Chương 32: Just keep that shaft coming. Always room for more.

Always room for more.

The creature that called itself Razza wore a long purple robe and stood nearly seven feet tall, its long limbs held perfectly still as it spoke. It was bald, with no hair or eyebrows, giving its long face a skeletal appearance. It had a V-shaped mouth that looked set in a permanent frown. <Name: Razza Race: Vehemence Level: 505, B-Grade Trial Moderator Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: Blocked. >"I will explain the rules of this trial once. They will not be repeated," Razza said.

The moderator had the attention of nearly everyone in the room. The voidling continued its mindless assault on the force fields around it. The seated albino man, had closed his eyes, and his head kept bobbing onto his chest and popping up as he slowly lost a battle not to fall asleep. The slime quivered again, preparing to expel another small glob.

"You are about to receive a dedicated dimensional storage space that can only hold your team card, ability orbs, and prestige tokens. To remove something from the storage space, hold out your hand and will it to appear. Do not do so in the company of others unless you want them to know your team alignment." Received: Dimensional storage Received: Red team card"The trial progresses…" Razza began, but the voidling let out a screech and launched itself at him—only to rebound off the force field again.

Razza stared at the creature for a moment and then raised one hand in its direction. The voidling fell limply to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

"The trial progresses through alternating hunting and voting rounds. The voting rounds take place in this room. The hunting rounds occur in a maze of interconnected scenario rooms accessible by portals.

"The rooms of the maze are highly varied and will present their own challenges and opportunities. Surviving those challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities is part of the trial.

"Players may not directly harm one another during the first hunting round. After that, all restrictions on violence are lifted.

"Each hunting round continues until one hour has elapsed, members of only one team remain in the game, a round-ending ability orb is used, or other hidden conditions have been met.

"When a hunting round ends, you will be teleported back to this room for the voting round.

"Further rules will be explained before the first vote. For now: each voting round ends with one player eliminated from the trial. They lose all rewards—but leave unharmed," the moderator said. >>Are you getting all this, Nod? >>Every word. When the hunting round begins, let's find a quiet corner of the maze and have a strategy session ASAP. Razza continued, "You can increase the strength of your vote by climbing the leaderboard.

Your position improves in two ways: collecting prestige tokens and increasing your round rating.

"Prestige tokens are small orange crystals that spawn throughout the maze. They cannot be traded and cannot be looted from dead players—except under special circumstances. You will discover how to raise your round rating as the trial progresses. In general, higher ratings come from actions that improve your chances of survival and victory.

"Your total current prestige tokens and your cumulative round rating score will establish your position on the leaderboard," Razza said.

"Running scores will be posted for all to see." Razza waved his hand, and a new panel appeared on the wall beneath the counter that displayed the number of players remaining on each team. The panel was blank but displayed numbers 1 to 40 along one edge.

"This leaderboard will populate after the first hunting round. The higher your placement on the leaderboard, the more your vote is worth in the voting round. >>Well, that is a curveball. >>So we find these prestige tokens, score a juicy round rating, climb the leaderboard, and then our single vote is worth… two? Ten? Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. >>That is going to make whoever is at the top of the leaderboard sought after as an ally during the voting rounds.

>>And make them a huge target during the hunting rounds. >>And we can't forget about Neco. He's going to want us to throw our vote wherever he says. >>My strategy is to avoid him at all costs. >>Maybe he'll be on the Red team. Then, at least, our interests would align. >>But even if he isn't, we're going to have to do what he says if he tells us to do something directly. >>Fingers crossed he falls into a slime.

"When the last member of either team exits the trial—by death, by being voted out, or by any other means—the trial is over, and rewards will be assigned. Additional rewards may be assigned according to a player's placement on the leaderboard and cumulative round rating score.

"The trial has two parts, Act I and Act II.

"Act I is concluded after the completion of the fourth voting round. Between the two Acts, surviving players will be returned to their cradles for a brief intermission and then Act II will begin and will continue until the win conditions have been met.

"I will allow a small number of questions," Razza said.

"Then we will draft ability orbs. After the ability orbs are drafted, you will be teleported to a random place in the maze, and the first hunting round will begin." The whole room was quiet for a moment. The blob interrupted with an indiscreet fart sound as it was finally able to expel a wadge of slime it had been working on throughout the explanation of the rules. It sagged into a puddle with what appeared to be an ooze's version of relief.

The first slime clone it had squirted out was already growing and seemed to be working on producing its own tiny clone. George noticed that the hyena creature seemed to be looking in his direction, despite the fact that as he looked at it more closely, George noticed that it had no eyes. It was covered in coarse, matted hair and stood upright on stubby legs with arms that were so long they dragged on the ground.

<Name: N/A Race: Feral Gnacker Level: 92, E-Grade Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: Gnackers were among the early (and least savory) products of the flesh vats of the Lexian carnomancers. The Lex admit these creatures were a mistake they never should have made. The folly of their creation was only surpassed by the escape and proliferation of the feral breed of Gnacker. Every guild and house has a standing kill order on all feral Gnacker covens—a fact that has driven them into hiding, but not extinction.

> The hyena creature's mouth yawned open, and a prehensile tongue slithered out. The Gnacker's mouth stretched into a smile, and the tip of its tongue bobbed up and down in what looked like a wave in George's direction. >>Well, I'll be seeing that thing in my nightmares later. >>Add another entry to our "players to avoid" list. >>Let's see… it looks like that list includes… hmm… all the players.

The man who had arrived with the three women asked, "Will we be teleported to the same place at the beginning of each hunting round?" Razza swiveled its head on its long neck and looked at the man for a moment before answering.

"You are sent to random locations in the maze at the beginning of each hunting round."

"What if you drop me into a room that slime has taken over? Then we lose the trial, but it isn't our fault," the man said. He gestured to his right at the large slime and its two smaller offspring that were all quivering again in the enclosure next to him.

"Then kill it with fire," Razza answered. <Name: Carthage Race: Human Level: 116, D-Grade Profession: Meddlesome Arcanist Binding: Wager Stone Status Effect: Enmeshed Abilities: All Work and No Play; Voight-Kampff; Daddy's Little Mommet. House: Outer Rim Pact House Rank: Eleven Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: Blocked. > Carthage made a scoffing sound but said nothing else.

"What are the ability orbs?" This was Tycho, the man with the large backpack.

"The ability orbs are single-use items that grant you special powers or affect the game in specific ways," Razza said.

"All players will start with two. You will be given the opportunity to choose one. Your choice will be visible to all players. The second orb will be randomly assigned from the remainder. Other orbs can be collected in the hunting maze.

"To use an ability orb, remove it from your dimensional storage and crush it. The effect will happen immediately.

"Ability orbs can be transferred from player to player but are not lootable if a player is killed or removed from the game in any other way," Razza said.

"Get on with it, moderator," an elderly woman said. She was a few enclosures down from June. She had long grey hair held back with a black circlet on her head. She wore a white robe belted tightly around her thin waist and leaned against a thin silver cane. <Name: Lady Greesh Race: Human Level: 198, D-Grade Profession: Malevolent Croupier Abilities: A Bat Out of Hades; What The Scorpion Gave The Frog; When the Hurly Burly's Done; etc.

House: Flensa House Rank: 10 Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: House Flensa is one of the oldest houses. Though they have been in decline on the house rankings as they've been pushed aside by newer players, but they retain their reputation for gritty intrigue and back-room political machinations. The founders of the house were instrumental in the formation of the trial system and leveraged their insider knowledge to gain advantage. What they lack in sheer power, they make up in trial savvy.

The trials are the most important factor in the game and no house is known for manipulating the forces of the trial like the Flensa. >"Lady Greesh will remember that this is not her trial but mine," Razza said.

"If they don't already know how it works, they aren't going to last very long, are they, Razza?" Lady Greesh said.

"On with it." Razza gave her a quiet stare and let the moment stretch before continuing, "All players will have five minutes to plan their choice of ability orb, and then the drafting will begin, starting with the player with the highest level, then the second highest level, down to the lowest level player. >>Ah, nuts. That's us. >>Just keep that shaft coming. >>Always room for more.

"Are there any questions?" Razza asked, but no one answered.

"Then the five-minute timer begins now."