Full Immersion [for what it's worth]

Full Immersion

A young woman, about eighteen years of age, wakes up face down in a grassy field. She has straight, shoulder-length white hair, green eyes, is wearing some kind of tan tunic with a pair of slits in the back which allow a pair of large, gray-feathered wings through. She pushes herself up on one arm and looks around, stretching the wings a little bit.

There are a few things wrong with this picture, from her perspective. One: She does not recall ever having white hair. Bleaching has always seemed a rather strange option, honestly. Two: She does not recall having..wings? Is that what those are? She looks back, and observes that they are indeed wings. She stands up and attempts to get her bearings, but it truly appears to be some form of savannah: Grass on every horizon.

Suddenly something like a screen floating in midair appears before her, causing her to jump. It has very pixellated text boxes all over it. The main one is some form of message, the cause of the screen popping up in the first place. It says:
Protips: How to Win the Game!
1. Roleplay! Do not merely act--become.
2. Party up! Nobody survives alone.
3. Listen to the input! They know better than you.

She gazes at the message on the screen with mild confusion, and scratches her head. "..Input? They didn't say anything about that.."

>

Notice!

SpoilerShow

This is an adventure that existed for quite a while on the MSPA forums, accumulating a total of 124 updates in that time. I made an effort to mirror those updates elsewhere, but my archive is in 100% BBcode and it turns out to be really hard to convert that to HTML in a way quick enough to satisfy my desire to continue this adventure.

This means that the first 124 updates of this adventure occur in an apparently nearly-uninterrupted stream in this thread, and include quoted suggestions that don't correspond to any posts in this forum. But please don't let this deter you from suggesting things to happen from the current post onward.

> Realise that if input was not mentioned, then it's probably safer to assume that whatever is doing the inputting has it out for you, and you should trust nothing that you receive from an input.

Try to gain awareness of the surroundings through another sense different than sight. Can you smell the grassy field? How is the wind? Do you hear anything? Are you aware of your surroundings including what lie behind you, as though there were some form of mental map of the local area? Perhaps in the Upper Right quadrant of your brain?

Give wings experimental down flap. Do they feel like they put out enough thrust for flight?

The winged woman blinks and shakes her head, before taking a quick look around. Nobody there. "...I didn't think those voices sounded natural. I'm not even sure they were voices.."

She starts pacing around in roughly a circle, the floating screen following her movements exactly. "Well, whoever, or whatever you are..they didn't really have a lot of time to explain before we were all ushered into those pod things. So maybe they were just going over what's really important..

"..is there such a thing as an upper-right brain? I've heard of left-brained and right-brained..." She stops and tries closing her eyes for a moment. "Well, my wings are apparently really sensitive to the wind. It's blowing from behind." She tries unfurling her wings to their full length, which is significantly farther across than she is tall, and tries flapping them once. "Whoa!" She rises slightly off the ground, completely loses all sense of balance and tumbles forward, arms flailing, onto the grass again.

She gets up and brushes herself off, wondering how that was possible. Were the wings really that strong, or had she gotten lighter somehow? Hadn't she read somewhere that birds had hollow bones or something..?

"Ugh, whatever." She turns her attention back to the screen, to a particular panel which says "Class: NULL" and taps it. It moves to the center, becoming a large panel with an empty text box and a magnifying glass to the right of it up top, and a QWERTY keyboard below. "Need to pick a class.."

>

Try Class: Animal Tamer.
Or Class: Monk?

> How about Trigonometry? That's always a good class.

>Class: First

>Class: Blue Mage

Class : Flibbertigibbet (yes it's a real word; a foolish person, usually a woman)

> Sencontroller ( Able to manipulate the life energies around you) Base on your character you can materialize your Sen, manipulate it or transform it.

"Well, it's a search engine, and nothing around here is attacking me yet, so I might as well browse around.."

She types in a pair of words, and taps the magnifying-glass button.

Animal Tamer: 2 results found.

Beastmaster:
It's fun having other creatures do all the work for you until they're all gone and you have no idea how to fend for yourself alone.

Animalist:
Learn all your skills from the animals. You know, the same creatures people kill and eat every day?

"..I guess whoever wrote these descriptions was in a really bad mood or something."

Monk: 5 results found.

Fist Monk:
Fight with your fists! It's not like weapons were invented for a reason or anything.

Staff Monk:
Sort of like a more stylized Fighter with a somewhat less deadly, more breakable weapon of choice.

Improv Monk:
For those who enjoy wielding tables and torches as weapons. Better keep some silverware handy on long trips.

White Monk:
Can't fight as well as a Fist Monk; can't heal as well as a Cleric; can't survive more than a few blows.

Zen Monk:
Really just a Fist Monk who doesn't understand how basic logic works. 'Mu', yourself!

"Okay, so maybe the idea was to make all the class descriptions useless and sarcastic as a..joke?"

Trigonometry: 1 result found.

Trigonometrist:
Use triangle-based mathematics to fight. You're the one who thought to choose this class, so obviously you can figure out how to use it properly.

"I don't understand math. At all. So even if it's a great class in theory...this would be a really terrible choice for me."

First: No results. Try again, smart***.

"I wonder if it says that when I type in just random letters.."

Lkjdasfij: No results. Did you trip on your own fingers somehow?

"Huh."

Blue Mage: 2 results found.

Mimic Mage:
Learn magic by experiencing its effects for yourself. Good luck learning anything halfway powerful. Strange restrictions abound, by the way.

Monster Mage:
Wield the magic of monsters! You know, those creatures everybody hates and treat as pests for heroes to regularly exterminate.


Flibbertigibbit: 1 result found.

Chatterbox Fool:
More vocal and thus more annoying than your standard Fool; just as useless, if not worse, in most situations.

"Sen..do you mean 'Shen'? Guess I'll see what happens if I type it your way.."

Sencontroller: 2 results found.

Spirit Caster:
Don't expect to be able to rip souls out of bodies until long after all of your enemies are utterly immune to that sort of thing.

Qi Caster:
Yeah, just keep telling yourself that technically you're not using magic, and I'm sure the enemy mage's wards will politely stop blocking your attacks.

"Well..I don't want to stand here all day, and some of these at least sound pretty cool. It saved a history of the searches, so I just need to go to a class and confirm I want to take it."

>

SpoilerShow

13 choices to vote from. There is more than one character whose class you will choose in this manner, so there will be more opportunities for open-ended class suggestions like this.

Also, the character has 3 "votes" to spend, positive or negative, if necessary. Obvious results of this will include it being more difficult to choose a class they don't feel comfortable with.

Monster mage. You aren't human currently, after all.

Trigonometrist or Mimic Mage.

>Your only chance is an optimized batman wizard, they are op

Mimic Mage sounds good. Versatility at the cost of a bit of suffering for your art.

Consider if you have any friends or recollections of a family nearby.

Definitely triginometrist.

> Qi caster.

>Mimic Mage

{Meta: Vote Count Ranking:
Mimic Mage: 3
Monster Mage: 1
Qi Caster: 1
Trigonometrist: 2 - 2 (character dispreference)}

"Oh, sure, Batman Wizard, yeah, that'll definitely turn up a result."

Batman Wizard (Interpreted as "The OP Class"): 1,000+ results found. As in, all of them. Refine your search, stupid.

She blinks a couple of times. "So..every class is OP, but the class descriptions..huh. That actually makes sense."

She then taps the old search for "Blue Mage", then the "Mimic Mage" result.

You have selected:
Mimic Mage
Confirm Selection?
[Yes] [No]

"Well..it's gotta be better than the math class." She taps the "Yes" button, and the center of the screen shifts to a skill tree with individual box graphics for each skill. There are exactly two skills, one of which has level 1 already provided. Her clothes shift around, turning into something like a well-cut ankle-length robe crossed with leather armor. It seems designed to allow a certain freedom of movement while affording a small measure of protection, and it's designed to stay close enough to one's body as to not usually get caught on the things a less practical, more ornate robe might be.

She closes her eyes in a brief wince before opening them again. "That felt..weird." She taps the already-learned skill's button, and the lower middle section of the screen comes up with a lengthy description of the "Learn" skill. "Holy cr** that's a wall of text. I'm glad I know how to speed read...

"..So apparently I have to be hit by a spell to be able to learn it, but then I have to actually spend skill points to be able to cast the spell I've learned. The higher a spell's level, the higher a level with the Learn skill I have to have to be able to spend skill points to know how to cast it. At level..seven, which costs what looks like an ungodly amount of skill points to reach, I become able to learn things that aren't exactly spells using the learn skill. Before then, if I'm hit by one of those things I don't get a copy of it in the skill tree like I would a spell too powerful for the current level of Learn. And the other skill.."

She taps that one.

"It's called Mixture Magic. Oh, that's interesting. I can actually make new skills to spend points on out of skills I already know. Which means I could cross spells from two different kinds of mages. There's a bunch of rules on how it works...this skill's level has to be at least as high as the level of Learn needed to learn the higher level of the two spells being combined. And apparently the results of mixing the same pair of spells are different depending on the Mimic Mage doing the mixing."

She drops her hand and looks around again, the screen disappearing by a mental command. "And, this class doesn't come with any weapons. So..I don't have anything to defend myself with until I learn some spells. I did get a few free skill points, apparently.

"...I remember all of my friends and family. They're all back on Earth. They said they chose randomly from all over, so it's not likely any of them were brought up here to play this game...but..they might be depending on me. I've got to get going."

>

>well you can break the game now if you do it right

Get going -> Try to find an outpost of civilization. They might sell weapons there, or maps.
Consider if you feel hungry at all, or if food might not be a concern at all.

> See where skill points can be allocated.

>Why don't you explore the menus a little more, and if not, choose a direction and walk(or fly) that way for a couple of hours.

She shrugs. "I guess I can take another look."

The screen comes back to existence with a thought, and she taps the class button again. "You spend skill points to learn skills from the skill tree. I think the idea with the free points on Mimic Mage is so once I get hit by a low-level spell I can learn it and be able to fight, at least a little bit."
She taps another button, one that appears to have a long blank on it, and up comes a screen showing various stats, along with a winged-humanoid-body-shaped diagram. "I'm not sure how you improve stats, since it doesn't say anything here about level..apparently I have low strength, moderate agility and endurance, and mid-high intelligence. And, I guess that's how it shows injuries. A little overcomplicated, if you ask me, but I guess they wanted something more realistic than HP."
She points to a button that looks like an open envelope.
"That'll be messages. But I only have the one. And then.." She touches one more button, which has an image of a backpack on it. "Inventory. Like I thought, I have this robe-armor thing equipped and nothing else."

She dismisses the screen again, looking around. "Fly, huh? Well, these wings don't seem too much like decoration, and I know I can get myself off the ground. Maybe if I give it a running start.." She tenses up, then starts running straight ahead. After ten or so steps she starts flapping her wings as quickly as possible while jumping. After a brief struggle, she does start going up, and keeps going, making her way fairly far off the ground.

Once high enough in the air, she doesn't have to flap as much, instead spreading her wings and gliding forward. "Hff..wow..I don't believe this," she says with a wide grin. She turns her body downward and dives. "WOOOOOOOOOO!"

>

Get hit by a weak spell cast by some noob.

Just enjoy the moment. Amazing! You're flying! Truly flying! You own this sky! Ignore any Daedalic warnings and soar to the highest you can achieve!

Explore surroundings

> Pay attention to your flying. You don't want to do something stupid, like dive into a tree, right?

Be quiet! You don't want to attract the attention of anything until you find some party members.

She pulls up from the dive before getting anywhere near the ground, flapping back up into the air again, and then starts circling around, alternating climbing and falling so she can get a look at what's below. Man, you guys are no fun. Whoever you are. I'm freaking flying, for f***'s sake. Her eyes seem sharper than she remembers, picking up a better detail than normal human eyes should of the ground from above. So there's this grassy area with f*** all on it that I came from, and a forest over that way..I think I'll just call where the forest is 'north'. So then, mountains to the south, a bunch more boring grassland to the east, but I think there's some groups of people or animals or something over that way, and to the west..well, that looks sorta like a forest, except most of the trees are dead. Also I just noticed, I seem to have an extra pair of eyelids, except I can see through them? They closed when I started flying up.

>

Oh yeah. Some birds (owls) have some extra transparent eyelids so that they can clean debris out of their eyes without having to stop looking ahead.
Anyway, why don't we scout out to the east?

I agree, Rule Two right and even of those aren't people we might get spells.

> Let's go see the dead trees.

Seconding Kieros

> Revive trees.

Well, okay..both of those seem pretty risky, but at least the dead trees aren't boring. She flies down toward the "west", and makes somewhat of an awkward landing, going from a dive to frantically flapping her wings a few feet from the ground to being face-down, but unharmed, on the ground.

"Unf. I guess I need to practice landing." She pushes herself back up onto her feet and pauses, panting lightly. "Hff..whew. That was..quite a workout, actually." Once she has properly caught her breath, she walks forward into the dead woods, looking around.

The trees are leafless and dead, even some that appear to be evergreens. The ground starts out as a mixture of grass and strangely scorched bits, like the aftermath of a fire, and leans more toward the latter farther in. Other than the sound of the young woman's footsteps, the area is eerily quiet.

The silence doesn't bother her much at first, but after a minute or so of walking she starts to look more nervous and tense. She pauses, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I'm being silly. There's nothing here! I'd hear it if there was.

"...Maybe..I should come up with a good character name? Just in case I run into anybody. It'd be nice to have a name to RP with."

>

Your name is Aelora

> Airis.

Aeola, The Great Mimic Mage.

Aurora the Mimicker

>Auriel

>Clipped wings, as in you really shouldn't have come here and now you are in trouble

"Hmm..."

The winged woman starts walking again as she thinks. "Ael..hm..'ris..Au..Aur...Aul?

"..Aureol..Aurier..Auloiri..Auleoria?

"Auleiris? Auliuleoriumrisarisnorioreire...Ah! Auleoris! That sounds--whoa!" She trips over something on the ground and hops backwards, nearly falling over again.

"What th..is that a..?" After regaining her balance, 'Auleoris' examines what she just tripped over, and finds it to be a skeletal hand making its way up out of the ground. A quick look around finds several other mostly-buried bones in motion. "Okay, yeah..dead trees, dead grass. Dead people is fine; undead--not so much."

One of the skeletons gets its torso out. "Well, I still can't really fight." She turns around while the sound of bones clacking against each other starts to build. "Aaand these trees are probably way too close together for my wingspan."

Without further prompting, the winged woman flies straight into a run back the direction she came from. More of the skeletons show up, now completely out of the ground, and she has to maneuver around increasingly large crowds of them as she goes. "S*** s*** s*** s***--"

---

[<|<|]

"S** s*** what the f*** what the h*** is going on s*** s***--"
"Sir, if you would please calm down--"
In the early midmorning, in the middle of moderately dense woods and not in sight of any path to speak of, two young men are standing and having two different conversations in front of one another.

"--oh g** oh f*** what the h*** I've been abducted by aliens what the f***--"
"--I could probably explain better what's going on--"
Both are wearing plain tan tunics. One of them is visibly panicking. He has very dark blue, shoulder-length straight hair, and somewhat of a slim build. His eyes are yellow and catlike; his ears are fuzzy with fur the same color as his hair, also catlike, and he has a similarly catlike, if overly long and thick, tail of that same color.

"--F*** f*** s*** S*** f***--"
"--If you would just stop shouting about solid excrement and planting for a moment--"
The other looks rather like an elf--pointed ears and all. His eyes have a red color to them, and his skin is green--admittedly unusual for an elf, but it seems inappropriate to term him an orc as his build is rather more elf-like, and the green involved is more of a bright green. His hair, which appears short but generally unkempt, is actually a darker green than his skin.

"--What the f*** oh g** oh s***--"
SMACK

The green elf gives up on being reasonable and gives the other guy a solid slap in the face, earning a few seconds of silence. He spends them speaking. "Look, I shall find you again and explain as much as I can when you are able to hold a normal conversation. Okay?" The cat-guy doesn't say anything, still gawking in some combination of confusion and shock. "..Okay."

The green-skinned one walks away into the trees. Thirty or so seconds pass. Then a screen appears in front of the remaining humanoid with a message on it:

Advice: How to Play the Game!
1. Pick a class! You're going to need to defend yourself.
2. Metagame! Just because your character doesn't know doesn't mean he can't make a lucky guess.
3. Beware the Gray Queen.

And after this last admonition is a symbol, in blue on the dark shade of the screen's back:

SpoilerShow

>

SpoilerShow

In case it isn't clear [<|<|] is meant to resemble a rewind button.

Search classes for Gentleman, Gun'sbraster, Zaubermancer, and Steampunk.

Search classes for Steampunk Gentleman.

FTFY

Search for Xanatos Gambiteer, Conspiracy Theorist, Eldritch Summoner, Timespace Warper. I figure him for being a paranoid teleporter.

You're right. This one needs to happen.

Riftblader( A mobile class able to travel between the rift of space), Runeblader, Alchemist, Soul Reaver(Uses souls as a resource in which you imbue them into your weapon), Cleric, Bard, Astral Mage ( High powered Mage that controls the substance of space aka astral cause its cooler :shades: ), Druid, Warlock, Light Knight( Manipulating light as a weapon), Sealcaster ( clarification stores seals of magic and opens them later in combat.)

> Laugh about needing a class and never get around to doing it.

Or that :P

He remains there for a moment or so, eyes glazed over, before finally shaking his head back and forth, his hair swishing around and his ears flopping for a few seconds as he mentally shakes himself out of the stunned state.

"Okay.." he takes a deep breath, and lets it go. "Okay, so this is just--it's just, like an RPG, right? So, this message says I'm supposed to pick a class.."

He pokes the Class: NULL panel and the search engine appears. "Whoa..I was expecting just a little list. So I guess I'm supposed to, like, be creative? Let's see what I can come up with..." He scratches his head, and then begins typing away.

Gentleman: 2 results found.

Diplomatic Noble:
Useless in battle. Need I say more?

Inspirational Noble:
What good is a prince if there's no army to lead? The answer is none. None at all.

"Uh..huh."

Steampunk: 2 results found.

Machinist:
Yes, that little steam-driven spider looked very impressive up until the moment where it got stepped on.

Gadgeteer:
Your tools are moderately less effective and only slightly more reliable than those of a Gunner, but considerbly more varied--which means about half of them will never be useful in the least.

"Okay, what the h*** is up with these descriptions? I've literally never played this game before, and they expect me to pick a class based on some other snarky b******'s comments? Well what about this then?"

Zaubermancer: 2 results found.

Utzgarignjer:
You probably thought you wouldn't get any results from banging randomly on the keyboard. Well, lucky you then!

Mage-blade:
Not as resilient as a proper Fighter; not as skilled as a proper Swordsman; not as powerful as a proper Mage.

"That's weird..I wouldn't expect someone who hasn't played Barkley to have any idea what that meant. I guess putting the actual class in would've been pretty stupid, I mean, how many alien octoroons are there? None? Probably none."

Gun'sbraster: 2 results found.

Gunner:
For those who enjoy obsessively maintaining their equipment, only for it to still fail at a critical moment.

Demolitionist:
I hope you're not terribly fond of having all of your extremities.


Steampunk Gentleman: 1 result found.

Tech Noble:
And you thought those gadgets and constructs were unreliable when you were the one building them!


Xanatos Gambiteer: 1 result found.

Mastermind:
The only class that gained power when efforts were made to rebalance the system. Those changes have since been rolled back. Let's be clear: You can't use magic, you can't really fight, and you gain no charisma.

"Okay..I would totally pick that class, if I hadn't just been told the whole human race is counting on me or something."

Conspiracy Theorist: No results found. How exactly would that be a useful occupation? Try something that makes sense next time.

"..I don't even know why I typed that in. I mean, I didn't think aliens existed before they kidnapped me and stuck me in a pod to play one of their games..which, it's kinda weird how they have humans programmed in here, and English even. Wait..hm, I wonder if.."

When he types in the next pair of words, the screen starts glitching out and flickering, and the search takes a few seconds to load rather than being instant like all of the others. The text that it displays is slightly corrupted, some of the letters flickering back and forth to non-letter symbols.

Eldritch Summoner: 1 rEs▽LT f▮Und.

W▩rldbrink M▷ge:
d◎Nnnnnnnnnnnn
. Just...j▽St ◍○☼Σ't. N◆body hAs evEr pl▥yt▧sted thiS cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
, and for VERY good reason╞

He blinks, wide-eyed, at the screen. "Ooookaaaay..not takin' that one." And then types in the next search as quickly as he can. The tab representing "Eldritch Summoner" in the search history continues to glitch randomly, but the rest of the screen returns to normal.

Timespace Warper: 1 result found.

Dimensional Mage:
You really are just looking to have as many opportunities as possible to screw yourself and your friends over, aren't you?


Riftblader: 1 result found.

Dimensional Samurai:
Two words: Portal cut. And no, you can't time travel. Probably.

"So..would the portals have a time limit or something? Is it like that Anna chick in Mana Khemia? Why are they using flavor text instead of actual descriptions, anyway?"

Runeblader: 2 results found.

Mage-blade:
Not as resilient as a proper Fighter; not as skilled as a proper Swordsman; not as powerful as a proper Mage.

Weapon Enchanter:
Do you really want to be stuck upgrading everyone else's equipment?

"Uh...nope. Boring."

Alchemist: 4 results found.

Alchemist:
The results of matter alteration are not predictable in the least.

Crafter:
For those who enjoy spending countless hours combining things with other things and only occasionally creating something useful.

Medical Herbalist:
Can't heal as well as a Cleric can, and still isn't very good at fighting.

Demolitionist:
I hope you're not terribly fond of having all of your extremities.


Soul Reaver: 2 results found.

Spirit Enchanter:
Good luck collecting the resources. At least they only work for you, so you don't have to worry about being badgered to make everyone else's swords glow in the dark.

Spirit Caster:
Don't expect to be able to rip souls out of bodies until long after all of your enemies are utterly immune to that sort of thing.


Cleric: 1 result found.

Cleric of ________:
Here's the deal: You have to serve a god. The god you serve determines what abilities you get. Which god it is, is chosen for you personally--and not in a good way. If you don't please your god, you don't get any powers.

"Finally, a description that isn't stupid. But yeah, not takin' that one either. They'd stick me with the god of no fun or something, by that description. Who wants to be a healer anyway?"

Bard: 4 results found.

Lore Caster:
You can only embody each legend briefly, once per week, and its power scales to its fame. It's too bad you don't actually know any legends yet.

Music Mage:
Needing to "carry a tune to save your life" has never been more literal. Hopefully everyone likes whatever kind of music you like, or you might wake up dead one morning.

Entertainer:
Of course you can't be bothered to learn to fight, because a bored ally is an ally without any buffs.

Glamour Mage:
If you're willing to sacrifice battle and utility spells alike for the ability to convince anyone of anything, you really do deserve whatever it is you get.

"So, what...a Music Mage casts magic by playing music? Like Gitaroo man or somethin'? That'd be pretty sweet."

Astral Mage: 1 result found.

Astral Mage:
Spending all of your time gaining power in the astral plane means having a nearly useless body in the physical one.


Druid: 4 results found.

Nature Mage:
Useless in caves, deadlands, and pretty much anywhere else without enough plants.

Shapeshifter:
I hope you enjoy being the 'team pet'.

Beastmaster:
It's fun having other creatures do all the work for you until they're all gone and you have no idea how to fend for yourself alone.

Animalist:
Learn all your skills from the animals. You know, the same creatures people kill and eat every day?


Warlock (Interpreted as "Mage"): 1000+ results found. A mage is just someone who casts spells; that's about as vague as it gets. Try again.

"Okay. Guys. Look. A warlock? Not a mage. Two totally different things. I guess whoever translated this from alien gobbledigook couldn't be bothered to figure that out."

Light Knight: 3 results found.

Light Mage:
Solid light really doesn't have the kind of weight that gives solid metal, ice, stone, and various other things the ability to do reasonable damage. Still, this isn't the worst class.

Knight:
Like a Figher who can't deal as much damage because he's much too busy wearing heavy armor and being a meat shield.

Paladin:
All the worst parts of a Knight and Cleric in one.

"What's a paladin? Not me."

Sealcaster: 1 result found.

Rune Mage:
Every spell requires a meticulous drawing that disappears the instant it's cast. If you draw it wrong, either nothing or something bad for you happens. Sleep? Who needs sleep?

The cat-guy leans back from the screen a bit and sighs. "Aand, I'm all outta ideas. I mean, unless I wanted to try swordsman or fighter or something, but those sound boring. I mean, look at all the different magical s*** I can apparently learn to do in here. At least one of these has gotta be good, even if whoever wrote these descriptions don't think so. Hmm.."

>

Be a Tech Noble or shapeshifter, or maybe a Utzgarignjer for the heck of it.

> Portal Cut. You have to be a Dimensional Samurai.

>Dimensional mage.

Portal cut aka Riftblading time :D

>W▩rldbrink M▷ge

Alchemy seems cool.

>W▩rldbrink M▷ge

Im gonna have to...2nd this.

W▩rldbrink M▷ge. If not, Utzgarignjer, Diplomatic Noble, or the most boring choice, Dimensional Mage.

W▩rldbrink M▷ge< that class gave a glitchy but rather honest explanation. I don't trust it ...

{Meta: Vote Count Ranking:
1 vote = 1 vote:
Worldbrink Mage: 4
Dimensional Samurai: 2
Dimensional Mage: 2
Utzgarignjer: 2
Tech Noble: 1
Shapeshifter: 1
Alchemist: 1
Diplomatic Noble: 1

1 person = 1 vote:
Worldbrink Mage: 2 + 1/3 + 1/2 = 2+5/6
Dimesional Samurai: 1 + 1/2 = 1+1/2
Dimensional Mage: 1 + 1/3 = 1+1/3
Alchemist: 1 = 1
Utzgarignjer: 1/3 + 1/3 = 2/3
Tech Noble: 1/3 = 1/3
Shapeshifter: 1/3 = 1/3

(Charcter indecisive)}
The young man stands there a moment, paralyzed by indecision. His hand hovers over the glitched out search entry for a few seconds. "Aww..h*** I can't help it. I gotta know."

He pokes that, and the whole screen starts behaving as it did before. "Am I gonna have to deal with the screen freaking out nonstop if I pick this? Well..I mean, the class might be broken good. They never did playtest it.." He selects the class, and something new appears on the screen, on top of everything else, and a stylus pops out of the screen, which he manages to catch reflexively. "Whoa! Didn't know I could..what is this?"

By imprinting my personal symbols here, I hereby take upon myself 100% responsibility and absolve all entities involved of any responsibility, legal, moral or otherwise, for any damage done to my psyche.
Signed, ___________

"Is it..does it do that for all the classes?" He backs out, causing the stylus to disappear, and picks another class at random, going to the confirmation dialog. "...No? It's just a normal 'are you sure' thing. Okay..I think they're f***ing serious about this. But why would you leave something like that in a game?" Another backing out, and back to the Worldbrink Mage search.

He inhales through his teeth, looking at the screen for a good long moment. "Fffffffffnaw. I can't do this. I mean, I'd think it was a joke or something if I didn't feel like I was literally standing in the middle of a forest with a freakin' cat tail. But this's just..way too real. I feel like I'll be legitimately in danger if I pick this class.

He backs out to the main search. "...Plus there's the whole, 'Earth is depending on you' thing or whatever. If that green guy shows up again, I gotta ask him what the h*** they were talking about."

{Meta: Character preference adjusted--Worldbrink Mage -3.}

He takes a deep breath, and lets it go. "Oh-kay, what about they classes they did playtest? Man, I could go for swingin' a sword around and hoppin' through portals. That sounds pretty good, actually."

He goes to the Dimensional Samurai tab and selects that one, quickly going through the confirmation dialogue. The Class search fades off into a skill tree, and his clothes shifts into a special kind of kimono with leather padding placed to protect a few vital areas, along with a long, sheathed katana.

The cat-guy pulls the katana about halfway out, looking at it. It looks beat up and rusted in some places. "Of course I get the s****y equipment first. Does this even work?" He tries drawing and swinging the katana, which comes as a single motion, and as it cuts through the air something like a tear in a piece of paper appears, both where the katana cut and across the bark of a nearby tree. "Whoa! So I just--ack!" Having put his hand out toward the portal, he draws it back as both sides suddenly shut again. "Okay..yeah. Crazy time limit. I guess the idea is I just have to hop through right away, or else. Oh man, I bet it hurts losing a section of a tail, too..yipe!"

He jumps forward and turns around in midair to find himself facing a gigantic wolf that just barely missed pouncing straight on top of him. "Oh s***!" The wolf stands up and growls at him. He sheathes the blade, holding his hand on the hilt. "Alright, time to try this out. C'mon!"

>

SpoilerShow

If you really badly want to have a Worldbrink Mage, don't worry. There will be more players, and at least one of them will be able to go through with it if you suggest it for them.

I was slightly surprised nobody suggested a search for a mathematical class. The deal with the winged girl is that she's seriously bad at math and knows it; not every character will have both of those problems.

> Practice your jump cuts. Either literally or metaphorically.

Practice makes perfect. :(

Show him your slashes.

Enjoy your tutorial battle~!

>Try to cut it in half

>say what would happen to wolf if it jumped into a portal? Get cut in half?

>Try to cut it in half

with the power of time-space!!!

Accidentally teleport the wolf to another player.

He makes a 'come here' gesture with his free hand, grinning. "Whoop!" The wolf tries to bite him, which he sidesteps and slashes at its neck. It makes the big animal back up slightly, but it doesn't look all that badly injured. "What th..the f*** is your skin made outta?! I mean, I know it's rusty, but it shouldn't suck this much..hup!"

"Okay." He hops back from a swipe by the wolf's claws, and then turns halfway to one side, cutting a hole in the air behind him that opens up to a spot a couple of feet behind the wolf, and jumps in, turning around to face the wolf. It tries to swipe at him through the portal, and it closes on a couple of the wolf's toes, which cuts them right off.

The wolf howls in pain, and the cat-guy turns toward the wolf he's now standing behind and jumps, drawing his sword again and using the momentum of his fall to dig the sharp end into the wolf's back. He slides it across the wound, steps back, and sheathes it again.

The wolf turns around, in a rage, and charges at him. He opens a portal behind him and sidesteps, letting the animal charge right through. The wolf comes out the other end of the portal, which is directly above a tree, and comes crashing down through the branches.

"Wha--aah!--Oof." A female voice comes from the branches, and in addition to the wolf someone else crashes down to the ground, landing next to it.

While the animal is stunned, the samurai presses the advantage, running up and slashing at it as many times as he can manage. Meanwhile, the other person, who seems to be a dark-skinned young woman with brown hair up in a ponytail, purple eyes, and yet another plain tan tunic, stands up, brushes herself off, and backs away from the fight.

The wolf gets up and jumps at the blue-haired guy. He tries to sidestep this, but the animal is a little too fast and he gets knocked aside, rolling on the ground a foot or so before getting back up to a kneeling position, the bottom tip of his blade dug into the ground. "Ow! D***."

The wolf stands up and gets ready to run at him again. He gets up and cuts another hole in space directly in front of him, this one linking to another hole, just an inch forward, facing the opposite direction. The wolf runs at him, and the portal closes just as its front legs clear it, cutting the creature in two.

The cat-guy jumps away, a vicious grin on his face, as the front half of the wolf crawls forward, growling. "Ha! How d'you like that, b****!"

"S***, just put the thing out of its misery, would you?" The girl from before is leaning against a nearby tree, looking moderately disgusted.

"Okay, okay." He stabs it in the neck. Which takes a couple of tries to get right. "Who are you, anyway?"

>

SpoilerShow

She was going to show up anyway, but since you suggested teleporting the wolf at another player and the portal-slice ability has limited range, to at best line-of-sight, this worked out perfectly.

"My name is Jeannette Baptiste," she answers, her voice taking on a very strong French accent when she speaks the name. "And you?"
"Louis Lincoln. You French or something?"
"I think that would be obvious, since I am speaking it right now."
"Wha--? No you're not. I can hear you talking perfect English."
"While I have been told my English is very good," she says, now in a somewhat thick yet understandable French accent, "I assure you I was not speaking it a before. It sounds to me as if you are speaking fluent French."
"But I don't know any--ohhh, oh I get it. Those aliens must have a universal translator thing going. I mean, we're in VR pod things or whatever so I guess it's already interfacing with our brains anyway. But, uh, what were you doing in that tree?"

She shrugs. "I woke up there a few minutes ago, after they were putting us in those pods. Your shouting woke me up, actually." Her speech has resumed a seeming accentlessness that probably marks a return to her native language from her own perspective.
"So you probably didn't pick a class yet, huh?"
"Non. I am guessing that is how you received your fancy clothes and sword?"

Interrupting Louis' response, a screen appears in front of Jean with a message displayed in the center:
Conseils: Comment vaincre le jeu!
1. Coopérer! Deux avis valent mieux qu'un.
2. Exercez! Un muscle non utilisé est faible.
3. Ne désespérez! Vous ne savez pas ce qui arrivera ensuite.

"Aww, it's in French."
"Well, it is my screen, no?"

Does this character have a class yet? If so what? If not search 'Trigonometry' and 'Worldbrink Mage'.

Well, she climbed that tree without class abilities, so she's probably reasonably sneaky and athletic based on natural talent.
She also doesn't seem to enjoy seeing a wolf get razor'd up too much. Animal affinity?

Class suggestions -> Ghost (literally a spirit), Assassin, Lancer (Death from above style Jump-stabbing), Pickpocket, FreeRunner (Parkourist), Tourist, Wushu Monk.

+1 to ghost + ghost buster

I still want to see what that unpronounceable class that came up in the Zaubermancer search is.

She must be either a calculist(calculus) or a quantum mechanic(a field of science).

Meh she is the scout :p

>she looks smart, maybe she's the smartass class

"..Did you hear someone whispering just now?"
"Nope. Anyway, you might wanna pick a class pretty soon. I mean, another f***in' giganto-wolf might come barreling in any time now."

She starts working on the screen, the guy looking over her shoulder. "I think it's that one there. It's a search engine thing."
"I have eyes. Allow me to use them."

{Meta: For your choosing convenience, the class searches and resulting descriptions are fully translated to English.}

"Wh..the h*** are you typing in?"
"It is a class, no?"
"That's not the kind of.." Louis trails off at the sight of an actual result coming up.

Trigonometry: 1 result found.

Trigonometrist:
Use triangle-based mathematics to fight. You're the one who thought to choose this class, so obviously you can figure out how to use it properly.

"The actual f***?"
"Interesting. I wonder what other maths have classes.."

Calculus: 2 results found.

Differential Calculist:
Use mathematics involving the measurement of rates of change to fight. You're the one who thought to choose this class, so obviously you can figure out how to use it properly.

Integral Calculist:
Use mathematics concerned with summing infinite infinitesimal-width vertical sections to fight. You're the one who thought to choose this class, so obviously you can figure out how to use it properly.

"They all seem to have the same warning on them," says the young woman. "Well, what of this?"

Quantum Mechanic: 4 results found.

Probability Mage:
By the very definition, results will definitely vary.

Dimensional Mage:
You really are just looking to have as many opportunities as possible to screw yourself and your friends over, aren't you?

Machinist:
Yes, that little steam-driven spider looked very impressive up until the moment where it got stepped on.

Gadgeteer:
Your tools are moderately less effective and only slightly more reliable than those of a Gunner, but considerbly more varied--which means about half of them will never be useful in the least.

"Hey, can I show you something real quick?"
"What?"
"Just, lemme type something in the search bar, and watch what it does." He types in a certain pair of words, and, predictably, the screen starts flickering and glitching out.

?▩?◆☼?◆☼?◆▩▷☼?▩▷◆☼: 608413 ☼☼ult(s) ▥▧und.

W▮rl***^k_**ge:
Cast s▽▽▽ls at the cost of s&nity. yOuR SSSSSsssss might not c0me back. Not eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen
outsidetheg@me. ######sly, don't take this cl(ε).

"WHAT THE F*** DID YOU DO TO MY SCREEN?!"
"Hey, I didn't make it do that. It's not permanent, I promise. It just does that whenever you type in that class name. And if you go to pick that class it has this waiver for you to sign. It's crazy."
"Hm. According to this, the class has one cast spells at the cost of...sanity. Which may be permanently lost, even outside of the game."
"Huh? It didn't say that for me. It just said that it hadn't been playtested, and 'don't take it'. Weird, the descriptions are usually the same every time you get the same class as a result."
"Well, this is the exception to a lot of things, I expect."
"Hold on, lemme try something else."
"F*** off!"
"No, no, wait, lemme just--gah!" Jean backhands Louis, knocking him straight off to the ground on one side, but not before he managed to enter in most of what he was trying to search for.

Utzgabadzfsd: 1 result found.

Utzgarignjer:
You probably thought you wouldn't get any results from banging randomly on the keyboard. Well, lucky you then!

"Oh. This seems more tame, if a bit useless a description."
He stands up. "How the h*** did you just push me over like that?"
She shrugs. "I was just trying to get you away because you were being obnoxious. Your weight is like a feather. Now, allow me to attempt some things."

Ghost: 2 results found.

Astral Mage:
Spending all of your time gaining power in the astral plane means having a nearly useless body in the physical one.

Necromancer:
Everyone hates you. No, really. Everyone. And physically you are almost as weak as an Astral Mage.


Ghost Buster: 2 results found.

Cleric of ________:
Here's the deal: You have to serve a god. The god you serve determines what abilities you get. Which god it is, is chosen for you personally--and not in a good way. If you don't please your god, you don't get any powers.

Paladin:
All the worst parts of a Knight and Cleric in one.


Scout: 1 result found.

Ranger:
Useless in cities and not much better in other cramped spaces.


Pickpocket: 1 result found.

Taker Rogue:
When you focus your energy on learning to make a profit, two things happen: (1) you can't take a hit; (2) you're only mildly okay at killing things.

"Hmm.."

Assassin: 1 result found.

Slayer Rogue:
You're nowhere near as good as a Taker Rogue at making a profit, and you still can't take a hit.

"That could be interesting, perhaps. I wonder if..?"

Free Runner: 2 results found.

Taker Rogue:
When you focus your energy on learning to make a profit, two things happen: (1) you can't take a hit; (2) you're only mildly okay at killing things.

Slayer Rogue:
You're nowhere near as good as a Taker Rogue at making a profit, and you still can't take a hit.

"I see."
"What? What do you see? I can't read any of this bulls***."
"Would you like another backhand, cat-boy?"

Tourist: 1 result found.

Civilian:
Literally the most useless class. The only purpose of including this class is to weed out the stupid early on and provide a challenge to those who feel the game is too easy. Also used for several non-combatant NPCs.

"That is surprisingly candid. And..perhaps something more strength-oriented to choose from, as well..."

Lancer: 4 results found.

Fighter:
Hope you enjoy taking all of the hits for everyone else, and not having any magic.

Knight:
Like a Figher who can't deal as much damage because he's much too busy wearing heavy armor and being a meat shield.

Paladin:
All the worst parts of a Knight and Cleric in one.

Mage-lance:
Not as resilient nor skilled as a proper Fighter; not as powerful as a proper Mage.

"I am guessing some of these warrior classes allow one to choose one's favored weapon from the start."

Wushu Monk: 1 result found.

Fist Monk:
Fight with your fists! It's not like weapons were invented for a reason or anything.

"Hmph."

Smarta**: No results found, smarta**.

"My my, such a comeback."
"Seriously, how are you so f***in' strong you can just brush me off like that and knock me over? You some kind of super-strong race or something?"
"Are you some strange form of racist, Louis?" she says, pronouncing the name as if it were a French one.
"No, I mean in the game d***it. Like how I'm obviously some kind of cat person?"
"I seem to be perfectly human," she responds, brushing back some of her hair to show an ordinary ear. "Perhaps cat people are exceptionally weak."

>

SpoilerShow

I did try to make sure that I was using the right words. Took a while to do as much as I did, too. But I bet the grammar is still completely wrong on that French.

These are their "real names". Everyone already has one of those. The character names will still be determined by suggestion.

> Trigonometrist.

Trig thing...

> Differential Calculist. Duh. As long as you don't face e^x, you should be fine.

I really don't think a math class would be a good idea, unless Sho Minamimoto is choosing. That being said, I either vote for the way of the surprising fist or the Utzgarignjer.

>Probability Mage

>Calculist (preferably integral)

She needs a name. A French name of daring, and danger. Unfortunately, most of the French names of Legend I know are male (Lupin, Jacques Clouseau) and Joan of Arc doesn't really apply. . .
So, the Maîtresse, or L'Enseignant ?

Differential Calculist -> You can tell when you'll arrive, or how to intercept things based on relative motion. You're pretty much a rocket scientist. . . You can tell how healthy a monster is by how fast (or not) his health bar is moving. Plus, you get a pretty nasty ruler! Time to take these punks to school!

Curris I think Trig is better :D

Well yeah but you would have to already be that good I think.

Definitely Trigonomitrist.

{Meta: Vote Count Ranking:
Trigonometrist: 4
Calculist: 3
(Differential 2, Integral 1)
Fist Monk: 1
Utzgarignjer: 1
Probability Mage: 1}

"Whatever. So what class are you gonna take?"
"I am thinking, probably one of these mathematical ones."
"What, seriously? How do those even work?"
She shrugs. "I do not know, and my curiosity is sufficient to take it. I believe I understand trigonometry well enough.."
"Seriously? I don't even remember what that is."
"Well, I am just starting mathematical study at university, and should know at least that to be able to begin. I believe I understand calculus as well, but this much better."

Jeannette selects Trigonometrist as her class, and her tunic shifts to a leather peplos and a himation--very Greek-looking clothes, in other words. The skill tree that the class selection screen fades to looks like a wedge from a giant wheel, with a couple of skills already learned in the "outer" part of the wedge, facing down. It has [+] and [-] buttons, of which the former is faded out. "Hmm.." Pushing the [-] to zoom out shows two adjacent wedges as well, in less detail. On the left is "Géométrie", on the right is "Calcul I". Another zoom out opens up two more wedges, and so on until a gigantic wheel is visible, but the individual skills are tiny, unreadable dots.

"So what can you actually do with that class, anyway?"
She zooms back on on the "Trigonométrie" wedge, and looks at those skills. "It seems I have basic proficiency in using protractors and compasses as weapons."
"Really? That's kinda dumb. Did you actually get one?"
"Yes." Without having apparently gotten them from anywhere, she is holding a semicircle-shaped protractor in one hand, and a compass in the other. The former appears to have a blade in the outside of the arc. "There is a free skill point here for something else.."

The available skills that only cost 1 point are "Pythagorean", which is passive, and "Unit Circle", an active skill. Everything else will have to wait. "I must think on this..meanwhile, perhaps you could climb a tree and see where this forest ends."
"Climb a tree? I'm clumsy as f***. I can barely climb stairs without breaking my d*** back."
"You did not seem so clumsy fighting that wolf. This is a game, after all, no?"
"Oh..right. Hold this for me."

Louis hands her his sheathed sword and climbs the tree. "You thought this would throw your balance off?" she says. "I feel as if I am holding a meterstick. No wonder it did so little harm."
"Do you wanna know what I see up here or are you gonna keep making fun of me for s*** I didn't have any control over?"
She shrugs. "Go ahead."
"The forest is thin over that way. Looks like it just goes away and there's some grassland or somethin'. Straight the other way the forest gets thicker, but there's a huge clearing. Probably a town!"
"Why would people build a town in the middle of woods like that?"
"Because it's an RPG, duh!"

>

SpoilerShow

So, choosing a destination and if/what skill to take for Jeannette.

> Go to the town
> Unit circle

> Go to the town
> Unit circle

this

Townward Bound :p

>always go for passive skills.

"I suppose we should go to this town then, no?"
"Usually a good idea. It should be safe, and if they're not f***ing idiots, any other players around should be going there, too." Louis hops down off the top branch and makes a rolling landing on the ground, standing up unharmed but with his hair messed up.
"Good to know you would think me an idiot to go the other way," Jeannette says, ticking the 'unit circle' skill and then dismissing the screen before her. "Your twig is there," she says, pointing at the sheathed blade now leaning against the tree.
Louis walks over, pulling some twigs out of his hair and brushing through it a couple of times. "Look, I don't know how much you're into video games, but I play 'em for a living. So trust me--I know what I'm doin'."
"You presume these aliens make games as we humans do."
He straps the sword to his side again. "Well, they made this one a whole lot like ours, by what I've seen so far. Town's this way, c'mon." He points and starts walking, the human girl following after.

---

[<|<|]

The winged woman Auleoris stops in her tracks at the sight of a small crowd of skeletal creatures ahead of her. "Ff..ff.."
Okay. Lost? Check. Surrounded? Her gaze swings left and right to catch a few more undead slowly making their way toward her. Yep. This was a really bad idea.
She turns to the left again at the sound of something hard hitting bone, and sees a green-skinned elf wearing the same kind of tunic she started out in knocking his way through a few of the skeletons with a short sword that seems to have either been painted bright green, or somehow made whole out of some solid metal-like material of said color.

He runs up next to her, the sword changing its shape completely into a small ankh, and holds it up. There is a small flash of light, and the undead around back away, stunned. "Ah, good to see my luck is not yet failing," he says. When he lets go of the ankh, it shifts into a small sphere of green and floats around behind him.
"Are you--?"
"Yes, we shall discuss that later. What class did you choose?"
"Uh, Mimic Mage. I'm sort of an idiot like that."
"No, that is a wise choice. Just at the beginning difficult. Quickly, what element will you prefer?"

>

Destruction! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

SURPRISE!

> "Uh, Bismuth?"

You know what? Bismuth is even better than surprise. Just LOOK AT IT!

You know what? Bismuth is even better than surprise. Just LOOK AT IT!

2nd

Because I'm prone to peer pressure and it seems interesting, > bismuth

>holy would be good right now or fire whichever

>holy would be good right now or fire whichever

That's like us choosing wizard in The Room, an interesting idea but permanent and ultimately unhelpful.

Fourthing bismuth, because I really love that element.

>NO we must have bromine. Bromine is a liquid, therefore it is more or less infinity times more useful.

>NO we must have bromine. Bromine is a liquid, therefore it is more or less infinity times more useful.

Relax. Next time someone needs an element, I've got something cool for that. But for now, Bismuth.

Well, you have Western Europe Classic Elements Air-Earth-Water-Fire,
You have Chinese/Wuxia Classic Elements - Fire-Earth-Water-Wood-Metal

But why not Lightning?

I also vote for Bismuth

"Uh, Um.." S***, he had to say 'quickly' didn't he? "Uh--Brom...bismuth?"
"I fear there may have been a miscomm--"
"No! Wait, IgetitIgetit. Uh..hol--fi...fire? Fire. No! Lightning!"
"Electricity?"
"Yes," she nods.
"Okay." The green elf reaches toward a part of the air as if something were floating there. The small green ball moves to his hand, taking on a the shape of a small, thin wand. He points it at her and a tiny spark of electricity travels from the end of the wand to her shoulder.

"Ow." She winces, but the pain doesn't seem to be much worse than a particularly nasty bit of pent-up static.
"Now you learn it," says the green one, his wand shifting to some kind of one-handed warhammer. "You do not require to navigate the menu, just to know what is and want to use the skill. Follow me!"
He charges at group of the skeletal creatures, which have regained their composure by now, and swings the hammer around wildly, knocking them down and breaking a few enemy bones in the process. The winged woman follows, holding her hand palm-out toward one of the still-standing undead, and a bolt of lightning jumps from the center of her palm to her target, causing it convulse randomly and fall over. The bolt from her hand is noticeably, though not excessively, larger than the one that came from the wand.

They make it through the line and to the other side, but there are more skeletons, and a few slightly more intact moving bodies, there. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I have observed behavior. These cannot go on living land, which is this way," he responds. His hammer has turned into a bow. He draws the string back and releases, and something resembling an arrow made of bright green light flies out to catch a zombie in the head.

Auleoris holds out her palm again, this time concentrating on a larger group of the undead in their way, and a number of smaller bits of lightning go out. Those enemies hit by a bolt are briefly stunned.

"Good. You are learning. Creative use is the advantage of the Mimic," says the green elf. His strange shapeshifting weapon seems to splash over his hands before turning solid, covering them. He responds to this change by picking up an undead by its throat and tossing it into a few of its fellows.

This gives them a clear space, and they break into a run. The elf's "gloves" return to a single small sphere of green.
"What the h*** class did you pick?"
"Niche. Requires quick responses, flexibility. Time for another element."
"How am I gonna learn it?"
"You should have plenty of skill points from killing a few of these."

>

SpoilerShow

I'm very sorry. Some mistranslations from mr. green elf's native language into English may have caused you to think that was a more "permanent" choice than it actually was. I'll give you three guesses why his language doesn't translate as neatly as the French girl's, and the first two don't count.

Is he an alien? Also, Air would be useful as we have wings and probably an air affinity or something.

See how many skill points you need before you can learn Periodic elements. Probably a lot. Anyway, in the meantime pick Plants.

>pick plutonium

>Use alchemy :P

How? I'm all for alchemy but we can't do alchemy and won't be able to until we drink a potion.

Hmm maybe becuase he isn't human. I mean he is an green elf.?.? OK on a serious note maybe because he is from a different time :P

{Meta: Flipped a coin. Heads: Wind, Tails: Plant. Got tails.}
I don't know if that kind of spell even exists in this game..I mean what would a plutonium spell even do? Give everyone cancer, including the caster? "Uhh, um..plant? Are there plant spells?
"I can make it work," responds the green elf. They stop running for a moment to catch their collective breaths. He waves his hands, and a small collection of leaves appear between his hands, blowing toward her as if driven by the wind. Most of them miss, but a couple catch her in the wrist and torso, actually making small papercut-like wounds on her skin and nicking the semiarmored clothing she has on slightly.
"Ow." More undead start showing up around them. "How freaking far into this place are we? I walked for like, five minutes!"
"How long afterward were you running the wrong way?"
"Can't have been that long."

The elf points in a direction, and Auleoris waves her hands around facing the undead in their path that way. A bunch of leaves appear in front of her, and move as if carried by gale-force winds toward the undead. Those hit in the flesh get deep cuts and reel back in pain. The winged woman and the elf run through the confused crowd, the latter now swinging around a long green club. It smooths over and bends into boomerang after they break through the crowd, and he throws it at the next bunch of zombies in the way.

A few yards farther, and around a few more dead trees, the pair stop short. There are bits of live grass here and there, and the trees are thinner here, but that's not really what made them stop. Rather, it's probably the..well, the thing that appears to have been constructed into a vaguely humanoid form three times the height of a regular human out of five or six different corpses, with the body parts arranged in no particularly coherent manner.

"I..had hoped we would be out too soon for one such to appear."
"What level is that thing?"
"Level? Well, beyond ours."
"So we have to go around it, right?" Thinking quickly, the winged woman tries to learn mixture magic, and then mix the only two spells she currently knows and learn that.
"It would harm anyone too close...you idea a have?"
"Stun it, maybe?" Casting the new spell seems to involve holding one of her hands straight, palm-out, and waving around the other one. A number of leaves come blowing out like before, and then a bolt of lightning travels into the crowd of leaves, sparking through them and into a complex tree of arced bits of lightning, and then the whole concoction hits the giant creature at once. It holds its "arms" in front of its "head", partially blocking the attack.

"'Kay, go!" The pair split up and go around either side of the amalgam thing, and finally make it back out to the grassland, taking a good several steps more before stopping.

Auleoris bends over, hands-on-knees, panting. "Hff..fff..Okay..hff..so I guess that's..not a beginner area."
"I believe the intention was for to the dead biology hint at that."
She slowly stands back up. "Okay. So..you answered yes before. You're one of those...one of the ones that put us in the pods and said we were being tested for our world, or something like that..right?"
"Well, the same species at least. I am not directly among those responsible for carrying out the policy."
"So.."
Anticipating her question, he says, "Yes, I can answer your questions. Most of them, I mean. Some things I do not know and some am I allowed not to say."

>

>Is this like the hunger games? Because I would hate that.

>"What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"I keep hearing this..buzzing in my head at times. I barely even notice it if I'm not paying attention. I thought it was voices at first, but I don't know now. I know I can..feel..words being said somewhere."
"Ah, that would be the Input. Beings of your race from another dimension are supposed to advise you and the other players as an added layer of help and complexity. Most players are not aware of Input, and cannot even perceive it once it has been pointed out."
"Uh-huh..that seems like kind of a convoluted way of helping."
"I confess this program was not originally built for the purpose it is being used. It was originally a mode of fun..well, it still is actually. But it is also used for this now."

"Okay, well, I remember basically what was said on the ship before you guys put us in those pod things, but it was really vague. What exactly are we supposed to be doing here?"
"Well..to put it as simply as I can, your planetary cultures is being tested, and the group brought on-board, yourself included, are a very important part of the test. I clarify that while the part played by those brought onboard is important, the fate of your people is not solely your responsibility. All the same, you should certainly attmept to win the game."
"And..how do we do that?"
He holds his hands palm-up. "That I do not know. The software we are running was not originally designed with a win condition. Rather..whether you have won or not is decided by people, not this machine. And they change the requirements each time based on what is known of extant culture. Also, it would be unfair extreme for them to have told me how you win, as I am helping."
"So, you're not just gonna tell us what we're supposed to do and leave, then?"
"That is not my plan. Honestly, allowing one of our kind to help a people is unusual, but allowed under certain conditions when one truly wishes to be that helper.

"...I confess there is something I require help with, however, in order for me to properly help you and yours."
"And what is that?"
"Do you recall in the room of pods, there was one that was..preoccupied?"
"You mean occupied..already taken?" The green elf nods. "Yeah. I saw them."
"That was a member of the last people we tested using the system on this ship. They are not supposed to still be there. In exchange for being allowed to help your species, I am to get them out."
"You can't just turn off the system or something?"
"Sadly no. Aah..this system runs like a dream you are having. It is connected to the sleeping of the player's mind. When one willingly quits or dies in this world, the connection is safely severed, but attempting to do so otherwise, with the way one's mind is entangled with the system, will have unpredictable and not likely pleasant results. We had to retrofit the version of this program adjusted to your kind on top of the existing system. To the player still here it was as if the world shrunk to a void with only them in it, and then expanded back out into a different world. Honestly, it was thought that experience alone would be sufficient for them to quit."

"So..why would someone stay in this game for so long anyway?"
"Aaah...the current suspicion, or fear, is that they believe they can still win the game somehow. The fact is that every player other than that one was..highly hostile to the other, and ultimately all killed each other not very long in. They were the sole, and unsuccessful, peacemaker in the group. But their race failed for entirely unrelated reasons. Even had those brought into the ship been cooperative and successful, reorganization would still necessary."

>

>You want to know how to win? Why it's simple, you slay the gods themselves

> What is the "true" objective of this game. And why do people get different hints like beware the "Gray Witch". Lastly...
> Is there a map of this world?

"Is..it prying too much to ask what they did that was so bad?"
"It is quite alright. They were..a larger and more developed civilization than we were prepared to encounter, having taken over multiple planets in the neighboring parts of their system. They were ruled by a singular despot, a method that we have observed to work at times though it invites more often disaster. This despot attacked us without conversation and had a plan of using our technological improvements over theirs to further the extant empire..an empire built on the blood of inhabitants other habitated planets, as well as the backs of their own lower classes."
"Yeah, that's..pretty bad.

"..I got a message not long after I started the game saying something about 'how to win the game'. Is that normal?"
"It is not a part of the game. It may have something to do with your group's true goal. I did not receive one."
"I think the other players got different messages...the, uh, 'input' implied as much."
"I would not but suspect that each contains something important. Perhaps all together form a whole of even greater significance? But that is conjecture only."

"And..what was the point of this game before you started using it to test civilizations?"
"The stasis containers were intended to preserve our people on long journeys through space, but the initial testing indicated parts of the users' minds were still active and insanity possible result of overlong stays. Programs such as this one give the mind something to do, and the external-to-internal messaging would inform the crew when it was time to leave. It is also used as a leisure activity even when not on a long journey, however.

"There is no true win condition, the program lays out a world and allows the players to do that which they wish in it. One decides goals and may feel happy accomplishing them."

"So if this game has a world in it, is there a map somewhere?"
"Yes. Normally, the towns near spawn places have somewhere in them a map of at least part of the world around."
"Any idea where a town is? I flew up high before, and didn't actually see any buildings."
"I saw a town near the mountains from a distance. I also met one in-game person who stated a town to be in the midst of the forest." He points toward the direction Auleoris dubbed "south" as he mentions the mountains, and "north" as he speaks of the forest.
"Just how long have you been in the game already, anyway?"
"I was allowed extra time before your people began appearing to become accustomed to this form. I was glad for it. It is very strange having designated ambulatory and manipulative limbs."
"So..wait, why does the game use human forms anyway? I mean, if it was made for.."
"It is customary to adapt the program for testing a race by forms and customs more familiar to that race. This is what I meant by saying we were adjusting the program to your kind."

>

SpoilerShow

If you have any more questions, this is the last call. More importantly, decide which way to go.

Also, we're gonna switch perspectives again next post. Do you want to go back to the mathematician and swordsman, or to a new person?

Sounds like this "lasting player" is a huge douche-monkey. You should kill him. For the glory!

>Got any advice
> I better get going... say are you human?

{Meta: No destination suggested. Direction chosen arbitrarily.}
Do you mean last player? From what I understand, yeah, we might have to kill them. It looked..kind of like a girl, actually. Way more humanoid than these guys. And I think he's made it pretty clear he isn't human. "I guess we should head to a town, then. Maybe the one by the mountain?"
"Certainly." The elf leads the way, and she walks behind him.

Thinking of something, Auleoris says, "So..is it appropriate to think of you as male?"
He looks thoughtful for a moment. "..I don't know exactly what you just said. Was it referring to your people's reproductive functions?"
"Um...sort of? I just wanted to make sure I was using the right pronoun, is all."
"Ah. My species has several possibilities of reproductive function and does not regard procreation as terribly exciting...so we do not have gendered pronouns. If I look like a pronoun is appropriate to you, free to use it."
"Okay..do you have a name in-game?"
"Yes. I am calling myself Anansi."
She pauses, blinking a couple of times.

"..Is something wrong?"
"Uh, no, nothing," says the winged woman, managing a grin and resuming walking. "I'm gonna call myself Auleoris. Are there any..general hints for the game you could give me?"
"Well..as I was saying earlier, your class advantage is creative use. Do not be afraid to try new things and take risks. In more general, it is always good to have others with. Cooperation is a prime theme of the game, and forming as large a party as possible is strategy-ideal, especially once the game begins to become difficult."
"So you're saying that whole 'forest full of undead' thing was just a warm-up?"
"We survived it not far into skill progression, did we not?"

>Let's see a new person.

---

[<|<|]

"Ee hee hee hee.."
An orcish woman lies on the cold rock in the shade of a small outcropping of rocky cliff. The main things to know about orcs are that they have dark green skin, and they are generally quite tall, or rather just large in general, and this one is no exception to either. She has a plain tan tunic on. Her eyes blink a couple of times as she gains or regains consciousness, whatever the proper term is, and she slowly sits up, looking around.
"Hah ha haah.."
She tries to do two things at once: First, make sense of the high male voice giggling somewhere nearby, and second, take stock of her appearance. Particularly the latter includes touching the upward tusks coming from her teeth that seemed to insist on being there even while her mouth is closed, and all the other unusually sharp teeth in there.
"Hoh hoh hooh..."
On closer inspection, the voice is definitely coming from directly above. In fact, she can even see the shadow of its owner jutting out from the outcropping's shadow: Humanoid, but with something coming out from the sides of the head: curved, somewhat wide at first and tapering off to a point on either side. And the legs are shaped..not quite right. It's hard to tell just from the shadow.

Her inspection is interrupted by the appearance of a screen in front of her, as if of a tablet situated on her lap. It has a message for her.
Filthy Lies: These are bad ideas!
1. Stay put! You don't know what's out there.
2. Trust everything! Your senses are a better judge than your mind.
3. Trust nobody! You'll never lose on your own.

She looks at the screen for a good several seconds, her expression going from mild surprise to something of a look of recognition. And then the voice from above interrupts right back.
"Hey, hey, hello! halloooo!" He starts calling out, his voice echoing on the surrounding rocks, as if expecting someone to call back in response.

>

SpoilerShow

If you want to come up with colors for yourselves, that's fine. But only a few players will be aware that anything's different.

Colors, then? I choose this one.
Greet him.

Kill the voice! It means you harm!

Well it says trust everything.
>FOLLOW THE VOICE.

The orc, without too much thought, dismisses the screen and moves out from under the rock to get a better look at the owner of the voice, waving at him in the process.

Although the sun is behind him, rendering him still a silhouette, some details of the man's appearance are immediately much more clear. In particular, the protrusions from the sides of his head are clearly some kind of horns, and his legs are shaped the way they are because they aren't quite human legs. Maybe something more like..goat, or deer legs? They certainly end in hooves, and they are covered in some kind of shaggy fur.
All of this she takes in before the stranger hops down in front of her, his hooved feet clip-clopping on the landing. "Hoh hoh! I expected no one, and got someone. What kind of someone did I get?" What's on his legs, and the hair on his head, and long, almost triangular beard are all seemingly of the same material: Light tan, curly fur. He isn't wearing a shirt, seems to be built rather thin, and he has yellow eyes.

He leans forward, still grinning, and for no readily apparent reason the orc punches him in the face, sending him reeling back a few steps. "Oof! Ach!" he says, holding the targeted spot in one hand. He slowly lowers his hand after a few seconds, his expression neutral. The orc stares slightly downward at his eyes for a few seconds before he starts giggling. "Hee..heehee...heeheehee, hahaha, hohoho! I was expecting someone predictable! Could never have hoped for a meeting so wonderful as this!"

He dances around next to her, and leans up toward her left ear, causing the orc to lean slightly to the right in an effort to avoid getting too close. "What are you going to do next?" he says, in a stage whisper, perhaps the most threatening tone of voice he has taken thus far.

>

Orc -> Mimic the satyr perfectly. He seems so expectant that you act unpredictably. . . that the best way to respond is to be fully predictable and mirror him.

That'll teach him to ask personal questions.

A satyr? Now all we need is a centaur...

>Walk away.

You're going to slap this annoying satyr again until he starts making sense. Either that or a faun. You were never good with mythology.

Or until he's DEAD!

The orc turns around so she's facing the..satyr, I suppose, moving at the same time to get some small distance off from him, and then slaps him. "Ooh!" he says, backing up. She mimics his mouth movements, but without any sound to accompany it, and imitates his backing up.

He shakes his head, and she mirrors that as well. "Hmm, hmm," he says, and the orc has to stroke an imaginary beard to properly imitate his expression. "Hee heee..." Again, her imitation of his speech is without sound. They both bend down, heads turned up slightly to keep an eye on one another, strike the ground a couple of times with..well, the satyr's right foot and the orc's left one.

And then the satyr charges forward, while the orc ducks to one side, having predicted this movement, and stands up fully, and begins walking in a random direction, away from the satyr, who pretty soon stops charging, stands up, and runs to catch up with her. He starts walking next to her once he does. "Come on, dear, I'm a nice guy. Well..today and to you, at least. Liremskra would have it no different. Except when he would, but that's rather hard to identify with the present situation."

The orc moves as if to punch the satyr again, and he giggles, backing away slightly. "Hee hee..come on, dear, if you're going to throw me off a cliff you might at least grace me with your name first, hmm?"

>

SpoilerShow

I tend to think of the Faun as a female version, and deer-related, and the satyr as a male, goat-related version. But that's probably just because I've played the original Spyro games so many times.

Why should you? You are an orc. Orcs eat men. Orcs eat goats. EAT THIS MAN-GOAT!

You haven't earned your name yet. Orcs earn their names after they complete their first kill. But you know what name you'll take when you do that.

Neyla.

That will be your hunt-name.

You must earn your name. Slay the satyr. Then you shall be named Odin, the goatslayer.

The orc pauses as if to think, makes a mildly frustrated face for a second at nothing in particular, and shakes her head after another thoughtful look. She then uses her hands to spell out "N-E-Y-L-A" in what some might recognize as South African Sign Language, and does so very quickly, as might be expected from someone with experience in such hand-signing. Upon finishing the last letter and putting her hands down, she jumps slightly in surprise at a low female voice from the air between the two people saying "Neyla."
"Oh-hoh, the strong and truly silent type, eh? I had begun to wonder. And knowledgeable in Sig-song*, I see."

"Neyla" has an idea, and begins signing again. The voice reappears as she does so, translating the signs: "You should leave. I have unexplained urge to kill you." This, despite her not actually having any weapons, nor any idea how or how well the stranger might be armed.
The satyr laughs, of course. "Hahah, well that just makes things more interesting, doesn't it? I would say it comes naturally, but I don't want to come off as a racist. Not right now, anyway. Normally I would blame my goddess for such urges, but he's not around, of course."
She signs, and the voice says, "Not around?"
The satyr looks mildly dejected, rather than manic, for just a moment. "In-deed. Liremskra is unliving for the time being, and until such a time that he isn't again." And then he looks annoyed. "Typical, really. I was just about to organize a festival for her and everything."

>

*-pronounced "sihj-song"

Gog damnit diplomacy! I'm out.
Be a lady and ask about his religion.

Neyla Consider own religious beliefs.
Ask Satyr fellow for his name.

How can a goddess be male?

Neyla frowns skeptically. "Is who you are talking about male or female?"
"Yes. Heehee, Liremskra is what he happens to be whenever it is, or isn't. The god I serve is not content to retain a single appearance. Makes it far too easy for folk to build statues and get all..orderly about their worship." He mentions order with a disdainful tone of voice, as if disappointed in whoever he is speaking about.
"Why would you not want that?"
"Well, clearly worship directly against a goddess's nature is bound to make him angry. Or..overly happy. Either way, who do you think has to smooth things over with her?"
"..You?" guesses the orc.
The satyr grins. "Hahahaa! Nope! Not yet, anyway. But some good friends of mine had to get involved once. It was agitating. Hilariously so."

She pauses, and then tries a new subject. "What is your name?"
"Jacob today. Tomorrow, maybe something else. But I might not be so friendly with you tomorrow, so it might not matter then."
They come to a crossroads. It occurs to Neyla that they have been walking along a road for a good few minutes now, and she stops, signing, "Where are we going?"
"No idea. I was assuming you knew, but hoping you didn't. After all, you started walking and I followed."

She shrugs, moves over to a rock and sits down. "What happened to your god?"
"Well. As I mentioned, she no longer is alive. The simple fact is that a deity of chaos can only exist for so long before realizing that being codified as the one everyone goes to for chaos is far, far too orderly. A goddess of change is only as good as his own ability to change, after all. What good is chaos if it's bottled up in an entity? And upon that realization, and the knowledge that every other concept worth taking already has some god or goddess governing it, Liremskra prompetly imploded."
"That must be terrible for his or her priest, then?"
Jacob shakes his head. "Hoo hoo, not at all! It's wonderful. I mean, it is awful, but it's wonderful, too. After all, not every generation of worshipers gets to experience the tumultuous change coming with the formation of a brand new deity firsthand, after all."
"Is that..guaranteed to happen?"
He nods. "Certainly! When a god dies, a new god rises. It's in the rules. The rules even chaos must obey. The whoooole universe throws a fit when a replacement doesn't show up soon enough, and it is an ugly sight to behold. But so beautiful!"

Neyla happens to think about the screen that showed up with the message on it earlier, and it reappears. She looks down at it, and Jacob notices, looking too.
"Ooh, what is that thing?" he says.
She looks back up at him and signs, "I do not know."
"Well, if you ask me, it looks like a source of great power! See if you can get some power out of it. I'll just be over here," he says, walking over to a nearby roadsign, "vandalizing this."

In one corner of the screen, the word "Neyla" is indicated as the character's name. Not far from there is a blank class button, which the orc presses to find the search function I'm certain you're all quite familiar with by now.

>

>Search 'Worldbrink Mage'

Actually, do we get to choose Jacob's class? I don't recall if he already has one. Because if we do, scratch that command and set the Worldbrink Mage class for him instead. Obviously introducing this guy to the eldritch is the best idea. :msap:

I will give someone this horribly broken class if it's the last thing I do, darn it.

Actually, maybe we should try some classes that we haven't seen yet for Neyla. Or, well, "classes".

>Search 'pirate'.

>Search 'biology'.

If we're sticking to classes that we've already seen, Fist Monk or Beastmaster could be fun.

Well this man/goat's religion seems fascinating we should help. Search Chaos, Change, and Worldbrink Mage.

Physics!
Time lord!
Esper!
Utzgarignjer!

Animal Tamer. Neyla seems very worldly, passive, and prone to compelling things to work for her.

>Noun Verber

Nuke!

On an impulse quite inexplicable to her, Neyla tries searching first for a couple of things related to her new.."friend"'s religious interests.

Change: 3 results found.

Niche: TAKEN
Your skills are completely different from one minute to the next, and you have absolutely no control over these changes or their results.

Shapeshifter:
I hope you enjoy being the 'team pet'.

Polymorphic Mage:
Obviously, most enemies are highly resistant or outright immune to being turned into rodents. Surely it's worth a try the fifty-thousandth time, though!

She pauses, looking at the bold red "TAKEN" tag, and tries tapping that particular class in an effort to find more information. Instead the screen informs her:

This class is taken. Your session is set to OCOP mode, as opposed to FFA or AC, so you cannot take this class until and unless the one who has currently taken it dies.

With that, the orc shrugs to herself and moves on to the next thing she had planned to search.

Chaos: 3 results found.

Chaos Mage:
I hope the slight boost in power and versatility over normal mages is worth having your spells backfire randomly and upredictably.

Probability Mage:
By the very definition, results will definitely vary.

Utzgarignjer:
You probably thought you wouldn't get any results from banging randomly on the keyboard. Well, lucky you then!

The number of results flickers between 3 and 4 for the first couple of seconds, with the last result being 'W◦rldbr◬nk M▲g▤' but no description appearing for it before it flickers out of visibility again and the number settles on a 3. Neyla frowns at this and, after a quick look at the class descriptions that didn't mysteriously disappear, tries typing in that other class's name manually, guessing what the glitched out symbols were actually supposed to be.

Predictably, her screen starts flickering and warping randomly as the result is displayed...but the letters for this particular search remain stable, despite the rest of the usual graphical glitching.

Worldbrink Mage: 1 result found.

Worldbrink Mage:
There are positive ways to "break" a game, but this isn't one of them.

After a moment of consideration, Neyla exits that search, moving on to a few other ideas she has.

Pirate: 4 results found.

Swashbuckler:
Because picking just guns, swords, or stealth would give you too much focus and make things far too easy.

Fighter:
Hope you enjoy taking all of the hits for everyone else, and not having any magic.

Gunner:
For those who enjoy obsessively maintaining their equipment, only for it to still fail at a critical moment.

Taker Rogue:
When you focus your energy on learning to make a profit, two things happen: (1) you can't take a hit; (2) you're only mildly okay at killing things.


Biology: 5 results found.

Poison Mage:
Let's face it. You take this class, and you are outright guaranteed to run into a bunch of golems or automata or something like that which your magic is useless against.

Nature Mage:
Useless in caves, deadlands, and pretty much anywhere else without enough plants.

Shapeshifter:
I hope you enjoy being the 'team pet'.

Medical Herbalist:
Can't heal as well as a Cleric can, and still isn't very good at fighting.

Necromancer:
Everyone hates you. No, really. Everyone. And physically you are almost as weak as an Astral Mage.


Monk: 5 results found.

Fist Monk:
Fight with your fists! It's not like weapons were invented for a reason or anything.

Staff Monk:
Sort of like a more stylized Fighter with a somewhat less deadly, more breakable weapon of choice.

Improv Monk:
For those who enjoy wielding tables and torches as weapons. Better keep some silverware handy on long trips.

White Monk:
Can't fight as well as a Fist Monk; can't heal as well as a Cleric; can't survive more than a few blows.

Zen Monk:
Really just a Fist Monk who doesn't understand how basic logic works. 'Mu', yourself!


Beastmaster: 2 results found.

Beastmaster:
It's fun having other creatures do all the work for you until they're all gone and you have no idea how to fend for yourself alone.

Animalist:
Learn all your skills from the animals. You know, the same creatures people kill and eat every day?


Physics: 3 results found.

Fighter:
Hope you enjoy taking all of the hits for everyone else, and not having any magic.

Sound Mage:
It takes a while before you can do any more than annoy and deafen your enemies.

Gravity Mage:
Yet another power that sounds awesome, but starts weak and has a large number of enemies resistant to its non-weak applications.


Time lord: 3 results found.

Dimensional Mage:
You really are just looking to have as many opportunities as possible to screw yourself and your friends over, aren't you?

Inspirational Noble:
What good is a prince if there's no army to lead? The answer is none. None at all.

Diplomatic Noble:
Useless in battle. Need I say more?


Esper: 3 results found.

Psion:
No magic or magic resistance, no particular physical ability, and you spend a lot of time listening to the thoughts of others, which are frequently stupid, useless, or things you really didn't need to know.

Psychic:
Due to technological limitations, your predicting something happening in the future hardcodes its happening into the future.

Medium:
Only slightly less physically capable and commonly popular than a Necromancer, and Necromancers hate you even more than they do Paladins.

Right after the results appear, a bold red "TAKEN" like the one that showed up for the Niche class briefly flashes into view after "Psion:" and then disappears again. This causes the orc to pause her continuous string of searches long enough to touch the "Psion" choice in an effort to find more information. Instead, the usual confirmation dialogue appears, which she exits out of for now.

Noun Verber: You're not even trying, are you? No results for you.

She frowns, shrugs, and then tries one last search.

Nuke: 3 results found.

Fire Mage:
No physical ability, weak to water of all things, and prone to burning down things you didn't really want burned down.

Demolitionist:
I hope you're not terribly fond of having all of your extremities.

Periodic Mage:
The king of stupid gimmick "theme" classes. Taking this class will not teach you anything useful about chemistry.

The orc goes back over all the searches then, briefly looking up at one point to see that Jacob has detached all of the sign's wooden arrows with the names of cities on them and now has them floating around his head, presumably by way of magic. She looks back down after that, deciding to deal or not deal with whatever it is he's doing after deciding on a Class to take.

>

SpoilerShow

Couldn't think of a good reason for her to search for a class again, or she would have searched for Utzgarignjer manually as well. Also, in case you're wondering what the game modes those acronyms represent actually are:

SpoilerShow

One Class One Player
Free For All
All Civilian

Pick Utzgarignjer. You know you're curious.

>Psychic.

Utrugutgenzer or whatever it is.

Is Jacob the Niche, then? I hope not, I really do want a Worldbrink Mage...

Doesn't seem to fit Neyla's style, though.

>Swashbuckler

Pirate orcs? Heck yes. Alternatively,

>Utzgarignjer

{Meta: Vote Count Ranking:
Utzgarignjer: 3
Psychic: 1
Swashbuckler: 1}

Neyla takes a moment to weigh her options before returning to the "Chaos" search and selecting the class with the strange name and no particular description. The class selection screen changes to a rather peculiar skill tree. There are three blank skill slots with a die depicted beneath each, and a 1 beneath the picture of the die. Off to the right, there is a skill whose picture is "+" followed by what seems to be a picture of a skill slot, another with a "-" followed by a picture of a clock covering most of a die, and in the bottom right corner there is a larger picture of a die.

The orc tries pushing the non-blank skill buttons in an effort to figure out what's going on, but no text box appears anywhere. She tries touching one of the blank skills next, to no effect, and then tries the die symbol underneath the same blank slot. The die symbol switches through the numbers 1 and 6 randomly, as if simulating a roll, before stopping on 3 dots. Above it, the blank skill slot is filled in with a picture of a silhouetted person's head, colored purple, with an eye in the person's forehead. Poking this picture has no effect, and poking the die beneath it again causes a small clock icon to briefly appear on top of the die, leaving it where it is.

>

SpoilerShow

Pergrinate, Anansi is a player and of the Niche class. That's who the Niche is.

Jacob is an NPC. That's why he already knows so much about the world. NPCs have the same class list as players, but the "TAKEN" tag only appears when another player has taken the class in question.