The final bell rang and Devon met up with his friends at the back of the school. The group had a plan and needed numbers to pull it off successfully. They waited around the corner to the entrance and watched the students pour out. Soon the flow reduced to a trickle and they could hear their quarry talking just inside the hallway. As soon as their targets stepped out of the door they were surrounded and escorted away form prying eyes and ears. The four were brought behind the gym shed with a surprising level of willingness before their captors began.

Jesse locked eyes with the slightly shorter geek, "when did you go back?"

"Go back?" Abe asked as he glanced away, clearly knowing what the goth meant.

"I overheard you guys talking about it the other day," Jesse continued, attempting to regain eye contact, "flamethrowers, nails, earplugs, slime gun. Ringing any bells?"

George and Jason looked at each other and the quarterback sighed, "we went back a few days ago with more supplies."

"We breezed through the first floor and explored a bit of the second but didn't really find much besides some interesting places," Jason finished.

"What did you find?" asked Randy as he subconsciously scratched his chest.

"Not much..." added Marie, "a campground, hot springs, and a lake. And came to a very um interesting conclusion."

"Hot springs?" Jesse asked as he felt his chest grow sore as the thought, "Where did you find that?"

"It was past the campsite," said Jason as he noted the wince in the shorter man's voice, "there looked to be a single slime guarding it but according to Marie the water's safe to use."

Morgan turned to Ross, "I thought you said there wasn't anything over there."

Ross shrugged and responded in a slightly raspy voice, "I didn't notice anything like that, maybe the trail continued on where I couldn't see it?"

"Yeah yeah that's nice and all," Devon interjected with narrowed eyes, "but what conclusion did you come to?"

The four looked between each other and Marie cleared her throat, "it was after I got my slime gun from the giant slime. I was testing out the various settings and found that I could change what the slime would melt by switching the symbol one of the dials pointed to. The symbols were a shield, a t-shirt, a paw print, a leaf, a water droplet, and a mushroom. We tested it on some spare dice we had and a scrap of George's shirt. The shield setting would melt the die but not the shirt the the shirt was the opposite. We didn't test the others but it was kind of obvious what they would do."

"And that means... What exactly?" Randy asked with a cocked eyebrow, not really understanding the significance of weird slime.

"It means," answered Marie with an edge to her voice, "that something was keeping the acid in the slime from harming us and only targeting our clothes for some reason. If the shield was items and the shirt was clothes then what would the rest be?"

Comprehension dawned on Ross the sharp breath he took drew glances from the others. Abe was the only one who noticed the spark of realization in his eyes and he wondered if the stoner had realized the same thing he'd figured out over a week ago. George stepped forwards and leaned into Jesse's face, causing the shorter man to step back and Randy to glance at the jock ready to intercede if necessary.

"Our turn," the quarterback said as his eyes narrowed, "why are you asking?"

Jesse just smiled, his near-almond eyes creasing in amusement, "because we went back yesterday, went past the lake, and nearly died after exploring the right trail at the intersection."

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The snarl on the blond's face disappeared in an instant to be replaced by a look of shock and concern, "you- what?"

The goth just smirked and pulled up his shirt to reveal a large bruise across his chest, "we went down the path you didn't and got ambushed by a very, very angry deer with some wicked antlers."

"Oh yeah," Randy added with a chuckle as he pulled his shirt up to show the raw skin of the slowly healing cuts, "the thing had these long thorns on its antlers, got me and Jess pretty good."

"It wasn't the only thing we ran into," Morgan said quietly and motioned to the scarfed stoner, "there was a vine that snatched up Ross here and strangled him. When I tried to pull him away, it just gripped tighter and pulled him higher."

Devon nodded, "that deer chased us away and we ran back to the stairs. We thought we'd lost him until that same deer brought him over and laid his unconscious body on the grass."

The four gamers were stunned, they'd never dealt with anything like that within that place. The worst they'd had to deal with was that giant slime that guarded the stairs.

"I'm so sorry" the words just slipped out of Marie's mouth and all eyes were on her.

"Don't be," Jesse said in a soft voice, "it wasn't your fault. It was ours."

"Yeah, but now we know better," Ross said, his hoarse voice full of determination.

Jason looked at the 5 before him and couldn't believe his ears, "you want to go back? You almost died."

Ross shrugged, "I mean yeah, but if we all go together with proper supplies then we should be able to get through the woods and find out what's going on."

Abe was with Jason, "You guys said the deer have antlers with metal spikes and there are vines that strangle you.

A malicious grin spread across Jesse's face, "and I'm pretty sure the hunter here has something strong enough to take out at least a few deer. The rest of us just need to be able to cut away the vines if they get anyone. Shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Devon was nodding along as Jesse and Ross plead their case. To their credit, Randy and Morgan weren't fully on board with going back down in there. Randy did want to check out that hot spring they'd mentioned and Morgan wanted to know how it was all possible, but that didn't mean they wanted to be in so much danger again. Their feelings were similar to those of the gamers. Jason wanted to go fishing in the lake and George wanted to find out what was past it while neither really wanted to put themselves back into danger, but Abe and Marie wanted to go back in to find out what was going on. The two groups were so alike despite their differences.

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It didn't take too long for the group's resolve to falter. The two groups hashed out when they'd go and what extra supplies they'd need then broke up to go their separate ways. As they left the gamers, Devon stuck close to Ross and Morgan. He offered to drive them home in exchange for some help. He had some questions he needed answering and wanted to borrow - and buy - a few things.

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Randy Travis

Stats

-Strength - 4

-Intelligence - 3

-Nimbleness - 4

-Acumen - 3

-Physique - 4

-Synchronicity - 2

-Empathy - 2

Skills

-Brawl 3, Dodge 3, Intimidation 4, Survival 2, Acrobatics 2, Climb 2, Driving 3, Sleight of Hand 3, Stealth 3, Swim 3, Weaponry 4, Appraise 2, Bluff 3, Gather Information 3, Haggling 3, Knowledge (High School, Criminal, Varied) 2, Perception 3, Sense Motive 3, Technology 2, Craft (criminal) 1, Disable Item 4, Forgery 3

Equipment

-Phone, Wallet, Backpack, Keys, Notebook, Pens, Pencils, Textbooks, Folders, Papers, Snack, Lockpicks, Lighter, Cigarettes, Switchblade, Wire, Crowbar, Firecrackers.

-2ndRun: Phone, Wallet, Backpack, Keys, Notebook, Pens, Pencils, Lockpicks, Lighter, Cigarettes, Switchblade, Wire, Crowbar, Firecrackers, Pistol, Earplugs, Flare Gun, 10-Foot Chain, Spray Paint Can, Cherry Bombs, Smoke Bombs, M80 Firecrackers, Deoderant Bomb, Slimazeen

--Slimazeen (slime-based magazine capable of reforming itself to fit any gun in any caliber, but has a limited number of shots that must be refilled with slime. Shots function as normal bullets would but leave no shells or bullets behind, just a small glob of slime that dries out over time.)

Description

-Short, Fit, Tanned Skin, Short Black Hair, Green Eyes, Remik. He looks like he's been in a lot of fights, and he has. Wears blue jeans and tank tops.

-Born into borderline poverty he started stealing at a young age. His parents tried to instill good values into him, but nothing seemed to stick. He got caught shoplifting a few times, but didn't really face consequences until he got into a fight at school. He was in and out of juvie a few times and learned some tricks while he was there. Around high school he started to mellow out and only really did the occasional bit of tagging, vandalism of abandoned buildings, and the occasional bit of underage partying. He fell into the group of outcasts due to stigma against him and made good friends with them. He's had multiple girlfriends but is basically a player.

-Wary, crass, easy to annoy. Protective of his friends but not afraid to get on their case. Willing to stab someone who presses him too much but won't stab his friends.