"Katalyn," she said in a subdued manner, almost a mumble.

"What?"

"It's my name. If you're going to make me do something that might kill me, I at least want you to know my name."

Nikola gave a slow nod. "Katalyn," she repeated. It rhymed with 'cot of fins' and felt odd moving across her tongue as it rolled out.

"You may wish to have a Health Potion at the ready, just in case," Phoenix interjected softly.

Kata looked at his kind face gratefully. "You're right, I did use up my other one in--" She stopped, and looked glumly downward. She pulled her screen up a second or two later, just in time for Phoenix to place a hand on her shoulder. She clicked through a screen or two to assign herself a new gesture for the last [Lesser Health Potion] in her Inventory.

The mage walked slowly, daintily, up to the lion head. She reached out with twitchy fingers, looking away and biting down on a shriek as she stuck her hand in the mouth in one swift motion. She would be gagging it, if it had a gag reflex.

The door crunched down on her hand with three full rows of canines, puncturing through the flesh like a many-pronged stapler. It swiss cheesed her hand and blood began to pour out of it, just like the wail from her mouth. The jaw stayed closed for a moment, and then two, her blood trickling through the gaps between its teeth... and then it let go.

Her poor hand was a grotesque sight, and she had to lift it from being many-times-impaled on the rows of canines. She snapped her fingers and-- uh, almost nothing happened? The holes closed, just barely, but the seeping continued.

"A-ahhhh, I can't heal it," she warbled uneasily. She summoned her Red Box and a pinkish alert shone at her.

You have been Marked.

Mark of the Lion: You have lost 30 percent of your total HP. It cannot be healed until the lion is slain. Additionally, the lion will prioritize you in its attacks.

She dismissed the screen with a swipe of her one good hand. "Oh no, it says I can't heal it until the lion is dead - and that the lion will prioritize me. I guess that means the boss is behind this door."

"And it's a lion," Luke guessed.

Phoenix pulled up his own menu, and pulled out a set of Bandages. "May I?" He held out one of the loose ends of the roll.

"T-that would be nice, yes," she said with a small nod, "and could the party leader send me an invite? My username is IcyFerret404_u."

"Right," Luke responded, and got to work on sending her her well-earned invite.

Phoenix wrapped the girl's hand, keeping the bandages taut but not tight. Her lips were pale, her breathing shallow, but it evened out and deepened when her mauled appendage was hidden beneath the fabric. "Worry not; we will not let you fall to the lion if we can help it."

He felt bad for having allowed the situation to unfold as it had, but it's not like he wanted a swiss cheese hand either - and it would be far less detrimental for her class, as compared to his own. Everyone else present was a physical fighter that relied on having two working hands.

"Done," Luke said. "Now unless anyone has any objections, let's take a minute to level up." He didn't want to stall and have the other parties potentially catch up, but he also didn't want to run into a boss fight unprepared. It was a difficult balancing act, this dungeon.

To make good on his word, he strode over to the part of the path that began to curve downward and stood there.

"Good idea," boomed Gold.

Everyone summoned their Red Box then. Nikola glanced around, but their screens didn't look like anything to her; only the game's emblem stared back at her as she tried to gather information, and apparently failed.

She swooped her own box into being, and indeed there was an Alert telling her that she had four levels to assign to her Rogue Class.

[Would you like to Level Up now?

Yes | No]

Nikola clicked the 'Yes' button, and her screen proceeded to the next section more readily than it ever had before.

[Username: Nikola Brightdark

Level: 0

Race: Human

Class: Rogue

Weapon Specialization: Dagger

STR: 5

DEX: 5 +5

CON: 5

WIS: 2

INT: 1

CHA: 2

Class Skills: You have 4 Levels of Class Skills to assign. Would you like to do so now?

Yes | No]

She tabbed away from her current screen to type to Luke, who would know more about this process than she did. Which was nothing. She had never done this before.

Nikola Brightdark: Luke, what are STR, DEX, CON, WIS, INT and CHA?

Lukeknight64: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma.

Ah. Nikola puffed a breath of air through her nostrils at the notion that she had 1 Intelligence. Perhaps she re-disliked the Female Voice, now.

Nikola Brightdark: Ah. I am insulted that I have 1 Intelligence, and only 2 in Wisdom and Charisma. Do you think I am likable, Luke?

Luke visibly shifted from one foot to the other.

Lukeknight64: Is this a trick question?

Nikola Brightdark: I do not believe so. I did not mean for it to be a 'trick'.

Lukeknight64: Since you let me out of your basement, you've been perfectly pleasant, I guess. But your stats don't have anything to do with who you are as a person, Nikola. You can have 1 Charisma and be hella charismatic, you just wouldn't want to be a Bard.

Luke touched his cheek and felt a warmth there. A flash of him and Nikola reading together after their wedding day flashed in his mind-- nonono, Luke, he thought to himself, that was NPC-Nikola. Half the people who played this game have had a relationship with her. This is Nikola-Nikola, a different beast entirely. Play it cool.

Lukeknight64: When a Bard casts Bard Spells, their Charisma decides how much damage they'll do, or how effective they are. So you can be a charming person with low Charisma, k? So don't feel bad, the computer just gave you stats it thought would work well with your Rogue Class.

Nikola Brightdark: Ah.

Nikola Brightdark: Thank you. I should return to 'leveling up' before the others become suspicious. Stay on guard.

The former NPC tapped back over to her Level Up screen. The sheer amount of information staring back at her gave her a headache, but she took it in dutifully. She wanted to do a good job at this, her very first 'level up' in her very first real game. Her life was on the line, after all.

And more importantly, so was her father's.