Complete Dunnstads Without a Paddle

Creature

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Seul
Small Town - Late Afternoon

There it was again… The crimson string. Solely visible to his eyes. A chill ran down the man's spine at the sight. Though he had been playing the game for a little over a week, it only materialized once before. That adventure ended with a literal arrow in his ass; courtesy of some bandits who weren't too pleased to find a player snooping around their encampment.

Naturally, he was hesitant to follow any Fate Threads now. There was always the option to just ignore. But the mental toll stemmed from the uncertainty of where it led, and possibility of missing hidden treasures would be far more unbearable than getting attacked again. At least, that's what he told himself.

***​

This town sat a bit further inland than some of its neighbors in the region. As such it wasn't a particularly large place, but still had a modest amount of bustle in part due to the central river which undoubtedly emptied back into the sea.

Overlooking the riverbank atop a slope sat a two-story building with a crude wooden sign nailed above the doors. Proudly on display were the words: The Jolly Turtle. A cartoonish painting of a turtle giving a thumbs up accompanied them at the end.

Creature stared up at the sign, more confused than anything else. Turtles don't have thumbs, and more importantly why would the Fate Thread lead him here of all places? From the outside it appeared to be like any other tavern one might assume they'd find in this world. But while pushing his doubts aside, he'd enter anyway.

Only two people were inside. A grizzled, tough-looking man absentmindedly polished an empty glass with a worn rag behind the bar. Clearly something was bothering the him. But it was the woman opposite the barkeep who really drew his attention. Even without Hyper Sense, Creature could tell she was elegant and seemed a bit out of place with the rest of the scene. Around her form the Fate Thread swirled in every direction. But as if to say its job was done, the line vanished. Left behind was an awkward introduction.

"Uh, excuse me…" He called out to the woman from the entrance. "This might sound really weird, and I don't know why, but I think I'm supposed to talk to you. So, hi."

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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Her glass was empty.

The tavern-keep had asked her if she wanted a refill, but he had been ignored. This was probably the root of what was bothering him considering how rude his only patron was being. But Trissayne was deep in thought, her index finger tracing the rim of her glass, her brows pulled together across her forehead. Her lower lip fit between her teeth and she nibbled upon it while running the words through her head over and over and over again.

They hadn't left her since Lucia had uttered them and she was desperate to figure out what they meant. Hell, they seemed to almost drown out those faint whispers that—

A man's voice jolts her from her thoughts, making her head snap up and her eyes blink. Her attention immediately focuses on the bartender, but he is looking over her shoulder at the second man standing in the doorway who was, interestingly enough, staring at her. So she turns slightly on her stool, putting herself in profile to him, and gestures to herself by placing her palm against the chest of her robes.

"Me?" she asks, quite sure that he had to be mistaken. "You be wanting to talk to me, nah? What for?" There's a small laugh that escapes her, one that is tinged with humor but also disbelief. Surely this dude was pulling her leg.

"I don't be dinking we know each odah. Your face not be familiar to me. What chu be wanting wit me, den?" And a tiny smirk dances across her mouth.

@Creature
 

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“Well…”

He played with a strand of hair as he often did. A calming mechanism carried over from the real world no doubt. What was he supposed to say? While mulling over the words in his head he decided to take the seat next to her.

"You see, there's this thing called the Fate Thread, it's complicated, and only shows up sometimes but when it does it takes me someplace I'm supposed to be. So when I followed this time it brought me to you."

The barkeep shook his head. When you're in this line of work you meet all sorts of strange sorts, but these two had to be the most entertaining to walk in this month. A chuckle escaped his lips while looking between them.

"Boy, that has to be the worst attempt at courting a woman I've seen. You sure you ain't already drunk?"

For a moment he debated activating Hyper Sense to see what else he might gleam about her, but decided against it. At this distance she'd likely notice the shift in eye color. Ignoring the man, he'd carry on. Perhaps he could be of help somehow.

"…Anyway, they call me Creature. How about you?"

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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There wasn't a single day that Triss logged into the game and didn't find someone or something interesting. Tonight, that someone was certainly the young man sitting next to her.

She listens to his story with rapt attention, her eyebrows arching when he mentions this Fate Thread thing. Something for her to ask Zel about no doubt. But also, maybe that was what the Sensation was? However, if it was something similar, why hadn't it pulled her toward him like his Fate Thread had? Did one cancel the other out?

Tugging her bottom lip into her mouth, she nibbles on it all the while ignoring the barkeep and his snide remarks. She wasn't still iffy about who was an NPC and who wasn't, but she would bet her last penny that most of the hired help were of the binary-code sort.

"Trissayne Lavelle," she says with a nod and a smile. "Most folks call me Triss. Ya can too. Ah, well, funny ya be mentioning dis Fate Dread. Do it be feeling like a pressure on ya chest? Or make ya breathing heavy?" She swallows and winds a few loose strands of hair back around her long elven ears. "Because, I been getting dat feeling since I started playing. It just...happens. And it be taking me places, forcing me ta walk ta new cities and towns and happen upon all sorts of people. Nice wuns, so far, but—is it like dat for you?"

@Creature
 

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"…Not really. It'll take the form of a red string in my field of vision, but that's about it. Any discomfort I feel usually comes after I get to where it wants me to go. Turns out bandits don't care if fate lands you in the center of their home."

It'd be a while before he let that go. Still there was comfort in learning that other people were experiencing comparable occurrences in this world. Despite players and NPCs varying greatly from one to the next, they all seemed to follow the same steps at some point. By design the world would create similar paths, so one was bound to find someone to relate with eventually. Maybe this was why he was brought here. A simple meeting of kindred spirits. He figured that was just wishful thinking though.

A hand rose to grip his chin in thought. It would have been a lie to say Creature wasn't curious about this power Triss possessed. He hoped talking further would glean some more insight.

"There's still a lot we don't understand about this world. Even more so for me, being new and all. What do you think this feeling you get might be?"

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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The physical manifestation of disappointment pours over Trissayne like a buck of cold water. Whatever this Fate Thread thing was, it had nothing to do with the Sensation that plagued her whenever she logged in. It refused to be ignored and it made her physically uncomfortable when she tried.

"Non," she says, trying to keep up the same energy she had as before. "Bandit ain't gonna like ya stumbling into dere homes."

She is of the mind that the conversation will stop there. They didn't share in this Fate thing and his string had been completed—or so she believed. So, she's quite curious when he asks her about the feeling that she got and her brows even arch a little. It had been some time since anyone else was interested in, well, anything that was going on in her hum-drum life...

"I dunno," she tells him with a shrug, her emerald eyes widening in what could be considered innocence. There was also a touch of...frenzied confusion that she did keep at bay. "I ain't be eating anyting weird, not be drinking anyting alcoholic or...strange. Its been happening since the first time I logged into da game and every day since den. I was tinking perhaps it might be having sometin ta do wit da spirit magic I be knowing? But dese be fully...alive...people dat I be shoved to. Strangers, all of dem, but alive."

She licks her lips and blows out a breath. "Did...did ya know dat dis is dat game from, ah, four years ago? Da one dat killed all dem kids? Da one dat got shut down." She stares at him, watching his face for any semblance of recognition. Surely she couldn't have been the only soul playing this damned thing that thought it was just some copycat wishing to cash in on the notoriety.

@Creature
 

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Of course he was familiar with the incident from four years ago. It was one of the biggest stories to happen in recent memory. Though Creature wouldn't have said it was actively on his mind all this time. But to propose that this was the exact same game from back then was mad. After being shut down for so long, how and why would someone release it again?

"I know it has the same name, but I never thought of it actually being that exact game." He mumbled. Creature then fell silent for a moment. The strange email he got was just part of some fancy marketing stunt, wasn't it? There was no way the government would let a game that could kill people just exist in the wild again after exterminating it once.

"…Let's say this is the same game. The spirit magic theory starts to make more sense. Maybe one of those kids is haunting you." A nervous chuckle accompanied the half-joke.

The barkeep who had been listening all this time furrowed just brow. He's been lost among the talks of games and magic, but clearly this woman was distressed. Perhaps he'd be able to help, in his own way.

"Now, I don't know nothin' about any games. But the other day some folk hailing from that fancy pants MIT organization passed through here. Reckon they might be interested in your story if you told 'em."

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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Trissayne has no poker face to speak of. When Creature shows the same hesitation, the same worry, at the mention of this being the game that was responsible for all those deaths four years ago, she feels vindicated. The sigh she allows past her lips is one that she had carried around with her since her talk with Lucia. The Duchess of the Undead had made it seem like Triss had gone courting something dangerous instead of accidentally stumbling upon it like she had.

To know that someone else had come to the same conclusion she had, had believed that this was a marketing ploy and nothing more, well, it relieved her. But it also frightened her. Vindicated though she may be, her shoulders do not lift in satisfaction, but droop and her eyes are quick to skitter away from Creature's face.

Knowledge always came with a heavy price, didn't it.

And his assumption, his theory, does little to help her feel better about, well, everything. In fact, she winces at the possibility and lifts a hand to rub nervously at the tip of her nose. "Oh non," she whispers with a slight shake of her head. "Dat would be terribly sad if it was da spirit of one of dem. I...I don't be knowing noting about ghosts and spirits. How do I even be trying ta get dis ting away from me? Who do I go asking about dis?"

The muscle in her jaw ticks and her attention swings to the barkeep and his suggestion. She blinks, confused, before glancing back at Creature. "Em-Eye-Tee? Da institute of technology? Ya be knowing anyting about dis, Creature?"

@Creature
 

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"Not a thing." Creature replied with a tilt of his head.

The pair's blank stares were returned with a disappointed head shake from the barkeep. Honestly, just who were these two? Of course times these were stressful times, but were there really those out there who have lost this much touch with reality?

"Did y'all just climb out from under a rock or somethin'?" It's the Magical Institute of Theory; MIT for short. Everybody's heard of 'em. The eggheads there love nothin' more than doin’ research and solvin' mysteries. I bet they would lend a hand if you asked."

Creature had kept his eyes closed in careful contemplation as he listened. Who would have thought such a group existed. But from the sound of it there’d be no harm in paying them a visit. Turning his attention to Triss once again, he'd shoot her a smile.

"Hear that? I think it's worth looking into at least." A gentle pat on her back accompanied the words. The man wasn't sure why the thread had brought them together, yet something told him the answers they sought lied at the gates of MIT.

"Still, it's your call. Always a tiny chance you'll end up on a dissection table somewhere, after all." He mused.

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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Full lips repeat the words that the bartender offered them, though no noise left her mouth. She looks contemplative as he continues and a hum of consideration is soon to leave her throat. Her fingers drum atop the bar-top, the beat as inconsequential as the woman sitting at the edge of the bar writing in what appeared to be a notebook.

Creature's comment once more pulls her from her thoughts, her head inclining toward him in a nod.

"Do it be sometin like a guild? I tink I heard of dose before. Lots of folks running around and doing tings togedah." Wasn't she too inexperienced to be in a guild, though? She was still a new player, had only a bare understanding of her masteries and what all she could do on and off the battlefield. Hell, she hadn't really left the starting area because she was afraid of missing a quest!

There was also the subject of her death that she didn't really want to think about—

"Oh non non," she immediately replies while shaking her head, a burst of a chuckle passing from her mouth. She leans forward, capturing his hand in hers and giving it a small squeeze. "If I'm going ta be going ta Ee-Em-Tee, guess who's gon ta be coming wit me? Dat's right! Ya won an all-expense-paid journey ta keeping me safe while we be finding dis...group."

And though she gives him a wide, friendly smile, the breadth of which makes her emerald eyes sparkle, she can't help but be a little...worried. What if they didn't find these people? What if this group didn't have the answers she was looking for?

...What if they really did put her on a dissection table...

"Maybe ya can be joining too? Figure out more about da fate dread, yah?"

@Creature
 
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Creature

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Creature would sheepishly look away as his hand was now prisoner to her's. A small pout painted across his face in an effort to hide his embarrassment. Being a man who spent most of his time indoors, his interactions with women in particular were far and few between.

"I-I was planning on going with you anyway! Also I ain’t joining them; just gonna pick their brains." He cried.

"Anyway, where are we even supposed to find these people?"

The barkeep brought a hand to his chin in deep thought. Creature felt like he could hear the gears turning in the man's mind as he tried to recall. Then as if the little light had been flicked on, the barkeep's eyes lit up.

"You're in luck actually. That lot mentioned somethin' about openin' up an office in this dusty old town. Just wander around a bit and you'll bump into it sooner or later."

"Thanks." Pulling his hand away and popping up to his feet, Creature would turn for the door. Driven first by curiosity and second by the desire to never set foot in the Jolly Turtle again, he beckoned for Triss to do the same. With some luck finding the place wouldn't take too long.

"It's still early so we might be able to catch them before they close shop."

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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Creature stands up, preparing to leave, and Trissayne is right on his heels. She pays for the one drink that she consumed before giving the bartender a smile and turning away. "Tanks for all ya help," she says to him with a nod. "Really. Ya told me more dan most of da people I meet out on da road."

Following her new-found friend out of the tavern and into the small town, she exhales a sigh she didn't know she had been holding. Her stomach is alive with twisting, wiggling, turning worms and a heavy ball of half-anxiety-half-excitement sits in her chest, compressing her lungs. A breath of fresh air was much needed.

Triss falls into step alongside Creature, keeping his slightly taller frame in the periphery of her vision. She didn't know where to start looking for this group so she might as well fill the quiet with a few questions. After all, she was incredibly interested in the other people who played this death game, especially after they knew what it really was.

"Now dat ya be knowing, ya still gonna play?" she asks, cutting the chase as she links her hands behind her back. "I get da appeal. It's...amazing...dis whole ting." Her head gestures back the way they had come, but she really means the entire world around them. The breeze felt real, the cobblestone beneath their feet echoed with every step, and even her stomach felt mildly full with the bit of alcohol she had consumed.

But it was a trick. Her brain was actively being tricked and fed dopamine to keep her engaged. It was just a game.

"But, ain't cha afraid? Of...dying?"

@Creature
 

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Creature's eyes shut for a moment as he mulled over Triss's questions. A death game, huh? Just what had he gotten involved with? Was any game really worth someone's life?

"Isn't everyone? But might as well enjoy the time l do have."

His reply was simple but spoke true to his beliefs. Was a life spent in fear a life worth living for? He didn't think so. For Creature regret was the biggest thing he wished to avoid, and after missing the first wave of invites to the game he wasn't about to sit out again.

"Besides, I think this place might actually be good for people. I mean, we probably never would have talked in the real world, but here we are."

With reassurance in his voice he shot her a thumbs up. Clearly the woman had put at least some thought into this stuff and he didn't want her to worry. At least not while he was around anyway. There were some things that he was curious about though. Seeing as the MIT office was nowhere in sight, he'd take the time to inquire further.

"How did you find out? Nothing in the email I got said I could die if I played."

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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Isn't everyone?

Creature's response echoes like a ringing bell in her head.

She didn't know a single person who wasn't afraid of death. The mere thought of it, of a body getting weak and eventually breaking down so much that it couldn't support you any longer or the suddenness of a catastrophe taking you away from your loved ones wasn't anything that anyone wanted to dwell on. They were thoughts that lived in the gray spaces of time, between sleeping and awake, when you were too drunk to function and too high to realize which way was up and which way was down.

Did that mean you threw your life away, though? Did that mean you risked it, everything, to play this game that could very well kill you? A life lived without taking chances was hardly a life at all, she agreed there, but why did the chance have to be a 70/30 on whether or not you walked away at the end?

"I guess ya have a point," she mutters with a tiny shrug. "But, if ya be living in New Awlins, maybe we wouldda. At da grocery store, on High Street? Maybe even during Mardi Gras." She offers him a big smile and chuckles soon after.

Her chuckle evolves into her clearing her throat and she chews on her bottom lip a moment too long before answering his next inquiry. "Ain't get no email. It was on da headset I bought from da pawn shop. Bruddah fixed it for me and I...just...clicked the app. Real dumb ting ta do. But, ah, I found a duchess in da game. I tink she be a real person? But I'm not sure. Lots of undead around her." She frowns, her frustration at her meeting with Lucia evident even now.

"She be saying all dese tings about dis all being real. Like da NPCs being real and if people be dying and being stuck here, are dey real or not? I dunno. It sounded crazy, batshit insane."

She pauses.

"But. Maybe...she wasn't? What if dis life can sometin special, more special dan da real world? Do ya tink ya'd give up reality for...all dis?"

@Creature
 

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It was like the plot of some poorly written anime. Sure, the game was pretty indistinguishable from the real world, but people being stuck in the game after dying? Was that even possible? Yet, if anyone knew something about the nature of life and death he assumed it'd be a woman who spent her time hanging with corpses.

"Who can say?" He was being evasive. His life in the real world wasn't bad after all. The thought of not being able to return was something he'd rather not put too much energy toward if he could help it. Triss on the other hand was clearly rattled by the words of this duchess. He was unable to hide his disapproving frown.

"Look, I'll make you a promise. You won't ever have to make that choice. As long as I'm around you don't have to think about dying. So… Don't worry, alright?"

Creature extended a pinky to the woman. It was all he could think to do in the moment in order to place her mind at ease. He didn't know much about this world or why either of them had been among those granted access to it. But he did know that they would not be victims. Not if he had any day in the matter.

***​

A light sniffle and the sound of sobbing came from behind the pair as a young woman had finally made her presence known. She appeared younger than both, couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall, brown hair tied in two braids, and with eyes to match. Garbed in a stylish robe, she'd manage to cry out a few words.

"You guys… That was so beautiful…" She'd say. With glasses in hand, she'd use the sleeve of her robe to wipe any residual tears from her eyes. An emblem with the letters 'MIT' was sewn into the cloth above her right breast.

@Trissayne Lavelle
 

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Their feet come to a collective stop and Trissayne turns so that she's facing him. Her head tips to the side, an inquisitive glint to her emerald eyes, and she takes in everything he's saying...and not saying. She would like to think she could read people, that she knew what his body language was telling her even if his lips said something different.

She was fooling herself, of course. And maybe she was going to tell him that, tell him that she was unsure of everything too, but he didn't have to lie to her. Except, he extends a pinky finger to her, and Trissayne's entire train of thought crashes and burns in a twisted metallic heap.

It's not a second later that her own hand lifts, her pinky curling around his, a small smile pressing against her mouth. "Alright," she says with a nod. "I don't be knowing much, but I will be doing wat I can ta be keeping ya safe too, hm? Hopefully not wit da help of no kid ghosts—"

A voice interrupts the rest of what she was going to say and she turns, pinning this new woman with a curious look. It isn't until her attention falls to the emblem on her robe that Trissayne grins.

"Just da woman we was looking for!"

@Creature
 
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