Chesu let out a low whistle as the creature manifested, and Gem had to agree.

The Hallow-Hearted Goosalope was around a block tall, making it almost double the height of a normal Goosalope. Instead of dark brown feathers that faded to white, its entire body was coated in long almost iridescent white feathers. Its tail feathers were long and marked with looping designs that shimmered a brilliant green in one light, a pale pink in another. Three pairs of goose legs held it upright, although each were tipped with vicious claws instead of the typical palmate webbing. Silver gold feathers ran up three necks to three heads that moved in different ways as the creature surveyed its new domain.

Simultaneously, all three beaks opened to reveal a monstrous maw filled with tiny fangs. It honked and flapped its wings like its normal brethren, but the cacophony produced made Chesu flinch back.

Gem quickly gave it the command to not attack Chesu, Shriek, or the other dungeon mobs and then unsummoned it.

He was happy with the creature and eager to get started.

Making a Servitor the second time was much faster. Gem didn’t like the process, but he at least understood the basics of how it worked.

This time he gathered up the elements of his personality that would be natural to the Goosalope—things like courage and tenacity, but also playfulness and mischief. He also gave a small bit of anger, just enough to hopefully lend some direction to the bold chaos.

When he thought he had everything together, Gem chipped off a portion of his core and combined it with the Hallow-Aligned Mob Heart. He then resummoned the Hallow-Hearted Goosalope.

There were immediate and obvious changes, just like with Shriek.

The Goosalope was a little larger, and the shimmering markings on its much longer tail feathers also turned purple. But most notable was the change to its horns.

Normal Goosalopes—and even the base Hollow-Hearted version—had short stubby horns that curved slightly forward. They gave the creature some damage to its headbutt attack, but the horns were much too small to really gore or damage.

These, however, were not normal Goosalope horns.

A pair of bulbous, ridged horns—each almost as wide as the individual Goosalope’s head—curled from the top of two of the creatures' heads. They were mostly flat with the Goosalope’s skull and then curved down in a loop that ended in a wicked point to the side of its head. The middle head, however, had a different type of horn. It was a single, sparkling gold horn that was barely a few inches long but was barbed in a way Gem knew would make it a dangerous weapon.

The Goosalope honked, all three heads creating a united noise. Its booming sound echoed through Gem’s crafting area and the Plantlings shrieked in response. Upon hearing the shrieking, the Goosalope honked again and again, rushing over to investigate. Its six feet slapped against the stone blocks as it ran.

Gem panicked and re-sent the instructions to not attack Chesu, Shriek, or the other dungeon mobs and the Goosalope stopped. All three heads slowly pivoted on long, elegant necks, each twisting a different direction so it could look in the direction from which the order came.

“We aren’t stupid,” the creature said. “A little fun never hurt anyone, yes?” The question was followed by a trio of honks, all of which sounded like laughing.

Gem thought. Gem sent a picture of a little arrow that pointed to each thing as he mentioned them. For himself it was just a giant arrow over his Core Room, but the Servitor would be smart enough to understand his meaning.

The Goosealope seemed unconcerned. “Good for you, yes?”

When the Goosalope didn’t answer immediately and instead just tilted all three heads at him, Gem continued:

The Goosalope shook its head. “We do not. A name is for the one speaking it, not the one hearing it, yes? Call us whatever you want.”

Without waiting for an answer, the Hollow-Hearted Goosalope continued its journey to examine the shrieking Plantlings. It watched them generate blocks and then started a conversation with one of the Plantlings, which just resulted in a large number of distracting honks and yelling.

When the Goosealope got bored, it started harassing the Plantlings by gently nipping at their limbs and running around in circles, honking when the Plantlings abandoned their posts and started chasing it.

“That one has a lot of energy,” Chesu said with a sigh.

Chesu turned and gave Gem’s core a pointed look. “Oh, are we all for killing Hero Cores now?”

Gem thought, trying to keep annoyance out of his mental voice.

“What is all that noise?”

Gem and Chesu looked up at the sudden voice. Shriek stood at the top of the stairs, looking at the Plantlings and Hollow-Hearted Goosalope. He crossed his twig arms over his chest and tapped a foot.

Gem thought sheepishly.

“By disturbing our production!” Shriek marched over to the Plantlings and shrieked at them, waving his arms in the air. The other Plantlings yelled back but returned to their generators, petals drooping.

“We were playing with those,” the Hallow-Hearted Goosalope said to Shriek, its three voices dripping with displeasure.

“And who are you?”

“Everyone,” the right head said.

“No one,” the left head replied.

“Chaos,” the middle head said, its voice lilting.

All three honked and the Goosalope waved its feathered wings at Shriek. “Let us guess: you’re Shriek. The other we’re not allowed to play rough with, yes?”

Shriek ignored the barely-disguised threat in the comment. “You need to be quieter,” he said. “And not distract the Plantlings. They have a very important job to do.”

The Goosalope honked and raised itself up to its full height. It loomed over Shriek, looking down on him with three pairs of narrowed eyes. “You may lead these creatures, but you do not lead us, yes? We are our own creature.”

Gem thought quickly, trying to come between the two of them. He hurriedly presented the Goosalope with the special item he’d made.

The Goosalope eyed the item. It was a small golden orb, a bit of fruit Chesu had called an apple. It gleamed with a purple-ish tint.

There was nothing about the apple that was unique, other than its coloration. In fact, Gem wasn’t quite sure it could be eaten. But Chesu assured Gem that he could eventually change that, and Hero Cores would fight tooth and nail to gain the apple’s power.

The Goosalope took the apple and held it in the middle head’s mouth. Its sharp fangs didn’t pierce the flesh of the apple no matter how tightly it held on.

“We’ll do this thing because it sounds like great fun,” the left-most head said. “But what do we do if the Hero Cores catch us?”

The right-most head honked. “Yes. This we can do.”

All three heads honked, although the middle one was muffled around the apple it held.

As soon as the Goosalope was gone, Shriek returned to scolding the Plantlings for their being distracted, and Chesu let out a long, relieved sigh. “Well. That one sure is something.”

Gem thought just to Chesu.

“Not uncommon, but usually… Well, you gave them completely different personalities, right?” When Gem sent him a picture of a nodding core, Chesu motioned wide with both hands. “Well, see, that’s your problem. They have different motivations. It’ll breed conflict between them. Perhaps one day they’ll learn to work together… but maybe you should keep this in mind for future Servitors.”

Gem sent the wisp another image, this one of a crystal with a giant frown.

“Nope. But… Well, I think I have the perfect name for them.”

“Issys bring with them all kinds of interesting things; usually new and exciting curse words, but sometimes there’s culture, too. I’ve heard stories of the goddess of chaos and strife, of discord and entropy. Fitting, too, is the tale of her golden apple which she used to cause Dirtworlders to go to war and kill each other over.”

Gem laughed.

“Well… sort of. I might have nudged you to make the apple because of your mob choice.” He grinned wide.

“Eris.”