“Um,” said Cherri. “I was level zero. Now I’m level one, it says. I think I’m supposed to do something.”

Ash shook in his vase. “What?”

Petals, in the lead, reached the corridor leading to room 187, according to the map. Room 189, she hoped, would be next to it. “That’s a new one on me.” Neither Justine nor Alfie had programmed XP gains for NPCs. “Holy crap. You know what this means?”

“Not something good, from the sound of it,” said Greta.

“It. Means,” said Ash. “Shadow. Monsters. Can.”

“Advance,” Petals finished for him. “And there are no limiters on them. But it will take one heck of a long time for a level five thousand monster to gain the XP needed to advance even one level.”

“Like. That. Matters,” said Ash.

Greta followed two steps behind Cherri, who followed two steps behind Petals. The Green Warrior clucked her tongue. “But the shadow monsters won’t hurt me, I’m guessing. Being that I’m one of Seth’s minions.”

“Even if they kill us,” said Petals, “we should keep coming back. So whether or not they hurt you isn’t the issue. As I’ve mentioned before, you don’t want them trapping you, preventing you from moving about freely. Also, possessing you and making you act against your will… that seems even worse to me.”

“I have this character sheet hanging in front of me in the air,” said Cherri. “It’s hard to see where I’m going. I’m supposed to do something with it.”

“Sorry, but we don’t have time to walk you through the point assignment process right now.” Petals stopped beside the door to Room 187. Twenty feet further ahead, the hallway ended, with no other doors in sight. But there was space where one could be, where a Room 189 would exist if there was a Room 189. She faced that portion of the wall straight on and aimed her staff at it. “Wall where there no door now be, may your secrets revealed I See.”

A cone of sparks shot from the end of her staff, sprinkling the wall with their glitter. Some of the glimmering bits slid down the wall, while others adhered. Those that stuck formed the sides of a rectangle, outlining a door-sized area. A third of the way down from the top of the rectangle another group of glitter had stuck, giving shape to a three digit number—189.

“Wow,” said Cherri, drawing out the word. “I wish I could see what you’re doing better, but I’m guessing this is where that creepy snake eye guy wanted us to come. If we’re going in now, could you please tell me how to get rid of this character sheet in my face? I want to get the full experience of what’s behind that door. Please, please, please.”

Ash nodded his wigged end towards Cherri. “Help. Her. Do. Assignments.”

“Okay,” said Petals, “but let’s make it quick.” She turned to Cherri. “What does your first line of text say?”

“Character Name: Cherri, Awakened NPC.”

“Awakened NPC?” That wasn’t anything Justine or Alfie had put in the game. “Okay, what’s the second line?”

“Class: Moon Priestess. Level: 1, Fame: 0.”

“Moon Priestess?” How was any of this possible? “And you’re level 1 in it? Okay then. The next line should be your Gold.”

Cherri grimaced. “Yeah. I have zero.”

“Nothing to buy then. Look down four more lines. How many unassigned stat points do you have?”

“Ten.”

“And a couple lines below that, how many unassigned skill points?”

“Zero.”

“Hmm.” Petals had expected four. “In your head, just will the assignments to happen the way I tell you. Assign two points to Body, two points to Mind, and six points to Spirit. Got it?” She waited for a confirming nod. “Okay, now, for your Body stats, assign one point to Defense and one point to Balance. For your Mind stats, assign one point to Defense and one point to Balance. For your Spirit stats, assign two points to Offense, one point to Defense, two points to Initiative, and one point to Balance. Got it?”

Cherri nodded again.

“You should see some HP stats. What are they?”

“Six for Body, seven for Mind, and eleven for Spirit.”

“That should be it then. You can wish it away, Cherri, and the character sheet should disappear.”

“Oh, good, it’s gone.” Cherri exhaled loudly, bending forward at the waist. She straightened, determination setting her jawline. She crossed her arms over her chest like she’d done earlier in an attempt to defend herself. Unfortunately, with no points to assign to skills, the girl still wouldn’t be of much help in an encounter. She gave Petals a grin. “Anything else I should do?”

“Will your inventory to appear. What do you see?”

Cherri shrugged. “An empty ten by ten grid.”

“Okay, dismiss that and request to see your equipped items. What’s listed?”

“Um. Sailor top, skirt, and shoes. Scimitar. Backpack of mystery - container, known contents: bald doll.”

Petals wondered about the backpack of mystery. She didn’t remember Justine or Alfie programming an item with that name. The game they were playing now wasn’t exactly the same game they’d programmed. Someone or something had modified it. Could Seth be responsible for the mods? He had access to Justine’s computer in the real world. Could he possibly know how to write code? Maybe so. After all, he was code, wasn’t he? “Okay. So, do you understand? You can call up or dismiss your character sheet or inventory whenever you want. Just wish it to appear or disappear.”

“Got it.” Cherri’s grin widened into a smile. “Let’s do this.”

Commotion sounded from the far end of the hall. “There.” A group of teenage NPC girls hurried towards Petals and her friends.

The outline of the hidden door faded. Petals would need to cast her spell to See it again, but first she needed to deal with these newcomers. She wasn’t keen for any NPCs not traveling with her to know the location of Room 189. She watched carefully as six girls in camouflaged tank tops and miniskirts approached. They each carried a rifle, aimed at the ceiling.

One of the rifle-toting girls stepped forward as the others stopped behind her, leveling their rifles at the PCs. The leader popped bubble gum. “You there, Flower Head. Come with us, and no one gets hurt.”

Cherri approached the camouflaged group, her arms still crossed over her chest in an X pattern. “She’s with me. You can just turn around now and be on your way.”

The enemy leader popped another bubble. “Nah, Sailor Toon. I don’t think you understand. She’s coming with us, one way or another. You can still be standing here when we leave, or you can eat our bullets and go bye bye. Which will it be?”

Greta sidled up to Petals, keeping her voice low. “Can our armor protect us against their weapons?”

The Pink Wizard shook her head. “I doubt it.”

“Not even long enough for you to open that secret door?”

“I doubt it.”

“Then what’s the plan?”

“Hey,” shouted the rifle girl leader. “Enough talking back there. Come on, Flower Head. Wander up here, and your friends can continue enjoying the convention. Or we pop them, and you still come with us. I’m not asking nicely again.”

“Petals,” Ash whispered. “Go. I. Have. Plan.”

“I’d like to know what it is,” the Pink Wizard whispered back.

“I said, stop talking,” the leader leveled her rifle at Cherri. “One more word, and Sailor Toon here gets it.”

The Moon Priestess took a stride forward. “I’m not afraid of you. Now shoo.”

“That’s it.” The leader looked down her rifle’s sights. Her finger tightened on the trigger.

“Moon Defense,” cried Cherri, thrusting her X’ed arms forward.

The rifle fired. A bullet whined. It smacked something harder than flesh and ricocheted towards the ceiling, then off the ceiling back towards the camouflaged group. One of the girls to the leader’s right dropped her weapon and fought to keep her balance on her left leg. “What the hell?” She crashed to the floor onto her butt, grabbing her right calf. “Who shot me? What’s happening here?”

Petals aimed her staff over Cherri’s shoulder at the leader. She didn’t need to cast See to know whether the group was possessed by shadow monsters. “Your lips flapped. Now you get Zapped.”

Lightning streaked from the tip of her staff, frying the leader, who popped like a bubblegum bubble. The fired rifle vanished with her, while a 10 Gold coin clattered to the floor in her place.

The camouflaged girls still standing fired their rifles, two aiming at Greta and two at Cherri. They couldn’t effectively target Petals with Cherri in the way, but they likely didn’t want to harm the target of their quest anyway. The bullets they aimed at Cherri ricocheted off her invisible barrier. One bounced bullet struck a standing rifle girl in the head. She exploded, splattering wet bits everywhere around her within five feet. A coin dropped.

One of the bullets aimed at Greta struck her buckler, embedding itself in the green wood. The other bullet struck flesh with a squishing sound, and the Green Warrior staggered back, but didn’t fall down or explode. Her armor had protected her enough that her high HP stat hadn’t been fully reduced to zero.

Not one to let even a grievous wound deter her, the Green Warrior loosed a war cry and charged, her bastard sword swinging. One of the unwounded rifle girls lost her head, blasting to bits like her slain comrades had, dropping treasure too.

Cherri rushed forward, extending one arm, her palm turned towards the remaining rifle girl who’d aimed at her. “Stop, I command you in the name of the Moon Goddess.”

The target of her command laughed and squeezed the trigger, or tried. Flustered, she tried again, but still no bullet discharged.

Petals aimed her staff at the other standing rifle girl, the one with sights still on Greta, and Zapped her before she could fire. Pop went the weasel. More treasure dropped.

With a glower, Greta hauled her bastard sword over one shoulder to let it hang down behind her back. Favoring her right leg, she advanced on the remaining armed enemy.

The rifle girl kept squeezing the trigger, the end of her barrel in Cherri’s face. The Moon Priestess didn’t flinch.

“Wait,” said Ash.

Ignoring him, or perhaps not hearing, the Green Warrior swung overhand, cleaving the rifle girl in two through the top of her head. The defeated enemy’s two halves popped… like… well… bubblegum bubbles. A coin fell.

A whimper wafted across the hall from the wounded girl nursing her calf. “You killed them.” She reached for her rifle, the only one of the enemy’s weapons still in evidence.

Petals aimed her staff at the last camouflaged girl. “Touch it, and you’re dead. It’s possessed, and if you touch it, you’ll become possessed. That’s why we killed your friends. Not that they’re really dead, trust me.”

“You’re crazy,” said the rifle girl, but she drew back her hand.

“Don’t tell me we’re letting this one live.” Greta twirled her bastard sword.

“As long as she doesn’t interfere.” Petals held the vase near the rifle. Part of her wanted to let Greta end the wounded rifle girl, but another part of her felt sick at the thought of killing a defenseless girl who hadn’t been in control of her actions to begin with.

Greta twirled her sword again. “But we could collect another coin.”

Ash jumped out of the vase, landing on the fallen weapon. “Oust.”

A shadowy ghost rose from the rifle to hover above it. Echoes of a malevolent chuckle bounced off the walls.

Petals aimed her staff. “Zap you, creep.” A lightning bolt sent the shadow monster to shadow hell.

The rifle girl scooted across the floor on her butt, gasping with each movement of her wounded leg, putting as much distance as she could between her and her dropped weapon. “What the hell was that? Who are you people?”

“She’s right,” said Cherri. “We should have a name for our group. Moon Defenders sounds nice.”

Greta harrumphed. “We might as well call ourselves the Green Bastards as to name ourselves after you, Moon Priestess.”

“I was thinking Secret Garden.” Petals pointed at her flowery scalp and laughed.

“No,” said Ash. He inched towards Greta, leading with his wigged end, keeping it off the floor. “Come. I. Heal.”

Greta rolled her eyes. “What kind of group name is that?”

“No.” Ash pounced at the Green Warrior, landing on her right thigh. He wrapped himself around the limb, barely reaching all the way around. “I. Heal. You.”

Relief brightened the Green Warrior’s gaze, followed by mischief. “You ever been that close to a secret garden before, little guy?”

Ash dropped from her leg. “Don’t. Make. Fun. Bastard… Sword. Wielder.”

“Oh, ha ha, funny.” Greta pointed her bastard sword at Ash. “What was it that pirate boy called you? A turd? I was actually thinking something else, but maybe turd is spot on.”

“Group. Name,” said Ash. “Gray. Turds.”

“We’re not calling ourselves the Gray Turds.” Petals collected the five dropped coins, each worth 10 Gold. That gave her 50 Gold, as much as she’d started the game with. It was party treasure, of course, and she’d use it to buy equipment for others if it made sense. But it felt nice having it under her control.

The Gray Healer crawled towards the seated rifle girl.

“Stay away from me, you hairy log.” Panic gripped the girl, and she floundered trying to stand and flee simultaneously, all the while wincing in pain.

Ash sprang at her. She screamed, both arms flailing but failing to connect with her target. Landing on her calf, the hairy log wound around it. “Heal.”

The panic visibly fled from the rifle girl’s face. She slumped onto her butt once more and buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders trembled. Ash withdrew.

“It’s okay.” Cherri knelt beside the rifle girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’re one of us now. You can use your rifle to help us fight the shadow monsters that are possessing everyone. What’s your name?”

“Hey,” said Greta, “who put you in charge, Moonbeam? I still think we should have killed her for the money.”

“I don’t want to be any trouble,” said the rifle girl. “My name’s Elena.”

Cherri fetched the fallen rifle and handed it to Elena. “This is yours.”

Petals extended a hand to Elena and helped her to her feet. “If you want to come with us, you can. I’d rather you did, actually. If you want to go find your friends, I’m guessing they’ll respawn soon. But their rifles are still possessed, and if you go back out there, yours will become possessed again, which means you’ll be possessed again, which means you’ll come hunting for me again, and we’re likely to kill you. You’ll keep respawning and coming after me, and we’ll keep killing you. Doesn’t sound like much fun for you. But stick with us, and if what happened with Cherri here is any indication, you’ll become an awakened NPC. Everything will be different then.” She turned to Cherri. “I thought you didn’t have any unassigned skill points. But you clearly have skills. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Cherri shrugged. “You didn’t ask, and we were in a hurry.”

“Well, spill. What skills do you have?”

“I have Moon Defense 2 and Stop 2.”

“Two skills at level two each. Interesting choice. I’m glad you have them. We might not have survived an encounter with six rifle girls otherwise.” Petals clapped the Moon Priestess on the shoulder. “You have my gratitude.”

Cherri beamed. “Thanks!”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Greta. “We’re all buddy buddy. Woo hoo. Now what?”

"I want to join you," said the rifle girl.

“Then welcome to the group, Elena,” said Petals.

Encounter ended, flashed a message in the lower right corner of the Pink Wizard’s view. Congratulations, you have gained level two Wizard. Her character sheet came up before her. “I guess we take time to do this.” She had an unassigned stat point, and used it to increase her Mind Offense, which would cause her Zap spell to deal more damage. “Greta, do you have an unassigned stat point?”

“I’ve already added it to my Body Offense stat.”

“Ash?”

“Spirit. Offense.”

“Cherri, did you gain level two?”

“Not quite.”

Petals glanced at the new addition to their group. “Elena, do you have a character sheet?” She doubted it, but it didn’t hurt to make sure.

“Not that I know of.” She raised a finger. “What about Color Guard? For a group name.”

“I. Like,” said Ash.

“Me, too,” said Cherri.

“It’s okay,” said Greta.

“Color Guard it is,” said Petals. “So that’s all settled.” She lowered the vase for Ash, and he jumped inside. Returning to the end of the hallway, she aimed her staff at the wall. “Like a garden of secrets, let me See yours.”

Glitter sprayed from her staff to highlight the hidden door to Room 189 as it had done before. She kept her staff extended. “In the name of the Moon Goddess, grant us Access.”

Cherri purred.

Cracks appeared in the wall along the rectangular outline. A door thusly formed swung into a dark area beyond.

“Flashlight time,” said Greta. “Who’s going in first?”

“I’m not afraid,” said Cherri.

“I didn’t say I was afraid,” Greta growled. “But if you want to be the intrepid explorer, I say go for it.”

Petals held up a hand. “Quiet, both of you. I’m going first.”