'Ey-o! It's Lizzy! Your favorite member of the Silvernight Queens, expert halberdier and master smith! I am your favorite, right? No? Boo. Well anyway. I'll be taking over the story for a little bit today while the lovebirds are out on their date. Or is it a science experiment? Or was it a bit of both? Whatever!

So yeah. Saturday morning. Most of the family was out at some reunion or other (really weird for fall, right? Glad you agree!) -- well, okay, all of them but me were there. I avoid those things like the plague, and I have job interviews and stuff I want to focus on this fall. But anyway. After a lovely shower and a quiet breakfast, I checked my assignments to make sure I'd done everything (Andrea gets super on my case if I don't), and when that was done (I got them all, no worries) I spent some time reading my favorite ongoing comics and a couple shows before lunch. I almost forgot to put something on when checking the mail, but luckily I dodged that bullet. Dear Mr and Mrs James, your daughter put on quite the sight the other day... yeah, we're really sick of those letters here.

Anyhow. Once lunch and checking the mail was out of the way, I logged in to Panarena Fantasy Online, the newest craze among all dedicated gamers. I was so happy when I found out I had more than a few friends at school who play it, even Sean. I kind of knew he was a recluse; I should've put it together sooner that he was a gamer-kid like I was. Well, a gamer G.I.R.L., to be more precise.

Aren't you just shocked by his exploitation of female avatars for his own amusement? Hun. I've played a few games, let me tell you. And I can tell you he's not one of those guys. Plus he has Rachel for a girlfriend: they hit it off in both lives really well, and I get the feeling that any sort of pervy impulses Sean might have had pretty much died when they started hanging out. I mean, they really are so meant for each other. So no, I'm not shocked, because there's nothing much to be shocked about. And it seems like he's getting used to people just accepting it -- w-e-ll... I mean, not everyone knows. Just the guild. Our guild. And Tyler Smith. But I bet if more people did find out, he'd get used to it the way he's gotten used to us knowing.

Of course, he plays coy about it even with us in school. Such a cute little dork. Speaking of which, I wonder if Mary really does have the hots for him... you never know! Oh, but anyway.

So yeah, we've been on this huge quest-line for over a week now, and the three of us, Healina (Andrea), Maryn (duh!), and myself are just going to scout ahead a bit to see what this new dungeon might have in store. Or at least the area around the dungeon. Sean and Rachel should be back as Lana and Ariana by the mid-afternoon, right? … Right?

Ah! Get back on track, girl, get back on track.

So the three of us met up pretty much like we planned, around one in the afternoon real-time. It was early morning in Panarena. Weird, but enjoyable. I guess you know that one hour here is only fifteen minutes in real life, due to some complicated process that accelerates our perception while using the Dream Machine. I'm no science-freak the way Andrea is, but I'd love to know how they do this. We were talking a while back in fact about how it might be used in education or exhibits and stuff some day.

Marshes, marshes.

I found Maryn and Heali waiting for me on the porch of the inn we had rented. We exchanged a few high-fives and a hug, and then set out to the northeast, where our quest marker was pointing.

“Come to think of it, Lana and Ari didn't log out at the inn -- or did they?” Heali wondered.

“Ehh, dunno.” I shrugged back.

“Even if they didn't they'll still log back in town.” Maryn said.

“There ya go.”

“Hope they come on by three or so; or maybe they'll get lost in each other's eyes and forget about us for the day.” Healina said romantically.

“Those two? You never know, I guess.” I smirked back. I couldn't help but notice Maryn seemed downcast about that. “Bet they find all sorts of cool stuff today, however it ends up.”

“I'd guess they were on their way home by now,” Maryn said as we stepped through a more tree-clad area of the marsh outside of Lavarien. That was the city we logged into, by the way. Well, I guess less city and more town, but, y'know.

“We can hope!” I agreed. “But this place. This is much more what I expected when we entered the Marshes of the Wyrd, you know?”

“Exactly.” Healina agreed with a nod. “The spooky, dead-tree bayou kind of place with dried up reeds and crows or bats flying around.”

“Speaking of which, Halloween is almost here!” Maryn smiled.

“Totally!” I grinned back.

“We should all dress up and just wander the neighborhood!” Heali remarked.

“Oh yeah, totally.” I nodded back. Maryn suddenly held back a snort. “Hmm?”

“No, no! Nothing! It's nothing!” she replied in a giggly voice.

“That's not nothing.” Heali returned with a sly grin.

“Forget it, really!” the older girl told us.

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“Not now we won't!” the two of us replied at once, both turning to face her.

“Ahh...” she sighed, a lopsided grin on her face. “Wouldn't it just be funny if we all dressed up as queens and got Sean to do it as well? Or maybe make him a manservant in raggedy clothes?” she told us, breaking down into laughter again. This time we joined in the laughing.

“Oh, Gawwwd, pl-ea-se! For the love of all things Halloween, we have to make that happen, somehow!” I cackled back.

“Right!?” Heali giggled furiously. “We'll have to get Rachel in on it too! She'll love the idea and he just can't say no to her, he never does!”

“Oh, he might try this time!” I winked back.

“Ahh, my,” Maryn said as she collected herself again.

“But anyway... back to scouting.” I said, clearing my throat to make the laughter stop.

We went a few miles deeper into the swamp, at least as far as we could tell. Sallymander, our pet salamander, was sneaking around with us too by the way.

“Come to think of it we never did use that bottle thing in the Storm Dungeon...” I suddenly realized as we observed a few tough looking monsters from the safety of some old bulrushes.

“Hmm? Oh, the one Sally handed off to Lana.” Maryn recalled. “True. I wonder if we get to use it in the next? Or if we just missed an opportunity in the last one?”

“Ugh. If I find out on the forums someday that we could have made that fight easier with that bottle, I'mma smack that boy.” I muttered grouchily.

“Go easy on him. We didn't think of it either.” Heali reminded me, and I sighed.

“You'd think he would.” I mumbled, and Maryn giggled.

“I think these are elites, by the way.” Heali then said.

“Hmm? All these gorilla things?”

“I see some specters further ahead, and some corpse-type monsters also.” Maryn added; she'd come across a spyglass in her questing before meeting us, and was using it now, since we didn't have Ari or Lana with their special sight skills. “And... that might be a trapped path...” she added as she settled her gaze on a particular area.

“Where at?” I asked her; she passed the spyglass to me and helped me zero in on the area in question.

“See those tall flowers? The ones with the long orange petals?” she said to me.

“Yep; ohh, I getcha. Man-eaters.” I noted.

“Exactly.”

“Eek!” Heali winced.

“Right?” I agreed.

“Should we call it a success and go wait for the other two?” Maryn wondered. “I can't imagine much worse in the way than those elites and the man-eaters.”

“Why not.” I agreed. “Although, let's be sure of the path a little more than this. Maybe we can find a way around some of them.” I then said, and the other two agreed with me.

So we spent the next two Panarena hours wandering around carefully, trying to see if there were any shortcuts or paths that might help us avoid the greater part of the dangers. To sum it up: not really. No matter which way we took, there were man-eaters and ghouls around; and I would bet every smithing hammer I owned that some of the trees would come to life as well. We then decided to head back, and upon our arrival, or rather return to town, we found no Lana or Ariana.

So we explored the town for a bit. No logins. Maryn said they would probably text us when they were on their way, which was true, so I logged out to check. No messages on my phone; but Rachel's blog (oh yeah, she has a little photo-blog) showed them near Pond Lake. Sean was trying to get a shot of something and she was taking a pic of him captioned “Caution: Future Biologist at Work”.

“Pfffffffft, I love you girl.” I said, putting a heart on her post. Then I realized I hadn't locked my door, so I did that before putting the Dream Machine on again. Not that I minded being walked in on, but since I never knew who would be at the door, better safe than sorry.

Back in Panarena, the other two were waiting for me at the market. I shrugged, and they sighed.

“They're still at the park, it looks like.” I said to them.

“Oh wow. They must really want that extra-credit.” Maryn remarked.

“They hate math, and they're really iffy about science some days, so yeah, they'll take any edge they can get.” I nodded back.

“True.” Heali agreed. “Oh! We found a bathhouse, by the way.”

“What!” I said, and we headed for this at once. It took all I had to not get out of my armor until we were in the changing rooms there, but a few minutes later it was all worth it.

“Oh, wow!” Maryn said as she slid in with us.

“Riiiight?” I sighed happily. “We should show you the one at Cloverbell sometime.”

“That's a hotspring.” Heali corrected me.

“What-everrr.” I stuck my tongue out, and we laughed. “If they make us wait longer, let's not tell them about this spot.”

“Agree.” Heali nodded.

“Aww. But okay. Fair.” Maryn returned. “We should do this in real life sometime as well. And invite Rachel to go.”

“No Sean?” Heali smirked back.

“Girls' night.” I quipped.

“Exactly.” Maryn nodded.

“Poor Sean.” our healer quietly chuckled.

“Oh please.” I retorted. “He's--well, never mind.”

“Hmm?” our shield-user wondered.

“Nothing.” the two of us said at once. She seemed dissatisfied with that answer, but left it at that for the moment.

Now, Sean and Rachel didn't log in for nearly a day in Panarena time; but I suppose we could forgive them in the end. That was the most heavenly bath any of us ever had in our lives. And we really did need that rejuvenation for what was ahead; but I'm sure Sean will tell you all about it next time. Anyway, we briefly logged out to get our dinners, and then hurried back on to wait for our two guildmates -- guild leaders? Whatever. See you next time!