The Whimsical Dungeon 24 The Calm

Crystal and Miss Trueleaf sat together at a wooden counter within the s.h.i.+p's newly added dining area. The elf was reading from a small black book while Crystal rested her head on her elbows, and her elbows on the wood of the counter.

The room was reminiscent of an old-fas.h.i.+oned inn or tavern. The area It had replaced was what had been the majority of the crew's living quarters. A room rendered useless by the now mostly undead crew.

The room was separated from the s.h.i.+p's kitchen, the galley, by only a simple wooden counter. Thus, it allowed the majority of the goings-on in the kitchen to be clearly visible to those in the dining area, with the exception of things happening the galley's far left and far right sides.

From the stools which lined the counter Crystal and the elf watched as the galley's five ap.r.o.n-wearing residents went about their various tasks. A pirate ghost wearing a chef's hat, the Prison's former warden, expertly delegated tasks to three of his skeletal a.s.sistants, all the while adding the finis.h.i.+ng touches to a fruit salad which looked almost beautiful beyond words. Tina, meanwhile, was struggling as she attempted to handle a large pot of boiling water.

Crystal couldn't bear to watch so she instead turned her head to face her elven companion, though not bothering to actually lift it from the counter.

Just then she remembered something which had been bugging her but never found the opportunity to bring up.

"Hey, Trueleaf, could you help me with something I've been trying to understand?" She inquired.

The elf in question quickly hid the book away in her sleeve before replying.

"Something you've been trying to understand?" She repeated, "of course. Anything."

The imp smiled awkwardly.

She had been half-hoping that the reply would be 'no,' so that she could ignore the issue until another day. It, however, was the sort of issue which would grow as time went on

"Ah, well, you see... the thing is..." she fumbled over her words, and then sighed.

Crystal hated awkward situations with a fiery pa.s.sion, so knowingly becoming the cause of one irked her on an instinctual level.

She sighed.

"Um... what's your name?" she asked plainly.

The elf opened her mouth to answer, but then froze upon actually processing the details of the question. She ended up simply staring blankly at her mistress mid-answer.

Crystal quickly explained the question in more detail in order to end the situation as quickly as possible.

"I mean, I know Daisy introduced you as 'Miss Trueleaf,' and you didn't correct her when she did so," she opened a blue notification box as she spoke, "but when you replaced the pirate Santa ghost dude as the warden a few days back, I noticed this..."

[Total Guards: 24

Prisoners: 65

Average prisoner DP value: 125

DP gen rate: 0.5%/hr: 41 DP

Bonus DP gen rate: 0.5%/day: 41 DP

Warden: 'Eleanor Aurora Nightingale' of the Ashen Maiden – Grants '60% wind resistance' and 'spirit affinity' to prison minions, prison sub-wardens, and prison structures.

Star-brig sub-warden: Nameless skeleton – Grants 30%, darkness magic resistance, and fatigue resistance, Star-brig minions and structures.

Stern-brig sub-warden: Nameless skeleton – Grants 30%, darkness magic resistance, and fatigue resistance, to Stern-brig minions and structures.

Port-brig sub-warden: Nameless skeleton – Grants 30%, darkness magic resistance, and fatigue resistance, to Port-brig minions and structures.]

Crystal then grabbed the box and pointed to the spot which said 'Eleanor Aurora Nightingale' of the Ashen Maiden.'

"What's with that?" She inquired, "Is Trueleaf just a nickname or something?"

The elf widened her eyes.

"That... is rather strange," she replied, visibly more confused than Crystal had been.

"What's strange?" Tina chimed in as she put a tray of food down between the two.

She then noticed the name on the notification box which Crystal was indicating towards.

To Crystal's surprise, however, the catkin simply shrugged.

"Ah, so that's what happens when an elf joins a dungeon, eh?" She commented, "I've always wondered about that."

'Miss Trueleaf' raised an eyebrow, doubtful of whatever knowledge Tina has access to.

The two, over the course of the past few weeks, had realized their personalities were not very compatible with one another, their perspectives and backgrounds being simply too different for any conversations to happen naturally between them.

The elf's extensive knowledge and Tina's opposing 'out of the box' thinking, would also cause small amounts of strife whenever they accidentally solve each-others 'difficult' problems with ease.

"What do you mean by that?" Questioned the elf hesitantly.

Tina took a gla.s.s of milk from the tray and chugged the whole thing before answering.

"Well," she began, oblivious to the milk-moustache now on her face, "you lot take your last names from the village you call home, right?"

The elf nodded.

"That is correct," she replied, "I come from Trueleaf village."

Tina took a bowl of fruit salad from her tray and set it down in front of the elf, but not before stealing a few pieces of everything from it... except for the pineapple.

"Well there you go," Tina continued, "before you were such and such of Trueleaf village, so you were called Miss Trueleaf."

"But now your such and such of The Ashen Maiden. So your new name would be Miss... The Ashen Maiden?" She then began laughing hysterically at the funny-sounding name.

Miss 'The Ashen Maiden(provisional)' glared at the catkin in front of her.

"I liked you better when you were pretending to be an earnest hardworking captain," She commented.

Tina finished unloading the food from her tray before replying.

"A good captain needs to bear in mind their s.h.i.+p, their crew, and their country with every decision they make," she said with a small smile, "this bar is my retirement from that, Miss 'The Ashen Maiden(provisional).'"

The elf rolled her eyes before s.n.a.t.c.hing the fruit salad she had ordered from the barkeeper.

The dish, though now missing a large amount of its fruit, was still strangely perfect-looking.

Crystal retrieved her plate of spaghetti as well, made by Tina herself rather than the chef.

"Eleanor Aurora Nightingale' of the Ashen Maiden, eh?" She commented absentmindedly, "that's quite the name."

She then thought for a moment before asking another question.

"Are the first three names acquired normally as well?" She inquired.

The elf tossed a piece of pineapple in her mouth before replying.

"Eleanor is my given name," she stated, "Aurora is the given name of the parent who shares my gender."

"Nightingale is the name of my family's original founder," she concluded.

The imp stored that knowledge in the back of her mind for a rainy day as she turned back to her pasta.

'Guess I'll call her Eleanor from now on,' she concluded, 'El for short...'