[LH] Our New Home?

[Linwelin]

A breeze?

The player was confused at this sensory feeling.

Why do I feel wind? I'm indoors!

He opened his eyes. Low and behold, he was NOT indoors. He was lying back-down in the grass and dirt. Grass and dirt that were unfamiliar.

Quickly, the man sat up and looked around.

"What tHE HELL!?"

This wasn't home. There were trees, and ruins, a-and...wait, something was familiar. This layout, and the way buildings were designed.

"...Elder Tale? This is Elder Tale, right? While looking around quickly, he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. He quickly grabbed out at it, but then flinched in a slight amount of pain. "N...no way..." What he'd grabbed was his own tail. A fox tail.

"...This is definitely Elder Tale. Without a doubt. And I'm Kuwan..." At this point, his hand was on his head. Where he found his fox ears, confirming his identity. He was currently in the body of his avatar in the MMO "Elder Tale", Kuwan of the Fox Tail race. Which means he's on the level 1 character he'd literally just created when he bought the game yesterday. Well, was it yesterday? It's hard to tell what time has passed considering he just woke up in an entirely different world.

Now that he knew, sort of, what the world around him was like, he began to wander. Luckily, it seemed he was fairly close to the city he'd been in before he'd logged off.

"So this is Elder Tale's Seattle..." Kuwan noted aloud, looking up toward the skyscrapers, which only got higher as the hills rose from the waterfront. Though, most of the buildings were worn or partially destroyed. It was a ruined setting, after all. Something stood out to him while looking at those buildings; there was a sale sign. For ungodly sums for money, but these buildings could be bought. That's not what he thought strange, however. The sign was a hologram, as though it was virtual.

He froze where he stood. Is this a virtual world or reality? What is this!?

As though to test this fact, he attempted to open his character menu. Just as if he was in the game, the menu popped up, displaying all of his stats, and his friends list (though it was empty). At this, he sighed dejectedly.

As he walked further into the city to see if anyone else was in the same predicament, only a single thought constantly reappeared in his mind.

What the hell is going on!?

[Mysticsage]

BGM

http://www.youtube.com/v/UvCIH550mA8&loop=1&autoplay=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCIH550mA8

[close]

Darkness.

The same darkness that envelops a room with the windows closed.

Not really an unusual thing to a gamer he must have fallen asleep at his desk again without realizing it. He did have to stay up pretty late to log on due to the time difference. But wait, something was off. His eyesight was still taking a long time to focus as if he had bee hit over the head and he had the headache to prove it. Even in this blur however, he was able to tell one thing.

This didn't feel like his room.

And he could feel the concrete floor under his head cold and soothing to the throbbing. Far different from his usually cramped cold room. Had he somehow attempted to go the bathroom and ended up on the floor without realizing it. The cold breeze that sent a large shiver down his spine giving his entire body had something to say on that theory.

Sitting up while rubbing his still painful head he tried to make out where he was, and he could not make out much.  He could only make out the barest of outlines of a wall that was only a few feet away. Had someone broken into his house and kidnapped him? Looking around frantically He need a means of getting to some kind of light to see where he was. If he used the wall as a guide the surely he would be able to find a door or something. He stood up slowly and when he got all the way standing his head began to swoon. As if he was a lot higher up then he was used to. Bracing himself on the wall he managed to wait till the feeling began to abate slightly and then start walking.

Well, more like stumbling really. Every few steps he kept tripping on his own feet and almost falling flat on his face. "Did I get drugged or something?" He kept pushing forward however, despite the issues. Going on for what felt like hours he finally reached a place where the shadows began to lighten. His heart rose at the idea of escape. As he followed hallway after hallway he saw it, a means of escape from the dark. A gaping hole of blinding light stood before him and rushed to his freedom.

"Holy-!" he said his freedom was not so easily assured, as he was suddenly greeted with a good five-story drop and teetering on a crumbling ledge. He managed to pinwheel his arms just enough to barely reverse his moment causing him to fall on his but hard. A portion of the floor continued to fall away and land to the ground with a sickening thud.

"One more step and that would have been me!" he sighed heart still beating in his throat. In a matter of seconds after his near death experience he had broken out into a cold adrenaline fueled sweat. Wiping the wet droplets from his brow he took a moment to look at his surroundings.
And his jaw almost hit the floor. "Toto, I don't think we're in Philly anymore." In fact this did not look like any place he knew of in the States. He was in a lush landscape of over grown and wild ruins. From his vantage point he could see building aver building that were in disrepair and half destroyed. All of them were covered with different stages of overgrowth. From his spot he could also make out the outline of some kind of building clustered closer together. The wilderness form what he could make out seemed to be cut away there, and had been forced back for the most part.

"A town of some sort maybe?" It was worth a shot. If he could get there perhaps there would be others who would know where he was.

When he let his hand drop to the side however something even more bizarre happened. A jingling sound like computerized bells and then out of nowhere a small back rectangle appeared before him hovering in the air. After he got over the startling manifestation. He realized that it wasn't going to hurt him he locked it over more closely. It looked like some kind of user interface from a game. It felt familiar but he could not tell exactly where he had scene it before. Touching it again the black box sprang to life with all kind of tabs and information. All set up exactly as it would have been as if he was playing Elder Tale.

Suddenly he felt his stomach drop as he tapped the status screen out of curiosity. The screen was set up just like the status screen for Elder Tale. Everything was exactly how he remembered from where the name was placed to the statistics. But wait these Stats seemed eerily familiar. And the name that it had written down was not his own. It had the name of his character Xen written on it. This was the moment that this really started to feel like a weird fever dream only his senses said he was all to awake.

That's when he noticed them for the first time, the inky black design pattern of a tattoo that his friends had worked so hard to create for his character. If He was in Xenos' body them the height difference could explain why he had so much trouble walking.

Was it possible?

Had he somehow ended up inside the game?   

[Mumble Dragon]

Spoiler

http://youtu.be/2_kKFjwpwqc?list=LL8AvS7dIPEHp5e4QhVdDkZg

[close]

BGM

A brisk wind brushed over his face, leaving a cold aftershock. Annoyed, he turns over and grasps at blankets non-existent. Shouldn't have left that window open. He brushes it off as he tries to get back to sleep....wait.....what window???

As he could recall, there was no window in his basement headquarters.

Opening his eyes, he was greeting by a near pitch black scene, surrounded by grass in an open space. The sky was beginning to brighten, the calling of the coming dawn. He glances up toward where his ceiling should have been; instead, was greeted by an explosion of stars in the sky above. The annoying scratch of the grass was beginning to dig into his back as he lay there, gazing up at the expansive sky. Not standing for it any longer, he rose up to a seating position to get a better sense of his surroundings. With his eyes adjusting, he could begin to make out large shapes in the distance, looking more and more like tall buildings. Another breeze ran by him as he sat there, causing something on the top of his head to twitch.

Reaching up, he grasped at something fuzzy, giving a slight tug. Whatever it was twitched underneath his hand, sending chills down his spine, followed by a sharp pain at the top of his skull. It seemed to be latched onto his head. Shooting up to his feet, he caught something snake-like whip around behind him. His reflexes shot out as he latched onto a brown object. Again, this responded similarly to his head leech, sending a shock at the lower base of his spine, spreading along his lower back. Was....it...attached to him as well. In a confused stupor, he looked around for anything to see his reflection. Spying a small sandy beach, he noticed a calm body of water with slowly receding water nearby. Letting go of the strange object, he dashed over to the water and slid onto his knees at the waters edge. Panicked, he gazed down at a blurry reflection on the disturbed water. As the water stilled, he was greeted by a face he did not recognize. In fact, he wasn't even sure if it was even human.

Staring back, was the image of a humanly proportioned head, but replaced with cat features. Eyes, teeth nose, all surrounded by a brown covering of fur, littered with spots of a creamy tan color. What he thought was attached to the top of his head was what appeared to be his ears, perked up and hair standing on end, much like he would see in a disturbed house cat. This cant be real... He reached up with a fur covered hand and pulled at the whiskers on his face. A sharp pain rang out as his face scrunched up in reflex. Sitting back away from the water, he began to look himself over. His whole body seemed to be covered in fur, claws for nails, and a full on tail protruding from his backside.

As his nerves began to calm, he tried to get a grasp on the situation. Given that he woke up in an entirely different body, let alone a whole different species, he thought he was taking this at a decent leveled reaction. Raising up his hands, he gazed at the new claws garnished at the end of his fingertips. Flexing his fingers up and down, he could feel how alien this new body felt to him. Stretching his arms out, a small holographic box appeared midair in front of him. Cautiously, he relaxed his arms and reached over and touched it with a finger. A new dialogue popped up in a large square, filled with what looked to be stat listings and character equipment. Gazing upon this new discovery, he began to get a familiar feeling of seeing this before. He browsed through the tabs and ended up at the character menu, displaying a large cat-man with assorted stats and skills. Lars..... he spoke out loud. That's the name of the new character he created in Elder Tale that very evening.

Sudden realization struck him in the face as the dilemma began to come clear to him. Judging by the appearances, it looked like he was stuck in the body of the character he created in a video game, but what does that tell about this place. The rising sun began to eclipse through the gaps of the distant buildings, striking his eyes. Raising his hand up to shield from the sun, he gazed out at the city, deep in thought. He knew he should at least investigate the area, perhaps he could find a clue as to where he is and how he got here, maybe finding a way to wake back up in his own body and out of this crazy dream. Humming to life, the world around him seemed to begin stirring with movement and noises in response to the morning sun. He took his first step toward the city in a desperate plea to find out what in the world was going, but deep down he knew, he was in the world of Elder Tale.....

[Linwelin]

The town's populace was on the verge of emotional breakdown. And Kuwan was right there with them, if anything he had more reason to be than most. He'd never actually played this game, and he was low level, thus he was completely unfamiliar with his new surroundings and unable to protect himself in them if he were to explore.

"Why did I choose a healing class...? Well, at least it'll make surviving and running easier...But..." Kuwan was constantly muttering and sighing as he roamed the streets. It'd been hard to really tell from outside the game, but the area was full of hills of varying degrees. It made it difficult to gain a bearing of where places of import were located. That bird's-eye viewpoint would be REALLY helpful right about now... He thought to himself. If I'm not careful, I could get lost in just the town! Talk about embarrassing.

Still, Kuwan avoided direct conversation with others for now, as he wanted to gather his thoughts and resolve first. Though he really wanted to ask for directions so he didn't end up going in circles. ...Wait! That's it! My subclass! He shouted in his mind. He was a scribe, which he'd chosen immediately only because he heard they were cartographers, which he needed to over his sub-par directional sense. He headed back to the fountain he'd just passed. It turned out that the fountain was THE central fountain of Seattle, located in the Seattle Center. Though it was much less the display piece he'd heard it was in reality, now seemingly made into a practical, decorative fountain. It was surrounded by a plaza, from which slim, cobblestone pathways lead winding outward up grassy hills toward the rest of the center. From here he could make out the broken form of the Space Needle, which, when thinking back to the town map from before he ended up...like this, Set him at the Center of town to the north of most of the important structures in the city. So by heading past the Space Needle, he'd be able to stumble upon other areas of import.

Before leaving, he decided to check the operation of the travel gate in the town, which was disappointingly inoperable once found. But he realized that now was not the time to sigh and mope, he needed to understand at least his basic surroundings. And so his mapping began. Strangely enough, the Seattle Center was quite far from the rest of the markets and buildings. The only exceptions were the Arena and McCaw Hall, which served as a player-vs-player dueling ground and an oratory/performance space respectively. They were practically right around the corner from the toppled Space Needle. After walking away from the center, the markets that gathered began thinning out, and the ruins of Seattle surfaced, stretching for a mile or two until life began showing in the surroundings again. With this, Kuwan knew he was getting close to the second major market area. "Alright...so one mile between the center and the market..." He spoke aloud to himself while continuing his survey. Upon reaching Benaroya hall, he began making more stops in order to do a more detailed map of this area.

First was Benaroya hall itself, which was the second oratory space, along with McCaw hall. Looking at the movement of the crowd, however, he realized he must've missed an area, and backtracked accordingly. Toward the coastline from the hall was where the Pike Place Market, the other major trading hub, was located. Kuwan got a headache thinking about mapping those shops out, so he simply kept track of the overall size of the facility, and made a note to come back later. From there he headed back to Benaroya, which on closer inspection he realized was right next to the Guild Meeting Hall. Kuwan was delighted to have finally found this building, as he knew there would be many more experienced players here that could inform him of changes and such later.

From there, Kuwan headed directly West, which started going uphill. The reason for this decision was that he saw the bell towers of what could only be the Santuary. However, a couple blocks before this, he stumbled across a courthouse-like building, which seemed to be the bank in town. This was a thrilling find for him, as he'd not actually found it yet when he'd played outside the current circumstances. Or more, as a level 1, he hadn't needed it yet. Either way, he jotted down its location, and then progressed up the hill to find the cathedral for player respawning, the Sanctuary.

While recording the cathedral's location, a thought crossed Kuwan's mind. Wait...respawn...I know that this reality, whatever it is, is a cross between the virtual world of Elder Tale and the real world. But, does respawning exist? Or do we die permanently? Is it even safe to leave town any longer? Slowly, Kuwan's curiosity was slowly replaced by fear. What if this game turned out to be a fatal one?

Spoiler

Sorry for the info-dense post, but I felt now was a good time to outline the area so we all knew where the important buildings were :P

Also, here's the city map, courtesy of google haha. I'll make a more game-friendly version another time.
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6159215,-122.3375277,15z

Note that he started in the NW and went SW to St. James Cathedral near the bottom.

[close]

[Throndir]

Spoiler

Quickly read my character thread first! :D

[close]

Aria Blanchette
as Sir Hemsworth

Sure it was fun making the character. Spending hours on the character creation screen was something that Aria had found to be fun after all. It was just like dress-up, except this time she had control over almost everything about the looks of the character. Even the parts where it got into the more game-related statistics like race and class only served to help draw Aria into the world of the game. It would have been her first experience with the game, in fact, it would have been her first experience with any sort of online game.

In truth, Aria was never much of a gamer, casual at most. But after the insistence of her friend that lived in the US, did she finally give in and join him. The game was 'Elder Tale', she had no idea what it meant, it sounded like a generic title for those many computer games people play, but she did recall hearing that this particular game was some sort of commercial success. That doesn't neccessarily mean it would be something Aria would try. If not for the fact that she knew someone already playing it, it wasn't likely something she would have picked up on her own.

Yet, there she was. Or more specifically he was.









Her character in the exact likeness of Thor displayed out in his full glory. His rippling chest, his blonde and flowing hair.










Aria drooled, she considered calling her friend who lived in the US about her new character, and probably go on about how sexy Chris Hemsworth was, but figured she should get familiar with the actual game first before meeting up with him.

She couldn't contain her excitement, first to try out the game, then call her friend right after. Ready to venture out into this world, she quickly clicked on the 'Next' button.

It was at that moment that everything became pitch black. Aria shrieked, or rather she tried to, but she found that her voice did not come. Everything around her was dark, no longer was she in front of her computer or her room. Silence ensued as she felt her heart race, and this time around it wasn't from the sparkling smile of her favorite actor. This time, it was from fear. A dreading fear of not knowing what was happening; a fear wondering why in the world did she ever get her friend to convince her to play a silly game.

In a few more moments, the darkness dissipated as she felt a breeze of chill wind blow into her. Her eyes darted back and forth, but nothing looked familiar. Tall ruined buildings stood around her, many of them deprecated, and it looked like some sort of scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. She had started to walk forward then, looking down at the path that she stood upon, but as she did so she realized her legs looked different.

In fact... They looked just like Thor's rippling legs.

She grasped at her chest, and instead felt the stony muscles beneath the shirt she wore - the same shirt she had constantly fussed on when she was making her character. She felt her knees buckle, as a palid feeling came over her. Her thoughts was racing, but there was only one question that kept popping up her mind.

Is this Elder Tales?

[Mumble Dragon]

Lars was beginning to feel more at home in his new form as he walked the broken city streets. His form was a little taller than his actual body, so taking longer strides felt quite different to him. His new ears picked up sharper sounds, sending his body into alarm over the over sensitive sense. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the tail, it felt "alien" to him still, but seemed to respond like moving any other limb.

Picking his destination at random, he seemed to have wandered into an older abandoned part of the Seattle server. Broken buildings and overgrown blocks encircled him. Holographic signs could be seen floating around some, offering hefty price tags for the opportunity for purchasing property. Small groups of people seemed to be huddled under supporting structures as most kept to themselves. Lars gathered them to also be people who were sent into the game, worry and fear was apparent on their faces as they tried to cope with this new world. Then there were other groups he noticed that fit into the backdrop, almost matching the crumbling buildings as they ran shops or muddled around town. Perhaps they are the People of the Land... he wondered. It seemed whenever these people gazed upon his presence they either seemed to look past him like he wasn't there, or give him odd looks. What's wrong...never seen a walking cat before... he would often think to himself, never bothering to voice any vocal opinion on the matter.

Suddenly stopping in his tracks, a slight scowl crossed his face as he gazed upwards toward the tall buildings, trying to gain any insight on where he was. All of the street corners look the same here, how am I supposed to know where I'm supposed to go? As he tried to gain his bearings, a sudden idea came to him. Perhaps with a higher look, I can find some sort of landmark. He wasn't sure if it was the fact he was in a game world, but Lars felt amazing amounts of energy running through him. If this truly is the game, may as well have some fun with it.

He had put a lot of thought and work into creating Lars. Eager to try something new, he wanted to go for a quick, agility build for a character, something that can move quick and act fast on their feet. He merged these thoughts with the Werecat race to give him the maximum benefits toward his Dexterity and Agility, and created Lars.

Without a step of hesitation, he hopped over toward a low wall and braced himself to leap for the edge. Firing off on the energy building in his legs, he bounded away from the ground and toward his desired destination about twice his length up. Within seconds he was reaching out with his hand to grasp the edge, but quickly realized a slight miscalculation. Not accounting for his new height and build, he instead overshot the edge and found himself rising above it, his body slowing as his torso rose above the edge and collided with it, tearing the air out of his lungs with a thud. Reeling from the shock, his arms shot out along the roof to find something desperately to grab so he didn't plummet back down to the bottom. Claws out, he managed to sink his hand into enough of a crevice to slightly support his failed attempt, his feet scratching along the wall till they found a crevice to rest in.

Taking in a deep breath to recover, his raised hairs began to settle, an embarrassing expression of shock on his face. He sure hoped no one was around to see that. He pulled the rest of himself over the edge as he stood, patting the dust off his clothes. He gestured with his hands, smoothing back the unsettled hair on the top of his head as he sort of whistled a short tune gazing about.

This time, slightly more fanciful, he climbed up some crumbled blocks to find himself on top of a destroyed building's roof. Cupping a hand above his eyes to block the sun, he began to take in the surrounding elements. The city seemed to stretch quite a ways in the distance. Noticeable bodies of water surrounded a good portion of the land, with rising hills scattered around the horizon with what seemed like normal houses dotting throughout. He was only slightly familiar with the actual Seattle, so he could only recognize some of the more major landmarks. As he gazed about, something did manage to catch his eye. The town gate stood off in the distance a short ways from him. Eying a reasonable path along the streets, he picked out the best route to get there. Perhaps some more level headed players would be there to provide some answers.

Keeping to the rooftops he could reach, he leaped and bounded along his destined path toward the gate.

The sun was hanging high up in the sky when Lars made it near the gate. Bounding from his rooftop perch, he landed with a solid thud on the ground below, absorbing the impact of the landing through his legs. Quick observation pointed out larger groups of people huddled around the area, some inspecting the apparently shut-down gate, others seemed to be looking through shop stands, leaving with new weapons and armor selections. His ears perked up at the thought of browsing through the weapons stands. Working his way through a throng of people, he stopped at the front of a weapon stand and gazed up on the wares. Swords, maces, shields, bows, this stand seemed to carry it all. Every piece polished and set out in a dazzling display, Lars could be blinded by staring too intently at some of the shiny bits.

"Hey buddy, try notta rust the merchandise with all the droolin'." a largely disgruntled looking blacksmith grunted behind the stand. Polishing a broadsword with a cloth, he eyed Lars up and down, then passed his gaze onto other customers.

Lars smirked and shifted slightly away from the table. Browsing through the inventory, his eyes fell upon a pair of fencing sabre's. His hands shot out as he snatched them off the table for closer inspection. "How much for the blades pops," he blurted out, pulling out slightly out of his scabbard. The gauntly blacksmith gazed in Lars direction. "More than what you probably have." Lars ran his hands through his pockets, pulling up nothing. Remembering his game UI, he popped up his inventory menu and looked for the gold amount, a whopping value of "0" glaring back up at him. Ears drooped, he returned the blades to the table and turned away from the table. Looks like he'll have to find a way to get some cash.

[Mysticsage]

Xen kept moving as he finally made it into the town he had seen from his perch on that crumbling building. It had taken him the better part of an hour to find a workable path that he could climb down. Finally having to resort to jumping the last story to the ground had not been a fun idea, but he had not hurt himself, so that is all that really mattered at the moment. The walk from the ruined outskirts to the town proper was otherwise uneventful.

He had immediately went through his inventory finding only his starting gear and a few books his friends had given him. Speaking of his friends, his friends list did show the character names of his companions though all showed as offline or away. Had they too gotten sucked into the game? If they had most of them were probably on their home server since you manually had to transfer in game to play globally with others. His attempts to try and contact anyone seemed to be failing miserably. Hopefully they were still safe at home. He knew on the other hand that he needed to keep moving.

With his patchwork hood drawn he silently crossed paths with a number of people like himself. Strangers with new faces who were huddled together amongst the rubble crying, screaming, and examining themselves out of pure curiosity.   He did not blame any of them. After all it was not everyday that one woke up in a new world in a new body. When Xen was safe and alone he would be doing very much the same. Seeing what exactly was different about his body and what had stayed the same. He was surprised however, by some of the apparent ages of the players he came across. Most were around his age or a little older, but there were a suprising amount of kids as well who must have played hooky from school to long in for the new expansion. Some of the older folks were trying there best to calm a few who were really breaking down. 

For now though he was keeping to himself well out of the way of the others and just watching those along his path. Ever since he had activated his UI he had left the character tracking bars up.  Sure the info it displayed would get annoying eventually, but for now it was somewhat entertaining to put faces and level stats to names.

The people actually traveling along this path seemed far less shell shocked to the rest and understood like he did that the safest place to be right now was probably in town. Then he could here the sound of horses. Whinnying as they attempted to push past the new foot traffic. The noise was a covered wagon driven by a man who was trying to remain in control of the beasts as he too continued towards town. He was different from the rest of them. He wore no armor only worn leather pants and a linen shirt. As Xen moved to the side to let him pass he nodded his appreciation, but he never dropped eye contact. He was trying to hide it but he was as afraid of the horses were. Looking more closely sat the man?s identification bar as the wagon pulled ahead of him he saw what he was looking for.

Instead of being identified as an Adventurer like Xen and all the other players he had past. This man was marked as a Person of the Land the collective moniker used to identify Non-Player Characters, or NPCs of the game.  So, those who had been sent into the game were not alone. An interesting piece of information he chewed over as he continued. Finally crossing the entry threshold into the city proper the hilly landscape made it difficult to identify many landmarks. Never actually having been to seattle did not help either. For now he stuck to the main roads knowing that in games like these they modeled town around one central point like a wheel. As long he did not deviate into one of the many side streets he would no doubt find a central square of some sort.

To pass the time he opened his bag and pulled out a book, his starting grimoire that he had gotten for being a summoner, and began flipping through the pages. Three fourths of the book appeared completely blank but the fist few pages were filled with all kinds of ritual markings and strange words that he could not pronounce with translations scribbled in the blank space. At lest for the time being he would not be bored. As he entered the square with the city teleportation gat he noted how many people had actually gathered, choosing to stay somewhat obscured in the shadow of a nearby building.

[Linwelin]

Kuwan decided that, now that he had a rudimentary map, he would go back to the guild hall to ask questions of the more senior members. Just as he finished heading the map for easy filing and recognition, something unexpected happened. Well, a few things. One, the paper he'd been writing on suddenly gained a new item ID and some basic flavor text.

-Unfinished Map of Seattle-

This map details the major landmarks for adventurers in the city of Seattle, as viewed by Kuwan. The map is incomplete, but usable.

The next surprise was a small flash around him, which seemed to indicated a level-up in his Scribe sub-class. As it was now only level 2, nothing was gained from this level-up, but this further drove home that this new environment did have the rules and interface of the Elder Tale MMORPG. It still felt so surreal to him, that he was suddenly living inside a game. He wasn't depressed about it, strangely enough. He only missed a few things from his own reality, but for all he knew he could return at some point. At that thought, some ideas swam through his head. Could he return home at some point? Assuming so right now could be setting himself up for breakdown later, so it would probably be best for himself to just consider this his new home. But with that, what would happen to his life before? And what's happened to his actual body? Would loved ones be huddled around a comatose, soulless body; would I be considered dead? What if I had no body to return to by the end of this whole thing?

Realizing his mind was wandering to a dangerous place, Kuwan shook his head vigorously. This, in turn, made his ears wave slightly. It was a strange feeling, considering they were now toward the top of his head, instead of on the side. And they were much more sensitive to both sound and touch, which lead to rather jarring sensory information. It would certainly take some getting used to, but if anything, these facts were a blessing. Just as he was pondering his new abilities, they picked up an odd sound. From above.

Looking up, he could he could see a silhouette jumping over rooftops deftly. Well, at least some people have gotten used to their surrounding a bit more. Wait, this is actually a good opportunity, as Kuwan couldn't explore up there nearly as easily. This character could probably see the terrain surrounding the town, which is something Kuwan was unfamiliar with even while this was a normal game. It would be good information to have if he got to the point of exploring, maybe even seeing some points of interest.

However, as he called out to the figure, he realized that whoever it was had already gotten a good distance away. "Hey, you, on the rooftops!" Was all he managed before the figure seemed out of earshot. Kuwan had no confidence that he'd been heard, but could at least hope. With that, he took out his map to plot his course back to town and gather more information. After all, keeping himself busy and well-informed was not only good for confidence and stability, but made his mind wander less. And he did not want to end up despondent like those along the roadside, sitting lost in thought.

[Throndir]

Aria Blanchette
as Sir Hemsworth

Even if she had never played an 'MMO' before, Aria knew well enough that this wasn't how it should have been. There was some new virtual technology stuff she remembered reading in the news, but this definitely felt completely different. Wasn't some sort of goggles put on your head to make virtual reality work? All she did was login to the game, no way that could make the entire scenery around her change. Everything felt real as well; the chill wind blowing against her, the sights and smells, the feel of the stones and rocks beneath her as rather gorgeous legs made their awkward way forward. She knew something was wrong, but she held on to hope that perhaps this was just an expected part of the game.

When the initial shock of logging into the game wore down and finding out she was in Thor's body, the girl-turned-sexy-hunk began exploring her surroundings. Admittedly the thought did cross her mind to explore her new-found body as well, but the idea made her flush completely red, and she couldn't quite bring herself to even further think about such things. Besides, getting used to her new body was difficult. Her legs were a lot longer than before, and Aria at first had trouble even doing something as simple as taking a few steps. It didn't take her long to at least get slightly used to the walking, but she knew it would be awhile yet until she was comfortable with walking.

It was during her fumbling when Aria had accidentally triggered her in-game menu. Following the road to where-ever it would lead to, screens magically popped up in front of her, and as she began reading in her head each of the options. She was haphazardly going through each of the menus, reading her character menu, looking at the items in her inventory, and so on and so forth. She was just getting immersed into the game. She had no idea what half of it meant, but there was that spark of curiosity and was getting just a bit excited to try things out. There was still a nagging feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't be so certain.

Eventually she found herself at the very end of the menus, with the last option before her. A simple "logout" option. She waved her hand over it. Nothing happened. She then pointed at it again slower, yet nothing still happened. For good measure she did it a couple more times, each time more furious than the last. It looked as if the menu option had been clicked on, but try as she might nothing happened at all.

"Why isn't this working!" She said angrily out-loud. She hadn't paid much attention to the other people around her, and though she didn't realize it at the time, to the onlookers it would have been strange hearing a grown and muscular man named 'Sir Hemsworth' sounding like a teenage girl.

Panic had begun to settle again, just like when she first bumbled into the new world.

This isn't real. It's just a game! But she couldn't help it. Suddenly all that awe and wonderment of playing a new game became more akin to fear. Her menu closed down. A moment later, she opened it back up, frantically her eyes searched for the log-off command again, and with trepidation, selected it again.

Nothing.

Her fingers quivered, and she felt the trappings of fear and worry take root within her. Only then did she start paying attention to the people around her. Some were standing or lounging in the shadows, others frantically hurrying about, some standing calmly, and even a good number who seemed as if they were just going about their daily lives.

The large man (Aria) turned towards someone nearby.

"H-how can we quit?" The feminine voice of the large man in the likeness of Thor cracked. But Aria was frantic, she did not want to get stuck in some virtual reality if it was one. She hadn't even called her friend yet to let him know of her new character! Most of all, and one thing she had been mentally denying, she did not want to come to terms that she may be stuck here with no way of going back home.

Spoiler

Anyone can interject themselves as that person Thor (Aria) is talking to.

[close]

[Kirhart]

Rico is the son of a major crime syndicate boss who is in charge of the metropolitan crime ring in Seattle. The prime focus of the crime ring is to commit major robberies and heists with the intention of redistributing the items they steal for a profit. As a young boy Rico was constantly exposed to items of high value and became specifically adept at identifying items of particular profitability. With the guidance of a particularly benevolent underboss Rico was able to raise money for a top of the line computer system and immediately became hooked on Elder Tale.

When Rico began attending High School the underboss he had befriended attempted to break away from the criminal group and was discovered by Rico?s father who immediately killed him to make an example for others who might try to leave the ?family?.

Rico became aware that he would need prove himself to gain trust and reputability in the eyes of the group, particularly to his father.  Rico was made to choose a role within the organization within days of his mentor?s death. His decision was to become a hitman working for his father, however he insisted on choosing his marks. He would only carry out contracts on individuals older and physically superior. Rico secretly plans to one day use these skills to take out his father so he and his mother can escape the criminal underworld.

In order to escape the abusive nature of his home life Rico often retreats to his room and escapes reality within video games on his tri-monitor extreme graphics computer. Elder Tale for Rico is a way to re-define himself outside the constraints of the real world which is largely a painful existence. Within the game Rico develops particularly close friendships which he sees as impossible outside of this virtual sanctum. Rico seeks approval and a bond of togetherness which is not based on fear, profit margins, or revenge. Although he is versed in taking lives of others outside of the game, Rico is not particularly ?good? at playing Elder Tale. The game world where respawns and regeneration can bring anyone back from the brink of death is in many ways a foreign concept for Rico. As he begins to see the game as more of a mental challenge than a physical one a transformation begins to occur in Rico?s lifestyle. Retreating more often to this virtual world begins to become apparent to his father and reflected in his bad grades in school.  Rico already struggles between two worlds, and two very different lives with two conflicting mentalities. With the upcoming expansion Rico has hatched a plan to be the one of the worlds best. Nova Sphere was an opportunity for Rico to showcase his video game skills and prove himself as skilled in the realm of Elder Tale. Rico knows that soon he will need to choose between his criminal family and the alliances forged within the game.

The choice taken from him as he logged into the new expansion for the first time. He felt at first as if he had fallen asleep while playing, although this dream was far too real. When he looked down and saw that he was no longer in his own body, but that of his in game persona. He did not know if he should be terrified or relieved. He surprisingly was not afraid, nor did he question how or why he was here. Only one thought dominated his mind:

?This is my chance.? He thought, ?My chance to change everything.?

Something seemed off, he didn?t have any of the fancy armor or equipment he had grown accustomed to his avatar wearing.

?Nooooooo!? He cried, ?Im back to level one?!"

[Linwelin]

He had assumed the, well, character that approached him thought him knowledgeable due to the map, but Kuwan was too shocked to correct them right away. After all, he now had a completely built guardian standing in front of him, though posing in the stance of a panicked girl. He took his time responding, first blinking a couple times while staring at the "man".

"So logging out doesn't work, huh? Funny, I hadn't tried that yet. Guess my survival instinct kicked in before my common sense, there." Kuwan chuckled, trying to somewhat lighten the mood. Dealing with a panicking person was what he'd been trying to AVOID. Why was he singled out like that? He inwardly sighed. "So you made a fan-avatar, and are stuck in the body, huh? Well, I'm sorry to say it, but despite how the map makes me look, I'm fairly new to this game as well. And still have no idea what's happened. From your voice, you're...a girl?" He answered cautiously, still trying to make heads-or-tails of what was going on.

Looking her over quickly, he had to admit he was impressed. "Well, I have to say, you really put some work in your character. So to that end, well done!" Kuwan gave as comforting a smirk as he could, given the situation, "... But from what I've seen, and what you've told me, you could very well be stuck like that." He sighed a little, knowing very well what emotional outbursts could come from saying that. Upon seeing their expression, he sighed once more, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, I was just heading to gather information about this anyways. Feel free to tag along if it'll help you calm down. Oh, and the name's Kuwan, by the way."

Being comforting was...not a talent of his.

[Mysticsage]

Xen from the shadows noticed a man who looked like Thor out of the corner of his eye, but something was off with how he stood. Looking at the statue of a man more closely the way he was holding himself was surprisingly timid and afraid for such a imposing figure. Then he heard his/her voice as the Guardian named Hemmingsworth spoke to a nearby fox tail . It was the feminine pitch of a teenage girl. Had she chosen to play with a male avatar? Playing games like these as the opposite gender was far from uncommon after all. He himself had tried it, but mostly only in solo rpg for the story differences. To be stuck in the body of the opposite gender would no doubt be a little off putting. He continued to watch the pair interact and could not help but have his interests peaked by the girl's circumstances. pulling him from his book.

He was quite happy spying from the safe distance as the two continued to talk. The Foxtail also caught his attention by the scrape of paper he seemed to be holding onto rather desperately. From what he could make out it looked likely it was a badly drawn and he assumed incomplete picture. What was so important that he would hold onto it like that? His subclass read Scribe maybe he had attempted to make something to test how skills work if they did at all?  That spawned a myriad of other questions. The UI did seem to work, but it had not even occurred to him that other aspects of the game could as well. Then he had an idea.

Opening up his menu he clicked the screenshot button. A holographic square opened up and he waited. He waited for The fox named Kuwan was consoling the girl and swung his hand with a map wide. Taking the snapshot quickly without the flash a little pop up appeared stating photo saved to inventory. He most likely would not be able to show it to anyone else because he did not have a physical copy, but it would be useful for keeping track of the pair at the very least if he so choose since it had there names and HP gauges in it. Looking for a way to access the photo he found it and opened it in the UI. He attempted to zoom in closer as if he was using a touch screen, it worked well enough, and he was able to make out the basics of an unfinished map, most likely of the area of the town he could use this to get around.

Closing the menu quickly he continued with his people watching mainly keeping the pair in his sight from his hideaway 

[Throndir]

Aria Blanchette
as Sir Hemsworth

The person Sir Hemsworth talked to was someone who had these strange ears and a tail to match. She recalled the other races as she was going through the character creation, and this person was a... "fox-ear" or something similar. Aria couldn't quite remember, only that she stroke out that option as a potential choice for her Thor look-alike. Mr. Chris Hemsworth did not have ears after all. The fox-person blinked a couple of times, and from his tone of voice implying shock asking that she was a girl did Aria pause and reconsider the situation.

"U-um." She stammered, only realizing that she was still in Chris Hemsworth body. It must have looked ridiculous seeing a tall and imposing figure with her voice and immediately did Aria feel embarrassed.

"S-so what's it to you! Chris Hemsworth is a total hotty!" Aria exclaimed feeling the need to explain herself. She said something incoherent afterwards, blabbering almost, as she felt her cheeks redden. But she quickly nodded her head. "Y-yes. I didn't think I would get stuck in his body though." She found it intriguing being in a body like Mr. Hemsworth's, even just a little bit naughty, but she had to admit that if she were stuck in a body, it would preferably be a girl's. She hadn't yet begun to think of all the potential consequences were of being stuck in a man's body. "Thor's body has to be perfect." She replied back taking the fox-person's compliment in stride. She was still new to the game, and she had only learned a few of the basic commands that she found in the menus. But she at least brought up the view to see the stranger's name. It read "Kuwan".

"I really don't know what I should do." She told Kuwan when he offered the chance to tag along with him. Aria was still troubled, and she did what she could to quell her panicky feelings. A thought crossed her mind.

"Hey Kuwan? W-we don't have to use bathrooms in game do we?"

[Kirhart]

Just as Rico was discovering that he had in fact fallen in level, he heard some commotion nearby.

He walked around the corner, taking efforts to blend in with what appeared to be townspeople. Rico was unsure if he was the only person to have been transported into the game world or not.. Until he got a clear view of the conversation between what appeared to be Thor with a girls voice, talking to a fox tail.

He walked to the pair with an eyebrow raised..

"Are you guys real?" After the words left his lips he wondered if he needed to clarify the meaning of the word.

"You know, are you guys REAL PEOPLE?"

He could think of no other way to ask. Of course this world was real, he just did not understand how, or if these other characters were actually other people or if somehow he was interacting with people playing the game. He needed to find out if he was alone.

[Linwelin]

"I-I see..." was all Kuwan could stammer out as the girl(?) ranted and flaunted her borderline-fanatical love of this celebrity. But then she asked a peculiar and very important question.

"Hey Kuwan? W-we don't have to use bathrooms in game do we?"

Kuwan thought a moment, but then decided it was better to say his ideas after seeing the worried expression before him. "Well, I'd already noticed that I get hungry and tired, so it's not like Elder Tale in that respect. I can't say what other necessities we'll have to do, but...in this case, I imagine we'll find out very soon." Seeing the look of fear on the face of the one before him told him he'd delivered that wrong. Again. Well, I don't think there was a way to make that sound good, anyways...

It was hard to explain what he'd considered a simple act, especially since he didn't know her age, so he purposely kept it vague. "All I can say is aim and shoot, if the time comes." Despite a serious expression, and keeping his voice level, he couldn't help blushing and turning his gaze to the side. That he had to explain this to a woman was...awkward. He was happy to change the subject, however, as another figure approached. "Looks like we have more company."

"Are you guys real?"

"You know, are you guys REAL PEOPLE?"

Once again, Kuwan was reduced to speechless blinking, before he finally understood what was being asked. "Yes, we're also players. Or were. My personal feelings are that we shouldn't treat ourselves as 'people playing a game' anymore. So I guess 'adventurers' is more appropriate?" Kuwan REALLY was having trouble dealing with this amount of panic and surprise, considering he'd spent so much time convincing himself not to do so.

"I think for all our sakes, we shouldn't treat this as the game we knew. Though it's kept features from it, many new ones have shown up. Survival features, like hunger, thirst, and fatigue. This game-world is our new reality, one we have to get used to. We live here now, and I don't know if there's a way back to our reality yet." From what he could tell, everyone had just 'woken up' here, with no recollection of how. But one thing was for sure, they were all former players, either new or veteran. So this was related to Elder Tale as a game that was for sure.