Jen had never heard of the Divinity Dice worshipers, and hadn't come across anyone claiming to worship any type of divine being, and replied to the old lady, "No, we've never even heard of such a group, but we we need to get going to check on a friend of ours. Take care of yourself."

The old woman was hesitant to involve herself with other people's problems, however, she felt she owed the two women a debt, and before they could leave she took great caution not to offend and vaguely commented, "Thank you for your help. I haven't been this roughed since I was a young apprentice and my master and I got a beating for not being able to find a potion to fix Hapshepsut's concrete virus."

Tamako immediately turned back towards the old lady and pulled the sleeve of her arm up which was still partially concrete and said, "Out with it. What do you know!"

Jen psych sense immediately picked up on the terror the old woman felt from Tamako's abrupt demands, and she placed a hand on Tamako's shoulder, and said to the woman, "Please forgive Tamako's abrupt demand." It was obvious to Jen that the old woman's comments were intended to get their attention. Jen walked over and sat down in a chair that allowed her to face the old woman, and asked, "Do you know what happened to the person that was infected by the concrete virus?"

The old woman looked nervously at Tamako, but focused back on Jen, and said, "If rumors are to be believed, Hapshepsut originally teleported from Earth, and everyone knows the powers they bring with them can continue to grow until they become monsters! So, the potions my master and I created weren't able to diminish the virus at all. To be fair, most everyone dies immediately when she flexes her power. It's not like we had any ability to research past experiments or anything to work off of."

Jen nodded understandingly, and encouraged, "Of course not, and the ungrateful scum gave you a beating anyway. Do you know if they ever found a cure?"

The old woman nodded, and said, "They tried everything. It was only a slight bit of comfort when we learned she'd finally had to teleport down to the First Deck to rid herself of the virus. I hope she vomited her guts out every minute she spent down there."

Jen was surprised, and asked, "What were they able to do on the First Deck to heal her that they couldn't do here?"

The old woman clarified, "It wasn't the First Deck that fixed her, it was the System's teleportation that stripped the virus from her body. They'd paid a king's ransom to use a teleportation pad controlled by the Stone Guild."

Jen's next question was interrupted by a System Message:

City-Wide Gambling Quest

All occupants of Plinko's System Casino have 5 minutes to exit the casino or you will lose all your ability points.

Casino to re-open in 18 hours!

Bankrupt Plinko's System Casino and win the Casino Token from its newest Casino Boss Sam Nguyen! His loss can be your gain!

Jen, Tamako, and the old lady all ran out of the store to see what was going on. There wasn't any room in the street as everyone else had done the same thing. The old lady said, "A casino on the Second Deck hasn't been beaten in over 70 years!"

A man next to them called out to the crowd in general and asked, "Who's Sam Nguyen? Does anyone know how he beat the casino?" The few wealthy individuals in the crowd that owned sound waves were excitedly calling people trying to find out what happened.

Tamako grabbed Jen and the old lady pulling them back into the woman's store and barring the door. They all watched through the window as gambling quests started sparking chaos in the overcrowded streets.

Tamako, seeing the worry on Jen's face said, "There's nothing we can do. We can't use soundwaves and we'll just have to wait until the streets calm down and we can get close enough to message him."

*******

Sam found himself locked in place and prevented from leaving his seat as everyone in the casino dashed for the exit.