Vorna: Online

Critsy weaved through the busy market street, looking for a decent mark. The other five in her guild were here too, somewhere, doing the same thing. Or maybe they'd already grabbed their loot and gone back to the guild hall. She tried to ignore the 'Adventurers' who'd already given up, sitting slumped in alleyways like beggars as they waited for something to save them, or to die. She was glad she had her guildmates for that, at least. They'd managed to keep themselves together and work out a plan; steal until we figure out something better. All of them were Assassins, and they all had high DEX, so it hadn't taken them to become master-thieves. She'd seen a few Adventurers make use of their crafting skills to make money, but high-quality weaponry didn't have a high demand, and poisons had even less.

As she passed a richly-dressed man, she swiped his coinpurse, left carelessly on his belt. It was heavy, too. Easily enough to buy food for her and the others tonight.

Cheers of a horde of people can be heard from outside of the Adventurer's Guild in the city. If one would fight through the impressing gathering of drunken adventurers and find themselves in the middle, they would find two large men engaging in a friendly game of arm wrestling. One man, holding his own as he chugs ale from his tankard slams said tankard down and gives a hearty laugh. The other man, obviously struggling with his behemoth of an opponent. One can see the veins poking from under his skin on his arm and his forehead. All about to burst. "You have a strong spirit, young man." The larger man spouts off in a thick Fahlressian accent. "But you don't have the power to back it up." With this, the larger man slams his opponents arm down onto the table with ease and gives another hearty laugh.

"Bartenders, give this man anything he wants! That goes for the rest of ya! Drinks for all on me!" He says as ale drips from the red beard that lays on his face.

Critsy panicked and almost made the mistake of running when she thought that a City Watchman was following her. Unlike before, where most NPCs only ever said the same few lines of dialogue and followed set paths, the NPCs now reacted almost like real people; they responded to questions based on what they knew, reacted to the things happening around them, and didn't follow a set path. UUUU, a member of her guild, had almost been caught stealing on the second day because he hadn't expected any NPCs to walk down the alley he was hiding in.

A loud noise caught her attention. She turned towards it, now facing one of the King's Criers, and a squad of the Royal Guard.
"Attention, people of the great city of Alvenon," He shouted at the now quiet street, "The recent incident of the sudden increase in Adventurers has been an issue that his Royal Highness, King Janus IV, has spent many days trying to find a satisfactory course of action.

"By royal decree, King Janus has demanded the immediate imprisonment of all Adventures currently squatting in his great Kingdom."

As soon as he finished, several adventures in the crowd bolted, and some closer were set upon by the Royal Guardsmen. Critsy herself had been standing close enough to an alley that she'd managed to slip away unseen. There was a vague understanding of using skills, thanks to the large guild "Order of the Rose" staying true to their Roleplay of being White Knights and Paladins, giving away free items to anybody struggling and spreading useful information.
"Disguise," She whispered, waving her right hand over her body. Behind her hand, her skin tone darkened to a tan, her eyes and hair changed colour to brown, her face shape changed, and suddenly she looked like an average Vornan peasant.

A large group of the King's Guard enters the Guild, weapons poised and ready for a fight if need be. All of the Adventurer's eyes turn toward this large group with looks of confusion coming from all, especially the newer recruits. A Crier emerges from the high grade steel with a smirk on his face. His robes telling of his extravagant life he leads. He produces a scroll from his large sleeves and with a flourish opens it in front of all.

"By royal decree by your King Janus IV. All Adventurer's are hereby arrested due to the sudden influx. If you are not coming quietly, you will be executed here and now. This building is no longer in operation and will be converted into something this great kingdom actually needs." Another flourish and before everyone's eyes the scroll is gone, however, the crier's smug smile remains.

The man who had taken complete dominance over his opponent, known as Kyr, stands. He cannot believe the words coming from this man's mouth. "Imprisonment for all these fine men and women? How dare you assert such nonsense." Kyr bellows. The new leader of the Twilight Sentinels walks through the sea of people, dividing them as he approaches the crier and his guards. "How about you leave 'em be? They aren't hurtin' nothin'. They're just tryin to earn an honest gold piece for the work you lot are too scared to do."

The crier's smug smile fades into a frown of disgust. "Are you saying you wish to be executed, Fahlressian scum? Tis what I am hearing. Guards seize this man for treason against the Kingdom and for being in league with the enemy!" The crier shouts and as soon as the words leave his mouth, the guards descend upon Kyr's massive frame. He tries his best to fend off any attack, but is overpowered just by the sheer number. Flurries of fists begin to fly in the guild and the clashing of swords resonate in the main hall. "Take the Fahl in, guards! The executioner will love his head in a basket!" These are the last words Kyr remembers before being knocked out cold.

Before leaving the alley, Critsy raised her left hand to her temple, the gesture that allowed you to whisper other players.
"Whisper: UUUU," She said, "Get everyone into the guild hall we need to-"
"Can't," His low voice came back, echoing around her head, "Royal Guard have it under lockdown."
"Shit," Bad. Bad. Bad. "Tell everyone to meet at the grand Oak." He didn't respond, but he was probably already rounding everyone on. UUUU was a man of action.

"Oi! Peasant!" Someone shouted behind her. She turned, facing a Royal Guard Captain. "You seen any Adventurers around her?" He asked, placing a hand on his sword hilt.
"N-no, m'lord," Critsy answered, keeping her head bowed and trying imitate a Vornan accent.

"Alright, girl. Let me just check you for any magics and you can be on your-" He never finished the sentence; a flurry of knives flying through the air and striking the gaps in his armour. The last one struck his throat, and Critsy started running. Her disguise had been dispelled by combat, and there were probably guards coming to check on the Captain. She ran, making a beeline for the outer wall.

It was a time ago when the A.I. gained sentience. It was a shock to all, including me. I had no idea what was going on and I was afraid. I may need to start at the beginning. I'm in a video game. An MMO that was made by Vulcan Entertainment. Due to some shady business practices, Vulcan went under. Two weeks before Vorna shut down, all players were given notice of the shutdown. Depression hit quickly with a lot of us as this was the only thing we had in our lives. Many of the guildmasters organized a tournament in order to bid farewell to this world. This large scale event started and before we knew it, the clock struck zero. Despite this, the game kept running. One would believe there would be a change, right? Something? Anything? I guess if someone played with the U.I. on, they would have noticed as soon as it happened, but I didn't. I noticed something was wrong as soon as my character, or should I say I, died.

As she couldn't trigger another disguise, thanks to weird things still being like a game like skills and their cooldowns, Critsy stood out like a sore thumb. She weaved through the crowds, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was running. The guards would've stopped her anyway. She could hear them struggling to keep up, bulky equipment meaning they couldn't dodge people as well as she could. She rounded a corner, coming face to face with a Royal Guard shield-wall. She stopped dead, stumbling as she made an immediate right turn into a side-street.

A little further down the street, Critsy found a beggar and a pile of crates. Mind racing, Critsy dropped tweny gold coins to the beggar.
"Tell them I went that way." She said, climbing the crates and into the window above it.

The cheer emotes and subsequent sounds from said actions cried out as an intense battle was waged. I was up against a member of the White Knight Guild. A Paladin equipped with high level gear and devastating skills. My character held his Greatsword in his hands using it to deflect any attack the Paladin would try to let off. My skills worked well in multiple cases as his health depleted, but would quickly be regained due to the Paladin's healing skills. It was a grueling battle that lasted a fair bit. The clock that was forced onto our HUDs at the time clicked down further and further as the shutdown came closer. Before we all knew it, the clock struck zero, but there was something off. As time passed, I could feel the differences beginning emerge. The cheering continued, but it sounded clearer, more crisp. I began to feel the weight of my character's armor and even his weapon as I clenched it in my hands. Even the feel of the Paladin's mace as it slammed into my chest. I went to my knees from the shock and then there was a very sharp pain. My head felt like it had just exploded then there was nothing but darkness.

Critsy landed in an almost cat-like fashion, her boots barely making a noise against the stone floor of what appeared to be some kind of warehouse. It was something she'd picked up recently; since the end she'd been much more agile. There was nobody inside, probably gone to listen to the Crier and watch the ensuing commotion. In the crates were an assortment of raw materials, like grain and metals, nothing she really needed right now. She checked her compass, as long as she was going south, she'd reach the rally point.

Above her were catwalks, reachable by several ladders around the area. She climbed the nearest one, and slipped out of a window onto the roof.

The feeling of two worlds colliding leads to an intense spark followed by immense pain filled my head and my body. At this point, I made full convergence with my new body much like that of two streams flowing into the ocean, but I was still unaware of the change. Groans escaped my mouth as the pain shot through. I could feel my heartbeat and with each contraction my head began to ache. My hand instinctively came to my head in a futile attempt to quell the overwhelming feeling. My hand brushed against my hair, which I noted was more course instead of how I know it to be. My eyes opened with difficulty and observed the hand that had caressed my head. It was much larger than my actual hand and as I made it twitch, my head began to hurt more. Like some powerful force was ripping my head in two, or maybe trying to fully weld the two realities together. I looked around to see myself in the Twilight Sentinel's home base, my room in the base to be exact.

On the roof, Critsy was faced with a new problem; she was visible from the street. Mentally going through her class skills (Those that she could remember), she decided that her stealth ability would work best. While she had put most of her points into disguise over it, the distance between her and anybody searching at street level meant that she wouldn't be seen. Hopefully.

Now hidden from those on the street, she carefully jogged along the rooftop, if she fell and got caught she'd never hear the end of it.

My body took deep breaths as I tried to sort out everything. The pounding migraine forced my balance to fail me and gravity brought my new hulking frame down. I began to hear voices, but none of them I recognized. I began to feel multiple pairs of hands beginning to grip me and lift me up. I so hoped when I awoke, I would wake in my own bed and in my own room. My hopes were severely displaced as I woke up again to find myself in the same room as before. The difference being my head stopped pounding. I took a moment to myself to try to calm down and assess my situation. I opened my eyes to see a few faces I knew, my fellow guildmates populated the room and gave me a worried look. That isn't quite right, those people are the NPCs programmed by the game devs to give us quests and to just talk to, regurgitating the same stale phrases over and over.

There was a change to them this time however, they weren't in their posts and they seemed more human. Their expressions told me something was far more off than I had previously thought. They told me how my actual guildmates had appeared in their own rooms while having the same symptoms I had been showing. I requested to see a few of them, but there was no use they said. None of my guildmates were lucid enough to give information. It wasn't until a few hours had passed when more and more began to show signs of life and leave their rooms. I was the first to greet them. We spoke and came to the conclusion that through some strange anomaly we had been sucked into the game as soon as the servers had shut down. NPCs gained sentience and most of the game's rules for us still applied.

After finding her footing on the slanted roof, Critsy sped up and began sprinting with abandon. Her new body was super-human, she'd found. She never slipped, her footsteps were almost silent, and she could cross gaps that would have seemed impossible before. Her fingers naturally found handholds in almost every surface, and she always managed to land jumps with cat-like grace.

Below her, the Royal Guard had erected a barricade across the main street, hoping to catch Adventurer's fleeing. There were several unmoving bodies kept in a pile; dead or alive, Critsy couldn't tell. She jumped to the next building, and the roof gave way beneath her. Crashing down through the wooden roof and through a small table, Critsy found herself on her back, in a tavern currently being searched by the Royal Guard.

Which brings us to now, my body, my true form has been lost to the aether in some fashion and I have been stuffed into this new husk acting as its soul. Bringing it to full life and animating its every movement. The rift is still there, I can feel it back in the deepest recesses of my mind. This nagging pain that may never fully depart. I've asked others about this feeling, but it appears to vary from person to person. Some feel it strongly while others don't feel it at all. I have theorized that maybe the ones who lack the feeling have become fully consumed by this life and have become one with their new being while others haven't accepted this possibility. We feel pain, we express our emotions, and we perform the acts we mean to commit. Like I've stated, even the NPCs show new signs of life and even death. There is now cause and effect in place, these former carcasses of zeros and ones have been tied to a mortal coil.

But I still refuse to accept this.

Kyr is shaken awake with a swift kick to the ribs to which he coughs up a fair amount of blood due to the impact. In fact, he could even feel his ribs break due to the power and armored nature of the kick. Blood splatters across the dark stone and he can hazard a guess at what someone is yelling at him. Some expletives of his race and even how is mother was a lowly woman of the night. His hands tighten and the tips of his fingers go white. He coughs once or twice more before hearing the sound of metal grinding against metal and the sound of a door locking into place. Kyr slowly moves himself with his back against the wall in a seated position and wipes the blood from his mouth. He let's out a groan as he cracks a few of his bones. "Alvenon Dungeon, just grand."

The entire tavern had gone silent at the sound, as if Critsy crashing through the roof and then the table was the shutter of a camera. For several seconds, Crity, the Royal Guardsmen, and the tavern patrons either struggling against the guards or hiding from the chaos simply stared at each other in shock. Then, some clever Adventurer came to his senses and smashed a bottle over the nearest Guardsman's head, bolting through the ajar back-door.

Suddenly the struggle started over, Adventurers desperately trying to escape. One Guard turned to Critsy, raising a halberd over his head and swinging down. Instinctively, Critsy rolled to the side and struggled to her feet. She rounded on the guard, expecting another attack, only to find he had embedded his halberd deep in the floor, and was struggling to get it back. She ran towards him, hopped the halberd and followed the other Adventurer out of the back door.

"Blessed Earth return my strength, Earth Pulse." Kyr chants. He begins to emanate a bright orange. He can feel his ribs being mended back into place and any cuts and scrapes he might have gotten from his recent scuffle begin to fade. Due to his devout following of the Fahlressian Goddess of Earth, he was given a basic healing ability to use as he saw fit. Due to being of the Fahlressian race, he is also given a natural boost to his strength, but a penalty on his speed. Fahlressians are humans with the strength of Orcs. The Fahl are known as very hard workers and at one point were generally more accepted within the Kingdom of Alvenon. Tensions began to rise as a once long standing alliance between Alvenon and Ikenell, the Fahl homeland, struck a boiling point. During a meeting between the Kings to renew their long relationship, it was believed that the Fahl King had asked for a bit more than he should have. A shouting match ensued and very nearly ended with bloodshed if it were not for the guards holding the two kings back. Since then, any person in the kingdom of Alvenon who were known to be Fahlressian would be spat on. Kyr was a different case, tales of his heroic deeds rang through parts of the Kingdom and he was treated with respect and dignity amongst his fellow men. He would show the rookie Adventurer's the ropes, and had more than enough offers to become Guildmaster of the Eastern branch.

"Comin' in and ruinin' our nice time. At least give us notice, guess you lot are too good for those kinds a pleasantries." Kyr says in a growl as he stands up and walks to the cell door.

Critsy entered the empty back-alley, immediately resuming her dash for the city wall. She heard someone follow her out of the tavern, a quick glance over her shoulder told her that it was actually two people; a Royal Guard had enlisted the services of one of the City Watch. A crossbowman, to be exact. She rounded a corner, breaking their line of sight.
Dead end.

The words rang through her mind, chilling her blood. She started to panic, before noticing the slight grooves in the building's wall. Unthinking, she climbed, higher and higher until she could pull herself over the edge and onto the relative safety of the roof.

She heard a noise, and then a sharp pain shot up from her leg. She kept her grip, barely, and rolled onto the roof, a crossbow bolt sticking through her calf.

"We're the bad guys for wanting to get you leeches out of our Kingdom." A guard's voice echoes through the prison room. "Is that a jab at my profession or my bloodline, you milksop." Kyr says, keeping his composure with a smug smile on his face. A guard appears from the left side of the door and bangs his armored wrist against the bars resulting in a loud clang sound. "You wanna repeat that, Fahl?" Kyr's smile sustains itself in response to the guard's menacing tone. "You're a braver man than I had originally thought. Kudos to ya." Kyr flashes the guard a quick thumbs up with his right hand while his left rose to his temple attempting to "whisper" to his guildmates on the outside. "Oberland, you been followin' me, right?" He waits a few seconds before a voice echoes in his head. "Aye, boss. They took ya down pretty far. I'm readyin' a nice diversion for ya. Should be ready in just a second."

"What are you doing, Fahl?" The guard asks skeptically to which Kyr's left hand drops from his head, his right hand still up giving the man a thumbs up. "Sorry, cultural difference. This is how I demonstrate a job well done." Kyr's right thumb drops onto his hand. The sound that followed would leave the guard in front of him speechless.

Maze caught the axe on her claymore, much to the dismay of the Guard Captain. She'd challenged him to single combat, making several rude comments about the man's family and the size of his sword. In a fit of anger, he'd accepted despite holding an advantage in numbers. With the axe securely trapped against her blade, she launched her armoured boot at his stomach. With the wind knocked out of him, he was easily thrown to the ground, where he watched her raise her sword to behead him.

"Yield!" He shouted, hands raised, and Maze lowered her weapon, sounding almost disappointed in her sigh.
"We walk free." Maze said, repeating her promised reward. None of the Guards moved, and neither did her small group of Adventurers.

"Kill them!" The Captain finally shrieked, and the Royal Guards advanced.

Skippy trots slowly through the town atop the horse. Behind him followed the retinue of foot soldiers assigned to his command. Well. They called the group a retinue, but in reality there was only around four of them. A few villagers had given them odd looks, but Skippy had thought nothing of it. The Holy Order was not a common sight to be seen in the Towns. What worried Skippy was the lack of guards he had seen since leaving their safehouse.

Maze let them advance; behind her, the Archmage of the group was casting a spell, chanting the words under her breath. Maze, as well as the other non-magic Adventurers, readied their weapons. The Guards continued their slow advance, until Maze and the others charged them. Maze thrust her sword out, the blade slipping through his guard and into his chest. For a moment, Maze was frozen, the blood coming from the Guard's mouth and painting her blade glistening in the sun. She couldn't tell how long she'd been frozen, her trance only being broken by clash of metal against metal; an Adventurer's battleaxe crashing into a Royal Guard's shield.

Maze ripped the blade free just in time to parry against a longsword, using the momentum of her pull to bat the other blade away.

Skippy continued his slow trot down the street. A cry came up from a building on his left and within a few seconds, guards had burst from the buildings and formed a blockade in front of them. Skippy stopped the horses movement, his retinue pausing behind him.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Maze swung her sword around, carrying what momentum she had left and using it to rotate her blade. The movements seemed to come naturally to her, something that Maze was still getting used to. Maze took a step forward, and thrust the sword at the Guard. He parried the blow, and Maze, unconsciously, rammed him with her shoulder. He stumbled back, and Maze pounced on him, digging her teeth into his throat like an animal.

Maze wanted to gag and pull away, sickened by the taste of blood and skin in her mouth. Her body wasn't responding, almost like she was having some kind of seizure. Her torso jerked up, tearing a chunk of flesh with it. Someone shouted something, though it sounded distant. She tried to scream, but couldn't make any noise. The minute Maze regained functionality, her knees gave way and she collapsed shaking like a leaf.

The Guard Captain produced a scroll. From this scroll, he read. "By The Order of The King, The Fourth Of His Name, All Adventurers are hereby ordered to surrender themselves for arrest. Lower your arms and come with us."

Skippy's hand strayed to the hilt of his Greatsword. He gave his retinue a nod and span his horse, urging it with his heels into a gallop. It was unfortunate, but someone had to report back to the safehouse with the information. The Retinue were trained enough to hold the City Guards back.

Maze could hear more shouting, but the words were meaningless noises to her. She felt hands grab her roughly under her arms and half-carry, half-drag her away from the scene of the fight. She could still taste the blood in her mouth, and could still feel the sensation of the skin and flesh tearing. Her sword was still in her hand, her fist locked tight around the hilt. Slowly, she looked up at whoever was pulling her. Both were adventurers, but she couldn't recall their names at the moment. From the bits of the conversation she'd caught, the guards had broke at the sight of her mauling the other man, who had actually been a proper Knight. None of them seemed to want to mention what exactly Maze had done, but she knew they'd all seen it and were thinking about it.

Skippy galloped down the street atop the horse, yelling at civilians to move out of the way. As he approached the HQ, he slowed the horse to a trot, leaping off of it. He burst through the door and was met with two City Guardsmen already inside. Skippy drew the greatsword in a swift action, holding it in a defensive stance.

"Why are you here?"

Maze could hear the group arguing about whether or not to leave her as soon as they were in a somewhat safe area. Their arguing was apparently heard by a nearby shop owner, who ushered them inside. He opened a trapdoor, and pushed them down.

"Down this tunnel," He told them, "Is a way outside of the city walls. Some of my suppliers use it to avoid customs every now and then.

"Thanks," One of the adventurers said, as the rest of the group headed down. "You're taking a big risk for us."

"It's no trouble," The merchant said, "Just remember that the Merchant's guild was your greatest ally in this dark time. Good luck to you." He closed the trap door, sealing them in darkness.

Even in the depths of the dungeon prison, the sound of the explosion can be heard. Stone rocks out of place and dust drops on Kyr and the guard in front of him. Orders can be heard being barked by no doubt a higher ranking guard telling everyone around of the attack. The guard's eyes grow and as he begins to flee his current location, Kyr's hand catches him by the fabric and with tremendous, pulls the man back into the iron bars. With luck on his side, he removes a set of keys from the guard after squatting and doing a search. He maneuvers his hands appropriately to allow him to unlock the door. With a rusty creek, the door swings open. He steps over the guard he had knocked out. Due to the large amount of noise he had made while performing his escape act, a couple of armed guards stand to greet him. With their weapons raised, they show no signs of backing down.

Somewhere in the tunnel, the people carrying Maze tripped, dropping her flat on her face. The impact was enough to snap her out of her daze, and she pushed herself up, waving away the attempts to help her silently.

She still felt sick, but she could actually move herself now, even if she was still unsteady. One of the others had lit a torch, so she followed the light, keeping a hand on the wall to steady herself.

"Woah there friend." One guard held up a hand. "We came to warn you and yours about the new royal edict."

Skippy relaxed the grip on his sword, giving the pair a welcome gesture. "Appreciated. The others have fled then?"

The guard who had spoken nodded and the pair moved to leave.

"We had best get back to our unit."

Skippy let them leave, thanking them again.

The tunnel carried on in an almost perfectly straight line for nearly two kilometers, headed straight through the city and out underneath the walls. There were several smaller side passages, probably leading to other 'affiliates' of the merchants guild. At the far end, the group climbed a ladder and found themselves in a shack, surrounded by trees.
"Now what?" Someone asked, while Maze was busy trying to contact her guildmates. From her guild, she found out that some of them had already made it up into the mountains, where their stronghold had been located in-game. It was garrisoned by the same NPCs as it had been in game, only now they were alive.

"I'm going to The Order's fortress, up in the mountains," Maze said, standing up. "You're all welcome to come with me,"
"We need to stay here and help the others," Someone said, and most agreed. Others wanted to leave for their own guilds, but none of them wanted to go with Maze. They didn't say it, but she knew she was a liability, considering what had happened during the fight. Without any further words, Maze left.