In that exact moment, Boyd was thinking of Lara. He always thought of her when the Rockrot hit. He thought about how she held him, how her hard and sharp features belayed the wonderful and soulful individual underneath. How despite the fact that they never shared a language, they would always share the language of love. She might’ve been made of rocks, and slightly mossy, and almost 300 times his weight, but she was soft where it counted and she was all woman. They’d made love half a dozen times that night. He had to pay for the first one, she had dues to use the room, but everything after that was just them. He’d had sexual partners, he’d had girlfriends, he’d even been in love. Something about Lara was different. He missed her.
As he dreamt about that one beautiful night with Lara, Chaos reigned around him.
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“Stop thinking about fucking a rock monster and pay attention. He just broke down the Salton Barrier. Anyone can come here until this is fixed. You know the 500 people to a Foray rule? That just got annihilated. In fact, most rules just got annihilated. Zenith is now open for business. This is going to be a massacre of Universe-defying dimensions. Shit’s going to get crowded in just a minute.
“Zina?”
“Yea. It’s me. Listen, I have direct access now. We can talk mostly as needed. With the Salton Barrier down, I can get more done. It also means I have a lot to get accomplished though. I won’t be around all the time, but I will try to be here when you need me. Trust me, right now is one of those times. I know you are probably freaking out, but all hope isn’t lost. I need you to do these things, in this exact order, or you’re gonna die and everyone around here is gonna die. You don’t want that. I don’t want that.”
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Jellybean Jenkins sneered at him and pointed from atop his throne. The two black spiders came rushing towards him. He pulled his revolver and shot Salia in the shoulder with a glancing blow. He figured that even at this range her armour would prevent any serious damage. He followed up with a quick shot to what he assumed what Gmol’s foot and then leapt backwards and tried to set the closest spider for Targeted Ambush. It wouldn’t work as the spiders were very aware of his presence so he frantically started pulling the trigger. The first few shots went considerably wide, but he hit the most proximal spider right in the head with the third one. It stunned the creature momentarily. Boyd fired another round at it and the spider’s health plummeted, but it began charging again.
Almost instantaneously, both spiders exploded in a yellow glow. Boyd looked up to see chain reactions of Decayed exploding all around them. Yellow pops began happening faster and faster throughout the battlefield. Boyd looked over to see Gmol was glowing brightly yellow. The eye/vents/anus things on the top of him were smoking with a purple steam. He continued to light up everything on the battlefield. Boyd glanced back towards the big cave and Deep Scanned the Dusk Dragon.
SYSTEM: Deep Scan! Dusk Dragon [BOSS, SOUL CATCHER, DRAGON]. Rank 413, 414, 415, 416…Scan failure, rank increasing at illogical rate. Check scan conditions. Scan halted.
“Gmol stop! The Dragon has Soul Catcher.”
The pops got faster and faster though across the valley Decayed started falling like dominoes. Gmol was lit up like a Tijuana whorehouse and he didn’t seem like he was going to stop. Whatever was going on with him prevented him from thinking about the results of this actions.
“Salia, get him to stop!”
He looked to where Salia should’ve been, but she was gone, having left only a puff of smoke. Boyd looked up and saw what he would define as a flotilla of Zeppelins in the air. They had a massive logo painted on the balloon portion of things that reminded him of the logo outside of Glipglaup’s inn. Salia was already jetting towards them at top speed. He saw projectiles fly from her VMR and into the blimps, but they remained aloft, returning fire with a range of explosions and random projectiles that looked like she was attacking six different versions of The Death Star.
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She wasn’t going to be of much help.
"Plan B,” Zina said. “Just like we talked about.”
Boyd opened his pack and took out the Jett. Fuck it. Here goes nothing.
SYSTEM: You have snorted (3) Pulverised Jett Crystals. Time dilated by 150% for 45 seconds.
SYSTEM: You are now addicted to Jett.
Boyd felt the world slow down. It was incredible. He felt amazing. He could see everything so much clearer. Why had he ever viewed the world any other way? He reached in his bag for more Jett, but remembered he had something else to do first, so he began rummaging through his pack trying to find his ring. Things tumbled out of his grasp, but he was moving what felt like at the speed of light.
A random Poodle-mix flew from his peripheral vision and swiped a massive claw at him. The Jett slowed things down just enough to keep it from flat out eviscerating him, but it left a small cut through the gut of his leathers. The creature landed in front of him with a thud. It raised a sword and thrust to stab him, but Boyd could see it coming. In fact, he could see it coming before it happened. The creature’s movement was outlined in black before it even occurred. He started dodging as soon as the Poodle-mix had committed. He pulled Party Marty from its leather scabbard and spun left, swinging it as hard as he could. He hit the creature firmly in the lower back sending it reeling to the ground. He could feel Party Marty splitting individual cell after individual cell. It sent shivers of delight up his spine. He pulled his revolver from its holster jammed it against the creature’s head and emptied all five chambers. The Poodle’s face sprayed out onto the battlefield in front of them in slow motion chunks as it collapsed to the ground, extremely dead. Boyd flicked the chamber open and closed it, all he needed to do to ensure it was reloaded, and then shoved it back in its sheath. He reached his hand deep into his pack and pulled out what he was looking for.
He slipped on the Cosplayer’s Ring.
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The Maze, Level 1, Portcullis, a few days ago:
“I’m looking for a magic Strength ring. Ya’ll got one of those by any chance? My Foray told me I can’t do most magic stuff on account of the fact I’m a Monk (Unassigned).”
“We do not. I do have a Magic ring though. This one here. Extraordinary quality. What do you think?”
Boyd examined the ring but couldn’t make much of it.
“Go ahead and scan it,” the merchant said.
SYSTEM: Cosplayer’s Ring [Extraordinary]. Ever wanted to pretend like you were someone else? Try this Cosplayer’s Ring! Only available on Level 1 of the Maze, this Ring allows you to act as if you were any other Class you had the option of selecting during your initial Assignment for 15 seconds. You will retain your current Rank regardless of experience requirement differences. All positive and negative effects associated with Class changes are negated when the ring destroys itself.
“So wait, I can do any other Class? Do I keep any of the bad stuff if there was something I didn’t want from that Class?”
“Nope! You never actually become that Class. You just gain their abilities. It’s a neat little trick. Sometimes groups that are missing a Thief or Rogue pick one up so they can use it later on. They are only available this Level though, so if you want one, you better grab it now.
“I’ll think about it,” Boyd said.
He’d need to raise some more money, but he definitely wanted that ring.
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SYSTEM: Cosplayer’s Ring engaged. Please select a temporary Class. You will not become this Class, but will have access to all their abilities.
Option 1) Monk (Unasssigned). You currently have Ranks in this class.
Option 2) Explosives Handler.
Option 3) Empowered Demonic Envoy of Ash’medai.
Boyd selected “Empowered Demonic Envoy of Ash’medai.”
SYSTEM: You have selected a Class that is antithetical to your Foray’s stated mission. If you accept this choice you will be automatically removed from your Foray.
Boyd mentally clicked yes.
SYSTEM: You have been removed from Fleon’s Fine Foray for the Filary!
SYSTEM: Your current Class is Empowered Demonic Envoy of Ash’medai. This will last 40.2 more seconds (15s + time dilation from Jett Crystals).
He hoped Grandma would understand.