The party rematerializes in a very familiar looking place. The Guildhall, although it seems to have changed slightly. It seems more like an ancient hut, and it is built to be much smaller than normal. The taller party members have to bend over just to stand.

The HUD and various effects and weapons suddenly reappear. Both companions of Conner and Tsuki emerge from their extra dimensional holding spaces. Numerous system messages, some containing loot boxes for the entire team, appear on the HUD. Each party member gets these, including a message from Agent Gallbury. Most of the messages need to be opened on your HUD, but the physically biggest message, visible to all is:

YOU HAVE LEVELED TO 3!

You have achieved the 'Look how big you are' boon!

You have gotten 'tough guy, huh?' Sliver loot box.

There are other loot boxes to open, and can be accessed as the system AI reads this room as a saferoom and a Guildhall.

Standing before them, among books and potions, is a humanoid turtle wearing robes.

"Greetings...wanderers. Before...you...ask...I...am...Trevik." He says. Very, very slowly.

OOC-I will help anyone who requests aid for leveling their characters to 3.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:57, Fri 29 July 2022.

"What a nob," Mo says softly, still referring to Quasar.

"Y'all right Trevik?" he asks the reptile.

In reply to Mo (msg # 2):

"They...turned...me...into...a...Tortle." He sighs. "Its...better...than...a...mind...horror...but...has...some...issues." He says it what seems like half an hour, but is really more like 30 seconds of pauses and slow words.

Malcom had started to lift his amulet to the crowd when they wink out of existence and he reappears in the modified guildhall.

"Well shoot." he mutters as Trevik is speaking. "I hope you don't need to give us any small print legal speak while you are like this."

He then starts opening the boons that are in his inventory.

Chalei'nh pumped her fist in the air while facing the elves from earlier, which she took to be her fans, before she too winked out. Once in the Guildhall though, she planted her hands on her sides as she looked at the humanoid turtle in front of them. More importantly, her teammates seemed to recognize him, and she turned to them.

- "I... take it you know him?"

She also noticed her UI returned, but after reading through the messages decided it could wait, just in case they were on another timer here.

"He was the Guildmaster at our last hall. Nice enough guy, but last time he spoke telepathically to us." He says to Chalei'nh as he rolls his shoulders to settle the metal wings against he back again.

"Hello again Trevik," said Moya as she sashayed happily from the point at which she arrived. "I like the new look bit muir importantly, is it comfy? Do You like it?"

In reply to Moya (msg # 7):

"Still...not...my...real...form." Trevik complains slowly. "Time...works...against...us. As...always. We...need...to...open...messages...loot boxes...patron...rewards...while...in...the...safe...room." He says, the long sentences clearly annoying him as much as everyone else.

Tsuki walks up and puts her hand on what can possibly be Trevik's shoulder or the thing that might be it. "I plan to fix this, all of it, and burn the entire house of cards down in the process. You'll have your body back." She said softly to him.

She then withdrew her hand and went back to the others, and opened inventory to read her messages and open her loot boxes.

Look guys, it's the guild master! Hey Trevik you made it! And in a literal half-shell too!" Connor said as he walked up to the Guildmaster.

"I know this isn't your real form, but it's something better than before yes? Just keep your chin up and we'll figure something out for you. Or die trying. Literally." connor added solemnly.

He turned to the others.

"Well to all of the new members of our team...Gargoyle guy here is Malcom. He's from our original team from before and is good at protecting the front line. And the turtle guy is the Guildmaster. He's one of the few friendly non-Earth people here and he helped us quite a bit on the last stage. He's in a similar situation as we are, minus being a player, so please be nice to him. But he's very helpful and our team has a sort of alliance with him." Connor said, trying to clear the air between everyone.

And suddenly, a stream of floating jewels and gems carried on sparkling motes of energy streamed out of Connor's backpack? Pocket? Well...somehow from somewhere in his HUD. But it streamed out from Connor's hammerspace and enlarged into a swirl of floating jewels. If a cluster of floating stones could appear...dazed and confused, then that would describe the sluggishly floating stones. Although they were quickly picking up vim and vitality as they orbited around Connor.

"Oh brother. I knew this moment would come. Everyone, meet Cabochon. He's basically something of a mascot for the team, but also my familiar." Connor said with a roll of the eyes as his familiar appeared suddenly.

"Huh? What happened? Why'd the lights go out? Wait we're on level two now? The HUD says you're level 3! And mascot? Why I never. You were on the confessional weren't you? And without me gracing the ignorant masses there with py refined presence? Why this is too much. Just too much!  What the fuc....." an androgynously although slightly male tinted voice echoed ethereally from the cluster of floating jewels. It was agitated and slowly becoming more dramatic, before stopping itself suddenly.

"...ahem. Poise and dignity, Cabochon. Poise and dignity. You will NOT chip a facet or something in front of these new recruits! It is up to me to set an example for those less elegant than me, which is basically everyone. AHEM!" he said, talking to himself a bit.

"I mean, oh look...new members have joined the team. Greetings, I am Master Cabochon. Young Connor there jests. Mascot...oh my I'm far to magnificent for that. oh hohoho..." the stone cluster said, trying to politely laugh off what was said before.

"I am actually the mentor and counselor of the team. If you have any questions about the game or the team, feel free to assist you. You may address me as Master, Sensei, or simply teacher although Mister Cabochon is satisfactory as well."


This message was undeleted by the GM at 03:54, Sat 30 July 2022.

And at that moment, Cabochon would begin to see the failure of his whim's as Keyla begins chasing him around again!

"And the large fox there is Keyla, my Dire Fox companion." Tsuki said with a small nod.

The swirling stones stopped orbiting Connor and began to fly away around the room as the large Dire fox excitedly lopped after it.

"Oh by the heavens it's my one nemesis! My natural enemy! and....og god oh god she;s coming this way! Eeeck! It's happening again!" the familiar said as it desperately tried to avoid the pouncing fox. The familiar zoomed around the room comically, trying to avoid the fox.

"Good God no. Please...please no. Don't salivate on the... *slober sound* ...oh my poor facets!"

- "Well, might as well open mine then..."

Chalei'nh went to her HUD and selected the lootbox she had received, as well as any others that were currently in her inventory. She hadn't paid much attention to the system since arriving, and had understandably been a little preoccupied since coming here, so she figured it was possible that she may have missed one or two of them.

- "Oh and... i've got a confession to make: I'm probably the reason V'Verik was kind of an ass back there."

She gave the party an apologetic smirk, before continuing.

- "I already told you i spent like half a day in chargen, right? Well, when i was going through the race options, i customized the skin color when i was on half-orc before switching to what i am now, Elf. To my surprise, i notice i kept the skin color as that was now flagged as a user customization setting. So then i went over to the advanced options and minimized limb length before maximizing general character height, and then maximizing limb length again to actually break the maximum height the system allowed an Elf to be. I also managed to be part Dragon, can breathe negative energy, can punch ghosts like they're not even incorporeal, breathe underwater and later levels allow me to fly. So... I guess in V'Verik's eyes, i'm the guy that basically took his game for a ride."

Moya opened her own lootbox first but then looked at Chalei'nh with the standard wide-eyed, mouth open expression commonly known among humans as 'gobsmacked'.

"Wow! It never even occurred to me to try something like that. Guid on ye. That's b'llient."

Chalei'nh chuckled when she noticed Moya's expression.

- "Thanks. Most of that time was actually spent finetuning my appearance so i didn't end up looking like Slenderman, so it's not the absolute maximum, but it was close enough. 'Sides, i'm an Aussie, you do not want to know how many Crocodile Dundee ripoffs i've seen stepping into the game. Here's a hint: There were more than there were Bards trying to seduce their way past everything."

"Aye", says Moya, "And I imagine there's loads ae Scottish people come down wearing kilts, playin' bagpipes an' tossin cabers while there's a skein dubh hidden in their socks and a wee voady in their sporrans."  She grins, "That said, I imagine the sound ae the bagpipes playin' "The Campbells are coming" is enough to scare off many a monster."

Calei'nh gave Moya a nod of approval.

- "Hey, if i could pick between the two, i'd pick a good old Highlander Charge over a group of people trying to seduce something that, had they paid attention in biology class, they'd know made a habit of eating their mates afterward."

She smirked, remembering something.

- "As far as instruments go though, fairly sure you couldn't beat the Swiss. An alphorn is technically a musical instrument after all, and you could hear those for miles. Arguably you could even convince the System that it deals sonic area damage to everything in front of it."

Ignoring Cabochon's plight, Connor focused back on the party.

"You know it's funny you mention crocodile ripoffs. One of our team members who got sent elsewhere to another party by our D'Monix overlords was basically a crocodile man. Or something similar anyway." he said with a grin.

He then held up a hand.

"Ok bear with me for a sec I gotta concentrate a bit. My HUD has been practically lighting up with messages and alerts since we started the next game level, and I know the AI is gonna start getting snarky soon if I don't check them out and clear them from its queue or whatever." he said as he mentally focused on his HUD.

The first thing he did was mentally set his level 3 parameters. He gained some hp, and because his level increased so did his skills, saves, and checks by 1. He gained some hp, but the really big feature he unlocked was level 2 magic. He took two spells that could be of use as an abjurer - dispel magic and resist elements - and also took Agent Gallbury's advice to heart and got a flashy attack spell that he thought he could use strategically. In this case, Flaming Sphere. That ought to wow and impress the audience a bit, anyway. For a feat he had to decide between toughness and magical crafting and decided on the former. He;s look at magical crafter in a few levels but for now survival was paramount and another +1 hp/level would help him as a caster.

He then gave some further commands mentally.

Computer? Please display my message inbox and show all new unread messages.

Computer? Please list any new loot boxes I have acquired, including look how big you are and  tough guy, huh.

Tsuki looked towards the other's for a moment. "Could one of you help me for a moment?" She asked with a calm voice. "I need someone to cup their hands together like so..." She would demonstrate. "...in front of me for a moment as I do something. You have nothing to fear I will not hurt you."

Moya nodded and knelt before Tsuki saying, "There ye are, Tsuki. I'll be yer cornucopia."

OOC - Aaargh I hate when my phone corrects my name to something wrong!
This message was last edited by the player at 20:11, Sun 31 July 2022.

Tsuki's tails wished behind her a bit as Moya kneeled before her, and she chuckled a bit. "You didn't need to kneel, I just needed you to cup your hands in front of me." She said with a small cheerful laugh. Then helps Moya up, and helps her position her hands. "There, perfect. Now watch, as I create a life." Wait, create a life? Did Tsuki suddenly become a god?

Tsuki would her hands together palms facing Moya's cupped hands, her thumbs interlocked. Then she would begin a small incantation. The small incantation grew in length as soon blue magic would begin to run along Tsuki's body and into Moya's hands. Small stars could be seen interlaced within that magic as it began to pool within Moya's hands, and soon began to form something small, round, and solid. This would last for several moments longer before Tsuki's magic would finally begin to subside, and her chanting finally faded, leaving a small smooth stone within Moya's hands. The stone was beautiful a deep violet in color, and upon closer inspection one could almost swear that they could see small specks of light swirling within it almost as if Moya was holding a solidified galaxy within her hands. Then suddenly small detached crystalize legs appear from its sides as it comes to life lifting itself up.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Sun 31 July 2022.

Moya resists the urge to open her hands cause the stone person might not like to fall and she feels the need to treat such stones gently.

"Her name is Starry. She was created with a small bit of my magic, and life essence." She said to Moyo with a soft smile. "What do you think?"

Then she would reach out with a hand and tap Starry gently. "Hey you, Starry, wake up."

Small detached crystalize legs appear from the sides of the tiny stone as it comes to life lifting itself up. It would twitch each leg a moment then scurry about Moya's hand from each side to the other for several moments. "I have legs! I can move! I'm alive! Wait...I'm a rock?"

"She's very pretty", says Moya.  "But how deadly is she? Deadly is important down here."

"I'm not meant to be deadly! I'm meant to make my master more deadly! Aren't I master?" Starry chirped happily as she turned in Moya's hand to face Tsuki. So the smaller leg's must be the front since Starry has no face...

"That's exactly right Starry." She said with a soft smile. "Starry boosts my own innate magical abilities as well as my spell abilities as an oracle. Plus a few other things."

"Oooh Cool" says Moya and Starry is indeed, lovely.

Moya takes a look at her HUD, checking what's what and indeed, what the display looks like generally.

Moya moves to let Starry go to Tsuki while she examines the boon and the lootbox she has been given on her HUD.

She touches the boon first, trying to see what it is.  She would say it's like Christmas but that's not a big thing in Scotland.  "Is it ma brthday?" she asks.

The System AI decides...for whatever reason...to make everyone's messages audible and visual to everyone in the room. It may just be feeling lazy.

"You have gotten the 'Tough guy, huh?' Sliver loot box!"

Sure enough, the icon floating in the air shows a sliver chest, which opens upon touch. It reveals a healing potion and 50 gold.

"You four have gotten a upgrade ticket!" It says directly to Nathan, Connor, Malcom, and Tsuki.

"Upgrade ticket! You may enhance any possession that is upgradable. Once used, this ticket will  dissolve until you get another. Any upgrades are permanent."

"You have gotten the following message from your PR agent!"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:30, Mon 01 Aug 2022.

Sure enough, the holographic head of Gallbry appears.

"Nice job everyone! You all have gotten the first of your patron boxes. Keep making your patrons happy, and they will spend more money to get you better stuff. They are watching, but cannot directly communicate with you. They do communicate with me, and no, I can't send messages back and forth between you. So don't ask." She sighs. Then the head vanishes.

Each holographic patron box hovers over each member of the team. Each being different than the others.

Over Chalei'nh's head was a box looking it had been handcrafted by some sort of woodcrafting master. It opened, and a floating ghostly scroll unfolds and shows a sash that looks like its meant to be worn around the waste.

"You have received the sash of the shielding wind! Courtesy of Elfcorp!"

[Private to Chalei'nh: OOC-Wearing the sash gives you +1 Ac, and an additional +1 Ac when you use the parry action. This combines with any other bonus to AC you would normally get.  ]

Over Connor's head, a large crystal seems to float. It unfolds, almost growing an opening in itself. There is revealed a small crystal orb.

"Cabochon and his familiar Connor has been given the Orb of focus! Courtesy of the Tonestones!"

[Private to Connor: OOC-Putting the Orb of focus into Cabochon's orbit allows you to spend a action to focus any spell through your familiar. Getting +2 to hit or save DC as needed.]

Over Malcom's head was a chest that seems to be plush, and almost seems like a toy chest for a child. It opens, and shows a golden amulet with a hole in the center. The hole seems like it would perfectly contain the gem he wears around his neck.

"Malcom has been given the Amulet of the lifesaver! Courtesy of the Childsavers!"

[Private to Malcom: OOC-When using your Lay on Hands, You heal an extra 6 HP to yourself or other.]

Over Mo's head, there is a chest made from various animal bones. It opens with a hyena-like cackle, and shows a bracer made of scales.

"Mo has been given the hide bracer of fireproofing! Courtesy of Gnolls Inc!"

[Private to Mo: OOC-You double any fire resistance you have while wearing the bracer.]

Over Moya's head, a large mushroom hovers, and then melts away into a wand of living wood. Seemingly grown rather that carved.

"Moya has been given the Wand of Plant growth! Courtesy of Funguyfungi."

[Private to Moya: OOC-The wand gives you access to the at will Tanglefoot spell, cast as if you had access to the cantrip at your level. It also can cast Fungal Infestation 2/day. Both count as plant spells for your tattoo's effects.]

Nathan's box seems to be made of advanced clockwork and steel. It opens, and shows a new advanced rifle with a built in bayonet!

"Nathan has been given the Shobhad longrifle! Courtesy of Longdeath, Inc."

[Private to Nathan: OOC-This rifle has the following stats:

Damage 1d8 P; Bulk 1
Hands 2; Range 120 ft.; Reload 1
Category Martial
Group Firearm; Traits Backstabber, Concussive, Fatal d12, Kickback, Rare, Volley.

Rifle has a built in silencer, bayonet, and advanced stabilizer to negate Kickback minus. Your scope artifact will attach to the weapon. This will allow you to ignore the Volley trait.]

Tsuki's chest seems to be made from Bamboo, and opens to show a ring. The ring seems to have some sort of constant electrical charge coming from an area where a gem on such a ring would be.

"Tsuki has been given the Ring of Bolt Charging! Courtesy of the Stormchasers!"

[Private to Tsuki: OOC-The ring allows any spell to be changed to lighting damage. The ring also increases any lighting damage by +3.]

When people reach up and take the items, they become solid and appear on their person. Knowledge of the item's ability's are listed in each person's private HUD.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:47, Mon 01 Aug 2022.

Chalei'nh reached up and took the sash, looking it over while she inspected the flavor text and stats of the item. Once she was satisfied she wrapped the cloth around her waist, looking it over to see how good it looked on her. The empty box and scroll she would attempt to place back in her inventory as it looked rather nice, though there was the possibility it would dissipate now that the lootbox had been officially 'used' of course.

- "Ooh noice, won't say no to being harder to hit."

Satisfied, she looked at the others, waiting to see what their reactions were to their items -- and maybe a hint of what it was that they did.

"Interesting indeed. A ring that allows me to change the elements of my spells to electricity." Then she looked at her other loot box. "Hmmm...  Let's see what happens." She considered for a moment, then finally took the upgrade ticket and used it to upgrade her Amulet of the Nine tails.

[Private to Tsuki: OOC-you never used your 1st upgrade ticket]

[Private to GM: Nope. She's using it now though. She wants to see what will happen.]

[Private to Tsuki: Gotcha. My point was is that you only have 1 upgrade ticket, not 2.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:56, Tue 02 Aug 2022.

"Och! Blessed Be!" says Moya, "Thank you so much Fungi Funguy. This is just what the herbalist ordered.  This is going to be very helpful in combat."

Connor sighed when the AI spoke.

"Very funny, AI!" Connor said aloud at the familiar joke.

He then held his hand out and the small orb from the Tonestones floated gently into it as he opened the crystalline loot box.

"Wow! This is neat! Cabby! I have another beautiful upgrade for your orbit! Seems the game and the audience like you as much as I do and think adding to your orbit is as cool as I think it is, even if you can be a nag sometimes. Come check this out, and make sure you thank the Tonestones Cabochon!" Connor said to the familiar, who suddenly quit his play antics with Kayla and flew across the room neat Connor in almost focused excitement.

Connor looked around, then realized any direction he looked in would probably work.

"By the way...if you are watching, THANK YOU Tonestones! It's much appreciated. Cabochon and I bloth love it!" he said graciously aloud into the air before turning to the others who were examining their patron gifts too.

"You guys also got some neat stuff. This orb requires me to focus a bit, but in exchange it provides a bit of a focusing boost to spells I cast. I think it will be very useful in a pinch or when I'm setting up things for sure. And it looks like I can focus spells through Cabochon too which means I could send him away from me and cast from where he is...which could prove very tactical too!"

Cabochon was swirling around Kayla, who had slobbered on him a few times and pinned a few of his constituent stones down the ground playful some other times, although the familiar inexplicably managed to wriggle out from his natural enemy's clutches and flee. The fox obviously wasn't using her full power or force against him and was being playful, and probably even was intrigued and liked the glowing familiar, although Cabochon in his over-dramatic way thought of her as his natural enemy that he was more or less powerless to defeat, while the Fox most likely thought of him as a playmate.

"One of these days, fox, one of these days! I'm gonna unleash my grand master plan, and then you'll see who's pinned under who when I go POW in the kisser and...on no not the tongue again! Waaaa!" Cabochon said as he barely escaped a large lick-attempt by the fox by flying upward at the last second.

"Oh thank all things solid and petrified that I have Connor's reflex saves! Serves you right Fox! Hmph!" he said when Connor suddenly called him over, holding a most intriguing orb in his hand. The familiar sped through the air, inspecting the orb. The thing was high-quality and definitly aesthetically pleasing, which was important to the vain familiar.

"Oh wow! Yes please yes please put it in my orbit yes oh my...AHEM!" the familar said excitedly before catching itself, and forcing his voice to sound disdainful and controlled as it feigned lack of interest despite its obvious slip of excitement earlier.

"Well fleshing, I suppose if it means so much to you that it would only be magnanimous of me to allow you to race my orbit with that bauble. Especially since you're not emotionally prepared for your eventual petrification yet. Not that I actually care or anything about a mere orb, but you may proceed. The Tonestones naturally must see my dignity and worth, and..." the familiar said disdainfully.

"Cabochon! I swear I'm gonna put you back in the HUD if you keep it up! Or better yet, I'm shutting down your flight and letting Kayla use you as a chew toy for the rest of the day. Now you better thank them and stop being a douche!"

With a sigh of defeated resignation, the familiar grumbled a response. Connor had played the fox-card, after all, and the familiar knew he was beat.

"Th...thank you, Tonestones. The orb is high quality and aesthetically pleasing which meets my specifications! Now Connor please don't subject me to that....that animal! That unbound beast!"

Connor sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Looks like I'm fixing to get seriously burnt," Mo said as he put the bracers on his wrists.

He didn't have any of the showman about him, like some of the others, so he just grinned at where he figured a camera might be and gave a nod. Maybe understated would work too.

Nathan will smile while examining his new rifle. He will look up with a almost childlike express "Thanks Longdeath. "

He will examine the features of his new weapon. . While the Wheel lock and other features might looked absolutely incredible to those favored steampunk style over substance He knew most of the gun experts he knew would cringe at some of the features. But since most of either group were now 'filed away' so he couldn't consult with them.  He hope that  rifle was indeed 'state of Art' for the reality and that it would to help him and his team survive and win.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:01, Tue 02 Aug 2022.

He reaches up, takes the amulet and places the gem within it. When that has been done he raises his head. "Thank you for helping me help those who cannot help themselves." He says solemnly.
Then he promptly goes into his HUD and uses the upgrade ticket on his wings and opens any of his loot boxes eagerly.

With Connor and Nathan choosing to use their upgrade ticket later, Tsuki and Malcom activate their upgrades.

The holographic word UPGRADE! hovers over both of them, although the details of those upgrades only appear to their personal HUDs.

[Private to Tsuki: "Upgrade! Your Amulet of the nine tails now has the following ability!"

"Blazing Dive! You get the Blazing Dive spell as a focus spell. This can be combined with your ring of bolt charging."

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=869]

[Private to Malcom: "Upgrade! You wings of the steel glider now has the following ability!"

"Steel feather burst! At the cost of 2 actions, you may make a winged of the steel glider ranged attack at all foes in a 10' radius."]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Wed 03 Aug 2022.

Connor looked at Tsuki and Malcom curiously.

"I cannot decide if I should use my upgrade tickets now or not, so am holding onto them for now and will revisit the issue with myself later." he said.

"But if I may ask...what did those tickets actually do your the things you guys upgraded? I am hoping what you tell me can help me make an informed choice that can be helpful to the party."

In reply to Connor (msg # 45):

"I also of a divided mind on upgrading" Nathan will say to Connor. I am not sure with would be more combat effective, upgrading the rifle or the scope?"

Chalei'nh turned to listen in on the conversation as well. She hadn't received an upgrade ticket herself, but her bracers were tagged as 'upgradeable' so she figured it wouldn't hurt to have some knowledge in advance on what those things actually did.

Moya is not psychic and so did not hear what Chalei'nh was thinking but her own thoughts were similar, not least because her tattoo was upgradeable (well, the one that's magical anyway)

Chalei'nh:

"Oh and... i've got a confession to make: I'm probably the reason V'Verik was kind of an ass back there."

With everything else going on, Trevik seems to have finally gotten around to respond to the Elven monk. Very, very slowly.

"V'Verik...has...been...ass...for...fifty...years...I...have...know...him. Most...likely...much...longer."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Thu 04 Aug 2022.

"I think that it was worth it." He says with a grin. "Check this out." Taking a loping step forward he jumps into the air and glides out of range of everyone. As he seems to hang in the air his wings fold in around him before slashing out and sending razor sharp feathers bursting out in a sphere around him.
He steps out of the air and picks out one of the feathers from where it embedded itself in the wall. Tossing it back over his shoulder he returns to the others.
"Why wait when you could upgrade to something that might save all our lives?"

"There is something to be said about ' a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Nathan comments to Malcolm elects to upgrade his scope Nathan will add with a seldom seen smile "By the way, Malcolm  I am glad you are  back with us."

Tsuki's head cocked to the side as she read what her new ability can do. "Interesting. My amulet got a new ability, similar to yours. Basically air superheat's under me, lifts me into the air, then behind me to propel me to the ground at an angle. When I land, a blast goes out from me damaging everyone in a radius."

She then looked towards the others. "I agree with Malcom. It might be best to do it now because we may not get another chance before we meet the next apex creature."

In reply to Nathan (msg # 51):

The holographic word UPGRADE! hovers over Nathan, although the details only appear to his HUD.

[Private to Nathan: "Upgrade! Your Scope of Precision now has the following ability!"

"Ricochet! For two actions, you may apply one shot to multiple foes. Each foe past the first reduces the one to hit roll by -1, which is increased by each extra target. The attack keeps bouncing until it misses a target. Damage is the same for all targets. Critical hits are applied to all targets, unless the attack works out to be a miss."]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:51, Thu 04 Aug 2022.

"I'm glad to be back from the Void too." He agrees. "So? What'd you get? Some kind of area attack?" The big black creature asks like an excited teenager.

Channeling his inner teenager will reply"Duuude my scope can me defy the laws of physics and common sense as we used to  know them. When I carefully aim I can bouce my bullets after each successful hit on another bad guy.

Moya blinks.  Closes her eyes for a moment and returns the smile to her face.  "That's awesome.  I look forward to an upgrade of my own."  She winks at an imaginary camera.

- "Yeah, 'cause D/Monix is all about common sense."

Chalei'nh chuckled, before turning to Trevik to give him a thumbs up to let him know she was on board with the whole 'help the Guildmaster get his planet back as well' plan the other members of the party apparently had going on. She grinned at Tsuki, cracking her knuckles before addressing the group as a whole.

- "I don't know about you, but i'm feeling ready to be the apex of the next dungeon. Ready to send 'em running?"

Connor considered.

"You know what guys? You're right there is a balance between upgrading now and upgrading later, and if I do nothing then I'm wasting them." he said.

"I think I'm going to upgrade my Iconic item. The item I got for being one of the first Wanderers to make it to a guidhall alive on the first day. God I'm glad that shit show is behind me... Connor said as he held out one of his hands.

Suddenly, one of the jewels from Cabochon's orbit suddenly separated and floated through the air over to the wizard, floating gently over his open hand. It was a beautiful prismatic jewel - by far the grandest one out of Cabochon's entire array. Some of the original party members would know it as the Stone of Life and Death, while the new party members can look at Connor's profile picture OOC to see what the stone looks like.

"I'm going to upgrade my iconic item, and keep my second ticket." Connor said.

He thought mentally to the HUD.

Computer. Expend 1 upgrade ticket to upgrade The Orb of Life and Death.

[Private to Connor: OOC-you dont have a second ticket]
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:35, Fri 05 Aug 2022.

In reply to Connor (msg # 58):

The holographic word UPGRADE! hovers over Connor, just like the others. Although the details only appear to his HUD.

[Private to Connor: "Your Orb of Life and Death has been upgraded! You gain blood magic! By bleeding on the stone, you can regen spell slots. this costs 8 hp per spell level. These HP can be regenerated or healed normally."]

connor's eyes lit up.

"Wow! These upgrades are sweet!" he said. "You guys weren't kidding about breaking physics and such a bit. Now my stone can do blood magic. If I bleed 8 hp worth of blood on the stone it can regen a cast spell slot level. I believe I can bleed myself heavily to regain a bigger spell. The cool thing is this synergizes REALLY well with my alchemist abilities and the orbs small but passive healing ability where it heals 1 hit point every five minutes of someone I have Cabby orbiting. But even without tactical synergy it is a great resource to have in a pinch." Connor said.

"And actually it says I just need to bleed on the stone, not that I specifically have to. So I could probably have you guys bleed to regain your slots in a pinch too, or maybe we can capture monsters and bleed them Aztec pyramid style." he added. "I'm all for hamstringing stuff up and feeding Cabby blood to pump myself, Tsuki, and anyone else up with slots who needs them."

In reply to Chalei'nh (msg # 57):

"Ye ken?" says Moya, "I once took a train tae Inverkeithing, just over the Forth of Firth and suddenly I was the Apex.  It'd be nice tae be that again."

"To an extent yes. I would say it's a combination of a movement ability and area attack." She said with a nod to Nathan.

Trevik slowly...very slowly...once again summoned the chamber to alter everyone's physiology as per the AI's requirements. After it's done, no one feels any different. The slight tweaking of one's atoms does not seem detectable by normal senses.

After a short time to allow the various potion and alchemy makers among you to create new product. Using the lab and some materials the Guildmaster has available via the mad scientist-like gear. Trevik then provides food for the group. He seems to generate it by touching holographic lights floating in front of him. It turns out its from various fast food chains one could get on earth. Or used to. They are even in the wrappers and cups from the restaurant in questions, but all thrown together in one pile.

"I...wish...you...all...luck. Of...some...kind. I...will...see...you...soon. Stay...safe...stay...together." He manages to eventually croak out. As soon as the group finishes the food, and the alchemy, a timer flashes in all their HUDs.

TIME TO LEVEL 2 COLLAPSE, 4 DAYS AND COUNTING. Along with the timer which restarts once more. The guild doors open, and the party leaves together. Into a whole new area...a very different one.

(OOC-Anyone who is able can make one potion or alchemical solution of level 3 or less. Everyone's one mana and one healing potion is restored if you had less than one. Otherwise it stays the same.

Transferring to new thread!