Open Eastern Brisshal Ripples Converge

[Zera Leigh]

[Some time before the final events of season 4]

The white room had been kinda scary, a space that seemed endless and finite at the same time. Marc had been presented with a double of himself. Apparently he had the opportunity to redesign his appearance, but when he tried to interact with the menus all sorts of oddness happened. The words were all jumbled and some of the scale bars did nothing. He tried to decrease his height to something 'normal' but that only served glitch it out and make him look even bigger. He tried to change his eyes to look happier but they seemed almost like a hawks now, fierce an cold. He fretted until he finally gave up, it wasn't like he was planning on playing this game in the future. He was just testing the headset and getting paid for it. Then he could go back to working at the shelter. Simple. He picked a name that he'd used when he played table top games as a kid.

[AVATAR C̸̡̹̅̄Ŕ̶̫̲Ḙ̷̋A̸͙̦̾T̴͕̍Í̸̢̓͘Ȏ̸̲̔͒N̸̪̍ COMPLETE]
[PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR M̸͓̰̎A̵̤͝S̸͇̿̑̋T̶͚͎̙͊̂̇Ḛ̷̓͑͘Ŗ̷̎͐I̶̪̩͝E̸̻͇͐̕S̷̩̘̐͆]
...
[ERROR]
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[̴͔̐͝M̴̨̲͒Ḁ̶̡̳̓̓S̶̫͚͒T̸͕̾̋E̶̙̺͂R̴̼͗Ḯ̵̢͉̍E̵̤̩͗͜Ș̴̳̩͗̇̃ ̷͚̈́Ẃ̷͕̫͉͂Į̴̜͚́̀̈́L̸̞̗͉͋L̸͙̾ ̴̡̝̘̚B̶̠̉͑͋Ê̸͎̯̭ ̸̙̠͙͂G̸̩͎̾͛E̶̢̞̜̓N̴͎̟͈̐̉̚Ë̷̻́̋̚R̸̯̗̀A̵̺͑Ț̷̜̾̌Ę̸͑D̵͓̩̔]̷͔͑

"Huh? What's a mastery?" He blurted, "Why isn't there a-"

His vision immediately darkened and he felt himself falling. Above the forests of Eastern Brisshal, instead of the steady stream of light brought about by a starcalled, a flickering beam crackled uneasily in the air. At the same time, a leyline flashed far, far away, the ripples of power crackling through the air and intersecting the ill-fated comet. There was another flash, the light crumbled, and for the first time, Zera Leigh opened his eyes. He blinked at the sensations around him, the wind rippling across his skin, the sensation of weight. He frowned, something wasn't right. Why did he feel like he was... he glanced behind him. His eyes bulged, he was falling! "WAAAAHH!" He scrambled and flailed his arms but it was meaningless. His 'falling star' had spawned him in the air! He hit the ground, hard, several windows popping up in his face with fragmented and confusing text.

He waved it way in frustration and scrambled to his feet. Everything hurt. A bar in the corner of his eye flashed red and only had a sliver of red color on it. Was that his health? He shook his head and tried to get his bearings. Nearby, there were people watching him. All of them wearing simple but fanciful clothes. He cleared his throat and flexed his fingers, seems like this headset thing works. It was time to log out and move on with his life. The men had explained that a menu would open if he willed it and he could find the logout funciton there. He waved a hand and a screen appeared. All of the text was jumbled and fragmented, he frowned and started hitting buttons but nothing happened.

"L-log out?" He said hesitantly. "Disable? Out Log? End program?"

Nothing. Question marks formed in his eyes as he scratched his head, "H-huh? W-wait, wait wait, I have to log out, please?"

Nearby someone screamed and pointed at him. He turned his head in their direction only to go wide eyed as he saw one of them holding their hands up over their face. "Why is he naked?!"

He flushed and looked down at himself, bare as the day he was born. Heat rose to his face and he dropped his hands, whipping his head around for some kind of shelter. Only the trees provided safety. Panicked, he ran for the trees while other new players either screamed or laughed at him. Over an hour later he found himself lost in the forest and he still hadn't figured out an inventory feature. It was possible he had to equip clothing but there was no way to confirm it. Frustrated, he wandered through the trees until another sound drew his attention. A growl. Sweat ran down his neck as he slowly turned his head and locked eyes with the pair of wolves standing in the crowded trees. "Eeek!" He squeaked and bolted. Naked and now being chased by wolves he stumbled through the dark forest and into yet another problem.

A man was standing in his way wearing leathers and holding a hatchet in his hand. He turned and looked at Zera in disbelief, the word [Bandit - Hostile] appearing over his head before glitching out. Zera groaned and hurried past him, "Sorry!" He shouted.

"Whuh?" The bandit grunted before seeing the two angry wolves coming at him. He let out a cry of fright and moved to defend himself. Soon the wolves and the bandit were engaged with one another and Zera kept running only to slide to a stop. He frowned, looked back over his shoulder, grumbled, and then darted back with a roar.

"Why am I like this?!" He screamed, charging towards the fight with fists flailing.

Minutes later, he stood there, panting. The bandit had died seconds after engaging the wolves but not before wounding the two hounds. Before Zera even had a chance to think about it, he'd beaten the wolves down and now stood in a scene of death. He gagged, looking uneasily at the bodies before resigning himself. He didn't have a choice. Within minutes he had looted the bandit and with some effort slipped the clothes on. Fortunately the clothes changed to fit his body. He figured it was probably a feature of the game. He reached down and picked up the hatchet where it lay before looking at the body of the bandit. He sighed. "I'm sorry you got caught up in my mess," He said and bowed his head. A wolf howl in the distance sent a chill up his spine and he ran.

Over the next few days, rumors would spread about a gigantic wildman living in the forest. Rumor was that he had makeshift cottage near one of the rocky hills and kept to himself except to hunt. A quest was issued by the nearby town of Honeyhome to flush the vagrant out...

@Aerial

 

[Aerial]

An interesting - to say the least - quest received the attention of the white-haired woman. The description was incredible: absurdly ridiculous which only made it even better. Rumors of a naked wildman spread like wildfire through the tiny community. The townsfolk looked worried - he'd taken out bandits and wolves! Or so they said. But, really, what was so wrong with that? Bandits deserved any hell they received and wolves were... Well, they were cute but she'd already experienced an encounter with a pack before. If anything, he should be receiving medals for keeping the townsfolk safe.

Although, she had to wonder, why was he naked? Was it an NPC coded to appear in such a way or was a fellow player utilizing the game to join a nudity colony? Curiosity and the sheer hilarity of the situation caused Aerial to accept the quest (after giggling like an immature child).

Currently, Aerial was perched on a sturdy tree branch as she watched the entrance of the supposed house of the suspect. It was a cute little cottage. Safely tucked into the foliage, and ready to leap at a moment's notice, the woman called out,

"Hello? Mr. Caveman? Are you home?"

@Zera Leigh​

 

[Zera Leigh]

Deep in the forest past bandit camps and roving packs of wolves, where the earth rose and fell and formations of rock and stone jutted from the ground as elevation rose, stood a small rocky hill. Wedged into the hill, atop the entrance to a small cave system, was a humble wooden shack built with hatchet-cut timber. The small shack didn't have anything in the way of a door but instead a heavy cloth hung over the passage, blocking the interior from view. Along the narrow path leading up to the simple-looking building were piles of logs, roughly made boxes filled with looted gear from bandits, and at least six gray haired wolves that lounged here and there, chewing on the bones of wildlife.

A sudden voice from the foliage broke the relative peacefulness of the scene and one of the wolves, the largest of the tiny pack, looked up from where it was lounging to stare into the tree. It bore its teeth with a growl and got to its feet, striding in the direction of the tree. It couldn't climb the tree, obviously, but that didn't change the fact that some strange human was in this territory. It let out a loud bark and glared at the hidden spot. Behind it, somewhere within the small hut, was movement. After a few tense seconds the cloth hanging at the door parted and a few of the wolves present shifted uneasily.

Out stepped a tan-skinned man of a ludicrous height, his build making one wonder if he was possible half or a quarter giant. No longer naked, he wore a lioncloth made of stitched leather over simple leather britches that were tucked into heavy looking boots. His barrel-sized chest was bare and seemed to shine a bit when moonlight struck it. His face covered in shadows, only circles of ice-blue light burned from within as a faint haze escaped where his mouth was. He stood at the entryway with a hatched in his hand and observed the scene in silence.

An instant later, an explosion of motion. The man darted forward and lunged into the air in the general direction of the large wolf and the tree it was eyeing. "What have..." A deep voice rumbled, "I told you..." the voice continued as the arc of his movement continued before ending not at the tree, but atop the wolf. "About being rude to guests?!" The man bellowed, wrapping a thick arm around the neck of the wolf and wrestling it to the ground with a few grunts. In seconds the two devolved into an almost cartoonish scuffle as clouds rose around them while they rolled around in the dirt.

Ultimately the wolf lay on its back with a few lumps on its head and powerful fingers scratching its belly. The giant man sat down heavily on the ground and chortled cheerily, "BAHAHA! Good boy! There you go! We don't often have guests who announce themselves first! Be nice! Be nice!" He guffawed before looking up at the obscuring foliage before offering the most childish, bright-eyed smile. "Hello up there! If uh... you're still up there! I don't get polite guests often! What can I do for you?"

@Aerial