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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i
So.]
Do chickens usually turn violent when hungry? [asks the little fox perched on his shoulders.]
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[Koumei held the squirming bundle of feathers and claws firmly in his arms, not even caring if the hell chicken left tears in his robes.]
Besides, birds to flock to food. It seems the easiest way to pacify them.
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[They're a fox and a sword, they don't actually know much about human women? It doesn't sound right, though. The fox nods anyway.]
That answer does make sense, when you put it that way. [Ah, the chicken's caught up...Naki carefully attempts to push it away with a boot.]
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[He shrugged-- and gently intercepted the other bird by offering a handful of dried, cracked corn. It had pacified the one in his arms...mostly.
There was no reason not to try; it was strategically sound.]
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Ah. Thank you! You must be very experienced with birds, to have calmed it so easily.
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[Koumei glanced up, studying the odd duo with an interested eye.]
Like with the two of you, perhaps. It's easy to who your friends are.
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Approach...that is good advice. [The fox tilts his head.] Our situation may be somewhat unique, but I suppose experience can be gained regardless of the interaction.
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[It applied in all facets of life, from the academic to the martial, and it was a concept that Koumei understood well.
He lifted his brows quizzically at the further commentary.]
That would make a fascinating story for the future, from the way you speak of it, [he said, setting his own chicken down to join the other in the feeding.] But we probably have more urgent issues to consider...like the fact that I don't believe it was intended for us to feed the chickens in this village.
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You're right...I suppose we should be searching for those caves the villagers mentioned, instead?
[That would probably be the more urgent issue, was completing whatever goal this game had decided to give them. The pair had admittedly not played very many ViViD games during their time in this place, but that much was easy enough to grasp.]
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[Koumei offered a smile to both the fox and the strange young man as he stood up, dusting off his disheveled robes with one hand and reaching for his ornate feathered fan with the other.]
I suppose we should be seaarching those caves as well, but it seems like such a tiresome chore...
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[Koumei's smile wasn't returned, sadly...though Nakigitsune did nod in acknowledgement, carefully stepping away from the chickens as he turned to look for the direction of the caves.]
Tiresome or not, it's necessary if we wish to leave this game, I think.
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'Game'. People keep using that word, but this is nothing like any round of Go that I've ever seen. If anything, this is more akin to some cleverly constructed Magic....although that's more perplexing, because there's neither a source nor a Magician around.
[tl;dr, virtual reality anything doesn't exist in his world.]
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[They're over 900 years old, even the modern stuff in their own world confuses them.]
To be honest, many of these games don't seem to make much sense, either...
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[He lifted his brows, eyeing the duo curiously.]
I've heard that the devices from Magnostadt can create many astonishing things, to the point where they can manipulate the local weather and speed up agricultural production. Are you sure it's not related?
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[Naki blinked uncomprehendingly, tilting his head. Magnostadt? Weather manipulation?]
This Magnostadt must be an amazing place, to be able to do such things...it's hard to say if they're related, but I suppose it's possible?
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[He shrugged. The truth behind their technology was no secret any longer, but it held no bearing on the facts of this strange world.]
It may take me a while to get used to this 'game'. It is very strange to me.
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[Could their master change the weather though? Serious food for thought, as they walked.]
Ah, don't worry! Strange as they are, these games are usually straightforward enough.
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[But, honestly, the quarrel between the Kou Empire and Sindria's Seven Sea's Alliance had no bearing in this world....]
That isn't to say that my country is without magicians, but this is hardly the time for that discussion.
....How are these games so straightforward, I wonder. If they wanted us to go investigate the caves, they wouldn't have given us the option of feeding the wildlife here.
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I apologize for the misunderstanding...but in regards to the game - we were told to go through the caves, and so I assume that regardless of all the detours we may be able to take, those caves would be the "correct" route to follow. Isn't that how it works?
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[A thoughtful hum. He was still wrapped up in classic strategy-based board games to include something this convoluted in the same category.]
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I suppose you're used to less, ah..."advanced" games? And hopefully less difficult to enjoy.