Histoire lets out a deep sigh. Last week was a nice break from the game, but now, she did hear back from Noire that Uni has recovered a few days after, and they were both surprised and happy about the cards. She hasn't heard of anyone else suddenly getting sick, and everyone always schedules time to make sure they can play for their weekly sessions. She is now thinking about what sort of sacrifices Vert may have made in order to join them weekly, she knows that Vert is quite an avid MMORPG player, and she always mentions a raid of some sort every so often. Histoire wonders if that would ever come into play eventually. Shaking her head; she thinks, probably not.

Taking her place at the end of the table, she checks the time, there's still some time before everyone should arrive. She reviews her own notes about what this session should entail. Assuming the group would attempt to fight the gigantic worm creature, it would have a small amount of health, relative to the fact they're 8 players, but it will only be affected by magic attacks, while the group is getting attacked by the skeletons. The skeletons will be very weak, as they are simply just there to harass the players. As she thinks about it, she realizes her mistake, especially remembering the battle with the 8 bugbears. It was a nightmare to navigate through, especially needing to keep track of so many things. Perhaps, they would just need to fight through the town, then attack the main worm creature. It sounds unfeasible for all of them to attempt to sneak to the large creature, although, they could circle around the forest in an attempt to find it.

All this sudden rationale in how they would tackle the situation just made her realize more possibilities that she would need to account for. "This is exactly why developers keep putting invisible walls at every inch of their game..." she says to herself as she sighs her heaviest sigh of the week. Maybe she'll catch a break and everything falls into how she wants it to be. Looking at the clock, it's almost time for all of them to arrive. She floats towards the kitchen to get a glass of water for her suddenly parched throat.

A few minutes later, she returns to the table, where she sees the others begin to take their individual seats. She sees Neptune, Vert, Blanc, Noire, and all their sisters, Uni, Nepgear, Rom, and Ram. Everyone is more or less accounted for attendance. Just as she was taking her place, Uni approaches her and holds both her hands. Histoire is slightly taken aback from the suddenness.

"Um, Miss Uni, is anything wrong?"

"Oh! Um, I just want to say thank you for the cards, I've thanked the others as well. And I want to say I'm sorry for delaying our game last week..."

"Don't worry about that Miss Uni, it's fine. Just remember to take care of yourself."

"Ooh!" pipes up Neptune, "Since last time got delayed, ya think we can extend the game today?"

"Well, I know most of you would be fine, but I'm worried for Miss Rom and Ram... Let's just make sure to get through everything as fast as possible, which means let's get started now."

Histoire waves her arms and the room begins to dim, and everyone shuffles into their respective seats. She waits for everyone to be seated comfortably before she clears her throat and speaks.

"Alright, so last time, the group has been in deep discussion on what they want to do for the gigantic worm creature that Miss Uni found. I vaguely remember something about a scorched earth plan... I hope you all remember you're in a forest. And that fire spreads. And trees are flammable."

Nepgear turns slightly red, as Histoire continues.

"So, has the group made a decision? Wait... let's just ... make it easier for all of us, each of you, yes, all 8 of you, give your idea, give a 2 or 3 sentence defense, or reason why this should be the idea the group goes with. Run-on sentences aren't allowed. Everyone agrees?"

They all look at each other, gauging their reactions, and no one seems to be outwardly against it. Some nod, which Histoire takes as a sign that in general, everyone's fine with it. She claps her hands twice, snapping everyone's attention back to her.

"Okay," continues Histoire, "since no one is disagreeing to it, let's start with Miss Nepgear, would you please tell the group what you suggested last week, or if you have a new idea this week?"

Nepgear flinches as her face turns slightly red. "Um, last week... um... I said that it would be good to have a scorched earth policy... just make sure nothing is left. It's a bit destructive, but I think it's a good thing to do to make sure that this issue won't suddenly crop up in the future."

Nepgear goes quiet afterwards, seemingly waiting for everyone to laugh at her suggestion, but she looks and sees that the others nod and are possibly considering it. Histoire sees Nepgear breathe a sigh of relief.

"Okay," says Histoire, sensing that Nepgear has said her piece, "next up, is Neptune, do you have any ideas?"

"Oh, uh... I wanna say, let's head back to town and grab some back up. I mean, I know we're 8 and all, but that worm's ginormous!"

"Neptune!" exclaimed Noire.

"Miss Noire, let's hear everyone first before reacting," interrupts Histoire.

"Oh... sorry Lady Histoire."

"That's okay, alright, Neptune, anything else?"

Neptune shakes her head. "S'all from me, Histy."

"Right. Next up, is Miss Noire. Go ahead."

"Thank you Lady Histoire, so my idea is to stake out the worm area further, maybe it's possible for us to place down traps or the like, or maybe even find out if there's a weakness to it. Maybe get an accurate number of undead in the area."

"Miss Uni?"

"Erm... I've already done so much in-game, the last few times it was all about my character so..." she continues with silence afterwards.

"That's okay, Miss Uni. Alright, what about Miss Rom and Miss Ram?"

"Um..." says Rom, "I think we'll go with whatever big sister would say!"

"Yeah!" adds in Ram.

Histoire shows a pained smile. "I ... see, but please try to think of something, this is for everyone's benefit, I've let Miss Uni off the hook, because her character has already done a lot."

Both girls look to the table as if expecting for the table to write down ideas. Rom looks up to the left, while Ram looks up to the right.

"Oh!" exclaims Ram, "what if, well, if we ever find ourselves having to fight the big worm, half of our party should be dedicated to keeping the skeletons in check. I mean we don't want those things bothering us while we're busy, right?"

"Alright, what about you Miss Rom?"

"Um... well, I want to look around more if maybe there's another giant creature just hiding."

"Alright, thank you Miss Rom, what about you Miss Blanc?"

"It almost feels like the good ideas are already getting taken. I would say, in-character, just bash the worm in. Even if we, actually let me just say, me, because Blunga's the toughest of the group, even if I get swallowed by the worm, it might be easier to kill from the inside."

Histoire mentally notes to look for the mechanics on players getting eaten whole by creatures much larger than them. She nods at Blanc then turns her attention to Vert.

"Miss Vert, what would be your suggestion?"

Vert puts a hand on her chin, and closes her eyes for a moment before speaking. "I believe that we should simply go in and see how it goes."

Noire sighs, "Just throw caution to the wind, huh?"

"Ahem," interjects Histoire, "I believe, that's everyone. I'll do a quick recap. Miss Nepgear would like to destroy the worm, and possibly everything around it with fire; Neptune proposes to obtain backup before fighting the worm; Miss Noire wants to further obtain information regarding the worm, and to place down traps if possible; Miss Ram states that if the worm would ever be fought, the party splits into two, one dedicated for the worm, and the other for keeping the skeletons at bay; Miss Rom wants to find out if there is the possibility that there is another gigantic creature in the vicinity; Miss Blanc and Miss Vert have nearly the same idea of just wanting to fight the worm."

Vert nods as she listens to Histoire. "It seems all of us would like to get rid of the giant worm. No one has said to retreat. So, I believe we can for the most part do everyone's suggestion, except probably Neptune, since that would require us to head back and I believe no one here has magic that allows requesting assistance from far away."

She picks up the Player Handbook, and flips through near the end of the book and skims through it. She sighs with a disappointed tone, before closing he book. "I keep looking hoping maybe it magically changed, but, it's still the same. Sending is a 4th Level spell, and the minimum level for me to have access to it is Level 7, that's 3 levels above what we're currently at."

The rest of the table continue to listen to Vert. "So, let's see, Noire wants to place down traps, I'm assuming that's for the inevitable battle with the worm. We've seen it get tribute and such, so it wouldn't be far-fetched to imagine that once we begin our encounter with it, all the other skeletons would attempt to assist it. Ram suggested to split up while we're fighting it, so that's a good suggestion. The problem is, if we split up incorrectly, then we'll have a lot of problems."

"Huh?" asks Noire, "What do you mean Vert?"

"Noire... please, you know what I'm talking about right?"

"Um..."

Vert sighs. "This is what we get when you keep focusing on single player experience RPGs... Anyway, Noire, that just means some of our party members will be more effective against specific types of enemies. Like, hold on, let me check on the Handbook..."

She once again picks up the book, flips near the start, skims near the bottom of the page, points at a section and presents it to Noire. Vert gives Noire some time to read the section, and Noire flips the book to near the middle.

"Anyway," continues Vert, "as you just read, as a Paladin, you have Turn Undead, I do believe we had some excitement regarding that ability, but it's been more than 2 weeks since that time and a lot has happened, it could've just slipped your mind. So, skeletons are by their nature, undead, and as a Cleric, I also have Turn Undead, so we can easily keep them at bay. Now imagine, if the two of us, for whatever reason, decided to not be the group fending off the skeletons."

"Um... that'd be a huge waste of our abilities."

"That's right. So, if we're going to split our party up, we'll have to make sure one of us, or even both of us, are on the skeletons."

"Albedo might need to be the one on that skeletal side."

"Hm? Why?"

"You're our Cleric, you'd be needed to provide support with the Worm group."

"Ah. Yes. I suppose that's true."

"I know I have Lay on Hands, but that really won't be enough healing. And, um, no offense Vert, but it says here the amount of times you can use Turn Undead is dependent on your Charisma modifier..."

"Are you calling me uncharismatic?!" retorts Vert, clearly miffed.

"No! Wait, yes! I mean, look at your sheet!"

"..."

"That's what I mean, so, I'll be the one dealing with the skeletons."

Vert clears her throat, attempting to save face. "Noted. So, that's one party member designated for each half. That's Ram's idea done. So now," she says looking at Uni, "Uni, we'd need your rogue again."

Uni flinches slightly. "Um, what does Poppy need to do?"

"Well, Poppy would need to place down traps to slow down the skeletons."

"Wait," interjects Noire, "if we'll place down traps to slow down skeletons, wouldn't it be enough for Albedo to be Turning them alone?"

"No," states Blanc flatly. "Remember that giant animal... creature... I think it was a boar? It's been a while, remind me later Lady Histoire. Anyway, it was alone, against the four of us, and the fight literally ended before it could do anything. If you somehow get unlucky, which is really frequent in this game for everyone, we'll find Albedo dead."

Noire bites her lip. "Right... Well, what do we know about skeletons?"

The rest of the table turn towards Histoire, who started going through the Monster Manual. "Well, um, they're skeletons. I guess I can give this as a freebie, somehow I feel like I may have already stated this, but sometimes, things just bear repeating, you know? Anyway, skeletons don't have flesh, so slicing, slashing, piercing, aren't very effective against them. They also aren't that different from when they were alive, so if a humanoid becomes a skeletal creature, it won't suddenly fly."

"Thank you Lady Histoire. Alright, so we have to make sure we have bludgeoning weapons then. I believe fists count as Bludgeoning, so Ram's monk, Paul, I think, would be part of the skeletal crew. JC wields a katana, so that's slashing, Blanc's Blunga wields an axe, so slashing as well. Albedo wields a longsword though... and I've invested a bit to focus on it... well, it has come to this, I'd need a bludgeoning weapon."

"Well," says Vert, "I do have a heavy mace still in my inventory, from what I can see. I feel like I would've sold this when I got my Flail... but anyway, I can lend Albedo my mace."

"Thanks Vert. Alright, for Neptune's bard, I think he's using a crossbow, along with Uni's rogue. So the worm group would be, Sir Puddington, Poppy, Blunga, and Burt, while the skeleton group will be myself, Paul, JC, and Nepgear's sorcerer."

"Wait, Miss Noire!" protests Nepgear, "Wouldn't my magic be better in fighting the worm?"

"Well, what spells do you have?"

"Oh... uh, I guess nevermind, I'll stay with the skeletal crew. I have a spell called Disrupt Undead, I can only cast it a few times, but I don't think those skeletons would be too strong so even this minuscule damage would be useful, and with the traps slowing them down, we'd be set."

"Man, Histy," interjects Neptune, "it feels like it's been forever since we started discussing this worm..."

Histoire wryly grins. "It definitely does feel like it has taken a while, but proper preparation will ensure things go smoothly."

"Anyway! Sorry about that Noire, go ahead and continue."

"Right. Okay, so, Poppy will need to set up the traps."

"One problem with that..." says Uni.

"What is it?"

"Do we even have traps?"

"Um. Lady Histoire, what are the mechanics of traps?"

Histoire opens the Dungeon Master Guide. "Let me check, I'm sure it can't be that bad." After a minute or so, she closes the book, a grim look on her face.

"Histy, I don't like that face. Please don't make that face, and tell us that 'Traps are simple to make, you just have to make a roll' then we'll all happily make traps to use against the skeletons."

"Neptune, we all know that's not the case with how she reacted," says Noire, grimacing.

"I know, but aaaaahhhh! I want it to not be the case!"

"So," says Histoire, "the most basic trap costs about 1800 gold pieces, in market price. Personally I might just be reading this wrong, because I just skimmed through it to check how difficult it is to make or what not. I've decided that the rules for these in our current state is codswallop, and we're homebrewing the rules, because there is no way that making basic traps would cost more money than an average peasant makes in a day. You'll have to give me some time to possibly check with other Dungeon Masters on the Internep, so, just let's just put the trap creation on hold, and once we're on break, that's what I'll do."

"Okay! Thanks Histy, you're the best."

The rest of the table agree on her decision, and Noire continues. "So now, the final thing is finding out if there's somehow more than one giant creature. It would be very troublesome, if while we're fighting, a second giant worm appears. I guess that's some more information gathering for you Uni."

"I'm starting to feel like that's all my character is good for... out of combat scenarios..."

"That's not a bad thing Uni, one character can't be good at everything."

"I guess so."

"Okay, Lady Histoire, I think that's our plan for now."

"Thank you Miss Noire. We'll take a quick break, I'll look up trap mechanics, and after we reconvene, we'll do the necessary rolls for information gathering, and all that, then you'll do battle with the worm, if you all so desire. If you'll excuse me... I need some water..."