Day 1
1:15 P.M.
When it came to Ashcroft, people often forgot that he was famous even before he was trapped in Ferrum. Before he was the Warlord of the Third Server, he was a YouTuber who had reached a level of fame such that even people outside of the YouTube sphere of influence had heard of him. Whenever he became embroiled in a controversy, it would not be uncommon for major news organizations to cover it.
Enzo didn’t know this at the time, but Ashcroft’s rise to fame had a significant bearing on their current situation. Ashcroft became really popular in 2032, but he was making videos back when Ninth Oasis first came out in 2026. He joined a high-ranking guild called the Scions of the Blue Flame in 2027. When the Scions became the dominant force in Ninth Oasis competitive play in 2029, the officers of that guild became rather well-known. The popularity of Ninth Oasis as the flagship product of the Kabuto system certainly increased the level of popularity. Ashcroft, as the lead field-officer of the Scions, saw a meteoric rise in popularity. Viral clips were circulated of Ashcroft defeating other well-known professional Ninth Oasis players. This paired with Ashcroft’s own natural charisma made him very famous. After the Scions of the Blue Flame disbanded in 2031, Ashcroft formed the Knights of Ashes, which went on to similarly dominate Ninth Oasis professional play. Many members of the Scions went on to join the Knights, and, by 2035, Ashcroft had become a household name. No serious commentator would mention Ninth Oasis competitive play and not mention Ashcroft or the Knights.
Of course, Ashcroft’s focus would expand beyond Ninth Oasis in the 2030s. He played just about every game on the Kabuto system, and he excelled at all of them that involved violence. Ashcroft was considered to be one of the world’s best players of the game Kingmaker: The Dawn War, a famously difficult fantasy game on the Kabuto system. In 2033, he started boxing Internet celebrities IRL and showed that he could fight in the real world almost as well as he could fight in game. When Ferrum Online was released, Ashcroft’s boxing record was three wins by TKO and no losses or ties.
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“Ashcroft? You’re referring to the YouTuber?” asked Rachel.
“The very same,” said Tantalus. “What have you found, Red?”
“I’m looking at the posts on the BloodNet forums,” said Redgrave. “At first, people were freaking out about the whole ‘trapped in a video game’ thing, then people were talking about Ashcroft like he’s some kind of Messiah, and now people are talking about Tantalus. It seems that Ashcroft must have mentioned you by name.”
“Why did Ashcroft mention Tantalus?” asked Elias.
“We were in the Scions of the Blue Flame together,” said Tantalus. “He was a field commander, and I was a strategist. We knew each other pretty well, but we haven’t really talked much since the guild disbanded. I knew he’d be in the game somewhere, but I didn’t think we’d end up on the same server.”
“You knew Ashcroft?” asked Volta.
“Yes,” Tantalus said like it was obvious. “Anyone who was any good at Ninth Oasis back then was in the Scions. You needed fifty players to compete in the Large Group tournaments, so we had about seventy members at any one time. Over five years of existence, we must have had about two hundred members in total.”
“A lot of the messages I’m getting have links to two videos,” Redgrave interrupted. His eyes were still closed. “Both were posted by Ashcroft. One has the title ‘Testing out the Combat System: Day One’ and the other has the title ‘My Plans for the Future.’”
Enzo was then forwarded a message from Redgrave that said, [Bebop308: You know Tantalus, right? Could you make sure he sees these two videos?]. Opening this message in the menu, Enzo saw the two linked videos.
“We should watch these two videos,” said Tantalus. “Ashcroft is clearly trying to send us a message. It would be hasty for us to go to the meeting without knowing the message.
Enzo opened the first video. It was four minutes long.
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When the video started, Ashcroft was in the center of the shot. His model looked almost identical to his model from Ninth Oasis. He had long black hair that streamed past his shoulders and scraggly five-o-clock shadow on his face. Ashcroft’s untidy hair, muscular build, and rigid posture made him look like a barbarian who could explode into violence at any moment. He had cast off the blue jacket of the uniform the players had all spawned in, leaving him only with the white undershirt beneath it. His left arm sported a number of recently healed pink scars.
With a charming smile, Ashcroft looked into the camera and said, “Alright… take one.” He clapped once in front of the camera. “Let’s go kill some orcs.” He withdrew his revolver from his chest holster and a one -handed cavalry saber from his hip. The saber's blade was dripping with blood.
Ashcroft walked away from the camera and stepped into the center of a street in the suburbs. He fired his revolver in the air, and the sound caused the audio to cut out for a moment.
“Come on out!” Ashcroft screamed at the top of his lungs. “It’s just the two of us here! Easy pickings!”
Thirty seconds passed without incident. Ashcroft turned to the camera with a look of mild annoyance before a war cry could be heard from behind him.
The camera turned and captured five grey skinned Deluvians charging forward. The Deluvians were closer to the cameraman than Ashcroft. Panic was evident in the camera work as the cameraman retreated backward. A rifle could be seen in the shot for a moment as the cameraman moved.
Ashcroft interposed himself between the charging Deluvians and the cameraman. Wielding the saber in his right hand and the revolver in his left, Ashcroft launched a counter charge against the greyskins. Ashcroft met the savagery of the Deluvians with a savagery of his own as he sprinted toward the five screaming monsters.
A moment before the two opposing forces collided, Ashcroft subtly adjusted his course and slipped between two of the monsters. Ashcroft’s saber moved like it weighed nothing at all as he cut into two of them. It was difficult to see, but Ashcroft cut one in the midsection before he reached them and cut the other in the back after he passed. He must have delivered both of those blows in the span of a second. Ashcroft’s saber sliced through the greyskins like they were butter, and the two he cut fell to the ground in a single gurgling heap. He had cut one entirely in half, and the other collapsed in such a way that made it clear that Ashcroft had severed its spinal cord.
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Ashcroft took a moment to admire his sword. Clearly, he hadn’t expected his attacks to be as effective as they ended up being. One of the greyskins took this opportunity to attack Ashcroft, but he easily dodged the powerful but easily predictable swing. The greyskin’s longsword only missed Ashcroft by a hair as he spent the minimum amount of effort to dodge the attack. With a casual movement of his sword, Ashcroft struck and one of the Deluvian’s arms was promptly detached from its body. The one-armed Deluvian retreated, blood seeping from its wound, and Ashcroft began laughing.
“Amateurs!” Ashcroft laughed, clearly enjoying himself. “You’ve got power in spades but no skill.”
The three surviving Deluvians arrayed themselves in a semi-circle around Ashcroft, who took up a fencing position with his saber forward and revolver behind his back. The greyskins stood there for a long moment, looking for openings.
Without warning, all three of the Deluvians attacked at once. One of the Deluvians was reduced to raw hamburger in an instant by Ashcroft's flashing saber, but the other two greyskins used the opening created by the death of their comrade to push their attack. He was able to duck out of the way of one attack, but the one-armed Deluvian hit Ashcroft in the back. Because the one-armed Deluvian was not able to put the whole of its weight behind the attack, the blow merely wounded Ashcroft's back instead of cutting into his internal organs.
Ashcroft fell forward with a grunt of pain and rolled away from the two surviving Deluvians. They continued to push their attack, but their momentum was halted when Ashcroft leveled his revolver at the two of them.
Ashcroft had fallen to one knee. Blood was flowing from his back freely. Enzo expected to see a look of pain or hopelessness in his eyes. Instead, there was a look of intense hatred. He slowly got to his feet and said, “Oh, you’ve done it now.” The camera barely picked it up, but Enzo could tell that he was growling with rage.
The two Deluvians attacked one final time. Ashcroft swiftly tore the throat out of one and chopped the remaining arm off of the one-armed greyskin. This final pass between Ashcroft and the greyskins made it clear to Enzo that he had just been playing with them up until that point. He somehow fought more effectively after he had been wounded. Ashcroft got behind the Deluvian and effortlessly put two shallow cuts into the back of its legs. It fell to the ground, and Ashcroft put a foot on its back.
“Emile! Get over here and help me stop this Orc from dying! I think we’ve got a prisoner on our hands!” Ashcroft said as he turned to the camera. He held his back where the Deluvian had wounded him and gritted his teeth in discomfort.
With this, the footage ended.
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Having watched the video, everyone in the group opened their eyes.
“Is this real?” asked Volta.
“I suspect it is,” responded Tantalus.
“How did Ashcroft manage to do all that?” said Volta. Enzo was wondering the same thing. Having fought the greyskins himself, Enzo couldn’t possibly imagine a situation where he could beat five at once in a melee. He managed to kill one with a bayonet, but his success was more due to luck than skill. Enzo felt incredibly clumsy controlling his avatar on that first day. It was as if he had to learn to walk all over again. Enzo was only able to hit his targets because of his experience with guns in the real world.
In real life, Enzo was an avid gun collector and hunter. He had spent several hundred hours at the gun range, and he was able to fall back on that skill when fighting the Deluvians.
“Red and I were actually talking about that earlier,” said Tantalus. “Have any of you played Ninth Oasis or otherwise used the full-dive system?”
Everyone except for Redgrave shook their heads to indicate that they had not.
“That makes sense,” said Tantalus. “And I assume all of you are experiencing a level of physical awkwardness… as if you’re trying to learn to walk with a new set of legs?”
Everyone nodded their heads to indicate that they were. “How do you know that?” Elias asked.
“That’s how I felt the first time I played Ninth Oasis,” said Tantalus. “Ferrum Online uses the same basic system as Ninth Oasis. To Red and me, this game just feels like a much more advanced version of Ninth Oasis. Ashcroft’s skill in Ninth Oasis must have transferred over to this game.”
“Does this apply to everyone who played Ninth Oasis?” Enzo asked.
“I suspect it does,” said Tantalus. “It’s honestly amazing how similar this game is to Ninth Oasis. I feel like anything I could do there, I can do here.”
“Well, that doesn’t seem very fair,” said Dendrite.
“Complain to GM,” said Tantalus.
“Ashcroft kept using the word ‘Orc.’ Was he referring to the Deluvians?” said Rachel.
“I think I know this one,” Cadmium said through the window of the truck. “In the Lord of the Rings movies, the orcs have grey skin, and the goblins have green skin.”
“That’s smart,” Tantalus said thoughtfully. “Well, ‘Orc’ is a lot easier to say than Deluvian or greyskin.”
After a pause, Tantalus continued. “Let’s continue onto the next video.”
Enzo closed his eyes and opened the video entitled, “My Plans for the Future.”
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The video started on an image of Ashcroft standing near the camera. He was attired similarly to how he was in the earlier video. The only difference was that Ashcroft was wearing the jacket of his uniform draped over his shoulders. He was standing outside, and the palace Enzo had seen earlier loomed ominously behind him.
“Hey everybody,” said Ashcroft. He delivered this line like it was the first half of the introduction he gives at the beginning of his YouTube videos. “I made this video to talk about the situation we now find ourselves in. I don’t know what to make of this ‘GM’ figure or his claim that death in the game will result in IRL death. What I do know is that we can’t log out, and the accuracy of the pain modeling has been… increased.” He subtly rubbed his back as if the pain of his wound was still bothering him.
“Clearly, something or someone is holding us here against our will, and it’s able to cause us pain if it so wishes. Dozens of people have approached me over the past few hours, asking me what we should do, and I haven’t been able to answer them. Honestly, I’m more of a ‘tactics’ guy myself. The big picture 'strategy' stuff has never been my specialty. Therefore, I suggest that we all hold a meeting in the large park in the middle of downtown Osiris to figure out what to do next.”
The camera turned away from Ashcroft and towards a large park. It must have been half a mile long on each side. After a moment, the camera turned back toward Ashcroft.
“I had some of my guys look over the list of players here in Osiris, and they found a few ex-Scions among the player base,” Ashcroft continued. “They found ScaryClock, FullDan, and Tantalus on the list. One other notable name they found was Mander of Trebizond. I would very much appreciate to hear the input of these four players. If the four of you would attend this meeting, I would very much appreciate it. I’ll be in the park for the next three hours, so come on by and let’s talk about the next step.”
As soon as Ashcroft finished this sentence, the video ended.
[Redgrave22]
https://i.imgur.com/BKEvGA0.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/BKEvGA0.jpg]