[Tutorial Complete]

[All Mandatory Goals Completed]

[Survival Rate: 95%]

[Average Level: 61]

[Group Grade: Excellent]

[Dungeon Trials: All 10 levels completed]

[Trials: All Trial types completed]

[Great Tutorial Dungeon: Standard Mode completed]

[Great Tutorial Dungeon: Duo Mode 5 levels completed]

[Personal Grade: Excellent]

[Group Reward:]

[Choose one of:]

[Customized Item Reward]

[+40 to an Attribute of your choice (cannot exceed Tier limit)]

[+5 to a Resistance of your choice (may be used to initiate a new Resistance)]

[+5 to an Affinity of your choice (may be used to initiate a new Affinity, limited)]

[Minor Body Modification (your choice, limited)]

[100 Etherium]

[Bonus Path Skill (limited selection)]

[Personal Reward: Choose two additional times from the Group Reward table]

Nightwitch was sitting in the chair outside the x-ray room when she reappeared. She looked up at the X-ray tech and smiled. “You know, I don’t think I need to go in there now.”

The X-ray tech laughed. “Yeah, somehow I think it’s going to be a slow day for me.”

Scenes a lot like that happened all over the hospital. Not everyone was cheerful, but a lot of the people in the hospital simply picked up their belongings and left. Many collected their rewards immediately, but others left their rewards waiting while they thought about which to pick.

Some of them had to call family members for a lift home (or for clothing), but many others headed out to catch the subway. It took a while for the hospital to empty, but within a couple of hours most of the patients were ones who were admitted after the Tutorial ended. It was the quietest the hospital had been in years.

Some of the employees were already thinking about what the new healing abilities would mean. Many things couldn’t be healed that way, but enough could that it could change everything for them.

Lancaster reappeared next to the nurses’ station on the second floor. He picked up everything that hadn’t made it into the Tutorial from the floor - it was quite a bit - and absently tucked them in his storage bag except for his phone and keys as he tried to remember why he’d been there. It seemed like ages ago - well, it was a couple of months, even if it supposedly hadn’t been that long here.

That was right. He’d been talking to Raymond about Macho, Thomas, and Rissa. He’d let Thomas and Rissa leave, they’d been discussing what to do about Macho.

Who was almost certainly not restrained and unconscious the way he’d been two months before. Lancaster turned to find a nurse to ask where Macho’s room was when he heard a yell from around a corner.

By the time he got there, all he found was a nurse unconscious on the floor. She seemed to be bleeding from a head injury. He couldn’t tell which direction Macho had gone - assuming this was Macho at all.

Lancaster fed the nurse a health potion - one of the small ones Mystraven made - and after a moment she came to. “What happened?”

“That guy - he just - he came out of that room and he hit me!”

Whether or not it was Macho, he needed to follow. “Which way?”

The nurse pointed and Lancaster ran after Macho. At the end of the hall was the stairs, so Lancaster hurried down them.

There was an exit directly from the stairs. Lancaster looked outside, but there wasn’t anyone standing nearby and he couldn’t see anyone running. Macho was gone.

Lancaster shook his head. This was a mess. Raymond was dead - well, missing since there wasn’t a body - and there were a lot of people who knew Serenity killed him. On top of that, Macho escaped.

This wasn’t going to be an easy explanation. Raymond had already been under investigation, of course, which would make that part easier - but everything else was going to be difficult. He reached for his phone only to find he’d missed a message from Moira.

Hey. I’m headed home. Text me your address, I’ll see you tonight? :heart:

He smiled and texted back.

I’ll either be really early or really late.

Come to think of it, he also wasn’t in uniform, and the armor he was wearing wasn’t exactly something you could get on Earth. That might make the explanation easier, as long as he went about it the right way. It was time to get started.

They were going to need a new unit to handle all the strangeness that came out of the Tutorial and the monsters and dungeons that should be starting to appear soon. It’d be informal at first, of course, but Lancaster knew who would be the “temporary” leader. He’d need to gather people who did well in the Tutorial. Pulling them off whatever duties they were already on might be difficult, but that’s what favors were for.

Lancaster had some favors to call in - and some people to tell who would give him more favors in time, if it all worked out.

Rissa stood on the sidewalk she’d disappeared from two months ago - or maybe only a few seconds ago. She could feel both times and knew that both were accurate in their own way.

Several things hit the ground next to her, where Thomas had stood. She turned to pick up his phone, his wallet, and - what was that box? It looked like a jewelry box.

Her phone buzzed as she picked everything up and she stopped to check it.

Rissa, Echo says to tell her aunt she’s OK. Explain what happened and then tell her she’s fine but back at the Ranch. ~Doyle

Buzz

Oh, she said her legal name is Felicity Evans. Her aunt is Claire Mason. She was outside the hospital but Echo says she thinks her aunt saw you disappear.

Buzz

Echo says to tell you she hates the name Felicity.

Rissa laughed. That was exactly the sort of thing Echo would say.

She looked up to see a woman walking cautiously towards her. A close look showed that she had a similar face to Echo’s - and that if Echo took after her aunt, she’d be absolutely striking some day.

“Ah, are you Claire Mason?” Rissa figured that was the easiest way to start.

“What happened to the guy who was next to you?” Claire didn’t follow the script Rissa expected. “I swear he was there just a moment ago. And you vanished, too, but -”

“Serenity? He’s fine, just somewhere else after the Tutorial.” Rissa hoped that was true. It had to be. “That’s sort of what I wanted to talk to you about. You’re Echo’s - I mean, Felicity’s aunt, right?”

Claire paled and covered her mouth with her hand. “Has something happened to her? She was supposed to be out by now, they said they’d call but it’s been too long-”

“She’s fine,” Rissa interrupted. “That’s something we should talk about. But first, what do you know about the Ranch?”

Rissa led Claire inside the hospital so they could sit and talk instead of standing in front of the doors. It hadn’t been long yet, but people were already starting to trickle out of the hospital.

“Not much. I know my sister Megan - she and that no-good husband of hers shouldn’t have had a kid. He got hired out West somewhere, ended up bouncing between one place and another for a few years before they ended up at the Ranch. Never a proper name, just the Ranch.“

“Megan used to call, but not since they moved to the Ranch. I get cards occasionally but that’s it, and the address is a PO Box in Wyoming. Laramie maybe? Something like that. From what she’s written, it’s hours from the Ranch and they don’t get the mail often; I don’t know why they don’t have a closer mailbox.”

Rissa nodded and “Hmmm”’d along as Claire spoke. It was obvious that Claire had been worried but didn’t have anyone to express her worry to. She tapped a message out to Doyle.

Can I call you and have Echo talk to her aunt? That would help. ~R

“Everything is - you know how sometimes you know something is wrong because it’s too perfect? That’s how Megan’s cards have been since she moved onto the Ranch. She’s happy, Felicity’s doing well in her schooling, homeschooled of course. Bert is doing well, getting along with the other men, Megan’s found some women she loves to spend time with, you know. Never any issues. Nothing that seems real. Also nothing I can take to anyone obviously.”

“But no, they can’t come to visit, even for the holidays. There’s a special event for every holiday and they just can’t get away. Never any response when I ask if I should visit, but since I don’t have an address how can I? And then yesterday Felicity showed up at my door covered in bruises. Turns out she stole some cash, walked and hitchhiked into town, then caught a Greyhound - with broken ribs! She won’t tell me why or anything, she seems to think it’s normal. Something’s wrong out there.”

As Claire finished, Rissa’s phone rang. It was Doyle, so Rissa answered it and tapped the speaker icon. “Doyle, E - ah, Felicity, you both there?”

Echo’s voice responded. “Rissa! You said you’re with Aunt Claire? Hey Aunt Claire! We’re headed into the Ranch! I’ve got Doyle with me so you know we’ll be fine. It’d be better if Serenity and Rissa were here too but it’ll still be fine. We’re going to find Mom and a couple of the other nice women, then unlock the kids’ dorm. I’m not sure how we’ll all get out of here yet but Doyle thinks we can probably fit in the back of a pickup long enough to get somewhere with some more cars and that some of the women should know how to drive, I know Mom used to.”

Claire seemed overwhelmed but played along. “What about your dad?”

Echo sounded surprised. “Dad? He’s dead. He’s been dead for years. Shot by an outlaw, they said, but that just means he said no one too many times. It’s better anyway, I got beat less for a couple years when he died. Until I turned fourteen.”

Claire just looked at the phone.

Echo’s voice sped up. “So yeah I just wanted to let you know I’m OK so you wouldn’t worry. ‘Scuse us gotta go!”

The phone hung up.

Claire looked at Rissa, then back at the phone. “What the hell is going on? If that’s really Felicity…”

Rissa smiled. There wasn’t going to be a better opening than that. “I’ll explain, but first - please say the word ‘Status’.”

It was a long explanation, but starting with the inexplicable Status menu helped make it believable.

It was good to get practice. She’d be trying to explain the same thing to her parents - and Thomas’s - soon enough. She’d call them later. For her parents, she needed to live past her Death Day, and for Thomas’s she wanted some rumors of the Tutorial to start first. She’d check the news in the morning.

She couldn’t keep herself from watching the news that evening. It was already starting to get attention - but then, it was thousands of people by then.