Sylvetican Strife (Round 2: Sylvetica's Guardians)

Waiting in the Vault's inner office was the Warden, who had stopped to relax not moments ago. She shuffled some paperwork aside—files that were useless considering the situation in Sylvetica—to make room for her to kick her feet onto the desk as she leaned back in the large leather office chair. It was good to be able to forget about things for a little bit—this was going to be a fantastic game, judging from the fact that the players were at each others' throats before even leaving the Vault, and she'd been able to hear explosions from the staging area outside: fighting, perhaps? Regardless of what was going on, one thing was for certain. With the game's help, she'd execute her grand scheme flawlessly. She was, in a manner similar to that of her chosen players, still bound to obey the rules the game set in place, but she prided herself in the pragmatic thinking it took to turn the game around to benefit her, without breaking those rules. “If they could see this,” she thought, “the other Administrators would be taking notes...”

The jail-cell pin on her desk flickered; the Warden leaned forward slightly and cocked an eyebrow.

“What? Already?” She bolted up once it resonated with her that the end of the first round was here—and her mind was filled with thoughts that shouldn't have afforded her so much sheer delight. Had Ven decided he'd had enough of dealing with the petty rabble? Perhaps Ashley Forrester might have snapped... but that can't be, Morris would put a bullet in her head as quick as she could. As she snatched the gold pin into her hand, the day's events on the ground flooded her consciousness. Image by image, they burned into her vision, forging themselves into her mind one by one; a great and powerful explosion, and the death throes of a falling beast.

She sneered, and had to stop herself from slamming the pin back down on the wooden surface. The loser of the first round had been decided.

Paul Harris. Killed by a cave-in, an unfortunate casualty of a collapsing hospital.

“What an utter disappointment—and are those two really about to explore a damn petting zoo? I swear... I'd have ended it here even if the miner hadn't gotten himself crushed...”

Indeed, the nine would disappear into the night from whatever they were currently engaged in. They would be overcome with a feeling of disorientation as they were suddenly drawn out of the battlefield and back into the relative safety of the elevated Vault building, moved to random positions among the Warden's office, in front of the desk where she waited. The Prisoner's cage was empty this time around; he remained in the wastes, searching for more potential components of the Warden's grand device.

“Welcome back... I hope it wasn't too harsh down there.” She grinned, leaning over the desk and folding her arms. “You'll notice that there's one fewer player than before—Paul Harris perished today, the casualty of a collapsing hospital I'm sure none of you were involved with. It doesn't seem like he'll be too greatly missed, however. Life goes on, I suppose. Now then, in regards to what you were meant to collect this round...

I believe the lot of you have something for me?”

He still wasn't used to it. The youth was disoriented by the sudden change in scenery. A second before he had been gazing at the stars. Andrew would have laughed at him. Skylar would have understood.

Daniel stretched his arm outward with a clenched first, turned the fist downward, and opened it. A gesture that he had nothing to account for. Daniel did not accomplish his goal. He had no technology, weapon, or crystal to account for. His only real achievement had been fixing Ash's crystal, but he could hardly take credit for that.

"Sorry. I have nothing to give you."

For a blessed moment, Ash believed maybe the flash of light surrounding her was the fluorescent lighting of the lamps above her bed. That she could slowly wake up, take the experience as some sort of crazy fever dream, and continue on with what life she had before Sylvetica. No such luck.

Ash took a look around to survey her surroundings. Ven, Daniel, Sidekick, Yggoc and Golan were still alive, that comforted her. David was further away from her, looking as if he'd just been drawn out of some fierce battle. Synthia and Alice seemed closer too, metaphorically, some sort of kindred friendship between them. Alice also had some sort of adorable shadow creature thing with her. Ash was insanely jealous and wondered where she could get an animal friend. Then she remembered she hated animals and went back to listening to the Warden.

Ash remembered Paul when he was brought up. The Warden was right in a morbid way, she didn't know the guy well enough to miss him. Still, a little part of her felt sad, more like guilt, for being at least partially responsible for the death of a relatively nice person. She supposed guilt would have to be something to learn to forget if she wanted to survive.

The mental patient stepped forward to Daniel after he spoke. "Well, I do." She pulled out the crystal from her pocket and placed it on the desk. "Got this when I slayed one of those weird invisible monsters. Used it to heal Ven here, but should be usable. Unless you wanna shake out the dusting of broken crystal from the big monster that exploded out of its annoying place in my hair, this is all I've got." She patted the DAR in her pocket. "Found a pretty cool disappearing device too. I guess you could have it if you really wanted, but honestly, I've grown kinda attached to the little thing." She frowned. "If only I knew how the hell it worked." She nodded sheepishly, and floated to the back of the room.

Golan gently set down the duffel bag, and removed the weapons from inside of it. Four rifles in all. He left the large crystal in there, hoping he would get a chance to study it.

"That is all I have. Four rifles, and one bonus crystal I gained from one of the rifles. The rifles shoot high powered energy that is fueled from the crystals it seems, but you already know that. I did have a rather large crystal, but it was lost in the fight with that large beast with the cannon. I do request that I keep the small crystal I had attached to my power core, so as to use it for my own advancement in strength, and in order to maybe figure out a way to create a device that can detect the unique radiation these crystals emit."

He looked at all the remaining combatants after he finished, and received a nod from each of them. They knew that he was a skilled engineer in his universe, and that he may be able to create weapons and other devices with the large crystal.

The Warden stared back at Golan, and noticed the nodding from them. The fact that they were working together, instead of tearing out each other's throats was pissing her off. She knew there was something missing, but she couldn't place it.

"Fine, you may keep that small crystal," she replied coldly.

Yggoc was relieved to be back in the relative safety of the Warden's office; he was glad to see that neither Daniel, Ash, nor Ven had been "eliminated" this round; although, it was a shame that Paul had, even if Yggoc had only spoken to him for a brief time.

Yggoc approached the Warden, who was was seated, once again, behind her desk, in the same manner as before. Yggoc reached down and opened his satchel, before removing a large, blue crystal from it. He glared at the Warden, before sliding the crystal along her desk.

"I believe this is what we're risking our lives for?"

Yggoc turned away from the Warden and walked towards Daniel.

Synthia was disappointed that her exploration was cut short, interrupted by another blinding flash of light. She looked around the room, and was greatly relieved to find that many of the contestant had been spared from destruction that resonated from the accursed city. Paul's absence was disheartening, but then again, the human miners have always been known in the Deep for gouging out entire sacred caverns in their greed. Maybe it was best that he remained quieted for eternity. She bowed her head in respect for the dead. If she had known him better, she might have paid further respects, but there were more pressing matters at hand than another stranger's misfortunes. She pulled the crystal out of her pocket, pausing for a moment to regard its beauty one final time before setting it on the desk.

This group was interesting, to say the least, and though collecting crystals for her opus was meant to be a secondary objective, taking a back seat to simply getting oriented to Sylvetica, their labor had been essentially fruitless. They had spent a relatively long time on the ground, and come back with such... pathetic results. Perhaps, she thought, despite the unique qualities she'd found in each of her players, they simply weren't the right ones for her game—left to their own devices, they would be more likely to play cards than fight.

Which wasn't something particularly conducive to their current environment. She'd ensure them turned against each other by the end of this whole affair, but for now, it was best to not make them feel completely worthless for their accomplishments. The crystals they had gathered would help, but in the end it would be up to the Prisoner's work to reach a reasonable amount to power the machine.

The Warden looked over the people in the room, beginning to gather the crystals they deposited. “Good work.” she said, clearly unimpressed. “Hopefully you're a bit more used to the environment now. Any problems? Questions?”

She stood, beginning to make her way to the room's exit, and turned to face them. “If not, I have something to briefly attend to outside—after I'm done, the next round of our game will begin.”

"I have a few questions. I have yet to see a single person, or any sign of life, beyond those shadow-esque creatures. Where is everyone else? You can't possibly be the last one alive, if so, than Sylvetica will never be more than a Dystopian planet. You are leading us on aren't you? Unless you come clean with your goal, I doubt any one of us will compete in your silly game. We have bonds now, as we helped save each other's life with that large beast. Now, tell us, where do you actually come from, and what are your real motives?"

Golan's back straightened, his posture boasting in his confidence in these questions. He was making sure to mark any small amount of body language she would give with her answer, or if she even gave an answer. His head turned and looked each of the other players in the eye for a short moment, before returning his gaze to the warden; a feeling of tension filling the air.

At the moment, Daniel had no questions for the Warden. He drifted to the back of the group and allowed the other champions to come forth with questions. There were things he wanted to know, sure, but he was positive that she wouldn’t tell him everything. Or anything at all. At the back of the group, he saw Ash standing alone. He walked over to her and greeted her, "Hey, Ash. Did you regularly use machines before Sylvetica? You really did well with that suit in the basement. I’m impressed.”

Ash shrugged, watching the questioning from afar. Right now all she wanted to know was where they were heading next. She didn't like small spaces. Oh well. All in good time she supposed.. "Oh, I dunno. I can't say I've spent large amounts of time in fully operational battle suits, but, does metalworking count? I did that for awhile. It was really just a point and click thing anyway..." She chewed on a nail. Still blunt, she'd have to see what she could do about that. "Sorry you didn't get to try it before it collapsed and everything."

"That's alright. I don't think there was much to do with it anyway, do you? There weren't any crystals lying around to mess with." He said that last remark with a tad bit of regret. He wished he had brought back something to show for his efforts. Nearly everyone else had.

"Agreed. Sucks we didn't have time to pick up any of the shards from that thing. Mighta pleased the boss lady a bit more. I owe her as much, she didn't start me out in like, a toxic fire swamp or whatever else this planet has." She brushed some dust of her shoulders. "Pretty intense about the hospital though? I mean, we kinda single-handedly brought it down. I feel kinda sad, you know, it was a good starting place for me. Familiar territory I suppose. And we leveled it, and I guess, uh, sorta killed another player by proxy..."

Daniel grimaced. Paul was dead, but were they to blame? "I don't know if we killed him, you know? In the basement, it was either we kill Maelstrom or he kills us. We had to do what we had to do… Paul just sort of got some bad luck. Maybe even the Warden is to blame for putting him in the cave... but I don't think it's that simple."

She smiled sadly. "It's all just kinda the luck of the draw I guess. Between living and dying here. Either you're the crazy girl who gets to start out in the cushy medical center and get rescued by people, or you're the guy trapped beneath the surface of the planet."

Daniel slid against the wall and sat down. So she had noticed that he rescued her. He wasn’t entirely sure she had. "Yeah, I guess. Is it strange that I rescued you? I mean, we're supposed to be at odds."

Ash hopped down next to him, and crossed her legs, waiting. "I dunno man. I mean, you tell me. One second I'm about to be crushed by falling debris, the next moment I'm about 6 feet to the left of it. What happened there I mean..." She looked to him. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, I mean, kudos for keeping me alive with your time powers and all. Just, is it wrong that I feel... guilty? I've barely done anything on my own so far and somehow I get to survive? How does that make any sense."

Daniel looked down at his gloved hand and flexed his fingers. His fingers danced underneath the glove. "I don't want to let anyone die, Ash." They were quiet for a moment before Daniel spoke again. "Really, don't feel guilty... wiithout your working with that Suit, we'd all be dead right now. You know what I find really strange?"

Oh my god. Can we PLEASE stop talking to this guy? He is SOOOOOO BORING.

Shut up, he's just trying to be nice. Make conversation, you know, like a normal person?

But I'm SOOOOO BORED. Seriously, the psychiatrist at the institute was better than him, and he made us draw with "trauma crayons."

You loved trauma crayons as much as I did you hypocrite.

She shook her head. "No. What?"

He pointed at the demon across the room. "He saved us. Did you notice that? After I saved you, he displaced some debris that would have killed both of us. Two birds with one stone."

She looked up across to Ven. Smiled a bit. "Yeah, that uh, doesn't surprise me." She looked back to Daniel. "I mean, don't get me wrong, he's still probably evil in the purest form of the sense, but, I dunno, he saved my ass a few times as well. I'm not getting gushy here, promise, but whether he's doing it out of apathy, as a fuck you to the Warden, or just because he wants to kill us himself, I'm glad to have him on our side, at least, for now."

"Maybe he’s just a kind, misunderstood soul.” Daniel chuckled, “But I doubt it. At any rate, you’re right, he's not a good person to have as an enemy... speaking of which, who do you think is on 'our' side?" He gestured to the rest of the room.

She looked around, lowered her voice. "Well. Um... Me, I guess, and you. That's 2. Yggoc seemed pretty on our side. Synthia's probably the sanest one of us here to tell the truth, so, add her to the list." She continued, toying with her hair. "Alice... seems stable enough. We'll have to see. Maybe it's just because, I dunno, she reminds me a bit of Fiona for some reason, I feel unsettled. Call it social prejudice. Ven, well, I dunno, I talked about him. He's safe for now, probably because I think he wants to get with my alternate personality or some weird thing. We were attacked before he answered that question actually, gotta make a mental note..." To the rest. "Sidekick and Golan just seem like they want to survive, and David. Uh..." She looked to him and laughed a bit. "Well he held a gun to the head of a giant hellspawn creature without blinking, so, you know, take that as you like."

Daniel was uneasy. She could be entirely wrong; right now, everyone could be plotting how to kill one another. For all he knew, Ash was wondering the best way to kill Daniel. The thought made him shudder. He forced the concerns away and gave his attention to the possibly homicidal woman. “Yggoc seems alright. He’s a kind person. Not sure how I feel about Synthia… I mean, she seems nice enough for a large reptilian woman. Alice seems okay, too. Sidekick, Golan, David... I think they're all concerned with survival above anything. At least Sidekick and Golan are working together; they’re dangerous, but maybe not so homicidal. David is a loose cannon, though. I wonder what everyone else thinks about this. In the end, we’re all supposed to kill each other… Some might enjoy that more than others" He gestured to Ven. "That's not really fair though... he DID save us.” At this point, he resolved to stop beating around the bush and get to the core of his thoughts. “I don’t really trust anyone here. Some of them seem nice, some of them are working together, but we all want to survive. Hell, how can we even really trust each other?"

Ash shrugged again, nonchalantly. "It's either trust everyone or trust no one. I'd rather be the naive girl who hopes for the best in people until she has a reason not to, than the paranoid freak out to kill everyone with trickery and backstabbing and whatnot." She caught herself, smirked. "I guess technically I could be both, right? But you haven't met Fiona in person yet." She twiddled her thumbs. "Wow, where we were, um, okay, back to your original question, no, you saved me because you're a good guy. Because for few exceptions in this room, we come from relatively civilized backgrounds, you know? We've killed, I mean, that's why we're here. But I don't think you and I enjoyed it. So, you know, we're not gonna start picking off people here unless we have too." She shrugged again. "Which might be soon, I dunno, we'll see what round 2 has in store for us..." There's really only so much time before she broke them, Ash guessed.

He was a bit disturbed that she had deduced that he had killed. Had he given it away? No… she was simply smart and the situation was too obvious. Everyone here has done some form of killing; otherwise the Warden would not have brought them here to fight. "I suppose it's not really much use in moping about it, huh? We'll wait to see what Round 2 has in store. Maybe we should work together. We made a decent team in Round 1." He had taken a leap of faith.

She scratched the back of her neck. "Oh yeah, you know, great, tag team duo. Better to stick together than drive ourselves apart, for now, I guess." She slowly frowned. In realization. Because to her, there would always be that, "for now." Because, what if it came down to her and Daniel in the end? And only one of them could survive? Would they turn on each other then? Would anyone in that situation? And even then, who's to say she could survive that long anyway. To Ash, the only reason she had made it this far was because she had been given help every step of the way. The hospital, relatively safe place to start. The boots the Warden gave her, Daniel fixed the crystal, Ven held back the rubble, Fiona told her what to do with his sword. Daniel saved her, Ven saved her. Even the suit had been enhanced for easy use. Hell, the only thing Ash had done herself was wheel a gurney up a wheelchair ramp. And this all consolidated into Ash's mind what she had been asking herself from her arrival in the Vault: Why had she been picked?

"Why the hell are we here, Daniel."

He wasn't sure. He didn't admit that he didn't know. He spoke and made it up as he went. "To play the Warden's game and to help save her city. There's no real other reason, is there?"

Neither of them were satisfied with the answer, but neither of them had a better one. Ash sighed to herself and put a gentle hand on the top of Daniel's knee, patted it twice, then pulled back. They sat against the wall, enjoying each other's company silently and rejoicing in the friendship they had forged.

Spoiler:

It took a second for Alice to regain her bearings after the sudden teleportation. Her pupils dilated painfully quickly in the harsher light of the woman's office, and she brought her hand up to shield them until she got adjusted. Once familiar to the light, she stared blankly back at the Warden. She had no crystals, nor did she have a better understanding of Sylvetica. She had essentially failed the... mission? Would that be a proper term?

She hadn't vanquished beasts or made any lasting allies. Apparently, that is what everyone else had done. Well, except the one who died. Why hadn't it been her? Not that she minded, living was high on her priority list, but still. She hadn't done much of anything. Well, she did more than someone, which is why she survived. But as the game went on, she'd have to do more. Can't keep getting by in second-to-last place when the reward for last place was a swift kick in the face and a "fuck you."

Alice held out the shadowy creature by its underarms, its back legs kicking and swinging uselessly while its mouth worked itself into a squeaking frenzy. "I found this. It's Pico." Her eyes bored into the woman's, daring her to challenge her new acquisition. "I am keeping him." This was not a question, nor was it a statement. This was a command.

Shooting sidelong glares at her opponents, Alice took stock of the relationships that seemed to have formed. The stock consisted of "everyone: friends, Synthia: maybe my friend, me: forever alone." This was something that needed to be changed if she wanted to survive the later rounds and get back to Mari. She had to survive, she had to get back to Mari, she had to make friends. But with who?

Ven was out. He looked like he'd sooner slit her throat than say hi. Robots made her uneasy, and Ash reminded her a little too much of some of the people back home. This greatly narrowed the scope for potential friends. She saw Ash and Daniel speaking together, and decided to join them. They were "humans" too, right? So it would probably be best to start with them. She walked over and stood quietly besides the two until they finished their current vein of conversation.

…You really think you can’t do anything without me?

Well, yeah, duh. I mean, have you been sniffing glue this whole time? Basically the underlying point of my entire psychological trauma. You control almost every coherent thought I have.

Do not.

Do too! Fiona, jeez… When you’re not trying to take over entirely you’re inserting ideas into my head and telling me to do stuff. Usually good ideas, don’t get me wrong, but-

I bet we could blow up this tower if we tried.

No see, that, that right there! Why can’t we ever like, just talk. Like, you know, two normal schizophrenics.

…I’m sorry, Ashley.

…It’s okay, Fiona, we just, we gotta try and work-

At this point Ash was interrupted in thought by noticing Alice standing next to them, who up until now had seemed to blend into the wall. Ash felt extremely guilty and something of a douchebag for not noticing her. It was only the movement of her dark otter… thing that caused Ash to see her.

“Oh, crap, I’m sorry hun, we’ve just been ignoring you this whole time haven’t we?” She gently patted the ground next to her. “Sit down if you want, we won’t like, bite your head off, I guess…”

Alice winced a bit at the "hun" treatment, allowing one of many pet peeves to be made apparent. Nicknames were something she considered quite demeaning, but she'd never admit it. She rubbed her upper arm nervously as Pico shifted his weight on her shoulders to attempt to bite her ear. "You guess?" she let out a forced laugh before kneeling down next to the other girl.

"So, uh, what are you guys talking about?" The expression on Ash's face was unreadable. Alice couldn't guess at the tone of the previous conversation, so she just hoped that she wasn't being wildly inappropriate. "If it's too important or private I could leave..."

"Nonsense," Daniel asserted, "it's nothing private. We were just discussing our chances of survival." He didn't want to let on that he and Ash had formed a compact. At least not yet. He wasn't convinced that Alice was an ally. "Last round we narrowly avoided a hospital falling on us. What were you up to?"

"I found a zoo. And this." Alice stretched out her arm to let Pico run down it and used her other hand to scratch behind his ears in an attempt to placate him. "It's one of those weird shadow things, but it's like an otter? His name is Pico and he bites, but he's not too bad." Her hand dropped as she realized what Daniel had said. "Wait a hospital fell on you? What?"

Ash nodded. "Mhm, yeah, some of us gathered at this hospital in the city, well, I mean, I woke up there, but, there were some little monsters that we fought, and then this giant huge monster we fought, and I got to be a robot, and we hooked it up to a generator, and Daniel saved us using time, and then the monster exploded, and then the whole thing exploded and it was fun."

Daniel chuckled. "That might be simplifying it a bit too much. Ash, Ven, Yggoc, and I were gathered in the basement of the hospital when an energy blast opened a hole to the outside. Golan and Sidekick ran in, leading some monster to us. The thing was huge and imposing and powered by a blue crystal in the center of its chest. Ash, using some type of mechanical suit, completed a circuit between the crystal and the generator, overloading the crystal and killing the monster. One of the beast's guns went off and the hospital started collapsing. We barely got out."

"Geez, sounds like you had everyone there. It also sounds like you got a hell of a lot more done than I did. I found an otter. Didn't even find a crystal." Alice shrugged as the otter in question re-wound itself around her neck. "Oh well, 'least I didn't die." Yeah, that's it, play it cool, don't seem weak, they won't try to kill you if they think you're strong. Leaning closer into the wall, she attempted idle conversation. "So what do you think we're going to have to do next?"’

Ash clapped her hands. "Well, I dunno, at this point, my skill set either denotes some sort of cooking challenge, or maybe we construct some sort of statue out of sheet metal." She shrugged. "But most likely. I dunno. More killing..."

The three fell quiet a moment, brooding over Ash’s prediction "I agree," Daniel added. "I don't think we can get by with accidentally killing another champion... We'll likely have to fight or something and get some object the Warden wants. What do you think, Alice?"

"Well, knowing that this is a competition, I feel like it's pretty much guaranteed that the next round is something like that." Alice stretched out the otter on her lap, pulling at his front paws as he made angry snaps at her fingers. "I know the point is to have one survivor, but I really am worried about killing people. I mean sure I'm capable of it to some extent, but we have people like Ven here," she shot a dirty glance his way, hoping he didn't notice. "And there's no way I could go up against that."

Sighing, she let her head fall back against the wall. "What I'm trying to say here is that I feel totally outclassed and outmatched and just hope that the next round isn't some sort of cage fight."

"I don't really think it'll be anything like that. The Warden wants one of us alive; if she were to throw us all together, we might all kill each other very quickly. Something tells me she's a bit cleverer than that." Daniel glared at the half-demon. "I'm not really too excited to fight and kill people either. I could do it, but I’m no murderer…”

Ash hummed to herself. "Evolution says that weaker species are eliminated as they fail to meet the circumstances of their environment. So the survivors are always the strongest of the bunch... I'm more concerned about what she needs done by the person who wins than who's gonna die next." She looked to them. "I don't mean to be sounding grim here, but think about it. The winner of this is gonna be the one person who has survived nine rounds of killing, probably people he or she didn't want to kill. We're talking pretty heavy mental trauma. What does the Warden want, need, or have in store for a person like that? Pretty unfathomable when you think about it." She looked down to her hands. "On the one hand, I really don't wanna die yet. But on the other... I don't know if I want to win that way."

The trio fell silent.

Spoiler:

“Death is quite the awful malady, is it not?” The Warden turned away from the door, having intently listened to the three conversing people. Her time as overseer of the Vault had left her somewhat callous, or rather, jaded to the severity of death itself. But as the Administrator of this Game, she would make sure that compassion took a back seat. Her winner would have to be able to resist the emotional challenge as well. “Rest assured—the winner of this Game should expect great things. I had planned to take a brief leave, but I think you've all had enough rest.” She grinned, glancing over the fatigued crowd.

“I'll explain your next objective. Parts of this city were protected by powerful defense systems. Some of the inner streets, namely those leading in the direction of the Vault and the Sacellum, were guarded by our most sophisticated technology. To name a few, underground platforms concealing what were called 'Sky Furies'—rapid fire turrets loaded with arcane bolts designed to annihilate rogue mages, monsters, or flying targets, magic-fueled security golems, and a particularly expensive piece called the Sol Dios Cannon.” The Warden glared at Golan as she strode across the room to gaze out of the window once more. “I believe some of you have already experienced its terrifying power.”

The Warden turned to address everyone.

“Now... these defense systems were controlled in a variety of ways, but any of the ones that still work have probably gone completely haywire. You guys are going to head down there and get things working again—the defenses will be an invaluable asset in eliminating the Outsiders, but the turrets in particular serve a much bigger purpose to me. As for how exactly they were controlled? Part of the challenge is going to be figuring it out—I'll tell you that they were maintained through three terminals in various locations, each with a different function. I've elected to split you into groups for this challenge, based on your strengths, weaknesses, and relationships with other players.” The very notion made her laugh. They would have to be creative to take control of the security measures or get around the various fail-safes any computers they'd be using—these devices were designed to be borderline impenetrable.

“Alice, Daniel, and David. The three of you will be heading directly to our military establishment. It's a stories-tall building that was used for controlling a majority of our security—it also housed the military and intelligence agencies, and is filled to the brim with state-of-the-art defenses of its own. So... good luck getting through the front door.”

The Warden walked to her desk, and retrieved two envelopes from the top of the stack of papers.

“Ven, Yggoc, and Ashley.” Ashley was the closest, so the Warden simply placed the envelope into her hand. “Find the time to read this when you arrive. Because you guys don't have to break into a military establishment, I've decided to weave an additional layer of challenge into your objective. Enjoy.”

“And the same goes for the remaining three. Golan, Sidekick, and Synthia...” She strode towards the Half-elf to deliver the second envelope to him with a grin. “It's been a pleasure serving you.”

“Best of luck to all combatants. Round 2 begins...”

Before the Warden could even finish her sentence, the nine remaining Players would feel varying degrees of a familiar disorientation as they were once again yanked from the relative safety of the Vault by an unknown force.

Ashley, Yggoc, and Ven would all be slammed hard into a sandy shore, sending tufts of dirt into the air. Tides were low, and the blue water that extended towards the horizon washed up onto a rusty brown. Behind them were a series of low stone walls, worn and cracked, and as they stood and began to get their bearings, the Outsiders emerged once again. Various shapes broke the water's surface and began lumbering forth towards them—some with massive claws and dark exoskeletons, and others completely amorphous, with tendrils of liquid shadow.

A mechanical whirring came from beyond the series of stone walls, and the three Players turned to see a line of what looked like mounted chainguns spin to life. Ashley, Yggoc, and Ven dove to take cover behind the walls before the air filled with the explosive sound of gunfire—the turrets were spitting bolts of blue flame at the outsiders, the edge of the water, and anything that moved. The air grew hazy with particles—flying droplets of water, burning blue wisps, globs of shadowy smoke, and divots of rusty sand were launched in all directions by the attack, and judging by what the Warden had told them, the defense turrets would likely not differentiate between friend and foe.

Alice, David, and Daniel found themselves on a hillside overlooking the towering security building. The terrace had once hosted a city block, but the buildings there had been completely destroyed, save for their foundations. Designed with an incredibly resilient structure, the security building stood tall, and bore an impressive blend of silver and black colors that were unheard of in current Sylvetica. Still, the tower appeared sunken on its foundation, and many of the glass windows that lined the surface were cracked—the building had likely suffered an unknown amount of internal damage, and Outsider activity in the area could not be judged as well.

The final group, Sidekick, Golan, and Sinthia, were outside what looked like a dilapidated coliseum. The round edifice was made of white stone, but the main entrance was blocked by rubble. Another way in made itself evident, however—a tall building nearby had fallen and crashed into the coliseum, leaving an entrance that would require fancy footwork to reach. It was likely dark inside, as the only source of light was what came in through the cracks, and Outsiders would likely reside in the darkness.

ROUND TWO: Sylvetica's Guardians
Objectives:
*Reactivate the security systems by locating and properly accessing a terminal.
*Eliminate your opponents.

Spoiler:

Sidekick was still reeling from what had happened back at the hospital. Everything had moved so fast and suddenly, both Golan and himself came upon other members of the group. They had all worked together to take down the behemoth of a monster as it came crashing down upon the hospital. Not too long after, the Warden had somehow teleported them back to where they had been before.

Sidekick had kept himself occupied as he was still processing data on the fight. Something clicked as he realized that, had the other combatants not been there he would have had a ninety five percent failure rate against the beast. Perhaps, one alone can not defeat the monster on Sylvetica, he thought to himself. Just then, the Warden had begun to give them their next assignment, this time they would be working in teams of three.

Before they had a chance to responded, they were all teleported away from the Warden's office. When Sidekick reappeared, he was with Golan and the lizard woman Synthia. It was still night and the area was somewhat illuminated by Sylvetica's two moons, regardless Sidekick turned on his night vision. They were near some sort of decrepit arena of sorts, perhaps this was where the people held some sort of sporting events? Regardless, the entrance was blocked off by rubble from some sort of cave in. The most immediate way into the stadium was through a building that had tipped over and was now being supported by the coliseum. Not the most structurally safe thing in the world but it beat climbing up the coliseum.

"I suggest we start moving," Sidekick said, the first one to speak in the group, "It won't be long before those outsiders start to swarm us, I suggest we use that building to make our way inside the Coliseum. Golan, what does that letter the Warden gave you say?"

Ash caught her breath against the cold wall she found herself pressed against. She quick looked around to see if Ven and Yggoc were still with her. They were. This calmed her. She raised her voice.

"What the hell were those things? They just... They just came out of nowhere." She grabbed the envelope out of her pocket and opened it while she talked. "The turrets I mean. Not the sea monster people things. Though... that was pretty crazy too."

She quickly read through the note, choking down an inexplicable lump in her throat. Twisted path. Black carriage. Right, okay, so we need to find some first year poetry students, that's what she's saying. Helpful.

Then she flipped the envelope over to the other side and discovered what was written there. Her heart jumped a little. This was a secret message, something meant just for her. Or maybe not, she didn't really care at this point. She got to be special, and that was enough.

Reading on, it became all to apparent to her what she must do. She couldn't say anything to the others. This was Daniel and Alice's group they were talking about. Ven would surely want to get revenge on David for what happened outside the hospital, and Yggoc might want to do it to see what this reward was. And she couldn't let that happen. The rage inspired violence they might cause could end up getting someone hurt. True, this was the point of the game, and she didn't like David all that much, but she couldn't knowingly play a part in what could be cold blooded murder. She didn't need another Bourbon Street.

No, she had to hide the envelope from them, throw it into a fire as soon as she could. Traitors never fare well in games like this, and she wouldn't be playing a part. And besides, the pair were much stronger than her, and could easily overpower her if she tried to stop them. Worse still, they might not try to fight her at all, just run off, leaving her alone on this strange planet. She didn't even have a weapon yet. She needed help against the hoards that would certainly be awaiting her. Keeping the two close was a vital necessity. Ash tried to justify that this wasn't selfish, that she was just doing a little manipulation to keep anyone from being hurt, but a small part of her mind whispered to her that she was being unselfish for selfish reasons.

Ash pushed these thoughts away and folded the envelope back into her pocket. Hopefully her still recovering companions hadn't seen her take it out yet. She could play it cool until then.

"So... any ideas how to get across the insurmountable wall of death?"

"She didn't answer my question." Golan murmured. "Something fishy is going on.

Golan looked around the area; his helmet assembling itself. He did a quick scan before opening the envelope.

"What you seek is not the battle you face, but where you will face it.
Locate the silver instrument at the top of the spiraling stairs.
Though its knell will summon many dark warriors against you, it will make your goal crystallize. It also tells us the location of Alice, Daniel, and David but that is unimportant, we don't need any extra award at this moment."

Spiral stairs...is it literal or figurative

"Well it doesn't look like anything over in this area would have a spiral staircase, except maybe in that skyscraper, I guess we have an objective, lets roll out."

Maybe we will find more crystals, or machinery that I can tinker with. I wonder if I would be able to patch a Crystal wave detector into Sidekick's HUD, they will most definitely help us.