Final Fantasy: Chaos Crystal [IC]

[Ramsus]

OOC Thread

---

Each of you in some manner or other, be it lucky application, personal connection, or chosen based on certain criteria, were given the opportunity to participate in the first round of testing for the in development first ever fully immersive virtual reality game. A game in the Final Fantasy franchise. After going to the appropriate location and signing NDAs or the like for your region you were lead to a private room containing a very sophisticated piece of furniture that looked like a sci-fi movie cross between a chair, a bed, and an MRI machine.
After having some time to ask questions of your assigned overseer you laid down in it and the machine closed around you and the world turned.... well not dark exactly. A dark background of shifting shades and dark colors that then expanded into a character creation machine. At first you tried to move your arms and hands to interact with it, before you even recognized your limbs were remaining in their relaxed positions your first interaction had been made. Whatever you felt about it, you quickly realized you somehow were controlling this with your thoughts.

You were given setting information before moving on to character creation.

Spoiler: Setting Info Blurb

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In the world of Crystalia itself, it all started with the Chaos Crystal. From its energies were born the other elemental crystals. From their individual or combined energies came the Eidolons, the first beings, and the world itself. The world, while still to this day fluid in nature, has been shaped by the energies of the crystals and the will of the Eidolons.

In only relatively recent times have civilized mortal races come to be and they are ever at the whims of the choatic nature of their world. Things have taken a turn in recent times with the discovery (or perhaps creation) of Spirit Crystals, which not only limit the chaotic energies inflicted upon a given area but also seem to act as beacons for people of great potential that are unpredictably summoned from other worlds. These heroes, as the people of Crystalia call them, are in their essence connected to the spirit crystals. When they would die they instead eventually return to the crystal, allowing them to take on greater risks than those of this world. However just as without warning as they are summoned, they can vanish too. And most notably, when outside the are of influence of a spirit crystal they are beacons for the chaotic energies of the Chaos Crystal.

You quickly realized it was a good think you could control the interface mentally as the array of customization options was nearly endless and covered all sorts of minutiae to individual finger length, nipple shape, a mind blowing assortment of hair-styles, and pretty much anything else you can think of that was relevant to your chosen race and sex. But that wasn't a problem as you could sort through them or just input what you wanted with just a thought.
Some of you even had special options such as a full scan of your own face and body you could then auto-adjust to fit any race and then modify from there.

When you were done choosing things like Class, Abilities, and Appearance the character creation menu would actually not exit until you filled out at least a short background and a reasonable actual person-like name. When all that was finished, you could finally press ACCEPT to complete to process.

---

So please give information on your "player" such as name, place of origin, some other basic information, and whatever else you'd like.
Then, do the same for your "character". In this case please include a description of their appearance (a picture is an optional bonus).
Doing that all in character would be preferable. And please end your post with ACCEPT to indicate you're done.
And please add the character info for both "player" and "character" to your character sheet.

[Mai]

My name is Ron McCarthy. I currently love in Springfield missouri, though I was born a small town in Kentucky. I am 29 years old, and i have always been a fan of video games, and games as a whole. When offered the chance to test a final fantasy game, i couldn't residt. I'm told i'm a fairly enlightened person, not that I wholly agree, confidence issues plague me. Perhaps all the more reasons I like more self assured characters. As for why my name is Ron, and I made a female character, well, you can probably figure that one out yourselves. A world where I can be more than myself, and shed my flesh and enter a new world is a dream come true.


My name is Zyrn, a female viera from a dense forest a ways away. I am 53 years old, and I grew up in a hidden village in said forest. I explored the forest for nearly all my life, and grew strong for it. I trained ans became a wood warder, and helped protect others going about their business. I nurtured my curiosity, and was eager to take on new jobs to see more and more of the woods. But after a handful of decades, I began to grow more and more curious about the lands outside of the woods. Finally, I could bear it no longer and left. Exile was the price of curiosity, and I determined that I would pay it.

When you look at me, you may experience some shock if you are unfamiliar with viera. I stand a couple inches above 6 feet, but if you counted my ears, you'd need to add a fair bit more. I have light brown skin, and white-silver hair that flows down. I keep it in a braid or pontytail. Normally you'd see me in well.maintained clothing, but after a group of bandits beat me senseless, my clothing is ragged and my chain shirt is tattered. Gone is my former weapon, and all that remains is a rusty greatsword I found abandoned off the road. But have no fear, for I shall get back on my feet in no time.

Accept

[charlesrwest]

Eli Gunnar was slowing down... And he knew it. A year as one of the top 100 Ragnarok! (tm) players in the world was nothing to laugh at but it wasn't exactly hall of fame material either. At 25 his reaction time was starting to slow and the added experience wasn't enough to make up the difference. His rankings were starting to slip...

Time for a change. Eli used his mild fame to get an invite to a Final Fantasy game that was rumored to be decades ahead of it's time. Final Fantasy games historically hadn't been too twitch heavy. Perhaps being one of the first players might give him an edge as it developed a competitive scene.

Eli blinked at the plethora of options that appeared. It seemed far more customizable than anything he had played professionally. Hmm. It seemed like most races offered similar stat bonuses, but sizes were vastly different. One looked like it had a much smaller hit box, though. The was a dizzying array of class options too. Most seemed to be some sort squishy caster. One seemed to offer a durability buff, that seemed good.

Default for everything else... And done.

It wasn't until Eli tried to interact with other players that he realized that he hadn't enabled non-moogle languages...

[OracleofSilence]

God, it had been years. Not since using VR tech, this was the first time, but since his last serious dive into an MMO. Honestly, Mike didn't know why he had been selected. He had been in good guilds in the past, but never the best. Had placed high in raid rankings, but never at the actual top. When he had tried blogging and community facing stuff, he had gotten hits, but never really made it. Now he was just killing time before his grad program started up, and he got selected. Well. At least it gave him something to do.

So he did the normal. Hit the randomizer until he got something that looked decent. Picked a name he thought he couldn't get once servers opened for the general population... Done.

Stats were in the right places, options seemed fine if he could get a group quickly... Sure.

His toon has pale blue skin, short cut hair, a thin face. the height was odd. Mike was short IRL, but there wasn't really a similar option for Au Ra, so tall and gangly it was. Scales were minimal, and horns were on the small and graceful side. All in all, unexceptional, but he'd probably get a reset for that at some point.

So. Find a group. Get capped. Figure it out from there.

[ACCEPT]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Spoiler: Text Messages

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- Where are you?
- wtf who is this
- This is Shinkyo...
- We agreed to meet at the bus stop...
- im not coming
- What?
- wtf part dont u get
- I still have the identification you need to get into the beta...
- It's this afternoon...
- They won't let you in without it.
- i told you im not coming
- change it
- I don't think I can actually do that...
- b stfu im on a date
- blocking now
- Wait...
*message blocked*

You are Kimiko Shinkyo and you are now out ¥20000. Dang it. Your mom could have put that towards getting a proper apartment.

Spoiler: More Texts

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- Hi Riku. Is now a good time?
- hi sis!
- yes, it's fine
- The person who was buying the ticket didn't show up...
- Are you absolutely sure you don't want it?
- urgh, I'm sorry
- the worst part is that I DO really want it, I just can't take it
- they don't know how the VR bed thing interacts with all the other stuff they have me on
- Right, of course...
- Sorry...
- don't be! this is obviously a sign!
- A sign...?
- a sign that you were MEANT to play this game
- and to tell me allllllll about it!
- I'm not really qualified...
- I don't even like videogames...
- exactly!
- the designers and testers are all people who love the Final Fantasy series and have played it for probably decades
- they need to know what it looks like to someone who isn't already familiar with the lore and tropes and sub-cultural discourse
- not to mention the mechanics
- you'll be making life better for a new generation of gamers!
- ...
- Kimiko, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. if you don't go...
- I'll never forgive you! (҂⌣̀_⌣́)
- OK, fine.
- ok cool! have fun!
- send screenshots!
- I think they make you sign an NDA...
- send FIGURATIVE screenshots!
- OK, OK, bye!

You have no idea what a, 'figurative screenshot,' entails, but you'll go to the test anyway. You open the packet you were going to hand over to your schoolmate and review the materials on the bus ride.

-

"Huh. You got an, um, a haircut, since this was taken," says the foreign technician as he checks Kimiko's ID.

"Yeah. I donated it to the wig place downtown," she says. No need to let anyone know how much the place paid her for it.

"Hmm. That's, um, good. Um, how is your English?"

"<Pretty good? My dad was an English teacher...>"

"<Oh, nice! That's good. The other beta testers are all in the U.S. and Europe, so you'll probably need it to talk to them. We haven't really implemented the Japanese translation yet, either.>"

"What? <What? I thought Final Fantasy was a Japanese game...>"

"<Is it? I think you're thinking of Dragon Quest.>"

Kimiko doesn't argue. She's pretty sure they're both JRPG series, but she's not the expert her brother is. She vaguely remembers something about the overseas studio taking the reins on this project somewhere in his gaming news rants.

-

Knowing that I'm supposed to be testing things, I open up the character options and explore a little, but after only a few seconds the feeling of mentally groping myself is just too weird. As such, I'm not straying far from the self-insert design that the machine generated: a 5'2" black-haired girl with an aging pixie cut who is also a cat for some reason. The game picked out the species as part of the self-insert feature. I'm not sure whether it's random or whether it's influenced by sex and body type.

Riku said that Red Mage was his favorite class, so I pick that. I pick a bow at the equipment screen because why not. I choose from the recommended skills on a whim. Age 21? Sure.

The game won't let me continue until I fill in a name and background. I don't know anything about Final Fantasy, but there is thankfully a random name button. It takes a weirdly long time...

"! How does it know my father's name?"

I shake my head, and get the dizzy feeling of having another head somewhere that's not moving. It has to be a coincidence. A coincidence that incidentally proves that the game retains a lot of Japanese cultural influence after all. It also fills in a little story blurb about the origins of the name - the D' stands for the Dodo tribe, and Noburu was my father and my family's patriarch. I am now living on the lam after he was killed by an usurper. There are just enough parallels with my real life to make it creepy, but it could just be a standard variant of the lost princess arc that I'm reading too much into.

I don't want to think about it any further, so I just click ACCEPT.

[gryffydd65]

Brian Sears age 54, newly retired medical doctor. Why did I apply for this game, many years of playing dungeons and dragons and now finding I really don't want to play golf with all the other retirees. Why did they pick me, maybe a chance to see if it was something my age would go for, we all know the younger generation is video game junkies.

Three Claw a Galka fighter going with dragoon. I stand around 6'5" and weigh 345. My bear like looks makes me a force to be reckoned with.

I noticed the difference right away, having always been a foot shorter than my peers, although smarter than all but 1% of my graduating class. It felt good to see above most others ar this new height and although walking with nearly twice the weight I was used to took sometime, my mind started to emerge with these new actions as I was able to move, jump and run quicker and stronger than I had ever been in my entire life. I looked at the others, "Grr, who are you? " as I noticed I had started to speak in a foreign sounding tongue, quickly switching in mid sentence to something that could be recognized.

I looked down and saw the flashing word, and reached out tapping the Accept button.

[Ramsus]

After you hit ACCEPT the menus vanish and the background fades from dark shifting colors to bright ones. You lose sense of your body and feel a strange sensation you can best describe as if you were taking a fast moving elevator outside of your body. You regain feeling in your body, but for a moment it feels muted and strange to you.

Then you sense the presence of another mind inside the body with you. After a moment of confusion you feel your mind and this other mind pulled together. How this resolves exactly is different for each of you. Once it has, you first feel the world around you again. Then your other sense fade in as the shifting lights pull away to reveal a world around you. If this is a virtual creation, it is amazingly well done. As far as you can tell, it's as real as the ones you came from.

The first thing you notice is that you need to take a few minutes to regain your sense of balance. Then you notice you're facing and standing fairly close to a six foot tall crystal floating about a foot off the ground and slowly rotating in place clockwise. It is semi-translucent and glows a faint green and emits wisps of similarly colored intangible and heat-less energy.

Then you notice the small rustic village around you. You see a few stores and what looks like an inn and a bit away what you're fairly sure is a farm.

Then you suddenly notice other people around the crystal you could swear weren't there a moment ago.

---

So it's up to each of you to determine how the melding of your "player" and "character" personalities worked out. Mainly I imagine this is a question of which is most dominant and how much.
The more dominant the "player" personality is, the longer it takes to find your balance in this new (to them) body. Though you can still carefully walk around just fine immediately and at most it'll take you about a half hour to adjust.

[charlesrwest]

Moowgli awoke from a strange dream. He had been a human (of all things!). Like many of his kind, he had been desperate to find his purpose in life and flailed around trying different things to find fulfillment. Nothing brought the satisfaction that he'd been seeking.

Moowgli was happy to awaken. He knew his purpose (napping) and it was as satisfactory as ever. He stretched, enjoying the warmth of the sun bathing his face and the feel of still cold stone under his feet. Perhaps he would indulge his hobby of exploring today. Moowgli did seem to have a bit more energy than usual and... an interest in throwing rocks precisely?. How odd. He smoothed his fur and started the dance of A New Day's Sun. Upon finishing, he took one last look at the crystal and started walking into the town.

Time to see what wonders today would bring!

[Mai]

Ron mentally jolts as he seems to fall downward, feeling nearly weightless, and as though her whole body had fallen asleep. Then, the body was gone. Down, down, dark colors growing and changing. Then suddenly everything was white. Something green came into her vision, and then her mind was aware of another.

How?!?! How was that possible! This was just VR right? How could there be another mind? Ther was just supposed to be her in a virtual body right? Suddenly, she almost felt her sense of self threatened by ther other mind. But, to some degree, he had always suffered from depression, and he lacked the self confidence some others had. Combine this with her slightly submissive, but independent nature, and it wasn't too hard. But there was another ace in the hole for Zyrn. Ron was transgender. And so her dysphoria made her more open to a female body.

As a result, it wasn't too hard for Zyrn mind to take the dominant roll. And her agreeable personality made it still easier. So, after a minute Ron trying to think it through, and not being fully able to due to the call of merging, Zyrn gained a semblance of dominance. Ron was there still, but it was Zyrn whose thoughts took the most surface level of control.

Because of this, it didn't take too long to adjust to being over a half a foot taller and walking on her toes. She would walk in a small circle, slowly adjusting. And as she stretched and walked, she fully took in the crystal, and spoke. "What is this thing?" She muttered to herself, taken aback by it's odities. Final fantasies of the past involved crystals often. Like that ff9 that had some memoriam crystal world at the end… or that giant nethicite crystal in the holy city of ff12. So this made some sense. But seeing it was wild.

Once she took it in, she would look around at the villiage, and then, seemingly from nowhere, others were around the crystal. But after a minute, that part of her where Ron existed, urged her to jump. She had seen they had jumping abilities in character creation. She wanted to see this big jump.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

D'shi's ears and tail twitch uncomfortably. She feels them each in turn to make sure they're real. They seem... new. Wrong, somehow. But that's illogical. She's always had them! Right?

Spoiler

Show

D'shi remembers the vision. A piece of paper, written in some intricate typeset version of the Miqo'te language, being filled out with her own hand. She filled in emergency contact information, remixed versions of her family's names produced by some ineffable dream logic. Shinkyo Rin. Shinkyo Riku. When was the last time she'd seen D'Riku? Eight years ago? Ten?

She tries to remember how she got here. She took the bus, from school, after promising D'Riku she would. She saw herself, and accepted her fate as a hero. Then she died, her last thought being how lucky it was that it was her rather than her brother or her classmate.

...wait, what?

Kimiko clearly isn't dead. The feeling must have been produced by the machine she had so willingly climbed into. A series of sterile white gizmos and sticky electrodes and buzzing computers fill her vision. She recognizes some of them from the hospital, where she had spent so many nights ostensibly visiting D'Riku.

She looks around, thumping her tail as she thinks of the implications...

Spoiler

Show

...so, this is the game world, then?

No. She can't accept it. She knows that she had lived her whole life in this world, and she's been alive much longer than the game could possibly have existed. Yet, her memory isn't perfect. She still doesn't remember how she got here. Was she summoned by the crystal's magic?

She reaches out and touches the floating crystal. It's real. It's right here. But if D'shi's memories aren't false, then that means Kimiko's are... but how does that make sense? Why would the crystal produce such an intricate story and project it into her mind? Kimiko folds back her ears at the notion. Was this a mistake? Did the game generate a sentient being by accident?

What happens to D'shi if the game turns off?

What happens to Kimiko if the crystal's enchantment wears off?

D'shi takes a deep breath, pulls back from the crystal, and turns around to get her bearings. She's been standing around for what feels like five minutes, lost in thought. Between that and the tattered green rags she's wearing, she must look pretty ridiculous.

Who else is here? Other players? That would mean they're probably in the same boat.

"What is this thing?"

"'A beacon for people of great potential,'" quotes the cat to the rabbit. "The Spirit Crystal. I don't know how it works, I just remember a few stories... and some box text..." she sighs, too rattled to hide her existential despondence. Even in this situation, it feels wrong to just come out and ask for help. Everyone would think she'd lost her mind in either one of her possible scenarios.

[OracleofSilence]

Hasi's eyes snap open this body was wrong this mind wasn't his. Alien imperatives and urges flashed through his mind some part of him twisted and turned, attempting to find... what? It didn't matter, since it wasn't there. He sways briefly, seemingly caught of balance, but for what reason? How had he gotten here? What was happening? There were a few clear thoughts though, burning in his head like a beacon: "Find a group." Okay, made sense. "Get capped." What? "Figure things out from there." Weird order, but okay. He started slightly at the sound of his voice, slightly reedier then he had expected for... some reason. Then started again when he noticed he wasn't alone. "Uh sorry. Not quite myself at the moment. Hope that didn't sound too weird."

[gryffydd65]

Brian smiled, well he realized it was his thought smiling inside, but it was Three Claw, his new self, his faster , stronger self that was smiling. He let a great big yell escape "Who hoo look at me." He didn't care about the others, he started running towards the village and jumped as high as he could .

As he approached the village, he calmed down, as he realized he might be seen as a threat. "Hi, Three Claw, me friend." He said to anybody close.

[Ramsus]

While the other try to orient themselves, Moowgli wanders off apparently not feeling a particular need to be oriented. After going a little ways he spies two people running over in his (and everyone else's) direction from the farm.

[Mai]

Zyrn, having became acclimated to this, felt the most odd urge to jump, some part of her suddenly thrilled to try it. The part that seemed to come from another world. And so, Zyrn would wander off slightly. "Hey, does everyone see those people?" Zyrn said, while some other part of her mind said 'Main quest probably', which was all the more confusing to Zyrn. But, Zyrn would finnaly give into the urge, and move as quickly as possible, and throw herself 60 feet into the air. She'd try and land on the sturdiest looking building to watch the people running, before getting off after a minute to go talk.

[charlesrwest]

Moowgli flared his ears at the sight of the runners. He moved through the simple but strong steps of the Dance of Earth's Embrace, expecting the ground beneath him to respond to his simple request and move him to a higher vantage point.

Moowgli then began the Dance of Greeting, pom pom bouncing as he jumped up and down and energetically waved his hands. It appeared new friends were coming to him!

In the back of his mind, something was plotting out cover and firing angles.

[Ramsus]

Zyrn has no trouble jumping up onto the roof of what appears to be the village Inn and back down again.

Moowgli finds that despite the fact that he knows his magic should normally be able to effect the ground, something resists his efforts to change this place. Almost like it's protected by something.

[Mai]

Zyrn would wave her hands at the others around the crystal, then approach the two people running towards them. What was going on? "Do you need something? Uhh... and could you please tell us where we are? I am not sure I fully remember how I got here.

But some part of her sighed mentally. "I fell here, that's how I got here.' Then came a mental sigh at herself. 'Obviously not, people don't fall from the sky.' Zyrn would argue with herself for a moment, visibly frustrated, but seemingly at nothing and no one. "Why are you dancing? And who are you? I'm..." Zyrn paused. "Zyrn."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Uh sorry. Not quite myself at the moment. Hope that didn't sound too weird."

A nearby Miqo'te cat with an arts-and-crafts bow dangling from her backpack catches up with Hasi. "Not quite yourself? I think the same thing may have happened to both of us. Are you..." she tries to figure out a way to say it that would satisfy two conflicting versions of reality. "...a test subject?"

"Do you need something? Uhh... and could you please tell us where we are? I am not sure I fully remember how I got here.

"I fell here, that's how I got here.' 'Obviously not, people don't fall from the sky.' Zyrn would argue with herself for a moment, visibly frustrated, but seemingly at nothing and no one. "Why are you dancing? And who are you? I'm..." Zyrn paused. "Zyrn."

"...she must be one, too."

However Hasi responds, it at least fails to convince the catgirl that he and Zyrn weren't also summoned as crystal-related guinea pigs. She leads him to the warrior bunny and tries to get the group acquainted. "Ms. Zyrn? I believe I know what brought us here."

Liar... We have no idea what's going on...
It doesn't matter! We need to get all of us in one place, and an explanation is what we should all be looking for right now. Let's go...

She casts her eyes around and points out the tavern. There's always a tavern. "Let's gather everyone who appears disoriented and meet up in there, OK?"

[charlesrwest]

Moowgli tilts his head and enunciates slowly and clearly. "Kuuupooo."

Understanding fills the mind of his companions. Moowgli considers himself to be a wanderer, dancer, and warrior. In that order. While he doesn't feel confused, he would love to learn more about his new companions and what brought them here. And a morning refreshment sounds lovely. Though those villagers seem somewhat distressed?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Once she's stated her intention to meet up, it becomes clear that everyone is more interested in meeting... whoever is running up to meet us. Deshy doesn't want to split away from the only other real people and/or crystal prank victims she might ever meet, so she waits patiently while they do the talking.

[Ramsus]

The two people quickly reach the group. As they approach it's clear that one is a young man in his twenties and the other is a slightly younger girl. Both are human and appear to be relatives.

"Oh thank the Eidolons! Heroes Bethany!" the man says to the girl. Who in turn says, "See I told you Brodie! I knew it! You've come to save our village right?" This last part said full of hope to the group of newcomers.

[Mai]

Zyrn goes concerned and a bit confused, being not entirely sure how they got here. "I at least didn't know it needed saving. I just arrived and barely noted the silence before you ran at us. What does it need saving from? I guess that's probably what you are hear to tell us? Though that idea seems a bit presumptuous i'm not sure why that came into my head."

Zyrn would scratch the back of her head, and behind her own ears for reasons she wasn't fully sure of. She'd always had rabbit ears. No... she hadn't... but she had. Though Zyrn had taken the dominant role, her mind was misbehaving somewhat.

[charlesrwest]

Moogle nods at his new companion's words. "Kupooo."

My child, what troubles you? How can we be of service?

[OracleofSilence]

Hasi nods to the Mi'qote. "Something like that."

As the two villagers approach, his expression seems to flicker. Some part of his brain is attempting to spam through the conversation and then snarling in distaste as it realizes "the cut-scenes aren't skipable." Right. This was important though. "This is news to me as well, but it's no problem. What do you need?"

[Ramsus]

Brodie speak up first saying, "When we were performing the ritual for the Spirit Crystal to protect the town a bunch of monsters kept coming and dragging people off."

Bethany then chimes in, "Since we weren't finished yet it didn't stop the monsters from coming into the town, but we think since they didn't stop us from completing it that means they could hurt everyone else."

"But since they haven't returned yet, I guess the monsters were able to capture them somehow. Maybe they're waiting for the effects of the ritual the fade or something." Brodie cuts in.

Bethany then cuts back in with, "We don't really know though. But if they could have come back on their own they would have by now." she sounds really worried.

"It's only us left." Brodie says. "We didn't get a good look at the monsters, we were closest to Spirit Crystal and it was glowing really bright at the time. But we saw what directions they went."

"They took Darciet Barret, the carpenter to the North-West and Layton Shaw who runs the Inn" Bethany says and points at the "tavern" "to the North-East."

"And Monty Robinson who runs the General Store to the West, Priya Rees who runs the Weapon Store to the East, and Robert Martin who runs the Armor Store to the South-East." Brodie adds.

"And our mom and dad, Michael and Maisy Miller to the South-West. You'll save them won't you?" Bethany finishes and looks close to bursting into tears.

As they finish, you all gain a clear sense of the Quests they have just provided you with, including the rewards for completing them. Though there's no boxes or menus that magically appear. Still, it's a very different way of knowing something than what you're used to.

---

So yeah, you just gained all the Quests in the World Anvil in case that wasn't clear.

You guys should probably vote in the OOC on which quest to do first.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"They took them in all different directions?" D'Shi says aloud. "That means they have us surrounded... but it also means they don't have a dedicated prison to put them in. Their guard will be spread pretty thin."

The game wants us to rescue them one at a time... I guess that means it's still a game after all... Kimiko doesn't know whether to be relieved or depressed. 'I suspect that you accidentally created a sentient life form from a piece of my psyche and then ripped it away,' is going to look very weird on the beta review sheet.

Deshy masks her mixed feelings by focusing on the quest. "Okay, team! Let's focus on saving one person at a time," she says. "We'll raid the monsters in the East first, before they're ready. Once we rescue Priya, she can give us the weapons we need to save everyone else. Sound good?"

[Mai]

Zyrn listens to all of this, and as Deshy speaks, Zyrn nods. "Our gear is half broken as is. If our armor breaks, we can still be tactically minded, but we can rescue no one barehanded, at least without magic." The part of her that was Ron thought she recalled something about mages needing something too. She wasn'wasn't sure. "So while I would love to rescue your family, we won'won't be able to if we are barehanded. I'm skilled with weapons, but not skilled in dealing with monsters barehanded." Zyrn seemed a bit apologetic, but nodded to Deshy

[Ramsus]

After some short discussion, the rest of the group more or less agrees and you head out.

Exiting the town you find yourselves suddenly traveling through a swamp. It's not too thick with thin gnarled trees and the shallow green-tinted bubbling waters smell only a little bit sulfurous. Still, walking through it does slow you down a bit.

---

If you guys want to pause to try and gather crafting ingredients or do other things let me know. The obvious things here are trying to get wood or fish.
However, note that if you do pause to do such things it means I'll make a roll to see if random monsters attack once you're done.

This will pretty much be the rule in any areas where you think it's reasonable there's something to be gathered or are not too hostile for you to stop and do questing type crafting actions (like repairs or making certain items marked as able to be crafted while questing).

[Mai]

(I'll wait to say more. But I figured i's give this much.)

Zyrn would seem disgusted at this swamps water, aparently being new to swamps, but at least it wasn't so bad as it could have been. She would offer basic details about herself and chat if asked. She'd give her name, Zyrn, a basic outline of her past, living for years in a thick forest, leaving out of curiousity, the bandits that stole some of her gear. But only if provoked to tell such stories. She'd avoid age, but mention the events of the crystal and the odd feeling of being both 2 and 1, but only if the topic came up.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"So..." Once the group is away from the NPCs, Deshy decides it's time to talk about what they were originally going to talk about. "It's nice to meet all of you! I'm D'Shi Noburu."

She tries not to give away too much, in case everyone else is just an avid role-player or in case D'Shi is really just going insane. Kimiko thinks it's customary to go by an in-game handle, so it's not a lie in either case.

"We all appeared around the Spirit Crystal, right? That means we're all test subjects for the game. It looked like some of us were... pretty disoriented, when we first got here. How is everyone doing now?"