— CHAPTER EIGHT —
Welcome!
{Lucy}
Townsville could loosely be described as the result of a drunkard building a child's fort in a junkyard. Not a single wall was completely straight, and the roads meandered in scenic arcs between buildings built to lean on and integrate with the largest trees of the forest that pervaded the city.
As the sun set, the crooked towers of the downtown district looked like black, jagged teeth against the twilight sky. In real life, I would have wondered what could have possibly allowed civil planning to go this wrong, but there, in game, I could appreciate the beauty. It was an artistic take on the construction of a city. It was fascinating, if nothing else.
However, few people were in the same frame of mind as me.
As the day had drawn on and more had noticed players were not respawning, they were beginning to take the 'rumors' seriously. With each minute, the panic grew. They searched for answers they already had but refused to accept. If nothing was done soon, a riot would break out. And if that's what it came to, I was half inclined to join them.
Until then, the Townsville team had agreed to meet outside the airship factory - a hangar in the city's industrial yards cobbled together from raw, undecorated metal scaffolding and rusting plates. From the rail of a walkway leading up to the factory's observation balcony, I watched the masses running back and forth like chickens. I couldn't explain my own comparative calmness; I found I had simply... accepted it all as inevitable.
Below me, Rose and Filius sagged against each other on a bench, exhausted from all the talking we'd had to do. I couldn't blame them; all I wanted at the moment was to be left alone for a while. Even Excalibur was sitting quietly in the shade of a tree. Only Flora was pacing in front of us, fidgeting with her hands and struggling to slow her breathing down.
"It's out of our hands now." Rose told her. "If there's anyone that doesn't believe after the announcement, nothing will convince them."
"That's not why I'm panicking!" Flora waved her shaking hands in the air. "What happens next?! The admin said we'll have to do something! Why are we here?! When can we leave?! Are we going to have to kill each other?!"
It was a good question. Killing each other sounded like a stretch, but I'd been so focused on warning others I hadn't given it any thought - what were we there for?
"There's no evidence for any of that." Rose shook her head wearily. "We'll find out at eight. No point speculating until then."
And it wouldn't be a long wait - it was 7:59.
"Does anyone know how the announcement will work?" I asked. "Will a notification be sent out to everyone?"
Just then, a message popped up before me - 'Teleporting to [Celestia Grand] in [10] seconds.'
"Oh, that's how it will work."
Rose sighed and straightened up. "See you on the other side."
The color and texture dissolved around me, leaving the still blue wireframe structures floating in the endless black void. They then melted down, collapsing back into an infinite plane before rising anew.
A stadium took shape, laid out like a baseball field in how the seating was arranged with more weighting on two adjacent sides. Hexagonal tiles formed the arena floor, and when the color came in, the exposed steel supports and pulsing neon faerie lights lent an industrial-magic aesthetic to the place with just a hint of classical styling in the coupled layout of the columns.
Flashes of blue twinkled over the stands as the rest of the players spawned into their seats. A significant number were left empty - I would estimate about 20%. Assuming the capacity of the stadium was set to accommodate the full potential player base, that was... concerning. Hopefully most of them simply failed to log in. It was a Thursday, after all; some people must have been waiting for the weekend. That's what I told myself, at least.
There was one person that was not seated - they spawned in the air and fell into the middle of the arena floor, faceplanting on the tiles. As they hit the ground, one of the health bars on the side of my HUD jumped downward. That wasn't some random person - that was Percival! He'd lost three-quarters of his health falling there. He pushed himself off the floor and looked up at the crowd, everyone staring back at him.
Suddenly, the jumbotron flickered on. I had to do a double-take - Wait, they have a jumbotron here? ... Huh. I wasn't expecting that in a fantasy game, but I suppose once you put in airship factories and sports stadiums, there's no hard limits on what's possible.
The camera focused on a black-robed figure materializing beside Percival. No name or information visible on him. With a flick of his wrist, Percival disappeared. "Get back to your seat, thief." His voice carried clearly across the whole arena. It was the same voice as the admin that had helped us in the tutorial. Was it a coincidence he had been the one to help us? Was he the head of the admin team? How many admins were there, anyway? Certainly they would have more than one person handling the launch of the game.
The group chat updated:
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Fritz Carlton]: What was that about, Perce?
[Percival]: I have no idea. I was up a tree when I was teleported - maybe it threw off the height?
There was no time to discuss further. The crowd went wild, shouting and jeering and throwing bits and bobs at the hooded man. Some demanded to know why we couldn't log out, others were asking about their dead friends, and still others were seeking clarification on what was going on as a whole.
The man turned slowly, surveying the chaos with exploratory interest - like someone strolling into a butterfly house. He pulled up a game menu, hit some buttons, and everything went completely silent. Mouths were still moving, people were still shaking their fists and hopping in frustration, but they couldn't make a sound. That only made them angrier. An apple shot through the air, clear across the stadium, and hit the man square on the head.
Rubbing the point of impact, he said, "That's it; you've lost movement privileges as well."
Another press of a button, and everyone went still. My eyes could move, but the rest of my body was... unresponsive. Not tied down or constricted - it simply didn't move. It was worse than being tied down - it was like my consciousness was trapped in a floating, helpless state.
With another set of flashes, everyone was moved back to their original positions - including Percival, once again set into the air above the arena. Before he could hit the ground, the man teleported him away. "I told you to get back to your seat!"
The man cleared his throat. "Ladies, gentlemen, people, ... animals, if any got in. Welcome! I had a speech prepared, but as you are all so eager, why don't we skip right to the announcements? Yes, you are incapable of logging out. Yes, I am aware of the issue. Yes, it is intentional. Starting now, login servers are offline. No further people will be allowed in.
"It looks like... 83,519 Dive Units have established connection to the server, and currently 76,438 are active. That gives us... 16,482 absentees and 7,081 lost. Unfortunate, but I have the utmost faith in you all - your success has been forecast! Now, what do I mean by 'lost'? Well, there are two ways to sever a connection to the server.
"Number 1: Die. Upon death, your character will be deleted, and the Dive Unit you are all wearing will render you comatose with significantly less than 1% chance of ever waking up again. However, you will be disconnected. And to be perfectly clear, there are two conditions that will lead to death: either your health drops to zero, or your neck is severed. Watch out for that second one - it can sneak up on you.
"Number 2: Win. Progress through the story and get to the end - only a single person needs to do it. I wouldn't recommend trying to do it alone, but that's your call.
"And don't worry about the state of your bodies - the world has been informed, and preparations are already underway to transfer you all to hospitals for care. The government has already agreed to foot the bill on that!"
Good to know, but that wasn't the part I was most concerned about. My father would kill me if he found out I'd been wasting time playing games. Getting trapped in one for... however long this... game was going to take? I was probably going to be disowned!
You know what? Fine! There was nothing I could do about any of this at that point. So fine, go ahead and take my whole life away! That's what I wanted, wasn't it?! Someplace I could live on my own terms?! Throw me into this fantasy hellscape; I'll do whatever the hell I want with my fu-AARGH!
... God damn monkey's paw.
The man continued, "I do regret dropping you so blindly into this, so let me give you some advice.
"First, I encourage you to explore. I still find myself surprised by the interactions of the systems we've cooked up!
"Second, this is less of a numbers-based game and more of a skill-based one. If you take the time to think, your preparation will carry you far! Don't get too bogged down with a specific way of doing things; look at the encounters. Remember the adage: slow is smooth and smooth is fast! So, before you do anything, sleep on it!
"Now, it is getting late and you have plenty to think about, so I'll return you back to your previous locations in a moment. This isn't goodbye; I would like to see you all again at the end. And so I will say:
"Welcome!"
He raised his hand and snapped. Once again, the world blacked to wireframe and rearranged itself, this time returning to Townsville. Outside the airship factory, right where we'd left from.
When we came back in, I could feel my body sag and my breathing come back. The crowd spread across the avenue in front of us stood in hushed silence, looking down at their hands and bodies as they tested that they were able to move again.
The quiet was short lived. Like a dam bursting, the panic erupted anew, this time boiling with rage. Shouts and cries filled the air, a maelstrom of fear and fury - the riot had begun!
... But what was it going to help? The admin laid it out clear what our circumstances and goals were - and he certainly didn't seem like he was going to change his mind because we burnt down one of the cities.
What we needed was a plan - to figure out our next steps.
The rest of the Townsville group were lost in thought, so I pulled up the group chat.
[Lady Lucia]: So, what is everyone going to do?
[Davi Crockett]: I have no idea.
[Siegfried]: The admin's right. We should sleep on this. There's nothing else to be done tonight.
[Fritz Carlton]: I sent y'all friend requests. No sense keeping the group together now, but I'll let you know if I find out anything useful.
[Filius]: Good luck. To all of us.
Yeah, sleep was a good choice. Give it some time to stew, recover from the day, and reassess with a clear head.
With a deep breath, I turned my gaze to the horizon, where the sun was sinking behind the teeth of the silhouettes of the darkened buildings, painting the sky above in crimson and purple. It was a beautiful sight, a fleeting moment of peace amidst the chaos.
There were worse fates.
It... was what I'd wanted, wasn't it?
---
Next time:
With no option but to accept their fate, the players begin to settle into life in this new world. Some take this as an opportunity to live as freely as they've always wanted to. To others... it presents a power vacuum - their chance to seize a place at the top. Achieving this level of control requires holding an advantage over other players - such as information on the best gathering and grinding spots.
Now, there are two types of 'quests' in Dawnfall: The simple kind - kill some bears, gather some flowers - used to guide players through the world as they level. 'Tasks' as the quest log lists them. And then there are the 'Quests' - dynamic adventures built to respond to player action and, most importantly, alter their rewards based on player choices.
This presents a wild card: if one can figure out how to get a powerful reward out of a quest, they then gain a significant advantage in both material and information. Naturally, many parties seek to get this kind of knowledge ahead of the curve - by any means necessary.
Episode 3 - Fritz and Percy Work for the Mob