While the troll resists Tsuki's magic, the claws of Keyla, the bite of Hershel, and the bullets of Nathan and John M prove to be too much. Even as the giant topples, Malcom gathers together the burning remains of webs and corpses of spiders, and tosses it on the regenerating creature.

Even as the creature begins to dissolve, its matter seeming to collapse in on itself, something rises from the body. A floating map, that spins and hover in the air. As soon as someone touches it, it fades from view and appears in the party's HUDs. A familiar voice is heard.

"You have beaten the level's Apex!

You have gotten the 'Front of the class' Boon!

You all now have access to the labyrinth map, including where the safe rooms are, the current threats that still exist, and the level exit!

Congrats, Wanderers! You have quite a journey to make, so get moving! We will still crush you once you run out of time..."


Sure enough, there seems to be a safe room past a secret door you can now see in your HUD. The map can be zoomed into, and notes can be scribed. Red dots showing moving figures, and are listed as 'foes'. Blue dots are listed as 'Wanderers' and grey dots are listed as 'NPCs'. Currently the only grey dots are in the safe room not too far away. The Blue dots seem very far indeed. More importantly, a large label on one room a medium distance from your position shows 'Level exit!'.

Connor was glad to see they finally took the troll down, and that none of them had died in the process. He learned a lot this fight about his tactics and spells, and had some ideas to try for later. He also learned a lot about tactics Cabochon was capable of - the familiar could do a whole lot even if it wasn't directly an attacker like Kayla was. And those elixirs turned out to be extremely useful too.

He looked around, and seeing as there were no more monsters apparently in the area, he released his maintenance of the protection spell. The now quite-sizable field of softly shimmering abjurative energy faded away in a soft bursting spell, like a bubble popping and releasing mist for a moment before it all disappeared.

Connor sighed softly in relief as he released his abjuration field. While it didn't take his vital energy in quite the same way as a normal spell did, it took a different type of energy and a whole heck of a lot of focus to maintain. So it was nice he could give his mind and spirit a break.

He turned to the others, and spoke.

"Good job, everyone! We all survived and are alive, which is a victory. It's gravy we were the ones to beat the apex. I'm sure that apex boon will give us a starting edge over other wanderer groups. Not to mention give us a bit more bite to use against this dungeon. But we shouldn't rest on our laurel yet though, you guys..." he said.

"I think the Guild Master or the host or both told us earlier that this level is going to collapse on its own, when it's good and ready. Which means we just took the inititive to carve ourselves a safe path to a saferoom we can use as a camp to figure out our next steps and rest up." he continued.

"With that said, I would like to propose a plan to the party. Because let's face it this fight has shown we are most effective as a party. But I would like to urge us all to prioritize resting up right now so we can recover our hit points and abilities in that near by safe room, and then from there I'd like us to use the map we found to figure out what the closest safe room is to the level exit, and make our way there." Connor said.

He then pointed to the floating holographic map as it was streaming into their HUDs.

"And after finding said safe room, I want to take it over and use it as our mini base and take the time to make sure we can clear a way to the exit, after which if we have a lot of time left I'd like to explore near the exit and look for any loot boxes, actual physical resources (like those webs we digitized into our inventories) that we can salvage and take with us to the next floor, and even some gremlins and spiders to to hunt and kill for experience points. Every proper nerd knows you farm loot and xp from side quests before progressing the main story, yes?" he finished with a grin.

Cabochon floating down near the troll after the party killed it.

"Master? That is a sound plan. If the party agrees, we will gain some control over the space on the level nearest to the exit which will take some pressure off of us. Brilliant!" the floating array of gems and other things spoke aloud. Somehow. However the hell the thing spoke.

"While you discuss with the party, I will assist in assessing the scene." he said as he floated near the troll and force-light-tendril-things sligered out fromt he magic orbit of the familiar and searched the troll and surroundings!

OOC: Cabochon searches the troll, as well as the surrounding chamber, for loot and noticable features (like anything that could be useful or digitized etc), and also helps any other party members who are searching if he is able to.

In reply to Connor (msg # 162):

Nathan will grimly chuckle "I agree Connor, we need to keep working as a team if we are to have any chance to survive murderworld."

Nathan will look around the wreaked Arcade for useful items. For example he will see if the wreaked game machines had parts that could be salvaged for crafting components. He will also look if there are coins or tokens that have value outside the arcade. While searching he will also be on the lookout for traps

22:24, Today: Nathan rolled 21 using 1d20+8 ((13)). Searching +1 for traps

"I agree." She said with a firm nod as she considered for a moment. "Please give me one moment, before we do move on though. I need a moment to refocus myself and quell the storm that rages within and about me." She says that as the obvious rain is still pouring all around them. "So if you all could watch over me for a moment."

She will kneel and wrap her tail around herself. Quietly saying a small prayer to Inari as she refocused herself.

[OOC: Spend 10 minutes refocusing. Reduce curse from Moderate to Light. Storm stops around her, but there is still the wind in the 5' radius around her.]

As her friend, master, and companion refocuses herself, Keyla will move next to her and lay down next to her. Still, the Dire Fox remains surprisingly alert as she lays there though and anyone who tries to harm her kitsune Master would have hell to pay.

OOC: DM? After Connor and Cabochon search the troll and the boss room, he also needs to refocus with Tsuki if possible.

The party refocuses, and restores themselves. However, spells and other such abilities are not returned until the group is willing to camp and sleep, or better yet-get to a safe room. The new map shows the route to the safe room in question, along with any foes along the way, and the exit stairwell down to the next level.

OOC-Are you heading to the safe room?

Tsuki stands and looks to the others. "Alright, let's go to the safe room. The usual one's to the front."

"Rest would be a good thing"

OCC heading to the safe room would be great. btw did Nathan find anything noteworthy during his search of the room?

Connor agrees and even encourages this course of action.

"We must first head to the safe room and turn it into a little mini base to operate out of, and maybe touch base with the Guildmaster too." he said.

In reply to Nathan (msg # 170):

OOC-anything of note is usually, but not always, given out as boons once the enemy is defeated. If those boons produce gear, that can be accessed in safe rooms.

The nearest safe room is about five hours away according to the new map. The journey is relatively safe, aside from a few traps disarmed by Nathan and a few spiders dispatched by the rest of the party. The corridors start to blend together, still made of construction found on what earth used to be. However, the group comes upon an almost welcome sight.

GUILDHALL-Saferoom. The signs show. Assuming no one has any issue with entering the party proceeds to do so. Inside the room seems precisely the same as the last guild hall they found, and with a very familiar...face? If it could be called a face.

Welcome back, and congratulations. Everyone heard a familiar voice in their minds. Sure enough, the floating multi tentacled form of Trevik ushers them into the room.

Now that you have beaten the Apex, claimed the map, and made it to this guildhall, I can disclose more information to you. For one, you can open your boon boxes safely in here, and possible get more depending on your actions. Secondly, I can tell you about non-guildhall saferooms, as one has now become available to you.

A tentacle points at a door that seems to appear. It has a cartoon burger on it that everyone has seen at some point in their human lives on earth.

Finally, I can tell you about the next stage of the labyrinth. In this case, a non-deadly occurrence, but if you do not do it well, you lives might be indeed fairly short.

I am speaking of the Confessional. A ritual overserved by all surviving Wanderers of each level, allowing them to speak to the viewing audience. You will be appointed a PR representative, and have to speak to the system admin about what those rules are. I have no ability to interfere in those situations, and you must remember these beings will be of the group running the entire labyrinth system. While they are indeed dangerous, they also must obey the system rules governing these games. Not all of them view the games as...ethical...but most consider it a job that must be done. Tread carefully, and be wary about trusting them.

She would reach down and scritch Keyla behind the ears. "We're safe for now my friend, you did good."

Then she looked at the Guildmaster as she pulled out the 'bronze burners loot box' and looked it over. "So what you are saying is we are going to sit in front up a couple of big reps and be asked a bunch of things, and if people like what we say, they will help us, and if they don't, they won't?" She asked as she shifted back to her human form, then proceeded to open this loot box first.

"Guildmaster!" Connor exclaimed as they headed inside the guild hall, his tone of voice obviously pleased to see the tentacled yet most-amenable horror.

"Bless you and your tentacles! I'm happy we made it! It seems you somehow found out about us beating the apex, so that saves us having to tell you about it. It was a tough fight and there were a few very close calls. Team work made the dream work on that one for sure!" Connor exclaimed.

"Guildmaster? The party has agreed to follow a plan I've devised, which in this case is to use this Guildhall as a sort of pit-stop and resting area while we clear our way over to the exit stairs as well as any other safe spaces near by. Any information you can provide us about the non-guild safe rooms would be most appreciated, as I'd like to factor it into our plan." he continued.

"In this case, we'll make our way over to that other safe space first, and use it as a Head quarters and mini-base of sorts as we explore and clear out the exit and then go off and, quite frankly, farm experience points, look for side loot, and anything else that can give us an edge on the next floor. We got all this free time so we want to use it as best we can."

"LUCeee....I'm HOME!". Screams Nathan in his Rick Ricardo imitation.

Nathan will take a deep breath before continuing "Good job out there. If we can maintain the teamwork we made just survive this."

He will listen somberly to To the Guild master's announcement. He holds back on a biting comment on what he thinks about the company that tormented them for the amusement of a vast audience because the bastards were probably listening. "Okay I guess we have to be sympathetic yet not antagonizing the sponsors. But most importantly we must be entertaining"

Actually, you will meet with the labyrinth administrator for your group, and then your PR agent. Once they are done with that, and the rules, then they will send you all into the confessional. The best way to describe it is to compare the confessional to one of your 'late night talk shows'. There is a host, and audience from all across the universe, and other guests sometimes. You will be questioned, although these days some of the confessional sessions are...more difficult then in my day. The hosts are often desperate for audience share, so they may try to make the wanderers do extreme things. However, there will be no physical danger to any of you.

As I have said before, this is where you will get sponsors. The D/Monix corporation charges audience members for allowing you to get special loot boxes. This also allows those patrons to advertise on the universe's most popular show. Sometimes its a political movement, sometimes its a company selling products, sometimes its just a celebrity who likes you. It could be even stranger things.



Indeed. We all saw you. I would remind you, you are being recorded at almost all times.



Yes, its the only way you will all survive.

Each party member notices the system AI giving an alert.

OPEN YOUR BOON BOXES!

Each person can see a ghostly chest in their HUD, floating off to the side. Upon touching it, the box becomes solid for all to see, and the item in question floats out. Then it vanishes into the wanderer's extra-dimensional inventory. Once there, it can be taken out and reviewed or used.

Tsuki is first, and opens something called 'Frist step in labyrinth' bronze boon box. Once opened, it reveals a smaller package of something called 'wanderer biscuits' and a bottled water. It also gives 50 gold coins. The symbol on the odd money looks like a labyrinth.

The next is 'Burn em all and let the gods sort them out!', a bronze burners boon box. Sure enough, it is 3 flasks of what looks like oil. 100 sliver coins is also given.

There there is a 'front of the class' box, which has a empty book, a quill with ink and a 100 sliver.

Finally, there is a platinum boon box that is only called 'Background player bonus.' Once opened. there is a floating scroll that says the following.

"Thank you for providing new useful NPCs from your past. The Labyrinth will make good use of them!"

Inside there is a ticket, which says upon it 'Item upgrade'. There is also 100 gold coins.

All the money vanishes into her inventory.

Connor gets the same reward as Tsuki for the 'Frist step in labyrinth' and the 'Background player bonus.' However, he also gets the 'Smacked upside the head potion', which is a healing potion and 50 gold. Then he gets the 'It squirted out the hole it punched into you' box, which turns out to be 2 potions of what is called an 'antidote', which hangs over its description when viewed, along with 10 gold.

Then Nathan gets the 'Frist Step in the labyrinth' and 'Background player bonus.' He also gets something called a 'sniper's box', which includes 10 rounds of ammo and 100 sliver.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:11, Wed 15 June 2022.

OOC: Okay...updated my Character sheet with stuff and updated loot box record as well.

Connor looks curiously at the loot he gained. Some of them, like smacked upside the head, definitely displayed the sarcasm of the AI Host and, indirectly, it's Shaitan backers. Others, like the background player bonus, gave truly intriguing loot but worried him at the same time.

He did note that the Healing Potion was NOT a Minor Healing Potion, and was thus distinctly different. And the Antidote potion was also something very different than the "normal" alchemical items he could craft as an Alchemist sub-class. The special-potion type items seemed to be unique to the labyrinth and seemed to hold potent and special properties.

He mentally pulled up his HUD again.

Computer? Please identify the Healing Potion. Please Identity the Antidote Potion. Please identify the item upgrade certificate. he mentally thought out as a HUD command.

"Is everyone okay? Did everyone open their loot boxes and take note of the gains to your character sheet?" he asked.

He turned to the Guildmaster.

"Thanks for warning us more about the upcoming Confessional. We'll do out best. Is there anything else about this level you would like to tell us, or think we should know before we head out to clear our way to the other safe room and from there, the exit?"

Tsuki looks at her new gains carefully as they appear in her inventory. "Some of these names..." Tsuki said with a small frown.

"So...oil?" She would look at it in her inventory more closely to see what exactly it was. She would also take a more closer look at the bottle of water to make sure it was actually that, bottled water.

Then the empty book and quill really caught her attention and she took a closer look at it as well. Identifying all her new object more closely.

As Nathan sorts through his loot He will ask the Guild Master "The creatures we fought, Were they voluntary employees?"

Healing potion!

This potion provides healing.

Duh.

The AI says in its normally snide voice.

Just kidding, it works better than the other healing potion you already have! A bit. Let's saaaaaaay....50%? It sounded unsure.

Antidote potion!

This potion is a cure all for most forms of poison, animal or made by chemistry! Please note...it is NOT for hangovers. You are on your own there, buddy! The sarcastic tone is obvious.

Upgrade Certificate!

Oh boy, oh boy! You hit the jackpot!

You may use this one time token to improve any bit of equipment that is upgradeable! This provides a power boost to said item, but what is improved can be...tricky. Very, very tricky. Good luck...you are gonna need it!

There is a slight tone of menace it the odd voice.



Sure enough, the computer responds to Tsuki as well.

Flammable oil!

You use this to make a fire bigger! Much bigger! Also burns things for longer.

You know humans discovered this like 1000s of years ago, right? Granted it was most likely by accident, but you got there! Good for you. Took you bunch long enough... Tsuki does not need her keen insight to detect the contempt.

Bottled water!

You drink this. Put in throat...slowly...and try and swallow. Without choking! Don't try and eat the bottle, ok? Not yummy! There's a good human!

The book and quill seem to sparkly slightly in Tsuki's HUD. When inspected closely, the AI pipes in.

Book and quill of recording!

This magical item will allow the user to record details via your HUD! Anything you put there can appear in the book! A new tab in your HUD will be available upon opening it. Now you can share your slam poetry with anyone just by thinking about it. So...its sorta a torture device.

Any test done by Tsuki shows that by mentally typing something in her HUD allow the quill to animate and write it in the book. The handwriting is flawless, and pictures can be quite detailed, although lacking artistic skill.

The guildmaster floats over to Nathan, and mentally sighs, which can be heard in the minds of everyone in the room. As can the creature's mental response.

I can share this with you now. No one is here voluntarily, expect the people who run the games. Maybe not even them. All matter, taken during the...repurposing...of your world is not destroyed. It is reused, and reshaped. That includes living things. For animals, this is not much of a change. They would not even notice changes to their new bodies and forms.

For intelligent beings, it is different. Memories are suppressed. However, they cannot be fully erased-not without brain damage. That being said, the nature of the creature within the labyrinth is usually taken into account when given a new form by the AI. The innocent remain innocent. Predators remain predators. The show's...writers, let's call them...find it more compelling if the wanderers involved in the show have a 'backstory link' to what is going on in the games. That is all I am permitted to say about that.

One tendril gestures to the room marked with the hamburger.

You can go in there and rest. There will be food provided, but with your new map you must travel to the ramp down as soon as possible. Once there, we shall meet again. After you are made aware of the Confessional process, and go through said Confessional. Good luck, Wanderers.

Sure enough, upon passing through the door, it vanishes behind them. The group seems to be in a burger place of some kind. There are familiar clowns on the wall, and various prefab chairs and tables. However, the windows show nothing but darkness outside. No light the party has seems to pernitrate the gloom, and the lights inside the restaurant seem to flicker.

Upon exploration, the kitchen area is also empty. However, the front counter has holographic display saying 'FOOD ORDERS HERE'.

No matter what the person in question asks for food, what materializes is a burger, a shake, a small salad and a bottle of water. It does taste a lot better than the 'wanderer biscuits' that have been provided.

After eating, several cots appear and seem to indicate the need for sleep. Most of you are fairly exhausted due to your journey so far. The map you can summon at will shows several days travel by foot to get to the exit, so you will need to your strength.

Assuming everyone does rest, in roughly eight hours you feel refreshed and healed. Conner can repurpose his spells, as can Tsuki and Dee. Hershel, John M, and Malcom seem fully healed as well. These new bodies seem to heal faster than any human ever could, even given those horrible injuries.

Once everyone is ready, a Holographic 'EXIT' sign appears above the doors out. They would not budge before, but now they open easily back into the labyrinth. The group heads out, and follows the map to the exit zone. While webs remain, no spiders or spider mites seem to attack or be nearby. Although your new map does show red dots in other areas, along with blue dots. Often the red dots vanish from the map, but so do blue dots. You are certain the red are the enemy, while the blue are fellow Wanderers.

There seem to be far less Wanderers at this point.

After days of travel through the stone corridors, you start to wonder if the map is even correct. If this is nothing but a cruel trick to get you lost, and the level collapse will end you all upon the timer running out. However, it turns out that the map is very accurate.

You see a massive escalator going deeper into darkness before you. Its big enough for 10 people to use it at once. The metal is very shiny, and has strange runes etched into its surface. While you have several hours left, the only option is to go down...

OOC-Thread closed! Please post your first response upon arrival in the confessional thread!