PHASE I [ 9 00 ] You open your eyes, and there is a chicken pecking at your face. It's not a very happy chicken, either, but if you can manage to fend it off, then it will be clear that you are in a village. It is... medieval-esque, in that video game sort of way; the details don’t seem too clear, but if you look to your left, there’s a cow! And to your right, a well! Ignore the clear evidence of modern technology in the buildings such as lights, gas, and 21st century plumbing; CERES is dedicated to authenticity.
Looks like the new ViViD level has finally been released, and everyone is invited to play, whether they want to or not.
The game (because this time, that's surely what it is) will start simple. Everyone begins in the same place and every NPC villager will say the same thing: to get out of here, you have to go through the caves. They’ll shove a stick at you (“take this, it’s dangerous to go alone”) and off you go, into the caves… !
Which are full of tiny rats and more chickens. They will try to fight you, but it’s really not very effective when they’re perfectly small and average (especially when everyone still has their typical powers and abilities -- CERES didn't mess with those at all this time). The caves are winding and circular and maze-like, and to make matters even worse, the only ones around are the other poor saps stuck in this situation.
But if you kill enough of the rats, you’ll get to hear the satisfying level up jingle. Congratulations! You are now level 2. It's probably satisfying just for a minute or so until you finally find your way out of those maze like caves and -- You're back in the village again. Great.
PHASE II [ 930 ] You’re carrying a bag. No matter what you do, you can’t take it off, either; it’s stuck with you through thick and thin. But it is awfully heavy. Maybe you should actually open it and see what’s inside?
The problem is, it’s going to take a while.
The bag has clearly tapped into its true hammerspace nature; there are items for days in there, and they’re all very, very strange. You might end up covered in hats of all sorts, buried in logs as you pull out one after another, or look like you have an odd fetish for pickaxes.
Maybe there’s 1/3rd of an evil turnip, half a piece of pie and an egg.
Geez, what in the world are you supposed to do with all of that?
PHASE III [ 1200 ] Eventually, you make it out of the caves the right way despite the harassment of the rats and chickens and the fact you'll keep perpetually getting lost. Hooray! You come out into a large, peaceful, scenic meadow, with a small river bubbling off to one side, and a house.
You'll immediately notice that there’s a bridge to cross the river, but there’s someone standing in the way of that bridge. When you approach to go past him, no matter what you try to do, you won't be able to. Asking him why he won't move will only get one thing in response -- “Bring me a fish. Cooked.”
Then he’ll shove a fishing rod at you and expect you to get to it. You can’t attack him, you can’t get past him -- looks like the only thing to do is to catch and cook that fish. Time to sit back, relax, and get to work. Or maybe you’ll team up with someone else and be the person in the house making sure that the fish gets cooked properly. For some reason, if you leave it too long it turns right into a pile of ashes.
Weirdly though, no matter how good you are at cooking or fishing usually, it’s as if you’re right back at the metaphorical level one. Any sort of seasoning or effort to cook it faster falls flat and in the end you'll only be able to place the fish in the pan and set it on the stove, whole. This may take awhile.
And if you try to cross the river itself, well... no, really, don’t try to cross the river.
At least if you get eaten, you’ll just respawn back in the village, but do have fun traveling through the caves again!
PHASE IV [ 1430 ] You made it through the caves. You made it across the river (with a slightly burnt fish). You’ve made it to the wide open world, and you can finally adventure to your heart’s content. You take a step forward on the road and --
A message pops up, bright red and in your face.
[ Restricted Area: Members Only ]
No matter what you do, you can’t go past that point. In fact, if you’re not careful and you’re going too fast, you might run face-first into it like it’s an invisible wall (which it is).
Then, just like that, you're back in the village. Again. Only this time, there's a nice, blinking message -- Pay a small subscription fee to access member's content. Oh well. No big deal, you can just start again.
Except then you see a cool sword and when you try to pick it up, you'll get that same message, and end up transported back to the village yet again. And again, with some shiny new armor. And again, with that attention-grabbing NPC over there. Looks like you're caught in an infinite loop here but no matter how much you inspect the pop up, there's no... actual way to pay the subscription fee (and why would you want to?). But at least you have company, because you can't be the only person who thought that sword was cool.
(It was really, really cool.)
BONUS [ xxxx ] What’s that on the ground in front of you? It looks like… some bunny ears? Or maybe it’s a chicken head, or a pumpkin head. Either way, the moment you touch it, you have a strong need to put it on your head -- and once it’s on, it’s not coming off.
To make matters worse, each hat has an effect associated with it; the bunny ears will, in fact, randomly turn you into a cute fluffy bunny for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour before you pop right back to yourself, whereas the pumpkin hat will, in a complete reversal, turn you into Cinderella for a bit -- complete with beautiful ball gown and the ability to talk to all of those cute fluffy bunnies.
Also the rats will love you, so maybe you should go back to the caves again.
Meanwhile, the chicken hat won't transform you into any odd creature, but it will inspire in the people wearing them a very real, persistent desire to build a nest. This will involve picking up twigs, trash, shiny things and whatever else catches your eye to try to build a nest out of it. You'll also try to pick up whatever food you find on the ground to eat, have the weirdest desire to lay an egg, and basically have all sorts of odd chicken-like instincts inflicted upon you.
At least you look festive!
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Logs? How do they even fit in there??
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I have no idea, but my best guess is pretty sophisticated magic was put on the bags.
[It's a shame he comes from a place that doesn't have the technology Cerealia does.]
Normally I'd say Seraphic Artes. However, this place doesn't seem to have any seraphim wandering around.
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[ She's still not moving, maybe to give herself a break from this damn bag, which means continuing the conversation-- tentatively, but there's genuine curiosity there. ] What are those?
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[He's at least willing to answer her questions. It's actually refreshing to be able to talk about it.]
Each seraph is also aligned to one of the four elements: water, fire, earth, or wind. It's the source of our brand of magic.
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[ Her eyes could not possibly get any wider. She's never heard of anything like that, but it's so fascinating-- ]
S-so you're a god? And you can use an element? Wouldn't it be lonely if a lot of people couldn't see you, though?
[ Sorry for the rapidfire questions, Mikleo, but she seems to have relaxed upon learning she's in the company of a fellow non-human. ]
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Personally, I think I'd be more of a spirit or minor god. The kind of seraphim who'd be equivalent to full-fledged gods are what we call the Five Lords. Four rule over each element, and the last is more powerful than them.
The element I use is water. So, if you want to talk about a specific type of seraphim, you'd say things like 'water seraph' or 'fire seraphim.'
[Mikleo pauses on that last question, though.]
It can be. Mostly, it's an inconvenience, especially to the human friends I have who do perceive me. If Sorey starts talking to me and nobody sees or hears me, then it kind of makes him look like he's got a few screws loose from an outsider's perspective.
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... I can see you, so maybe other people can too. And if that happens, then no one should think that anything's wrong with your friend, right?
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Right. It can be useful in some situations, like giving advice or warnings without anyone else being able to overhear us. But it'll be a nice change of pace if people don't immediately assume something's wrong with him or anyone else who see us and try to interact with us.
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[ Yes, because a white-haired shortie going "I CAN SEE HIM TOO" will totally help. ]
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Even if they don't, the effort will be appreciated. Plus, I think it'll help Sorey and my other human friend, Rose, by knowing there's someone else who can see us.
[Here he is, dropping names and hasn't even dropped his own. Mary seems like a good person, so he doesn't feel as wary about sharing his name.]
My name's Mikleo, by the way.
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It's nice to meet you, Mikleo.
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[Being around someone quieter is going to be an interesting change of pace, considering he's normally surrounded by boisterous and loud people.]
Um, not to pry into your stuff or anything, Mary, but you seemed to be having some trouble with your bag earlier. Do we want to see what's inside it?
[With any luck, they'll be able to lighten the load for her.]
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[ Maybe she got stuck with small boulders. ]
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Well, the stuff inside the bags can be taken out and tossed away. I can at least give these bags credit for that.
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... yelp as a whole metric ton of glitter poofs out. ]
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...That explains why it was so heavy. Did you get any on yourself?
[Mikleo got lucky, but....]
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[ YEP. Mary's hair is now seeped in multicolored glitter, and she's still trying to brush it off her face and shoulders. ]
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Um... I can help get that off your face, and get most of it out of your hair. If you want the help.
[Mikleo can't do anything about her clothes, unfortunately.]
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[ SHE'S MORE THAN A LITTLE MORTIFIED. ]
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He starts with her hair first. The water seraph does what he can to get the top of her head mostly glitter-free, but it'll probably take days of combing and washing her hair to get it all. With the top done, Mikleo gets to work on the rest of it. He summons some warm water as he combs his fingers through her hair, apologizing every time it gets on her clothes. His motions are both well-practiced and professional. When he's done with her hair, Mikleo stops summoning water and squeezes it to get some of the excess out.]
Hair's done. I don't want to accidentally damage it, so I hope you don't mind letting it dry naturally.
[Now, Mikleo will move to stand in front of her and wipe the rest of the glitter off of her face, once more summoning some water to help get the more stubborn ones off of her skin. He'll step back once he's done.]
There. Mostly glitter free.
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All the same, she brings up her sleeves to wipe some of the water off her face, giving her head a shake as though she's considering being a dog (or Taylor Swift) about it and trying to shake it off (shake it off). ]
Thank you. I didn't think it'd just... all come out like that.
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It was nothing. Besides, I don't think anyone would expect that.
[Mikleo crosses his arms, frowning slightly.]
Honestly, whoever decided to put these bags together has an odd or mean sense of humor.
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[It's clear that Mikleo doesn't approve.]
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[ Guess who also doesn't approve? ]
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