Nate was lucky enough not to be the target of, as Jorge would call it, the lava-vomit. Jorge was not quite as pleased, even if the attack was not a direct hit. His retaliation was full of zeal and possibly even holy fury. Holy water fury.

>> “Now Nate! The head! Go for the head!”

Far be it for Nate to question a figure of authority, Nate jumped up, grabbing the beast's back, his fingers sinking into the hot mud just long enough to vault himself upward. Nate sat on the golem's shoulders, brandishing two daggers. He brought the blades to the front of the thing's neck (or at least the area where the head and body connected,) and he pulled back.

The golem's thrashing intensified for a brief moment, tossing Nate to the ground before headlessness caught up to it and the movement ceased. "Well--"

Before Nate could make any comments, the creature dissolved, becoming a bubbling pile on the ground. In the pile, Nate could make out shapes. His hands had already endured enough burning and melting in the battle, prompting him to use his shadow to push away some of the gunk to reveal seven gold coins and a nice new (admittedly dirty) dagger.

Nate picked up the earnings and turned to face Jorge. "So I'm pretty damn sure now. I'm not going to pretend I know why, but we're in some kind of fantasy game. That's why we're dressed like this, that's why we had to fight in turns, and that's why... well, pretty much everything else about his."

Noticing the shadow bubble in the corner of the room, Nate muttered, "Oh, right." The shadow dissolved, returning to Nate's own shadow, releasing several scared civilians.

>> "Well—“

Jorge sighed in relief. The collapse of the beast was all he needed to feel a bit better about the situation. Though they were still dealing with a drastic change in the world around them, every little victory helped (or so he hoped). He watched as the beast crumbled into molten goo, ending its life as black rock replaced molten yellow. When all was said and done, he was thankful that he had Nate on his side. The man came in handy in a pinch.

The detective then arched a brow as he watched the man dust away the former monster to reveal a new dagger as well as some shiny gold coins. Just what the hell was going on?

Thankfully the look on Nate’s face seemed to impart that he had at least some idea of what may be happening…

>> “So I'm pretty damn sure now. I'm not going to pretend I know why, but we're in some kind of fantasy game. That's why we're dressed like this, that's why we had to fight in turns, and that's why... well, pretty much everything else about this."[/color]

“Great, that’s all I need,” the man grumbled as he once against sheathed the sword at his hip. “I’ve had my fill of game realities, thank you very much,” the man mumbled.

Is it possible that Game Lord was behind this? He remembered the last time that he tangled with that particular ball of insanity, the man was catatonic. Could he have escaped? Could he be what was behind all this? I…didn’t really seem like his style. Plus, from what he read, Game Lord could only affect a single person at a time.

This seemed like Grand Central Station. Maybe there was something else going on here…

>> "Oh, right." [/color]

He blinked as Nate turned to the shadowy bubbles in the corner and made them dissipate. The innocent civilians they had saved have stumbled out but now they were dressed in peasant clothes and seemed as if they embodied their characters all the more. They looked about, mumbled to themselves, and then ran for cover in some other secluded corner of the cave. The detective lowered his head. They couldn’t very well have a bunch of civilians following them around. That would be a suicide mission.

It was best they were let be. Hopefully they had enough sense to hide and to hide good.

A glance back to Nate and the grumbled.

“Well, I guess we should start walking. Maybe someone will have some clue as to what happened. I don’t think those two will be of much use at the moment,” he said as he motioned to where the pair had run off too. But because the detective could take a second step, he paused as he turned back to Nate. “Stay close and keep your eyes peeled. I doubt that monster was the only thing in these caverns.”

>> “Great, that’s all I need. I’ve had my fill of game realities, thank you very much,”

Nate cocked an eyebrow at the oddly convenient experience Jorge had under his belt. "Dang. I mean, Quin's told me stories, but you MRC-types really have come across just about everything, huh?" If you were looking for danger, excitement, and variety, being part of a police force in New York that deals exclusively with mutant crime would rank high on the list.

>> “Well, I guess we should start walking. Maybe someone will have some clue as to what happened. I don’t think those two will be of much use at the moment. Stay close and keep your eyes peeled. I doubt that monster was the only thing in these caverns.”

Jorge mentioned a pair, which jogged Nate's memory. "Huh? Oh right! Those two oddballs who bumped into you!" He rolled his eyes and grumbled, "That explains that terrible vibe they gave me."

The two men walked down the next hallway side-by-side, ready for any upcoming surprises. Nate glanced at Jorge's armor. It was too bright-- too unnaturally shiny to be regular knight armor. "I think you're a paladin, if I had to guess." He chuckled. "I guess you're a pretty noble cop for the game to make you a defender of light and virtue." Nate tried remembering the abilities a paladin in a board game might have, most of them involving holiness. "Who knows? Maybe you can heal in here." It would be undeniably useful to have a healer after all.

>> "Huh? Oh right! Those two oddballs who bumped into you! That explains that terrible vibe they gave me."[/color]

Jorge blinked. He had actually been referring to the two people that they had just saved but now that he thought about it, those two that bumped into him earlier did seem to be a little suspicious, didn’t they? They were squirrely and seemed like maybe they were up to something. Jorge didn’t think much about it at the time because he was working another case already, but, remembering how they were dressed and how quickly they wanted to get away from him…

…a bad feeling began to descend.

It seemed that maybe they had a target now. Though he had no idea what their names were or how to get a hold of them, he did know that they ran down this direction that he and Nate were already going. It wouldn’t hurt to ask them some questions. If they were innocent then they would just continue their hunt for what was going on but if they weren’t, well, they at least found out what the cause of all this was and they could work to stop it.

They two continued on, keeping their eyes open as they stalked through the shadowy tunnels, eyeing at source of sound, searching for hidden monsters or people in need of aide. Thankfully, Jorge’s armor just seemed to have an unnatural glow about it that allowed him to light the way. It was almost as if he were a walking angel…or firebug or something.

>> "I think you're a paladin, if I had to guess…I guess you're a pretty noble cop for the game to make you a defender of light and virtue…Who knows? Maybe you can heal in here." [/color]

Jorge arched a brow. Paladin? Obviously he had heard the term before in literature, but as part of this game environment? Healing? Glowing armor? What the hell kind of game was this? Not that Jorge was not thankful for the power boost but he really just didn’t know what was going on. He was going to have to trust Nate that just maybe the man might know a little more about what was going on than he did. After all, he figured out the rules of battle. Maybe he could identify what people were too.

“Paladin, huh?” he thought and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll have to take your word for it. I’ve read about them in history and classic literature but not much else than that. Though, heh,” he shook his head as a random thought came to mind. “Does remind me of one of my cousins. He is obsessed playing this computer game where he runs around playing a knight character. What was it called…Peep, Poom, POP! That’s, it, Pop. Planet of Paincraft or something like that.”

The detective smirked and shook his head at the thought. He remembered the last family reunion he went to and how all this guy talked about was this game. He even tried to pull Jorge aside to talk about it! Of course, all Jorge heard was clicking sounds.

He glanced at Nate again.

“Well, if I’m this…Paladin. What’re you?” he inquired. “You look like Robin Hood.”

>> “Does remind me of one of my cousins. He is obsessed playing this computer game where he runs around playing a knight character. What was it called…Peep, Poom, POP! That’s, it, Pop. Planet of Paincraft or something like that.”

Nate was quickly growing to respect Jorge as both a man and an official, but he had to admit, Jorge was showing his age a bit. Nate was not a gamer, but even he could call Planet of Plaincraft off the top of his head; it was just one of those things that was known by the cultural consciousness of teens and twenty-somethings, for better or worse.

>> “Well, if I’m this…Paladin. What’re you? You look like Robin Hood.”

Well, that was a rather awkward question for Nate to respond to since he knew the answer, he knew the reason, and he knew that Jorge was apparently a very honorable police detective. "I think I'm what most games would call a rogue." He opted for that title rather than flat-out call himself a "thief." Getting by on life was ninety-percent presentation after all.

Before Nate could try changing his topic quickly, the dungeon did the job for him, as howling and screeching could be heard down the corridor. "Well, that sounds like our cue, old man!" Why on EARTH did he let that slip out? He ran down the corridor, hoping he could run with enough urgency to get away from a comment Jorge was not going to be pleased with.

>> "I think I'm what most games would call a rogue."[/color]

Jorge arched a brow. A rogue? That sounded like something from comic books. What would a rogue be? He knew the definition of it, but he didn’t really know how that would translate into a character class such as the “paladin” he was supposed to be in. Wasn’t a rogue something not really all that desirable in a hero? Then again, Nate never really said he was a hero. He was a nice guy, sure, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a history of less than legal means.

But that was not a thought to entertain at the moment. He needed an ally and, for the moment, his only real ally was Nate. Just in case, though, he would keep an extra eye on the man.

Howwwwwwwllll!!

Screeeeeeeech!![/b]

Jorge immediately snapped to attention. Raising his gaze, he looked out over the horizon before him and saw only a multitude of more tunnels. As it turned out, though, he could pretty much make out where the ungodly sounds were coming from. As with his previous encounter, he could only assume that there was someone in need of help.

Apparently Nate also shared this thought…

>> "Well, that sounds like our cue, old man!"[/color]

Nate was off in a run and Jorge turned to follow but paused.

“Old man?” he grumbled in thought. He finally just shook his head as he chased after the wily “rogue”. He was going to show him exactly what an old man could do…

They dashed around a corner and Jorge immediately ground to a fault. He was surprised by two things: first, that he had found one of those kids that had bumped into him, the short, round young lady that looked like she was dressed as a barbarian (Bombardia), wielding a club against a trio of of large, slug-like, caterpillar monsters (Carrion Crawlers) that already had one dead civilian in its poisonous mandibles.

The trio clacked horrendously as Bombardia screamed.

“No! Too many! Too Real!” she screamed and swung her club as hard as she could. “Help! HELP!”

In the next room, the two men found the very people they were searching through the dungeon for. Their attire had not changed because, well, they had already arrived dressed for the party. One would not normally rely on implied proof, but it did not exactly take a lot more evidence than that to jump to an assumption.

Nate's first impulse was, of course, to join in the attack against the large caterpillar-like creature, but before taking a step, he held himself back. Looking to the young woman, Nate asked, "Can I pick-pocket and attack in the same turn?"

"SERIOUSLY?"

"Yes, seriously," he replied, preparing his daggers.

"NO! Stealing isn't a free actio--"

Nate vanished and reappeared behind the girl, now holding an instruction manual he had swiped from her possession. "That's a shame." Nate held the book over his head, waving at Jorge. "There's really no doubt these kids are at fault," not that there ever really was, but it was now undeniable.

Nate shoved the girl behind him, putting himself between her and the beast. He brandished his weapons, hoping he naturally knew how to parry or riposte with the unfamiliar weapons. "I'm really hoping it's your turn, Jorge."

It was a scene that Jorge really didn’t want to stumble into. First off, there was someone who was obviously in grave danger since she was outnumbered, and secondly, those things that she was fighting were utterly disgusting looking. The segmented bodies, the lashing tentacles, the snapping mandibles that seemed to drip a greenish fluid that shimmered with an unholy glow; they looked as if they were something that stepped out of a H.P. Lovecraft story. Jorge found himself turning away but knew that he needed to be focused.

The young woman that was battling the creatures, and clearly losing, looked oddly familiar. Though he didn’t make it a point to converse regularly with the barbarian horde, he soon realized that she was the same young woman that had bumped into him earlier when he was questioning a witness.

This couldn’t have been a coincidence; he remembered her already in costume. Uh-oh…

>> "Can I pick-pocket and attack in the same turn?"[/color]

>> "SERIOUSLY?"

>> "Yes, seriously,"[/color]

>> "NO! Stealing isn't a free actio--"

Nate was suddenly gone and returned to Jorge’s side, brandishing a book that looked as if it were a part of some fantasy game. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of it and shook his head.

>> "That's a shame…There's really no doubt these kids are at fault,"[/color]

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he grumbled as Nate suddenly pulled the girl to safety behind him. Unfortunately that meant that the attentions of the two giant caterpillars were now focused on the two new intruders. The pair of them certainly didn’t look very happy at their victim being rescued…
>> "I'm really hoping it's your turn, Jorge."[/color]

“That makes two of us,” Jorge said as he suddenly pulled the sword free from the scabbard at his hip. Instantly the sword sprang to life, water pouring out of the cross-guard and altering the shape and substance of the blade from metal into churning water.

Bombardia eyed the blade with drooling lips.

“You got a sword blessed by Deep Sashla?! How? Where?!” she asked in an excited manner.

Jorge rolled his eyes as he suddenly slashed at one of the creatures, slicing off one of its mandibles and sending it reeling backwards in pain. “Really? Now is completely[/b] not the time for th—AAAGH!!”[/color]

Jorge gasped and yelled as a sense of vertigo overtook him. Suddenly carrion crawler that he had just attacked, lashed out with its tentacles and wrapped them tightly around one of his ankles. Before he could get a chance to free himself, suddenly he was pulled onto the ground and was being dragged to closer to the pair of snapping, snarling creatures that wanted nothing more than to rip them limb from limb.

>> “You got a sword blessed by Deep Sashla?! How? Where?!”

>> “Really? Now is completely not the time for th—AAAGH!!”

Nate was in the process of shaking his head when the creature struck suddenly, taking Jorge by the leg. No longer as worried about defending the useless barbarian, Nate sprang up, landing on the creature's back, struggling to achieve balance on the yielding, gelatinous form hiding under the flaky shell.

To gain a better hold, Nate lodged his weapons into the creature's back. Green ooze leaked out of the punctures, but there was not much effect besides a screeching cry from the creature.

The torchlight of the room generated a flickering shadow cast by Nate on the creature's back. It was not much, but he willed the shadow around the creature's head, constricting, blinding and muffling the grotesque face.

As a reaction to being cut off from so many senses at once, the creature released Jorge, flailing around angrily in an attempt to unseat the intruder. If the creature needed to breathe, (a fact Nate was hoping would hold true,) it would become woozy soon enough after being contained in the shadow.

"That's not a rogue ability!"

Nate shouted to the young woman from his place on the creature, "Be nerdy later!" Clinging to his daggers tightly as the beast thrashed about, he spoke quickly and loudly, "If you can do anything useful, do that! And if Jorge can heal, get him to figure out how since we'll nee--"

The caterpillar jerked itself violently. In his last moments of contact with the creature, Nate managed to trade custody of his shadow to the daggers, remembering how the method worked in the first battle. The shadow remained around the creature's head as Nate soared across the room, his back colliding hard with the stone wall. He fell to the ground, in pain from head-to-toe, but relatively unbroken thanks to his armor, which absorbed some of the impact.

Jorge growled as he felt the tentacle wrap around the armor of his leg and pull with all its might. He struggled, trying to grab onto anything, cause some kind of traction so that he could prevent himself from being pulled away any farther; quickly, though, that was proving to be impossible. The strength of the much larger creature was actually more than he had expected. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t stop himself from being pulled away.

Clack! Clack! Clack![/b]

He could hear the sounds of its pincers snapping at him, salivating with the idea of snapping into his flesh. Sadly, it seemed as if this was going to quickly become a reality because nothing he could do was stopping it. His sword, abandoned due to the sudden grab was painfully out of reach. But still, he had to do something…right?

Suddenly he caught the blur of movement just out of the corner of his eye. He saw the bellow of a cloak and heard the cries of panic that came from the beast. It was in pain and obviously distracted by something that Nate was doing to it. He cursed to himself that Nate was putting himself in this much danger, but at the same time he was thankful for it. He felt the creature’s tentacle go slack, enough for him to scramble away and dive for his discarded sword.

As soon as it was in hand, he turned to see the beast with a large mass of blackness covering its head.

>> "That's not a rogue ability!”

>> "Be nerdy later! If you can do anything useful, do that! And if Jorge can heal, get him to figure out how since we'll nee--"[/color]

Jorge watched in horror as Nate flew through the air and collided, hard, with the opposite wall. Just the sound of the collision was painful enough for Jorge to hear but the look on Nate’s unconscious face didn’t help. On top of that, the second creature was already beginning to move on towards the much easier prey.

“Crap,” the detective growled as he hefted up the sword and turned to the barbarian dressed girl. She at least had some kind of knowledge as to what was going on. “Hey! How do I, um, heal someone?! Quick before my friend gets eaten!”

He charged forward towards Nate and lashed out with his blade and instantly the water sprang to life again. The torrent of liquid struck the beast hard and forced it further away from Nate, cutting deep into its carapace. The creature hissed and shrieked in displeasure, snapping as it turned its ravaged features toward the newest threat.

Jorge turned away just enough to see the young barbarian bashing and smashing her club with all her might against the bulbous head of the first beast that Nate had already weakened. At least she was good to take an enemy out when it was already down.

Partially breathless, she managed to mutter, “R-Raise your sword…over him! A-Ask Deep Sashla to heal him! You need to activate your Divine Magic if you want to heal him!”

Jorge…understood about half of that. No matter, he didn’t need to understand anything. Hopefully all he would need is the words.

But, just as he readied to lift his sword and repeat the magic that the girl had told him…he paused. He couldn’t act…his turn was over the second he struck the beast that was now focused on him again.

“Your turn is over!!” the barbarian yelled.

“F*** me!” he growled and protectively stood in front of Nate while he eyed the monster. Stupid games and their stupid rules…

>> “Crap. Hey! How do I, um, heal someone?! Quick before my friend gets eaten!”

The situation was moderately bad to say the least, with Nate struggling back to his feet with the support of the wall, and a second beast approaching him quickly. Clinging to humor as a defense mechanism, Nate coughed and mumbled, "Ooo, we're friends now?" After one more hacking cough, Nate weakly added, "Yaaay," as he prepared his daggers for a parry that probably would have crushed his forearms.

Luckily for Nate, his new friend intervened in his defense, attacking the beast and knocking it back. Even the barbarian girl was chipping in, dealing a finishing blow on the first caterpillar. Nate's shadow receded from his daggers, returning to his feet. Unfortunately, his daggers apathetically remained in the fell'd beast.

>> “R-Raise your sword…over him! A-Ask Deep Sashla to heal him! You need to activate your Divine Magic if you want to heal him!”

Things were looking up now that the group officially had a healer, or at least a passable substitute, but Nate already figured out the bad news before Jorge tried lifting his weapon.

>> “Your turn is over!!”

>> “F*** me!”

Nate groaned, digging through his pack to find something that could be used to substitute his missing weapons. "Seriously old man, when this is said and done, I'd suggest sticking with Monopoly or something."

Thankfully, Nate's hands brushed against a few small metal spheres from his goods and naturally understood what they were.

Nate pulled out the bombs, attempting to pull his arm back to throw them before remembering how much pain his throwing arm was in. It was lucky that he was a mutant thief, otherwise a damaged arm could have been a problem. Nate dropped the bombs near his feet and they were caught and immediately pushed out of the shadow.

The bombs hit the carapace with enough force to trigger explosions. It turned out that Nate's selection was not "ideal;" rather than being incendiary or seriously damage inflicting, the explosion consisted of a loud bang, a small burst of light, and a large expulsion of smoke and gas. Some damage was dealt, but it would seem the bombs were mainly a distraction. It was not perfect, but it was not exactly terrible. "That thing's probably either paralyzed, dazed, or blind and ready to rampage recklessly."

Nate crossed his fingers. Two-to-one! Let's see you beat the odds, crawly! With their recent luck, Nate would not doubt the worst of the three options.

>> "Ooo, we're friends now? Yaaay,"[/color]

Jorge rolled his eyes as he faced off against the last of the giant caterpillars. So much for gratitude, it seemed. Honestly there was a time for humor and right now, staring at the massive, mandible of a poisonous fantasy creature just didn’t seem like it was most appropriate. But, was there really a point in correcting the man? In the end, Jorge just came to the assumption that it was best to let it go, at least until the end of this fight (if they survived).

“Don’t sound too enthusiastic now,” Jorge commented as he kept his eyes on the beast.

Okay, so maybe one comment wouldn’t hurt.

>> "Seriously old man, when this is said and done, I'd suggest sticking with Monopoly or something.”[/color]

“Psh. With my luck somehow a giant thimble would get involved and attempt to crush me.”

It was true. Unfortunately, lately it seemed that whenever games of any kind he became involved in always attempted to end his life. Jorge would be only too happy to stay away from every time of game, video or board, and stick with his books.

Hisssssss!!!! the grotesque insect reared back as it ready to make another lunge for Jorge and Nate. Thankfully the rogue was able to find something of use in his bag. A ball was thrown, but it was more than that, it was a bomb. It explode with a cacophony of explosions and smoke that filled the air. Jorge ground his teeth as he shielded his eyes. He had hoped that somehow, in some way, that this would be the end of this fight. After all, could a monster like that really stand up to a bomb?

Miniscule cracks appeared on the carapace, but it was obvious that it was not greatly damaged.

>> "That thing's probably either paralyzed, dazed, or blind and ready to rampage recklessly."[/color]

A curse danced around in his mind. Gee, of those three options, which was the most likely that they were going to get? He growled a little as suddenly the creature reared back, hissing and thrashing around in utter blindness. Its eyes had taken on a blackish hue, one that signified the effect that it could not see a thing. Snapping and hissing at every sound, including those that it made,.iIts antennae flailed about wildly before zeroing in on them both. It suddenly turned to face both Nate and Jorge sensing some presence of other creatures there.

“Great,” Jorge grumbled as he raised his sword. If he counted correctly, it was his turn again. And…not a moment too soon. The beast reared and suddenly charged, wildly, shakily in direction, but aimed nonetheless at the pair of them. Eyes narrowed, Jorge dropped the visor of his helmet pulled back the sword that erupted with water, and swung in an extended arched straight across the monster’s path.

WHOOOOSH!!![/b]

Water flew in a thin, blade like form, that covered the distance between himself and the creature. There was the unmistakable sound of roaring water as it pierced through hide, flesh, and then bone. When Jorge was finished, he slumped partially as he stuck the sword into the ground for support. Looking up, he watched as the beast stood there, shivering in spot, posed ready for another attack. But…it never came. With a quiver it slide apart, cleanly in half, and collapsed into a heap onto the ground in a foul smelling mess.

Jorge only breathed a sigh of relief.

>> “Psh. With my luck somehow a giant thimble would get involved and attempt to crush me.”

Despite clearly being a joke, between the bizarre duties of the MRC cops and Jorge's apparent luck, the idea of a huge silver game piece assaulting the man was not as farfetched as it sounded.

The explosives (naturally) had the troublesome effect of blinding and enraging the enemy creature, but the lack of control now exhibited allowed Jorge the window to deal the killing blow. Nate sighed, relaxing his aching body. "I'm so happy I can almost ignore the pain in my body."

Nate chuckled weakly, cringing at the spike of pain in his arm. "Seriously though, please heal me."

In the corner of his eye, Nate spotted the young female barbarian trying to quietly move on to the next room. "NOPE. YOU." With his good arm, he pointed at her, calling her back. "You get to explain what the hell you did and why I'm in leather pants." Last he checked, that was not his personal preference.

Jorge breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he looked down at the dead creature. Slowly its flesh and mass bubbled away until it had evaporated from the ground in front of him. In its place, though, Jorge found a small pile of gold, jewels, and a vial of some reddish liquid. He half considered leaving that, but he figured that this was part of the game and he needed to play it through to the end. So, snatching the items up, he deposited them into a small satchel that was hidden under his thick armor.

His reward collected, he turned to head back to Nate to make sure that the man who had proved to be such a help so far was okay.

>> "I'm so happy I can almost ignore the pain in my body."[/color]

Jorge eyed him…

>> "Seriously though, please heal me."[/color]

A smirked stretched his lips he shook his head. Quietly he strolled up to Nate and hefted the sword back into his hand. He remembered what the barbarian dressed woman had said and held the sword up, the flat of the blade pressing against Nate. In silence he whispered a prayer, one that was made to the water god Sashla and immediately the blessing seemed to take effect. The waters poured out of the sword and quickly began to wrap around Nate’s injuries. It only took a matter of seconds before the waters receded.

He hoped, whatever that was right there, had actually worked.

>> "NOPE. YOU. You get to explain what the hell you did and why I'm in leather pants."[/color]

He turned, hearing the grumbling of the young woman as she trudged back over to Jorge and Nate. She looked uncomfortable, as if she knew that she was just about to get grilled like a cheese sandwich. Club held limply at her side, he adverted her eyes to keep from looking at either of them and instead kept her focus solidly on the floor or their feet.

Jorge arched a brow and sheathed the blade once he was done healing Nate. He turned to the woman and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I saw you, earlier. You seemed to be in a big rush,” Jorge recalled in a stern voice. “You look virtually unchanged, and you had that book on you. What’s going on?”

Bombardia sighed and grumbled more under her breath. Nervously she began to clean under her nails as she shook her head.

“It…it wasn’t supposed to get this out of hand. We…we lost control of it…” she admitted.

Gently, yet still with authority, Jorge reached down and carefully tilted the young woman’s gaze back up to face him. “What? What did you lost control of?”

Bombardia sniffled as she stared into Jorge’s eyes. After only a second or two she began to cry. “So many people…are dead now. A-A-And all because we thought it would be cool!! We didn’t meant it! We…We just wanted to play the game so, we united out powers into Daryll, I mean, Dark Grey and…and now…”

She began to explain. The powered up Maze Master, his disappearance, the fact that they couldn’t return to the real world until they completed Daryll’s quest (or defeated him), and the fact that she watched one of her friends get eaten alive by a troll and the others she lost track of. She was completely and utterly scared.

And Jorge, well, he could only think of one thing to sum al this up…

“Well f***…” he grumbled as he turned to pace.

Nate bowed his head as Jorge healed him if for no other reason than the appropriateness of reverence. The water cascaded over his injured areas and he could feel relief from pain and damage mending. There were benefits to being stuck in a magical dungeon world; they were few and far between, but they did exist.

The explanation was full of crying, and as much as Nate was not a fan of the trouble-making geek and blamed her and her stupid friends for the current predicament, the girl just lost a friend. Even if it was brought about by their own terrible idea, the girl had every right to mourn the loss of a friend, and human life in general. She did seem remorseful for causing such a fatal situation for total strangers, so even if she was misguided, it was at least clear she was not vicious or evil.

Jorge's four letter summary of their situation was accurate, but looking at the positives, they managed to add a member to their party who understood better their situation. She was going to be of even less use to them if she spent the entire time crying and drowning in guilt, so Nate did his best to be supportive. "Listen, there's not much we can do now but continue on and end this. We'll need your help, so do your best to hold yourself together."

Nate noticed two exits from the room, which was a good place to start. "Do you know the way? Or if we're close to the 'Boss Room' or whatever it is?" The last question was optimistic but worth asking.