"They’re thinking about breaking the teapots!" Pip squeaked, a note of true horror in his voice. That, apparently, was a line that could not be crossed.
Gilda hefted her axe, her expression grim. The few other Iron Gryphons in the dungeon formed a defensive line behind her, ready for a fight.
"They’re here!" FaeLina zipped around my core in a panic. "The real monsters are here! What’s the plan?!"
This is what we prepared for, I thought, a strange sense of calm settling over me. I was a rock. It was hard to get flustered.
’Sir Crumplebuns, to the front line,’ I projected, my mental voice sharp and clear. ’Sloosh, prepare defensive refreshments. Dreamer Sentinels, keep me updated on their thoughts.’
"Defensive refreshments?!" FaeLina squeaked, but there was no time to argue.
Three hulking goblins, clad in jagged, mismatched armor and wielding cruel-looking clubs, burst through the entrance. They charged in with a guttural war cry, their eyes gleaming with malice, clearly expecting a hail of arrows or a pit of spikes.
Instead, they were hit by the Aura of Sanctuary.
The effect was immediate. Their furious charge faltered into a confused, shuffling jog. The lead goblin, who had a particularly nasty scar over one eye, shook his head as if to clear water from his ears.
"What is this?" he grunted to his companions. "Why... do I suddenly want to sit down and talk about my feelings?"
"Ignore it, Gor!" another one snarled. "It’s some kind of mind-magic! Find the core and smash it!"
They pushed through the calming sensation, their greed overriding the magic, but they were already off-balance and deeply confused. They saw their targets: a handful of adventurers who looked more sleepy than scared. With a renewed roar, they charged. Original content can be found at noᴠelfire.net
Their path was blocked by a two-foot-tall plush knight.
"HALT, YOU UNCOUTH RUFFIANS!" Sir Crumplebuns boomed, standing heroically between the goblins and the adventurers. "THIS IS A SANCTUARY OF PEACE! STATE YOUR BUSINESS OR PREPARE TO BE... HUGGED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!"
The three goblins skidded to a halt, their brains struggling to process the sight of a talking doll challenging them to a fight. This moment of pure bewilderment gave Gilda and the others the time they needed to brace for impact.
The lead goblin, Gor, decided the doll was a distraction. He snarled and swung his club sideways, smashing a beautiful porcelain teapot that was sitting on one of the Tea Nook’s tables. It was a special pot of ’Glimmerleaf Tea’ I had recently unlocked.
The pot didn’t just shatter; it exploded in a cloud of fine, shimmering, golden dust.
FaeLina, who had been floating invisibly right next to the table, was caught in the middle of the magical dust cloud. The shimmering particles stuck to her, outlining her form perfectly. For a few brief, shocking seconds, the tiny, furious, sparkling fairy became visible to everyone in the room.
The adventurers and the goblins all stopped dead, staring at the suddenly revealed creature.
Being seen so unexpectedly made FaeLina panic. All her training went out the window, and she screamed, "NO! That was a limited edition pot! Mochi, do something!"
In the middle of the standoff, Gilda and Zazu exchanged a quick, confused look. Mochi?
As the Glimmerleaf dust began to fade and FaeLina turned invisible again, I finally acted.
[Activate Mass ’Snooze Pollen’ Burst? Cost: 100 DP.]
The entire Field of Tranquil Slumber on the main floor pulsed with a soft lavender light. It then erupted, releasing a massive, concentrated cloud of shimmering, sweet-selling pollen that instantly filled the entire chamber.
The Iron Gryphons, having been warned by their psychic alarm system, immediately covered their faces or held their breath.
The Blood Pit raiders had no such warning. They took deep, angry breaths to yell another war cry and instead inhaled a lungful of weaponized drowsiness. Their aggressive expressions went slack, and one by one, they collapsed into a snoring, armored heap on the floor.
Silence descended. The raid was over.
Gilda lowered her axe, her face a mask of complete disbelief. "Did we just win...? And what was that tiny, glowing thing?"
Zazu looked thoughtfully towards my core. "And who... is Mochi?"
FaeLina, now invisible again but knowing they had all heard her, projected a frantic message to me. I decided to relay her ridiculous excuse as deadpan as I possibly could.
’Pay it no mind,’ I projected. ’What you saw was a stress hallucination caused by the teapot’s dust. You also misheard. The hallucination was shouting about ’Nocchi’... a type of fairy mushroom dumpling.’
It was an even more ridiculous lie now, and nobody believed it for a second.
A new type of notification appeared before me, offering a choice.
[Hostile party neutralized. Please choose a disposition:]
[2. Eject from Dungeon]
[3. Initiate Dream Therapy (Recommended)]
I already knew which one I was going to pick.