The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

"Alex, Dragon is a hermit living in a cave outside of Urchin's Dock. He's been a bit of a nuisance to the people living here for a while... he won't let people forage on his 'turf' but he doesn't actually mark the boundaries, so he basically keeps everyone in the city while he hoards anything that washes up in his side of the trench."

Oh... so the possibility of him just handing over the souls is pretty low, then.

"Yes... well, I suppose we could trade him something for them, but..."


"Yeah, good luck with that!"
"Last time I tried to negotiate with him, he asked for everything in our stock."


Okay well maybe we can try to trade him something, and if that doesn't work out, we can... convince him it's a good idea to just trade with us.
"Sounds about right."


"So eh, you gonna buy something from us then?"
"I found a nice stash of weapons in relatively good condition just the other day. And if that doesn't tickle your fancy, well, we're well stocked on pearls and food and things."
"Yeah, Alex, you don't have a weapon, do you? Should we get you something?"
Uh
Well perhaps, but what kind of weapon would you even use? All the fighting you've done before consisted of throwing belief around and absorbing it from your enemies.

obviously what you need, then, is some kind of BELIEF POWERED LASER GUN

A trident to fit the motif.

A blunderbuss that shoots pearls (of wisdom).

Gatling harpoons

belief clippers

A trident to fit the motif.

A blunderbuss that shoots pearls (of wisdom).

A trident that turns into a blunderbuss

updat


"Absorbing your enemies belief and using it as firepower? Well, I'll be honest, that's pretty unusual, dear. But I think we may have a weapon in stock that is tailor-suited to that sort of fighting style. Sis, will you--?"


"Yeah, I'm on it."


"Ah, here we are! The Naiad. We actually bought this off of some of the Ogre blacksmiths from Topia, remember that, sis?"
"Yeah, that was pretty neat. Took a while to get here, though."
"So, if you would follow us out back, I can show you how this weapon is operated?"


To be honest, you're not entirely sure you should be allowed to handle a weapon. You're still a kid, even if they don't know that. Then again, they might be too. You wonder about how fast the people of Realm age sometimes.


"Arright, so point it over at that rock? Okay, now you kinda fling a bit of belief off the tips of the trident, there."


"Yeah, you got it! Now, this is a cool thing this gun can do, check it out. This bit in the middle is like a harpoon. You load it with belief, and it flies off, and sticks in whatever it hits, then you can use it to direct the enemies belief over to you."


Well, that IS pretty neat. This seems like a very well-crafted weapon! You head back inside.


You pay a decent portion of belief to the two sisters. They thank you, and you and Mermaid head back outside.


"Alright, so we've got that, and we've got a plan... sort of. I've left my harpoon back at my house though, so uh, I'm gonna go get that. You wanna come with me, or you wanna just hang around town a bit?"

Can she point us to some other cool dudes to hang with in town? If no then we'll go with her.

hang around twon and then take on the dragon allll by yourself

>Sightseeing!

Actually, you'd like to see a bit more of the town... we only just got here, after all.
"Alright then, but I'm not gonna be gone long. I'll see you at the docks in about 15 minutes, maybe."



Alright, so now that you've finally got a few minutes alone, what will you do? From what you can see, all the buildings around here are houses. And a town hall. There's some sort of apartment complex carved into the trench walls.
This town doesn't seem great for tourism.

Go check out the town hall.

visit the local restaurant

Yeah town hall.

You head into the large fortress of barnacles that is the Town Hall.



Well... This sure is a town hall.
A woman behind a desk looks at you as if expecting you to ask something.
Random citizens wander around with their arms full of documents, hoping to get an audience with the mayor.
Guards stalk the hallways, making sure no one gets out of line.



"Hey."
Oh! What do you need, miss?
"Um, see, only members of the Siren Guard can bring weapons into the town hall. Gonna have to ask you to leave until you put that spear away."


Oh, well okay then.

Well, clearly this means you need to join the guards. Get on that.

I agree. We need to join the gu--ahh wait a minute that sounds like a side quest. FOCUS!
Uhhhhhhh head to the docks

Hmm, it would be beneficial to be able to conceal that spear. Flaunting a weapon around in public and all. See if anyone around might have a means to do that.

Or just go eat something.

leave your weapon back at the shop they'll hold onto it for you

Okay, might as well stop wasting time.
You head to the dock and wait for Mermaid to arrive.
She appears, harpoon in tow.
"Okay, you're ready? Let's go meet our new friend, then."



So the two of you swim away, keeping to the cliffside.
The light of the city behind you fades quickly, a reminder that you're in less friendly territory now.



It doesn't take long for you to find a new area of the trench, pearls studding the walls and floors.
A pathway. If one didn't know where they were heading, they might think they'd find civilization down here.
A few lost souls dart away from you. You must be on the right track.


Finally, the path stops, having led you to an enormous den ringed with pearls.
Lost souls circle the entrance.
"Well, this is it. I suppose Dragon might be sleeping---"


Well, if he was, he certainly isn't anymore. The trench shakes as he pulls himself out of his cave.
"Alex! Ready your weapon!"


"OKAY, OKAY. OKAY. WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT. THIS BETTER BE GOOD. HURRY IT UP. I'M TIRED AND HUNGRY."

Tell him you want to talk about souls.

We're looking for a super chill dude called dragon.

what's up with all these souls?

Better be straightforward, you know. Hungry tired beasts of lore don't like roundabout discussions.
Heaven wants to know where the heck all these souls are coming from.