Brave new world

[dragonsylph]

Its launch day for the new Elder Tale expansion. Boasting an array of new features, like better AI, multiclassing, destructible environments, and a persistent world changed by player actions, you start up the game and find yourself transported to the game world.

Comments

[dragonsylph]

Each player finds themself bodily in the last large city they had visited. The city square is bustling with confusion. Every couple minutes, a new person appears from midair, and looks around in bafflement, before exclaiming in surprise or dismay.

What happened?

[dragonsylph]

"Wha... where am I? How did I get outside? I... my voice... I'm a girl? Purple robes, rustic city, I'm in the game!"

::puts her hand to her face, pauses::

"Guess I don't need glasses anymore..."

::runs her fingers through her hair::

"aaaand elf ears..."

Private message

[dragonsylph]

In mid-air, in Astral's field of vision, a text box appears.

"Incoming call from Aiko"

Re: Private message

[dragonsylph]

"Ah!"
::she jumps::
"How do I answer?"
::flailing around, accidentally dragging the window around in her vision, she eventually manages to hit the 'accept call' button::
"Hello?"

[aikonamika]

[She opens her eyes to see the Elder Tree, the starting point for all new players, and for a moment she's just a little confused. Why is she here? She didn't remember logging out in the starting area, but it's been a while since she's played this character. And then she registers that she isn't seeing the Tree through a screen, and she can feel the wind in her hair, and she's wearing elegant robes with a forest-green motif that she last saw on the log-in screen.

Aiko stares down at herself, at what is now her body, and feels vaguely...faint.]

"This can't be real, nya."

[She jumps at the sound of her own voice and the reflexive mew that follows the words, and then holds her hands - hand-paws? - out in front of her to stare in even more shock at the fur covering them. She runs a hand over her head, feeling the bristling hair in what she'd thought was a "cute" cut rather than her own long hair, as well as- yep. Pointed, fuzzy ears twitch in response to the touch. Slowly she glances behind herself and then-]

"NYAAAAAAAA?!"

[The fur of her tail is a bottle-brush, and all she can think of is calling someone who might be able to explain what's going on, and why she's now inside the body of her Druid.]

[aikonamika]

An interface appears in Aiko's field of vision, popping open and spreading out a number of text boxes and options, including one which has her Friend's List. Some of the names are lit up, while others are greyed out, with a note next to them that reads, "Offline."

[aikonamika]

[She stares in shock and jerks, and then decides not to question it just yet. A clawed finger stabs at Astral's screen name, and when he finally responds - she thinks it's him, but this is one of his female characters, and maybe he's stuck in the same situation she's in - she can't help but mew again in relief.]

"Is that you, nya?"

[dragonsylph]

"Zechs Marquise, Caroline, Joey, Caslon, Levanter, Anita. Yeah, seems to still be me. But I'm singing soprano. I just logged in, and now I'm an elf girl. Are you here somewhere too?"

[She sits on a rock, watching the little voice chat window as she speaks]

[aikonamika]

[The familiar list of character names helps her relax, and she can't help but notice that her fur starts going down as well. She nods, despite the fact that there's no video window.]

"Yeah, I am. I'm over at the Elder Tree, nya."

[She turns and it's absolutely dizzying to see the sky going on forever around her instead of just being bounded in by the frame of her screen.]

"Where are you, nya? I'm safe here, but if you're somewhere that's dangerous I'll come get you, or meet you halfway or something, nya."

[dragonsylph]

"I guess with the new expansion, it jumped me back to town. I think I logged off the the middle of the woods last I played...

Anyway, it looks like I've been dropped back in Leonfort, between noob spawn Scraptown and the capital.

I don't think we should go anywhere till we know what's going on. And its probably safer where you are. If I can't find any way to teleport or fly back there, we should probably take horses out to meet halfway."

[aikonamika]

"That makes sense, if the map got shifted around at all."

[Aiko leans back, and tries to visualize exactly where Astral is right then. As if obliging her, a minimap pops up in her vision, just to the right of the chat window, and she starts swiping at it carefully with one paw to zoom in.]

"I'll head into the city proper, then. Maybe I can find someone who knows what's going on, nya!"

[A frown flicks her ears back, and she reaches unconsciously for the pack at her side, already rifling through it before she's entirely aware that she's going that rather than checking an inventory screen. Still, she nods to herself when her paws touch the whistles that will call her mounts to her.]

"Let me know what you find out about transportation, and I'll get moving toward the gates just in case."

Portal network down

[dragonsylph]

"Hm..."

::silence for a minute::

"I didn't realize that teleport spells were linked to the portal network, but I guess it makes sense, as you always show up near the portal platform. Just tried casting Teleport to the capital, and I got an error message saying that the portal network is down.

Hold on, I'm going to make sure other spells work right.

...

Aha! Oh my god, my familiar is so much prettier than in the game!"

[aikonamika]

"The portal network is down?"

[Aiko frowns as she makes her way - carefully - toward the front gates. As she moves she can see more and more people, and they all seem to be having variations on the same reaction: they're all freaking out. Which seems to imply that she and Astral aren't the only ones who are going through this situation. That simultaneously makes her feel better and more worried, because at least they're not alone, but who knows if anyone on the outside world - or the real world, whatever - knows what's going on, or can do anything about it. And for that matter, this isn't her strongest character, and she's not sure that she can make it back to the character select screen to somehow pick her main to be trapped in.]

"That's gonna be a problem, nya. Major cities are pretty far apart without the portals. Doable, but far apart."

[There's a pause as she waits for a screaming man to run past her, his hands clutching at his head and ears, and her own ears flatten in sympathy.]

"We're not the only ones stuck here, nya."

[dragonsylph]

"I'll call you back in an hour or so. Talk to people, try out the game interface, see what you can learn. Don't go into any hostile areas. With so many other players around, someone will be in the same situation as us and have decent ideas.

I don't know if you've tried yet, but logout and game support aren't working either."

[aikonamika]

"I wasn't planning on going into hostile areas just yet anyway, nya!"

[It's indignant, and she puts her hands on her hips to huff at the voice chat panel. Not that Astral can see her...]

"I saw that already. And I'll look around and see what people have to say, but it looks like most people are still freaking. Talk to you in an hour with news."

[Aiko lifts her paw to the panel and hesitates for a long moment, then makes herself hang up. She's got plenty to do right now, and she can't cling to Astral the entire time. Besides, she's the one who's supposed to have the most experience with Elder Tale! She's been playing for years!

She turns to the city with an unconscious flirt of her tail, ears set determinedly, and wades in.]

Re: Portal network down

[dragonsylph]