Sophie's arm was more serious than any of Jason's wounds. Her arm was severely damaged, requiring an extended period to heal back up with her self-recovery power. Jason had been needled quite badly but it only took a few potions to eliminate the minor, if numerous wounds. His blood harvest power normally allowed him to heal up after fights using the remnant life force of fallen enemies, but it only worked on enemies with blood. The siege golem was largely impervious to Jason's abilities, even after being destroyed.

The puncture points in his armour were slowly recovering as well, due to his armour's self-repair properties. Gary's advice to find armour with that particular quality had saved Jason a good amount of money on repairs. Now he was isolated from a place to get repairs, it was all the more valuable.

Sophie's healing power was meditation-based and concentrating was proving difficult with the state of her arm. She took regular breaks, panting and sweating in spite of doing no more than sitting in place. Jason tried to distract her from the pain each time she took a break.

“I'm going to loot the monster, now you're not in the middle of meditating,” he told her during the first break. “I didn’t want to interrupt you, before.”

He wandered over to the fallen golem, which didn’t look much worse than when it had been mimicking a broken siege weapon. He placed a hand on a chunk of shattered wood.

Would you like to loot [Siege Golem]?

“Head’s up,” he warned Sophie as he walked away. The golem started dissolving into rainbow smoke.

[Meteor Hammer] has been added to your inventory.[Monster Core (Bronze Rank)] has been added to your inventory.10 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.[Siege Grips] have been awarded to party member [Sophie Wexler].10 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been awarded to party member [Sophie Wexler].100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been awarded to party member [Sophie Wexler].

Sophie ducked out of the way as two bags of coins dropped from where they appeared over her head with a flash of rainbow light. There was also a pair of gloves, which she picked up to examine.

Item: [Siege Grips] (bronze rank, rare)

A pair of combat gloves containing the power of a siege weapon (clothing, gloves).

Effect: Add explosive power to a physical attack, inflicting additional resonating-force damage and creating a powerful knock-back effect. 20 second cooldown.Effect: Conjure a ram that flies through the air to make an extremely heavy resonating force attack. 5 minute cooldown.You do not meet the requirements to use this item.

“I got bronze-rank gloves,” she said. “What about you?”

“A ball and chain,” Jason said, showing her the weapon in his hands. It was, as he said, a metal sphere at the end of a chain. Like a smaller version of the ball-hand of the siege golem, the metal orb was pitted with rust.

Item: [Meteor Hammer] (bronze rank, uncommon)

A magical chain weapon taken from an animate siege weapon (weapon, chain).

Effect: Inflicts additional resonating-force damage based on how long the meteor hammer was swinging prior to the attack.Effect: Chain length can be extended or retracted as it swings.You do not meet the requirements to use this item.

“I don’t think this really suits me,” Jason said. “It’s bronze-rank anyway.”

“So are these but I could see myself using them later.”

Jason stashed the items and Sophie’s coins in his inventory. He glanced down at her arm, still hanging limp, her hand purple and distended. She was careful to jostle it as little as possible when she moved.

“How’s that coming along?” he asked.

“Not much progress on the arm,” she said unhappily. “I’m feeling better otherwise, though. That big ball thing really hit hard.”

“Thank you for that, by the way,” Jason said. “I don’t think I would have taken the hit nearly as well.”

“This is going to take longer to heal than I thought,” she said. “Maybe I should take a potion. Not one of the good ones, just a regular healing potion.”

“No, you were right in the first place,” Jason said. “Healing it up will be good training for your ability and we have time to burn. You hole up in the courtyard here while I check out the rest of the building. I’ll look for a good spot to set up camp. Use voice chat if anything happens and I’ll come running.”

“Alright,” Sophie said. She went back to meditating as Jason went further into the building.

Jory wasn’t happy. He had only agreed to participate as part of a joint activity between the craft associations, only to be immediately separated from his assigned team. As people formed makeshift groups from the people they found themselves with on the tower, Jory didn’t exactly have his pick of teams. His alchemy-related essence abilities made for a certain amount of healing but the people assembling groups were competing to attract the more conventional healers.

Jory was geared out in a heavy coat, covered in pockets. It was enchanted to protect both him and the contents of the pockets from harm. Fortunately for Jory, it was also enchanted to keep him cool, despite the jacket being as thick as the humidity. Along with the jacket, Jory had two belts around his waist and two bandoliers across his chest. They were full of vials containing potions and reagents Jory could use his essence abilities on to make potions on the fly. Like his coat, the belts and bandoliers were enchanted to protect their contents. Slung over his shoulder was a dimensional bag satchel.

The group Jory ended up with clearly viewed him as a better than nothing option, but they were the most seemingly capable group left. The best people had already formed teams and headed off. The group Jory joined at least had three members from the same team, a trio of leonids who had the luck of arriving on the same tower. They then added Jory and a solid guardian-type named Keane who could conjure heavy armour and a huge shield.

If they weren’t so clearly disgruntled at not getting a better healer, Jory would have been fairly happy. As it was, he was regretting the entire enterprise until they encountered the strange personage of Shade. Jory wanted to take him up on his offer to explain the place they found themselves, but the rest of his group were eager to press on. The three leonids all chose courage, while Jory and Keane chose wisdom.

The lesser miracle potion Shade gave him was an object of fascination for Jory, who had an essence ability that allowed him to determine its effects. His intention was to take it back to his workshop and see what he could learn from it. He wouldn’t be able to reproduce it from a sample, but he had no doubt that anything he could glean from it would be invaluable.

Of the leonids, the leader was named Laramie. He and his fellows were in no rush to reach the centre of the city, more interested in the search for treasures. Every building they spotted that looked mostly intact was a prime target.

Jory was initially annoyed but was forced to acknowledge their choice was a good one as they dug out more than a few worthwhile finds. The advantage of magical items was that they stood out, having withstood the passage of time better than ordinary objects.

The leonids gave themselves first pick, but otherwise distributed the loot evenly. They found a magical box of unknown purpose, a magical staff that Jory claimed, some leather armguards and no less than four awakening stones. They were mostly commons, but the plant, snake and earth awakening stones were all desirable enough to sell well. The one rare stone, an awakening stone of ruin, would sell the best though, inevitably ending up in Laramie’s possession.

Jory's essence ability that identified items revealed the properties of each, aside from the magical box that eluded his ability's power. All it revealed was the name of the item which was, appropriately enough, mystery box. Jory could have used his ability to undersell the value of the rare awakening stone but his ethical nature never led him to even consider it. He was satisfied enough with the loot sharing that he was happy to continue on.

Trouble came when they searched what turned out to be a sprawling, multistorey alchemy workshop. Even with the expansive renovations on his own workshop and the dilapidated nature of the building, Jory couldn’t help but be envious. He even managed to dig out a few magical alchemy tools that found their way into his dimensional bag. The others didn’t begrudge him as they would be hard to sell and gave them an excuse to cut him out of the next round of loot. They told him that anything alchemy related was all his. This lasted until Jory’s honest nature caused him to reveal a discovery.

Inside a magical cabinet sealed to protect the contents from the elements, Jory found a whole catalogue of alchemical formulas. Many were out of date compared to superior modern equivalents, or used ingredients too expensive or rare for what the potions did. There were a few gems amongst them, however, and one huge prize. The requirements and ingredients were outrageous in both rarity and price, but there was a complete formula for the lesser miracle potion Shade had given him. When he revealed this fact, Laramie immediately demanded he hand it over.

“You said everything alchemy-related was mine,” Jory told them.

“That was before you found something so valuable,” Laramie said. “Hand it over.”

“You three have already been taking the most valuable goods for yourselves,” the heavily-armoured shield-bearer said. “We agreed he could have the alchemy stuff, so you should stick to the deal you made.”

He had been quietly stewing over what he saw as unfair loot distribution and used their move on Jory as a chance to push the issue. They were still in the alchemy building, in a large room once used for the preparation of alchemical components, with a series of long benches dividing the room.

“The deal has changed,” Laramie said.

Jory watched as the two men squared off.

“Let’s just keep talking,” Jory said. “There are monsters enough out there, without us fighting one another.”

“There’s no need to fight,” Keane said, the big man’s eyes not leaving Laramie. “They just have to give you what they promised.”

“I promise I’ll put a hole right through that helmet if you don’t back off,” Laramie said. The leonids were all-powerful damage dealers.

The three squared off against one, with Jory in the background, his calls for de-escalation going unheeded. The tension ramped until one of the three finally twitched, lashing out with a conjured whip of fire. The other two were only a beat behind, their coordination proving too much of an onslaught for Keane.

His defensive powers were strong but it was three against one, with the trio's practised teamwork overwhelming the protector. He held out briefly under a terrifying barrage as Jory yelled at them to stop, but soon he fell to the ground. Most adventurers would have died but Keane was only debilitated, his wounded flesh already starting to heal itself. Laramie turned his attention back to Jory.

“I’ll hand it over,” Jory said. “Just take it and go while I look after him.”

“You had your chance,” Laramie said. “Now you’re going to be unfortunate victims of the many dangers, here.”

“You don’t need to-”

Jory’s fruitless words were cut off by a spear made of solid stone being launched at him. To his surprise, a bubble-shield snapped up around him, disappearing again as it absorbed the spear’s attack.

“There’s no reasoning with some people,” Neil Davone said, stepping into the room. A golem made of dull glass stepped in ahead of him, Neil’s chrysalis golem summon put itself between the trio and Neil, who grabbed Jory and yanked him behind a bench. “Time to go, Jory.”

“Davone? I’m not leaving that guy to them,” Jory said, pointing at Keane, whose sprawled feet they could just see past the edge of the bench.

“Don’t fight it, Jory,” Laramie called out. “Your friend isn’t going to save you.”

“The hell I’m not,” Neil told Jory with quiet insistence. “I can’t do anything about the guy on the ground, though, unless you have some awesome power that will let you fight all those guys by yourself.”

Jory grimaced.

“If that’s what it takes. The after-effects are bad, though, so you’ll have to take care of me.”

“Wait, you seriously have something like that?”

“Yes,” Jory said soberly. “I don’t like to use it, though.”

“I think now might be the time you’ve been saving it for,” Neil said.

Jory held his hands out and vials started floating out of their loops on his belt, floating in the air. The vials started opening, spilling their contents into the air. Instead of dropping to the ground, they flowed together into a sphere of liquid that grew darker as each new ingredient was added. As they did, Jory pulled off his coat and unbuckled his belts and bandoliers, even as more vials flew out of them to disgorge their contents into the air.

Attacks were now lancing into the glass golem, chunks shattering off it as they did. With every piece of damage, runes were engraved onto its surface. It didn’t fight back, remaining steadfastly planted between its attackers and Neil.

“I thought it was a really bad idea to mix potions like that,” Neil said, watching all the liquids and powers from the vials splash together in front of them.

“It is,” Jory said.

“So why are you doing it?”

“To show those idiots what happens when you push an alchemist into using a very bad idea.”

The liquid started streaming into Jory’s waiting mouth. Immediately, from the head down, Jory’s body started grossly distending. His whole body grew, his skin turning a patchy mishmash of sickly yellow, purple, blue and green. His hair fell out and his head bulged out like the rest of his body, now too large to hide behind the bench. He was unrecognisable as Jory, now just a monster of muscle.

A bolt of flame struck him, releasing a stench of acrid chemicals and burning flesh, which Jory didn’t seem to notice. A stone spear pierced his torso, which he dismissively yanked out, throwing it back with the force of a ballista. Then he picked up the bench in front of him and threw that too, despite it being affixed to the floor. Accompanied by the sound of shattering tiles, he ripping it right off the floor and hurled it at the leonids.

Neil watched the process with horrified fascination. The three adventurers scrambled out the door on the other side of the room. Monster Jory moved after them in a lumbering pursuit but not at a pace likely to catch them.

Jason led Sophie through the building. Day had turned to night as Sophie worked to heal herself, Jason wondering how the sun worked in the astral space. Her arm wasn't fully recovered but she had control over it again and her hand looked like a hand instead of a potato someone had taken to with a hammer. She couldn't see in the dark like Jason, so she had a glow-stone floating over her head.

“Did you find anything, searching the building?” she asked.

“I did,” Jason said. “I found an armoury with a couple of magic weapons, although they were fairly mediocre. More importantly, I found an awakening stone.”

“You did?”

“It’s an uncommon one,” he said. “Awakening stone of preparation. I know the others said to just collect what you can so you can choose which ones to use after, but maybe you could use just one.”

“You think I should?”

“Probably not, but I would. I can do the ritual in the morning if you like. Give it some thought, overnight.”

They reached where Jason had set up the aura tent, which would mask their presence from most monsters. He had also set up some alarm rituals, just in case. It was on the top floor of the building, close to the steps leading up to the roof.

“I only set up the one tent,” he said, “but I can put the other one up if you want.”

“It’s fine,” Sophie said. “Just know that if you get handsy, you aren’t getting those hands back.”