The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Sorry to wake you up, man, but we're on a mission from Heaven. What do you know about these souls?

"Arright, we haven't got a lot of time to chat, so tell us what you know about the lost souls!"



"SOULS? WHAT SOULS. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT."
"Those bits of belief, floating around this trench! There's one right in front of your face!"
"OH. I DON'T KNOW. I THOUGHT SOMEONE LOST THESE OR SOMETHING. THEY'RE TASTIER THAN MOST BELIEF, THAT'S ALL I KNOW."



"Are you SERIOUS?! You just-- You- didn't!"
The water around Mermaid is boiling. She seems to have lost her ability to form a sentence.

Um. Mister Dragon? Could you possibly spit out the souls you ate, so we can have them? We'll leave you alone afterwards.


Obviously sensing a fight, Dragon retreats into his shell, claws snapping at the front.
"I'M NOT GOING TO VOMIT ON COMMAND FOR YOU. NOW GET OUT BEFORE I BISECT YOU."
"NO! WE NEED ALL OF THE SOULS, AND SO HELP US You're going to SPIT OUT THE ONES YOU ATE!"


Mermaid charges forward, fencing with Dragon's multiple claws.
She isn't making a lot of progress though, and if she gets to Dragon's body, she wouldn't be able to harm him because of his shell.
You can sense that it would be difficult trying to absorb him from here, too... unless you got a good shot with your harpoon.
You might as well try.


Just a small bit of belief can go a long way...


CRACK


"AHH, WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"Your shell's open, Dragon! We can see the souls in your guts! We could probably rip you open and take them, right now!"
"NOOOOO, DON'T DO THAT! I CAN SPIT THEM BACK OUT FOR YOU! JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE!"
"Hah! Why would we do that? You don't deserve it. What do you think, Alex?"


Uh... Well, there's a few different ways this could go...
We could:
A. Let him give us the souls
B. Rip him open and take the souls
or C. Absorb all of him and take the souls.

What sounds best?

Rip him open, and helpfully inform him that if he goes causing further trouble for the locals you'll be back to remind him why he shouldn't.

Ewwww dragonguts
Use the harpoon to siphon out all the dragon's souls.

let him vomit out the souls !!! don't hurt him any more :(

Let him spit up all the souls...but if he holds back, or tries anything tricky, absorb ALL of him and then just take the souls.

Take his soul. That'll show him.

> Bit of a trouble maker, isn't he? Why do you keep him around? Rip 'em

Give the dragon syrup of ipecac

We would rather there be as few casualties as possible on our mission, right?
He's probably not going to cause much more trouble now that we've cracked open his shell, he's vulnerable now!
Let's just let him give us the souls.
"I... Alex, you're too nice for your own good, you know that? Whatever.
Dragon! Spit 'em up, we're sparing you."





HRK



HAAKKKKKKHHK



"HAHAHAH, YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!"




"ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU DON'T HAVE THE LEISURE TO RESIST US ANYMORE, YOU IDIOT!
ALEX, ABSORB HIM, NOW"



You didn't want to have to do this...!



"THIS IS MY TERRITORY, THESE ARE MY SOULS
I'M NOT... GIVING... ANYTHING AWAY!"



"I DON'T CARE IF I DIE, AT LEAST I'M NOT A COWARD!"



"THAT'S MORE THAN YOU COULD SAY FOR YOURSELF, AHAHHAHHA!"



CRACKKK



......hufff.......

"Alex, are you okay?"

And what have we learned from this excursion?

Don't eat a whole dragon

As well as could be expected.

Let's see if he has any good loot!

what a jerrrrkkkk
distribute loot, corral souls.

You're fine. You think. Your heart is pounding.
You can feel Dragons' belief flowing through the harpoon into your arm, like a thick IV drip.
You guess you'll be bringing more home than Heaven bargained for.
"How are you feeling? Whatever that harpoon is doing doesn't look real comfy. Are you in a condition to move?"




"Oh jeez, all the souls are just floating around now... Hold on, I'll get them, you don't need to strain yourself."
Mermaid gets out another bottle, substantially bigger than the tiny one she had before.
"I'm just going to shepherd them into this jar. This might take a while, so uh, just hang out for a bit. I bet there's some nice treasure in that cave, why don't you go take a look in there?"



While Mermaid attempts to gather the souls, you meander into the cave. Treasures of all sorts are randomly piled against the walls.
What would you even want from here? There's nothing you really need...



Wait. What is that?
There's something very familiar in that chest.

its doritos

it's a BABY DRAGON EGG

it's familiar because back when you were human you played those games where you put eggs in your forum signature and people click on them

-----------------

It's a photograph.

a soul?

A lighter

it's some MORE belief

It's a......


...lighter?
What's something like THIS doing in Realm? At the bottom of the ocean, no less?


After all, what would anyone need to light down here?
It's not like there are cigarettes in Realm or anything-


it
works
underwater
?


wait, isn't that... what happened?


it seems so clear when you look into the flame


But it's not. You know that didn't happen, because you went back. You saw for yourself, your house was still standing.


So now this just begs the question, how did you-
"Alex! I think I got 'em all, are there any in that cave? If there aren't let's go!"

>Show mermaid the lighter!

HIDE IT AND ACT LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED

EAT THE LIGHTER

Do a quick look for souls and other cool treasures, if you don't see anything just head out.