The voice on the other end of the phone continued speaking.

“I am not joking. Take this seriously. You only have a few minutes to decide who the other members of your party will be.”

Rosalind thought carefully as she formulated her response.

“First off, stranger, it’s impossible to sabotage the XPeriential Points launch. This is the XPeriential company we’re talking about… not amateur hour. They’re doing a closed beta that’s only accessible to ten-thousand people worldwide who were selected well in advance. They have a boatload of safety precautions in place and their security is top-notch, so this whole ‘fate of the world’ and ‘everyone you love’ thing is clearly -”

“Pick your party. Now,” the voice on the call interrupted. “Take this seriously. And once you know who you want on your team, call this number back and I’ll tell you what to do next.”

As the man hung up, Rosalind began to feel a slight panic. She started going through various scenarios and questions in her mind. However, realizing that time might be of the essence (if all of this were true), she decided to ignore all of her mental chatter, pocketed her phone, and bolted towards the nearest entrance to the manor.

Jasper watched Rosalind take off, and slowly clunked behind her in his heavy armor. “Wait, was that call part of the game? Should I expect a call too?” He started reaching into his pocket. “I’ll turn on my phone.”

Inside the manor, Rosalind spotted a group of the ‘Resistance Fighters’ sitting around a large table in the dining room. They were all looking at a sizable map placed on the table, and were discussing their plan of attack for the evening.

“We’ll send our thieves out as decoys to lure the enemies out to the front of the manor. While that happens, we’ll have our mages sneak in through the back entrance,” suggested one of the women leading the resistance team.

“But if the enemy team engages with our thieves too quickly, they’ll incapacitate them. Any chance to loot them later on will be compromised,” responded another.

“Our thieves are elusive. They can get away.”

As the resistance group continued discussing their plans, Rosalind chimed in. “Dang, these are some awesome plans. What a great debate you’re all having about the best course of action. While we’re on this track, y’know, figuring out the best way forward for our team, I wanted to ask: who here is deeply familiar with Japanese Role-Playing Games?”

Her question garnered confused looks from the group around the table.

“Any game designers here, maybe? Folks that know about skill trees, character progressions, class systems, best approaches to grinding experience -”

An irritated man dressed as a noble interrupted her. “What is this talk of role-playing games? And trees made out of skill? We are in the midst of an important battle. Enough of your incomprehensible gibberish.”

“Oh great, you’re like fully in character. He’s doing the voice and everything -”

“Silence!”

“Look, I’m sorry to interrupt this super important thing we’re all doing, but I’m gonna need everyone to break character for literally just two seconds, to let me know if anyone here is a big JRPG dork. Anyone? Anyone at all?”

Awkward glances were exchanged amongst the crowd as they ignored her, returning their focus to the map… all except for a few who couldn’t resist answering. A gentleman dressed as a cleric was the first to respond, whispering, “I’ve been looking forward to this all month so let’s keep this in character moving forward, but yes, I’m a big Final Fantasy guy myself.”

An artsy looking archer girl chimed in next. “Not into the hardcore stuff as much, but I love the Mario RPGs. Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi, SMRPG of course…”

“Classics, for sure,” Rosalind agreed.

“Also big on Action RPGS: the Elder Scrolls Series, Zelda, Elden Ring…”

“Awesome, awesome.”

As Jasper slowly trudged into the room, another person dressed as a thief addressed Rosalind. “I’ve been the dungeon master for a few D&D games, if that counts?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

And with that, Rosalind had her group. She took her phone from her pocket and called the number back. After a single ring, the stranger answered. Rosalind waited for him to say ‘hello’ but after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, she realized she probably wasn’t going to receive a greeting.

“Um, alright, so thanks for waiting! How do I pick my party once I’ve found them?” Rosalind asked.

The crowd at the table began to groan - some voices muttering “Stop distracting us!”, “Put that phone away!”, “Why are you here if you’re not gonna participate!”. Rosalind ignored them all until the game master himself, golden satchel in tow, approached her directly.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” he said.

“Sorry, this is really important,” responded Rosalind, backing away.

She returned her focus to the call. Unfortunately, all she could hear from the other end were brief words interrupted by static. “Sorry, I think you’re cutting out - how do I pick my party?” Rosalind asked again. Again, all she could hear was a garbled, static-filled response.

“Damnit,” Rosalind muttered under her breath as she backed out of the room and exited the manor, hoping for a better signal outside.

As she stepped onto the front yard of the estate, the voice on the other end of the call became clearer. “Once you see the interface,” the voice began, “All you have to do is point towards the person you want to add to your party. A menu option will appear, and you’ll just need to select ‘yes’. That’s it.”

Rosalind took this in. “The interface. Do you mean the interface… I designed?”

There was silence from the other end. “It’ll be a party of three to start. Choose carefully.” The man hung up.

As Rosalind turned around, she saw the game master standing in front of her. She eyed the entrance to the manor from which she had just emerged.

“I just, uh, forgot something in there. I’ll be out of your hair in a second,” she said, rushing back into the building. Unbeknownst to both her and the game master, a thick fog was forming in the large field in front of them.

She returned to the dining room and rejoined the group clustered around the table, smiling goofily at the three folks who had previously chimed in with responses to her questions. The Cleric, The Archer, and The Thief… she could only select two of them, so she had to make it count. As she waited for ‘the interface’ to appear, she did some mental math on what the ideal party composition would look like. She pushed away the questions bubbling up in her mind, such as ‘what the hell is happening?’ and ‘what does this all mean?' - she needed to take this situation seriously, on the off chance that whatever was happening was the real deal.

And then…

Stillness, as seconds turned into minutes and nothing happened. The game master reentered the room, watching Rosalind as she awkwardly lingered around the table. The folks at the table continued to find Rosalind’s sunny but nervous disposition distracting.

The seconds stretched on, as the notion that all of this might have been an elaborate prank became increasingly plausible to Rosalind. As she contemplated calling the number back, she noticed Jasper, his helmet now off, staring out the window and looking outside.

“I’ll be honest, you guys,” he started, “That is pretty impressive. I mean, this whole thing is pretty dorky, I’m sure you all know this already, but that, I mean, that is just… spectacular… especially if all of this stuff is supposed to be practical, you know?”.

Rosalind and a few others moved to the window beside Jasper and peered out. In the distance, far across the field, a thick fog was rolling in. Emerging from the smog, and heading straight towards the manor, was the silhouette of a colossal knight clad in heavy armor. The figure appeared five times the size of an average human. The knight held his arm forward, then slowly curled his free hand into a fist, as bright red particles materialized around him.

‘It’s real,’ Rosalind thought to herself, as the others who had gathered around the window pointed at the knight and began screaming.

The ground started rumbling. The manor walls shook, revealing the building’s age. Decorations and paintings tumbled from the walls, and parts of the walls themselves began to crumble as debris from the roof started raining down on the group.

Panic set in immediately as the manor's inhabitants bolted towards the back entrance, with the game master shouting for everyone to evacuate immediately. Jasper, hindered by the heaviness of his costume, was helped by Rosalind, who grabbed his arm and guided him out of the dining room and through the manor's collapsing hallways.

As they exited the back of the building and emerged onto the field, Rosalind saw the potential party members she had earlier identified sprinting well ahead of her and Jasper. Everyone was glancing back, terrified at the sight of the ominous knight bearing down on them.

“Can I just say, at no point did anyone mention that this event was going to be dangerous!” shouted Jasper as he and Rosalind ran away from the danger.

“This isn't from the LARPing! This is something else!” she shouted back.

“Oh, well in that case I suppose all is well! Please do tell me when the next installment of Medieval Madness will be taking place, as I’d love to RSVP!” responded Jasper, sarcastically.

The pair continued to run, the rest of the group a good distance in front of them, crossing the large field and heading towards a nearby forest. The colossal knight was covering the distance quickly.

“We need to go faster!” she yelled, dragging him as they ran away from the manor.

“I know that! But I can’t exactly stop and take off this stupid suit of armor now, can I?!” Jasper shouted back.

Without breaking stride, Rosalind looked over her shoulder to see the state of the manor and the danger approaching them. Not only had the building been reduced to rubble, but the knight, now no longer a silhouette but a very real and visible threat, had nearly closed the distance with them. It strode through the remains of the manor, unsheathed its sword, and prepared to strike.