As the six gathered around Bridgette, the girl held up the bag, shaking it. "Looks like we got some loot from killing the troll," she excimed. "First loot we've really gotten after the starter equipment, so that's pretty cool."

  "Well, what's in it," Colin asked, peering at the bag. "It's a lot smaller than I would have thought."

  "That's what she said," Bridgette quipped with a wink. Jacob and Travis snorted with humor, before going pale and awkwardly shuffling back, remembering this wasn't just a crowd of high school friends bullshitting anymore. "Stop acting like I'm going to rip your dicks off if you say the wrong thing. You can ugh when I make a joke."

  Bridgette reached a hand into the bag, fishing around with a puzzled expression on her face. She eventually withdrew her hand, holding what looked like a poker chip in her hand. She peered at it, flipping it over a few times.

  "What's that, B?" Alice asked. Bridgette shrugged, confused.

  "No idea. I had the weirdest sensation of feeling like there were more things in the bag, but when I reached to grab, this is all I got. Someone else try?"

  Colin reached in, grabbing an object and pulling it out. He also held a strange token in his hand, but seemed to understand what to do with it better than Bridgette. Colin grasped the token firmly with both hands, then snapped it. From within the tiny poker chip, he somehow pulled an entire cloak. "Oh now that's fucking awesome," he said with wonder in his voice. He held the cloak up, marveling at it.

  "What's so exciting about a new bath towel?" Alice joked, looking at the cloak.

  "Excuse me, you savages. This is a fantastic cloak, it'll help keep me alive in dangerous situations."

  "Yea, by fending off any dies who might have wanted to cim your virginity," Bridgette teased. "Definitely gonna help you out there." Colin spluttered, face turning red, as Alice and Bridgette ughed before Bridgette slugged him gently on the arm. "What's it do?"

  "It's a Cloak of Dispcement - basic concept is that it makes it hard for bad guys to know exactly where I am, so they're more likely to miss if targeting me directly. It's a great utility item."

  "That's awesome," Alice cheered for her friend. "Very exciting! And how about you, B? What did you get?" Bridgette blinked, having forgotten about her poker chip. She looked at it, then snapped it open. From within, she withdrew a small folded piece of paper. Bridgette read it, flipped it over and looked at the back, which was bnk, then read it again. She shrugged and handed it to Alice.

  Alice grabbed the paper and read, in pink flowing scrawl: Your gear is already pretty amazing, but a girl really needs some choices instead of wearing the same clothes every day. I'm giving you a few different styles to try out. -F

  "Well that's pretty neat," she said encouragingly to Bridgette.

  Bridgette stared back at Alice, "Yea, but it's Fi that wrote the note. How much you want to bet every single one of her outfits contains as little fabric as possible?"

  Alice ughed, knowing Bridgette was right. She took her turn in the bag, pulling out a token. As she did, she still got the sensation that more items remained in the bag. She turned to the other four, who were watching with a mix of amazement, amusement, and jealousy.

  "Hey guys, I think there might be more in here. You should give it a shot, too." Needing no further encouragement, the four all quickly pulled items from the bag, each coming out with their own token. Kyle had gone st and as he extracted his token from the bag, the bag turned to dust in his hands and vanished.

  Jacob and Travis both had received notes informing them they had met the requirements to unlock a css, which had them high-fiving each other with nervous excitement. Becky had gotten an absolutely gorgeous handmade cheerleader's outfit, and Kyle had decided not to open his right away, saying he'd rather wait, although Alice suspected he just wasn't sure how to break the chip with a missing hand.

  Alice gnced down at her token. She wasn't sure exactly what she was hoping to get out of it. She didn't need new gear and couldn't think of any items that might help her, but obviously there was lots she wasn't aware of even existing. With a mental shrug, she snapped the token in half and withdrew a sheet of paper. As she read it, her jaw dropped in amazement.

  Property Deed: Mayor of - this confers the ownership of a new hamlet, name to be determined ter, to Alice Thompson. Establishing this grants her the ability to establish defenses, manage denizens, and organize production and resources of the town. By establishing a town, you also gain the ability to pce two new buildings for free.

  "Guys," she said, gncing up at her friends with an expression of wonder on her face, "I think I've fixed our housing problems. And apparently I'm now the mayor ... of my own farm."

  With the loot divided up, it was time to depart. Alice, Colin, and Bridgette stood watch while the other four quickly ran around the town one st time, grabbing all of their personal belongings. They then also buried the dead at the edge of town, a line of seven fresh graves underneath an oak tree. Nobody could think of much to say, so they stared at the graves for a long minute, the horror of the new world yet again surprising them by how little control they truly had. Tears dripping down their faces, they turned and began walking north to Alice's farm. While they hadn't always been great friends, the deaths of people they had known for years hurt them all deeply. The seven fell into a depressed silence as the miles trudged by, their victory soured by the loss of lives.

  Finally, Bridgette broke the silence. "Okay, enough. I can't do sad anymore. Becky, I gotta say, I've never thought our high school had a good cheerleading squad, no offense, but that routine you did back there for the troll? Wow. And I thought I was the degenerate around here." She ughed, looking over at Becky, who blushed deep red and ducked behind Kyle.

  Alice ughed as well, joining in on the gentle teasing. "Lewd and topical, especially after those tentacles had their way with B. Plus it seemed to really help win the fight for us. Thanks for helping out!"

  Becky shrunk in on herself, almost whispering, "I don't know - everything seemed almost pink, if that makes sense? It was almost like someone else took over. I've never said anything that inappropriate in my life. I'm so sorry for being obscene. I'll try to do better next time."

  Bridgette roared with ughter, doubling over. "If you think I'm going to blush because of a raunchy song, you have no idea the shit we've had to deal with. Aphrodite has decided that Alice and I are her personal pythings and uses every chance she can get to put us in all kinds of sexy situations. One of the most tame things she's done recently is this shirt," she gestured at the Magical Girl Rescue Squad shirt she was still wearing. "Stick around for a while, and you'll see a lot more."