Worthy Core

The armored woman turns her bright smile in Lollyp's direction. "Oh, you've heard of me, eh? Can...can you talk to Xenia now? Is that what's going on here?"

The slime's mouth opens and closes a few times as her eyes dart back and forth, as if she's unable to choose between conversations to join. Finally, she looks back at the warrior. "It's...dungeons have an avatar, or a spirit. Eventually there's a way to make them visible, if they tier up enough, but til then only dungeon creatures can see them. You uh...really are Beatrice then? The monster slayer?"

"That's me! And a spirit, huh? I think I got something for that, one minute." Shaking her head, she slides the helmet back in place. After mumbling a chant under her breath the helmet briefly glows in an orange light, and Beatrice's head suddenly turns - directly in Xenia's direction. "Whoa! It's...is that really you, Xen? Gods, it must be! I remember you talking about liking nose piercings, I don't recall the striped hair coming up though. You look good, if a little blurry!" Through her visor, the woman sees the form of an orange-tinted ghost. In particular, the ghost is wearing a pair of leather pants, a black shirt ripped at the midriff and sleeves, a simple stud nose piercing, and a completely shocked look on her face. With a bit of a tinny echo, even the ghost's voice eventually begins to manifest within her enchanted helmet's senses.

"-did you get here! Oh my god! It's so incredible to see you, but what the hell happened to you!? You look like you got chewed up and spit out Beat, no offense, doesn't seem to have stopped you from being a total badass, though!"

Beatrice laughs and tries to wave the eager dungeon master down a bit. "Hold on, hold on, I think I missed half of that. But uh, yeah, it's a pretty long story. Got time to chat?"

Lollyp answers with a grin. "We're not that busy, so yeah, pretty sure we've got all the time we - whoop!" She pauses as Xenia suddenly rushes Beatrice for a hug, only to pass right through the warrior woman. Beatrice turns herself around, chuckling but shaking her head.

"Sorry, Xen." She raps her knuckles against her helmet. "This thing's enchanted to, well...to track down your soul, actually. Nothing in my bag of tricks to go for a ghost hug though, sadly."

At that, Xenia gasps. "You...you actually came here after me? I mean, first off, wow, but second off...why!? Not that I'm not super flattered and impressed, and all, but...I don't think I can go back with you."

Hearing that, Beatrice smirks under her helmet. "Hey, don't go getting too big an ego on me. I did want to see you, really, but the actual honest truth is...I came here for myself. Don't suppose we could pull up a seat, have a drink or two, or something like that? Cause like I said, it's a long story."

Xenia quickly sets up a trio of chairs around her main table, and summons a few nondescript bottles for Beatrice and Lollyp. "Can't really drink it myself, but feel free. All we got on tap is shit-tier booze at the moment, so I'm sure you'll love it."

The warrior sits down and lifts her helmet's visor enough for a pull at the bottle. "Ah, damn straight! Nothing like a good drink after a nice fight or two. So...where should I start?"

Xenia takes a seat of her own. "Well...obviously I wanna know how that fight went down after I uh, checked out, but um. I'm guessing it's been longer for you than it has for me? I woke up here like a month back, but, no offense Trish, you look like you've gone through a bit more than that."

"No kidding. But yeah, good place to start. I assume you remember what happened to Faleen and Yates?" As Xenia nods, she continues. "Right, so...your suggestion, tossing you down his throat, that is, that was the final blow. We pulled it off, thanks to you, I don't know if it was internal wounds or you melting down and choking the bastard, but we took down ol' Yalrog the Dickface, may he rest in piss. Twenty years ago or so now it was, for me. And in no small way, it was the end of a lot of things."

Xenia can't help feeling a bit sad to hear that. "Oh? I'm guessin' the team didn't exactly, ah...pick up after that, huh?"

Beatrice shakes her head. "Too many reasons for it not to. For one, we were all utterly, stinking, filthy rich. Between the dragon's hoard and the bounties, even after setting aside shares for Faleen and Yates's kin, the rest of us were still suddenly some of the richest bastards in the kingdom. And the others, well...Tarry was injured, and he decided to 'retire' from the wandering life after that. Took a job training new church recruits though, kept it up til really retiring about five years ago. Old man finally passed on two years after that."

"Shit. Though honestly, not bad for the geezer. Probably couldn't have asked for a better retirement, knowin' him. And how about ol' Pisser? She come through alright?"

At that, Beatrice laughs. "More than fuckin' alright. You'll never fuckin' guess this one, Xen. The day we fought Dickface? Ipis was three months pregnant at the time!"

Xenia gasps as her eyes go wide. "What? No! Who? When!? I don't remember her ever liking...anybody!"

Beatrice continues laughing. "It was the fucking bard! You remember the guy, Weston? The one where every time we met somewhere, he'd flirt with Ipis and she'd insult him, or threaten his nuts or whatever back? It was all some kinda fucked up roleplay, turned out they'd been sleeping together the past three years!"

"No! No! You're a specter of lies from my past, here to fool me! Ipis and Weston!?"

"No shit! Haha! And after, well, after everything, they came out and made it official and all that. Became a traveling duo, if you can believe or not, she actually took up singing. Singing and making babies, actually, and was surprisingly good at both of em. Seven kids now between the two of em, five girls and two boys." As the pair talk Lollyp watches on, soaking in every bit of the interactions between the two old friends. While she doesn't know much of the details of the history of the two women, she can't deny, it's at least the third most entertaining thing she's seen in weeks.

"Ipis...a mom...and a singer...everything I know about the universe is lies. But what about you, then? You don't look settled down at all."

The warrior shakes her head as she takes another drink. "Nope, and therein lies my problem. Me? I kept right at it, you know? I'm not just Beatrice, a monster slayer, I'm Beatrice the Monster Slayer. Well, technically I'm usually 'Lady Beatrice the Dragon Slayer' now, did get a little promotion or two, obviously. Anyways, after I healed up, I got right back to it. Wandered the land, took every bounty, saved every village, helped every minor noble with their fucked up curses, and all of that. And eventually...well. I got them all, Xen."

Xenia's eyes narrow. "All? What do you mean by that?"

"Every monster in the kingdom. And the kingdom to the south. And the one to the north. Every goblin, dire wolf, banshee, you name it. The continent is one hundred percent monster free."

The dungeon master sits back in her seat. "Wow, I didn't even know that was a thing you could do. I remember Terraros not being as uh, monstery as some places I've been, but still. ...So what happened after that?"

"Self-imposed retirement. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to do next. Thing is, and I'm sure this isn't gonna be a surprise to you, but I've come to admit something about myself. I...am an utter adrenaline addict. The fighting, the struggle, that's where I come alive. But without monsters to slay, what else is there? Join the fuckin' army? Not a chance. I didn't get where I am just to turn myself into a political pawn. I thought about sailing the seas for a bit, maybe finding some far off place that needed me. But going through all that, just so that maybe I could kill a few more redcaps in the ass end of nowhere, it didn't seem worth the trouble. But...I did have one other option."

At this, Xenia leans forward again. "And what was that?"

In response, Beatrice reaches into the collar of her breastplate and pulls out a necklace. Made with a simple gold chain, her armor eventually reveals an impressively-sized black gem. "You remember this?"

"That's...that's one of the gems from my hilt, isn't it?"

Beatrice nods. "Most of the rest of your hilt there too, actually, reforged for the chain and setting. See...there was a court magician who owed me more than a few favors, and he knew himself a few interesting spells. For example, one that can teleport you to anyone you want, provided you have an object closely linked to their soul. Well, and of course, that the person is alive. He could tell that this thing was linked to someone dead, but I knew that wasn't gonna last - I mean, we're talking about you, here. So I semi-retired for a couple years, checked in every other month or so, and what do you know...two weeks ago, we got a response. A live link. Normally the spell wouldn't work across realms, but given that we were working with your actual body as the source, or the closest thing you had to it, the link was strong. Strong enough to send me here."

Xenia takes a moment to soak that in before responding. "You really left everything behind, to come to a world you knew nothing about?"

The warrior chuckles. "Didn't leave as much as you might think, I did pack enough gear with me to equip a small army. And besides, I knew one thing. I knew that you were here, and that meant that some shit was gonna go down, sooner or later. I know all your stories, Xen! It might not be today, might not be next year, but odds are this world's gonna get real interesting, and I knew I wanted to see it happen, one more time." She leans back, gesturing at the room around her. "And look at this! Dungeons? This shit's amazing already! I love this place! And, don't get me wrong, Xen. I am...happier than I can put into words that I get to see you again. And not only that, but to see the real you for once. No words at all. But, like I said. Ultimately, I'm here for selfish reasons. I don't wanna die an old lady, Xen. I wanna die with a monster's jaw in my gut and my sword in its eye."

Xenia sighs and smiles, as if it's the most beautiful thing she's ever heard. "You haven't changed in the least, Trish. But hey, guess what? If you're looking for quests, I think I got one for you."

This time Beatrice leans in, a grin on her face. "Oh? And what's that?"

"Well...I've got myself a small demon problem..."