Time For Action

The group marched onward, Maggie chowing down on her chicken skewer, plucking off the onions and peppers as she went before feeding them to Koumei who seemed content to down them like a garbage can. Lian meanwhile was happily munched on a piece of shrimp, apparently managing to get her hands on it after Ember gave Maggie the other one. According to Ember, she was just lucky that the first two filled him up so well. The imp in question meanwhile took point, marching up front with his weapon at the ready. He had been taken by surprise in these woods before, and it would not happen again, even if this time around, it was likely to be an even heftier beatdown than before. Finally, Thordon and Clarissa brought up the rear, seemingly discussing matters between themselves. That said, with a quick callout from them, the party would suddenly come to a halt.

“Hold on you guys… Ember, I think I should probably head out now.” Clarissa declared.

Ember was silent before he turned back to her. “My parents?”

“Yep… Thordon and I were just talking about it. You’re right, it sounds crazy, and I don’t think your parents will believe it, but I think I finally figured out what’s happening here… Somehow, you guys are stuck in this game, aren’t you? Not like, in an addiction sense, but literally trapped within it, like, you guys are video game characters in and of yourselves. Does that sound accurate?” Clarissa asked.

“Hmm… What do you think? I’m not even certain if I can tell you if you’re correct. If I can, then you’ll hear me say yes, that’s absolutely what’s freaking happening! And if not, then you’ll hear the rest of this and think I’m being a jerk.” Ember replied.

“Oh, I always think you’re being a jerk. But yes, crazy as it sounds, this is the only thing that makes sense given what I’ve seen, assuming you’re not just trying to pull one over on us. So yea, I’m gonna head off then. I’ll let you know how it goes. Feel free to continue on without me.” Clarissa assured them.

“Yea, thanks dude.” Ember replied.

With that, Clarissa seemed to simply vanish out of thin air, leaving the party one member shorter. Of course, they pressed on, Ember’s mind now on how his parents were doing. Likewise, it appeared Maggie’s fragile conviction was beginning to waver. She mumbled to herself, repeating her line about what it was to be brave and that she would need to face that monster of fear in order to press forward. However, as she went, the occasional tear would form in her eyes which she quickly wiped away. Lian was quick to notice this however and she couldn’t help but worry. All she could do was hope that Maggie was a strong kid, and that no matter what happened, she could continue to press forward. Regardless of whatever distractions may have overtaken them on their way, they soon found themselves stepping off of the trail and passing through the trees until they noticed a thin stream of smoke rising up into the air ahead. As they approached, they peered through the surrounding foliage and found themselves upon a camp, and sitting in the center of that camp, roasting up some meat over the fire was Moze. in his hand was his Codex, and moments later, he turned his head to face them.

“Yo, there you are! Was watching you march up on the locator. You manage to find everyone okay?” Moze asked.

“Yep, sure did thanks to Thordon and Clair. Clair had to dip out for a bit, but everyone else is here.” Ember explained.

“Yea, good to meetchyas. Hope you don’t mind, I kind of inspected you guys when you joined the party. Figured it’d help speed up introductions. I know the axolti is Lian, the poppet golem is Maggie, the dragon soul is Thordon, and Clarissa was the felikinn. Gotta say, it’s kind of a relief to have a healer on the team.” Moze noted.

“Healer?” Lian asked.

“Yea, Maggie is a Reposeful Sorcerer. Healing is inherent to their powers, meaning you Maggie, are going to be a massive help.” Moze explained.

Maggie, who just moments ago seemed to be struggling to focus suddenly lit up as if someone had just replaced her batteries.

“U-useful?” Maggie asked.

“Oh yea, for sure. Your job will be to make sure the rest of us stay in fighting shape. Honestly, you’ll be invaluable going forward.” Moze assured her.

It was almost palpable how much easier and more effective Moze was at sparking hope and faith in the young girl than either Ember or Lian had been. As a result, the two couldn’t help but glance at one another while Maggie smiled wider than either had seen before.

“A-alright, I’ll do my best.” Maggie said, pumping her arms and sounding determined.

With that, the others took a moment to look around the camp. Nothing much had changed since Ember was last here, but it was still new to the others. Then again, there wasn’t much to look at anyway. As the others explored around, Moze placed three tin cups down for tea.

“Sorry I haven’t got much in the way of hospitality for you guys here, but if you want some bear meat, it’s roasting on the fire. Ember and I hunted it fresh this morning. Also, if you want tea, you’ll need to hand me some cups. Either way though, I recommend you eat something. Food makes you stronger in this place, literally.” Moze explained.

“Haha, already ahead of ya there Moze. Bought some skewers in town, and all of us already ate. Well, everyone but Thordon I think. Though, come to think of it, I… probably should have thought to bring something back for ya…” Ember said, tail and ears guiltily drooping.

“Nah, you’re good. Don’t mention it. I mean, I did kinda take all the bear meat after all, so fair is fair.” Moze conceded.

“So Moze, is it? I remember hearing people talking about you all day yesterday. You’re like, an influencer or something right?” Lian asked.

“Influencer? Ya know, yea, I guess I technically am. I don’t really think of myself that way. I mean, yea, I’ve done ads before, but honestly, it’s mostly about the games and the audience for me.” Moze clarified.

“I see. Bet you still managed to cut a fat check here and there though.” Lian mused.

“I mean, yea, sure. Streaming was how I made my living. I’d take opportunities where I could. Why is something the matter?” Moze asked, a bit taken off guard.

“Oh! No, just thinking… This curse really doesn’t care who it takes, does it?” Lian noted.

“Curse? Ya know, i’m not sure I’d go so far as to call it a curse quite yet. We’re still in the middle of figuring out what any of this is even supposed to mean after all.” Moze replied.

“Seriously Moze? I think we have plenty of evidence to go off of. Sure, it pretties itself up with a name like Chosen, but not a one of us asked for this! Heck, even a helpless little girl got forced in here and was told to go out and fight by some masked freak. Moze, calling this thing anything short of a curse is just negligent cause it sure aint a blessing.” Lian said, starting to get a bit fiery.

Moze shrugged. “I mean, you’re not wrong. I’m just saying, I think it’s too early to jump to conclusions on this. I mean, yea, there’s no denying this world more or less abducted us into it, but it hasn’t exactly been all bad either right? I mean, think about it. Even if we were forced to be here, it’s not like we’re defenseless. As far as I can tell, the rules of the game still apply to us, meaning that no matter who we are, we are still able to accomplish things we never could in our world. In theory we shouldn’t even be able to die here since players will resurrect at hospitals in town.”

The mention of death seemed to strike a sudden silence among the group. Some of them silently agreed with themselves that this was a topic that they didn’t care to extrapolate. Others hadn’t even considered the possibility, yet Moze found himself looking awkwardly upon the group that he had inadvertently dropped a social bomb on top of. Ember awkwardly scratched behind his ear.

“Yea, about that? Do we know for sure that’s what happens?” Ember asked.

“Yea, that should be the case. I seen it pop up plenty of times in the global chat. Not like it announced people’s deaths or anything, but people couldn’t help but share the silly ways in which they died.” Thordon described.

“Okay, fair enough. Man, I hope we can still find it silly if it happens to us.” Ember mumbled.

“And… yea, I think I can attest to that myself.” Lian mentioned.

“Oh yea, how?” Moze asked.

“Because… I ended up dying myself. Shortly after I was pulled into this world.” Lian said coldly.

All eyes turned to her. The idea of player death would never ordinarily raise such eyebrows, but this was the first they heard of it happening to one of the Chosen.

“And, from the looks of it, you came back right? We don’t have a zombie Lian situation on our hands do we?” Moze joked, earning a glare from Lian.

Lian turned her attention away and sighed. “Yea, sorry if I seem a little testy about it. I had only just entered the world at the time, no idea what was going on and trying to figure out how to manipulate a body that was completely alien to me. Suddenly, I was attacked by a bunch of hound spiders that I’d been fighting before all of this. Koumei fought them back as hard as he could while I fumbled with my bow, but in the end, it was too much and… I died.

“I just remember realizing that I was going to while those spiders mauled me. I was terrified of course, but after that, it felt as if I had suddenly been teleported. I was told by the doctor’s that a hoplite found me outside of town and brought me back. I had no idea how much time had passed, but I was alive again. After that, as if things weren’t already complicated enough to deal with, I saw that man in the mask, but it sounds like the experience went about the same as it did with you all. After that, I just kinda froze and tried to figure out what I was going to do. Think that was actually around the time you saw me on the bench Ember.”

The whole camp sat listening to Lian’s tale. Even Maggie seemed to catch the majority of it despite playing around with Koumei for most of it.

“Yea, sounds about right to me. I think that’s how they flavor the resurrection in this game. The doctor’s will claim that someone found you and brought you to the hospital.” Thordon clarified.

“So, that confirms it then? We just come back if we bite it out there?” Ember asked.

“Yea, seems that way to me.” Lian replied.

“Heh, well, good to know. Guess we don’t have that to worry about at least.” Moze said, looking confident.

“True, but what about in dungeons? Even if you get bailed out of there or something, you’ll have a hard time getting through if you guys just keep dropping, unless someone has a resurrection ability.” Thordon suggested.

“O-oh, I do!” Maggie suddenly piped up excitedly.

“Haha, see! Knew we could count on Maggie!” Moze praised.

Maggie giggled. “Well, it says that it only heals you a little bit, but I can help pick you up if something bad happens.” Maggie proudly declared.

“Good! Still, Thordon has a point. We won’t get far if we keep dropping, and fortunately, even if we have someone who can get us back up, prevention is always the best medicine. Fortunately, I have something in mind. I was thinking that before we go running into the keep, we take a detour to get geared up. Ever heard of the Black Tooth Bandits?” Moze asked.

Lian raised an eyebrow at that while Maggie stared curiously. Meanwhile Ember just shook his head and Will checked his Codex.

“Yea, guessing not. Well, if you wanna think of them in a meta sense, they’re an early source of loot to help you prepare to get off of this island. Like I said last time, Ember, this island is still built like a tutorial, so everything we need to move forward will be right here and relatively easy to access. My thinking was that after we got our group together, we would do a quick run of the place and get ourselves geared up. I picked up the mission for it before I ended up here. It’s referred to as a pillaging mission, so yea, sounds ripe for loot. I can also share the quest with you I think, so we can all turn it in and get a good chunk of experience out of it in the process. So, whaddya say? Good idea or what?” Moze asked.

Lian shook her head. “Bandits? You do know we’re not exactly playing a video game anymore right? We’re living in it, and you wanna take on a group of bandits? I’ve barely figured out how to use my bow!” Lian protested.

“Yea, Miss Lian, you’ve gotta be brave too! Just like Mister Koumei.” Maggie added with a smile.

Lian stared for a moment before even she began to smile, and she shook her head. “You know, maybe I shouldn’t have been the one to try giving you that advice Maggie… but, you two are right, I can’t let fear get to me. Fine, I’m in Moze.”

“Haha, awesome! Anyone else with me?” Moze asked.

This time, there were no objections. It seemed as if everyone’s minds were on the same page at this point, each of them understanding that finding out what happened to them and potentially even getting out of here was not going to be a free ride. Certain of their future or not, they knew that right now, they needed to press forward. With everyone taking a moment to sip some tea, Moze partook in a bit of bear meat, sharing some of it with Thordon who currently lacked a food buff. The others however passed for the moment given their own recent meals before packing up.