Despite being only half the height, and far less the volume, of their already fairly small guild master Heidi doesn't seem troubled by being tossed out of a mid air portal many times her size and clearly several times her height of the ground.  She lands in the classic hero pose with a dull metallic click rather than the thump larger creatures cause, scratching the floor rather than denting or cracking it.

”Having access to any loot we are entitled to as soon as possible would be good, you never know when something will come in handy even if that use is limited.”

Avilaya had a confused look on her face as she watched Malcom walk away.  "What was that all about?" she muttered.  The guy didn't even give her a chance to say thanks for the hand.  Deciding that it wasn't worth worrying over, Avilaya joined the others at the Goblin.  She grinned and in imitation of a certain Jedi Master added "Loot I have.  Give to you I will."

Avilaya chuckled and continued.  "Seriously though, I assume that since I just joined up, any rewards are for the original members.  I'll just hang out over there and do some stretches.  Gotta limber up before the next fight, right?"

Chalei'nh shook her head.

- "Not necessarily. You and Heidi may have just joined, but that doesn't negate the fact that both of you did survive the zombie level. You should still have gotten a lootbox or two for your efforts, that's how it was for me when i joined up with this group in the downtime before it."

She shrugged, before checking to see if the system had activated her abilities again and browsing the interface as much as the system would allow her to.

- "That said, there are very few lootboxes that are actually assigned to the group as a whole, the vast majority that i've seen came from individual efforts even during group activities. Overall, by the end of a level it evens out to roughly the same amount for everyone though, give or take one or two."

"Yes, the system AI has not updated your lootboxes as of yet. Plus the live feed for Labyrinth Lands has not updated. We still need to wait for the AI to catch up. However, Chalei'nh is correct about all of you getting boxes. However, I should tell you starting this level will involve shops, gold usage, and a private rest hall of your own. Assuming you can afford it of course. As the game is fairly universal across your world, the gear available will be based on the Labyrinth level you are currently at."



Trevik sighs. "What I can tell you is that all physical matter is about owning rights in the system. The very molecules that make up your body are part of the company's mining program. When you entered the Labyrinth, you gave up rights of ownership-as did any who where inside during the initial 'reorganization phase.' That matter can be repurposed and changed, even after death. Then it is changed into a new form. For a very simplistic and inaccurate way of saying it...the company owns the souls of anyone playing Labyrinth Lands."

He shakes his head. "We can argue ownership later, I'm asking if the people who were on earth are still alive or if our families have been turned into..." He gestures around them "...this stuff? Some clearly were turned into the opponents we've faced, but what about the rest?"

When the guildmaster says they have to wait Heidi walks over to a nearby wall, plops down against it where she promptly becomes immobile and easily mistaken for a normal toy, even by those who see her do it. This is either a more relaxed state or perhaps even somehow restful, it is clearly her default pose for waiting.

Avilaya stretched, her arms raising up over her head.  "So we have to start paying for stuff now?  Guess we'll have to take some time to loot every chance that we get.  What sort of benefits are there with the private rest hall?  Healing bonuses?  Training bonuses?  Can we customize it?  Is it like The Real World, where viewers can watch us in our downtime?"

She was about to say more but Malcoms question caught her interest.  "Hold on.  People that we might know are being turned into objects and opponents?"

Chalei'nh rubbed her chin in thought.

- "Hmm... Not necessarily. It sounds like more of a Matrix thing where people's consciousnesses are being uploaded into a virtual world and their actual physical bodies are being owned by D/Monix to do with as they deem fit. A normal nine-to-five may be a disguise for having them do low-level corporate administrative tasks, goods being loaded into a container ship for transport would be used as a means to get products offworld... There's a lot of ways you could feasibly pull that off without anyone noticing as it is, and D/Monix has admin rights on top of that."

She looked at Avilaya.

- "But yeah. I'm fairly certain at this point someone gets turned into a monster whenever D/Monix needs a monster for us to fight, and whoever dies goes back to the resource pool for the next time a monster is needed, or to replenish the workforce where required with false implanted memories. I've had my suspicions for a while, but our interactions in the Mushroohum Village and the last boss we fought made that theory more likely. Incidentally, that would also explain why the System is actively blocking any attempts to tell non-Players they're in a game: To them, the level they're in would be the 'real world' in an application of Last Thursdayism, and any attempts to 'break the Masquerade' would go against that. People like Trevik here are the exception due to their position as a Guildmaster -- he was a giant turtle last time we met -- which is why they retain their memories between appearances."

She finished with a shrug.

- "But hey, that's just a theory..."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:18, Tue 14 May.

In reply to Chalei'nh (msg # 11):

"That is an excellent theory. If only I was allowed to confirm it." Trevik replies to Chalei'nh's points. His tone gives away much more than simple commentating.

"As for a personal space, this could give you such bonuses and training when you upgrade it. Its main purpose is a more accessible safe space where you can store gear and on some levels gain more frequent access to. Any normal safe zone will be replaced by your own personal space. In addition, as I am your guildmaster, my guildhall will be connected to your personal space."

Nathan exhales and clicks his tongue before replying to Guildmaster Trevik "I Suppose you may be right about the company owning us physically, I disagree on the bit about the souls. I am no expert on metaphysics but I believe we still own our own souls. If our D/Monix megalomaniacs are like their lesser human equivalents they would prefer some of their 'toys' to have free will, otherwise they would have gotten bored of us by now"

"Just for clarification Trevik" he will ask the guildmaster "Are the loot boxes the only place we ever get equipment? The last level while challenging seem to be almost bare like a movie set. If they are going to go through the trouble to create all these levels to entertain the masses they should at least put in items that are organic to the setting. I went through the efforts to learn how to make improvised items for scrap and discarded items so I would like to be able to use those feats."

Turning to Chalei'nh he asks simply, "So you think our friends and loved ones are alive still? And being used as building materials?"

Chalei'nh rubbed her chin in thought.

- "Depends. If they were indoors at the time they will have become building materials -- this basically means that even if you run into them in here, they may not necessarily be your loved ones even if they have their appearance, personality and memories, similar to how Trevik isn't really a goblin. Or a giant turtle for that matter."

She paused for a few seconds to search for the right words.

- "I'd... separate the people of Earth into three categories. The first category is, as mentioned, those that happened to be indoors. If you're looking for, say, your brother, then D/Monix has access to all the parts that make up the entity known as 'your brother', and could -- for lack of a better word -- copy-paste him into a level often enough to fill a decently sized town, and they'd be fully identical right down to their DNA."

She began holding up two fingers, but decided against it halfway and turned it into a more generic arm gesture instead.

- "The second category would be players like us, those that were outdoors and signed the contract. if you would run into your brother as another player, he may not look like the person you remember in much the same way that i'm not really an elf, but he would be himself, and you could be fairly certain it would be him simply because even if we'd end up in a level with an Evil Twin theme... Only players are allowed to refer to the system, so it's easy to check. As an aside, D/Monix owning our souls -- everything that makes us us -- would basically be done with the intent of having a copy of us walking around in what is perceived to be the D/Monix controlled Real World on Earth, so odds are our loved ones wouldn't even notice we'd be gone even if we die here."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

- "The third category are the ones that were outside and chose not to sign the contract. This is the category of people that cannot be thrown into the Labyrinth, but also cannot have their minds altered because they still have the rights to their souls, so they also cannot get re-added into the virtual world either because D/Monix cannot enforce an inability to discuss the system on them. Those would be the ones stuck in the 'human reservations' that i believe was mentioned around the last Guildhall, and that i alluded to in the interview would be the ones most likely to perform acts of violence against anything D/Monix. If any loved ones are in the third category, the chance of us to run into them would effectively be zero as D/Monix cannot replicate them in the Labyrinth."

She paused again, clicking her tongue in the process.

- "Either way, to ensure their safety the only thing we could do is to find some kind of loophole that will allow us to take them out of the Labyrinth and into a personal safe zone that we have just gained access to. I've already been doing some testing by loading a console and games into mine the previous level, once inside my personal space i will try to take them out and set them up. If successful, that means that it is possible to take something that is not designated as player equipment from the Labyrinth, and place it into a personal space. It should then theoretically be possible for there to be a workaround that will get the loved one in question inside the personal space and therefore outside of D/Monix' grasp for as long as the space is assigned to you, that is, until you die."

She rolled her shoulder slightly, trying to get out a sore spot with focused small gusts of wind.

- "Overall, if we are to save anyone that isn't a player, we will need a way to tie them to us as cohorts or familiars, or even inventory items for that matter, as even if we should run into them they will be gone along with the level they are in once the boss is defeated or the timer runs out. The good news is that, in the case of players, that will be much easier: After the last bossfight i gained an ability that lets me talk to players via group chat when they are out of line of sight, so if we could add them to our group it should persist through Labyrinth levels. I've been meaning to test this later to see if i can talk to Connor, since i got the ability before he left the party and the System hasn't properly finished updating yet. Given that i got the ability for trying to contact Cindy and the others, there's a decent chance it'll work on people we've met even if they're not in our actual party. And if that's true, if any loved ones are players getting them to meet up with us should be fairly easy to arrange... But yeah, needs testing."

Malcom's hand goes to the pendant that hangs around his neck. He grips it tightly as she talks about loop holes and safe spaces. "Do you think there is any way that we can find out if our loved ones are still alive? Or is that going to be completely left up to chance encounters within the Labyrinth?"

Chalei'nh gave a slow nod.

- "Yeah, chance encounters only. While it's possible it can get upgraded later, i do not have the ability to talk to the entire playerbase, so they'll actually need to be considered part of our group. That means meeting them, and even then i'd still need to test if they can talk back or if it's one-way, if the System considers them to no longer be part of our group at some point and so forth. Once everyone's checking out their personal spaces i'll test it out by contacting you, and if you can talk back i'll try contacting Connor, then Cindy. By then we'd also know if you can also talk to one another directly or if all messages would need to go through me since the ability is mine, not the party's."

She turned to Trevik.

- "Speaking of... I've been meaning to set up a game console in my personal space. If i put up an appliance, will the room then automatically generate the correct voltage to power it, or will that require a device or upgrade of its own?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:26, Thu 16 May.

Animating again Hedi returns to a standing position, although the change in height is hard to notice at first, so it makes a little bit more sense for her to be talking.

”If we knock someone unconscious and either tie them up, or stuff them into a big enough bag would that qualify as part of our inventory?”

"Sadly, Earther tech is not likely to work for very long in the Labyrinth. The game designers want you using only local items, as they sell replicas for the fans out in the universe. That might change in the future, but I doubt they will start recruiting human salespeople anytime soon." Trevik shrugged.



"Yes, you can store corpses in your inventory. However, living people will quickly run out of air-and they can only be added to the inventory if you could normally lift them." The Guildmaster states.

He pauses, and checks his own unseen HUD.

"Ok, the AI is almost ready with your lootboxes. No doubt it will be a public display. Hang on." He touches an unseen screen and seems to be focusing on something.

- "Hmm... So would it actually break or is it just a lack of spare parts?"



- "Huh, that's good news. I've seen people cast spells in the Labyrinth, so healing and or resuscitation spells should bring them back to life after being considered dead long enough to get them into our personal space. Or, in less violent means, get them a standalone air supply from, say, scuba gear to greatly lengthen the time they can spend in the inventory without having to hold their breath. Just to confirm, can we invite others to our personal spaces?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:20, Fri 17 May.

Avilaya watched the interactions and especially listened to what Chalei'nh was saying.  "How do you know so much about this?  Or at least enough to make these theories?" she asked, a hint of amazement in her tone.  "I mean all the implications of what you are saying just makes my brain hurt.  People being used as raw materials?  Does that mean that if we die, we become raw materials?  Do the monsters that we slay remember what they were, or even feel pain from it?"

"This all seemed so simple in the beginning, but maybe I wasn't asking the right questions."

Chalei'nh gave Avilaya an apologetic look.

- "This may sound weird, but when i was younger i used to beta test games. Part of the trick to finding bugs and exploits is to find out how the system thinks, and then find out the best way to abuse it. So when i learned what ran the Labyrinth was an automated system, i knew that at its core, it would have been designed according to the mindset of those that built it. So i fell back on that experience and have been trying to think like the System does in order to find exploits we could use to our advantage before they could get patched out."

She motioned at Avilaya.

- "Take that little compilation video from earlier, for example. The System's core purpose is to increase ratings or, to be more precise, to identify events and scenarios that would have an optimal effect on the ratings. It singled you out for that reason and purpose alone: Despite the same thing happening to both of us, i've made sure to deliberately act more composed and detached and thus the System figured it would not be as effective, so it didn't show a compilation of me hiding from giant spiders or robbing the clothes i'm wearing from a corpse since i arrived here in nothing but a bathrobe. I am, in short, trying to game the System."

She planted her hands on her hips.

- "Same with using people as resources. When the System needs a hammer, it will reach for the nearest one that fits the requirements. It has no moral or social objections to using people, but it will also not go out of its way to use them when something else would be a better fit instead. Basically, when X is needed, it starts looking for X until it has the required amount, be it from people, animals or peanut butter sandwiches. It's also why i don't expect to be running into any loved ones until at least well into the 'middle levels', whatever they are, since it would take way more time and processing power to set up rather than browsing the database for the nearest randos from Nowhereville and using them as zombies."

Trevik only shrugs apologetically at the other questions the wanderers had for him. Clearly he had gotten some sort of message that he was sharing too much info, and made a 'zip it' gesture in front of his face. He also rolls his eyes in annoyance and sighs.

However, the System AI proceeds to connect to everyone's HUD, and with a combination of holographic images and sounds audible to everyone present-clears its throat. Even though it did not have said throat.

"Greetings, Wanderers!

You have given your confessional loot boxes, given by your loyal fans!

Wanderer Chalei'nh, you have been given a gold loot box from the Zen Elves of OOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!

Wanderer Malcom, you have been given a gold loot box from the Orphans of the Labyrinth!

Wanderer Hedi, you have been given a gold loot box from Order of the Littlebig!

Wanderer Nathan, you have been given a gold loot box from One hit, one kill!

Wanderer Avilaya, you have been given a gold loot box from Space Pirates of YAAAR!

Note-Wanderer Avilaya, you have been given a platinum loot box from Donor 3567! No doubt out of pity. Hell, at least I respect the others not to be such a crybaby!"

Each of the gold loot boxes seem made of light, and then become solid. They all open-and vanish, leaving their content behind before they vanish into each Wanderer's inventory.

Each gold box contains 350 gold, one lesser healing potion and one lesser mana potion.

However, Avilaya's platinum box does not open, and vanishes into her inventory. She sees a note in her HUD saying 'not openable until reaching the next safe room in the Labyrinth.'

Assessing the results of the golden box she received Hedi seems a bit disappointed at first, then turns her attention back to the Guildmaster.

”I take it from finding currency in the boxes we are to assume there are ways or places to spend it?  Do we need to tell you what we would like to buy, or is there a list of available things to pick from?”

Chalei'nh gave a soft chuckle as Trevik made his gesture and, with a smirk on her face, turned towards the others.

- "I'll let that speak for itself. One thing to keep in mind though: Wherever we end up, whatever happens, remember one thing..."

She paused for a moment to lightly tap her temple with two fingers.

- "...Sun Tzu."

She then turned to focus on the lootboxes that had started to appear. Now that the System had finished processing updates and was no doubt once again monitoring and recording everything that was being said, she was eager to end the previous conversation to prevent trouble not just for them, but Trevik as well.

- "And so our funds steadily grow... On that note, before we get started on a shopping spree, should we set up a group fund for rations and healing potions and the like? It's not like we have a lot of lifelines down here so we'd need to make this count."

"Hey!" Avilaya shouted, looking up at the ceiling as if that was where the AI voice resided.  She was sounding very put out by something.  "What's with the crybaby crack!"

Her fists balled up and she looked like she was ready to punch someone.  Ten different retorts went through her mind, including some very colourful insults, but she kept them to herself.  Pissing off the system AI was probably not a good idea, even if it were possible to do so.  No, she had to be careful.  This game was turning out to be different than what she had expected, but she had to remember that it was all a game.  A game with spectators who could provide boons.

"It's Running Man."  She muttered to herself, talking a deep breath to calm herself.  Avilaya looked back up at the ceiling and gave a wink..  "Thanks folks.  Space Pirates of YAAR! Keep your eyes open.  And Donor 3567, I really appreciate the gift."

In reply to Heidi (msg # 24):



"I can't tell you what to buy, but I can make suggestions once the purchase option has been enabled by your HUD. However, the guildhall cannot sell you anything...mostly due to legal complications. I can NOW say that shops will be opening up on the level you are about to enter." Trevik nodded.

Malcom holds his amulet up in response to the Loot Box being sent by the Orphans. "Thank you for your faith in me." He says with a short bow of his head.