Private - As Brave as it Gets...

Like many who hop into worlds of high fantasy, Ms. Magpie was quick to jump right into alchemical experimentation. Ever meticulous, she handled every aspect of her persona’s supposed duties with a severe sense of deliberacy. However, having yet to organically stumble into those duties herself, she decided to construct a problem to which she would be able to solve. Having spent the better half of her life playing a dress-up rhythm game, she decided to tackle just what was missing from Ms. Magpie’s all important repertoire: A proper singing voice.

Much of alchemy had already been discovered; such was the way of the sciences. However it was something to do, something to start with, and with a little help a basic recipe was soon in her hands. Having been an urbanite for all her life, Ms. Magpie struggled to find her footing. Not only was this her first foray into “the wild”, but it was also considerably more “out there” than the wilds she would have reasonably encounter (this wood being more western than eastern, of course). Shrinking away from the howling growl (which she presumed to be a brigand) she hopped across a stream's convenient path of stones. As alien as it might have been, she had taken the role of a Yladain; every step of the way something helped to guide her along.

Her ingredient list didn’t yet have names like calcium bicarbonate or powdered cellulose. Instead she needed gather several colorfully named herbs, and most jarringly “slime extract”. Getting ahold of the herbs herself was the biggest problem. Cultivation was a different skill set altogether. While Ms. Magpie could whittle down these herbs down to their vital--sometimes unnatural--essence, she lacked the grace to accurately remove them from the rest of Terrasphere in one piece.

However, she wasn’t about to stress herself over plants, at least, not yet. What was she stressing herself over, was the more immediate and more off-putting component of the potion. Every passing step left her wondering if this potion of hers was even going to be worth it. Maybe if she was going to improve her singing voice she could practice for hours and years, instead of willingly consuming whatever it was she was to extract from a slime.

Threats of slime extract brought on an uncharacteristic bought of distraction. Now deeper into the woods, every step felt far more unsure, and never more when she was greeted with an bloodcurdling squish in the already ghastly undergrowth. She didn’t know what a slime was, or at least not yet, however she was able to make more than enough of an educated guess, “씨발…” The young elfoid cursed, looking down to see movement in the greenery by what she had first thought was greenery.

In the darkness of the deeper wood something else moved amongst the trees, something far more sinister than the slimes of the undergrowth, probably. Lumbering ahead of her was one of the more unsettling things she had encountered thus far--another slime. What managed to dial this particular instance of slime from unsettling into upsetting was the size of it all. Using her witchlike skill of approximate estimation, Ms. Magpie estimated the slime to be approximately the size of a man. Under the closer scrutiny that was allowed by being frozen up in a suspenseful state of shock, she was able to notice cause for horror.

Hidden beneath its translucent surface, was something… “No!” someone else. Quickly her feelings of terror to diluted into a more awkward state of confusion. These things were moving pretty slow... just how did someone get trapped inside? Ms. Magpie stood there, her expression blank, her hands at her side. Through the surface she was able to make eye contact, and it was then she noticed what appeared to be a blink, “Ah!” Very lightly, shrieked the witch, not out of terror but concern. In a sudden, possibly unhelpful motion, she threw the entire top half of her body into the slime, attempting to grab ahold of whatever poor and unlucky soul was trapped within.

 

The world, the trees, the sky, all so vivid. Scenery slowly rolled by as light flittered through the canopy above. An iridescent glare was created as it hit a fluid boundary just out of reach. Leopold felt so at peace. Completely one with the world around him. No hot, no cold, no movement, he felt absolutely no sensation at all as he merely enjoyed this serenity. Ah, what it is to be alive.

His eyes went out of focus and dimmed. The light shifted, the world moved, and plants came into view. How was he even moving right now? He was so entranced in the situation that he wasn't even sure how it had started. Leopold had fumbled his way through some menus, made a character, and had his breath stolen upon entering this world. It was so beautiful, so alive, so real. That feeling of pure bliss from seeing a veritable jungle pop up from within the confines of that small grey room. He had stood in amazement for several minutes, rotating to take in everything.

He walked for a brief moment before stumbling upon that strange little orb. It was perfectly clear and rolled about leaving a glimmering trail. Leopold recalled how strange it looked as it jiggled about like some sort of confection. When he had approached it to give it a touch, it had turned 'towards' him. He couldn't be sure if it actually faced him because it had no discernable features. His hand had delved into the gelatinous lifeform, and the sensation he felt... was nothing. He distinctly remembered the absence of feeling, just the weight on his arm as he lifted up both his limb and the creature.

The next thing he knew, he was moving about in that trance like state. Ah, where was he going anyways? He was bound to end up lost at this rate, not that he knew where he was to begin with. Leopold decided he needed to pause for a minute and find his bearings. He just needed to plant his foot down... Hmm. Plant his foot down... Nope, that didn't seem to be working. Maybe the other one... Nope. Were his legs even moving? He attempted to shift his gaze down. This might be an alarming situation. He had come to the conclusion that his feet were not actually moving. He hadn't seen them to confirm, but judging by his inability to move his head, this indeed seemed to be the case. Ut oh.

Leopold methodically went from limb to limb, muscle to muscle, every single part of his body that he could think of, but not a one of them would move. How in the heck was he moving about the forest then? This mystery was causing the old man to be more irritated than alarmed, but he knew deep down that he was probably in a bad situation. As if on reflex, a glare caught his eye, and his eyelids shut, before opening once again. Oh. He could blink. Upon focussing all of his attention on his eyelids, he soon realized that it was a one time thing. He couldn't get them to budge. He didn't know this, but his eyelids had not yet come in contact with the slime that was enveloping him, at least, until he blinked that one time.

As his attention drifted away from his eyelids, he looked straight ahead, as he had been doing for who knows how long. He was greeted by a shadowy figure emerging from the dense foliage, extending two tendrils into Leopold's personal space. He tried to squirm away from them, but he was immediately reminded that he could not actually move. Well, it looked like whatever was reaching for him was going to get what it wanted. Relaxing as best he could(as if he needed to), Leopold welcomed his fate.

 

All good games needed a tutorial. That had been Zori's experience with those "normal" and "casual" dive games before. They had gigantic UIs with endless documentation on their correct usage that he could never quite pick up. Intuitive was a subjective word. They always made a better idiot.

This time was different.

There was no grand tutorial or fanfare. No lengthy cutscene followed by a cinematic mission that established your avatar as some kind of bad ass among bad asses only to leave you completely jarred when you end up next to some max level nerd in shimmering armor in the main town. He was. Just there, like that. After that dark room and the uncomfortable character creation he was.

It wasn't great. He'd found most of the other dive games to create dull sensations of reality. The wind felt faint, his weight light, the world so slightly (and significantly) muted. There was no filter. He was almost convinced he wasn't plugged into a game. Somehow he must have been teleported to a weird forest in the middle of nowhere. With nothing really in site but nature. Stinky, loud, harsh, abrasive nature. At the very least it hadn't become violent yet.

He took that moment, with all his thinking, to get used to the feel of everything. He was shorter in the game than in real life. He hadn't been able to make a shorter character in many dive games because it was disorienting to lose three inches of height, or gain it when you leaved the simulation. Since he could in Terrasphere he had to deal with them apples. While lightly straining his legs, feet, toes, Zori tried to access the menu. He knew there had to be one. When he figured out all he had to do was quickly open his balled fist he wasn't surprised.

"Ah. Oh good, that's gotta be a map." Zori said aloud. For himself. "Hmmm. I think I'll hold out on going the easy route.... Menu... Menu..." The Famigna fiddled around until he saw what he was looking for: realism options. He maxed them out so he could experience the whole package. Peak immersion. "Yup. Great. Now to go feel like a real person."

Mr. Crotox set off in a random direction. Internally debating whether or not it'd be a good idea to try and whistle while traveling. Often finding himself on the verge of doing the stupid thing. Until he tried to do the stupid thing and found out he didn't have the experience with his new body necessary to do something as simple as that. Which meant, as we all know, Zori kept trying to whistle (sounding like an ass out of breath the entire time) for as long as it would take. In this case, until he managed to pick up the slightest of shrieks in the distance.

"Ah! This must be the main quest! Better go be a hero, maybe I'll be able to choose my starter gear before I fight."

The adolescent Zori filled his head with dreams of loot while bravely forging his way towards his incredible destiny in this fascinating land. Then he saw two people working themselves into a slime. Correction, he saw someone who looked like a slime had grown on their body and somebody else trying to save them.

"Don't worry! I've got this you, princess obviously disguised, and your caretaker! I take my payment in gold or silver."

Zori then used a stick to try and push the "princess" in the slime in the hopes of separating them. "You don't want to touch these things, in all the games they do some corrosive thing or something. It's all through touch. You know?"

 

It wasn’t until Ms. Magpie was bellybutton deep in slime that she realized she had made quite a fuss. Regardless of how dire the situation may have seemed; the ordeal itself was last thing on Ms. Magpie’s mind. Her conduct leading up into this--evidently failed--rescue was unacceptable. She was going to have to apologize once this was all over. Freaking out and diving face first into a monster wasn’t very witchlike.

This sort of internal strife melted away once she realized she was no longer sure if she had successfully grabbed ahold of the trapped person. Within the slime itself, she couldn’t see. Outside it was already dark enough, and the viscous nature of slime innards outweighed any perceived advantage to perception she may have thought she had. Wriggling and squirming brought about an almost unnerving realization; Ms. Magpie couldn’t feel much of anything. Now this was far and away the time for panic, she still likely held a grip on the trapped young man.

As perilous as this situation was, it could have been much worse. That had been one of the those clichés that at least had some truth, some of the times. This was not one of the times wherein that was the case, or, at least from her perspective. Now, what made matters worse was not another slime, but something far concerning, and skeevier--a person. Just as she was fully realizing the logistical nuances of being paralyzed from the waist up, she felt something brushing up against her thigh.

Vision was already enough of a problem within the shallows of the all-consuming monster, and it was unaided by the added problem of having to listen out. She was able to gather that whomever was hovering around her was speaking. Even through the thick walls of the slime she was able to pick up, at least a few, words here and there. It was enough for her to glean that this was not a malicious entity, however, she was still very displeased to have her personal space invaded. This hadn’t been what she expected coming into this game. She imagined a world of the slayings dragons and the supposed delving into dungeons, not a game wherein she would have to seek an apology after issuing one.

However, any delusions she had to carefully thought-out social graces was knocked out of her when something did come into her line-of-sight. She had lowered her head slightly before she had lost all feeling, and now something managed to come into her comprised field of view--a stick. Moving inside of the slime was impossible, not just because of its composition, but also the fact that Ms. Magpie was, quite literally, paralyzed. Luckily for her, the stick was enough to jerk her head backwards into an unnatural position, out of the way of the next few strokes.

Eventually it was clear that she was no longer holding onto whomever she was supposedly holding. The division of the two, and her exit from the slime lacked any real fanfare--it was something akin two slices of bread being separated. Both had been motionlessly adrift in the still, paralyzing ichor of the slime. With half of her body being unusable, Ms. Magpie slumped into the ground. She could only look up, looking at her still grasping hands as they extended outwards into the sky.

Many--even more cliché--adages had been written about storms and silver linings. Just as she hit the ground, Ms. Magpie was quick to hone in the bright side of all this. Having most of the muscles in her face paralyzed, had made keeping her composure virtually effortless. It was quite the blessing that she wasn’t able to crack the smile she would have otherwise cracked, otherwise she may have looked mad.

 

Tranquil bliss was interrupted by harsh reality, or rather, a harsh stick. The sharp ended wooden bludgeon sent ripples around Leopold's view, and caused his vision to distort. He was unable to move in order to avoid the implement, so it honed in on his forehead with a skull rattling impact. Leopold didn't feel it, but he heard the impact. He was shoved backwards, somehow splattering from mid air, and landing in the brush all around him. Leafs and twigs stuck to his motionless and sticky body. He could hear the crunch beneath him, and he could finally feel air moving into his throat, and down to his lungs. It was only now that he actually realized how badly he needed to breath. His cheeks were blue, his eyes dim, and his temperature was low. It took several long moments to realize all of this because he had been sensationless for a little bit. His body and brain were taking time to adjust to the sudden change in environment that he had just experienced.

It wasn't just physical, either. Visually, everything seemed different than it had just seconds before. The rainbow gleams that seemed to envelope him, the absolute neutral feeling of his body, the way he effortlessly moved about without thought, it was all gone. It was like being plunged into a cold bath right after waking up in the toasty confines of your bed. Jarring. Disappointing. Sobering. His eyes focused on the area in front of him. It took a bit, but he was actually able to see the outline of something, and up above him there was a faint gleam where the natural light was hitting an object. At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but his mind wasn't so frail. Leopold quickly realized there was some sort of entity in front of him, and things started to click into place. The moment he focussed on the outline of the being, it's entire form became more obvious. It was that same clear orb he had picked up before. At the moment, it was stretched so thin that he could barely even see it. Noticing the liquid coat that was on his still limbs, Leopold knew sort of what had happened. He had been... eaten?

Nerves wracking, Leopold tried to force his limbs to move. There was a dim sensation starting to rise up in parts of his body now that he was exposed to open air. It didn't feel like much, and he certainly wasn't moving, but it was something. That meant whatever had numbed and immobilized him wasn't permanent. The first thing he gained use of was his eyelids. They had been the least touched part of his body, so he was able to force them shut with relative ease now that he was out of that liquid monstrosity. He blinked rapidly, just getting used to the feeling of moving a numb body part. He was hoping this would translate to other parts of his body. It wasn't long before his fingers were twitching, and brushing against the leaves he sat on. He was aware of a dull pressure as he forced them down towards the ground. He was just using his hands as blunt objects to push off of in order to move.

Slowly, very very slowly, he managed to slide back in one inch increments. His hands had a lot more feeling in them now that he was pressing them against the ground, and now that exertion had his blood flowing. This wasn't necessarily a good thing because the overwhelmingly dominant sensation was pain. He was in too much of a panic to notice it before, but there were several exposed sections of skin where clothes should be. These exposed sections were pink and inflamed at best, and at worst, blood openly flowed from strange burn-like wounds. No doubt the result of some creatures digestive fluids. Luckily, the creature wasn't following him. It seemed more perturbed by the stick that had been ruthlessly plunged inside of it to care about Leopold. It was shrinking down to its original size, and slowly rolling towards whoever had jabbed it. Leopold was thankful for the aid, but he'd rather it eat whoever it was over him. He just wanted to scoot back and recover a bit before taking any other actions

 

"Oh wow, a two 'fer." Zori idly mused. Surprised at his own, wild, strength. This must be what it meant to be Caenis. "I take my thanks in rewards and experience, your welcome."

He slowly backed away from the ooze since it was giving Zori its attention now. The sensation of having its meals robbed, or being attacked (whatever he'd done really) was enough to generate the required threat to draw aggro. "I didn't spec against this type of thing by the way. What a newb trap. I don't supposed you're programmed to give me some magic assistance?" He kept taking steps back. It was unnaturally easy considering he wasn't even all that used to his body. Maybe the choices he'd made left him more sure-footed? It was a subtle thing.

The important thing was that he didn't have to worry about being caught in the slime trap. Since the creature could only slowly move its body over itself there was no way it was ever going to catch something on two legs. Zori as thankful oozes didn't have brains. It afforded him all the chance to constantly circle around so he didn't lose sight of the npcs. It'd be awful if they despawned before he picked up his reward. Most of the games he'd played didn't have that problem but a few did. Terrasphere was supposed to be different, he wouldn't make the easy mistakes again.

Which left him with a conundrum.

He figured he couldn't let the npcs get too far away. That was a given. What he didn't know is if he was supposed to kill the ooze or just get it to leave the two alone. He didn't have a quest pop up and tell him what he needed to do. Was Terrasphere that good? An organic, dynamic, and diegetic questing system just like that? It felt off theme from what he'd seen. There were only two clues for him to call upon.

He reached out to a lifeline.

"Dear princess, what do you wish for me to do to this poor, malevolent fiend? Also sorry for the stick thing. The both of ya's."

 

Just how long was all of this supposed to last? As great as this was for her composure and her supposed elegance, some of the negatives were weighing heavy on her mind. For now, she was left as a passive observer of the world around her. She may have been monumentally taken by the beams of light flaring through the illuminated canopy in a picturesque moment of graphical fidelity, if it weren’t for the creeping mounds of green that surrounded her.

This sort of vulnerability was far too much for her. If she could physically feel, she would have been heading into sensory overload. These sort of situations didn’t crop in the games she usually played. If she had ended up at the barrel of a highwayman’s rifle, she could rest easy in the knowledge that her Prince Oscar would swoop in and lay them out with his rapier. However, here in the woods there was no Prince Oscar… unless. She made an almost futile attempt to turn her head, only to have her head forcibly turned by an especially aloof green slime that--believing her unmoving body to be part of the scenery--dragged itself over her face. The weight of the burning mass ultimately pushed her head in the direction of Zori, to further pile on the set of unlucky instances of luck that signaled his arrival.

Was that her hero? A quick glance had her immediately reason, "No."

Overall, she had been far less exposed to dually corrosive, and paralyzing juices of the slime. Slowly, she was regaining agency of her lips, “…” She attempted to murmur struggling against the heavy emptiness that was her tongue. Being aimlessly adrift in a state of motionlessness was quite meditative. Without having to worry herself with dextile tasks and other tactile concerns, Ms. Magpie’s mind had almost reached a point of clarity. It just so happened that she hardly had anything to really think about, just yet. She was new to all of this; having no adventures to muse on, while also barely having barely scratched the surface of witchcraft.

By this point, Ms. Magpie had been reminded of why she was even out here in the first place. Now that she laid in the undergrowth covered in liquid hell, she had to have had more than enough slime… essence. Now, all she lacked were the all vital herbs that she had no real way to acquire. Coming into that sort of stark, failing realization elicited another attempt at speech, “Ssh” Closer still. If she kept at it, she would be able to curse again.

Yet, it was not that that bothered her most of all, no. She would eventually get over the running makeup, the burns, and the uncomfortable stinging that started to creep its way into her eyes. What she would struggle with was the threat of character assassination that she believed to be slung, and at her of all people.

Ms. Magpie a princess? Certainly not. That witch had spent many painstaking hours in character creation to avoid this sort of confusion. Before she had ever even heard of Terrasphere, the art of a character’s aesthetics had been a game to her. If she wanted to convey “princess” she would not have put her blood, sweat, and tears into those sliders like she had. To be called a princess was nothing short of a faux-pas. By now she was sure that there was going to be plenty of embarrassment to be shared when they all returned to collective lucidity and further realized how silly all of this was.

Still, there was something biting about the implication that she could be mistaken for a princess. Princesses--even of Yladain blood--usually weren’t this tall,nor did they ever have such spindly proportions. This Caenis had to have known that--it was common sense, after all. No. Ms. Magpie was clearly the one in the wrong here, she was jumping to conclusions, being conceited. She was left with the possibility the either figure in the slime was a princess, or that this Caenis was another player that was as clueless as she was.

The warmth of sunlight was becoming all the more apparent on greatly pained face with the passing of time. That was enough of a cue for her to try, at least one more time, to try and form some words. She struggled through the mouthing of a few syllables. In her mind she had quite a long speech for the dog, but she certainly couldn’t gather the lip movements required, at least, not while her face was still covered with slime. She had to be concise, and she had to do so with as little effort as possible. Closing her eyes, it struck her. Just what did Westerners do when they wanted to convey a complex idea quickly? They quoted Shakespeare, of course, “Cry havoc...” She weakly, and frustratingly chirped in an attempt at reassurance.

 

As more and more of his body became available to him, Leopold's chest began to heave harder and harder. He was practically starving for fresh air, and each breath seemed to send another wave of sensation through his body. The pain was building, particularly the pain in his head. He was sure there would be a large welt on his forehead where some daft gentleman had decided to smack him with a large stick. The ache was permeating his entire head, and even left his neck a little sore. If he got the chance, Leopold was sure to give whoever did it their just desserts. He wasn't a hostile person by any means, but an eye for an eye is a pretty old school concept that he's fond of. The rest of the pain was more of a stinging sensation. It was constant and nagged at him from all over his body. It must be from that monster. Whatever it was made of had corroded through his clothing. When he had worked with the mining companies in real life, they sometimes dealt with strong chemicals that burned. Leopold had seen a couple of scars, and they were always nasty. Did this game have scars? If so, Leopold was sure to be a monstrosity after this.

His resting position was against a tree. His fingers were a bit bloodied from being dragged against the ground so harshly, and were plopped palm up on his lap. His legs were bent at the knee, and held up fairly close to his chest. His head was laid back, and slightly ajar, but comfort wasn't really a huge concern. He could see what was happening with the other two people. One was talking whilst running in circles around the clear orb that had previously consumed Leopold. He was talking about some princess something or other, so Leopold could only assume it was the shadowy figure who was now apparently a lady. His gaze drifted over to her and he nearly choked on his own saliva. Another one of those strange orbs was present. This was was green, and it was... resting on her head. Leopold was alarmed, but not quite agile in his current state. He struggled upward, a wobbly mess, and used the tree as a support to keep himself somewhat stable. His knees were bent inward and looked as if they would cave in any moment now.

With one step forward, his arms which were hugging at the tree were no longer in a position to support him. Leopold's weight shifted forward, and he was forced to step forward with his other foot. He found that in particular, his knees and hips were stiff. This made his gate wide and jarring, and most importantly, unsustainable. With a inaudible shriek, Leopold fell forward. He reached forward with his hands to brace himself for the fall, but this didn't help much. His hands just recoiled against the ground, and he crumpled, his face landing in the green slime ball that he was trying to alleviate the lady from. There was a splash and some gurgling as Leopold tried to express many feelings at once. An apology, shock, hand pain, face pain from a brand new burning sensation, full body pain, and lack of breath. This resulted in bubbles arising from the slime's body as nonsensical noise and air was released from Leopold's mouth.

After he settled a bit, Leopold realized his face must be uncomfortably close to the girl's which made him squirm on the inside. This girl looked young enough to be his grand daughter. Yanking back with what little might he could muster, he lifted his head, along with the slime, and rolled to the side, still gurgling. He wasn't very majestic in doing so, but Leopold had managed to succeed at his task. The only problem was that he was severely weakened and now suffering from an even more intense burning from before. To make matters worse, this slime ball didn't numb him or anything, and he couldn't see through it to enjoy the scenery. This was the absolute pits. In this irritated state, Leopold found himself succumbing to pain, and his consciousness started to fade. The last thing he remembered thinking about was how he must look the absolute fool right now.

 

*Plop*

That was the first noise that greeted David's first character in Terrasphere. He had done some brief research into the game beforehand and had recalled that the game enjoyed tossing its new players into the game like a fickle child throws its toys. Not that he was complaining, the few VR games he had tried and moderately enjoyed previously were Survival-esque with similar mechanics. However, this particular game felt even more real than those so-called 'realistic' survival games, given that the sensation of laying face-down in mud was particularly memorable to him at this moment. With a loud sucking noise David wrenched himself from the mud, wiping what he could from his face and body before taking stock of his surroundings.

Vague, forested land was all that greeted his eyes, however, his ears and nose (once properly cleaned of mud) had been giving him much more information than he had ever received from them before. Confused, David recollected his creation of his character. He remembered skipping directly past the appearance, and hitting random for race and name. Using the patented palm-UI-opening technology, David observed his statistics with interest. His name was... Varudan? Varudan Silanaru. 'What a stupid name,' was the first thing he thought, followed by 'Could be worse.' Next, he identified his race as being Caenis, specifically of the Lupis variety. It was easy to judge what the characteristics were given his improved smell and hearing. He examined his other parts, noting a long, bushy black tail emerging from the base of his spine, and felt a pair of large fuzzy ears atop his head. Both of these had new, fine muscles that felt strange to him.

The tail wagged, and the ears swiveled comically whilst he walked in a random direction, experimenting with his new parts whilst experiencing the new sensations of this 'world'. While in the 'menu' earlier, he had amped up the realism settings to maximum, and turned off all the assisted modes he could find. He also remembered that one of the skills he had also amplified his perception, specifically the 'investigation' mode he had seen. Placing his fingers to his temple, and likely looking silly, Davi- No, 'Varudan' now, turned it on. Before, he had some issue with his new senses, but now the sensory input he received was nearly overwhelming, given the vivacity of life in this forest and his now even more improved senses. The noises of familiar creatures and beasts were joined by the startling noises of unfamiliar monsters. His eyes automatically began noticing obvious game-trails and tracks he hadn't noticed before. A distant noise of conflict attracted his attention, though indistinct as to what the commotion actually was. Nevertheless, he began prowling in that direction, his previous instincts of hunting in the real world kicking in.

A few minutes later, he came across a strange, if comical, scene. Featureless globules of semi-transparent and transparent ooze of differing sizes were together with three individuals. His investigation mode that he hadn't yet turned off revealed the oozes to be a small Green Slime, with a name in blue, and a man-sized Clear Slime, with a name in green. He wasn't too sure the significance of the colors, and could only assume the Clear Slime was more of a threat. The three people, however, only had their names listed: Ms. Magpie was the woman laying on her back, Leopold Chang was the fellow with the green slime encasing his head, and the last one was Zori Crotox. Zori appeared to be the same race as Varudan, though something about his more domestic dog-esque features aroused some unconscious feeling of disdain within Varudan. At the moment, Zori was circling the clearing with a large stick in his hand, his yappy, lap-dog-like appearance provoking a feeling of nausea in Varudan.

Calmly, he observed the situation. The Clear Slime's formerly featureless body began forming pseudopods, as it slowly moved towards the two prone individuals. A cursory glance at Leopold revealed his starting clothes had been partially dissolved, revealing inflamed skin and minor wounds similar to those on acid-burn victims. Additionally, both individuals appeared to be suffering from some sort of temporary paralysis or anesthesia. Ever clever Varudan deduced that, given that there was a lack of anything else in the immediate vicinity, it could only be assumed that the cause of the wounds and paralysis was the slimes.

Springing into action, Varudan ripped the mud-caked beginner shirt off his chest, revealing his pale, chiseled, hairy physique as he rushed to the fallen Leopold. Utilizing the shirt, Varudan covered the slime, allowing him to pull it off Leopold's face without directly touching the thing himself. Bagging the green slime up like a kidnapped puppy, Varudan directed a brief glance at Leopold's face, revealing a common sight if one were to frequent a burn ward. Agilely, Varudan moved back with the bagged slime dangling from one hand.

The clear slime was quickly approaching the two fallen individuals, its lightning pace had nearly covered a quarter of the two meter or so distance in the time it took Varudan to approach and bag up the slime. Ingenuity struck him as he circled around to the back of the slime before plunging the bagged green goo into the interior of the clear slime. A sudden numb feeling assailed him as he jumped a safe distance away from the clear slime. The clear substance that made up the slime was clearly anesthetic or paralyzing , and given the state of Leopold and Miss Magpie, they had obviously been previously totally or partially enveloped. Varudan's predatory eyes remained focused on the clear slime, eager to see what happened after the shirt dissolved.

 

Zori was waiting for a response.

While waiting he kept his slight run to avoid being captured. He didn't hear anything for quite a while. It was worrying. Was the slime some kind of venomous creature? Did it's entrapping bite leave some kind of permanent ailment that had afflicted his quest givers? Maybe he'd completely screwed up by not using the map. It was entirely possible that the Terrasphere devs planned for the event to occur with strict timing so players that made a beeline to the starter town would run into the princesses while they were being chased. His idle wandering could have meant they were all doomed!

Then, thankfully, he heard something. He stopped and turned around to the two that were downed. Making note of the third who appeared and wiped one of the fallen princesses' head. He carefully avoided the oozes while circling around the monsters to meet with the downed individuals. That other guy seemed to have it handled. He got on one knee while raising Ms. Magpie's torso. It was some incredibly cliche, dramatic posing.

"Tell me, princess. Are you alright, do you need something?" Zori was planning to circumvent this new guys attempt at quest sniping by... He wasn't really sure. Dealing with the consequences? He pushed Magpie's hair out of her face. "I'm at your..."

He stopped. He watched as the top-naked wolf man's attempt at dealing with the slime radically changed the paradigm of the situation they were in. After enough of that shirt had deteriorated the pair of slimes started to incorporate into each other like mixing paints. The plant-like green started to brighten as the slimes ultimately grew in sized while approaching a median color.

A mint green menace was born.

"I see in our future a nice cottage, out by some distant wilderness. Far away from here. What do you say, wanna go away. Like, immediately?"

 

More than ever, she was keenly aware of the rising and falling of her chest. The labor of every breath was something she had been taking for granted. Nothing had ever been more liberating than the return of this sensation--the return of breath. It was enough to truly distract her from the situation at large, as it grew all the more horrifying. While she wasn’t paying attention, the less than friendly burning mess that had taken roost upon her cheek obscured her sight partially enough to leave her open for another nasty surprise.

Just like that, as she had grown to truly appreciate breathing, it was taken away. In a sudden, VR-reality defining moment, she felt the air getting pushed out of her lungs as a heavy, physical weight crashed down into her torso. The crushing of her chest really helped usher in the crushing, unfortunate realization of how poorly her first adventure was going. It was lucky that that some of the finer tactile sense was gone. The feeling of slimy skin against hers would have been far too unnerving, especially with so many nerves undone in the first place.

She couldn’t have been out for too long. Twitching her fingers, she tried to close her palm so she could open her palm menu, to no avail. Struggling to breathe, she tried to reposition herself, in attempt to get a better view of just what was obstructing her breath. Moving her head proved to be a monumental effort, and every inch of the way, the slime squirmed, making sure that it remained level regardless of how volatile the “soil” under it became.

Although,she had to approach this in more analytical light: What else could have kept the slime in place as she wreched her neck around. There had was clearly a humanoid neck sticking out of the green globule. Upon closer inspection, there was clearly a head attached to the neck. Tinted green, and obscured by its own horrible injuries, it was a face that momentarily brought Ms. Magpie’s heart to a terrible standstill. Her eyes widened and if she were capable of taking in a deep breath, she may have gasped. This game was going way too far, and far too quickly. Already she felt like she was in mortal peril, and she had yet to cast a single incantation. Looking into the pained eyes of the once and again trapped Fae, added to the realizations that she would suffer through. She really hadn’t done a good job of this rescuing thing.

Despite how shockingly unfortunate they may have been, the Fae trapped inside yet another slime showed a great deal of desire to preserve their dignity. They spared themselves the embarrassment of having to be removed from atop of Ms. Magpie, thus sparing her the need to reprimand them for their unintentionally perverse conduct. That really must have been the princess, was all of this an really an event? Now, without the weight of a whole person atop of her, she could finally breathe again. It was during said breath that she was able to focus, and actually count.

1. The princess trapped in the slime.
2. Her
3. Stickdog
4. ????????

Just where had this fourth one come from? And why all of a sudden was he starting to disrobe? Squirming further, with her working legs, Ms. Magpie attempted to give the fourth enough room so that he could fix one poor Leopold’s mounting problems. Without resorting to sorcery, or without any fantastic skill, he had. Very anticlimactic, but quite relieving. However, she was left wondering: Wasn’t there supposed to be a triumphant showdown in these sorts of games?

She hadn’t even said it to tempt fate, yet, it seemed as if she was being punished. Who could’ve thought that the careless discarding of waste could have distrastious ecological effects?

Having been unable to move her arms had been the biggest problem in Ms. Magpie returning to standing, and having been propped up had been more than enough help. As she started and fought to put together the syllables necessary to thank Zori, he had to go and make things worse.

Hollowly observing the formation of the super slime had to be interrupted. The first Caenis began to speak of a princess once more, and to both Ms. Magpie’s surprise and offense, it seemed as if she was the one being spoken to. To her, escaping this increasingly sticky comedy of errors was preferable to staying. However, she was not so desperate that she would be willing to escape any which way, and especially when the clearly more spiritually destitute Fae was laid out nearby.

Struggling against the weight of the air, she staggeringly moved her hand up. For a moment it may have looked as if she were going to extend it, to invite Zori’s further help. She could not, however, as it fell back into its depressively limp state.

Decisively so, and oddly quickly, she promptly kicked upwards towards her own face, where she moved the very same lock of hair back over her eye. Without mercy, she very harshly undid one of the small goods Zori had sought to do. Even when soaked to the stalk with a horrifying mixture, much of Ms. Magpie’s hair had kept its shape. That’s how it was supposed to look; her hair was meant to partially obscure her face, it looked cool that way.

As reasonable was getting out was, and regardless of ultimately innocuous Zori’s suggestion wa, all the rationale Ms. Magpie could muster amounted to her finally and bluntly answering, “No.” Prolonged speeches were still unquestionably out of the question. So, she unfortunately lacked the ability to contextualize and explain herself further. She hoped that the blunt and forceful tone of her declaration was more than enough.

 

When you're unconscious due to terrible wounds, one of the surefire ways for someone to wake you up is for them to take a dirty rag, wrap it tightly around your head, and forcefully scrape your wounds with it in order to remove an acidic slime creature from devouring you. You know, one of those common scenarios that pops up. Sure enough, Leopold was now sitting upright, bellowing at the top of his lungs in agony. It was a short bellow, but boy was it loud. One thing that was confounding him as his thoughts raced at nine million miles per hour was why the pain was so realistic. This was a game right? Why would they put so much effort into such complex programming and technology just to make things hurt real real bad? Leopold couldn't wrap his head around it. Surely they would have had the forethought to put in an option to reduce the pain, or even remove it? That just seems like a good business decision. He'd have to find a support phone number later in order to give these guys his two cents.

Now roused and full of adrenaline fueled angst, Leopold took a look around the area. There was the girl who had plunged herself into the slime in order save him. There was the random boy who talked about princesses or some such babble. There was the shirtless macho dog man guy... Who was that guy again? Leopold didn't remember him. And finally, glancing about for the horrendous monsters that had maimed him, Leopold's eyes came to rest on the mint colored monstrosity.

"Oh." He didn't quite have a response to the now larger acidic slime blob. How long had he been passed out? What had happened to change this thing to this extent? A very cold shiver ravaged his vertebrae as it ascended his spine and approached his neck. He didn't want to imagine how painful it would be to get enveloped by this one. His body already ached with every breath he took, and he wasn't even confident he could move. Granted, he hadn't exactly tried yet.

Leopold resolved himself to endure through the inevitable torment as he planted his palms firmly against the ground. This action made him aware of even more pain because he had damaged his knuckles in the process of dragging himself earlier. He swore to himself that he'd be more careful in this game from now on. The old man wasn't sure he could mentally handle another situation like this.

Pressing down, he lifted his torso a bit and pulled his legs back, bending his knees and planting his feet firmly on the ground. Leaning forward further, he shifted his weight onto his feet, and started to stand up. It was a teetery process as sharp sensations emerged from different red sections of skin that spotted him, and caused him to recoil. Eventually, he was in a squatting position. From there, he forced the movement, and just stood straight up without caring about the pain. This lack of 'care' didn't last long as he found himself unable to suppress a yelp.

"Ah. That's a doozy. How bad is it? To I look as bad as I feel?" He was speaking openly to all intelligent folk present. He wasn't concerned with them being NPC's at all because... well, he didn't know what an NPC was. He was completely uninformed when it came to games, so he was under the (correct) assumption that these were all players. He tried his best to smile, which was stupid because his face was the most maimed part of him. It was a bloody, pulpy, red mess, with exposed tendons and everything. His hair was patchy, mostly fallen out, and his ears were melted down to small nubs. He looked horrendous

Around this point in time, he noticed that the edges of his vision were colored slightly red. He thought this was odd. Upon further inspection, it was actually pretty dark as well. Using his fingers, he could tell there was nothing physically obscuring his vision so his thoughts wandered. Was this a feature of the game? He didn't know how any of this worked, so he fumbled through hand motions trying to figure out how to pull up that nifty menu. He nearly jumped when it popped out in front of him. His eyes scanned up and down the numbers it displayed.

"What was it called for health? Uhmmm, oh HP points or something like that." He looked for something akin to what he was talking about and found it near the top. "Ah, HP here it is. This is my health, it's like a black bar. Uhhh, 5. I have 5 HP left, that doesn't sound like a lot, maybe half?" Leopold was mostly talking to himself, but he didn't have a basis for comparison, so he looked up pleadingly for someone to explain it to him. He was hopelessly unable to comprehend how close he had come to dying in the game already. He couldn't have been playing more than twenty minutes at this point, so his talent was abysmal.

 

A myriad of expectations had gone through Varudan's head while he examined the slime within a slime. However, his first and most likely expectation, that of the larger slime simply absorbing the smaller slime with little to no change, was wrong. Mint green wasn't really a color Varudan liked, nor did he like the flavor. Though, the sudden thought of what the slime tasted like instilled a nearly irresistible urge to scoop off a portion of the slime and ingest it. The only thing preventing him from doing so was the testament to the slimes' acidity: Leopold. Leopold's injuries were far greater than Varudan had initially assessed, his face being pretty much devoid of skin and features reduced to nubs of cartilage.

Briefly distracted, Varudan turned his attention back to the slime. Given that the green slime had no apparent qualities other than acidity, he wondered if the new mint slime had any real changes other than a moderate size increase. Its name color was still green, so in the system's 'eyes' it was still roughly the same. Curiosity spurring him, Varudan removed his beginner shoes, tossing one at the slime. Sinking into the mint menace with a soft *plop*, the shoe seemed to be deteriorating quite slower than the previous shirt. Though, that was a given due to the shoe being made of poor leather instead of poor cloth. Thus, Varudan reckoned that the slime was still acidic to a degree that was similar to what its acidity was previously.

Proud of his conjecture and experimentation, Varudan returned to observing. The slime was motionless, whether due to digestion or some other arcane reason. Experimentally, Varudan tossed the other show a few feet from the slime. Suddenly, a pseudopod shot out from the slime, enveloping the remaining shoe and pulling it back to join its partially digested sibling. Varudan took several prudent steps back, not too curious to experiment the range of the pseudopods with his body given his lack of shoes. He briefly examined his pants, but they seemed a bit cumbersome to throw around at this point in time.

Abandoning the slime for now, Varudan turned his augmented senses back to the forest. The racket that Leopold and the lapdog had been making would surely attract more attention from the forest denizens. At least it should, given the realism he had experienced and the apparent hostility of the slimes. Varudan's ears preceded his head as they swiveled toward the direction of the other three individuals, as he heard the distinct cry of... surely what must be a mammal? One that was approaching rapidly, and angrily through the undergrowth of the forest.

Eager to see what else was in store, he made an effort to find a good vantage point. A nearby tree branch some meters up offered a quick solution, and with a self-surprisingly alacrity Varudan was quickly safe and steady on it. The 'Acrobatics Mastery' he had chosen was quite apparent, surely aided by the pure physique of the Caenis race. Maybe he would pay more attention if he had the chance to make a new character. Given his tendency to experiment with dangerous things, perhaps he would have that chance soon.

Mere moments had passed before the creature storming through the woods had arrived. Magnificent, was the first word that sprung to mind as Varudan observed the majestic creature. It was a stag, a very large stag, its 10 point antlers gleaming like barbed daggers. It had a thick pelt, full of leaves and bristles from its charge through the undergrowth. Perhaps more unsettling, its antlers had clumps of tree bark, fur, and what could only be described as beginner cloth fragments stained with blood. Varudan's eyes gleamed as he observed it, pure agony afflicting him due to the fact he had no equipment to hunt the creature, but at least he could watch it hunt. Oddly, it appeared to be ignoring the three beginners, charging directly towards the mint monstrosity. Perhaps it felt threatened by the largest figure in the clearing? Or perhaps it knew the strongest thing in the clearing at the moment was the slime.

With a snort and a flick of its antlers it careened toward the slime, slamming it into the canopy above with force that would likely have crushed most of the bones in Varudan's body. Worrying moments passed before droplets of slime began to rain down, preceding the slopping of slime, like mint shit from the chamber pot of a third story window.

 

Zori could only be disappointed. His lack luster and ill-timed advances had been roughly shut down by the random stranger whose approval and continued companionship he didn't need to care about. Except he wasn't. It didn't seem to matter that much. There were more pressing concerns. Like the only capable member around had ditched everyone by climbing into a tree. A new monster had appeared. There was some terrible acid rain. Who woulda thought humans would ruin the environment of a virtual world this quickly. Zori wouldn't have thought it was that strange if he had more than a few seconds to think. Most importantly the first princess he'd seen wasn't a princess. They were a prince? It was a very manly shout coming from the small flesh-stripped figure.

"You know, I don't think that's as important as it used to be. I sure hope you're ready to stand because that stag seems like a real problem." He was busy trying to run calculations in his head. Extremely generic calculations for how healthy a big mean forest creature like that could possibly be in this fantasy world they were in. Also if it was worth getting the kid-like, princely, man-screaming, invalid to safety.

"Yup. Probably."

He stood up, bringing the tall Ms. Magpie with him, and tried to steady her on to her feet. He didn't wait to catch her if she was about to fall. Or watch if the momentum of his swiftly rising mass pushed her to pendulum on her feet and face plant into the ground. There was a horribly disfigured child to save.

Zori sprang into action. "Wait," he began to ponder, "This guy was talking about hp. Chances are he's just a hapless player like me. Is this worth doing if I'm not going to get a reward?" He had no time to stop. He was already lifting the dying soul in his arms. A dainty princess carrying technique was used as he quickly tried to backtrack. Instead of falling over himself like some kind of clumsy buffoon he would normally be. There wasn't even time to be surprised about that as he carefully moved the heavily hurt dude by a tree thick enough to hold the buck back. On the opposite side of the tree from the deer.

Zori shook the raining slime that had accumulated on him off after dropping off his charge. "No fee this time. Just uh, try and keep your near dead self from getting hurt. I'm going to try to do something heroic unlike that guy in the tree. You uh... Do you I guess." He crept away from Leopold with all his incognito might. He didn't want to bring unwanted attention to the guy about to die.

He kept sneaking around, eyeing the stag while it tried to brush the acid ooze from its eyes and nose. Waiting until he had circled around and was on the opposite side of it and Ms. Magpie and Leopold. He checked behind him. "Yeah..." Then stopped being stealthy. He loudly shouted at the stag while throwing a handful of forest soil at it. The most stupid thing you could do probably. Thankfully his projectile roughly brushed the side of the deer (the widest target). It aimed its "clean" head at the famigna.

"Hey you, you stink! Go take a bath!"

Zori took off just before he finished taunting the stag. Then scrambled up a tree that was close to another one. He needed an escape route after all.

 

Overall, Ms. Magpie was probably alright. The momentary splashes of slime she had been subjected to had cast a toll upon her, sure. However, she hadn’t gotten it nearly as bad as the one who got this whole ordeal started: Poor Leopold. Nodding as he recounted his peril in the most blasé way he could have, Ms. Magpie chimed in, “Five may very well be within ‘lethal’ range. Do be careful.” She ominously stated, adding nothing afterwards. Even after having regained use of her lips, Ms. Magpie was a woman of few words, especially where there wasn’t much to say in the first place.

Being held up by Zori gave Ms. Magpie more of a view that she appreciated. Allies reasonably vanished, as did enemies. Just when there were worries to be had about new strains of slime, all of it was washed away in the blink of an eye. Ms. Magpie looked on past Zori with a look of exacerbated contempt, “This must be a joke.” She swore. Clearly, the young woman had had enough. Breaking feel of the shackles of Zori’s grip as already moved on to more pressing concerns, Ms. Magpie graced the world before her with a sharp glare.

Although she seemed desperately in need of help to stand not too long ago, she felt a burst of energy. Looking down and over, the witch offered a sincere (if quiet), “Thank you... Dog.” Once she was fully up and about. However, standing proved itself to be problematic. Ms. Magpie cursed herself for having made her character’s legs so long. The awkward sensation of pins and needles throughout her arms as she slowly regained the feeling of her digits, upset her sense of balance.

Watching Zori as he crept, Ms. Magpie kept fighting gravity. A distraction? Perfect. That was just the window she needed to further distract the buck. If they complicated its life enough, she was sure it was going to elsewhere. For predators, there had point where prey became far too much effort.

No longer. If she was ever going to make it in this world, she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. Remaining in free mode she took position--rather dramatically. Her control over her arms may have been limited, but she was hardly going to allow that to hinder to the point of invalidity. Moving her arms in a slow, inelegant swish, she kept her attention locked onto the invading animal. Finding her voice once again, she began to speak, sort of. An uneasy air radiated from Ms. Magpie with every increasingly otherworldly word she uttered.

Eyes aglow and hand outstretched, Ms. Magpie continued to mermer her insidious chants. After fifteen minutes in the world, she was physically wracked, and now she looked to overextend her mental strength. The young woman’s expression twisted into something combative; but just what was she fighting against? Her stance buckled, with her muscles visibly tensed as she struggled to remain upright. Progressing through her spell, the witch's incantation grew increasingly breathy, just as her nose began to bleed profusely.

Suddenly, a purple smoke began to twist and churn in the underbrush. It was in from this wispy, purple haze that a silent, shadow began to emerge. What had that witch done?

Her clearly limited command of illusion didn’t yet leave room for subtly. Once in the light, it was clear that the smoke was an entry way for what was apparently another buck. In true video game fashion, this hart was a mirror image of the one so intent on terrorizing the the adventurers, save for one crucial detail: Adorned in its antlers was a bright pink bow. Mimicking the movements of a rabbit, it continued to hop, before eventually positioning itself at an angle to draw the buck’s attention away enough from Zori.

Had the spell failed? Was there a chance that Ms. Magpie did not know what a female deer was supposed to look like while she meticulously crafted her illusion? The question was answered rather starkly as the witch in question broke from her hushed, eldritch incantation, “Perfection...” She wheezed under the strain of having to speak. Fighting against unseen forces, she clenched her hand and whispered one last tone.

Across from her, the already out of place buck came to life. Its movements were… suggestive? Flirty? Sparkles emitted from the bright-eyed glamour, which offered the real buck a coy wink and blush.