First Quest (Video, username 'westandreamcatcher')

[lightnovelexperiences]

[So.

The camera picks up an idyllic looking sandy Mediterranean beach, near a patch of grass and forest. It shakes a fair bit, like a cell phone cam in an unsteady - or nervous - hand.]

This is... this is uh. Deedee. ...'s player. Don't... if you know my real name from before the Badgernet crash don't throw it around.

I uh.

I'm on the fucking Shores of Awakening. I'm on fucking Mundus.

And taller and y'all hear how high my voice is. I can feel my tails.

I woke up alone face-down on the sand here. Felt it burn. I uh.

Please advise.

Comments

video, un: thorne

[turingcompletionist]

[Congrats and have some of Dr Durante in full Thorne cosplay. She is looking very stressed out.]

Okay. Fuck. That's another mind-machine connection failure, on top of all the others that have already been called in. Okay. Shit.

Re: video, un: thorne

[lightnovelexperiences]

It's nice to know someone knows what's going on.

More than I do.

I.

Shit.

Can't log out. ...sendjewel works a little, I'm using it to connect, I'll try to see who's here. I'm uh, first level and my gear is crappy starter stuff.

Re: video, un: thorne

[turingcompletionist]

... wait, what?

That's. Fuck. That's not supposed to be happening. I mean, okay, I was kind of wondering why the fuck you were back on one of the Shores of Awakening, but I dunno, maybe you'd been on a boat?

[She draws a hand down her face.]

Okay. You can't log out because something's fucked up with the neurohelm and instead of leaving part of your mind where it should be, in your body, so you can tell when you need to use the bathroom or hear the fire alarm or whatever, all of it is in Mundus. That's why everything seems so immediate and real and shit.

You've got a roommate, right? Can you PM me their phone number? They need to know to get you to a hospital and on life-support, until we can fix this-- [She turns her head, suddenly, and mutes the audio for a minute, before turning back to the screen and unmuting.] Okay. Shit. This seems to be happening all over the Chimaera server, not just you. We've already been notified about another good hundred equipment failures, just like this one.

Nate thinks it's a cyberattack. I'm starting to think he's right. This kind of thing will happen every now and then--that's why there's warning stickers on the neurohelms telling people not to remove them if the users go catatonic and to call the toll-free number to report it immediately--but this is fucking ridiculous. Hundreds of neurohelms shouldn't be crapping out all at once!

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Wait. Planar kidnapping... Mundus, that was the setting of that video game you brought up a time or two, right?!

[Pidonus considers how to do this research fast...]

You've been planar-pulled into a game somehow. You can feel the tails, so your body's been transformed or is under a very powerful illusion effect - more likely the former.

I've been planar-napped before, but the transformation with it, that's new to me. I think.

[turingcompletionist]

[Dr Durante groans.] No, no, that's not what's happened. I've seen this happen before. There's been a problem with the mind-machine hook-up in his neurohelm and he's gone catatonic IRL. Instead of a fraction of his consciousness still inhabiting his body on Earth for safety reasons, it's all on Mundus, piloting his player character.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Wait. Waitwaitwait.

Okay, that's. There's some implications there that I need to work through a lot. Not that I am likely to be much help, but...

First thing is - how does that work with people's souls? Normally where I'm from, soul and body are a duality, so is it like their soul's somehow been pulled into this game?

Oh how many Devil assholes would love to abuse THAT I'm sure...

[From what Pidonus has shared before, she's from what would broadly be called a high-fantasy setting. Also, she's specifically a demon, and where she's from that means really REALLY hating devils.

Also it means she's used to a specific way of how souls work - and will probably be thrown for a loop by different world's different understandings thereof.]

[lightnovelexperiences]

Yeah uh I made this body. This is my game character, Deedee.

Funny, I didn't hear a truck crash through my wall to land on top of me, killing me instantly.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Wait, is that a common cause of planar kidnapping on your world???

[Pidonus' story training does not yet appear to include that particular trope of isekai fiction. Being from a world that doesn't have truck-kuns yet, that's probably why...]

The fact that you've been pulled in as your character... That's a new one for me too, honestly.

From what I'm getting, though...

Dang it, if I had a way to do planar teleportation, I could actually get in range to help somehow, I think, but.

[nijistaryume]

Wait, are you charmed, too?

video

[godslantern]

...oh dear. Are you hurt? [Professional concern comes first, even if there's not much Neriel can do about it.]

Adjusting to a new corporation can take some time, and this sounds... at least a little similar, in that respect. Be gentle with yourself until you're more used to the balance and proportions, unless - can you modify this form at this point? If not, I may be out of useful advice.

Re: video

[lightnovelexperiences]

Not without an extremely expensive Potion of Glamour.

Center of gravity's weird. I'm not hurt.

Re: video

[godslantern]

And I'm sure you have better things to spend your money on.

Not hurt is a good start. It's much easier to figure out why something happened when you're not addressing a physical crisis.

[simplythehero]

Trapped in game. I see. My advice. Understand situation thoroughly. Information first priority. After survival.

Saw you talking. To someone working on situation from outside. Good. But value in information from inside.

[lightnovelexperiences]

"After survival," yeah. There are monsters here.

Hence my running towards the scream. Along with some of my usual party; not sure if that's good or bad news.

[simplythehero]

Survival of others. Also top priority. Take care.

video

[nijistaryume]

[She stares, blinks a few times, and rapidly shakes her head.]

Wait, it can happen that style for actual? I know a lot of them talk about levels and inventory, but...

Re: video

[turingcompletionist]

It's. Fuck. Not exactly like your situation. He hasn't been transported to another universe or plane. But, uh, there was a problem with his neurohelm and instead of his consciousness only mostly being on Mundus, with enough of it on Earth to do things like disconnect from AWO, it's all on Mundus now and his body on Earth is catatonic. In a coma? Fuck, I'm too tired to remember which one is right. Probably coma.

[Charley sounds very, very tired and frazzled. Looks it too.]

This is a thing that can happen because of the nature of how neurohelms work, although there's safeguards against it, including ones we put in ourselves. That they didn't trigger... we're pretty sure this was a cyber attack against the Chimaera server.

That said, while mechanically it might not be the same as the stuff you seem to be dealing with, functionally it probably is. Which is... god, it's just another layer to the whole clusterfuck.

[nijistaryume]

Okay, so first off. Functionally like a bunch of people are in another world, except it's just their brains are in a video game world instead of actual going to another dimension? Or functionally like creepers are coming in to brainwash everyone into worshipping them? 'Cause that's kiiiiinda different.

Re: video

[lightnovelexperiences]

Like the Doctor says, this place was where a game's set. I'm not sure how, like, atomic a Vigor score of 8 in terms of what I can deadlift but I've definitely got Deedee's abilities and not my own.

I haven't been this athletic since high school. I've never this strong, or, uh, curvy.

[nijistaryume]

[She giggles despite herself.] Whoa. So wait, you're hiding who you are? Is that for, like, stalkers or something?

[Momo, as a modern 12-year-old, postdates the concept of hiding entirely behind your handle and not telling anyone who you are on the internet.]

Video

[fashionable_yapping]

Okay yeah I can relate to the whole suddenly waking up with ears and tail thing. Was a very strange day.

Re: Video

[lightnovelexperiences]

TELL ME ABOUT IT.

These things have minds of their own. My ears lock onto... uh, interesting things and I hate it.

text; un:azraxe

[axmeowder]

[ The surprisingly neat handwriting comes in from Azra using a little more force than normal. Agitated. ]

You're somewhere you don't belong. You need to be not there.

Re: text; un:azraxe

[lightnovelexperiences]

correct and correct.

i'm not sure why you expected me to disagree, or why I expected help.

un: thorne

[turingcompletionist]

yes and i'm trying to get him out.