The Glitch IV - Inversion (Ch. 1)

[LadyTevar]

PoliSciSucks: 'Night. And keep out of trouble.

LadyArchivist54: Night.

LadyArchivist54 LOGOUT


Leah flipped off the phone and undressed for bed, walking out of the bedroom. Her apartment was the attic of an 1900s house that had been renovated sometime in the 1980s. It was small, just the bedroom which doubled as a parlor, a kitchen/dining room of equal size, and a bathroom just big enough for a sink, toilet, and the prize: a clawfoot bathtub with shower.
A landing seperated the three rooms, with two flights of stairs to her entryway, and another three flights to the sidedoor leading outside. When she first moved in, the open stairway had worried her, with twenty steps seperated by a narrow landing. Now she barely noticed it, except after a hard days work when she was pulling herself up them.

After splashing her face, she returned to the bedroom, making sure her clock was set. More microfilm to restore and digitize tomorrow. Yay.. what fun. If she was lucky there wouldn't be anyone needing genealogy research done. Past was past, why dig up ancestors now?

Within 10 minutes she was sound asleep.

[Charon]

Matthew slipped the HDD off and walked out of the room, sitting down in his living room he absent mindedly flipped on the television and then leaned back in his chair. Something was wrong, but he couldn't place his finger on it. The Baron thing was, of course, weird as hell. But that fear. Matthew got chills just thinking about it. That definately wasn't right. He tried to pull out a pen and some paper to write down things he should do now as Baron, but he couldn't focus on it. He was too preoccupied on the Baron's dissappearance and that assassin.

[Dark Silver]

She was asleep.

The Warrior sensed it instinctivly.

Somehow, he knew she was resting now.

The other two were still not at the meeting spot, the Hunter and the Sorcerer. In all likelyhood, they were off playing thier own games. The servers had gone offline, severing the links.

But he knew how to manipulate the links, he had learned much since the last time.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on the vagracies of the Wall. There was the portal, in standbye mode since she had shut it down. It wouldn't take much coaxing...

---------

The HDD in Leah's bedroom quietly powered on, and came to life. Under the guidance of a outside force, the scenery of her quiet bedroom changed, the light shining brillantly for a few precious moments, as the holograms came to life, and began to solidify. The scene they created was a common on to Leandra, a place she spent a good deal of time.

The bedroom.

Aside from the light, no sound was made to wake her, all sounds where gone, and he stood there, watching her sleep for a precious moment.

"I'm here..." he spoke softly, almost to much so.

The cold metal tips of his gauntlet reached to touch Leah's forehead, and he made the connection, entering her dreams.

[LadyTevar]

Leah's body twitched a little as the fingers touched her, but didn't wake. Her dreams were only starting to form... images of a house that was and wasn't where she grew up. Something was outside the house, something that she knew shouldn't be there.

It was a familiar dream, where she would have to run from window to window, door to door, making sure they were locked before IT got to them and got inside. Sometimes she would just barely make it to the last door, forced to hold it shut with her body as IT tried to ram it open.

She was usually alone in the house when this happened.

[Dark Silver]

He took shape in the house, watching as she rushed about. He was a observer at this point, having yet to integrate himself in the dreamscape.

He was still getting used to the new powers and abilities, some he new well, some not at all. This was one of the inbetweens.

He watched her dream, he watched her.

Leah...

His voice was soft as he spoke her name, and as he spoke, the voice flittered through the house, echoing distantly.

[LadyTevar]

Leah...

His voice was soft as he spoke her name, and as he spoke, the voice flittered through the house, echoing distantly.

Leah's dreamself stopped, listening to the voice, looking around for for the speaker. Outside IT moved by the window, heading for the front door, the only one left unlocked. Leah ran thru the arching entryways connecting the rooms, trying to get to the door before IT got on the porch, before IT got to the door. She had to keep IT out, or IT would get her.

[SirNitram]

"She would... if only she knew what I really look like. A slightly pudgy four-eyed biologist who alternates between khakhis, a lab coat, and a wetsuit." he chuckled good naturedly. SHe really wasa very nice woman when she wasnt trying to get him in bed. Of course, the fact that he was gay was not ost upon her, and she probably did it more in gest now than in seriousness

"As for your dissertation... good god... I am just in mortal danger for my research. You are in danger of losing your soul, reading that stuff is like reading tomes of ancient evil bound in skin and scribed in the blood of virgins."

"Heh. None of us are as perfect as we'd like to be. But hey, look on the bright side. You never wake up to find crazy killers in your house. And I've never smashed my house to stop a curse." Albert pointed out.

"My soul is fine. I sold it years ago, to get this position."

[Dark Silver]

The door flew open, whatever it was, he was there instead.

He had decided the time was right to make himself known.

He looked into her eyes, as she looked at him, and he said the same words he had spoken what seemed like a lifetime ago to him.

"You are so beautiful...."

[LadyTevar]

He looked into her eyes, as she looked at him, and he said the same words he had spoken what seemed like a lifetime ago to him.

"You are so beautiful...."

The dream wavered, starting to fragment. Leah's dream shape twisted sliding towards her game avatar Leandra. "D... darek?" she asked, confusion clear on her face as his intrusion broke the dreamscape. "Darek?!" Leandra's form got stronger as the dream tried to reform, to accept the new presence, even as Leah's body struggled towards wakefulness from the shock. "Darek............."


She woke, frightened, her eyes darting around the room as if expecting Darek to be standing by her bed.

The HDD was off. The shadows were in the proper places. Nothing moved. Leah let out a shuddering breath. "it was a dream" she whispered... "nothing but a dream..."

[Dark Silver]

GM Note: those who haven't posted, I'm just posting this up so you can use this as info for what happens in the next eight hours.

This will especially be good if your characters check the game message boards on fansites, or the actual website for the game.


----------------

Two hours after Destiny's first unschedualed gameplay outage in the three years it had been running, a news bulletin had been posted to the destinygame.com website:

We are sorry for the continued server outage.
We are currently doing everything in our power to restore service, so you can continue to play.
We will let everyone know when we have repaired the outage.
Sincerly
Lord Chimera
Destiny Support Team
Fortuna Game Studios
We Create Worlds....

Five hours passed, and still they were no closer to explaining the server overload which caused the emergency maintence shutdown. Rick and Bill had brought in several other programmers and database personel, and they poured through the code. Nothing seemed out of place, every line of code seemed perfect.

After the sixth hour, they chalked it up to Denial of Service attacks perpetrated across the entire network. Some rogue group of scriptkiddies nine out of ten.

"We'll leave the servers in diagnostic mode and stress test them for another two hours..then bring them back online. Don't forget, come monday, we will be doing our monthly Persistant State inspection on the gameworld. I heard some players got a war started in the Alkianian Northern Kingdoms, really wanna check that out."

The programmers and database techs nodded, they were amazed by the level of complexity the gamers had created for themselves in the sandbox of Zion. OF course, given the proper tools, the gamers usually took care of themselves. It was a beautiful system, and no other game had managed to copy it yet.

-----------

The Fan-site message boards where abuzz, new threads and replies where popping up almost every second. In the past three hours, countless players had reported meeting with "massive guys wearing black cloaks, riding huge wolves". Some few spoke of a deep sense of dread upon seeing these new creatures, others spoke of trying to talk to the Avatars, only to be ignored, while others still, the rabid PvP groups, spoke of some of thier numbers attacking them, and getting beaten, badly, at every turn.

What are these guys? Some new guild that just sprang up? I mean, we've never seen anything like this, and the way they play, and move, they must be extremely old Avatars with thier kind of power.

Yeah, my group came across some of these guys, and thinking them a new mob, attacked. They didn't act like no mob, to intellegent. And the Sorcerer was hardcore! He was casting spells I thought no one would ever get ahold of!

Maybe thier assassins? I got word before server crash the King of Lecun was killed by a black cloaked figure which wore through his guards.

It continued, always a new theory as to what these things where. The Dark Riders had appeared throughout the Southern Kingdoms, it was rumored they came from the Northern Kingdoms where they must have leveled up big time. Others claimed they had to be from the unexplored continent in the south, the Wilderun.

I don't care who they are, thier probably NPC's that Fortuna brought in to stir shit up. Just like the War in the North, all these new mobs thier spawning without telling us. Fucking awesome.

Yeah, to bad the North's a NML now. Hell, you been to Istar lately? The spawn's so tight it's like they made it into a fortress. And apparently the AI for them are improved, it's like thier moving with a goal....


-----------

"Alright Bill, bring the servers out of diagnostic mode."

It had been eight hours since the emergency shutdown. All of thier systems passed stress tests and load tests. They even managed to optimize the database, something they hadn't done in a month.

"Hey Dick" one of the Community guys, Timothy "Callestro" Bruce by name, called out as he walked into the room, "We add any "Dark Riders" to the game and no one bothered to tell Community Relations? Or is this some player made Guild?"

"Hell no, we haven't added any new monsters or NPC's in the game in weeks. Waiting for design to come up with the concept art for the next batch of goodies before we get around to it. Must be a player thing, Timmy."

Callestro frowned, then nodded. He really hated it when people called him Timmy. Luckily, none of the players called him that, it was always Sir Callestro, alot of the developers and community guys got honorifics and titles ingame, and most players respect.

"Alright Dick, just thought I'd ask. Alot of fuss, seems they've been offing PC Nobility.....Think I'll write up a story about it.."

Richard shook his head and laughed, "You always did like to write, didn't you Tim? Hey, we're cooking at my place this afternoon, bring the lil woman, and we'll play some old school console games. Maybe even a round of tabletop after."

Tim waved goodbye with a non commital, "We'll see", and walked off to get writing.

----------

By the time the servers were fully back online, Tim had written the new fluff peice of fiction. Just as he had with the Northern Kingdom's wars weeks earlier, he crafted player related events into a jarring, powerful bit of fiction.

Dark Riders appearing suddely appearing throughout the Southern Kingdoms, laying waste to those who stood in thier path. Entire settlements reduced to cinders, Dukes, Barons and King's dead by thier blades.

He clicked submit, and posted the link to "Rise of the Dark Riders" on the mainpage of the Destiny Online website along with the announcement that the servers were all back online, and leaned back in his chair.

'Think I'll take Dick up on his offer...'

----------

The three strode into the meeting chambers of the castle as if they owned the place, the only sound the hard steel of thier boots clicking against the black stone. All around them, the castle's stone walls where carved in intricate scroll patterns, images of grand battles, powerful hero's and villans, ancient text which transcribed thier feats of battle, prowess with weapons.

It even told of thier legend.

The Dark Riders.

They stopped before the raised dias, and the two flanking him dropped to thier knees in respect of the dark elf woman who sat upon it, dressed in only a thin robe which revealed more than it covered up.

'Makes Leandra's attire look downright puritian' the Rider thought. Of course though, the elf woman was just as alluring as Leandra, perhaps more so because of the air of exoticness about her. The robe was thinner than paper, it almost appeared as spiderweb upon her body, revealing the toned muscle and flesh, high mounted and impressivly sized breast, and her nethers, only a single strip of silvery black hair above the font of womanhood, patently visible to all.

Yes, she was very alluring, even to him. But it was his companions pleasure to spend time sating her lusts, and thiers. Not his.

His was to obey her commands. That had been made extremely clear to him that first day. And he lived to do just that.

"It is done, Mistress. The Baron of Kirinford has been put to blade." Darek said, as he pushed the hood back from his head, revealing a face which had seen better times. A large red jagged swath cut across his right cheek, as if he had recently be sliced open there, and it was just now starting to heal. His hair, formerly black, with a slight peppering of grey, was now heavily shot through with strings of white, and his eyes, those formerly pale, ice blue orbs which held strength and self confidence before, where now hallow, empty, as if he was in thrall.

Adena rose from her throne, smiling down upon her Dark Riders. "You've done good Darek, your team is the first to report back...but tell me, why did you dally with that trollop?"

He didnt move a muscle, though a sudden hardness rose into those pale orbs he called eyes, "She was a...friend..Mistress."

"You desire her do you not?"

"That matters not Mistress, I exsist to obey your will."

The long black fingernails stroked his cheek and chin, as she came within a breathes width of him, "Then answer me question Darek....do you desire her."

His voice was cold, not wanting to give away emotion which still lay beneath the surface, beneath the training, and the darkness. "Yes, Mistress."

Adena's smile was cold, as her painted nails trailed down his chin, over the chestplate of his armor, tracing every so lightly the stylized flue-de-lais - the nacient rose - and then walked past him, towards her playthings, opening her robe for them.

"Continue to serve me well...and I may let you have her. The servers will be coming online in a few hours, the fools still do not realieze what we do. You can play with her some more than, my pet."

He didn't answer or turn about as the sounds of the three's lust filled the stone chamber.

------------

GM Note: the Server announcement when you log into the game will note there has been a five minute revert. this pretty much means anything which happened after the Hunter left the chamber after killing Decimus, didn't happen.

Have fun.

[Charon]

Matthew pulled his laptop into his lap and started openning up some of the message boards he went to. He read the posts as they flew by. The rumours were flying high. He dismissed the idea that these were NPC's, or that they had anything to do with the Management. These things were different, and the Management had never been that unfair before. At least not in his history with the game. What did worry him was that this had been a well timed attack across the entirity of the Southern kingdoms. That meant there had been a lot of these guys, they had been well organized, and they were all disgustingly powerful. The only thing that made sense was a guild, but guilds like that didn't just pop out of nowhere. Then there had been that fear. It wasn't natural. As much as he hated admitting to himself that it wasn't a part of the game, there wasn't much of an alternative. Matthew pursed his lips and sighed. This was definately something big. Something he'd have to talk with Al about tomorrow when he came in the morning.

Matthew logged off his computer and looked back at his Television, he'd switched it over to Turner Classic Movies without thinking. And apparently they were having a bit of a Sci-Fi fest. Tron was playing, just as the hero was being sucked into the computer world to fight the evil Master Control. For a second Matthew's mind wandered. Could something like this be happening? No, don't be stupid, this was nothing but a fairy tale, a story, it could never happen. With a grunt Matthew switched off the television and tossed the remote back on his couch. Grabbing a glass of cold water he downed it before heading to bed.

[Agent Fisher]

Jack was reading the fansites. Turned out his Baron wasnt the only one to die. Wait, it looked like every single noble PC online at the time was killed. He kept reading about more and more attacks, cities wiped out. Then an idea hit him.

On the wall, he had a map of Zion that a friend had made. It was a bit old and mainly featured the southern regions of the northern continent.

He grabbed a marker off his desk. The map was laminated so he could draw on it. He started marking down the attacks and by what type. Most of the settlements that were totally destroyed were the northernmost. The attacks seemed to taper off the further south, with just nobility dead or those that stood in there way.

He finished and stepped back.

"My god. Its a precrusor to an invasion." The signs where all there. The cities and settlements that would offer the most resistances where the ones that were hit hardest. Key leaders dead, standing militias in chaos.

Jack stood there for a good three minutes, trying to decide his course of action. The southern regions where about to come under attack, he was sure of it. He could either stay, fight, die and be stripped of his gear, or buy what supplies he needed and flee to the southern continent. He shook his head. Better to decide after a break.

[Shark Bait]

When Ted finished his meal he deposited the bones in the garbage and hand washed the dish before putting it away in cupboard. He then went back into the game room and checked the servers again, they were still down so he plopped down in an over stuffed chair in the corner and booted up a second computer. For the next hour or so he bounced around the internet before falling asleep where he was. His dreams filled with giant wolves dark figures chasing him and for some reason his high school gym teacher riding a unicycle.

After a few hours he awoke and rubbed his eyes before immediately checking the message boards again, everyone was chattering about the attacks but no one mentioned the odd symptoms that Justin had. Ted stretched and walked over to the HDD and checked the servers again, they were up so he booted his system. He logged on and was instantaneously back in the forest where the battle had been. His skeleton warriors still flanked him. He checked around for any remaining baddies before returning to his home.

On the outside it looked dilapidated and gloomy inside it was surprisingly brightly lit, Vadlenar took several vials of the new poisons from his pouch and placed them with his alchemic equipment on a near by table. He then walked over to a small pen with a goat in it, he took the goat from the pen and slaughtered it quickly with a wicked looking curved dagger. He then stood over the dead animal mumbling a few words of power and casting several material components on the corpse till finally an undead mage rose from the gore. When the summoning was complete he set some of his “servantsâ€

[Rukia]

Rory had fallen asleep on her couch. The phone was under her hand lying on her chest. She stired a bit and turned over on her side and the phone fell off, hitting the floor. This woke her up. "Hmm what? What's wrong...." She looked around and realized ther was no one. "As usual.... I've got to get out more." She stood and streched then waled over to her computer. She logged on to the Fansites and saw multiple thread on what had happened and players speculations. but nothing on something like what had happened to her and her cut. She decided to post a new thread.

"Does this look infected (check you body if you were attacked.)"

Hey all, I know this sounds completely whacked but did anyone get a bruise or cut or the like were you were attacked in game? I did. I'm not sure if it's just my mind playing tricks on my becasue I play so much. Maybe some psychosomatic reality b.s but I'm not convinced.. too much of a coinsidance. if something like this happened to you PM me. Thanks.

Posted by Naughty_lil_elf at 7:17 am. GMT - 5 hours

[Comrade Tortoise]

Justin saw the post before logging on to the game.

"Hey this is Elwyn. When I got magic locked, I felt like my soul was being ripped out. And my roommate (Vadlenar) had a welt on his chest where a death spell hit that he passed off as a psychosomatic injury. Spells dont usually affect us physically, we just register that yes, we got hit, and our stats drop accordingly. But we dont usually feel anything like pain. If anyone felt ANYH physical effects, please post what it was, and what caused it, and where you were. I can catalogue them from there"

He was searching the fan-sites and it still smelled fishy. Just because the admin's wrote a fiction about it didnt mean it was done by them. Still, he would need more information before he could get to a conlusion.

Soon after posting that, he logged in

[Comrade Tortoise]

Elwyn sighs Damn five minue reverts.

He waits for everyone to grab his hand so he can Tree Transport them to the town again.

[LadyTevar]

Even with the weird dream, Leah managed to get back to sleep. When her alarm went off in the morning, she got ready for work as usual... but when it came time to do her normal check of the message boards before going in, she found herself reluctant to do so.

"Later..." she told herself, walking down the first flight of stairs to the landing, grabbing her purse from the wrought-iron & glass corner table and her umbrella from the coatrack opposite it, then walking down the other flight to her apartment door.

Locking it firmly, now down the rest of the flights outside to an overcast day. She did not have a car, since she lived within walking distance of her work, but even the birdsong filling the morning couldn't raise her spirits today. It was stuck on Darek.

Even at work, she couldn't keep her mind off him, the weird Riders he was with, or the dream she'd had. Digitizing microfilm was monontinous work at the best of times; last night's adventures gave her mind far too much to ponder, coming up with wild ideas and theories.

By the time she walked home in the rain, she was ready to get online and see what the rest of her friends had thought. She forced herself to take the time to change out of her wet clothing, simply wrapping in her robe as she ate and read over the message boards.

Unsurprisingly, every theory her bored mind had considered had been thought up already. The fluff story worried her though. For some reason, it just didn't feel right. There was something more to this, but trying to figure out what just made her feel more uneasy.

She looked at the clock. 6 hrs of sleep... 8 hours of work.. and nearly another hour getting dry and fed and checking the boards. She hoped her friends wouldn't be worried about her. Work sucked, but it paid the bills, including the subscription to Zion.

Stepping into her bedroom she turned on the HDD, letting Leandra settle around her like a protective cloak. She knew about the 5 minute revert, it had been on the boards by the time she'd logged in. Hopefully there was someone there to teleport her back to the village, and someone else had rezzed those killed in the castle in her absence.

And please, let the old Baron be there....

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Hey Leandra, I am here.. waiting. You are just on time. I got here about a minute ago"

[LadyTevar]

"Hey Leandra, I am here.. waiting. You are just on time. I got here about a minute ago"

"Lets here it for life in the RealWorld," she quipped. "By now, there's probably someone else who's been able to rez the people at the keep. I don't think we'll need to hurry."

Leandra looked around the clearing, frowning at the prints of the wolves and where the fight had torn up the ground. "I saw your posting on the boards. I didn't have anything like that happen to me... but Thog and I saw something weird."

[Rukia]

Rory finished a light breakfast before going back to the spare room to log in. She was back in the forest in a matter of seconds. She was holding the leaf still. She stood and walked over to Elwyn and Leandra. "Hey try not to leave without me this time, yea?" She placed her hands on her hips.

[LadyTevar]

Rory finished a light breakfast before going back to the spare room to log in. She was back in the forest in a matter of seconds. She was holding the leaf still. She stood and walked over to Elwyn and Leandra. "Hey try not to leave without me this time, yea?" She placed her hands on her hips.

"Sorry, Vi..," Leandra blushed. "El saw we were needed at the Keep to try to help the Baron." Again, she frowned, looking in the direction of the village. "Hopefully, someone else has taken care of things there already... Or did this reset mean we have to go do everything again?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"we may have to, but I doubt it. So, what did you see when you logged off?" He would wait until she spoke before he teleported them to the keep.

...

Justin was interested. Things were wierd and he was a scientist. he couldnt not ask questions.

Then something hit him

"HEY TED! MEET US AT THE KEEP IN TOWN!" he yelled across the apartment.

[Shark Bait]

Ted heard Justin yell at him and rolled his eyes, he could have just used a communication stone.

----------------


Vadlenar finished his work with the poisons, instead of answering questions more had been created. He put the samples away in a locked chest and set two of his skeletons to guard it on the off chance someone was foolish enough to try and rob him. He then grabbed a staff that stood next to the door and locked his house as he stepped outside. He needed to get some supplies from town and this was a good chance to perhaps meet with his living friends and give them the soulstones he had crafted.

The walk to town was fairly short, as he began walking through the streets some individuals backed away and he could hear them whispering about him. Under his hood Vadlenar smiled to himself the more rumors about him the better, people were less likely to harass him in his home if they were too frightened to come near.

[LadyTevar]

"we may have to, but I doubt it. So, what did you see when you logged off?" He would wait until she spoke before he teleported them to the keep.

...

Leandra fidgeted. It was the only word for it, as she dropped her head and played with her robe. "you're going to think I'm crazy..." she replied, unsure now of how to say it. "... But the Warrior we fought here was someone Thog and I had been adventuring with over the last few weeks. Darek Steele, he called himself. And when the server shut down, Thog and I both saw him, standing in front of us, trying to say something." Now she looked up, facing them fully. "I think he was trying to warn us to be careful."

----
Leah wanted to tell them about the dream... to tell someone about the dream. No.. that's too crazy. Just too crazy.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"wait... you saw him when it shut down? You both did? That shouldnt be possible..." he trailed off. If it was just her, he would have thought she was nuts. But it was the two of him, and Albert was beyond reproach in his mind.

"I DO NOT think you are crazy Leandra. THings have been too wierd lately for me to reject the idea out of hand. And I watch way to much science fiction. If something which seems crazy has already happened, like those riders, and phantom injuries, then other crazy things all of the sudden become reasonable."

He was right. Justin remembered seeing a horrible movie with Gary Busy called the Gingerdead Man, in which the soul of a murderer inhabited a necromantic gingerbread cookie. The characters could deal with the fact that it was a walking talking murdering cookie, but not that it had the soul of a madman inside it. That did not seem reasonable to him.