Logging out, Jason wearily pulled his VRIG helmet off his head and slowly dropped it to the ground.  He was exhausted and on the verge of tears – even the women inside a game ran roughshod over him!  That… that… that little witch Cedine had grabbed him by the beard and spanked him!  HIM – a player character, while she was nothing more than an NPC!

Why couldn’t he be more aggressive?  Why didn’t he just grab up one of the nearby axes and chop her head off?  Why was he such a loser?

Curling up, Jason grabbed his pillow and clutched it tightly against his chest. The problem, he admitted to him grudgingly, was the fact that the game was too well done.  He’d told Cedine that he had “possessed” her husband with his spirit, and apparently that’s not too far from what happened according to the NPC viewpoint.  Drun had a backstory, a family, and a life, long before he’d ever logged in and started to play him.  To the characters who “knew” him in game, he really was acting off-script and seemingly possessed.

Which led Jason to his next area of confusion – what happened to characters that logged out, like Kyle’s character?  Didn’t Kyle tell him that his character faded from the world and then  faded back in later?  Why was Drun different?  Apparently when he logged out, the A.I. took over and ran its standard scripts and interacted with the environment the same as usual.  What was the difference?

Was it the fact that he was playing a shop keeper and a craftsman?  In a way, such behavior would kind of make sense to Jason.  If he was gone for a few weeks, his character would still run the shop and keep producing common items.  Maybe it was something to do with where one logged out?  Safe zones like the city allowed your character to go into auto-mode and do day-to-day chores for you and interact with the populace?  Maybe if he logged Drun out somewhere dangerous, he’d fade out and only reappear when he logged back in again? 

Or maybe there was some sort of setting which a player to toggle to change that “auto-pilot” command for their characters.  Winter’s Tale was a game without an user’s manual after all.  The developers were “hard core” when it came to the rules of their game and refused to reveal anything at all about the game mechanics about how things worked.  Hell, for all he really knew, Jason thought to himself, the game might really be snatching his mind and sending it out across another dimension to possess some innocent inhabitant of another world!

Shaking his head from side to side, Jason tried not to worry about it too much at the moment.  Winter’s Tale apparently was more complex and dynamic than anyone had considered it to be so far.  After all, who would believe that a player would start out married and with grown children in a game – and that their wife would reject them stepping into the role as her husband!  It was insane!

And rules!  That little she-devil Cedine had laid down a complete set of rules which he was supposed to follow, whenever he came back and “possessed” her husband!  What type of game has such settings to it?!  Jason’s mind was boggled as he thought back to what she’d demanded from him.

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First, whenever he logged in now, he was supposed to wear a red handkerchief wrapped around his upper arm as an armband to signify that he wasn’t the “real” Drun anymore.  He had to call Cedine “sweetie”, and never call her “honey”; apparently she was designating the two different nicknames so she’d know at a moment who was actually with her – Jason or Drun.  He had to promise to do his best not to sully her husband’s name, work, or reputation, or to do anything to harm her family.

She’d basically laid down the law about what he was allowed to do and not do in game!  No visiting the wenches.  No flirting with other women.  No slacking and falling behind on work – she was adamant on that point, maybe more than all others! 

The was only two decent points which made the whole situation bearable, and which convinced Jason to not give up on the game already.  One, Cedine was going to start coming to the forge and helping to teach him what to mix, and what portions to mix it in, and what to do with it afterwards, so he could actually use the smithing skills his character had starting out.  Two, she’d agreed to play along if any of his friends ever showed up, and not to embarrass him.  As long as he was willing to try and play the part of Drun Kindwarf with the rest of the NPCs, Cedine had agreed to do what was necessary to allow him to play his part with the other PCs.

If his friends were to ever learn that he’d allowed himself to be pushed around and bullied so much by a character in a game, Jason knew he’d never be able to live it down!  Particularly with William!  William would tease him to the end of time, if he ever found out about what’d just happened to him in game.

But…

Frowning, Jason stretched and slowly eased up out of bed to go place his helm over on his dresser.  Why had Cedine agreed to play along in front of other players which he knew were “possessed”?  If she could embarrass him out of her husband so he’d never log in and play again, why wouldn’t she?  Wasn’t her goal to protect her husband and family first?

Damn it! 

It hadn’t seemed like she was lying when she’d promised to help him support his friends, but now that he’d thought about it, Jason wasn’t certain.  He hadn’t created some massive bloodhungry warrior in the game, or some all-powerful wizard to blast everything in sight.  All he’d wanted to be able to do was to log in, when he felt up to it, and do what he could to support his friends.  He’d thought crafting weapons and gear for them would be perfect for his playstyle – stay at home, earn some money, offer support, and he wouldn’t have to worry about letting anyone down if he couldn’t log in to join them in a dungeon or on a raid…

And now?

Now he was worried he wouldn’t be able to even offer that little bit of support, without them finding out about how bullied he was in game!  He’d learned to hide and cover up a lot of the harassment which he suffered from during time at school, but he didn’t have a clue how he’d survive becoming a total laughing stock in a game all his friends played!

Climbing back into bed, Jason hugged his pillow tight to his chest and sobbed quietly into it.  Maybe it’d be best if he just quit already and didn’t log in anymore.  Sometimes, he felt like it might be best if he just quit life itself!  Nothing he ever tried to do worked like he wanted.

Feeling like a total failure, Jason finally drifted off to fitful sleep, unable to even escape his doubts and worries even in the deepest recesses of his subconscious mind as nightmares rampaged uncontrollably all night long.