146: The Descent, Part Nine

The Descent, Part Nine

{Charlotte}

Though she'd been forcefully displaced from her home, Charlotte did not stop working. 

Her enemies wouldn't. Every day, the hearts of the citizens of Starlight City were being squeezed by the things they'd see day in and day out. The horrors they'd witness and those they'd hear about. 

As she walked down the streets of Starlight with her keen eyes searching for anything interesting to record, she made note of this current struggle of hers. 

[Ah, I've always known this but, now that I'm actively involving myself in such work, it's insane to think about how quickly narratives can form. How easily the heart of a society is swayed.] 

In part, she had this thought due to an article she read as soon as she woke up. 

A store had been broken into and wrecked overnight, left with a simple message painted onto a wall that read, "The End Is Nigh". 

[Every day, I'm reminded of what I am going up against,] she thought. [But, meh, I like a challenge.] 

Her phone started ringing. 

As she saw the caller ID, Charlotte picked it up with a light-hearted: 

"Miss me already?" 

"Yeah, good morning to you too," Roxy told her on the other line. "Girl, you couldn't leave me a note or some shit? I wake up and you disappeared like a damn fantasma. Had flashbacks to our relationship, I swear. Are you alright?" 

"Of course, ma chérie. I'm just taking a walk to see if I can catch any stories as they're developing. That's all." 

Roxy seemed relieved on the other end, as Charlotte remembered something. 

"Roxy, can you send me a copy of that list I told you about?" 

"Sure. What are you gonna do, though?" 

"Eh, I feel like posting something about it. I want to see people's reactions." 

"Alright. But, please. You literally just got attacked by a bunch of psychos. If you ghost people like this, what do you think they're going to assume?" 

"I know, I know," Charlotte replied. "I'll try not to run out the door so fast next time." 

With that being said, Charlotte hung up and in a couple of seconds she received a message with a few notes attached to it. 

With Neve's fundraiser underway, a large portion of the world was waiting with bated breath for the girl to hit 100K tokens. They wanted to know more. They wanted details. 

Charlotte, however, was only thinking about how else she could help this girl, and what came to mind was to use something that had just popped up yesterday.

Yes, a new addition had been made to the Unity Trials, as Charlotte had seen along with every other player recently when the clock struck 12:00 am. One that had set the forums on fire as people were trying to find ways to abuse it.

Gifts!

The Unity Trials came with a few different ways to exchange items. Among them were the donations they were currently making use of but now, one could also send another person a gift. 

It was huge, obviously. But, this gifting system, however, seemed difficult to abuse for players due to the fact that it came with one severe restriction. One could only gift a person items that could be used in combat. Armor, weapons, scrolls, enchanted accessories, that sort of thing. Nothing else, though. 

And, in a world where one's own personal survival was all that mattered, already people were deciding that they did not care enough to make much use of this. 

Even if they did, there was a second restriction that limited just how much you could help another person. That being that the person receiving the gift needed to clear all of the gift's requirements *before* receiving it. 

So, unfortunately, even if all of the highest-level players in the world wanted to gift Neve all of the legendary equipment that they had on them along with all of their scrolls and weapons, she wouldn't be able to receive them. 

[It's odd, though,] Charlotte thought, as she ignored the buzzing of her phone briefly. [Why would the Forces That Be add something so big to the Unity Trials while there's an attempt at the Final Challenge being done right now?] 

The answer felt pretty clear but Charlotte hesitated to buy into it because it felt too... charitable from them. 

A crowd was gathered up ahead. Naturally, being the investigative individual she was, Charlotte went to see whatever it was they were looking at. 

Even as she saw the source of the commotion, a pile of burnt players' corpses, her mind wouldn't wander from this matter. 

[... All I can think of is that they want us to help Neve, and the other players remaining. I just don't understand why they'd even be interested in helping us like that. What's the catch?] 

She wasn't sure. That said, one thing became painfully clear as the whispers of the crowd surrounded her. 

They did need all the help they could get. 

---

{Neve}

Hunched over, the orc girl's eyes remained glued to the floor as she told Neve what her father had told her. 

"Magic's untrustworthy..." The girl murmured. "He told me that I couldn't use it or people would get angry at me. He said that it's unnatural."

[Okay... Awesome parenting there, making your kid feel like something's wrong with her from the day she's born. Wonderful, really.] 

Neve had never had to deal with such a thing. It made her heart sting a little to think of her own parents right now, but, she had clearly been born luckier than some. 

"Then, people- ehm, sorceres- sorcerers, they made the monsters. My father said that if I kept using my magic, I might end up making monsters too... Since I can make stuff." She explained. 

Neve nodded along. 

"And, what ended up happening to the sorcerers?"

"They got thrown into the hole," she declared. "Cause they're bad people." 

[Ah... So that's the type of person who would end up getting eaten alive down there?] 

Neve tried not to show her anger. 

Of course, as frustrating as it was to hear such a tale, she tried not to let that distract her from what was truly important about this conversation. 

"But, Lam. I can use magic too but I can't use it in your, uh, your home. How come you can use magic?" 

If she could figure this out, the path to victory would be so much easier to walk. 

Lamrosh had nothing to offer in that regard though, as she just shrugged when she heard that question. 

"I dunno." 

"You don't have anything special on you? Anything that might help you cast magic?" 

"Nuh-uh." 

Neve sighed. 

[Ah, well... Maybe it is actually just a player-specific debuff.] 

She waited a couple of extra seconds, just in case Lamrosh thought of anything, but the orc girl did not. 

[Shit... Then I guess we're done here. Once Ahlakan finishes making some more potions, I'll head back down.] 

Her eyes went back to the orc sitting next to her. 

[Do I have to bring her with me to complete the Floor Quest? I'd rather just let her stay here.]  2

A quick look at her HUD let her know that the quest was still active. 

Lamrosh was not in immediate danger, and wasn't even in her home, but still needed "rescuing" somehow. 

[Eh, maybe once I finish the boss, she'll count as 'rescued'.] 

On that note, Neve waited for Ahlakan to finish, going through her notifications just to see if she missed anything. 

Indeed she had, as amidst a flowing river of other incoming donations, Charlotte had written to her a simple message saying: 

[What... What do you need?] Neve decoded it. [Uh... Why do they care? It's not like they can send me anything.]

"Pssst. Neve," Tamira whispered. "Look through ALL of your notifications~"

The healer did just that, guessing that she'd probably missed something amidst all the adversity she'd been facing. 

Indeed, as soon as she saw what Tamira, and this message from Charlotte, was hinting at, her jaw hit the floor. 

[PEOPLE CAN SEND ME SHIT NOW?] 

Further analysis of what the Forces That Be had told them all showed that, in truth, the amount of stuff that Neve could receive was quite limited. 

[Wait... In order for them to send me stuff, I need to meet the requirements. And, Erin doesn't count as a player, so they can't send her anything directly. That means that I probably can't use this for Erin at all. That sucks. But,] she quickly added, [they could send me some new healing spells. I'd still have to wait until after this Floor is cleared before I can use them, though.] 

There was, however, evidently, a lot waiting for her once she finished this place. 

Once Ahlakan was done, Neve received a handful of poisons and some more Minor Healing Potions. 

Finally, she decided she was prepared to head back down that elevator. 

Neve stood at the edge of the safe zone now, about to head out. 

Ahlakan was resting up after making those potions, while Erin and Lamrosh stood next to each other. Only briefly, though, as Lamrosh quickly walked up and tugged at Neve's skirt. 

"Uh, yeah?" The healer asked, looking down at her. 

"... I wanna go with you." 

Neve raised a brow so hard it almost hurt. 

"What?" 

"I..." She balled her hands up into fists, holding them by her sides. "I wanna find my dad." 

[Your dad?] Neve wondered. [What do you mean? Did he get-]

Once she realized what this meant, Neve stopped. 

[Oh... Oh shit.] 

"Yeah," Neve replied. "You can come. But, if you are going to head down there with me, I'm gonna need you to cast a lot of magic. Can you do that for me?" 

She nodded eagerly. 

"Well... Okay then. Let's go." 

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