"I see. How long does the Battle Royale typically last?"

"Approximately thirty days, I believe."

"What resources tend to be available to contestants during that time, apart from each others' corpses and the soul grafts themselves?"

The entity checks their notes with a ruffle of pages. "It seems the organizers generally arrange for the arena to contain resources sufficient to ensure everyone's survival until the end of the tournament."

"How big is the arena, and how many contestants are there?"

Ruffle ruffle. "Notes indicate that the arena is usually a pocket dimension containing an island, but I don't have anything on the size of the island. I also don't have any precise counts on numbers of contestants, but reports have ranged from 'less than a hundred' to 'a few hundred'."

"Is it likely that any of the other contestants in the iteration we enter will also have come through here? What other routes send people there?"

"By far the majority of contestants will have arrived through local routes—worlds within the organizers' sphere of influence such that the souls of the dead are sometimes available to them."

"Do you have any information about the magic levels of those worlds?"

"Reports indicate that the majority of contestants are encountering magic for the first time when they receive their soul graft, but beyond that I don't have access to details."

"Alright..." (Can you think of any further questions?)

(I cannot. You have done admirably in that regard. Overall, it seems that this expedition will certainly pose some risk, but the risk is acceptable to me in light of the intriguing promise of the Soul Graft. I am very curious how they will approach our situation.)

(Agreed.) "We'll try this one next," he says firmly. 

SOUL GRAFT BATTLE ROYALE PATHWAY

• Warnings: IMMEDIATE RISK OF DEATH, HOSTILE ADMINISTERING ENTITY
• Destination hazard level HIGH
• Available power level MEDIUM-HIGH
• Choice complexity level LOW

[_] [_] I affirm that I have read this information packet and freely choose to proceed through this pathway.

SIGN HERE: __________________ __________________

He checks the boxes and signs his name in his native glyphs. 

Cold River prompts him with a mental image of how to write her name on the second line.

He carefully and precisely scribes out the unfamiliar shapes. 

Reality dissolves around them once more, and they drift through the disorienting void until—

—they are, once again, in a room with a desk and a bureaucrat.

The lighting is dim, the furniture foreign. The papers on the desk are neatly stacked in ornate trays. The bureaucrat is cherry-red, with gleaming black horns and glittering black eyes, and regards them over half-moon spectacles with a smugly patronizing air. Soulsight shows him as a dark glassy shell that mostly but not entirely conceals the roiling mass of tangled wisps within; but soulsight also seems to have trouble seeing even that much, as though the soul layer is being obscured by a thick fog.

Something about this place feels wrong, corrosive, sickening, like just being in the room is somehow bad for your health. It's uncomfortable, bordering on painful; and it hits Cold River harder than it hits Baruti.

Also, there's a pervasive sound in the background, just on the edge of hearing, almost like... distant, sourceless screaming?

WOW DO NOT LIKE

The first thing to do is to try to put up a repulsive barrier against the sickening effect around Cold River. This takes more oomph than it ought because he doesn't know anything about it but he is a Great Mage, he'll cope. 

The second thing to do is to investigate the screaming. 

When submerged in water, the Fountain begins to convert the water into Life Elixir, a potion with powerful healing and rejuvenating properties. A few drops will revive a corpse to perfect health; a sip or two will restore a mortal to the prime of their life.

An enormous chest filled with gold, jewels, and magical artifacts, lightly enchanted to provoke a gentle greed that encourages strangers to accept its trinkets as payment.

A mystic key that opens pathways between worlds, allowing for easy transit. If there isn't already a path to your destination, the Key can make one.

This dusty old grimoire belonged to a circle of ancient archmages, and the first chapter is a perfect introduction to the basics of wizardry. The rest of the book holds entire lifetimes' worth of arcane secrets and lost knowledge.

This is a copy of the machine we use to apply Soul Grafts to our contestants. It comes with a detailed instruction manual and a small selection of basic essences.

Winners of this Prize will receive the entire pocket dimension in which the tournament was fought, with full root access to the terrain-shaping and portal-anchoring frameworks we laid on the place.

Absolutely without question the most dangerous Grand Prize of all... to anyone but the victor, that is. Once bonded to you, your Doll will be perfectly loyal, nearly indestructible, and eternally yours. Her combat capabilities are unparalleled; very little besides another Doll could stand in her way.

Mystery prize! There's something in here, but we're not telling you what. Just know that it's useful, powerful, or interesting on a level with the other prizes.

"Do we have to go on just the descriptions provided or will you answer clarifying questions about the prizes?"

He raises his eyebrows. "Try it and see, but be warned, I only have so much patience to go around and you might want to save your questions for later."

"I only have one question--the fountain, it says it can restore a corpse--are there any limitations on what kind of corpse, age or total biomass or the like."

Smirk. "Yes."