOUS LAUGH filling the air, and you tighten your grip on your sword.
HECATE: Well well well, it's been a while since I've had company that actually spoke.
You're caught off guard by this VERY HUMAN VOICE. Weren't Denizens supposed to only speak weird MONSTER GOBBLEDY GOOK? Unless... she is? Because it's definitely a FEMALE VOICE speaking to you. It's possible this is just your MIND processing her MONSTER TONGUE in a way that's understandable to you.
DIRK: Yeah, I could tell.
HECATE: Yes... Dirk Strider, Prince of Heart, Destroyer of Souls...
HECATE: My what devastation You've Wrought by prototyping that creature.
HECATE: The Royalty of two planets wiped out, the Battlefield now little more than Skin and Bones....
HECATE: And all that by delaying the entry of your fellow players by MONTHS?
HECATE: All by your own solo entry.
DIRK: Is the recap really necessary? I've kinda done that already.
HECATE: It's a Very Interesting path you've taken, Dirk Strider.
You begin looking around this CROSSROAD, for any sign of the SOURCE of the VOICE speaking to you.
But you see Nothing.
HECATE: You are quite the Hunter. A true Warrior.
HECATE: If not for the special circumstances in the previous instance of reality necessitating Yaldabaoth to take my spot... I'm sure it would have been a genuine toss up between which of us would have taken your spot as Denizen.
DIRK: Uh huh. I keep hearing that being thrown around. Got any insight you wanna share?
The LAUGH returns, echoing from ALL AROUND YOU.
You start popping UNDERLINGS to pass the time, and to make use of your DRAWN SWORD since it seems like this Denizen wants to play HEAD GAMES by not showing her face.
HECATE: Oh, my dear Hunter. You have no idea, do you?
HECATE: Did you not wonder why half of your Former Land was eaten up by a Black Hole?
HECATE: Or what may have happened to it?
DIRK: To be honest, I was a little busy getting my head put on straight at the time to care.
DIRK: And wow that's a memory I didn't really want to remember any time soon.
HECATE: There is nothing straight about you, Prince. Even that blade of yours has it's minute curve near the tip.
You squint at your SWORD, and sure enough, the tip is WARPED near the top. It's subtle, and you wonder how you NEVER NOTICED IT.
DIRK: Well if that ain't creepy I dunno what is.
DIRK: You got a sniper rifle like that one sign said you did, or do you just have that great of an eyesight, eagle eyes?
HECATE: I am many things. I could be an Eagle, yes.
HECATE: But to answer your question, I might ask you one of my own.
HECATE: What do you seek, Hunter? Answer truthfully.
HECATE: Love? Victory? Solitude?
HECATE: Matters of the Heart- of the Soul- rarely are ever as straight forward as they seem.
DIRK: Well I got two questions mainly.
DIRK: The first is-
HECATE: Jake Harley.
DIRK: Damn it.
HECATE: Specifically, is he alive?
HECATE: The answer is yes, although he presently resides in a place you cannot reach.
HECATE: Not yet.
DIRK: Well that's a relief.
DIRK: So the second question is-
HECATE: The Unbreakable Katana.
HECATE: And more specifially, may you have it for the Scratch?
DIRK: Well... yeah.
DIRK: ...
DIRK: So... can I?
HECATE: Can you wield it? Can you carry it?
HECATE: An interesting phrasing, compared to my own question.
HECATE: Can Versus May, I will not get into the specifics of linguistics with you, not when you doubt the very words you hear.
Denizen's got you there. You're still not sure if she's speaking MONSTER TONGUE, or actual ENGLISH.
DIRK: So the question isn't *AM I ABLE* to take it- A Question of ability.
DIRK: It's *AM I ALLOWED* to take it- A Question of approval.
HECATE: Exactly.
DIRK: So what demon deal do I have to make at this dead body crossroads to be allowed to take your sword?
HECATE: That is the crux of the matter is it not?
A GUN SHOT rings out loud, and you feel the RUSH OF A BULLET whizz past the SIDE OF YOUR FACE.
An UNDERLING SQUEALS in pain from behind you when the bullet hits true.
You turn around, and see a CARDBOARD INDOMINUS LICH fall face first into the dirt- PLUSH STUFFING leaks out from the BACK OF THE HEAD where the bullet tore through when it exited.
You trace the trajectory of the shot back the way it came, and there you see HER.
Your DENIZEN lays crouched atop a LEDGE supported by three ROMAN STYLE PILLARS. She takes a HUMAN FORM- electric blue hair and electric green eyes. Her clothes are the COLORS of the HEART ASPECT, and take on the THEME of the HEIR CLASS. She wields a GOLDEN BOW made up out of what looks like POLISHED BRASS.
There is no sign of a SNIPER RIFLE that made the SOUND.
DIRK: Hecate, I presume?
HECATE: Well spotted, Prince.
She does not so much as stand as LEAP from her crouched position, rolling through the air before landing on her feet behind you in a standing position. At a distance, you would have pegged her as teenager sized. Up close, she TOWERS above you by a good TWO FEET. Her very body radiates CONTROLLED POWER, tensed up and ready to be released at a moment's notice.
Your primal urges tell you to RUN. Your years of growing up alongside DINOSAURS lets you ignore it and stand your ground.
HECATE: You do well not to run.
Her mouth moves in a way that does not match the sounds coming out of it. That's that theory confirmed, at any rate.
DIRK: Well, years of growing up with dinosaurs will do that to a guy.
DIRK: Ruins all kind of flight or fight instincts.
HECATE: You wish to Scratch your session with no Scratch Construct.
HECATE: If I did not know through first hand experience watching your Rogue of Void generating those Accursed Portals, I would think you foolish for coming to me with this request.
HECATE: I do not doubt now, that you will succeed in retrieving your Construct.
HECATE: But why not similarly retrieve the Quills?
DIRK: Because Hephaestus offered a choice between out sourcing and in house production.
HECATE: It is not nearly that simple, Prince.
She begins to walk around you, circling, appraising, deciding.
HECATE: Your motives for coming to see me were made up the moment you heard my name.
HECATE: You have another agenda.
DIRK: Our dream selves died because of my prototyping Elise.
DIRK: I never could find any Quest Beds anywhere in the session, either.
DIRK: And believe me, I found my ways to check the Moon Crypts.
HECATE: Yes, your little camera drones.
HECATE: You did make that most recent one rather quickly.
HECATE: I'm surprised none of your friends commented upon just HOW quickly you put it together.
HECATE: After all, this instance of you holds no known means of robotics engineering.
DIRK: Maybe they're remembering past me like I did?
HECATE: I saw that drone of yours fly out to Derse.
HECATE: That design was much too refined.
HECATE: It is a fine hunting tool if ever I have seen one.
She continues to circle, and you're beginning to feel like that first time you ever met Owen's RAPTORS. The way the four girls stared at you, appraising you, debating on how to take you down should the chance ever arise.
HECATE: However, it was too refined.
HECATE: Too, too refined.
HECATE: You made more than just that one in your time alone here on the Land of Suns and Soil.
DIRK: So what? This doesn't have anything to do with the Quest Beds.
HECATE: You lie through omission, Prince.
HECATE: You never volunteered that information to your friends, and they never asked.
HECATE: Just as you did not mention to them your extra motive for coming here.
DIRK: So??
HECATE: As I said before, matters of Heart are...
She stops- draws her bow string back, and you DUCK.
The BOW STRING releases with the SOUND OF A GUNSHOT- and it is followed by the death cries of ANOTHER UNDERLING.
HECATE: Never straight in any manner of the word.
DIRK: Holy Shit- did you even know I was going to duck that!?
HECATE: It was a fifty fifty chance.
HECATE: A "Clean Break."
DIRK: Fucking hell.
DIRK: So in another world I literally just let myself get shot in the head didn't I?
HECATE: You and your Team's chances for ascending are now 100%.
HECATE: Had you not survived, it would be Zero.
DIRK: What? How???
HECATE: Your Choice has already been made clear to you, Dirk Strider.
DIRK: Wait, what??
DIRK: The Duck?!
DIRK: My Fucking Crossroads deal was to duck under a bullet or DIE?!
HECATE: Yes.
HECATE: You faced mortality head on, and survived.
HECATE: When the time comes, you shall Ascend
And then she turns the bow into a fucking Katana in a GOLD PLATED SHEATH, holding onto said sheath and pointing the sword handle towards you.
HECATE: Free of charge- The Sword you came here for.
You grab the handle and DRAW THE KATANA.
It's utterly ORDINARY and PLAIN. No gold adorns the blade, and it looks almost identical to the one you brought with you, and yet....
You can FEEL the power within it humming against the palm of your hand.
You turn around and give it a TEST SWING into the next UNDERLING foolish enough to come at you and Hecate. With one swing, the INDOMNIOGRE is split from SHOULDER TO HIP without the blade even touching the damned thing.
Once more- a GUN SHOT rings out, but this time it's muted to your ears. As if you were wearing NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES.
DIRK: Well, Crap in a Hat.
DIRK: What even is this thing?
HECATE: Just another piece of the puzzle, Prince.
HECATE: Just another piece of the puzzle.
HECATE: If you need my services again, you can find me in the Land of Light and Forests.
You turn back to Hecate, to ask her what she means by that... but she is GONE.
Damn fucking Denizens.
You CAPTCHALOGUE the UNBREAKABLE KATANA and turn to head back down the stairs...
> DIRK: Descend.
You start to climb down the stairs when you hear a faint CLICK, followed by your Denizen's LAUGHTER.
That's when you look down and realize the stairs beneath your feet are- at this angle fairly obviously- HINGED for rotation.
By the time that fact processes, you're already SLIDING DOWN the stairs like it's a goddamned AMUSEMENT PARK SLIDE.
You scream the entire way:
FUCKING.
DENIZENS!!!
Through John as the TIMEY WIMEY MESSENGER, they send their REPLY to DAVID at roughly the same time they received their letter, giving him equal time to compose a response.
Of course, Most of their "REPLY" Is made up of them fighting over the pen and drawing a bunch of dicks everywhere. It's mostly DICKS, and very few WORDED REPLIES.
What few worded replies there are good comebacks to his shade, though, David muses, but nothing that he COULDN'T HAVE PREDICTED ages ago... which he did. David gives John another LETTER almost immediately after receiving THE REPLY.
John begrudgingly accepts this task as the TIMEY WIMEY MESSENGER, though he says he's not DELIVERING ANY MORE LETTERS after this.
He had no idea how right he would be, given that by the time DAVE AND HIS BRO would compose another REPLY, everyone would be in the SAME PLANE of TIME AND SPACE.
> DIRK: Arrive
You arrive at the ENTRANCE to HECATE'S PALACE.
Unlike almost EVERY OTHER DENIZEN DEN IN THE GAME, Hecate seems to have set up shop on top of the TALLEST NATURAL STRUCTURE on LOSAS, towering above the SUN CLOUD LAYER.
There is a HANDY DANDY STAIR CASE to CLIMB, next to it is a WARNING about falling down them written in the TROLLISH COMIC SANS FONT.
You proceed to ignore the WARNING and begin CLIMBING.
> DIRK: ASCEND
You PASS BY several PAINTED SIGNS on your way UP.
Some are PICTORIAL REMINDERS of the WARNING SIGN at the bottom of the stairs. Mostly FOOLISH CONSORTS tripping and ROLLING DOWN HILL to the bottom.
One is a rather CLASSY RENDITION of the MYTH of the man who was forced to ROLL A BOULDER up a HILL for ALL OF ETERNITY. The name escapes you at the moment, but the MYTH, the LEGEND, does not.
Then, there's a MORE RECENT PAINTING of a BLUE-HAIRED HUNTRESS shooting down INDOMINUS PROTOTYPED UNDERLINGS with a SNIPER RIFLE. You can tell this one is MORE RECENT than the others because the PAINT IS STILL WET. You can TELL THIS by the fact that there is a SECOND SIGN hanging off of the first one that says, SUCCINCTLY, "Wet Paint."
It seems SOMEONE has a sense of humor.
> DIRK: Meet with Hecate
You reach the SUMMIT.
Before you lay a vast, sprawling TEMPLE covered in the CORPSES of INDOMINUS PROTOTYPED UNDERLINGS.
Confused, you touch one of the DEAD IMPS, and it DISOLVES INTO GRIST upon contact.
It seems that if a DENIZEN kills an Underling, they DON'T POP unless a player is there to collect it? Or, maybe, this is just a VISUAL REPRESENTATION of the HIDDEN GRIST CACHE that all Denizens guard? Either way, it's RATHER DISTURBING, to say the LEAST.
Or, just maybe, it's just a HIDDEN HUNTER'S SKILL that prevents UNDERLINGS from turning into GRIST, and instead just leaves behind bodies? That'd be kind of CREEPY, if that were the case.
You FOLLOW the DEAD BODY ROAD deeper into the TEMPLE, where you suddenly CROSS PATHS with TWO MORE sets of DEAD BODY ROADS.
It seems SOMEONE WAS BUSY actually hunting UNDERLINGS.
You suddenly feel VERY NERVOUS about being under a set of POSSIBLY REAL CROSSHAIRS.
You DRAW YOUR SWORD as you CALL OUT to the DENIZEN.
DIRK: Hecate! Are you there?
DIRK: It's me, your Prince of Heart.
DIRK: Dirk Strider, in the Flesh.
DIRK: I'm here for your sword so we can scratch.
DIRK: Let's make a deal, shall we?
Suddenly, there is a MELODIOUS LAUGH filling the air, and you tighten your grip on your sword.
HECATE: Well well well, it's been a while since I've had company that actually spoke.
You're caught off guard by this VERY HUMAN VOICE. Weren't Denizens supposed to only speak weird MONSTER GOBBLEDY GOOK? Unless... she is? Because it's definitely a FEMALE VOICE speaking to you. It's possible this is just your MIND processing her MONSTER TONGUE in a way that's understandable to you.
DIRK: Yeah, I could tell.
HECATE: Yes... Dirk Strider, Prince of Heart, Destroyer of Souls...
HECATE: My what devastation You've Wrought by prototyping that creature.
HECATE: The Royalty of two planets wiped out, the Battlefield now little more than Skin and Bones....
HECATE: And all that by delaying the entry of your fellow players by MONTHS?
HECATE: All by your own solo entry.
DIRK: Is the recap really necessary? I've kinda done that already.
HECATE: It's a Very Interesting path you've taken, Dirk Strider.
You begin looking around this CROSSROAD, for any sign of the SOURCE of the VOICE speaking to you.
But you see Nothing.
HECATE: You are quite the Hunter. A true Warrior.
HECATE: If not for the special circumstances in the previous instance of reality necessitating Yaldabaoth to take my spot... I'm sure it would have been a genuine toss up between which of us would have taken your spot as Denizen.
DIRK: Uh huh. I keep hearing that being thrown around. Got any insight you wanna share?
The LAUGH returns, echoing from ALL AROUND YOU.
You start popping UNDERLINGS to pass the time, and to make use of your DRAWN SWORD since it seems like this Denizen wants to play HEAD GAMES by not showing her face.
HECATE: Oh, my dear Hunter. You have no idea, do you?
HECATE: Did you not wonder why half of your Former Land was eaten up by a Black Hole?
HECATE: Or what may have happened to it?
DIRK: To be honest, I was a little busy getting my head put on straight at the time to care.
DIRK: And wow that's a memory I didn't really want to remember any time soon.
HECATE: There is nothing straight about you, Prince. Even that blade of yours has it's minute curve near the tip.
You squint at your SWORD, and sure enough, the tip is WARPED near the top. It's subtle, and you wonder how you NEVER NOTICED IT.
DIRK: Well if that ain't creepy I dunno what is.
DIRK: You got a sniper rifle like that one sign said you did, or do you just have that great of an eyesight, eagle eyes?
HECATE: I am many things. I could be an Eagle, yes.
HECATE: But to answer your question, I might ask you one of my own.
HECATE: What do you seek, Hunter? Answer truthfully.
HECATE: Love? Victory? Solitude?
HECATE: Matters of the Heart- of the Soul- rarely are ever as straight forward as they seem.
DIRK: Well I got two questions mainly.
DIRK: The first is-
HECATE: Jake Harley.
DIRK: Damn it.
HECATE: Specifically, is he alive?
HECATE: The answer is yes, although he presently resides in a place you cannot reach.
HECATE: Not yet.
DIRK: Well that's a relief.
DIRK: So the second question is-
HECATE: The Unbreakable Katana.
HECATE: And more specifially, may you have it for the Scratch?
DIRK: Well... yeah.
DIRK: ...
DIRK: So... can I?
HECATE: Can you wield it? Can you carry it?
HECATE: An interesting phrasing, compared to my own question.
HECATE: Can Versus May, I will not get into the specifics of linguistics with you, not when you doubt the very words you hear.
Denizen's got you there. You're still not sure if she's speaking MONSTER TONGUE, or actual ENGLISH.
DIRK: So the question isn't *AM I ABLE* to take it- A Question of ability.
DIRK: It's *AM I ALLOWED* to take it- A Question of approval.
HECATE: Exactly.
DIRK: So what demon deal do I have to make at this dead body crossroads to be allowed to take your sword?
HECATE: That is the crux of the matter is it not?
A GUN SHOT rings out loud, and you feel the RUSH OF A BULLET whizz past the SIDE OF YOUR FACE.
An UNDERLING SQUEALS in pain from behind you when the bullet hits true.
You turn around, and see a CARDBOARD INDOMINUS LICH fall face first into the dirt- PLUSH STUFFING leaks out from the BACK OF THE HEAD where the bullet tore through when it exited.
You trace the trajectory of the shot back the way it came, and there you see HER.
Your DENIZEN lays crouched atop a LEDGE supported by three ROMAN STYLE PILLARS. She takes a HUMAN FORM- electric blue hair and electric green eyes. Her clothes are the COLORS of the HEART ASPECT, and take on the THEME of the HEIR CLASS. She wields a GOLDEN BOW made up out of what looks like POLISHED BRASS.
There is no sign of a SNIPER RIFLE that made the SOUND.
DIRK: Hecate, I presume?
HECATE: Well spotted, Prince.
She does not so much as stand as LEAP from her crouched position, rolling through the air before landing on her feet behind you in a standing position. At a distance, you would have pegged her as teenager sized. Up close, she TOWERS above you by a good TWO FEET. Her very body radiates CONTROLLED POWER, tensed up and ready to be released at a moment's notice.
Your primal urges tell you to RUN. Your years of growing up alongside DINOSAURS lets you ignore it and stand your ground.
HECATE: You do well not to run.
Her mouth moves in a way that does not match the sounds coming out of it. That's that theory confirmed, at any rate.
DIRK: Well, years of growing up with dinosaurs will do that to a guy.
DIRK: Ruins all kind of flight or fight instincts.
HECATE: You wish to Scratch your session with no Scratch Construct.
HECATE: If I did not know through first hand experience watching your Rogue of Void generating those Accursed Portals, I would think you foolish for coming to me with this request.
HECATE: I do not doubt now, that you will succeed in retrieving your Construct.
HECATE: But why not similarly retrieve the Quills?
DIRK: Because Hephaestus offered a choice between out sourcing and in house production.
HECATE: It is not nearly that simple, Prince.
She begins to walk around you, circling, appraising, deciding.
HECATE: Your motives for coming to see me were made up the moment you heard my name.
HECATE: You have another agenda.
DIRK: Our dream selves died because of my prototyping Elise.
DIRK: I never could find any Quest Beds anywhere in the session, either.
DIRK: And believe me, I found my ways to check the Moon Crypts.
HECATE: Yes, your little camera drones.
HECATE: You did make that most recent one rather quickly.
HECATE: I'm surprised none of your friends commented upon just HOW quickly you put it together.
HECATE: After all, this instance of you holds no known means of robotics engineering.
DIRK: Maybe they're remembering past me like I did?
HECATE: I saw that drone of yours fly out to Derse.
HECATE: That design was much too refined.
HECATE: It is a fine hunting tool if ever I have seen one.
She continues to circle, and you're beginning to feel like that first time you ever met Owen's RAPTORS. The way the four girls stared at you, appraising you, debating on how to take you down should the chance ever arise.
HECATE: However, it was too refined.
HECATE: Too, too refined.
HECATE: You made more than just that one in your time alone here on the Land of Suns and Soil.
DIRK: So what? This doesn't have anything to do with the Quest Beds.
HECATE: You lie through omission, Prince.
HECATE: You never volunteered that information to your friends, and they never asked.
HECATE: Just as you did not mention to them your extra motive for coming here.
DIRK: So??
HECATE: As I said before, matters of Heart are...
She stops- draws her bow string back, and you DUCK.
The BOW STRING releases with the SOUND OF A GUNSHOT- and it is followed by the death cries of ANOTHER UNDERLING.
HECATE: Never straight in any manner of the word.
DIRK: Holy Shit- did you even know I was going to duck that!?
HECATE: It was a fifty fifty chance.
HECATE: A "Clean Break."
DIRK: Fucking hell.
DIRK: So in another world I literally just let myself get shot in the head didn't I?
HECATE: You and your Team's chances for ascending are now 100%.
HECATE: Had you not survived, it would be Zero.
DIRK: What? How???
HECATE: Your Choice has already been made clear to you, Dirk Strider.
DIRK: Wait, what??
DIRK: The Duck?!
DIRK: My Fucking Crossroads deal was to duck under a bullet or DIE?!
HECATE: Yes.
HECATE: You faced mortality head on, and survived.
HECATE: When the time comes, you shall Ascend
And then she turns the bow into a fucking Katana in a GOLD PLATED SHEATH, holding onto said sheath and pointing the sword handle towards you.
HECATE: Free of charge- The Sword you came here for.
You grab the handle and DRAW THE KATANA.
It's utterly ORDINARY and PLAIN. No gold adorns the blade, and it looks almost identical to the one you brought with you, and yet....
You can FEEL the power within it humming against the palm of your hand.
You turn around and give it a TEST SWING into the next UNDERLING foolish enough to come at you and Hecate. With one swing, the INDOMNIOGRE is split from SHOULDER TO HIP without the blade even touching the damned thing.
Once more- a GUN SHOT rings out, but this time it's muted to your ears. As if you were wearing NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES.
DIRK: Well, Crap in a Hat.
DIRK: What even is this thing?
HECATE: Just another piece of the puzzle, Prince.
HECATE: Just another piece of the puzzle.
HECATE: If you need my services again, you can find me in the Land of Light and Forests.
You turn back to Hecate, to ask her what she means by that... but she is GONE.
Damn fucking Denizens.
You CAPTCHALOGUE the UNBREAKABLE KATANA and turn to head back down the stairs...
> DIRK: Descend.
You start to climb down the stairs when you hear a faint CLICK, followed by your Denizen's LAUGHTER.
That's when you look down and realize the stairs beneath your feet are- at this angle fairly obviously- HINGED for rotation.
By the time that fact processes, you're already SLIDING DOWN the stairs like it's a goddamned AMUSEMENT PARK SLIDE.
You scream the entire way:
FUCKING.
DENIZENS!!!