)+\( Hugo )/+(

A chorus of footfalls on the old, sealed stone roads echoed off the damaged facades of the surrounding buildings. Storefronts where he had passed an afternoon with tea or shopped for small gifts were broken and burnt. Each stayed with him like a pebble in his shoe.

More screaming came from their vanguard, and Hugo rounded what he remembered to be a pale green corner store to see another transport craft under heavy fire. One engine was smoking, but the pilot had managed to keep it in the air. Hugo resolved that issue, and the thing careened into the second story apartments that sat atop a cherished art gallery. The building caught fire, and flaming pieces of the ceiling fell down onto the exhibit. In the street, another two members of their group were still and bloody.

They paid heavily to move the few blocks between the garden and the lodge, but the building was now in sight. Just a few dozen steps from where the most recent two dead now lay.

He shook the thought from his mind, and ushered the group with him forward. While initially unplanned, their formation of a grouping of non-combatants flanked by small teams of capable fighters had worked well enough to get them here. Their groups milled and glanced at the sky and the surroundings uncomfortably, waiting for the first ones in to tell them the Lodge was clear. It was another two transport ships - and one that looked more like an inverted bucket - before Gerald poked his head through the doorway to usher everyone inside. It was not a quick operation, and Hugo and Vidita fought off another transport before they and the remaining combatants stepped inside the building.

A pair of oversized wooden doors led directly into a tall circular lobby with a crescent desk at its center. Every inch of the place was seemingly carved from gleaming marble, though Hugo's eyes could hardly make out the color. He approached a wall, and ran his hand over a series of intricate carvings. Based on the stares from everyone else around him, it would have been a truly lovely thing to behold. Vidita squeezed his hand, and her breath tickled his ear.

"I'll tell you everything about it later. Let's keep going."

Hugo squeezed her hand in kind, and followed the slowly milling crowd through a small doorway in the back of the lobby, then through a winding set of hallways and rooms before they reached a wide staircase. When they descended that, there was another series of hallways and rooms to an even longer set of stairs. Then another. Some of the older members of their group were stopped to rest and recover. Hugo and Vidita proceeded on, where they eventually reached a large, oval-shaped room that seemed big enough to house the entire tutorial group. Visible near the right wall was a nervous-looking Gerald, flanked by Norton and Brinkha.

When Gerald spotted Hugo, he grimaced. Norton patted the man's shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

"Gerald, thank you. Your generosity to welcome us into the Lodge has certainly given us the respite we needed. It would appear we are even deeper than the underground railways here - more than enough to protect us from the threats above. With this much space, we will be able to keep our people safe for a long while."

The man rubbed his hands against his thick forearms.

"You better just tell him," Brinkha admonished, "or he's going to keep talking, and it's going to be even worse."

Hugo frowned. "Whatever problems we have, we will find a way to resolve them. What is the matter?"

Gerald groaned, and gave Brinhka an accusatory glare before he trained his attention on Hugo and started a nervous ramble. "So, the masons are pretty old, you know? And, for a while, we had some really eccentric leadership. But, you know, there were some weird people and they did weird stuff, and that happens everywhere, right? You don't actually think all that dead-language chanting is, like, real, or anything. It's performative. And then what you do is performative, and that's fine, even if it gets to be a big performance, cause its weird but its not you being weird, its the masons being weird..."

His voice trailed off, and he looked from the ground, to Hugo, and back again. Brinkha slapped him on the back, and he continued.

"So, one of the grandmasons decided the world was going to end in some catastrophic weather event that would drive everyone off the surface of Vuxarina, and that it was the responsibility of the masons to provide a place for them to live when that happened. Totally crazy. But it became part of the training and the ritual, you know? You go down, you excavate a bit, and you place stones, and practice where no one is looking, and make stuff. And you do that over and over again, and then, yeah. This isn't the bottom. It's the antechamber."

Hugo let his gaze trace over the high ceiling, and the massive room. He was quite certain the size was real, and not some sort of trick to the eye. The place they were standing in was massive enough to rival the original royal hall.

Brinkha elbowed Gerald hard, and the man rubbed his forearms one more time, then turned and put a hand on the wall. The block there shifted, and a series of scraping stone noises filled the antechamber as a grand section of the wall curled itself away to reveal a... much larger space.

Yet another wide stone staircase led down to a series of stone streets and buildings meant to mirror the city above. Hugo could see several city blocks from where he stood, and at least three of the buildings - the underground buildings - were five stories tall. Their top floors still failed to reach the ceiling of the massive open space.

The din of quiet conversations in the antechamber disappeared as their entire group took in the sight.

Hugo's attention had already been drawn away from the architecture - partially because it was difficult to make everything out at this distance. Partly because the architecture was not the most interesting thing about the scene.

Seen through Hugo's eyes, the vast space was a sea of moving lights. Thousands of souls - thousands of Vuxarinans were spread throughout the streets and buildings.

Gerald let out a nervous cough, then motioned with his hand.

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"Welcome to the undercity."

+ Reid +

The rain continued overnight, accompanied by a mix of seemingly natural thunder - and flashes in the distance that looked like targeted empowerment. After some prompting from Nyx, Reid took her advice to rest himself to 100% before he started diving down into his stats.

Thanks to his newest piece of equipment, that rest only took him a few hours.

Dreamroll [E] An enhanced bedroll designed for comfort and restorative sleep. Adaptive insulation provides heat retention or shedding based on occupant's temperature. Induces a highly efficient REM/NREM cycle to optimize physical and mental restoration.

Reid was not a sleep scientist, but what he did know was that the Dreamroll worked. He popped awake, fresh, after only a few hours - even though his body had been recovering from the lingering effects of the Crinoptera fight. That alone was worth keeping the equipment at hand, without the absolutely perfect feeling he had when he slipped inside the sleeping-bag like device and laid his head on the built-in pillow it provided. Someone, somewhere, must have made a prayer for Reid's pillow to always be cool. It was just that good.

Sure, he'd been sleeping on the ground or on a makeshift pile of clothing pushed into the rough shape of a bed - but he felt like he was still getting an accurate feel for how amazing the thing was.

Another flash of lighting cracked overhead, in the direction of the incline Reid had seen on the map. That spot was something of a target for the flashes of light, and his only assumption was that a beast of some kind was in the process of getting a massive power boost. Reid pushed off his growing curiosity to go out, explore, and see what was up with the local wildlife. He could do that once he made some progress on his stats.

#

#

Nearly a week and a half later, the rain seemed like it was coming to an end. Reid's water containers were all full, and he'd even taken a bit of time to properly carve up and cook some of the meat from Crinoptera. His stat gains came easier, with less pain, and a better general understanding of how and where to focus effort to get good results. A simple ask to Nyx got him the answer that he was reaping the benefits of 'aligning' himself properly with his conduit work, plus getting a bit of help out of his achievements, and finally - that things would get tougher the closer he got to the limit. To Reid, it was just a net bonus. Extra gains now were more than welcomed, no matter what he had to deal with later on.

Constitution: 630 -> 710 Dexterity: 630 -> 702 Intelligence: 630 -> 699 Perception: 630 -> 721 Power: 630 -> 835 Control: 1260

Reid unapologetically poured most of the self-affixation time into Power. It was still the best stat.

He had every intention of doing things right. Waiting until he had fully maxxed himself out stat-wise before leaving his current shelter, and then making sure he was equipped with workable, good armor before he got into any fights. He was going to stay put, and be smart, and use the extra time available to him.

Then he got a notification.

-

NOTICE: Planetary Cascade Complete. Planetary Grade for [Vuxarina] is now E. General Difficulty for all planetary and local quests has increased.

-

Questline: Domain Wars updated!

Domain Wars All of [Vuxarina] has been claimed by beast or individuals. As a faction leader for [The Osteal Empire], you must carve your faction's place into the planet. Defeat the targeted beasts local to you and conquer the listed domain(s) to earn a reprieve from fighting, beacon control, and resource control. As a faction leader, you may choose to ally with other factions, or oppose them. Your faction has shown severe hostility against faction [Belar Trade Corporation]. Agreements and Treaties may be made with [Belar Trade Corporation] to secure peace. Your faction occupies multiple locations on [Vuxarina]! Domain Wars sub quest generated for highest ranking member of splinter forces, [Hugo Vux].

Phase One Objectives: 1. Defeat enemy beasts on [Otok Dayo] ( 0 / 2 ) 2. Encounter at least one member of another faction on [Otok Dayo]. ( 0 / 1 )

-

Skill Triggered - Accelerated Growth Warning: Accelerated Growth will not apply to sub-quest for [Hugo Vux] Questline Objectives Updated

1. Defeat the Domain Lord atop [Mt. Dayo] (Level 75) 2. Defeat at least half of the Domain Lord's spawn and minions before they conquer all non-enemy, non-beast settlements in the area. Beasts remaining: ???? Settlements Remaining: ( 6 / 6 ) Dayo Wolte. Dayo Norte. Dayo Evni. Dayo Sovni. Ferber Compound. Unnamed Camp.

Difficulty Increase has triggered aggression tactic - Beast Wave - for: - Unnamed Camp - Dayo Wolte

Next Wave (5 Enemy Beasts) in: 12H 02M 55S

-

NOTICE: You are the owner of a camp! Camps are non-fixed settlements that meet a minimum mixture of criteria, including shelter, sleeping accommodations, and relative power level of inhabitants. Your camp was automatically named [Unnamed Camp]. You may change this name.

-

Reid let out a long, exasperated groan.

Why couldn't things just be simple? Or simpler? Reid was fine with focusing on building himself up to go kill one strong beast. Heck, he actually liked doing that, in his own way.

What he didn't like was the system deciding that other settlements near him were also going to get caught up in his quests. It felt like a small miracle that things hadn't gotten unrealistically difficult for Hugo, but Hugo wasn't who he was worried about - he was concerned for whoever else was being targeted by the damn questline. Those were going to be people, either from tutorials or on planet, that probably had strength more similar to a Norton or Brinkha than to him and Hugo.

There was no great solution to the current situation, either. Reid had no idea where he was, and he sure as hell didn't know where the other settlements would be, unless... Reid hadn't been given an indicator for the Domain Lord automatically, like the system had done with beast lord markers. He focused in on the quest, then the objective. A marker appeared under his focused attention, pointed to a high spot to the West-Northwest.

He focused again, on the defense objectives of the quest. Six markers appeared, in varying positions. His 'camp' was essentially right over his own head. The rest were at least twice as far away from Reid as the domain lord on Mount Dayo. He focused a bit harder. Dayo Sovri was closest, and was Northwest of his location. Dayo Evni was the second closest, and was nearly straight north. After that was Dayo Wolte to the North Northwest, Dayo Norte to the North Northeast, and finally the Ferber Compound nearly straight North again. It was interesting for the settlements to be grouped the way they were, and the idle part of Reid's mind wondered on whether the layout was because of some geography like a river, or mountain ranges, or maybe they were all penned in by a peninsula.

Knowing their location was only helpful enough for Reid to understand that he wouldn't make it to Wolte in time to help them with their beast wave. He reluctantly focused on himself and his own next steps. Minutes and hours ticked by as he grew himself a passing set of armor, and turned his cave-like camp into a miniature battlement. When he was done, Reid was actually a bit proud of the bone walls that made a 20 foot wide ring in the landscape, and the wide line of trees he'd cut down to provide better visibility for whatever creatures were going to take part in the waves. This was going to be his first fight outside the tutorial, and his first fight while in E grade. He wanted to enjoy it, and felt that it was going to be good.

It was with this happy, smiling optimism that Reid watched the timer end, did a final check of his equipment, waited for the enemy to arrive, and used identify at the first motion he noticed in the treeline.

-

Identify Successful!

Volitant Orb Weaver - Domain Lord's Spawn Level: 55 Skills: Paralyzing Bite, Volitant

-

His smile dropped to a disgusted frown.

He was wrong.

This was going to suck.

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