James the Clothier had largely kept to himself ever since the funeral. He was old, and the curse had worn him down greatly over the years. He had been pleased to see the spark of youth still alive around him, especially in Robyn.

But then she had been taken.

By the same people who had once cursed him.

Suddenly James felt there was little hope left in the world. What kind of mad being would do this? They had already taken half of his life, and if nobody could figure out how to lift Robyn from her own curse, how many years would they steal from her?

He watched Red Beard the Pirate teaching Bart the Angler in the art of how to use a cutlass. Due to the Pirate's massive contributions in defending the Forest Village during the Blood Moon, the citizens along with William, Sid and Meg had agreed to release him from imprisonment, and he had settled at the Ocean Village. Not long after moving in he'd noticed Bart, the poor orphaned kid with only fish for company, and had taken him under his wing. So far he'd tried to teach him how to talk like a pirate. James wondered if sword training was going a bit too far at the moment – he was only a kid, after all, but he seemed to be enjoying it.

"Do you know of Captain Tunabeard?" Bart asked.

"Aye, all pirate cap'ns know of that legend," Red Beard said. "The pet fish of a legendary sailor o' the seven seas."

"With a hook for a tail and an eyepatch and everything! And a beard, of course."

"Well, if ye ever happen to catch up that fish, ye can definitely call yerself a true pirate, eh?"

"Really?"

"Aye. Now, back to yer swashbucklin' training! On the high seas, yer gonna need to know how to fight to stop other pirates from stealin' yer treasure! Or yer lady."

"Why would I have a lady? Girls are gross!"

James suddenly felt as though his vision was turning inside out, then as though he was rising. He stretched out his hands, feeling wind pass straight through the bones of his arms.

He looked down as Red Beard and Bart suddenly turned and stared straight up at him, horrified looks on their faces.

"We have a malady on our hands!" the Pirate shouted. "It- it be enormous!"

"A lady? Ewwwww!"

"Not a lady, a malady!"

"Aagh! What do we do? What do we do?"

"Bart, sail yerself through that pylon and get Meg or William! Or someone!"

James felt himself give an earth-shattering roar. He hadn't felt like this since... since...

The curse.

***

"Eek, I felt so guilty at almost killing Jeff," Hayley said. "My werefox brain, like, wanted Andrew, but Jeff was just close enough to... you know, attract it, but also different enough to make me get really angry upon realising he was not Andrew!"

Sid nodded slowly, understanding. "How have you felt since then?"

"I've still got the taste of spiders in my mouth, ugghhh."

"Sorry about that," he chuckled.

"I thought the jungle would have too many creepy-crawlies for my liking but, like, the Witch Doctor's been extremely kind for me. He's been helping me process everything and, like, I can't explain it, but I have like, a thing for him. Is it because of the tail?"

Sid tried his best not to laugh. He'd truthfully been enjoying getting to know the citizens and keeping up with their internal affairs. That had previously been one thing that William had done, but lately... ever since the Guardian's defeat, and especially since the Blood Moon, he'd become more... reclusive.

Sid felt like he'd become even more dead-set on becoming stronger than even Sid himself. Lately he'd been working on upgrading his Obsidian Shield to an Ankh Shield, which was a complicated recipe that required nine additional accessories to combine with. So Sid had stepped in to fill the role William once had.

His thoughts were interrupted by Bart falling out from the Jungle Pylon.

"Uh, Sid, I don't know whether a fish bone or a fish bone with hands would be worse, but James turned into a giant skeleton head and he's smashing up the Ocean Village!"

"A skeleton head?" Sid exclaimed. "Cactuses!"

He jumped to his feet and flew straight towards the Pylon.

***

Red Beard fired and fired and fired, but no matter how many times he landed hits those massive skeleton hands would always find a way to slap him clear across the beach. Once he ended up in the water, and only just narrowly avoided getting crushed by a karate chop.

"Take this, landlubber!" He raised his gun and fired a cannonball, but the projectile passed clear through the centre of the skull without exploding.

He heard the Pylon whirring, and saw Sid and Bart had appeared.

Sid stared closely at Skeletron. The first thing he noticed was that the hands did not seem to have a label, and the head was still labelled 'James – 250/250'. As though Skeletron was a completely normal citizen.

He didn't know James that well, despite his recent efforts in getting to know every citizen across the villages. He was going to have to take his best shot.

"James! Are you in there?"

Skeletron roared and flung itself forward, the skull spinning through the air. He flew upwards to avoid it and snapped at the skull once with his whip. It passed right through the head, dealing no damage.

His wings ran out of flight time, and he found himself falling back down to Skeletron's spinning head. By spreading his wings to fall slower, he just narrowly missed getting grinded to his bones, then fell all the way down to the beach, landing squarely on two feet.

It was then that he noticed Merlyn the Wizard had arrived on the scene.

"I've been keeping an eye on the Pirate ever since he was released, in case he tried anything," he said. "Wasn't expecting this to happen."

"What do we do?" Sid asked, looking back up at Skeletron, who had stopped spinning.

"I have an idea, Tony," Merlyn said, calling him by the wrong name – he tended to do this with most of the citizens – "I will try an incantation that the Witch Doctor asked me to try on Hayley when she was a werefox. It is designed for trying to revert form-shifters back to their original form."

The Wizard raised his arms.

"Pu Uoy Evig Annog Reven," he began chanting.

Skeletron roared and tried to slap him with his hands, but Sid snapped out his Cool Whip to try to knock them away.

"Nwod Uoy Tel Annog Reven."

Skeletron began spinning and firing several smaller homing skulls. A few hit Sid and brushed across the Wizard, but he seemed unfazed.

"UOY TRESED DNA DNUORA NUR ANNOG REVEN!"

A plume of multicoloured energy began emanating from the Wizard's hands. It expanded upwards and wrapped itself around Skeletron's head and arms. It roared again and tried to struggle from its grasp, but the spell was too powerful, soon encasing it entirely in energy. Before too long the shape of Skeletron began shrinking, to the size of a man.

It looked like it was working.

The energy soon dissipated, leaving James the Clothier in mid-air, who floated downwards and collapsed onto the sand.

***

William was continually disappointed that the Dungeon, despite its connection to the Cultists, was still largely unchanged compared to pre-Guardian's defeat. No new enemies, and no sign of the Cultists.

He and Meg were here to get a Nazar – the last component William needed to upgrade to an Ankh Shield. It was rarely dropped by Cursed Skulls according to Jeff.

The new shield would provide him immunity to a bunch of different status effects. Not only would these stop hindering him in battle, but their physical characteristics would also no longer distract or mentally paralyse him in battle. And if he was going to save Robyn from the Cultists, he was going to need any advantage he could get. Or at least get rid of any disadvantage he could get afflicted by.

"These skeletons are so mindless," Meg said. "All they do is throw themselves at us, only to get instantly obliterated by our weapons."

"Basically everything in this world does that," William muttered. He thought again about Sid's theory of the world being a video game. Most of the enemies that they encountered in this world seemed to exist purely as being an enemy, without any sort of logical ecosystem behind it. And they kept reappearing in locations they frequented. No matter how many Angry Bones they killed in the Dungeon, the Dungeon never emptied. The same could be said about the Hallow, or the Crimson.

Not to mention the fact that the task of crafting the Ankh Shield very much felt like a quest, all of the items in its recipe being components of that quest.

They kept on sifting through the dungeon, killing every enemy they encountered. Farming them, as Sid would say.

Before too long William killed what felt like the hundredth one with a swipe of his Beam Sword. The Tally Counter he had picked up at some point told him it was his eighty-fourth Cursed Skull kill.

"We need to save Robyn," he muttered. "And these boneheads won't give me the one item I need!" He cleaved his Cutlass through an Angry Bones's skull.

"I understand your frustration," Meg said. "Sometimes... people you love just get taken away, and it's out of your control."

She was right, of course.

"Then we'll fight," William said. "And take back control."

At that moment a Cursed Skull popped out of the wall and a Dark Caster materialised right next to it. William killed them both in one hit without even thinking, and was surprised when a Nazar finally made its way into his inventory.

But that wasn't the only item.

A Clothier Voodoo Doll appeared next to it.

***

The last time they'd gotten a voodoo doll, it had led to the death of Andrew the Guide and the world irreversibly changing for the worse.

Now, the appearance of this brand new doll only screamed one thing to William.

Things were going to get even worse.

And that made his stomach cramp in anxiety.

Upon returning to the villages he heard all about James's transformation from Sid and how Merlyn the Wizard had managed to change him back.

"After my master was defeated," James said. "I thought the curse was gone forever. But it seems... Skeletron is still very much a part of me." He sighed. "All I wanted was to live the rest of my days in peace, and to never have to worry about... him... again."

William reached into his inventory, pulled out the Clothier Voodoo Doll, and placed it on the table in front of him. A grim look passed over James's face.

The Wizard looked just as apprehensive. "It seems fate has other plans for you."

William, Sid and Meg returned to the Forest Village close to sundown. William headed to the chest building to finish upgrading his shield, and held it out for his friends to see. It was obsidian-coloured, but with a golden symbol embossed on its front.

"Pretty slick," Sid said.

William tried to smile but he couldn't stop thinking about the new voodoo doll.

It was at that moment that he heard rumblings deep below, as though a tremor was shaking the village. At that same moment the air began to feel colder around them.

"Why do I feel like this is going to be a terrible night?" Sid suddenly spoke.

"I'm not the one with powers of divination," Meg said. "Ask the Wizard."

William felt apprehensive. He took some steps forward, Ankh Shield in one hand, Drippler Crippler in the other, walking outside the building. It felt like a blizzard was going to erupt outside, except the climate here was nowhere near the conditions for one. The ground was rumbling ever so louder. Something was underground, and it was getting closer.

Until it burst forth.