Overlord Styled Sandbox (IC)- Blue Rose Society

[ThreadNecro5]

Spoiler: Link to the OOC Thread

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http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...5#post22876875

The Game did not end…

Spoiler: where everyone is

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Assume all players in the same guild were together. Cohorts are assumed to be with their owner unless otherwise noted by the player.

Blue Rose Society:
The server clock ticks over. From atop your headquarters you see the sky seem to lag and bug out, or perhaps a texture despawned.

The sky is a fresh dawn tinged with an edge of rapidly mellowing crimson. The wind picks up and it feels beyond any felt before, truly Baltic.

It seems the same issue has despawned the HUD. Everyone’s health bar has vanished…

[Sønderjye]

Scourge's silvery hair forms a crown around her oval face. Her skin is ivory white and stands in sharp contrast to her pale blue eyes that were looking out over the horizon before the clock ticked down. There was something majestic about the whole thing. He had been in planes and high buildings before but there was something special about being on an actually floating castle. Sure, the raid on the Storm King had been a pain, some dev had probably been in a particular foul mood, who thinks of giving fire attacks to a Storm King? Definitely worth it though.

Her gaze floated aimlessly and eventually fell on the squad that were patrolling the castle on their griffins and a nostalgic smile spread on his face at the thought of their griffin races.

"I... ehm", the deep voice of an enourmous clockwork golem with the meanest face imaginable standing beside him drew him back to his surroundings. XXN00BDestroyaXX, one of their older members, had logged in 10 minutes ago. "It's been nice but wife's calling. Kids need to be taken to baseball. It's been fun." Scourge absently nodded in responds, not wanting to spoil the moment with how he couldn't care less about freakin baseball. There was an awkward silence before the giant figure dematerialized.

---

"Well, guys. It was a pleasure being here with you" Scourge says with a faint but perfectly symetrical smile as her piercing eyes watches the clock go to 0 and the distortion happens. She blinks, not trusting her own eyes and then frowns. "Eh? Did I miss some announcement?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Scourge is a guy but his avatar is female gendered. Sorry for the confusion.

Edit: The following have been editted in to have it somewhere on the thread.

Search for libraries, priests, mage academy, nobles.

Priests: gods, souls,
Magic: Mage(court) or mage academy

How to become a god?

Things need to know:
What grander forces control this world? Anything above the gods?
What is a god? Hypothesis 1, it's a very powerful soul.
Where does the power of gods come from?
Also, rough power of gods?
What limitations does the gods have upon them? Any grand contract or something?
Get a list of existing gods.
Get a list of the planes.
How do souls travel places?
How are souls claimed and who can claim them?
Why haven't the good gods opposed
Do the trolls want to starve?

Gods:
Counsil of Light: Chuminug, Kaji, Disbar, Butau, Carak. Ennos and Yolt'zin assist but not part of:
Chuminug: Light and Fighting Evil.
Kaji: Civilazation.
Disbar: Is manifactured. Honour and Protection.
Butau: Law.
Carak: Trials and bravery.
Ennos & Oara: Twin gods of defence and offence. Family of Carak.
Yolt'zin: Darkness and Redemption.
Red One: Opened realm to all gods.
Dutrondyt the Jealous: Gods that created something, presumably some race.
Father of Giants:
Jotnus: Creator of Trolls. Is the father of giants? Trolls think he was the one to create the first mortals. First trolls had dull minds and bottomless appetite, and overall poorly made. Jotnuss had SERVANTS, so clearly there were things before mortals. Has a bunch of children. God of Earth and Government. Children:
- Gedjoena: Smiting and Healing.
- Phys: Flame and Propechy.
- Lizeba: Challenge and Unseen.
- Inachad: Tyranny and Suffering.
- Nacxid: Corruption and Infestation.
- Neyja: Travel and Trade. Wed to Rugdog. Mother of Ennos and Oara.
- Rugdos: War and souls. Created Valkyries and Vordr to escort souls to the right places.
Ocborth: Revelry, Destruction, Pleasure, all things Hedonistic.
Nybraura: Serenity and Cataclysm. With Ocborth parenting:
- Larkous: Disaster, Wraith.
- Brarut: Rebellion, Betrayal.
- Rausya: Despair, Curses.
Geiirlefur, Greed, Vice, Exploitation.

Eulmuash-shan-sukumi: Not actually a god but a really powerful being. Founder of troll kingdom. Might be dead.

Planes:
Mousoleum: Planes with tompstones. This is where people go to relive happy memories or sleep for the rest of eternity, when they are tired of the afterlife. Locust
Foundry: Plane in which souls are exploited. Locust
Grathngur??? 'most mortals come here. Wild Grathngur and the realms of Tezhouix the Cosmic Spider formed the mortal plane so perhaps this is the mortal plane? 'Feral Grathngur decreed that life must be struggle' and worked against Jotnuss when he tried to give boons to the trolls.
The mortal Plane: Presumably the plane the mortals are on. Locust. Contains Orsacra(presumably mountains).
The Battlefield: Afterlife. 'By planar quirk all the dead unclaimed and not destined for here are headed there.'Locust. Contains Necropolis. Can be killed for good here.


Presumably planes: Locust
Vauhlztatuztl: Locust
Luomecha: Locust
Everwood: Locust
Kjord: Locust
Oubliette: Locust
Colony: Locust
Tempest: Locust
Emeitieme: Locust
Rift: Locust
Nepras: Locust
Cruzekla: Locust
The Canvass: Locust
Void between: Locust
The Trentch: Locust

[Eldest]

Jenna, meanwhile, is having a grand ball of things, as is appropriate at a grand ball. She'd danced, she'd walked the length of the city one more time, she'd visited her secret gardens. She was in her "native" form, a demoness with curling ram's horns, large black bat wings, dull red skin, and a curling abstract tattoo that circled her body from her calf to the back of one hand. A tail with a spade flicks about absently behind her. She was, of course, wearing her most formal dress, because what else do you wear to the end of the world? A sleek black affair, she'd magicked her bag of holding to match, and she counts down the last few seconds on a pocketwatch drawn from within the clutch of holding. At zero, she raises her glass and drinks, expecting to see a log out screen... and failing to. She coughs as the raw taste of alcohol hits her tongue, and looks at the timer, bewildered, before looking up at the sky. It had changed: she could actually feel the breeze pick up, playing across her exposed skin in a way the game never seemed to get right. She feels-touches-senses-tastes futures and possibilities, and everything sharpens to an impossible resolution as she feels burdened with the sudden knowledge of everyone at the party, all their thoughts, weaknesses, and strengths. She slumps against a column nearby, fighting against crying out, and shuts her eyes, but she can still feel their shapes against her skin. She forces her eyes open, checks the time... the pocketwatch said 12:01:42, but the light of dawn threatened against the horizon. She opens a channel over her telepathy to the other guild leaders in range. Y'all still in? The game didn't shut for me, and... She makes a few hand gestures, her personal way to interact with the UI, and nothing happens. Game's glitching. I can't pull up any menus, or log out, or anything. Something is seriously wrong.

[Aleph Null]

Raziel was sadder than most about the end of the game. Despite this, he had resolved to have a good time in the game's final hours, and had let go of a lot of his previous inhibitions for a while. Normally not a dancer, he had learned several new steps over the course of the evening. He had indulged in alcohol, though not in excess. He had been far more social than he had ever known himself to be, even in this form, which was far more outgoing than his real-world self.

Finally the last sixty seconds showed on the clock. He stood in the main hall, and began to pray: the one prayer of mourning he knew, for the loss of the game (and thus Raziel) would be the loss of a part of himself that was irreplaceable. It was a melancholy chant, in a guttural language, but its text could be understood (due to the game's real-world language interpreter) as not sad, but full of praise -- and this was fitting, for even the ephemeral facade of a new self is something to give thanks for. The last lines were something a bit different, obviously of his own addition. "Against tyranny, to arms. Against injustice, to action. For my own sake and for the sake of the world, Amen." The clock hit zero just as he finished. He closed his eyes.

And nothing happened.

At first, anyway. Then, he suddenly felt...different. He opened his eyes, and the clarity and realness of the scene before him struck him. Then the rush of knowledge hit, and he staggered briefly, clutching his forehead and steadying himself against a wall.
And then a telepathic communication from Jenna. But it was different than it had been before -- it felt real, like she was actually transferring the thoughts to his mind, rather than simply speaking to him. He responded.
I'm still here...this fact surprises me, as I assume it does you. He attempted to pull up the menus, and nothing happened. I have the same situation with regard to the game interface as well. Wait, since when did he speak so formally?

[Sønderjye]

A gust of winds blows across the wall on which he was standing, causing his rope to gentle caress his skin and, ehm, frontal appendages. He blushes a little. What just happened? This was.. new. And weird. And uncomfortable. He looks up at the new sky with a perfectly symetrical frown.

Y'all still in? The game didn't shut for me, and... Game's glitching. I can't pull up any menus, or log out, or anything. Something is seriously wrong.

I'm still here...this fact surprises me, as I assume it does you. I have the same situation with regard to the game interface as well.

The incomming messages does nothing to ease his worry but he doesn't answer immediately.

"What do you say, Footrest? Should we go explore?" he absentmindedly said to the familiar on his shoulder.

He reached to his right and through a suddenly formed portal he withdrew a staff, the Boomstick. In a blink he ported upwards and into space. The feeling is unsettling. Like somebody had grapped his liver and used it to give him a spin. Painful yes but in a dull sense.

"That sounds like a splendid idea, milady" came an unfamiliar voice from his side. He instinctively jerked to the side but it did little since he was freefloating in space. Turning his head he saw his familiar looking at him with attentive eyes. That part wasn't too unusual, they had done a good job at the animations. But Footrest had never talked before, baring a few preprogrammed phrases, and that definitely hadn't been one of them. He briefly debates exploring it more but decides to shelf it for later.

He ports another time and then first notices the feeling. Coldness. Of course he knew that space was cold but this. this wasn't cold as he was used to. Cold made your muscles contract and sort of had a presense to it. This could best be described as a colour. Not in a visual sense but in a tactile one. He snorts. "I am feeling colors now? This..."

He ports again just for verification and then extends his mind and suddenly stands in a grand ball. Normally this would have been a confusing experience for him, going from the vast emptyness to a crowded dancefloor but somehow his brain was able to process all the difference in a splitsecond. Another mystery.

"Castle, relay, initiate Dark Sky Protocols", he tells the sentient castle before he makes his way towards Jenna.

"Jenna" the beautiful blue-skinned lady, which Jenna knows is a guy called Chase in real life, says. Well 'saying' is a relative term. It sounds distinctively like singing, a side affect of the Muse questline. She has consern written all over her face: "I don't know what happened but we're not in Genesis anymore. And this is far too detailed to be a bug. Was there an announcement about Geness II or something that I missed? Also, Footrest talks" The last part is said with a tilt towards the Homunculus on his shoulder.

"Greater Footrest, please", Footrest says indignant and the quickly adds: "Milady"

Spoiler: Dark Sky Protocol

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The castle is animated(though it still needs to be fully stattet out). Dark Sky Protocols is a set of instructions for the castle and the NPC's in it that roughly goes:
Any NPC's in the air are to return to the castle.
If there are no clouds on the sky use Control Weather to create some.
Castle uses it's stealth and Shadow Well skill to hide in the shadow of those.
All guards are to be mobilized and eyes in all directions, including underneath. Anything suspicious gets reported to the guild leaders, obviously including any attacks. They are to hold back on retaliating to any attack unless the retaliation won't reveal their location.
Non-guard NPC's are instructed to be ready to grap arms and general have higher awareness.

Spoiler: OOC

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I am assuming that all guild Leaders have accepted Inspiration from Scourge's Muse race since you get a +4 insight to will saves.
ThreadNecro, can you throw a quick description of how space was like?

[drack]

Auto-actions transcribed from backstory

Spoiler

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--:--:-- The screen flashed black, and then it was back again. I felt a strange lethargy fill me, but I fought it off. Where was she? What was happening? Log out! Log out! LOG OUT!!! It took me more then ten minutes to notice the transmigration. To notice this impossible event. To notice that this STUPID GAME just STOLE the one who was MINE!

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Rage erupted like a swelling tide breaking through a dam. A string of profanities streamed from my mouth as quickly as tender nothings ever had. I flew through the halls faster then I had ever run. I swept into the room she made with all the burning flare of an action movie's star in a gunfight. I reached for the nearest girl. A child, the third one she had made me, the third... My hand grasped desperately for her throat. If she wasn't... If she was gone, I'd just have to... I'd just have to kill all of them! I'd just have to kill all of it! I'd just have to watch everything else die in her place!

My hand kept passing through the child's throat, but that wouldn't stop me. I reached down and clamped her throat between my teeth. Fresh blood dripped down from the NPC staining the floor, but the NPC only smiled gently, lovingly, caringly. The NPC smiled like she would have smiled. The NPC slowly bled out, died, and grew cold in my jaws all while I spaced out. It was... just like her... uncannily like her... as if part of her was in them.

Slowly celerity returned to my mind. Slowly I put the pieces back together.
I was in another world. I had come here.
Somehow. I would bring her here. I would bring her to this world where we could continue.
To this world where we could still....

LOVE

Jessie-chris was furious, but that quickly melted into excitement as the idea struck him. Take her here... then... she wouldn't have to die yet... they could... they could... be together for a while more. He certainly wanted to kill her after all, but he hadn't been entirely lying when he spoke previously of all the things he wanted to watch die first... but for that, what would he need? Information, the menu was gone, but he still needed to know. Books, people... but everyone present were NPCs and all the books were already in the game. He didn't think there was any lore about transmigration in the gam... WAIT! Inter-spacial transportation, TELEPORT! ...but wait, it was too risky to test this on her, he needed, he needed... wait. Voices, he heard voices. Other people, maybe it was just a game, maybe it was just a glitch. Only... only... That look in the little girl NPC's face... it looked eerily real, more so then graphics usually can be... All the same, this helped him calm down a little, maybe it'd fix itself, maybe quickly at that... Slowly the skull that was now Jessie-chris flew up into the air over the sleepy little town that was his guild, slowly drifting towards the true guildhall hidden in plain sight. His reply was short and sweet, as if to belie all that furious screaming just a moment past. "For now, lets meet up and try to figure out what's going on here."

[neriractor]

Abel had excused himself from the party roughly half an hour before the end, planning to quickly inspect some of the tomes and tablets he hadn´t been able to read before and then return for the final goodbye, the ball was a ball after all and no amount of game design would make being a dancing doe any less awkard for him.

As the final hour came through he found himself lost in the reading, spending all but the final tick immersed in the lore, when the timer when through he kept on, before suddenly snapping at how godamn distracting the wall behind him was, then how weird it was that his third person view changed format out of a sudden, how impossible it was to see everything, how light he felt...

He ran, the air would have left all else unhearable at the speed he went, but he could clearly hear everyone he passed by, never crashing he quickly ran through the entire town, with the feeling of the wind through his mane he let a loud exclamation leave his mouth "WOOOOO!!!"

He passed by the castle and saw the growing crowd of NPCs and sighed Dark sky, now?.

he stopped, the sudden inertia threatening to throw him ahead if he hadn´t kept a steady footing, he paid no mind to that, the euforia of his run carrying him through as he jump ahead, blinking to the ball room.

For a moment he stood speechless, contemplating that brief instant He had never actually seen a different plane while teleporting before, right? He then saw the entire ballroom around him... It´ll take some getting used to and approached the discussion being had by the other heads of the guild "So, what is the emergency?"

[Sønderjye]

Ball

"Damian", Scourge greeted with an unearthly smile. He was glad to see another teamate still here but he couldn't help but to feel an underlying saltiness that he had felt ever since Damian finished the Cerynitis questline. Unearthly Speed was such a bull**** ability.

"I honestly have no clue and it bugs me. For one thing we're definitely not in Genesis anymore. I went 10 galaxies out and the sky limit seems to have disappeared. No HUD and interface. Things feel... different. I process coldness different now it seems. Maybe an expansion? Try this. Stand still". He then snaps.

The snap is louder than it had any right to be. If one could see sound waves, they would have seen them turn and twist and becoming a single beams that crashed into Abel with enough force to blow a door off it's hinges[Unless he tries to dodge which he easily could. If he dodged they slam into the ground immediately behind where he stood].

The boom echoed in the room and when it died out there was an erry silence. The music had stopped playing and the NPC's had turned to stare at the trouple with a mixture of fear, confusion, anger and consern.

Spoiler: Damage

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Not rolling to hit because you'll just dodge if you want to:
Ray: (4d6)[14] Sonic Damage

He stays to discuss things a little later and then says: "Let me go get the others. I don't trust the privacy of telepathy" and vanishes in thin air.

Raziel

Inspiration, the abilty that allows Scourge to teleport to predesignated individuals, were working differently that before as well. Before he had pulled up a menu of those he had designated and simply pressed the option for teleporting. Now though it was like he had a sixth sense and when he saw with it he could see the threads expanding out from him to the people. He instinctively knew that the one he was looking at was Benjamin's and he pulled in it.

Scourge materialized just in front of Raziel. "Hey Ben, good to see you. Stuff is wrong and we're dicussing things in the Unsolved Question. Castle can help you out if you get lost" the last was said with a wink, referencing to that one time that Benjamin missed a guild meeting because he got lost. Benjamin knew that Scourge was a guy in a female avatar but that wink would have had blood rush from the brain in most men. With that she winks out of existance.

Jessie-Chris

He had been more than a little reluctant to pulling in Jessie-Chris's thread. Not so much because of the guy himself but because of the feedback he was getting from the thread. Anger and fury in large volumes and a killer instinct that threatened to overwhelm him. He pulled regardless.

Before the skull got very far towards the guild hall, Scourge suddenly popped out of thin air. "Hey Jessie, are you O..." the conserned voice stops mid-sentence as her eyes fall upon the lifeless body that were still leaking blood from her throat. "What happened? I.." She stops again as she notices the blood still on the floating skull's teeth. 'Scarlet was just an NPC. An NPC! We've killed plenty of those before. I've killed plenty of those before'. But the words rang hallow. Everything from visuals to the smell to his stomach clenching told him otherwise. Chase could feel his lunch threatening to make it's way back up. Or something similar anyway, it wasn't quite the same feeling but at least adjacent. In a sudden flash Scourge regains a perfect composure and in a suspiciously neutral, but still singing, tone she says "I am distinctly uncomfortable with this. We're meeting in the Unsolved Question". And with that short message she flees from the scene, not wanting to spend another moment there.

Spoiler: OOC

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I made a few assumptions in this post. As always let me know if any of them makes you uncomfortable or you'd like me to change something for whatever reason.

[Aleph Null]

"Yes, I have also noticed the rather unusual circumstances we have found ourselves in..."
Raziel, who normally would have reddened at the comment about getting lost, responded with an "I am aware." He makes for the large guild hall.

[drack]

Jessit-Chris smiled sisterly, or was it just his character graphics that made it look that way. "What's there to be distinctly uncomfortable about? This is great! Think of all the possibilities to come!" A giddy chuckle escapes him as he follows after, back to meet up with the rest of the guild.

[Eldest]

Jenna arches an eyebrow at the sudden attack spell, but she's mentally frazzled. That sounded... almost real. She raises her voice, letting it carry throughout the hall. We may have a problem. The end of the world appears to have been canceled. We're going to have a leadership meeting, see what we can figure out. In the meantime, we're under Dark Skies protocol, so to your posts and stay there. She turns to the other leaders as the show, and nods. The Unsolved Question, I think. There are several meeting places, but the Unsolved Question is Jenna's favorite, because it's a bar. Traditions must be maintained, after all.

[Sønderjye]

Ball

A frown appeared on Chase's forehead hearing Jenna talk. It wasn't the most.. delicate handling of what appeared to be actual people who just witnessed one of their top lord attack another. He didn't stick around to hear how they reacted to the news that there had been a scheduled end of the world however.

Raziel

Scourge blinked. Twice. Why were Ben talking like an NPC? She shakes her head, bigger problems right now that someone enjoying some roleplaying. He then heads out to find the demi-lich.

Jessie-Chris

Chase stared at the floating skull in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Sarah spent.." partway through his sentence he suddenly realizes that of course Jes knew how long it had taken Sarah to make Scarlet. And Jes had butchered it.. her.. anyway. At the same time his brain was flooded with possibilities for Jessie's behaviour and most of them got immediately discarded as being unlikely leaving only a few option left. One of the disturbing ones being that both Jessie's and Ben's behaviour was being affected by their character. His brain then suggested a few helpful suggestions to how he could manipulate Jessie into putting Scarlet back together. He shook his head and ported away. This was too much.

Unsolved Question

"A triple Blue" Scourge shouts after the server as she sinks into the chair, thinking. There was a lot of unknowns and even more possible scenarios that had to be sorted through.

[neriractor]

"Chase" he responded with a courteous nod and returning the smile. He missed most of what was said, completely focused on how incredibly good Scourge´s sprite looked, it was just so... "...Stand still", good thing that train of thought ended "Sure thing." he responded unsure, but he couldn´t really explain why he wasn´t listening.

The beam crashed against him as predictend and he once again regretted not having any limbs that could be used to cover his bleeding ears with as he screamed loud enough to be heard over that annoying beep that just wouldn´t stop "YOU *******!" but Scourge was already gone, he took a moment to pass the shock of feeling actual pain in the game and to let the beep lessen before half-heartedly responding to Jenna "Sure, the unsolved question sounds nice..."

[drack]

Jessie-Chris kindly allowed Chase to sit in the awkward silence he'd made for himself. After all, he had more important things to worry about. No, not how to get back, how to bring the rest of their world over here.

[Eldest]

The Unsolved Question

The name was, after all, a reference to a silly question: chicken or the egg? The location, however, was a pub straight out of an English town at first glance. Only when you looked closer did you see all the little details, the subtly wrong features that made it clear the bar was more than it appeared. Morgan had spend days on this place, stuffing it full of little hints to each and every puzzle in her domain. It was her magnum opus. She still tweaked it constantly, to the degree that by now it's about three times as big on the inside as it was on the outside, and that's just the public areas. She gestures to the barkeep, James. Water, till we figure out what's going on.

[Aleph Null]

Raziel entered the Unsolved Question. From the look on his face it was obvious that the sudden mental changes that came upon him had been overwhelming; rather than appearing exhausted, however, he simply appeared strained. "I would state my concern, were it not for the fact that I am confident everyone else here shares it."
After entering the bar and sitting down on a bar stool, he asks, "What is our current plan of action?"

[drack]

As Jessie-Chris enters, he replies "Our first move should probably be to gather information, right? If it's a problem IRL there's nothing we can do but wait for someone else to fix it, whereas if it's real.... There's something about these NPCs which is making them seem less like NPCs, how much else has been effected? My first question would be, if we really got shifted to another dimension, how does dimensional magic work now?"
Using the gate spell in his tooth ring of major spell storing, and another from a spell slot, Jessie-Chris attempts to open a gate both to somewhere safe in this mysterious new land, as well as to their original IRL world, leaving the gates for others to experiment with.

[Sønderjye]

"I would state my concern, were it not for the fact that I am confident everyone else here shares it."

"Ben, I get that roleplaying can be fun but let's be serious here for a moment", Scourge reprimands the giant archangel before turning to accept her drink from the server and carefully taking a sip. The cold liquid ran down her throat, painting a trail of heat-color, and... nothing? No taste? He didn't like where this was pointing.

He reaches into his pocket dimension for his staff and after a quick wave their table is encapsuled in a semi-transparent screen, before he let it drop back into the pocket dimension. "That should ensure privacy"

"I agree that intel gathering is most important right now, in particular regarding what just happened. I'd wager that the most likely scenario is that they shipped an extension for Genesis with some new high-tech gadgets and there was a bug that removed the interface. There is of course a number of things that doesn't add up, like why there weren't any announcements, why a bug like that wasn't caught on the offset, or why my tactile senses don't work as they normally do. Another possibility, as Jes pointed out, is that we actually are in another dimension. There is so many things wrong with that theory but in lack of better explanation I'll consider it. And the implications too dire to ignore. How can we figure out which is the case? Wish? Gate to Earth? Divination magic? Can we think of anything non-magical in case magic is compromised?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Spell is Mage's Private Sanctum. Blocks scrying attempts, people can't see in and sounds stay within the barrier.

[Aleph Null]

Raziel looked confused for a moment, before realizing that formal speech was in fact not his usual MO.
"Serious? I'm being completely serious. The reason for my more formal speech...that has simply been a change in what seems natural to me."
It would make sense to the others, who would have known Ben not to be the type to joke around, especially not when life could be on the line.
"With regard to the dimension theory: in the event that we have actually been transported into the world of Genesis, the best evidence to support that claim would be the presence of stimuli and sensations that either could not have been simulated by the game due to technical limitations (or legal ones), or were simply so foreign to the human mind that a reasonable simulation could not be fabricated." He pondered another moment.
"I could present examples of both...the overwhelming influx of information and knowledge that I experienced just after the interfaces disappeared was not something that even full-dive technology could create, as far as I am aware, since it is not something that has ever happened to a human in the real world. In addition, I have also noticed a shift in my vernacular -- and as far as I know full-dive cannot alter one's personality, or what feels natural to a person."
He looks around the table.
"Are there any other examples of this?"

[Eldest]

The Unanswered Question

Jenna takes a deep breath in and focuses. The stars were different. We might try to jump to original Genesis with a Greater Teleport, or perhaps to another planet. If we can't, probably running against the limit of the system running this sim. But... crazy as it seems, this seems real. All the NPCs reacted... properly. I got an influx of information, like all my buffs suddenly started feeding me information instead of just giving me number boosts. And this version would be rated differently in the US, at least, the booze felt real and I can feel some of Jenna's intimate bits that were blocked before. She shrugs, unruffled by bringing up that. She hopes it wasn't the succubus talking, since Ben seemed to be speaking in a far more formal manner than before. She stops dead as she realized. Ahhhh. Ben, feel any particular urge to smite the evil among you?

[ThreadNecro5]

As Jessie-Chris enters, he replies "Our first move should probably be to gather information, right? If it's a problem IRL there's nothing we can do but wait for someone else to fix it, whereas if it's real.... There's something about these NPCs which is making them seem less like NPCs, how much else has been effected? My first question would be, if we really got shifted to another dimension, how does dimensional magic work now?"
Using the gate spell in his tooth ring of major spell storing, and another from a spell slot, Jessie-Chris attempts to open a gate both to somewhere safe in this mysterious new land, as well as to their original IRL world, leaving the gates for others to experiment with.

Your two Gates struggle to exist for some moments. The one to earth just fails as the magic disperses to no effect. The second is more promising as it flickers between several exit locations over split-seconds before just forming an empty ring that collapses moments later, as it did in game when you knew no valid plane to transport too and needed to quest for or purchase a book for the unlock.

Spoiler

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ThreadNecro, can you throw a quick description of how space was like?

Spoiler

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Essentially realistic, as in mostly empty. Outside of the area around the moon let's say it was procedurally generated stellar phenomena that would change between server maintenance so the structures would change. Was a source of rare materials however but other than the guild who based themselves there. While a major source of crafting components they were otherwise minor due to the space area away from the moon being unpopular and so ignored except during one time during a Halloween event with a HP Lovecraft theme.

[Sønderjye]

"All of those are weak evidence at best", Scourge replies: "Don't think about the alternative as if it was the old game that got slightly better. We can quickly discard that. What I'm saying is that the alternative is that something massive happened in computing power and technology and someone used that to ship an expansion with an incredible boost in simulation. All of what you said can have a number of explanations under the simulation theory. Testing out the limits of what it could be if it was a simulation is a possibility but what limits if the computing power got such a massive boost? I'd say I'm leaning towards the dimension shift theory but I am looking for something conclusive."

He looks thoughtfully at the two gates: "I'm going to call that as a point in favour of the simulation theory unless there's something sentient deciding were we go or there are multiple layers of dimensions and we can only access some."

[Aleph Null]

"Perhaps the most important fact that kills the theory that this is simulated is the fact that our hardware has not changed. Regardless of any possible changes in the programming,
it would require a massive change in hardware to achieve these things. Regardless, it does appear that we are trapped in here with no clear means of escape, meaning that we are going to need to decide what we plan to do in the meantime. The Gates mean nothing -- Earth couldn't possibly have a Gate opened to it as it is dead-magic."
Raziel takes a sip of water.
"The biggest question is how the NPCs acquired their personalities...And as to your question Jenna, my senses are not giving me any such urges, possibly due to our being acquainted already."

[drack]

Seeing his gates fail, Jessie-Chris keeps at trying to unravel these mysteries through trial and error, this time casting astral projection


OOC

Spoiler: I am your computer upgrade

Show

[Sønderjye]

Seeing that Jenna and Ben seemed unflinching in their oppinion and Jessie-Chris had started casting a 30 minute spell, Scourge sighs: "Fine, you've made up your mind, and I'll consede that the consequences of being wrong are much more severe if this is real life rather than a simulation. The personalities aren't a problem under either theory though. If we are in a simulation the technology is sufficiently advanced to do that and if we're in another dimension someone made realistic copies based on Genesis. In either case we can't know if we're real or if we're copies."

"In that case there are many things to learn. Whether Earth exist somewhere around and if so if we can access it. What the power of our surroundings are relative to ours, including dangers. What happens if we die and whether ressurection magic works on us, and by extension how souls and the afterlife works here. Who and what were brought with us from Genesis?", his thoughts went to the HP Lovecraft halloween event and shuttered. To his suprise the shutter were interupted almost immediately after it had begun. That too was conserning. "Other priority knowledge? Additionally we should send some of our minions to the moon. I swung by earlier and there's a bunch of crafting materials flowing around, we'll probably need the powerup."

[neriractor]

Abel ordered something strong and left it at that, James serving his drink in a bowl as previously agreed, the beep was finally gone and he joined in the conversation "So, if I understand clearly we are badly lacking in info, but the current strongest theory by elimination is that we are in an alternate dimension mimicking the game? checks out." he continued to work on his drink, this was too much.

[ThreadNecro5]

One of the guards marches up you all and Salutes.

"Report! Scouts have reported we are within unfamiliar skies, both stars and land are unfamiliar. We appear to be above the lover peaks of a mountain range, largest ever recorded. Life is mostly limited to small birds but we have eyes on a local roc and are maintaining observation. Reports of possible avian or chiropteran humanoids to the north but at the distances we could not confirm, we do not appear to have been spotted ourselves anyway. We have confirmation of what seems to be a nomadic civilisation to the western lowlands, racial makeup unknown".

"I was also told to inform you clean-up has been finished for Jessie-Chris and to request what is to be done with the body".

Seeing his gates fail, Jessie-Chris keeps at trying to unravel these mysteries through trial and error, this time casting astral projection


OOC

Spoiler: I am your computer upgrade

Show

Whatever may have happened around you in the last half-hour your skull drops to the ground as you mind find itself... elsewhere.

It is a malestom of shifting bits of anything and everything, like an entire worlds were tore apart, put into a bag, and shook, and where you are now is the result. Yet despite this this place is mostly empty and a riot of colour, colour that periodically congeals into more of the stuff around you or merges with others to make different things.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

For the sake of speed I am making a perception check on your behalf. Will edit in the result.
(1d20+31)[35]

Periodically a humanoid figure, or other less humanoid one, drop for nothing into view only to be pulled somewhere like in a current. Once figure is spontaneously pulled into a gate that opened for a split-second.

Floating towards you is a vast inverse pyramid atop which lie mounds of coiling black and purple coils. Rising above it is a flower like head turning to face you.

[drack]

Jessie-Chris will try to use what he knows of the game to intuitively navigate towards what would have been the material plane in the game, though if he happens to pick the wrong one that might work too. Essentially a cross of updating maps and exploring

[Eldest]

Cleanup...? Jenna scowls. Jessie-Chris wasn't normally unstable. Something else to worry about. Cremate with full honors at a later date, but don't scatter the ashes like normal until we figure out where we are. And for the record, no, I don't believe that we're actually in the damn game. But something weird happened, and we need to figure out what. It is possible that it happened, therefore we can't rule it out, especially since none of the other options seem even vaguely likely. What else is there, a mass upload to the Matrix?
Sneakily unlocking extra abilities in our VR gear, which I might note never worked with taste?
I should be able to physically take off my headset. But I've tried, and no dice. She turns to the scout again. How far out are the north and west are those people?

[ThreadNecro5]

Spoiler: OOC message for Drack

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I was mid edit when you posted, you may want to change your post

Cleanup...? Jenna scowls. Jessie-Chris wasn't normally unstable. Something else to worry about. Cremate with full honors at a later date, but don't scatter the ashes like normal until we figure out where we are. And for the record, no, I don't believe that we're actually in the damn game. But something weird happened, and we need to figure out what. It is possible that it happened, therefore we can't rule it out, especially since none of the other options seem even vaguely likely. What else is there, a mass upload to the Matrix?
Sneakily unlocking extra abilities in our VR gear, which I might note never worked with taste?
I should be able to physically take off my headset. But I've tried, and no dice. She turns to the scout again. How far out are the north and west are those people?

"The nomads were approximately four miles away and traveling west, while the possible fliers were just over half that, two and a quarter up. More were you to include the incline".