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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Duo Maxwell | Gundam Wing
PHASE 3
PHASE 4
GRAB BAG
phase i;
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- This place literally goes in circles.
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[ And she's already tired. Ugh, why does this stupid game always give her so much trouble... ]
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[ Looks to Duo like there's something they have to do instead to get out. He starts turning over rocks with his stick instead, sing it as leverage for the bigger ones, as if he was going to find some sort of tile that might allow him to escape if he stepped on it or put the right amount of weight on or off it -
That's how video games worked, right? ]
I bet we've just gotta.. do somethin' to get out then.
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[ She's learned how this place works, but this time, there are no ghostly lectures to sit through or colorful blocks to manipulate and dodge. Just... a whole lot of cave, and the faint squeaking of rats. ]
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I mean I guess so. [ He couldn't really be sure until he started, after all. Being so set on it generally lead to a rather disastrous case of tunnel vision that he didn't particularly want to deal with in that moment in time - so he'd at least keep his mind a little bit open. ]
There could always be somethin else though I guess.
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[ Or so she'll hope. ]
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Who he had no idea if they were here too, or not.
The rock Duo levers up suddenly shifts and - oops, there's a squished rat. Duo grimaces, and then sighs. ]
Sorry little guy.
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... blink, glancing over her shoulder, as she starts to hear the ominous echo of angry squeaking. Oh. Apparently the rat had family. ]
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You've gotta be kidding - [ Duo grouses, instead of turning to try and get the rock back up he's instead bracing for a whole bunch of possible rats. That was seeming more and more like one of those horrible video game scenarios that he'd never wanted to actually live out in life, but he'd laughed about while playing the game. It wasn't something he was particularly excited for, but here he was, trying to figure out hoe he was going to kill rats with this damn stick. ]
Damn it, this is so stupid. Why can I not just have a gun?
4!
And then he's busy cringing as he watches the other pilot strike full force into something...
Ah. Ouch. The blond hurries over, not sure if he's going to find an entirely unconscious Duo or not, but luckily the other is sitting up. All right. Still functioning. That's a relief.]
It's probably another glitch. That does seem to be CERES' specialty, unfortunately. [He holds a hand out towards Duo to help him up.] Are you all right, Duo?
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[ Duo's head is a little too hard to be knocked out, though... its probably a pretty close call. But the braided pilot is a little too angry to pay attention to how his head hurts, at the moment, rubbing at his face as he reads the bright red message. Would the money he had even work here? Probably not. Credits and all of that didn't seem apt to work in a place where you were given a stick to kill rats, after all.
He brushes the dirt off of his shoulders, grumbling to himself as he does so, knowing that there will be a load of it in his hair and on his back that would be much harder to get rid of. ]
CERES? What the hell is that? [ He asks it totally casually, as if it isn't surprising to see Quatre here, of all places, taking his hand for the help up. ]
'm okay. What the hell're you doin' here, though?
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[Lucky Duo. Quatre believes so very little of it anyway, so it hardly matters in the smaller details.] CERES are the people in charge of the colony. And this game, for that matter.
[He makes sure Duo's back on his feet firmly before he offers a smile and a shake of his head.] Mm... right now? I think it's supposed to be questing, but I'm really just hoping to find the log out option.
[No such luck.] You just got here, right? It's nice to see a familiar face. [Even if it means the other pilot is now officially stuck here too.]
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What, like a power point? No, I didn't attend the meeting for 'take this stick in to a cave.' [ Someone is more than a little frustrated by this entire thing, though he is definitely going to try out feeling for a hole in that invisible wall, the flats of his palms pressing to the wall methodically, as if he was sure he was going to find some kind of hole in this shitty kind of videogame end slate. ]
Colony? Like our colonies? This is the weirdest damn colony I've ever been on. [ Still trying to feel out that wall. Come on, game gods, work with him! ]
I mean probably a few hours ago. With fish catching and killing rats with a stick instead of gun.. Anybody else here that you've seen?
phase 3
Pausing in his motions from his spot on the grass, Trowa turns to glance at the newcomer, only one eye visible from such an angle. Ah. Well. Isn't this a familiar face? Or voice, moreso. Albeit an acquaintance but still. ]
What counts as sizable?
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Oh - [ He should probably know Trowa from the back by now, shouldn't he? Oh well - at least he knew that Trowa wasn't going to turn around and try anything particularly stupid with him or anything. That had been his main concern in this weird little world, who the hell might find something to start turning this strangely quaint little place in to something a little more sinister. Because, well -
This was Duo Maxwell. ]
Uh, big enough to make a fire? Or hold up a stick to make one, you know?
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Though alright, some things are terrible, but just in different ways. Like this place. He's had to repeat himself a few times already, trying to get information or just attempting to pass through the small, domestic missions. Trowa's gotten pretty good at normal life things thanks to the circus and Cathy; this is another level.
Tilting his head, he considers the question. Larger rocks? Maybe in the water. ]
I saw some, closer to the riverbed, that way. Most of them are submerged though.
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[ C'mon Trowa, you know everything is horrible.
The idea of going near the river, though? Sure, Duo knows how to swim - the good doctor once chucked him in to a wave pool that he'd created on their little space ship and let him choke and splutter until he figured it out. After all, a municipal swimming pool was not something that L2 had ever thought about bringing around, and Duo sure as hell never had the time or reasons to go in to something like that previously.
So he makes a face at the mention o water - and then - ]
Guess I'm making a hole in the dirt then. Like hell am I swimmin' in that river.
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[ Drying that braid out must be hell. Trowa takes a moment to consider that, narrowing his eyes at the other boy's face. Having such long hair seems like a hassle. Potentially dangerous as well, because he sticks out in a crowd and...the obvious hair pull.
He'll tuck that thought away for later. ]
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More like I just don't.. like swimming. [ Slash he's kind of scared of it, but he was never going to tell Trowa about things he was afraid of. That was just a blow to hi ego around another pilot that he sure as fuck wasn't going to subject himself to if he didn't have to. ]